Investigations of the flow field inside a square cyclone separator using DPIV and CFD

¹ Opole University of Technology, Faculty of Production Engineering and Logistics, ul. Proszkowska 76, 45-758 Opole, Poland,
² Mechanical Engineering Department, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi 835215, India

^* Corresponding author: m.wasilewski@po.opole.pl

Abstract

This study used CFD and DPIV to investigate the flow field inside a square cyclone. For CFD, turbulent flow was modelled using 3D RANS equations (with an RSM complementary model). The results of the analysis indicate that the flow inside a square cyclone has two constituents: an outer, free flow and an inner, forced flow in the centre, as with cyclones with the traditional structure. Furthermore, the results indicate that the corners of a square cyclone generate additional vortexes that cause pressure drop to increase (but may, at the same time, potentially improve separation efficiency). The two methods provided highly consistent results. DPIV may be a very good method for validating results obtained with CFD, including for the analysis of flow fields.