Numerical simulation of free flowing particles mixing in V-blender

摘要

The aim of this study is to present a novel approach for analyzing the pharmaceutical solid mixing performance of monodisperse particles by a numerical simulation using the mathematical model of rigid solid objects for a large span of time reached 20min. In order to ensure the viability of a numerical simulation, an experimental study of a binary mixture of monodisperse particles considered as free flowing material (18mm in diameter) in pharmaceutical V blender, was developed. The effect of the process parameters on the mixing performance such as the rotational speed (10 and 27 tr/min), the filling level of the vessel (35 and 75%), and the percentage of the tracer (10 and 50%) for three loading profiles (FB: front back, RL: right left, TB: top, bottom) was evaluated. The experimental results were discussed and compared to the numerical simulation ones, in terms of relative standard deviation presentations, and the arrangement of the particles in the vessel. A good agreement was obtained for all experimental conditions, even for the RL loading profile, which shows difficulties in simulations using other simulation methods. By using this model the pharmaceutical mixing process can be simulated for a large mixing time.