Effects of the simplification in the geometry of a cyclone test facility on the swirling flow: a CFD study

A study about the influence of geometry simplification on the swirling flow of a cyclone was performed by comparing CFD results with experimental data. The numerical results were obtained by solving the mass and momentum equations with the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) for the turbulence closure. On other hand, the experimental data were obtained in the literature, the authors used the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique to measure the velocity fields and a differential manometer to measure the pressure drop. In this work, different test facility geometries configurations were simulated: the complete test facility; and others with some simplifications downstream and upstream of the cyclone. The boundary condition for both numerical and experimental analysis was performed with inlet velocity in 10.5 and 12.25 m/s. Results showed a decrease in the gas vortex velocity in the cyclone center when simplifications in the test facility geometry are made. These bring significant consequences in the performance parameters, like almost 20% in the pressure drop values.