Solute dispersion in non-Brownian particle suspensions

ALEJANDRO BOSCHAN ; GEORGES GAUTHIER; IRENE IPOLITTO; RICARDO CHERTCOF

La PLata

Conferencia; PASI on Frontiers in Particulate Media: From Fundamentals to Applications; 2014

NSF-DEpartment of Energy USA-Conicet-Agencia-Fundación YPF

Many environmental and industrial situations involve dispersion of solutes in the bulk of a confined particle suspension. In this context, we investigate experimentally the influence of suspended neutrally-buoyant spherical particles on the dispersion of a passive solute in a parallel-plate configuration. The objective is to study the behavior of the suspension at the scale of the particles, identifying the candidates for dispersive mechanisms, and relate to measurements of solute dispersion performed at the scale of the medium. For pressure-driven flows, two types of experiments were then performed. At the scale of the medium, the displacement of a suspension with a colouring solute by a (otherwise identical) transparent one, at constant flow rate. The concentration of the solute was measured by using a light transmission technique. At the scale of the particles, we analyze their velocity distributions in the flow of the transparent suspension only. Gravity-driven experiments, with no net flow, were also performed at the particle scale.