CFD Analysis of Particle Laden Flow

in a Cyclone Separator Using RANS

and LES Methodologies

Pratik Makwana and Absar Lakdawala

Abstract In the present work, numerical study of a gas-solid flow inside reverse
flow type of cyclones are carried out using Euler-Lagrange approach. All numerical
simulations are carried out using ANSYS FLUENT having the same performance
parameters. Reynolds Stress Model and Large Eddy Simulation are applied for fluid
flow simulation, hence solid particles are simulated using Discrete Phase Model.
The objective is to study the effect of the geometrical parameters on cyclone per-
formance and to optimize the significant geometrical parameters. For that, the study
of each single parameter like vortex finder diameter, cone length, vortex finder
length, barrel height and con-tip diameter is done separately that is having different
ranges for each parameter. The final optimum design having optimum pressure drop
and optimum collection efficiency is identified from performance curves of indi-
vidual parameters. A comparison of numerical simulation of the optimum new
design and the Stairmand High-Efficiency design shows particle collection effi-
ciency and total pressure drop has significantly improved on the new proposed
design compared to the Stairmand High-Efficiency design.

Keywords Vortex finder diameter
Cone length
Vortex finder length
Barrel


height Cone-tip diameter

1 Introduction

The dust collectors like an industrial cyclone—basically a gas cleaning device—is

an apparatus that has acquired a kind of unique position among the various forms of
equipment available in the present technology especially for a chemical and process

Pratik Makwana (&)
Absar Lakdawala (&)

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Technology, Nirma University,
Ahmedabad 382481, India
e-mail: pratikmakwana14@gmail.com
Absar Lakdawala
e-mail: absar.lakdawala@nirmauni.ac.in

© Springer India 2017 669

A.K. Saha et al. (eds.), Fluid Mechanics and Fluid
Power – Contemporary Research, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering,
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2743-4_64
670 Pratik Makwana and Absar Lakdawala

industry. The most important performance variables of a gas cyclone are solid
separation efficiency and gas pressure drop. There are number of mathematical
formulations acclaimed to predict collection efficiency and pressure drop for
standard cyclone configurations. There is one more way of predicting the flow
pattern, pressure drop and the collection efficiency for all kinds of configurations of
cyclones, by CFD. As far as experimental studies of cyclone separator is concerned,
measurements of mean and fluctuating velocity components for gas cyclones with
different geometric swirl numbers by the Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) is
carried out by Hoekstra [1]. The effect of high inlet solid loadings on cyclone
pressure drop and separation efficiency were carried out by Fassani et al. [2]. As far
as CFD studies of cyclone separator is concerned, Large-eddy simulations were
performed on the gas flow in a Stairmand high efficiency cyclone at Re = 280,000
[3] hence three alternative ways of modeling particle motion were explored i.e. a
periodic-flow approach, an eddy-lifetime model and a frozen-field approach. The
single-phase LES formed the starting point for modeling solid particle motion in the
cyclone based on one-way coupling between the gas flow and solid particles. In
previous studies, cyclone simulation using PHOENICS code is done and experi-
mental studies are carried out using a Laser Doppler Anemometry by Fraser et al.
[4]. Standard k-ε model poorly predict the flow field inside the cyclone chamber.
The modified k-ε model provided better velocity distributions and agreed better
with the experimental results.

2 Solution Methodology

The cyclone considered in Fig. 1a is a Stairmand High-Efficiency Cyclone (of serial

number, S0) shows the geometrical configuration of a cyclone. Note that, the
geometrical dimensions are in proportion of cyclone body diameter (D). The dif-
ferent notations used in Fig. 1b are, Body diameter, D, Cone-tip diameter Dd, Total
cyclone height H, Cone length Hc, Barrel height H-Hc, Vortex finder diameter Dx,
Vortex finder length S, Height and Width of the inlet a and b. Grid generation is
done in ICEM CFD with multiblock, uniform and unstructured hexahedral mesh
shown in Fig. 2a.
The grid independence study is done using 4 levels of hexahedral grids 205488,
403416, 605635, and 801608. The comparison of present numerical results for a
ratio of tangential velocity to inlet velocity with experimental results (Hoekstra
2000) for four grid levels is taken. The deviation of present numerical results from
the experimental results are represented in terms of error norms L1 and L2. It is
observed that, even 403416 grid cells provide a sufficient grid independency as
there is no significant difference for L1 and L2 between 605635 and 403416 grid
cells. So, all other simulations are done on 403416 grid cells.
For all runs of simulations, performance parameters kept constant. Here for gas
phase, air with inlet velocity of 16.1 m/s having density of 1.225 kg/m3, inlet
Reynolds number of 91327 and solid-air loading ratio of 0.06 is taken. Also,
CFD Analysis of Particle Laden Flow in a Cyclone … 671

