Implementation of a Yukawa force model in polymer-induced bridging flocculation of hematite particles using CFD-DEM

Abstract

Polymer-induced bridging flocculation of hematite particles under laminar shear flow is simulated using a coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics – Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM). The attractive interactions between the polymer-coated particles are represented by a Yukawa force model, parameterised through benchmarking the CFD-DEM-derived cumulative chord length distributions (CLDs) against experimental measurements. By introducing a power-law dependency of the interaction constant on polymer dosage, the model accurately predicts the experimentally observed steady state mean aggregate chord length across a polymer dose range of 50–250 g/t. At steady state, the mass mean aggregate size, D4,3¯..