Dynamic Stress Affecting the Radial Baffle on an Industrial Mixing Unit with a Pitched Blade Impeller

Abstract

This paper presents a study of dimensioning under fatigue stress of a standard radial baffle in an industrial mixing unit (T = 5 m) with a pitched blade impeller under a turbulent regime of flow of an agitated liquid. The fatigue stress of the radial baffle is calculated from the known experimentally determined distribution of the dynamic pressure affecting the standard radial baffle in a pilot plant agitated system. Asymmetrical distribution of the dynamic pressure along the height of the baffle significantly affects the thickness of the baffle as well as the dimensions of the doublefillet weld fixing the baffle to the vessel wall. Our results are valid for standard pitched blade impellers with four or six inclined blades (D/T = 1/3, a = 45°) and off-bottom clearances h/T = 0.2, 0.35 and 0.5 pumping liquid downwards in a cylindrical mixing vessel with a flat bottom and four baffles (b/T = 0.1) when the Reynolds number exceeds ten thousand.