The application of a strain gauge technique to the measurement of the power characteristics of five impellers

The work described in this paper establishes the accuracy with which the power number can be measured within a mixing vessel and presents measurements for five impellers (Rushton, bucket, 45°-pitched blade, 60°-pitched blade and hyperboloid) as a function of rotational speed. The technique uses strain gauges and the telemetric transmission of the strain and is, therefore, more accurate than methods which involve mechanical determination of torque and that allows power measurements to be carried out in relatively small and more cost-effective models of mixing vessels. In the cases where previous data exists the results of this study compare well. This work provides new data for the bucket, 45°-pitched blade and hyperboloid (low Reynolds numbers) impellers and represented a systematic study for all five impellers with one measurement system.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the EPSRC during the course of this work.