Global Convection Characteristics of Conical Taylor‐Couette Flow with Shear‐Thinning Fluids

Abstract A method to intensify the mixing process of scalar components within shear‐thinning fluids is proposed. A conical Taylor‐Couette flow enabled fluid elements to circulate in the entire fluid column owing to the global circulation flow (i.e., meridional flow) for keeping good local mixing within Taylor cells. The global convection and mixing characteristics were numerically investigated. The meridional flow was found to be enhanced with increasing shear‐thinning. In addition, the mixing performance was evaluated using a passive tracer. Global mixing with shear‐thinning fluids was promoted by the enhanced meridional flow compared with that of Newtonian fluids. Therefore, the conical Taylor‐Couette apparatus could be used for intensifying mixing processes in shear‐thinning fluid systems.