chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemical Engineering Research and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cherd

Effects of the inlet angle on the ow pattern and

pressure drop of a cyclone with helical-roof inlet
Dzmitry Misiulia ,1 , Anders Gustav Andersson, Tord Staffan Lundstrm
Division of Fluid and Experimental Mechanics, Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics,
Lule University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lule, Sweden

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:

The effects of inlet angle on the ow pattern and pressure drop in cyclones have been

Received 13 May 2015

numerically investigated using Large Eddy Simulations with the dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly

Received in revised form 18 June

subgrid-scale. Five cyclones with helical-roof inlets of different inlet angles and ve cyclones

2015

with tangential inlets of different inlet heights at the same other geometric dimensions are

Accepted 28 June 2015

considered. The results show that, increasing the inlet angle as well as the inlet height (inlet

Available online 6 July 2015

area) decreases the absolute values of positive (close to the cyclone wall) and negative (in the

Keywords:

reduce the collection efciency. Also, increasing the inlet angle reduces the gas ow rates

central region) static pressure and tangential velocity in the cyclone body that will probably
Cyclone

along the cyclone axis in both downward (outer) and upward (inner) vortices and increases

Inlet angle

the maximum radial velocity under the vortex nder that can enhance the number of small

Flow pattern

particles entrained by the gas ow and transferred from that region into the vortex nder

Pressure drop

and negatively affect the overall collection efciency. The cyclone pressure drop is mainly

Large eddy simulation

generated by the losses in the cyclone body (under the vortex nder) and in the vortex
nder. There is a signicant decrease in pressure drop with increase of inlet angle. Based on
the simulations an expression for the dimensionless pressure drop normalized by the inlet
velocity for the cyclone with helical-roof inlet of different inlet angles is derived. Cyclones
with helical-roof inlets have a higher aerodynamic efciency as compared to cyclones with
tangential inlets, and the highest aerodynamic efciency was reached with an inlet angle
of 20 .
2015 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Cyclone separators are probably the most widely used devices

for removing particles from gases, because of their relative
ease of operation. Especially popular are reverse-ow cyclones
with spiral, tangential and helical-roof inlet. The rst cyclone
patent (No. US 325521) was granted to John M. Finch of the
United States back in 1885 and assigned to the Knickerbocker
Company (Hoffmann and Stein, 2008). In Europe the rst

design of a cyclone was patented by the same company in

Germany (No. DE 39219) in 1886. Since then, a lot of studies
have been done to improve cyclone performance, i.e., pressure drop and separation efciency, which are governed by
many factors, among which cyclone geometry is one of the
most important.
The inlet dimensions and conguration are among the
most relevant parameters inuencing the ow pattern within
and performance of cyclones as reported in many articles. To

Corresponding author. Postal address: Division of Fluid and Experimental Mechanics, Department of Engineering Sciences and Mathematics, Lule University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lule, Sweden. Tel.: +46 0 920 492392; fax: +46 0 920 491074.
E-mail addresses: dzmitry.misiulia@ltu.se, dzmitry.misiulia@gmail.com (D. Misiulia), anders.g.andersson@ltu.se (A.G. Andersson),
staffan.lundstrom@ltu.se (T.S. Lundstrm).
1
Permanent address: Department of Machines and Apparatus for Chemical and Silicate Production, Belarusian State Technological
University, 13a Sverdlova str., 220006 Minsk, Belarus
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2015.06.036
0263-8762/ 2015 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

308

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

exemplify, Elsayed and Lacor (2011a) showed that, increasing the inlet dimensions decreases the maximum tangential
velocity in the cyclone and pressure drop and increases the
cyclone cut-off diameter. They found that the effect of changing the inlet width is more signicant than the inlet height
especially for the cut-off diameter and the optimum ratio
of inlet width b to inlet height a is somewhere between 0.5
and 0.7. Gimbun et al. (2005) showed that predicted pressure drop coefcients are proportional to the inlet area,
which has also been conrmed experimentally by Hsiao et al.
(2015). Hsiao et al. (2015) reported that reducing the inlet area
under a constant operation ow rate increased the pressure
drop and cut-off diameter while the pressure drop coefcient decreased. Their experimental results on examining the
effect of the inlet aspect ratio (a/b) did not show a clear trend
for the pressure drop coefcient, but the cut-off diameter
decreased gradually with increasing a/b. However Iozia and
Leith (1990) reported that the cyclone efciency is independent of a/b, and the pressure drop of a cyclone with large
a/b is lower than that of a cyclone with a small a/b. Lidn
and Gudmundsson (1997) argued that the cut-off size ought
to be independent of the inlet geometry. Kenny and Gussman
(2000) tested cyclones with different circular inlet model parts
and suggested that the inlet was most important with respect
to the effect of the cut-off diameter. Erdal and Shirazi (2006)
reported that, the gradually reduced inlet nozzle geometry is
the preferred geometry. Furthermore, the signicant effects
of the cyclone inlet dimensions on the cyclone performance
have been reported by Movafaghian et al. (2000) and Avci and
Karagoz (2001).
Some investigations have been done to derive the effect of
inlet angle on cyclone performance with somewhat contradictory results. Funk et al. (2001) experimentally investigated
cyclones with square and rectangular inlets at three inlet
angles (10 , 0 , 10 ). They found that square and angled
inlet modications lowered cyclone performance. Introducing dustladen air into a cyclone at an upward angle of 10
such that it strikes the top of the cyclone reduced collection
efciency by 0.25%, from 0.9931 to 0.9906, while introducing
the airow downward did not reduce efciency substantially
from the efciency realized with a horizontal inlet duct, the
difference was 0.025%. Bernardo et al. (2005) numerically
investigated a tangential cyclone with inlet angle of 45 and
compared their results to experimental measurements of the
cyclone with a conventional 0 angled inlet. They reported that
increasing the inlet angle reduced the collection efciency
from 92% to 90.5% and increased pressure drop from 579 to
620 Pa. However later, Bernardo et al. (2006) computationally
investigated an industrial-sized cyclone with a normal scroll
0 angled inlet and the three scroll inlet angles 30 , 45 and
60 . Their numerical results showed that increasing inlet section angle decreased the total pressure drop, while the overall
collection efciency increased for the cyclone with inlet section angle 30 and 45 and decreased for the cyclone with 60
inlet angle. Under the same operating conditions the predicted
overall collection efciency for the cyclone with = 45 was
77.2%, while that for the normal inlet duct was 54.4%. Qian
and Zhang (2007) numerically investigated the gas ow eld
of a tangential cyclone with three inlet section angles (0 , 30 ,
45 ) at the same inlet velocity (15 m/s) perpendicular to the
inlet plane. They found that the inlet section angle increased
the pressure drop of the cyclone whereas the pressure drop
coefcients decreased. For calculating the pressure drop coefcients, they used the velocity in the inlet direction rather

