Analysis of constitutive equations for tension on solids and permeability in

porous media
Arouca, F.O. Damasceno, J.J.R.
Univ. Federal de Uberlndia, Fac. Engenharia Qumica, Av. Joo Naves de vila, 2121,
Uberlndia-MG, Brazil;
tel. +55 (34) 3239-4292, e-mail: arouca@feq.ufu.br;
Sedimentation processes are used in a variety of industrial applications in which a
solid-fluid suspension is separated into its solid and fluid parts under the action of the gravity
field. By using the theory of mixtures of classical continuum mechanics, it is possible to
derive a mathematical model for the settling of suspensions representing the sedimentation
processes. However, the usage of constitutive equations for the permeability and tension on
solids is fundamental in the mathematical modeling of settlers. For this, the knowledge of the
solid concentration is of extreme importance for the description of the phenomena. It is
necessary to determine the constitutive equations for the pressure in solids and the
permeability of porous media, both as a function of local solid concentration. From batch
sedimentation tests and for diluted suspensions, the solid concentration can be measured by
sampling techniques, but the extension of such techniques for more concentrated suspensions
does not lead to the good results.
In this work, some constitutive equations were obtained using one not destructive
technique based on the measure of gamma rays attenuation. Once the radiation beam crosses
the environment as a function of the local concentration for several vertical positions of the
container, indirect measurements of the local concentration were done without the use of
sampling for aliquot of the suspension.
The experimental system used in the determination of solids concentration was
basically composed of a source of gamma rays, collimators, equipment for detection of
radiation, a test tube in which the suspension of the solid under study was placed, and a
device for promoting the vertical displacement of the test tube, which made it possible the
study of the sedimentation process in several positions (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Experimental system.

A solid-liquid mixture is subjected to tests in a test tube. The equation of motion for
the solid phase can be expressed by Equation 1:
dPs
l q l q s
=
- + -
gs
(1)

s
l
dz k l l s

where P is the pressure in solids, is the viscosity of the liquid, k is the permeability of the
porous media, is the density, is the local volumetric concentration and q is the surface
velocity. The indicators s and l are relative to the solid and liquid, respectively.
Taking as reference the positive sense of the axis z from the top to the base of the
sediment, at the end of a test in tube and considering the stage of the phenomenon in which
the height of the sediment does not vary anymore with the time, the constitutive equations for
the pressure in solids and permeability of the medium can be determined from Equation 1.
Taking into account that in the stationary state the surface velocities of both constituents,
liquid and solid, are null and distribution of concentrations in the sediment is known, the
pressure in solids can be determined by considering the vertical position from Equation 2:
Ps = -

s
lg

z dz
0

(2)

where L is the height of the sediment measured from the top. So, when the distribution of
volumetric fractions of the solid is known it is possible to determine the distribution of
pressures of that component. From Equation 1 it is possible to conduct a new experiment in
which the liquid is filtered under constant flow rate through the sediment supported by a
porous plate which retains the passage of solids (qs = 0), allowing to calculate the
permeability of the porous media:
ql
k
dPs d l
(3)
s l s g
d l dz
For carrying out the experiments, kaolin, calcium carbonate and glass microspheres
aqueous suspensions were used. Three replicates were carried out for each sample in order to
verify the reproducibility in each test.
The results show that significant differences exist in dynamic behaviors and in the
permeability of solid materials in aqueous medium produced from different particle sizes and
such differences are not restricted only to density differences and the shapes, but also the size
distributions. Pressures in kaolin original sample were superior to the other ones, certainly
due to the sediment to be taller. Size distributions are very significant since larger particles
possess more mass and hence settle more rapidly and it can be seen clearly analyzing the
tension on solids distributions. Isolated effects related to processes of sample dispersion, as
the size distribution of particles, cause the analysis of the process dynamic to be more
complex than it may seem at first sight.
According to the exploratory studies carried out in this work, it follows that some
classical constitutive equations available in literature are strongly dependent on the initial
estimate of parameters in tests of non-linear regression. When different equations are
compared to predict the same static behavior, the values of the parameters must not be restrict
only to the initial estimate adjustments from non-linear regressions, but it should take
dependence on physically measurable variables. Alternatively, a power model is proposed to
estimate the tension on solids.