Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube

Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube is a simple mechanical device with no moving parts. A high pressure feed gas enters the vortex tube through the swirl nozzles causing the feed gas to split into two thermodynamically different streams. These two streams will be having not only different velocities but also...

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Main Authors: M.R. Mirjalili, K. Ghorbanian
Format: Article
Language:fas
Published: Sharif University of Technology 2021-05-01
Series:مهندسی مکانیک شریف
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sjme.journals.sharif.edu/article_22151_6c9a163905f1ca9f764dc7604d688ae1.pdf
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author M.R. Mirjalili
K. Ghorbanian
author_facet M.R. Mirjalili
K. Ghorbanian
author_sort M.R. Mirjalili
collection DOAJ
description Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube is a simple mechanical device with no moving parts. A high pressure feed gas enters the vortex tube through the swirl nozzles causing the feed gas to split into two thermodynamically different streams. These two streams will be having not only different velocities but also distinguished temperatures that are lower and higher than the inlet feed gas temperature. This phenomenon and the associated energy separation of the feed gas through the vortex tube are strongly dependent on such parameters as geometry, position, and number of the swirl nozzles, diameter and length of the vortex tube, inlet feed gas pressure, control valves, and aperture duct size. Although the vortex tube is used for few decades across different industries, energy separation phenomenon is still neither fully explained nor agreed upon by the scientific community. This paper is an attempt at a better physical understanding of the embedded phenomenon using computational fluid dynamics via a commercial software (Fluent Software) to numerically simulate the transient flow behavior of the feed gas as well as the energy separation, resulting in distinguished gas streams in a two-dimensional and axisymmetric vortex tube. Appropriate boundary conditions are employed in the numerical simulation resembling experimental conditions from the open literature with the exception of the gas exit at the hot end which has been set to be in concert with the operation of the flow-control valve. The obtained numerical results are in good agreement with experimental data from the open literature. Further, the numerical simulation confirms the existence of free and forced vortices and indicates that the temperature of the circumferential elements towards the hot end gets hotter by receiving heat from the core flow due to the kinetic to thermal energy conversion in the presence of viscous shear stresses.
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spelling doaj.art-1eedfe5477a648f9b537e0e164af924f2023-12-03T07:27:24ZfasSharif University of Technologyمهندسی مکانیک شریف2676-47252676-47332021-05-0137.3131510.24200/j40.2020.54808.154722151Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tubeM.R. Mirjalili0K. Ghorbanian1D‌e‌p‌t. o‌f A‌e‌r‌o‌s‌p‌a‌c‌e E‌n‌g‌i‌n‌e‌e‌r‌i‌n‌g S‌h‌a‌r‌i‌f U‌n‌i‌v‌e‌r‌s‌i‌t‌y o‌f T‌e‌c‌h‌n‌o‌l‌o‌g‌yD‌e‌p‌t. o‌f A‌e‌r‌o‌s‌p‌a‌c‌e E‌n‌g‌i‌n‌e‌e‌r‌i‌n‌g S‌h‌a‌r‌i‌f U‌n‌i‌v‌e‌r‌s‌i‌t‌y o‌f T‌e‌c‌h‌n‌o‌l‌o‌g‌yRanque-Hilsch vortex tube is a simple mechanical device with no moving parts. A high pressure feed gas enters the vortex tube through the swirl nozzles causing the feed gas to split into two thermodynamically different streams. These two streams will be having not only different velocities but also distinguished temperatures that are lower and higher than the inlet feed gas temperature. This phenomenon and the associated energy separation of the feed gas through the vortex tube are strongly dependent on such parameters as geometry, position, and number of the swirl nozzles, diameter and length of the vortex tube, inlet feed gas pressure, control valves, and aperture duct size. Although the vortex tube is used for few decades across different industries, energy separation phenomenon is still neither fully explained nor agreed upon by the scientific community. This paper is an attempt at a better physical understanding of the embedded phenomenon using computational fluid dynamics via a commercial software (Fluent Software) to numerically simulate the transient flow behavior of the feed gas as well as the energy separation, resulting in distinguished gas streams in a two-dimensional and axisymmetric vortex tube. Appropriate boundary conditions are employed in the numerical simulation resembling experimental conditions from the open literature with the exception of the gas exit at the hot end which has been set to be in concert with the operation of the flow-control valve. The obtained numerical results are in good agreement with experimental data from the open literature. Further, the numerical simulation confirms the existence of free and forced vortices and indicates that the temperature of the circumferential elements towards the hot end gets hotter by receiving heat from the core flow due to the kinetic to thermal energy conversion in the presence of viscous shear stresses.https://sjme.journals.sharif.edu/article_22151_6c9a163905f1ca9f764dc7604d688ae1.pdfvortex tubetransient solutiontemperature separationcold mass fractioncomputational fluid dynamics
spellingShingle M.R. Mirjalili
K. Ghorbanian
Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
مهندسی مکانیک شریف
vortex tube
transient solution
temperature separation
cold mass fraction
computational fluid dynamics
title Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
title_full Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
title_fullStr Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
title_full_unstemmed Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
title_short Numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
title_sort numerical investigation of transient temperature separation phenomenon in vortex tube
topic vortex tube
transient solution
temperature separation
cold mass fraction
computational fluid dynamics
url https://sjme.journals.sharif.edu/article_22151_6c9a163905f1ca9f764dc7604d688ae1.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mrmirjalili numericalinvestigationoftransienttemperatureseparationphenomenoninvortextube
AT kghorbanian numericalinvestigationoftransienttemperatureseparationphenomenoninvortextube