than the inlet velocity. However, the later investigation of Qian

and Wu (2009) showed that with increasing the inlet section
angle the cyclone pressure drop decreased and total separation efciency increased. They reported that a 45 inlet section
angle is the best option and it can reduce pressure drop of a
cyclone by 15% and greatly increase the separation efciency.
Also, the separation capability of a cyclone can be increased
by using a multi-inlet conguration (DeOtte, 1990; Moore and
McFarland, 1996; Gautam and Sreenath, 1997; Movafaghian
et al., 2000; Lim et al., 2003; Zhao, 2005; Zhao et al., 2004, 2006;
Yoshida et al., 2005, 2009; Martignoni et al., 2007).
In summary, despite the fact that a lot of work has been
done to disclose the inuence from inlet area, inlet aspect
ratio, inlet section angle, number of inlets and the shape of
the inlet section on the ow pattern and performance of a
cyclone, the effects of inlet angle are not yet fully understood. Moreover, all articles mentioned above were focused
on investigation of the inlet dimensions and conguration
of cyclones with tangential or spiral inlets (with a at roof),
wherein inclined inlet duct a priori creates unfavorable conditions for uid ow in the upper part of a cyclone body close
to the roof. The ow either strikes the top of the cyclone at
negative inlet angle or secondary ows appear there and a socalled dead zone is created at positive inlet angle. New studies
are needed to fully understand the effect of inlet angle on
the ow pattern and cyclone performance especially regarding cyclones with helical-roof inlet. Collection efciency of a
cyclone is largely determined by its aerodynamics. Therefore,
the objective of the present study is to computationally investigate the effect of inlet angle on the ow pattern and pressure
drop of a cyclone with helical-roof inlet using Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

2.

Numerical set-up

2.1.
Selection of the numerical model and governing
equations
The rst numerical derivations of the ow eld in a cyclone
separator were probably performed by Boysan et al. (1982).
From that time, CFD has been a successful method for performance estimations of cyclone separators. CFD is based
on Navier-Stokes equations and turbulence is often modeled.
However, the most accurate approach is direct numerical simulation (DNS) where the whole range of spatial and temporal
scales of turbulence are resolved. The number of grid points
required for fully resolved DNS is, however, enormously large,
especially for high Reynolds number (Re) ows, and hence
DNS is restricted to relatively low Re and limited geometries.
An alternative approach is the large eddy simulation (LES)
technique that is based on a separation between large and
small turbulent scales. Scales that are of a characteristic size
greater than the grid size are calculated directly and called
large or resolved scales, and others are called small or subgridscales (SGS) and are modelled. LES is accepted as a promising
numerical tool for solving the large-scale unsteady behavior of
complex turbulent ows. The LES methodology has been used
in many studies on highly swirling ow in cyclone separators
(Derksen and Van den Akker, 2000; Slack et al., 2000; Shalaby
et al., 2005; Lipowsky and Sommerfeld, 2007; Martignoni et al.,
2007; Shalaby, 2007; Derksen et al., 2008; Shalaby et al., 2008;
Elsayed, 2011; Elsayed and Lacor, 2011b, 2013; Misiulia et al.,
2015).

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

The governing equations for LES are obtained by ltering

the time-dependent NavierStokes equations in the physical
space. The resulting equations thus govern the dynamics of
the large eddies. Since the Mach numbers in a cyclone are
small the ow can be treated as incompressible. The ltered
Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible ow can be
written in the following way:
u i
= 0,
xi

(1)

u i
u
1 p

+
+ u j i =
xj
I xi
xj
t

 

u j
u i
+
xj
xi



sgs

ij

xi

sgs

= uiuj ui uj .

time-stepping second order backward Euler transient scheme

were applied.
Concerning interpolation schemes, ANSYS CFX uses a colocated (non-staggered) grid layout such that the control
volumes are identical for all transport equations. For pressure
velocity coupling the fourth order strategy similar to the one
proposed by Rhie and Chow (1982) and modied by Majumdar
(1988) to remove the dependence of the steady-state solution
on the time step was used.
Since the uid was treated as a non-buoyant ow, the
standard parametric shape functions and the following interpolation types were used:

(2)

where, u and p are ltered uid velocity and static pressure; 

is kinematic viscosity;  is the uid density;  ij sgs is the SGS
stress, which includes the effect of the small scales and is
dened as
ij

(a) linear-linear pressure interpolation type for interpolating

nodal pressures to integration points for the pressure gradient term of the momentum equation;
(b) trilinear method for interpolating nodal velocities to integration points for the velocity divergence term in the
continuity equation.

