Cyclonic two-phase flow separator experimentation and simulation for use in a microgravity environment

Devices designed to replace the absent buoyancy separation mechanism within a microgravity environment are of considerable interest to NASA as the functionality of many spacecraft systems are dependent on the proper sequestration of interpenetrating gas and liquid phases. Cyclonic separators provide the gas-liquid separatory action by swirling the multiphase flow – causing the gas to accumulate along the axis of the vortex as the denser liquid is forced to the walls – thereby allowing segregated extraction of the respective phases. Passive cyclonic separators utilize only the inertia of the incoming flow to accomplish this task. In the current work, combined experimental, numerical, and scaling analyses have been performed to quantitatively assess and delimit the operability of these separators. Specifically, steady-state features including velocity profiles have been examined experimentally and compared to computational fluid dynamics results, scaling laws for the gas core size have been created, and the transient behavior of the device with respect to both device and system-level conduct has been modeled.