Effect of secondary swirl in supersonic gas and plasma flows in the self-vacuuming vortex tube

Vyacheslav Volov,Anton Lyaskin,A Mebel,V Azyazov

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201820900020

Abstract

This article presents the results of simulation for a special type of vortex tubes – self-vacuuming vortex tube (SVT), for which extreme values of temperature separation and pressure drop are realized. The main results of this study are the flow structure in the SVT and energy loss estimations on oblique shock waves, gas friction, instant expansion and organization of vortex bundles in SVT.

Highlights

Vortex flows have been of significant interest since the mid-20th century because of their occurrence in industrial applications (Gupta et al [1])
There are some engineering models for calculation of flows and thermodynamic performances of self-vacuuming vortex tube (SVT) [15, 16]. Though they allowed creating a new class of electro-discharged devices (CO2-lasers and plasmatrons [14]), still there are no theoretical studies of the flow behaviour in SVT based on modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation technics
Comparison of viscous and inviscid flow simulation results revealed that while direct friction and turbulent losses are rather small, viscous effects play a significant role, drastically changing the general flow pattern

Summary

Introduction

Vortex flows have been of significant interest since the mid-20th century because of their occurrence in industrial applications (Gupta et al [1]). In addition to traditional applications of vortex tubes, this school proposed for them a number of new utilizations in aviation, chemical industry, power industry, agriculture, etc Special merit of this scientific school is the creation of vortex electro-discharged devices: CO2-lasers and plasmatrons [14, 15]. None has been able to fully explain the one This fact is partially compensated by the numerical models of flow in vortex tubes. There are some engineering models for calculation of flows and thermodynamic performances of SVT [15, 16] Though they allowed creating a new class of electro-discharged devices (CO2-lasers and plasmatrons [14]), still there are no theoretical studies of the flow behaviour in SVT based on modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation technics. The present paper is devoted to the CFD study of strongly swirling gas flows in SVT based on the RSM turbulence model

Schematics of the problem geometry

Mathematical model

Numerical model

Results and discussion

Conclusion