Comparison between different models for rheological characterization of sludge from settling tank

Abstract

The municipal sludge characterized non-Newtonian behaviour, therefore the viscosity of the sewage sludge is not a constant value. The laboratory investigation was made using coaxial cylinder with rotating torque and gravimetric concentration of the investigated sludge ranged from 4.40% to 2.09%. This paper presents the investigation on the effect of concentration of rheological sludge behaviour. The three different rheological models: Bingham (plastic model), Ostwald-de Waele (power-law), Hershel-Bulkley’s were calculated by fitting the experimental data of shear stress as a function of shear rate to these models. In this study, the 3-parameter Herschel- Bulkley’s model fits the experimental data best.

Keywords

• Herschel-Bulkley’s model
• rheology
• sewage sludge
• viscometer measurement