Certainties and uncertainties in CFD prediction of the end of the vortex behaviour in centrifugal separators

Abstract

This paper compares CFD simulations of the 'end of the vortex' (EoV) behaviour in centrifugal separators with experiment. The EoV was studied in 'swirl tubes', cylindrical cyclone separators with swirl vanes. We refer to the EoV as the phenomenon whereby the core of the vortex does not reach the bottom of the separator, but deviates from the swirl tube axis and attaches to the wall, where it rotates at some level above the bottom. The crucial parameters governing the EoV are geometrical, specifically the ratio of the separator length to its diameter (L/D), and operational, specifically the fluid flowrate. Swirl tubes with varying body lengths have been studied experimentally and numerically. CFD simulations were carried out using the commercial package Star-CD. The 3-D Navier-Stokes equations were solved using the finite volume method based on the SIMPLE pressure-correction algorithm and the LES turbulence model. The vortex behaviour was very similar between the experiments and the numerical simulations, this agreement being both qualitative and quantitative. However, there were some cases where the CFD predictions showed only qualitative agreement with experiments, with some of the parameter-values delimiting given types of flows being somewhat different between experiment and simulations. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.