Undissolved air in oil causes various problems for hydraulic systems and strongly decreases the efficiency of the system. In this respect, the hydraulic reservoir as the only component that performs the function of releasing the accumulated air from the system is relevant. In recent years, the air release efficiency in hydraulic reservoirs has been studied both experimentally and in simulation. However, in none of the according studies dynamically changing flow conditions have been considered.

In this paper, the air release behaviour of a hydraulic reservoir is investigated through simulation, considering the dynamics of the system. The developed multiphase CFD model utilizes the open-source CFD tool, OpenFOAM®, based on a Lagrangian Particle Tracking (LPT) within an Eulerian phase. The simulations have been conducted varying the key variables such as oil flow rate and air load at the inlet of the reservoir and yield the air content at the outlet.

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