Fig. 1 a Shows the geometrical configuration of Stairmand high-efficiency cyclone (S0) where,
cyclone cylindrical diameter is D = 0.29 m and b shows the computational domain of a cyclone
which shows the different zones with color representation, whereas white zone-fluid, red
zone-solid, blue zone-inlet, orange zone-bottom wall, green zone-outlet (Color in online)

calculated turbulence intensity and hydraulic diameter are 4 % and 0.08286

respectively. For solid phase, chalk dust i.e. CaCO3 (Spherical) particles where the
particle diameter ranges from 300 µm to 1 µm having a density of 2800 kg/m3, and
with a solid mass flow of 0.001 kg/s is injected at the inlet surface. For solid particle
size distribution inside a cyclone, Rosin-Rammler Logarithmic distribution is used
where total fifteen different sizes of particles are taken.
The velocity inlet boundary condition is applied at inlet for gas phase, outflow at
top gas outlet and wall with no-slip boundary condition at remaining boundaries as
shown in Fig. 2b. For solid phase, escape boundary condition is applied at inlet and
outlet, trap at bottom wall and reflect boundary condition for all other boundaries
are applied. As far as solution method for flow simulation is concerned, PISO
scheme is used for pressure-velocity coupling. For Pressure and Momentum dis-
cretization scheme, PRESTO! and QUICK scheme is used for steady state simu-
lations. Similarly for transient simulations, Standard and Second order upwind
scheme is taken respectively for Pressure and Momentum discretization scheme and
for transient formulation, Bounded second order implicit is taken. Transient sim-
ulation for optimum configurations (with two-way coupling), time step is taken
5 × 10−4 and it took around 1.4–1.7 s to achieve steady state.
672 Pratik Makwana and Absar Lakdawala

Fig. 2 a Hexahedral grid for the Stairmand High-Efficiency cyclone and b shows the boundary
conditions with computational grid

Table 1 The geometrical configuration of sixteen cyclones; where cyclone body diameter
D = 0.29 m and rectangular inlet duct dimensions that is inlet height a = 0.5D and inlet width
b = 0.2D is same for all configurations
Barrel B1 1D Vortex VD1 0.35D Cone-tip
height B2 2.5D finder dia. VD2 0.69D dia.
B3 3.5D VD3 0.86D CT1 0.2D
CT2 0.5D
Cone C1 1.5D Vortex VL1 0.2241D CT3 0.625D
length C2 3.5D finder VL2 3.0172D
length
C3 4.5D VL3 3.4483D

Table 1 shows the detailed geometrical parameter for all cyclone configurations.
Here, Stairmand high-efficiency cyclone design (S0) is considered as a baseline
model. Total five different parameters are identified (from literature review) to
optimize that is vortex finder diameter, cone length, barrel height, cone-tip diameter
and vortex finder length. In all the cases, only a single parameter is changed, and the
CFD Analysis of Particle Laden Flow in a Cyclone … 673

other parameters kept constant i.e. same as the as the standard cyclone base design
(S0). These fifteen configurations plus Stairmand High-Efficiency cyclone (S0) is
simulated using steady state RSM turbulence with linear pressure-strain and stan-
dard wall functions. Here, one-way coupling approach is used between gas-solid
particles.

3 Results and Discussion

To validate the present methodology, the results of tangential velocity (Y-velocity)

and axial velocity (Z-velocity) measured at different sections of a cyclones are
compared with experimental results of Hoekstra (2000). Similar validation is found
in Derksen [3] using LES. For the present validation study, the steady state sim-
ulation using RSM is carried out on Stairmand High Efficiency cyclone (S0) model.
In Fig. 3, the present results of tangential and axial velocity at a section of
Z = 0.2175 m and Z = 0.725 m agrees well with experimental results.

Fig. 3 Comparisons of velocity profiles of tangential velocity (y-velocity) and axial velocity
(z-velocity) along the x-axis at y = 0 and at two axial locations: z = 0.2175 m, and z = 0.725 m
674 Pratik Makwana and Absar Lakdawala

