The article presents the results of studies of the secondary swirling effect in supersonic rotating gas and plasma flows. It is shown that the secondary twist of the jets of gas flowing from the nozzle apparatus generates a cascade structure of vortices that separate energy in the field of azimuthal and radial pressure gradients. As shown by the calculations, the effect of energy separation is more significant the higher the level of secondary twisting of the nozzle jets, which, in turn, is determined by the level of energy dissipation. Experimental confirmations of the revealed cascade mechanism of energy separation in supersonic swirling gas flows are discussed.

This article presents the results of simulation for a special type of vortex tubes -self-vacuuming vortex tube (SVVT), for which extreme values of temperature separation and vacuum are realized. The main results of this study are the flow structure in the SVVT and energy loss estimations on oblique shock waves, gas friction, instant expansion and organization of vortex bundles in SVVT. Keywords: self-vacuuming vortex tube, supersonic swirling gas flows, oblique shock wave, rotating cord. Nomenclature t -time,-Cartesian coordinates, -Reynolds-averaged components of instantaneous velocity vector in the Cartesian coordinate system, -pulsation components of instantaneous velocity vector in the Cartesian coordinate system, -density, p -pressure, h t -total enthalpy, T -temperature, λcoefficient of thermal conductivity, C p -specific heat capacity at constant pressure, µ -dynamic viscosity, -components of turbulent stress tensor, k -specific turbulent kinetic energy, ωspecific rate of dissipation of k, P * -total (stagnation) pressure, T * -total (stagnation) temperature.

Despite the application of vortex tubes for cooling, separating gas mixtures, vacuuming, etc., the mechanism of energy separation in vortex tubes remains an object of discussion. This paper studies the effect of secondary swirling in supersonic flows on the energy separation of monatomic and diatomic gases. The approach used is a numerical solution of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, closed by the Reynolds Stress Model turbulence model. The modelling provided is for a self-vacuuming vortex tube with air, helium, argon, and carbon dioxide. According to the results of the calculations, the effect of secondary swirling is inherent only in viscous gases. A comparison was made between obtained total temperature difference, the level of secondary swirling and power losses on expansion from the nozzle, compression shocks, friction, turbulence, and energy costs to develop cascaded swirl structures. Our results indicate that helium and argon have the highest swirling degree and, consequently, the highest energy separation. Moreover, it can be concluded that the power costs on the development of cascaded vortex structures have a significant role in the efficiency of energy separation.

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