Study on oil–water two-phase flow characteristics of the hydrocyclone under periodic excitation

Abstract

We consider a two-phase flow (oil–water) biconical hydrocyclone subjected to a periodic excitation and study its internal flow pattern. The Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) is selected as the turbulence model for the numerical simulation in the fluid domain. The numerical method for the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) is first validated by comparing the numerical results to experimental results for the single-phase flow field. The results show that the free vortex region of the hydrocyclone decreases under the influence of the vibration coupling effect, and the tangential velocity decay is significantly slower in the flow direction. The axial velocity is mainly affected in the central area of the hydrocyclone, which increases the outflow velocity and oil core region length under the periodic excitation. The symmetry of radial velocity distribution on the section far from the entrance of the hydrocyclone is worsened, and the radial velocity changes significantly with time. Under the influence of the periodic excitation, the slip velocity of the oil phase increases in a large range and the separation efficiency under the condition of vibration coupling effect is higher than that without considering the condition of vibration coupling effect.