Abstract Thickeners are widely employed as solid–liquid separation equipment in chemical engineering. This study investigates how feed velocity affects tailings flocculation in the feedwell and subsequent settling‐consolidation in the thickener body using sequentially integrated computational fluid dynamics–population balance model (CFD‐PBM) and two‐fluid model–kinetic theory of granular flow (TFM‐KTGF) models. Results indicate that floc size first increases then decreases with rising feed velocity, with optimal flocculation performance achieved at a moderate velocity of 2.0 m/s. Higher velocities reduce the initial settling rate ratio and weaken dewatering efficiency due to bed expansion and increased pulp turbulence. Floc settling velocity and solid flux exhibit a positive correlation with floc size, particularly in high‐velocity flows. An appropriate feed velocity effectively balances efficient settling of large flocs and inhibition of fine particle migration, while excessive velocity raises solids in overflow. The research provides valuable theoretical insights and practical guidance for optimizing the flocculation‐thickening process in industrial applications.
Shao et al. (Sun,) studied this question.