Wool scouring is the first stage of wool processing, where unwanted contaminants are removed from freshly shorn wool. In most scouring machines wool is fed as a continuous mat through a series of water-filled scour and rinse bowls which are periodically drained. The purpose of this project is to mathematically model the scour bowl with the aim of improving efficiency. In this thesis four novel models of contaminant concentration within a scour bowl are developed. These are used to investigate the relationships between the operating parameters of the machine and the concentration of contamination within the scour bowl. The models use the advection-diffusion equation to simulate the settling and mixing of contamination. In the first model considered here, the scour bowl is simulated numerically using finite difference methods. Previous models of the scouring process only considered the average steady-state concentration of contamination within the entire scour bowl. This is the first wool scouring model to look at the bowl in two dimensions and to give time dependent results, hence allowing the effect of different drainage patterns to be studied. The second model looks at the important region at the top of the bowl - where the wool and water mix. The governing equations are solved analytically by averaging the concentration vertically assuming the wool layer is thin. Asymptotic analysis on this model reveals some of the fundamental behaviour of the system. The third model considers the same region by solving the governing equations through separation of variables. A fourth, fully two-dimensional, time dependent model was developed and solved using a finite element method. A model of the swelling of grease on the wool fibres is also considered since some grease can only be removed from the fibre once swollen. The swelling is modelled as a Stefan problem, a nonlinear diffusion equation with two moving boundaries, in cylindrical coordinates. Both approximate, analytical and a numerical solutions are found.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/240769 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Caunce, James Frederick, Physical, Environmental & Mathematical Sciences, Australian Defence Force Academy, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales - Australian Defence Force Academy. School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright James Frederick Caunce, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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