Breakup, Coalescence, and Migration Regularity of Bubbles under Gas–Liquid Swirling Flow in Gas–Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone

Abstract

This study investigates the bubble behavior in the lower part of the gas–liquid cylindrical cyclone experimentally and numerically. Malvern RTsizer and electrical resistance tomography were used to determine bubble size distribution and void fraction distribution, respectively. A discrete phase model was used to simulate the swirling flow field characteristics. The results indicated that as the gas flow rate increased, the small and medium-sized bubbles initially broke up and subsequently coalesced, whereas as the liquid flow rate increased, they only tended to break up. The gas core narrowed as the gas and liquid flow rates increased. The optimal gas–liquid separation performance was achieved when the liquid level was near 0.82 m. The separation mechanism of bubbles was analyzed via experimental observations and the simulated flow field distribution. An effective mechanism model based on bubble migration analysis was developed to predict the critical diameter of bubbles that can be separated.