KINEMATICS OF FLOW OF A SLOW SUSPENDED-PARTICLE FLUX ABOUT A SPHERE AS APPLIED TO THE SEDIMENTATION OF A BIDISPERSE SUSPENSION
I. G. Dik (J. H. Dueck)a and L. L. Min'kovb UDC 532.3 A study is made of the kinematics of flow of fine particles about a coarse one in the process of sedimentation of the fine particles. An approximate analytical solution for the increase in the settling rate of fine particles, which is in good agreement with the approximation dependence obtained earlier as a result of numerical experiment, has been found. It has been shown that a relatively weak entrainment of most of the fine particles arriving at the peripheral region of the cell around the coarse particle is of primary importance for the effect of acceleration of sedimentation. A comparison with the available experimental data is made. aErlangen-Nurnberg University (Universitat Erlangen- Nurnberg), Erlangen, Germany; email: Johann.Dueck@rzmail.uni-erlangen.de; bTomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia; email: lminkov@ftf.tsu.ru. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 75, No. 4, pp. 3-11, July-August, 2002. Original article submitted August 28, 2001; revision submitted November 12, 2001. JEPTER74920200212 JEPTER7492012