A study of the flow of turbulent suspensions

Abstract

The turbulent flow properties of a suspension are calculated by analogy with the kinetic theory of gases. Expressions are derived for the pressure and increase in shear stress caused by the presence of the particles. These expressions involve the r.m.s. velocity of the particles and a relation-ship between this and the flow conditions is assumed. Experiments on a sus-pension show that the component of shear stress attributable to the fluid is independent of the particle concentration. The theory correctly predicts the particle shear stress at high concentrations, but at low concentrations the agreement is poor. The pressure, measurements agree with the theory even at low concentrations. It is concluded that the gas theory is applicable to dense suspensions but that at lower concentrations the surrounding fluid has too great an effect.