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ENCIT 2018
Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering
CFD SIMULATION OF A RANQUE-HILSCH VORTEX TUBE WITH 3 INLETS AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
Submission Author:
David Oliveira Almeida , CE
Co-Authors:
David Oliveira Almeida
Presenter: David Oliveira Almeida
doi://10.26678/ABCM.ENCIT2018.CIT18-0204
Abstract
A Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube is an equipment with no moving parts that uses Ranque effect to generate two streams from pressurized gas: a colder one and a hotter one. Due to its relevance in alternative refrigeration methods, the vortex tube has been studied for analysis purposes employing experimental and computational methods. The present work aims to analyze the Ranque effect using CFD methods in vortex tubes with 3 inlets and a L/D ratio of 40. For this purpose, it was used ICEM® mesh generator using blocking technique to obtain hexahedral meshes for vortex tube. Thereafter theses meshes were used to run CFD simulations in FLUENT® utilizing ideal gas e k-e turbulence model for steady state analysis. Results of CFD simulations of vortex tube at 2 bar showed a good accordance with experimental data. However, same simulation at 3 and 4 bar haven’t been as accurate as 2 bar tests, predicting thermal separation effect in a higher magnitude than expected.
Keywords
Vortex Tube, CFD, FLUENT®
