Three-dimensional turbulent swirling flow in a cylinder: Experiments and computations

    Authors

    A. Gupta;R. Kumar

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow

    Keywords

    cyclone; swirling flow; turbulence; particle tracking velocimetry; renormalization; VISUALIZATION; INLET; Thermodynamics; Engineering, Mechanical; Mechanics

    Abstract

    Dynamics of the three-dimensional flow in a cyclone with tangential inlet and tangential exit were studied using particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and a three-dimensional computational model. The PTV technique is described in this paper and appears to be well suited for the current flow situation. The flow was helical in nature and a secondary recirculating flow was observed and well predicted by computations using the RNG k-epsilon turbulence model. The secondary flow was characterized by a single vortex which circulated around the axis and occupied a large fraction of the cylinder diameter. The locus of the vortex center meandered around the cylinder axis, making one complete revolution for a cylinder aspect ratio of 2. Tangential velocities from both experiments and computations were compared and found to be in good agreement. The general structure of the flow does not vary significantly as the Reynolds number is increased. However, slight changes in all components of velocity and pressure were seen as the inlet velocity is increased. By increasing the inlet aspect ratio it was observed that the vortex meandering changed significantly. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow

    Volume

    28

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2007

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    249

    Last Page

    261

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000245568100006

    ISSN

    0142-727X

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