Turbulent and mean velocity fields in a cyclonic separator with internals: experimental and numerical approaches

The behaviour of the turbulent flow inside a cyclonic separator has been investigated by experimental and numerical approaches. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to characterize the mean velocity field and turbulent statistics, while the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations were solved by finite volume method with a kappa-epsilon RNG model. Numerical results for pressure drop and flow field have been compared with experimental measurements. Regarding the global morphology of the flow, the comparison has shown a good agreement between predicted and observed results. The turbulent kinetic energy results show a region of intense fluctuations near the axis of symmetry of the cyclone.