Study of Steady and Dynamic Behavior of Gas Core of Passive Cyclonic Separator for Space Applications

Abstract

The separation of multiphase flow constituents in a microgravity environment is of considerable interest as the functionality of many spacecraft systems is dependent on the proper sequestration of interpenetrating gas and liquid phases. Cyclonic separators provide the desired gas-liquid separatory action by swirling the multiphase flow—causing the gas to accumulate along the axis of the vortex as the denser liquid is forced to the walls—thereby allowing segregated extraction of the respective phases. Passive cyclonic separators utilize only the inertia of the incoming flow to accomplish this task. In the current work, combined experimental, numerical, and phenomenological modeling analyses have been performed to quantitatively describe the steady and dynamic response of these separators. Specifically, the gas core behavior under steady conditions as well as under single-phase and multiphase injection step-changes have been examined experimentally and compared to computational fluid dynamics results. Also, a simple control-volume analysis of the cyclonic separator has been created and compared to these results. The results afford insight into the transient behavior of the device with respect to both the device and system-level conduct.