The paper describes the numerical modelling of the swirling fluid flow in the Stairmand cyclone (conical reverse-flow – CRF) with tangential inlet (equipment for separating solid particles from the gaseous fluid flow). A review of experimental and theoretical papers is conducted introducing three-dimen­sional differential equations for transfer processes.
The numerical modelling of the Stairmand cyclone the height of which is 0.75 m, diameter – 0.17 m, the height of a cylindrical part – 0.290 m, a conical part – 0,39 m and an inlet area is 0,085×0,032 m is presented. When governing three-dimensional fluid flow, transfer equations Navje-Stokes and Reynolds are solved using the finite volume method in a body-fitted co-ordinate system using standard k– e and RNG k– e model of turbulence. Modelling is realised for inlet velocity 4.64, 9.0 and 14.8 m/s (flow rate was 0.0112, 0.0245 and 0.0388 m³/s). The results obtained from the numerical tests have demonstrated that the RNG k– e model of turbulence yields a reasonably good prediction for highly swirling flows in cyclones: the presented numerical results (tangential and radial velocity profiles) are compared with numerical and experimental data obtained by other authors. The mean relative error of ± 7,5% is found.

Keywords: cyclone, solid particles, numerical modelling, turbulence, one-phase flow.

DOI: 10.3846/mla.2010.085