Stirring tanks are very important equipments used for mixing, separating, chemical reaction, etc. A typical stirring tank is a cylindrical vessel with an agitator driving the fluid and generating turbulence to promote mixing. Flotation cells are widely used stirring tanks in phase separation where multiphase flow is involved. Flotation refers to the process in which air bubbles selectively pick up hydrophobic particles and separate them from hydrophilic solids. This technology is used throughout the mining industry as well as the chemical and petroleum industries. In this research, efforts were made to investigate the multi-phase flow hydrodynamic problems of some flotation cells at different geometrical scales. Pitot-static and five-hope probes were employed to lab- pilot- and commercial-scale tanks for velocity measurements. It was found that the tanks with different scales have similar flow patterns over a range of Reynolds numbers. Based on the velocity measurement results, flotation tanks' performance was evaluated by checking the active volume in the bulk. A fast-response five-hole probe was designed and fabricated to study the turbulence characteristics in flotation cells under single- and multi-phase flow conditions. The jet stream in the rotor-stator domain has much higher turbulence intensity compared with other locations. The turbulent dissipation rate (TDR) in the rotor-stator domain is around 20 times higher than that near tank's wall. The TDR could be used to calculate the bubble and particle slip velocities. An isokinetic sampling probe system was developed to obtain true samples inthe multi-phase flow and then measure the local void fraction. It was found that the air bubbles are carried out by the stream and dispersed to the whole bulk. However, some of the bubbles accumulate in the inactive regions, where higher void fractions were detected. The isokinetic sampling probe was then extended to be an isokinetic borescope system, which was used to detect the bubble-particle aggregates in the tank. Aggregates were found in the high-turbulence level zones. The isokinetic sampling probe and the isokinetic borescope provide new methods for flotation tank tests. An experiment was also set up to study the dynamics of bubble particle impact. Four different modes were found for the collision. The criterion is that if the fluid drainage time is less than the residence time, the attachment will occur, otherwise, the particle will bounce back. / Ph. D.

Liquid methane is becoming an increasingly attractive rocket propellant due to its high performance characteristics and potential to support in-situ resource utilisation. Methane, however, when heated, can thermally decompose in a process known as pyrolysis. In regeneratively cooled rocket engines, the solid carbon products from the pyrolysis reactions are deposited on the walls of the cooling channels. This increases the thermal resistance of the channel walls, resulting in higher wall temperatures. In turn, this can facilitate cracking and crack propagation, presenting a potential problem in rockets, especially for future reusable designs. It will therefore be necessary to inspect the state of the cooling channels between flights. The carbon layer also changes the catalytic properties of the surface, affecting the onset temperature of methane pyrolysis, and thus impacting the pyrolysis behaviour during subsequent flights. It is possible to clean the channel using a mixture of gaseous oxygen and ozone, however, preliminary testing has indicated that not all the carbon is removed within a reasonable time frame. An experimental facility exists which can control the thermal and flow conditions in straight test channels to replicate the conditions seen in methane rocket nozzle cooling channels. The purpose of this project is to develop a system to quantitatively assess the amount of carbon deposition in these test channels after methane pyrolysis has occurred within them, and following ozone cleaning. The developed system is an optical method which uses a borescope to capture images within the coked channel. These images are then run through bespoke image processing software to determine the proportion of the inner channel wall that is coked. The software has been developed and a provisional mechanical setup has been designed. Initial validation tests have been conducted to assess the accuracy of the software used in conjunction with the borescope and camera. The results indicate that the system is capable of quantifying coke in a metal channel with an error of 1.489%±0.232% or less. / Flytande metan är på väg att bli ett mera attraktivt raketbränsle på grund av sina högprestanda-egenskaper samt potential för att stödja resursanvändning, in situ. Hursomhelst så kan metan, då uppvärmt, termiskt brytas ned i en process kallad pyrolys. I regenerativt kylda raketmotorer så utfälls de solida kolprodukterna från pyrolysen på väggarna av kylkanalerna. Detta höjer den termiska resistansen hos kanalens väggar vilket resulterar i högre väggtemperaturer. Detta kan, i sin tur, leda till spricktillväxt som väcker ett potentiellt problem med raketer, speciellt för framtida återanvändningsbara designer.Det kommer därför vara nödvändigt att inspektera skicket av kylkanalerna mellan flygningar. Kollagret förändrar också de katalyserande egenskaperna av ytan, vilket har en inverkan på begynnelsetemperaturen av metanpyrolys, som påverkar hur pyrolysen beter sig för följande flygningar.Däremot är möjligt att rena kanalerna genom att använda en blandning av syre i gasform, och ozon. Preliminära tester indikerar på att inte allt kol är borttaget inom en rimlig tidsram. En experimentell anläggning finns, som kan kontrollera tillstånd för värme och flöde i raka testkanaler för att replikera tillstånden som setts i kylkanaler i dysor för metanraketer. Syftet med detta projekt är att utveckla ett system för att kvatitativt bedöma mängden koldeposition i dessa testkanaler efter att pyrolys av metan har skett i dem, följt av ozon-rening. Det utvecklade systemet är en optisk metod som använder ett boroskop för att fånga bilder inuti den kanalen med koks. Dessa bilder körs genom ett skräddarsytt bildprocesseringsprogram för att bestämma proportionerna av den inre kanalväggen med koks. Mjukvaran har utvecklats och en provisorisk mekanisk anordning har utformats. Initiella valideringstester har genomförts för att bedöma noggrannheten av mjukvaran som använts i samband med boroskopet och kameran. Resultaten indikerar på att systemet är kapabelt att kvatifiera koks in en metallkanal med ett fel på 1,489%±0,232% eller mindre.