Influence of baffles on mixing and heat transfer characteristics in an internally heated rotating drum

Baffles can effectively improve the mixing and heat transfer in internally heated rotating drums. To explore the performance of baffles, discrete element method (DEM) is employed in this work, and the influence of the place -ment and length of baffles on the mixing and heat transfer in an internally heated drum is investigated. The sim-ulation results show that a central cross baffle promotes the mixing and heat transfer significantly, and the optimal length varies with material properties, for example, at the length-to-diameter ratio L/D = 0.4 for mono-dispersed glass particles, 0.6-0.7 for binary glass-steel mixtures. The peripheral baffle generally weakens the mixing and heat transfer performance, and effects only for a sufficiently long peripheral baffle at the length-to-radius ratio L/R = 0.9. Baffles promote the heat transfer process and do not change the thermal contribution of heat transfer paths. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study investigates the performance of baffles in internally heated rotating drums using the discrete element method (DEM). The results show that a central cross baffle improves mixing and heat transfer significantly, while a peripheral baffle generally weakens the performance.