Secondary flows occurring in a whirlpool separator – A study of phenomena – observation, simulation and measurements

• Authors: Marek Jakubowski
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The whirlpool separator, used for hot trub separation, is prevalent in the brewing industry. It is a kind of a hydrocyclone inside of which a tea leaf effect occurs, which is sediment accumulation into a cone shape at the central part of the tank’s bottom. This manner of sediment accumulation is caused by the secondary flow occurring in the so-called Ekman boundary layer. This article is a summary of the research, which has been conducted for many years and involved observation, simulation and experimental research on the recognition and formation of the secondary flow accumulating the sediment cone. Secondary flows occurring in a whirlpool were identified through CFD simulation and PIV experiments, and are presented in this paper. Based on their location and direction, an attempt to determine their impact on the separation process taking place in the whirlpool has been made. The secondary flow identification methods proposed in this paper can be successfully applied in other solutions, e. g. structural ones, which involve rotational-flow-based separation.

Keywords

EN

whirlpool; CFD; PIV

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Chemical and Process Engineering
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 277-289

Dates

published

1 - 9 - 2015

revised

12 - 4 - 2015

received

18 - 1 - 2015

accepted

30 - 7 - 2015

online

5 - 11 - 2015

Contributors

author

Marek Jakubowski

• Koszalin University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Food Industry Processes and Facilities, Raclawicka 15-17,75-620 Koszalin, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/cpe-2015-0019