Flow Field, Turbulent Quantities and Core Stability in Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Swirling Flow: Experiment and Modeling

Compact cyclonic separators are based on swirling flow field, whereby the phases are separated due to the centrifugal forces generated by the flow. This phenomenon is common in several compact separators used by the oil, process and aerospace industries. The objective of this paper is to study experimentally and to develop a model for the hydrodynamics of dispersed two-phase swirling flow, such as present in the lower part of the Gas-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (GLCC) or in the Liquid-Liquid Cylindrical Cyclone (LLCC) compact separators. Large amounts of cyclone local measurements of swirling flow data were acquired using an LDV. These data and other published in the literature were used to develop correlations for the swirling flow field and the associated turbulent quantities, based on the swirling intensity concept. The developed correlations can be used to analyze swirling two-phase flow in pipes and cyclonic separators. Finally, an analysis of the gas core stability in the swirling flow field is presented.