Optimization of a Hydraulic Mixing Nozzle Available to Purchase

In industry, mixing tanks are used to homogenize two or more different products that have been combined. This work investigates the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to seek an enhanced design for a hydraulic mixing nozzle. This paper outlines a method for a numerical specification of a nozzle design and generation of a CFD model to analyze it. Characteristics that influence jet distance and trajectory, such as horn size, shape, and entrainment area, are reviewed. The relative importance of each of these traits and which traits have the most significant impact on the quality of a given design are explored. Suggestions for nozzle design are summarized. This information allows the most limiting factors of a tank mixing design to be mitigated to the largest extent possible. Currently industry uses magnification ratio (the ratio of flow out of the nozzle divided by the forced flow through the nozzle jet) for mixing tank nozzle design. This paper illustrates that using magnification ratio or velocity alone does not result in an optimized design. These factors must be weighted to obtain a design that balances these factors to mix the geometry of fluid volume. Additionally, this work shows that nozzle placement is perhaps more significant than nozzle design for optimum mixing with minimum power consumption.