58-6 |
3-D numerical simulation of the flow and mixing in a Farinograph |
R. K. CONNELLY1, J. L. Kokini1, and S. Prakash2. (1) Dept. of Food Science, Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey, Cook Campus, 65 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520, (2) Sabinsa Corp., 121 Ethel Rd. W., Unit #6, Piscataway, NJ 08854-5952 The Farinograph is a standard dough testing mixer, but the mechanism and efficiency with which it mixes has not been thoroughly quantified due to the complexity of its blade shape and motion. Numerical simulation provides a mechanism with which to approach this issue. Using an exact representation of the blade provided by C.W. Brabender, the flow and mixing in the Farinograph is simulated with the commercially available software package, Polyflow (Fluent, Inc). Using the Finite Element Method with separately meshed moving blades and a stationary bowl according to the method of Avalosse and Rubin (2000), the experimental conditions of Prakash, Karwe, and Kokini (1999) are simulated. A particle tracking algorithm (Debbaut et al., 1997) is then applied to a set of randomly distributed point particles. The simulated velocity results are directly compared with the previously obtained experimental Laser Doppler Anemometry results at 44 points in the mixer. The particle tracking shows the lamellar structure created by mixing a specified volume of colored material into the whole and several mixing parameters including the efficiency are calculated and followed over time. This increase in understanding of the mechanism of mixing in the Farinograph provides additional insight into the meaning of the data this instrument provides.
Session 58, Food Engineering: Transport processes and kinetics
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