Structure design and numerical simulation of novel supersonic swirling separator

Key words:  supersonics  swirling separator  relative pressure ratio  shock waves  numerical simulation

Abstract:

The static guide vanes were installed at the entrance of Laval nozzle in the novel supersonic swirling separator. The natural gas was swirled when going through the vanes, and then expanded in the Laval nozzle. In this new separator, the shock waves could be easily restricted in the diffuser. The energy loss and the impact of re evaporation could be reduced, which would improve the separation and pressure recovery performance. The flow law in the separator was obtained by numerical simulation. The results show that shock waves move to Laval nozzle from the diffuser with the increase of the relative pressure ratio, which is the ratio of the static pressure of the separator outlet to the inlet. When the relative pressure ratio is from 40％ to 73％, the novel supersonic swirling separator can work. At the nozzle exit, the Mach number is 2.0, resulting in lower temperature (-98.82 ℃)and pressure (82.945 kPa).The maximal swirling acceleration is 243 558g(g is the acceleration of gravity). The gas liquid separation of supersonic gas can be realized well.