NUMERICAL SIMULATION FOR HYDROCYCLONE DESIGNED TO HIGH OIL CONTENT APPLICATION / SIMULAÇÃO NUMÉRICA DO ESCOAMENTO EM HIDROCICLONE DESTINADO A APLICAÇÕES DE ALTO TEOR DE ÓLEO

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

Cyclonic separation has became more and more important during the last decades as a unit process for gas-liquid, liquid-liquid and solid-liquid separation, mostly in the Petroleum industry. The off-shore exploration¿s growth requires the development of smaller and lighter equipment. This can be achieved by cyclonic separation once centrifugal fields are several times stronger than gravity. This allows the construction of very compact systems. The major difference between the various cyclones is their geometry. Cyclone optimization for different uses is, every year, less based on experiments and more based on mathematical models. In the present work, the applicability of turbulent models, Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) and Large Eddy Simulation, was investigated to predict the flow inside a high oil content hydrocyclone, comparing the results with experimental and numerical data available in the literature. After this point, the influence on flow of operational and geometric parameters such as inlet flow, roughness and hydrocyclone length was evaluated. Both models have shown advantages and problems, being LES more accurate over turbulent parameters. Regarding the changing on hydrocyclone parameters, RSM model was able to foresee, on good agreement with experimental data, the expected results like reduction on pressure drop with: the inlet flow decreasing; increasing of roughness; and length.

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