(3)

2.3.

By usage of an eddy viscosity approach the following

expressions are obtained:

sgs

ij
sgs

s ij

1
2

sgs

3 kk

sgs

= 2 sgs s ij ,

u j
u i
+
xj
xi

(4)
,

sgs

where, is the Kronecker delta ( = 1 if i = j and = 0 if i =

/ j), s ij
is the large-scale strain rate tensor; sgs is the SGS viscosity
which represents only the small scales.
The Dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly SGS model (Germano
et al., 1991; Lilly, 1992) has been used in this study. This
model is based on the Germano-identity and uses information
contained in the resolved turbulent velocity eld to evaluate the model coefcient, which is no longer a constant
value and adopts automatically to the type of ow. The second advantage with the dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly model
over the Smagorinsky model (Smagorinsky, 1963) is the treatment near the wall. In this model, a damping function for
the eddy viscosity near the wall is not required, since the
model constant goes to zero in the laminar region just near
the wall (Elsayed, 2011). An elaborate explanation on LES can
be found in several textbooks (Pope, 2000; Sagaut, 2006; Wilcox,
2006).

2.2.

309

Discretization of the governing equations

The governing equations were solved using the commercial solver ANSYS CFX 15.0, wherein a unique hybrid
nite-element/nite-volume approach is used to discretize
NavierStokes equations. As a nite volume method, it satises strict global conservation by enforcing local conservation
over control volumes that are constructed around each
mesh vertex or node. The nite element methodology is
used to describe the solution variation (needed for various
surface uxes and source terms) within each control volume.
The choice of the discretization schemes has a tremendous
inuence on the simulation results. The unbounded central
difference advection scheme and the more accurate implicit

Conguration of the cyclones

A virtual model of an industrial reverse-ow cylinder-on-cone

cyclone separator with helical-roof inlet and with an internal
body diameter of 0.24 m (Fig. 1) was used for the numerical
computations. In order to study the effects of the inlet angle on
the ow pattern and pressure drop of the cyclone, the gas ow
was calculated for ve = 7 , 11 , 15 , 20 and 25 . The inlet
height of the cyclone with helical-roof inlet directly depends
on the inlet angle and can be dened as
a = 0.5(D + De + 2vf )tga,

(5)

where, D is the internal cyclone body diameter, De is the

internal vortex nder diameter, vf is the vortex nder wall
thickness.
According to Eq. (5), increasing the inlet angle in a cyclone
with helical-roof inlet increases the inlet height and consequently the inlet area and as a result reduces inlet velocity
at the same ow rate. The effects of inlet angle in a cyclone
with helical-roof inlet are determined by change of a and by
pure change of without an altering of a. In order to obtain
these effects separately ve cyclones with = 0 with different a where dened as well as ve cyclones where was
allowed to take the following values 7 , 11 , 15 , 20 and
25 . In total, 10 cyclone congurations were created using a
parametric feature-based solid modeler Ansys DesignModeler 15.0. The cyclone dimensions are given in Fig. 1 and
Table 1.
The difference in geometry between the ten cyclones can
basically be characterized with the geometrical swirl number Sg , which is a measure of the ratio of tangential to axial
momentum (Hoekstra et al., 1999; Elsayed, 2011), dened by
(Syred and Beer, 1974; Gupta et al., 1984), and is given by
Sg =

De D
.
4ab

(6)

Generally for industrial gas cyclones, the geometrical swirl

number varies between 1.5 and 4.0 (Hoekstra et al., 1999) or 1.0
and 5.0 (Hoekstra, 2000). Table 1 shows that the tested cyclones
cover this range. This implies that the obtained results can be
directly applied to industrial cyclones.

310

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Fig. 1 The cyclone dimensions and congurations: is the inlet angle; a is the inlet height; b is the inlet width; D is the
barrel (body) diameter; De is the vortex nder diameter; d is the cone-tip (dust outlet) diameter; H is the cyclone height; h is
the height of the cylindrical section; hc is the height of the conical section; l is the length of the inlet section; s is the vortex
nder length. (2-column tting image).

2.4.

CFD grid and grid independence study

The hexahedral computational grids were generated by dividing the whole cyclone geometry into a number of blocks and
then meshing each block separately using Ansys Meshing 15.0.
A grid independence study was performed for cyclone 2 h
(see Table 1) with four levels of grid, 0.85, 1.27, 1.92 and 2.63
million nodes, to be sure that the obtained results are grid
independent. The detailed results of this are presented in
Misiulia et al. (2015) and it can be concluded that even the
coarsest grid gave rather good predictions. However, to reduce
the uncertainty, for all ten cyclones meshes with approximately 1.31.5 million nodes have been created where the total
number of grid points was not that critical with respect to the
computational resources. This is presented in Table 2 which
shows that all important measures of mesh quality (mesh
orthogonality, aspect ratio and expansion factor) are within
correct ranges indicating that all meshes are of rather high
quality. Resolving the boundary layers with LES leads to high
resolution requirements and computing times as it should be

resolved with at least 15 points across the boundary layer and

with the rst grid point at a position of approximately y+ = 1
with small aspect ratios (ANSYS CFX-Solver Modeling Guide,
2013). Since the boundary layer thickness is usually quite small
within the cyclone body because of high swirling ow, no ination layers were created in meshes and therefore the boundary
layer structure was not fully resolved. The area-weighted averaged value of the dimensionless distance from the wall to the
rst node y+ for all tested cyclones is given in Table 2. The
surface mesh of cyclone 2 h is presented in Fig. 2.

