Numerical Simulation Of Swirl Gas-Solid Flow Control

Cyclone separators are by far the mostly used type of particulate control equipment using centrifugal force to remove particles. Their simple construction, low maintenance costs and adaptability to a widely range of operating conditions make them one of the most widely used particle removal devices in chemical engineering, metallurgy industry and environment protection. In order to make the equipment serve the industry better, the gas-solid-phase flow filed in the cyclone separator was numerical studied by using the commercial software FLUENT. It is found that the cyclone separator with slotted vortex finder has higher collection efficiency, and a lower pressure-drop. Three-dimensional simulation results of gas flow in the SVF separator indicate that the slotted vortex finder acts as a blade louver separator. The results also indicate that the slotted vortex finder could reduce the short circuit flow rate at the bottom of the vortex finder. On the basis of the gas flow field, solid particle trajectories were simulated by using the two-way coupling lagrangian scheme. The results show that most fine particles escape out of the separator though the upper slots. The results show that the flow rate of gas running into exhaust pipe through the vortex finder slots increases with the increases of the slot area, and the flow rate retains constant when the slot area ratio is more than 2.9; the short circuit flow rate is reduced by the slotted vortex finder and less than 5% of the inlet flow when the slot area ratio is more than 1.94. The number of escaped particles though slots increase as the slot area increases, and the number of the escaped particles though vortex finder bottom decrease as the slot area increases. Besides, the effects of the vortex finder structural parameters on the gas-solid- phase flow were studied to provide references for the design and operation of cyclone separator, including the width of the slot in the vortex finder and the angle of the slot. The above results have a certain reference value for the research on the separation mechanism of cyclone separator.