Cyclone Performance

This example shows the granular flow of solids collecting within a cyclone This model accurately simulates the flow of solid particles from dispersed conditions right through to the packing limit, taking into account important particle-particle interactions.

 

Cyclones

Cyclone separators represent one of the most commonly used industrial devices to remove solid particles from a gas flow.

In this example, the Stairmand high efficiency cyclone was modeled using CFD. The animation shows the trajectory of different size particles and the gas pathlines in the cyclone.

The model includes the effects of heat and momentum transfer between the gas and solid particles. The performance of the cyclone was determined by calculating the separation efficiency for each particle size as shown in the graph above.

Performance

Modeling cyclone separators with CFD allows the actual performance to be quantified for a range of operating conditions and enabling evaluation of:

  • different design concepts
  • geometric changes
  • temperature changes
  • heat transfer
  • gas/particle loading
  • particle size distribution
  • wear/erosion
  • particle breakdown