2.5.

Boundary conditions

At the inlet, velocity prole boundary condition is applied corresponding to the mass ow rate Qin of 0.19075 kg/s and the
mean (supercial) axial velocity in the cyclone body of 3.5 m/s
being the optimal velocity for that type of cyclones (Lazarev,
2006). The velocity proles for fully developed ow in rectangular ducts (Fig. 3) corresponding to cyclone inlet dimensions
(height and width) were obtained using the Reynolds stress

Table 1 The geometrical dimensions of the cyclone considered (normalized with the cyclone internal body diameter
D = 0.24 m).
Cyclonea

ab /D

Cyclone 1 h
Cyclone 1t
Cyclone 2hd
Cyclone 2t
Cyclone 3hd
Cyclone 3t
Cyclone 4 h
Cyclone 4t
Cyclone 5 h
Cyclone 5t

7
0
11
0
15
0
20
0
25
0

a
b
c
d

sb /D

hb /D

0.31

1.09

0.48
0.66
0.91

bb /D

0.26

De b, c /D

0.59

1.17

Letters h (helical) and t (tangential) mean the type of inlet.

Internal dimension.
Vortex nder wall thickness is 0.00 m.
Industrial cyclones TsN-11 and TsN-15 (Lazarev, 2006).

db /D

0.35

l/D

0.6

hc /D

H/D

Sg

1.91

4.21

5.75

1.26

2.08

4.38

3.71

1.44

2.26

4.56

2.7

1.69

2.51

4.81

1.96

1.95

2.77

5.07

1.52

Mesh characteristic

Cyclone no.

Total number of nodes 10

Total number of elements 106
Minimum orthogonal angle,
(recommended by CFXa >20 ),
Maximum expansion factor
(recommended by CFXa <5)
Maximum aspect ratio
(recom-mended by CFXa <10,000)
Orthogonal quality
(1best, 0worst)
Skewness (0best,
1worst)
Area-weighted averaged y+
Courant number
Cyclone volume 102 , (m3 )
Flow average residence time, (s)
a

Minimum
Average
Maximum
Average
390.6
RMS
Maximum
4.292
0.27

1h

1t

2h

2t

3h

3t

4h

4t

5h

1.298
1.252
56.8

1.292
1.247
34

1.319
1.273
61.3

1.351
1.303
33.9

1.375
1.326
39.8

1.407
1.357
34

1.436
1.384
53.2

1.478
1.424
34

1.508
1.455
53.8

5t
1.533
1.475
33.9

0.381
0.991
0.806
0.068
429.7
0.904
3.065
4.373
0.276

0.36
0.99
0.775
0.069
293.4
0.968
3.4
4.445
0.28

0.565
0.991
0.705
0.068
330.8
0.721
2.817
4.572
0.288

0.359
0.99
0.775
0.069
239.3
0.807
2.744
4.607
0.291

0.504
0.991
0.732
0.069
271.4
0.607
2.704
4.78
0.302

0.359
0.988
0.775
0.069
193.1
0.687
2.671
4.83
0.305

0.582
0.99
0.743
0.071
220.3
0.499
1.915
5.069
0.32

0.358
0.989
0.775
0.069
173.4
0.576
2.118
5.065
0.339

0.555
0.981
0.762
0.084
191.9
0.448
1.961
5.37
0.32

0.358
0.989
0.775
0.069
0.495
2.083

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Table 2 Characteristics of the CFD grids and boundary conditions.

According to ANSYS CFX-Solver Modeling Guide (2013).

311

312

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Fig. 2 The surface mesh for cyclone 2 h. (single-column

tting image).
model developed by Speziale et al. (1991). An air density of
1.2047 kg/m3 and a dynamic viscosity of 1.831 105 Pa s corresponding to an air temperature of 20 C were used, leading
to a Re of about 5.5 104 based on the cyclone body diameter
and the mean axial velocity in the cyclone body.
An opening boundary condition with zero pressure normal
gradient was applied at the outlet. This implies that uid can
both leave and enter through the outlet. A no-slip smooth wall
boundary condition was used for the other boundaries.

2.6.
Selection of the time step, convergence criteria and
other settings
The time dependency is specied by the time duration and
the time steps. The selection of an appropriate time step size
is essential in order to obtain a good convergence. At each
time step in a transient simulation, several coefcient iterations or loops are carried out. A value of 3 iterations per time

