7. Conclusions and future work
Experimental results showed energy efficient pseudohom-
ogeneous-like flow behaviour when a mixture of coarse (20-
200 mm) granite rock in tar sand railings ( - 1 mm) in mass
proportions 1:9 was transported at a total volumetric concen-
tration of 31% in a 0.44 m i.d, pipeline loop. Similar results
were obtained with an industrially comminuted copper ore
( - 100 ram; d5()=0.75 ram) when pumped in a 0.2 m i.d.
pipe at a concentration of 39%.
The partially-stratified friction loss model proposed by
Wilson et al. [ 1 ] predicted well observed losses of hematite
ore at a concentration of 23% (D = 0.1 m). With a slightly
heavier and coarser magnetite ore the model tended to under-
estimate losses at concentrations of 14-29%.
The favourable friction loss performance in some results
may demonstrate how broad particle size distributions and
high concentrations cause reduced pipe wall friction without
influence of true rheological mechanisms. An alternative way
of characterizing experimental data in terms of q~ versus V~
~,' is introduced. Further work will include generalization efforts and the effect of particle attrition in loop experiments
will be emphasized specifically.