Parametric Study on the Evolution of Thermal Patterns and Coherent Flow Structures in the Rotated Arc Mixer

Advective-diffusive scalar transport in spatially or temporally periodic flow fields has been investigated in numerous studies, which exposed that the global transport relies on the kinematic/geometric parameters governing the advection and the ratio between the advective and diffusive time scales. These studies mainly employ numerical/analytical methods. However, experimental analysis remains outstanding. This research concerns an experimental parametric study on the evolution of the thermal patterns in a representative configuration, the Rotated Arc Mixer (RAM), and its correlation with the coherent flow structures. The RAM is an inline mixer composed of a stationary inner cylinder with systematically oriented apertures and a rotating outer cylinder inducing transverse flow at the apertures. Design of the experimental facility is based on a 2D time-periodic simplification of the 3D spatially-periodic RAM, where the cross-sectional progression is represented by the temporal evolution. The test section is a shallow circular tank with apertures on the circumference and motor-driven belts imitate the rotating outer cylinder of the RAM. Circumferential temperature is kept constant via an enclosing hot-water reservoir. The 2D flow and temperature fields are measured by 2D Particle Image Velocimetry and Infrared Thermography and analyzed.