step should be sufcient for most single phase simulations,

and values higher than 5 are unlikely to improve accuracy
and will tend to degrade solution accuracy (ANSYS CFX-Solver
Modeling Guide, 2013). The Courant number is of fundamental
importance for transient ows. It denes the relation between
temporal and spatial discretization accuracy. For highly unstable problems, such as cyclones, very small time steps can be
needed in order to accurately resolve transient details. For
accuracy using LES, the average Courant number should be in
the range of 0.51 (ANSYS CFX-Solver Modeling Guide, 2013).
With respect to the convergence criteria, the root-meansquare (RMS) scaled residuals were set to 5 105 . It was
found (Misiulia et al., 2015) that reducing the RMS residuals to
5 106 did not affect the results. The time step was 5 105
s resulting in an average RMS Courant number of 0.51 for
different mass ow rates (see Table 2). At the same time, 34
coefcient iterations were performed within one time step.
This conrms that the used time step can reveal the transient
phenomena properly.
The simulations were performed using Ansys CFX 15.0
commercial solver on 116 cores on a 64-bit Linux cluster resulting in total CPU running time of 600 hours (25 days) in a
similar manner as done for a number of applications e.g.,
(Andersson et al., 2014; Burstrm et al., 2015; Larsson et al.,
2015a,b). Some representative quantities such as axial velocities at certain points in the cyclone body, static and total
pressures, positive and negative mass ow rates at different
cut planes and pressure drop were monitored. In average, the
cyclone ow reached a fully developed state after 800012,000
iterations (t = 0.40.6 s). After that, the averaging process
started. The arithmetic averaging in the present study was
done with respect to time. For LES, typically 100010,000 time
steps are required to yield converged statistics (ANSYS CFXSolver Modeling Guide, 2013). The average ow residence time
in a cyclone can be computed as the cyclone volume divided
by the volumetric ow rate. The cyclone volume and the average ow residence time for each cyclone are given in Table 2.
Despite the fact that the averaged results obtained over 2000,
5000 and 10,000 iterations were almost the same, the simulation time for averaging was 0.5 s, which is 1.471.85 times
larger than the average ow residence time in the cyclones. All
time-averaged characteristics of the ow have been obtained
over 10,000 time steps.

Fig. 3 Velocity prole inlet boundary condition [m/s] for cyclones (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3, (d) 4 and (e) 5. (2-column tting image).

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

3.

Validation of the numerical model

The numerical model was validated by comparing the predicted tangential and axial velocity proles at three cut planes,
total pressure drop and cut-off diameter with experimental
data for the cyclone with = 11 and the results were published
by Misiulia et al. (2015). Considering the complexity of the turbulent swirling ow in the cyclone, the agreement between
the predicted and measured velocity proles was considered
to be acceptable. The total pressure drop and cut-off diameter obtained with LES agreed very well with the experimental
data, having only 3% maximum discrepancy. The comparison showed that the LES with dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly SGS
model can be used to analyze the gas ow eld and performance of the cyclone separator with helical-roof inlet.

4.

Results and discussion

4.1.

Flow pattern

The ow pattern in a cyclone can be described from the distribution of the static pressure and velocity elds within it. The
velocity of the uid ow in the cyclone can be resolved into
three components: tangential, axial and radial. Fig. 4 shows
the contours plots for the time-averaged static pressure, tangential, axial and radial velocity components at a vertical YZ
plane located at X = 0 for all 10 cyclones investigated. Also,
comparison of the tangential and axial velocity proles predicted in cyclones with different inlet angle and inlet heights
has been made at the three horizontal cut planes given in
Fig. 1. The radial proles of the predicted tangential and axial
velocities are presented in Fig. 5, and are scaled with the mean
axial velocity in the cyclone body according to
wz =

4.1.1.

4Qin
.
D2

(7)

Static pressure

The pressure pattern is similar for all cyclones studied. Since

gas moves from the outer to the inner part of the vortex in the
cyclone body, it is accelerated in accordance with the principle
of conservation of moment-of-momentum and its static pressure decreases radially from the wall to the center because
of the centrifugal eld induced by the vortex ow. The static
pressure in the vortex nder also increases with radial position since the ow is still swirling there. The pressure gradient
is largest along the radial direction, while the gradient in the
axial direction is small. A negative pressure zone appears in
the forced vortex region (central region) due to high swirling
motion. This means that the vortex transforms static pressure
into dynamic pressure. This conversion is larger in the cyclone
with tangential inlet compared to helical-roof inlet since at the
same inlet velocity, cyclones with tangential inlet have a more
intense vortex and as a result higher static pressure at the wall
and a lower static pressure at the central region. Increasing
and a (inlet area) decreases the absolute values of positive
(close to the cyclone wall) and negative (in the central region)
static pressure.

4.1.2.

Tangential velocity

The tangential velocity is the largest and most important

velocity component, which results in a centrifugal force
for particle separation. Figs. 4(b) and 5 show that the tangential velocity distribution in all 10 investigated cyclones

