Computational and experimental investigations in a cyclone dust separator

Three-dimensional turbulent flow in a model cyclone has been simulated using PHOENICS code and experimental studies carried out using a laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) system. The experimental results were used to validate the computed velocity distributions based on the standard and a modified k-epsilon model. The standard k-epsilon model was found to be unsatisfactory for the prediction of the flow field inside the cyclone chamber. By considering the strong swirling flow and the streamlined curvature, a k-epsilon model, modified to take account of the Richardson number, provided better velocity distributions and better agreement with the experimental results.