A method for estimating the residence time of dispersed particles in the channel of a counter-current vortex tube

Abstract

In this paper, the process of removing spherical particles from an incompressible fluid through the hot outlet of a vortex tube is investigated. The removal rate was estimated through computational simulations using OpenFOAM software. The numerical solution was carried out using denseParticleFoam solver of OpenFOAM, which implements the multiphase particle-in-cell (MP-PIC) method using the Eulerian approach for the continuous phase and the Lagrangian approach for the dispersed phase. Five series of numerical experiments were carried out, with variations in the initial particle position in the inlet stream and the density of the dispersed phase. Based on the results of the experiments, a relationship has been established between the density of particles and the time they remain in the vortex tube. The relationship between the particle density and the time it takes for the particles to reach the opposite end of the tube with a hot outlet diaphragm is demonstrated. The method of processing the obtained results is described. The possibility of using linear and quadratic approximations to estimate the residence time of particles in a tube channel is considered. For each set of experiments, confidence intervals and the mean absolute percentage error for the prepared approximation have been calculated.