313

and at various cut sections resembles the expected Rankine

combined vortex, which includes a quasi-forced vortex (solidbody) rotation in the central (core) region and a quasi-free
vortex in the outer region. In the core region the tangential
velocity increases with radius and after reaching its peak
the tangential velocity decreases with radius in the outer
part. Due to wall friction, tangential velocities exhibit a
drop close to the wall. In the vortex nder, the tangential
velocities decreases in the direction to the gas outlet. This
can be explained by friction at the vortex nder wall and in
the vortex core. The vortex core is slightly widening with the
decrease of inlet angle while the tangential velocity proles
differ strongly in absolute value. Increasing (as well as
increasing a in the cyclone with tangential inlet) reduces the
tangential velocities in the cyclone. Tangential inlet produces
more intense centrifugal eld in the cyclone compared to
helical-roof inlet, and therefore a better collection efciency
can be expected. It can be seen from Fig. 4(b) that there are
rather high tangential velocities at the region where the
gas enters the cyclone body close to the vortex nder. The
maximum tangential velocity in the main separation zone in
a cyclone body is one of the most important factors for estimating cyclone performance, especially collection efciency.
The time-averaged maximum tangential velocities along the
axis of the cyclone in the z-direction are presented in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 shows that as soon as the ow enters the cyclone body
rather high tangential velocities are created in the region close
to the vortex nder. Moreover, in the cyclones with the smallest inlet area (cyclones 1 h and 1t) the tangential velocity is
highest in that region. The maximum tangential velocity in the
downwardly directed ow in the angular space between the
cyclone body and the vortex nder decreases in a downward
direction. In all tested cyclones (except cyclones 1 h and 1t), the
maximum tangential velocities are created in the main separation zone in a cyclone body and they are almost constant
from the bottom of the vortex nder to the lower part of the
cyclone cone (until z/D = 0.5). Then the maximum tangential
velocity slightly diminishes in the direction to the dust outlet.
As soon as the ow enters the vortex nder, the maximum
tangential velocity sharply decreases at a very short distance
from z/D = 2.83.0. This reduction is less pronounced for the
rest of the part of the vortex nder. This effect is more signicant for the cyclone with lower inlet angle since the swirl
in the vortex nder is more intense and therefore the friction
losses at the wall and in the vortex are higher. A reduction of
the inlet angle from 25 to 7 results in an increase of the maximum tangential velocity in the cyclone body from 7.2 to 15.6
times the mean axial velocity in a cyclone body, which in turn,
will enhance the collection efciency. The maximum tangential velocity is higher in the cyclone with tangential inlet and
the effect of changing the inlet height (or Sg at the same other
dimensions) has the similar inuence as the inlet angle. The
predicted time-averaged tangential velocities show that the
centrifugal eld strongly depends on and a.

4.1.3.

Axial velocity

Axial velocity is quite an important velocity component of the

gas ow in a cyclone since it enables particle transport to the
dust hopper. The axial velocity prole in the cyclone body and
in the vortex nder has an M shape. In the cyclone body,
the axial velocity distribution indicates the existence of two
ow streams which are divided by the surface at which the
axial velocity equals zero, i.e., a downward ow directed to the
cyclone bottom (negative axial velocity) close to the cyclone

314

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Fig. 4 The contour plots for the time averaged (a) static pressure [Pa], (b) tangential velocity (anticlockwise is positive and
clockwise is negative) [m/s], (c) axial velocity (upward is positive and downward is negative) [m/s] and (d) radial velocity
(positive in the direction of increasing radial coordinate and negative in the direction of decreasing) [m/s] at YZ plane (X = 0).
(2-column tting image).
wall, and an upward ow directed to the outlet at smaller
radii. Near the centerline, there is a region of zero axial velocity
or even ow reversal. The shape of the axial velocity proles
is also affected by the inlet angle, however this effect is not

so signicant in comparison with tangential velocity prole

(Fig. 5). The edge of the core region corresponds with the maximum axial velocity, and in the cyclone body (Fig. 5(b), (c)) the
vortex core exhibits a dip in the axial velocity or even reverse

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

315

Fig. 5 Comparison between the radial prole for the time-averaged tangential (absolute value) and axial velocities in the
cyclones at different sections on the YZ plane (X = 0): (a) section II, (b) section IIII, (c) section IIIIII. (2-column tting image).

ow. This may be explained by loss of swirl in the vortex nder

(see Figs. 5(b) and 6), which results in and adverse (positive)
pressure gradient at the centerline. Hence, uid with less swirl
is drawn back from the vortex nder into the cyclone. The
maximum axial velocity is almost independent of inlet angle,
that can be explained by the fact that the simulations were
done at the same mass ow rate, i.e., mean axial velocity in a
cyclone body. Near the wall, the gas is owing downwards. As a
result of radial inow, the downwardly directed ow becomes
weaker while proceeding towards the dust hopper. At the gas
outlet, the ow exits mainly through the near wall region while
the time-averaged axial velocity in the central region is close
to zero or even negative.
In order to more fully describe the effect of inlet angle (and
the inlet height) on axial velocity distribution in the cyclone,
the mass ow rates along the cyclone axis were computed
based on the predicted axial velocity ow eld. The downward
(negative) and upward (positive) mass ow rates were calculated at different cut planes along the cyclone axis for each

time step by integrating the time dependent axial velocity wax

with the area

r2
Q =

2rwax dr,

(8)

r1

Where, r is a radius.
The calculated time-averaged downward and upward
dimensionless ow rates (normalized by the inlet ow rate)
along the cyclone axis are presented in Fig. 7.
The inlet angle has the following effects on the ow rates
along the axis in the cyclone with helical-roof inlet:
(1) in the angular space between the cyclone body and the vortex nder the negative mass ow rate is slightly larger than
at the inlet that can be explained by involving a small part
of ow in the recirculation zones (so-called secondary
ows created by pressure gradients caused by the swirling

316

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Fig. 6 Dimensionless time-averaged maximum tangential velocity in the cyclone body (a) and in the vortex nder (b).
(2-column tting image).

motion) there and it increases with the decrease of inlet

angle;
(2) in the main separation zone (under the vortex nder) the
ow rate signicantly reduces in the direction from the
bottom of the vortex nder to the cone tip and with the
increase of inlet angle. The effect of inlet angle is somewhat contradictory to the results published by Qian and
Zhang (2007). They calculated the ow rate at the bottom of the vortex nder for three different inlet angles (0 ,
30 and 45 ) and concluded that increasing the inlet angle

Fig. 7 Dimensionless time-averaged ow rates along the

cyclone axis. (1.5-column tting image).

