2016 Volume 30 Issue 3 Pages 296-304
An experimental investigation was performed for the pulp-suspension flow in a channel with a partition plate, which is an extremely simplified model of the dispersion part of the hydraulic headbox of papermaking machines. This study was tried to make the papermaking system most suitable and was conducted to obtain the fundamental findings. To do it, flow visualization and optical measurements of the fiber concentration were made in the wake region of a flat plate. Characteristics of the pulp-suspension flow were examined for five flow cases based on the flow patterns found in the authors' previous report (2010) for a channel. The behavior of the pulp fibers and flow in the wake is strongly related to the flow states in the passages of the partition plate and also depends on the shear layer generated at the trailing edge of the plate. The partition plate is slightly effective for obtaining a uniform time-averaged fiber concentration distribution and for making the fluctuating fiber concentration lower.