In this paper, the
experimental validation and numerical simulation
were used to investigate the effect of the inserted solid rod on the
separation process of the hydrocyclone. The simulation results are
analyzed in terms of the pressure drop, air core, velocity component,
turbulence intensity, and separation performance when the air core
is completely inhibited or not. The results indicate that the solid
rod with the smaller size cannot completely inhibit the air core,
but it can still affect the separation process. The variable diameter
inserted solid rod (
d
vr
) could inhibit
the air core and ensure a larger effective separation space, which
could improve the separation performance of the hydrocyclone. Specifically,
the
d
vr
could improve energy conversion
ability, tangential velocity, and separation sharpness and decrease
axial velocity and turbulence intensity. Therefore, inhibiting the
air core is conducive to the separation process of hydrocyclone, and
the variable diameter inserted solid rod has better inhibited effect.
The short-circuit flow, which is discharged from the vortex finder without separation, seriously affects the processing efficiency of the hydrocyclone. In this paper, the experimental test and numerical simulation methods are used to study the effect of the vortex finder and feed parameters on the short-circuit flow and separation performance. The Reynolds Stress method (RSM), Volume of Fluid (VOF), and Mixture model were adopted to predict the separation process in the hydrocyclone. The simulation results are analyzed in terms of the short-circuit flow rate, the ratio of the short-circuit flow rate to the inlet flow rate (hereafter this paper will be abbreviated as “its ratio”) and the separation efficiency. The results indicate that the smaller vortex finder diameter, thick-walled vortex finder, and moderate vortex finder length are conducive to inhibiting the short-circuit flow and decreasing the cut size (d50). A faster inlet velocity and higher feed concentration could increase the short-circuit flow but reduce its ratio. The relatively faster inlet velocity and lower feed concentration could decrease the d50 and improve the separation efficiency.
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