can effectively decrease the shortcut ow rate (difference

between the inlet and downward ow rates) at the bottom
of the vortex nder, i.e. increase the downward ow rate.
The amount of ow crossing the dust outlet section and
moving to the dust hopper and back at inlet angles of 7 ,
11 , 15 , 20 and 25 equal to 15.1, 13.7, 12.7, 11.8 and 10.6%
of the inlet ow rate respectively;
(3) in the bottom part of the vortex nder the ow rate is a
little bit larger than the inlet ow rate since a small part of
ow recirculates there. Increasing the inlet angle from 7 to
25 decreases the amount of recirculating ow from 9.2 to
2.7%. In the middle part of the vortex nder there is practically upwardly directed ow (except the cyclone with inlet
angle of 7 where the recirculation zones still exist). In the
upper part of the vortex nder the ow rate is increasing
in the direction to the gas outlet and decreases with the
increase of inlet angle. At the outlet, the amount of incoming ow for the cyclone with inlet angle of 7 , 11 , 15 , 20
and 25 equal to 42.1, 34.4, 26.8, 17.9 and 12.9% of the inlet
ow respectively. It happens since the gas ow at the outlet is still swirling and negative pressure in the vortex core
is created that leads to incoming ow from the surrounding. It is important to notice that calculating the mass ow
rate at the outlet using time-averaged axial velocity ow
eld (instead of using time dependent axial velocity ow
eld and then averaging the mass ow rate in time) gives
the value of incoming mass ow rate at the outlet close to
0. This is because the region with negative axial velocity at
the outlet is not constant in time and size and a vortex core
quasi periodically rotates around the cyclones geometric
axis (Fig. 8). This phenomenon is known as the precessing
vortex core (PVC). Fig. 8 shows the contour plots for the
axial velocity at the outlet at three different simulation
times (0, 0.25 and 0.5 s) for the cyclone 2 h. The aim of the
present study does not include the PVC investigation, and

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

317

Fig. 8 Time dependent axial velocity [m/s] at the outlet for the cyclone 2 h at different simulation time (a) 0, (b) 0.25 and (c)
0.5 s. (2-column tting image).
Fig. 8 just helps to explain that for a correct calculation
of the mass ow rate at the outlet time dependent axial
velocity must be used rather than time-averaged.
Comparing cyclones with a helical-roof and tangential
inlet, the outer and inner vortices are more intense in the latter since the ow rate in the outer vortex in the direction to the
dust hopper is larger as well as at the gas outlet. That is agreed
with the predicted maximum radial velocity, which is lower
in the cyclone with tangential inlet. The effect of increasing
the inlet height in the cyclone with tangential inlet has the
similar tendency as the effect of inlet angle in a cyclone with
helical-roof inlet.

4.1.4.

Radial velocity

The radial velocity affects the particle bypass and is important for the analysis of the particle collection and losses of
efciency. Fig. 4(d) shows that in general, the radial velocities
are much smaller than the tangential velocities and are not
uniform with height. In the inner region the distribution of
the radial velocity is positive on one side and negative at the
other side, that can be explained by the vortex core precession. There is a region right under the vortex nder, where gas
directly ows into the vortex nder instead of spinning down
to the conical part and then owing upward, thereby creates
short-circuiting ow. It is often referred to as lip leakage
which deteriorates cyclone separation capability. Moreover,
the radial velocity in that region has the maximum absolute
value and comparable with the maximum tangential velocity
in the cyclone. The effect of changing inlet dimensions (inlet
angle and inlet height) on the maximum time-averaged radial
velocity in the cyclone with helical-roof and tangential inlet is
presented in Fig. 9.
Fig. 9 shows that in the cyclone with helical-roof inlet
the maximum radial velocity signicantly increases with the
changing inlet angle from 7 to 11 and to a smaller extent for
inlet angles in-between 11 and 25 . From that point of view,
increasing the inlet angle can enhance the number of small
particles entrained by the gas ow and transferred from that
region into the vortex nder and negatively affect the overall
collection efciency. In the cyclone with tangential inlet the
maximum radial velocity is smaller compared to the cyclone
with helical-roof inlet at the same geometric dimensions (inlet
aspect ratio and geometric swirl number).

4.2.

pressure drop over the cyclone (Hoffmann and Stein, 2008).

Pressure drop is an important performance characteristic of a
cyclone since it determines its operating cost that is proportional to the energy required to overcome the pressure drop.
The pressure drop over a cyclone was calculated as a difference between the area-averaged total pressure (the sum of
the static and dynamic pressures) at the inlet and outlet. The
calculated pressure drops of the cyclones at each time step
within the averaging time and the time-averaged pressure
drops are presented in Fig. 10. Fig. 10(a) shows that the predicted pressure drops are quasi-constant (oscillating around
the time-averaged value), that proves that the gas ow in
the cyclones was fully developed. The time-averaged pressure
drops of the cyclone with helical-roof inlet with different inlet
angles and the effect of solely the inlet angle (at the same other
dimensions) is presented in Fig. 10(b) in the form of pressure
drop reduction in percentage terms
= 100(pc ( = 0) pc ())/pc ( = 0).

(9)

It can be seen from the Fig. 10(b) that the inlet angle
greatly affects the pressure drop in a cyclone with helicalroof inlet. Increasing the inlet angle from 7 to 11 , 15 , 20
and 25 reduced the pressure drop from 3385 to 1770, 1122,
706 and 511 Pa respectively. Also, using a helical-roof inlet
instead of tangential one signicantly reduces the pressure
drop. Increasing the inlet angle from 0 to 7 and 11 reduces

Pressure drop

Friction at the walls and in the vortex core leads to dissipation of mechanical energy which gives rise to the permanent

Fig. 9 Dimensionless time-averaged maximum radial

velocity in the cyclone body (right under the vortex nder).
(single-column tting image).

