Modeling of the laminar swirling flow in a vortex chamber

In this paper, numerical modeling of the swirling laminar viscous flow in the vortex chamber used for the separation of fine powders into small and large fractions by a given particle size is considered. To enhance the efficiency of particle separation, it is proposed to additionally tighten the walls of the vortex chamber to equalize the circumferential velocity field and thereby to stabilize the balance of centrifugal and aerodynamic forces acting on the separated particles. In this formulation of the problem, the choice of geometrical parameters of the vortex chamber is of great importance. Reliability of the results and conclusions presented in the paper is based on test calculations, as well as on a comparison of the numerical solutions obtained in the vortex–stream function–circumferential velocity variables and in the speed–pressure variables.