[EngineeringStudent]

Hello all.
I am completing my final year of mechanical engineering and my thesis topic has been given to me from industry.

Overview
My study will be to model the flow in an existing Carbon in pulp agitation tank with the aim to find the flow directions and velocities. The tank has 4 equally spaced baffles and has an A310 down pumping impellor set up. I do not need to individually model carbon particle flow or the solids distribution.

About the Pulp
The pulp is shear thinning with a yield stress and I have gained viscosity vs strain rate plot for 0-100S^-1. It contains 40% solid particles with an average size of below 38 microns. The suspending liquid is predominately water. The slurry has a slow settling rate and even without agitation, complete settling doesnt occur. For example a sample left in a beaker overnight will only develop a thin layer of water on top (couple mm)

My Question
Everything Ive read models the solids and the liquid separately but is it possible to use my rheological testwork to model the tank as a single phase? If not any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou so much for your time