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Abstract
In analysing the treatment and transport of slurries (i.e. particle loaded fluids) in minerals processing, it is common to come up against significant challenges from the perspective of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling, especially in trying to optimise their transport – to maintain uniformity of particle distribution or minimise their abrasive effects. These flows are essentially multi-component, non-Newtonian and their context is such that they may well involve complex free surfaces and also be in rotating equipment, as well, of course, involving rather complex geometrical configurations. Here we describe CFD models of some key slurry transport processes using a finite volume unstructured mesh-based code using a range of numerical procedures – algebraic slip models for capturing the particulate behaviour, scalar equation algorithms for the free surfaces and source-sink algorithms for the flow through rotating machinery. Applications of the above phenomena coupled are described together with some of the challenges in configuring CFD models.