PEPT: an invaluable tool for 3-D particle tracking and CFD simulation verification in hydrocyclone studies

Abstract

Particle tracks in a hydrocyclone generated both experimentally by positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) and numerically with Eulerian-Lagranian CFD have been studied and compared. A hydrocyclone with a cylinder-on-cone design was used in this study, the geometries used in the CFD simulations and in the experiments being identical. It is shown that it is possible to track a fast-moving particle in a hydrocyclone using PEPT with high temporal and spatial resolutions. The numerical 3-D particle trajectories were generated using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model for the fluid and Lagrangian particle tracking for the particles. The behaviors of the particles were analyzed in detail and were found to be consistent between experiments and CFD simulations. The tracks of the particles are discussed and related to the fluid flow field visualized in the CFD simulations using the cross-sectional static pressure distribution.