Numerical prediction of vortex flow and thermal separation in a subsonic vortex tube

This work was aimed at gaining understanding of the physical behaviours of the flow and temperature separation process in a vortex tube. To investigate the cold mass fraction’s effect on the temperature separation, the numerical calculation was carried out using an algebraic Reynolds stress model (ASM) and the standard k-ε model. The modelling of turbulence of com-pressible, complex flows used in the simulation is discussed. Emphasis is given to the derivation of the ASM for 2D axisymmet-rical flows, particularly to the model constants in the algebraic Reynolds stress equations. The TEFESS code, based on a staggered Finite Volume approach with the standard k-ε model and first-order numerical schemes, was used to carry out all the computations. The predicted results for strongly swirling turbulent compressible flow in a vortex tube suggested that the use of the ASM leads to better agreement between the numerical results and experimental data, while the k-ε model cannot capture the stabilizing effect of the swirl.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Investigation of the Separation Process in a Vortex Tube at Different Operating Conditions

Air separators provide safe, clean, and appropriate air flow to engines and are widely used in vehicles with large engines such as ships and submarines. In this operational study, the separation process in a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube cleaning （cooling） system is investigated to analyze the impact of the operating gas type on the vortex tube performance; the operating gases used are air, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The computational fluid dynamic model used is equipped with a three-dimensional structure, and the steady-state condition is applied during computations. The standard k-c turbulence model is employed to resolve nonlinear flow equations, and various key parameters, such as hot and cold exhaust thermal drops, and power separation rates, are described numerically. The results show that nitrogen dioxide creates the greatest separation power out of all gases tested, and the numerical results are validated by good agreement with available experimental data. In addition, a comparison is made between the use of two different boundary conditions, the pressure-far-field and the pressure-outlet, when analyzing complex turbulent flows in the air separators. Results present a comprehensive and practical solution for use in future numerical studies.

Experimental Study and 3D CFD Analysis on the Optimization of Throttle Angle for a Convergent Vortex Tube

Seven adjustments of convergent-type Vortex Tube （VT） with different throttle angles were applied. The adjustments were made to analyze the influences of such angles on cold and hot temperature drops as well as flow structures inside the VTs. An experimental setup was designed, and tests were performed on different convergent VT configurations at injection pressures ranging from 0.45 to 0.65 MPa. The angles of the throttle valve were arranged between 30° to 90°, and the numbers of injection nozzles ranged between 2 and 6. Laboratory results indicated that the maximum hot and cold temperature drops ranged from 23.24 to 35 K and from 22.87 to 32.88 K, respectively, at four injection nozzles. Results also showed that temperature drop is a function of hot throttle valve angle with the maximum hot and cold temperature drops depending on the angle applied. We used graphs to demonstrate the changes in the cold and hot temperature drops with respect to hot throttle angle values. These values were interpreted and evaluated to determine the optimum angle, which was 60°. The CFD outputs agreed very well with the laboratory results. The proposed CFD results can help future researchers gain good insights into the complicated separation process taking place inside the VTs.

Simulation and Experimental Analysis of Vortex Tube Using Steel Material

Experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are investigated through the vortex tube system. The benefit of vortex tube is a counter flow type tube, which has further designed and fabricated for investigation. The whole set up is consisting of a simple device that can separate a single stream of compressed air into two streams;one is at high temperature and the other is lower temperature following an inlet gas stream. The advantages of this tube are their compactness, safety, and low equipment cost mainly used in cooling and heating applications. This study addressed three-dimensional flows;the domain is using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method and experimental approach to optimize the direction of RHVT. Through the CFD analysis, the best cold end diameter (dc), number of nozzles, and the best parameters for obtaining the highest hot gas temperature and lowest cold gas temperature were obtained and verified by experimental procedures.