Fig. 4 Qualitative results: static pressure contour at mid-section of x-y plane

CFD Analysis of Particle Laden Flow in a Cyclone … 675

As seen in Fig. 4 the static pressure contours (Pa) for all geometric configura-
tions considered here. A negative pressure region appears in the forced vortex
region i.e. at the central region because of high swirling motion. The pressure
gradient is higher along the radial direction, while it is limited along the axial
direction. In Fig. 5 shows snapshots at different time interval of solid particles
inside cyclone (S1). Also, the mean velocity of individual solid particle is repre-
sented by color. At t = 0.05 s solid particles are just entering from the inlet channel.
After the next time level, solid particles are approached to the bottom wall, hence
some fine particles are coming out from the top outlet. It is seen that, the mean
velocity of solid particles increases with respect to time. Figure 6 shows the vari-
ations of Euler number and Stokes number for all steady state simulations for all
five parameters. Euler number (Eu) decreases with increasing all the individual
parameters. Stokes number (Stk50) decreases with increasing cone length and barrel
height. Stk50 decreases with increasing vortex finder diameter, cone-tip diameter
and vortex finder length. After the set of steady state simulations and from their
performance curves, three optimum configurations are identified i.e. the design for
minimum pressure drop, design for maximum efficiency and the final optimum
configuration. These optimum configurations are simulated using transient LES
where, Smagorinsky Lilly is taken as subgrid-scale model. The detailed geometrical
configurations are tabulated in Table 2 for optimum configurations and their
comparison of solid particle collection efficiency and total pressure drop are shown
in Fig. 7.

Fig. 5 Particle tracking for 500 solid particles of dynamic flow for different time intervals inside
the cyclone (S1) with a color representation of the mean velocity of particles; particle size kept
constant for a better representation (actually it ranges from 1 to 300 µm)
676 Pratik Makwana and Absar Lakdawala

Fig. 6 The variation of the Euler number (Eu) and the Stokes number (Stk50) for steady state
simulations with a the Barrel height, b the Cone-tip diameter, c the Vortex finder diameter, d the
Cone length and e the Vortex finder length
CFD Analysis of Particle Laden Flow in a Cyclone … 677

Table 2 The geometrical configuration of optimum designs with Stairmand high-efficiency

standard cyclone design (S1)
Sr. Barrel Cone Vortex Vortex Cone-tip
No. height length finder finder dia. (Dd)
(H-Hc) (Hc) dia. (Dx) length (S)
Stairmand S1 1.5D 2.5D 0.5D 0.5D 0.37D
high-efficiency
standard design
Minimum pressure P0 3.5D 4.5D 0.86D 3.45D 0.625D
drop
Maximum E0 3.5D 4.5D 0.35D 0.22D 0.2D
efficiency
Optimum new O1 3.5D 4.5D 0.60D 0.5D 0.5D
design

Fig. 7 Performance curve for

transient simulations that is
for total pressure drop and
collection efficiency

4 Conclusions

As far as impact of geometry on performance is concerned, the maximum tangential

velocity inside cyclone decreases with increases the vortex finder diameter and
negligible change is noticed with increases the vortex finder length. Also, a small
change in static pressure, axial and tangential velocity profiles is noticed, as
increasing the vortex finder length. The collection efficiency decreases as vortex
finder length and vortex finder diameter increases. The maximum tangential
velocity inside the cyclone decreases with increases the cone length and barrel
height. A small change in the axial velocity is noticed, as increases the barrel
height. Increasing the barrel height and cone length decreases the pressure drop and
increases the collection efficiency. The effect of changing the cone length is more
678 Pratik Makwana and Absar Lakdawala

Table 3 Performance comparison: Stairmand standard design versus optimum new design
Cyclone configuration Sr. No. DPTotal (Pa) Collection efficiency (%)
Stairmand high-efficiency std. design S1 1143.61 53.81
Optimum new design O1 704.04 70.78

significant on the performance in comparison with the effect of changing the barrel
height. As cone-tip diameter decreases, the pressure drop increases slightly and also
the maximum tangential velocity slightly increases. The effect of the cone-tip
diameter on the cyclone performance is less significant as compared with other
parameters.
Based on the flow pattern analysis, it is concluded that cyclone collection effi-
ciency and total pressure drop is significantly improved as compared with
Stairmand standard configuration. The new proposed optimum cyclone configura-
tion (O1) is nearly one half the pressure drop and around 15–18 % efficiency is
improved (See Table 3) which is obtained by the old Stairmand standard config-
uration (S1) at the same performance parameters and boundary conditions.

References

1. Hoekstra, A.J.: Gas Flow Field and Collection Efficiency of Cyclone Separators. Ph.D. Thesis,
Delft University of Technology (2000)
2. Fassani, A.: Study of the effect of high inlet solids loading on a cyclone separator pressure drop
and collection efficiency. Powder Technol. 107, 60–65 (2000)
3. Derksen, J.: Separation performance predictions of a Stairmand high-efficiency cyclone. AIChE
49(6), 1359–1371 (2003)
4. Fraser, S.: Computational and experimental investigations in a cyclone dust separator. J. Process
Mech. Eng. 211, 247 (1997)