Flow and mixing performance in helical ribbon mixers

▸ Chaotic manifolds are used to depict the topological structure of mixing flows. ▸ We establish how to calculate, visualize and interpret chaotic manifolds in 3D. ▸ The SPH method and mixing is used to analyse the 3D flow in a helical ribbon mixer. ▸ A detailed understanding of the mixing dynamics in these mixers is established. ▸ Changes in mixing performance are related to geometry changes of the mixer.