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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/L50259/02
Title: ANALYSIS OF PASTE FLOWS USING EXPERIMENTAL, CONTINUUM MODELLING AND DISTINCT ELEMENT METHODS
Principal Investigator: Burbidge, Professor A
Other Investigators:
Langston, Dr P Wilson, Professor DI Wilson, Dr I
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Chemical Engineering
Organisation: University of Birmingham
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 April 1999 Ends: 31 January 2000 Value (£): 32,325
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Complex fluids & soft solids
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The flow of solid-liquid pastes is very important in a wide range of manufacturing industries, including foods, chemicals, ceramics and catalysts. However, despite the widespread use their flow and deformation remains poorly understood. A major problem complicating the modelling is the movement of the liquid relative to the particles which give the paste the stiffness. This liquid movement causes local inhomogenieties in the properties of the material presenting severe difficulties in the application of conventional continuum models. One way to address this problem is to model the interactions of the individual particles explicitly using the discrete element (DE) method. This approach is computationally expensive and thus impractical for real systems of complex shape. We aim to determine the feasibility of combining DE and continuum approaches, drawing on the strengths of each. Triaxal experiments will be used to verify DE modelling of small regions of paste under well specified arbitrary conditions. Hence a material law will be developed to relate stress to strain in terms of the material parameters of particle size and liquid phase viscosity. This law will then drive continuum simulations of real flows. If successful the design of pastes and flow geometries could be significantly improved.
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Organisation Website: http://www.bham.ac.uk