To
investigate the separation performance of a novel liquid–liquid
dynamic hydrocyclone (LLDH), a series of experiments and numerical
simulations were conducted. Algebraic slip mixture model was used
to simulate the multiphase flow in the LLDH, in which the turbulence
was modeled using Reynolds stress model and the rotation of the walls
was modeled by multiple reference frame model. The numerical results
showed a good agreement with the observations and measurements in
experiments. The results showed that the increase of rotation speed
would strengthen the swirling intensity in LLDH and thereby separation
efficiency was raised. However, increase of flow rate would decrease
the residence time of oil droplets, causing reduction in efficiency.
By comparison, flow split ratio had slight influence on the flow field,
and the efficiency rose a little as flow split ratio increased. The
efficiency of the LLDH could remain high when the nondimensional rotation
rate was large enough.