Investigation of the energy separation effect and flow mechanism inside a vortex tube

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering Vol. 67; no. 1-2; pp. 494 - 506
• Main Authors: Liu, Xingwei, Liu, Zhongliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Computational fluid dynamics; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Experimental validation; Flow parameters; Fluid flow; Fluids; Heat transfer; Numerical investigation; Outlets; Streamline contrast; Theoretical studies. Data and constants. Metering; Tubes; Turbulence; Turbulent flow; Vortex tube; Vortices; Experimental validation; Vortex tube; Flow parameters; Streamline contrast; Numerical investigation; Tube; Vortex
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.03.071

Although many efforts have been made to disclose the energy separation phenomenon based on theoretical, numerical and experimental analysis in vortex tubes, it is still difficult to provide systematical information for designing vortex tubes due to the complexity of the physical process and the shortage of fully generally-applicable theory and methods. The purpose of current study was to search an effective method to predict the energy separation and flow behavior within a vortex tube. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic model together with the experimentally validated turbulence model is established and an experimental measurement is carried out using an optimal structure of vortex tube so as to validate the computational model. The flow characteristics including the total temperature and tangential velocity were obtained. The effects of cold fluid outlet diameter on the flow and temperature separation of a counter-flow vortex tube were investigated comprehensively. The streamlines with different cold fluid outlet diameters were presented and analyzed. A possible explanation for the cold fluid outlet diameter influences on the temperature difference between the cold fluid outlet and the hot fluid outlet were also given. •Establish a 3-dimensional computational model for the given vortex tube.•Five different turbulence models were tested for the numerical calculation.•Experimental test facility was built to validate the computational model.•Essence behaviors of the separation and strong swirling were displayed.