Numerical Simulation and Experimental Measurement of Pressure Pulses Produced by a Pulp Screen Foil Rotor

Abstract

Pressure screening is an efficient means of removing various contaminants that degrade the appearance and strength of paper. A critical component of a screen is the rotor, which induces a tangential velocity to the suspension and produces pressure pulses to keep the screen apertures clear. To understand the effect of key design and operating variables for a NACA foil rotor, a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation was developed using FLUENT, and the results were compared to experimental measurements. Comparing the pressure pulses obtained through CFD to experimental measurements over a wide range of foil tip speeds, clearances, angles of attack, and foil cambers, general trends of the pressure pulses were similar, but the overall computed values were 40% smaller than the measured values. The pressure pulse peak was found to increase linearly with the square of tip speed for all the angles of attack studied. The maximum magnitudes of negative pressure pulse occurred for the NACA 0012 and 4312 foils at a 5deg angle of attack and for the NACA 8312 foil at 0deg. The stall angle of attack was found to be ∼5deg for NACA 8312, ∼10deg for NACA 4312, and ∼15deg for NACA 0012. The positive pressure peak near the leading edge of the foil was eliminated for foils operating at a positive angle of attack. The magnitude of the negative pressure coefficient peak increased as clearance decreased. Increased camber increases both the magnitude and width of the negative pressure pulse.