Abstract
The gas–liquid flow characteristics for blade, single, and the double-helical swirl elements were numerically investigated and compared in this work. The Euler–Euler model assuming bi-modal bubble size distributions was used. The experiment, conducted in a vertical pipe equipped with a static blade swirl element, was used as the basis for the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In the experiment, high-resolution gamma-ray computed tomography (HireCT) was used to measure the gas volume fractions at several planes within the blade swirl element. The resulting calculated profiles of the pressure, liquid and gas velocities as well as the gas fraction showed a large influence of the swirl elements’ geometry. The evolution and characteristics of the calculated gas–liquid phase distributions in different measurement planes were found to be unique for each type of swirl element. A single gas core in the center of the pipe was observed from the simulation of the blade element, while multiple cores were observed from the simulations of the single and double helix elements. The cross-sectional gas distribution downstream of the single and double helical elements changed drastically within a relatively short distance downstream of the elements. In contrast, the single gas core downstream of the blade element was more stable.
Highlights
Static swirl elements are usually used in inline gas–liquid separators and static mixers to produce swirling flow which is suitable for the separation and mixing process, respectively
The largest pressure drop close to the entrance was observed for the double helix, the largest total pressure drop was observed in the case of the blade swirl element
The gas–liquid flow in all of the swirl generating devices was highly influenced by the swirling flow
Summary
Static swirl elements are usually used in inline gas–liquid separators and static mixers to produce swirling flow which is suitable for the separation and mixing process, respectively. Gas–liquid swirl vane separators are used in boiling water reactors (BWRs) to split a two-phase mixture from the reactor core into steam and water [1,2]. They are seen in the thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR) to remove the fission gas [3,4]. The use of swirl elements leads to a compact design of inline separators and static mixers which is beneficial in reducing the cost, solving limited space issues (e.g., in existing oil and gas production facilities), and opens new opportunities, e.g., heavy oil and deep-water subsea applications [5,6,7,8]. Despite the importance of understanding the influence of the geometric design, the knowledge obtained from both
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