Influence of Swirl Vane on the Low-Pressure Gas Flow in Supersonic Separators

Abstract

Supersonic separators play important roles in the development and treatment of natural gas. Swirl vane is the key part of the supersonic separator to realize gas-liquid separation. Based on the structure design of the supersonic separator and the swirl vane, the flow characteristics of natural gas in the supersonic separator under low-pressure condition were numerically simulated by changing the parameters of the swirl vane. The influences of vane structure and position on the low-pressure gas flow in supersonic separators were studied. The results show that with the increase of the rotation angle, the pressure fluctuation is more obvious, the shock wave moves forward, and the tangential velocity increases. When increasing the swirl angle, a larger swirl velocity can be obtained, but the pressure in the supersonic separator will also be greatly affected. When the swirl vane is placed before the shock wave, as the position of the blade moves forward, the location of the shock will move forward, the average tangential velocities are basically the same. But when the swirl vane is placed behind the shock wave, the existence of the vane leads to the forward movement of the shock wave, and the tangential velocity decreases sharply.