Flow Past an Accumulator Unit of an Underwater Energy Storage System： Three Touching Balloons in a Floral Configuration

An LES simulation of flow over an accumulator unit of an underwater compressed air energy storage facility was conducted. The accumulator unit consists of three touching underwater balloons arranged in a floral configuration. The structure of the flow was examined via three dimensional iso surfaces of the Q criterion. Vortical cores were observed on the leeward surface of the balloons. The swirling tube flows generated by these vortical cores were depicted through three dimensional path lines. The flow dynamics were visualized via time series snapshots of two dimensional vorticity contours perpendicular to the flow direction; revealing the turbulent swinging motions of the aforementioned shedding-swirling tube flows. The time history of the hydrodynamic loading was presented in terms of lift and drag coefficients. Drag coefficient of each individual balloon in the floral configuration was smaller than that of a single balloon. It was found that the total drag coefficient of the floral unit of three touching balloons, i.e. summation of the drag coefficients of the balloons, is not too much larger than that of a single balloon whereas it provides three times the storage capacity. In addition to its practical significance in designing appropriate foundation and supports, the instantaneous hydrodynamic loading was used to determine the frequency of the turbulent swirling-swinging motions of the shedding vortex tubes; the Strouhal number was found to be larger than that of a single sphere at the same Reynolds number.

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of flows in bifurcate channel at rotating inflow boundary conditions and resulted different outflow fluxes

The Lattice Boltzmann method （LBM） is used to simulate the flow field in a bifurcate channel which is a simplified model of the draft tube of hydraulic turbine machine. According to the simulation results, some qualitative conclusions can be deduced. The reason of uneven flux in different branches of draft tube is given. Not only the vortex rope itself, but also the attenuation of the rotation strength is important in bringing on the uneven flux. The later leads to adverse pressure gradient, and changes the velocity profile. If the outlet contains more than one exit, the one that contains the vortex rope will lose flux because of this adverse pressure gradient. Several possible methods can be used to minimize the adverse pressure gradient domain in order to improve the efficiency of turbine machine.

The study of key design parameters effects on the vortex tube performance

In this paper, energy separation effect in a vortex tube has been investigated using a CFD model. Thenumerical simulation has been done due to the complex structure of flow. The governing equationshave been solved by FLUENT code in 2D and 3D compressible and turbulent model. The effects ofgeometrical and thermo-physical parameters have been investigated. The results have shown that theoptimum length to diameter ratio is from 25 to 35. Increasing the number of nozzles from 2 to 4 withconvergent shape is found to be an efficient configuration for the swirl generator. The optimum valueof orifice diameter to tube diameter ratio, for the maximum cold air temperature difference and efficiency,has been determined to be around 0.58. The results show that if the inlet pressure increases upto a critical value, the efficiency will increase. Nevertheless, if it increases to higher values, the efficiencywill decrease. Moreover, it is found out that increasing the cold fraction decreases the coldtemperature difference and efficiency.

Temperature and Pressure Measurements at Cold Exit of Counter-flow Vortex Tube with Flow Visualization of Reversed Flow

In order to clarify the structure of the cold flow discharged from the counter-flow vortex tube(VT), the temperature and pressure of the cold flow were measured, and the existence and behavior of the reversed flow at the cold exit was studied using a simple flow visualization technique consisting of a 0.75mm-diameter needle, and an oil paint droplet. It is observed through this experiment that the Pitot pressure at the cold exit center can either be lower or higher than atmospheric pressure, depending on the inlet pressure and the cold fraction, and that a reversed flow is observed when the Pitot pressure at the cold exit center is lower than atmospheric pressure. In addition, it is observed that when reducing the cold fraction from unity at any arbitrary inlet pressure, the region of reversed and colder flow in the central part of cold exit extends in the downstream direction.

Effects of Tangential Velocity Distribution on Flow Stability in a Draft Tube

Numerical simulations of the flow in the draft tube of a Francis turbine are carried out in order to elucidate the effects of tangential velocity on flow stability.Influence of the location of the maximum tangential velocity is explored considering the equality of the total energy at the inlet of the draft tube.It is found that the amplitude of the pressure fluctuation decreases when the location of the maximum of the tangential velocity moves from the centre to the wall on the cross section.Thus,the stability of the flow in the draft tube increases with the moving of the location of the maximum tangential velocity.However,the relative hydraulic loss increases and the recovery coefficient of the draft tube decreases slightly.