Separation efficiency theoretical model of swirl-vane separator based on bidirectional vortex

Authors：Ouyang, Shuo; Xiong, Zhenqin^*; Zhao, Jiyun^*; Kang, Ruiqi

Source：Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2022, 170: 108984.

DOI：10.1016/j.anucene.2022.108984

• Swirl vane separator
• Rotating bidirectional flow field
• Bragg-Hawthorne equation
• Theoretical analysis model
• Separation efficiency

Swirl vane separator is a vital component to separate liquid water from gas to provide high quality steam to turbines in liquid water reactors. The gas rotating flow in the riser of a swirl vane separator is a bidirectional vortex. Its tangential velocity is similar with Rankine vortex. Its axial velocity is bidirectional. The gas bidirectional vortex is solved by constructing a Bragg-Hawthorne equation for the stream function. The gas flow velocity predicted by new method agrees quite well with CFD. The maximum velocity differences in axial direction are 6.2%. Based on this model, the droplet trajectory is obtained and a new separation efficiency model has been developed. The average difference between experiment results and the predicted separation efficiency is reduced from 14.7% to 3.1%. Moreover, parametric analysis using new model has been carried out to discuss the effect of inlet velocity, droplet diameter, swirl vane angle and hub diameter.

• Institution
  上海交通大学