Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2021
26th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
DIMENSIONING, ESSAY AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF FLOW IN HYDROCYCLONES
Submission Author:
Marcella Tacconi , SP
Co-Authors:
Marcella Tacconi, Thiago Marinho Maria, Leonardo Torres, Kaciane Andreola, João de Sá Brasil Lima, Gabriel Branco Olivé Fernandes
Presenter: Marcella Tacconi
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2021.COB2021-0369
Abstract
The process of recycling industrial effluents has been known to be an attractive alternative for complying with environmental standards. However, the complexity of separating heterogeneous mixtures with exceedingly small particles usually requires attention and equipment with time-consuming maintenance. Therefore, the use of the hydrocyclone proves to be effective because it provides flow to the production line, once the operation needs velocity to happen; low operational cost, since there is no internal element; and, consequently, easy maintenance. The basic principle of operation of the equipment consists of the circular movement induced by the tangential entry that results in the centrifugal inertial force, which is effective due to the difference in density between the parts of the mixture. This dynamic displaces the denser phase to the outer region of the equipment cone and eliminates it by the lower outlet (underflow) and keeps the less dense phase close to the axis of rotation and, as a result, eliminate it by the upper outlet (overflow). Although the simplicity of this equipment, the modeling of the physical phenomenon that occurs inside of it is quite complex, which hamper the adjustments in the geometric and operational variables to optimize the performance. For this reason, the main contribution of this work is presenting a sizing methodology based on the main authors, with flow rate and particle density as the most important input data to obtain customized dimensions for the proposed operating conditions; and a numerical computational simulation using ANSYS®️ CFX, more specific the BSL Reynolds Stress model, which was validated by an experimental assay performed with a manufactured hydrocyclone dimensioned by the methodology proposed previously. Both the experimental and the numerical assays were conducted with a homogeneous mixture for the purpose of understanding the fluid dynamics’ main variables, to facilitate the identification of the secondary flows, which are characteristic of this flow, and to verify the operation that the equipment was intended (clarification, thickening or classification), all these decisive factors for the efficiency of the separation were studied and identified during the tests. The reliable reproduction of the internal flow was not the exclusive outcome of the validated simulation presented in this work; it also provided a confirmation of the dimensioning methodology.
Keywords
Hydrocyclone, Separation Process, CFD simulation, BSL Reynolds
