Experimental investigation of mixing in a novel continuous chaotic mixer

This paper presents and discusses results of an experimental study of laminar mixing of a highly viscous fluid (dough) in a continuous chaotic mixer. The mixer consists of an eccentric rotor that rotates co-axially within a stator, which results in chaotic advection. A dye injection technique was used to measure the mixing performance of the mixer. A mixing index was defined and computed by image processing of photographs of the exiting fluid from the mixer. Mixing characteristics were determined for constant as well as stepwise rotation of the rotor. Results revealed that mixing performance improves with increase in the rotational speed for constant rotational speed. The stepwise rotation case displayed better mixing performance than the constant speed case for stepwise changes of the amplitude as well as frequency of rotation.