An investigation of the effect of the particle–fluid and particle–particle interactions on the flow within a hydrocyclone

Abstract The effect of the particle–fluid and particle–particle interactions of the flow within a hydrocyclone is investigated. These were studied by applying the time scale analysis. It is shown that the particle–particle interactions, due to the lubrication and collision mechanisms, only play an important role in the vicinity of a hydrocyclone wall, and near the air core. In the remaining region, particle–fluid interactions are dominating. These play a vital role on the separation efficiency as illustrated by the significance of the wakes generated behind larger particles on dragging finer particles.

[1]  C. T. Crowe,et al.  Experiments on particle dispersion in a plane wake , 2000 .

[2]  B. C. Flintoff,et al.  Cyclone modelling: a review of present technology , 1987 .

[3]  Jan J. Cilliers,et al.  A general model for hydrocyclone partition curves , 1999 .

[4]  Raj K. Rajamani,et al.  Fluid-Flow Model of the Hydrocyclone for Concentrated Slurry Classification , 1992 .

[5]  Doraiswami Ramkrishna,et al.  A new method for estimating hindered creaming/settling velocity of particles in Polydisperse Systems , 2000 .

[6]  Koulis Pericleous,et al.  The hydrocyclone classifier — A numerical approach , 1986 .

[7]  Koulis Pericleous.  Mathematical simulation of hydrocyclones , 1987 .

[8]  M. Sommerfeld.  Validation of a stochastic Lagrangian modelling approach for inter-particle collisions in homogeneous isotropic turbulence , 2001 .

[9]  Tomasz Dyakowski,et al.  The origin of the fish-hook effect in hydrocyclone separators , 1993 .

[10]  Derek B. Ingham,et al.  The flow in industrial cyclones , 1987, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[11]  Tomasz Dyakowski,et al.  Modelling the fish-hook effect of the flow within hydrocyclones , 2002 .

[12]  J. F. Richardson,et al.  Sedimentation and fluidisation: Part I , 1997 .

[13]  C. T. Crowe,et al.  Self-organizing particle dispersion mechanism in a plane wake , 1992 .

[14]  G. Batchelor,et al.  Sedimentation in a dilute polydisperse system of interacting spheres. Part 1. General theory , 1982, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[15]  Raj K. Rajamani,et al.  Mathematical model of the hydrocyclone based on physics of fluid flow , 1991 .

[16]  Tomasz Dyakowski,et al.  The hydrodynamics of a hydrocyclone based on a three-dimensional multi-continuum model , 2000 .