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Experiment 1 Conclusions
The very clear spike in the data effluent turbidity at the flow rate of approximately 18 mL/min represents the point at which the floc particles began to roll up the tube settler, which was confirmed visually in the experimental apparatus. The velocity represents the critical velocity. At a certain velocity, the turbidity stabilizes, and stops increasing. This is because, at a certain point, the number of flocs rolling up in the settler cannot increase anymore , therefore and thus the turbidity cannot increase anymore. Given the current data that has been collected, we are not sure if this curve accurately represents how the turbidity should change during the ramp state function. (Compare this with your theory. Is this what you expected?) theory expects floc rollup to occur at
These experimental results can be compared with the expected results of our theoretical floc rollup calculations. Theoretical calculations for a 9.5 mm diameter plate settler tube predict that floc rollup should start to occur at a flow rate of 15.693 mL/min. Comparing this theoretical value with the observed floc rollup flow rate of approximately 18 mL/min above, we see that the experimental observations support the theoretical calculations quite well within experimental error.
Experiment 2: Ramp State Function with 15.3mm Tube Settler Diameter
This experiment starts with a flow rate of 6 mL/min and gradually increases to a flow rate of 140 mL/min over the course of 24 hours. This flow rate range corresponds to a capture velocity range of approximately 0.127 mm/s to 2.963 mm/s.
Figure 12: Effluent Turbidity vs. Flow Rate
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Unlike the results for the 9.5mm tube, there isn't a is no obvious sharp increase in the effluent turbidity. Although the turbidity of the effluent water increases, the increase in the does increase as the flow rate is increased, this change in turbidity is minimal compared to the 9.5 mm tube. Although the The effluent tubidity is slightly higher than our standard of 1 NTU, but this is not a significant enough difference to assume that floc roll-up rollup has occured. Thus, there is no clear evidence of floc roll up. (Why is this the case? Did theory predict that floc roll-up would occur? Can you speculate why this did not happen? Should you test at higher velocities?) theory expects floc rollup to occur at 65.557 mL/minFurthermore, theoretical calculations for a 15.3 mm diameter plate settler tube predict that floc rollup should start to occur at a flow rate of 65.557 mL/min. Analyzing the results plotted in Figure 2 above with this in mind, we see no visual confirmation of this predicted floc rollup flow rate in the form of a sharp peak in turbidity in the data. Therefore, we have concluded that there is no clear evidence that floc rollup has occured. Due to the fact that the predicted values from our theoretical model calculations matched the observed results for the 9.5 mm tube quite well, we propose running more experiments with the 15.3 mm tube to verify whether the above discrepancy was due to experimental error or a problem with the theoretical model in predicting floc rollup in larger diameter tubes.