Influence of geometry on separation efficiency in a hydrocyclone

Abstract

A numerical study of the gas-liquid-solid multiphase flow in hydrocyclones is presented. Three models of turbulence, the RNG k-ε model, the Reynolds stress model and Large eddy simulation with the volume of fluid model (VOF) multiphase model for simulating air core are compared in order to predict axial and tangential velocity distributions. This presentation is mainly aimed at identifying an optimal method, used to study effective parameters, based on which, eventually, effect of inlet flow rate variations and body dimension variations such as underflow diameter, overflow diameter and cone angle on the separation performance and pressure drop are investigated. The results are then used in the simulation of particle flow described by the stochastic Lagrangian model. The results suggest that the predicted size classifications are approximately similar to those of RSM and LES methods. Predictions using the RSM model are found in agreement with experimental results with a marginal error within the range of 4 to 8%. Proceeding model validation, parametric studies have been carried out concerning the influence of velocity inlet, particle size and body dimension such as underflow and overflow diameter and cone angle. The predictions demonstrate that the flow fields in the hydrocyclones with different sizes and lengths are different, which yields different performances.

Influence of Geometric Parameters of the Hydrocyclone and Sand Concentration on the Water/Sand/Heavy-Oil Separation Process: Modeling and Simulation

“…Several studies have been reported in the literature related to the separation process using hydrocyclones: Cullivan et al [5]; Petty and Parks [6]; Simões [7]; Brennan et al [8]; Delgadillo and Rajamani [9]; Sripriya et al [10]; Zhao et al [11]; Farias et al [12]; Martínez et al [13]; Mousavian and Najafi [14]; Wang and Yu [15]; Buriti [16].…”

Numerical investigation of the separation behaviours of fine particles in large dense medium cyclones

“…To model anisotropic turbulence problems, turbulence models like the Reynolds stress model (RSM) or Large eddy simulation (LES) should be used, which can both give results comparable to the experimental measurements (Brennan, 2006;Mousavian and Najafi, 2009;Wang and Yu, 2006). For computational efficiency, the RSM model combined with a standard wall function is here adopted, similar to the CFD-DEM and CFD-LPT modelling of DMC Wang et al, 2009a):…”

Study of GLR and Inlet Velocity on Hydrocyclone for Fracturing Flow‐Back Fluids

“…e upper and lower limits of the inlet velocity of the same hydrocyclone will be different under different physical parameters. Rietema suggested that the lower limits of the inlet velocity is determined by static pressure loss and the upper limits of the inlet velocity is determined by the centrifugal head [12], and many experiments have determined the maximum limit with respect to the separation efficiency [13,14]. In recent years, Zhang et al suggested that the lower limit is ascertained by the flow field stability and the upper limit is largely determined by the energy consumption [15].…”