318

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Fig. 10 Time dependent (a) and time-averaged (b) pressure drops of the cyclones. (2-column or two single column tting
images).
the cyclone pressure drop by 22.1 and 28.2% respectively, while
cyclones with helical-roof inlet with the inlet angle in-between
15 and 25 have approximately 30% less pressure drop compared to the cyclone with tangential inlet. The maximum
pressure drop reduction of 31.2% was obtained for the inlet
angle of 20 .
The pressure drop over a cyclone pc can be subdivided in
four contributions:
(1) losses in the inlet section,
(2) losses in the annular space between a cyclone body and a
vortex nder,
(3) losses in the main cyclone body (under the vortex nder),
(4) losses in the vortex nder.
The calculated dimensionless pressure losses (scaled with
the total pressure drop) are illustrated in Fig. 11.
The pressure losses in the inlet section are the smallest and
do not exceed 3% of the total pressure drop of a cyclone with

different inlet angle. The losses in the annular space between

a cyclone body and a vortex nder are inversely proportional
to the inlet angle and for the cyclone with inlet angle of 7
they are the largest and equal to 10% of total pressure drop.
It can be explained by the higher tangential velocities in the
upper part of that annular space. The pressure losses in the
main cyclone body and in the vortex nder are the biggest and
amount to 4552% and 3449% for a cyclone with tangential
inlet and 4251% and 3852% for a cyclone with helical-roof
inlet respectively. Increasing the inlet angle in the cyclones
with helical-roof inlet reduces the relative value of the pressure losses in the main cyclone body while increasing in the
vortex nder. A considerable part of pressure is lost in the vortex nder since the ow is still swirling there and the energy
stored as dynamic pressure in the tangential velocity component in the gas entering the vortex nder is dissipated there
without signicant recovery of static pressure. Increasing the
inlet angle at the same other dimensions reduces the absolute
value of these losses but increases their relative magnitude.
These losses can be signicantly reduced by installation the
untwisting (rectifying) device in the vortex nder (Misiulia
et al., 2013), which takes out the swirl to a large extent and
hence yields a pressure recovery.
In order to obtain a characteristic measure for pressure
drop in a cyclone with helical-roof inlet, the pressure drop
is given in Fig. 12 in a dimensionless form known as the
Euler number (often referred to as a pressure drop coefcient),
which is dened using the mean axial velocity in the cyclone
body and the inlet velocity
Euz =

Euin =

Fig. 11 Predicted dimensionless pressure losses in the

cyclone. (single column tting image).

2pc
w2z

2pc
w2in

(10)

(11)

The pressure drop coefcient calculated with the Eq. (10)

decreases with the increase of the inlet angle since the value
of the mean axial velocity in the cyclone body is independent of inlet angle. However, the inlet velocity is adversely

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Fig. 12 Dimensionless pressure drops at different inlet

angles. (single-column tting image).

Fig. 13 Aerodynamic efciency factor of the cyclones with

helical-roof and tangential inlet for two installation
regimes. (single-column tting image).

proportional to the inlet angle (Fig. 11). For a cyclone with

a helical-roof inlet with the inlet angle in-between 7 and
25 and the geometrical swirl number Sg = 1.55.75 (that corresponds to industrial cyclone separators), the effects of the
inlet angle on the Euler number Euin can be described by the
following equation, obtained using predicted pressure drops
Euin = 0.306 + 2.65.

(12)

The maximum discrepancy between the Euler numbers

calculated with Eq. (12) and predicted with LES is less than
1%.

4.3.

Aerodynamic efciency

The aerodynamic efciency factor proposed by Saburov

(Karpov and Saburov, 2002) was used to compare cyclones in
terms of their aerodynamic efciency, which represents the
ratio of total pressure drop to the dynamic pressure (velocity head), calculated using maximum tangential velocity in a
cyclone body wt max as
=

2pc
2
(wmax
)
t

319

(13)

The aerodynamic efciency factor was calculated for two

installation regimes:
(1) cyclone is used as an intermediate device (as preseparator), when total pressure drop is equal to a drop
between the total pressure at the inlet and outlet;
(2) cyclone is used as a nal separation device (discharging
into the surrounding), when the dynamic pressure stored
in the swirling motion at the outlet is lost and a part of
total pressure drop.
Comparison between the aerodynamic efciency of the
cyclones with helical-roof and tangential inlet is given in
Fig. 13. The value of wt max was obtained by averaging in the
cyclone body (from z/D equal 0.5 to 2.82) time-averaged maximum tangential velocity.
The greater is maximum tangential velocity in a cyclone
body and smaller pressure drop, the higher is aerodynamic
efciency of a cyclone. As it can be seen from Eq. (13), a

smaller means higher aerodynamic efciency. The limit

(theoretically highest aerodynamic efciency), which is never
obtained in practice, corresponds to equal to 1, that means
that the total pressure at the inlet is entirely converted into
the dynamic pressure with the characteristic velocity, equal
to the maximum tangential velocity in a cyclone body, i.e.,
pressure losses in the inlet section and in the vortex nder
equal 0. This velocity describes the general level of rotary
motion of uid in a cyclone separator and it depends on
cyclone geometrics and operating parameters.
Fig. 13 shows that, at the same geometric dimensions a
cyclone with helical-roof inlet has a smaller aerodynamic
efciency factor, it means higher aerodynamic efciency compared to a cyclone with tangential inlet. Increasing the inlet
angle from 7 to 20 (reducing the inverse inlet aspect ratio b/a
until 1) signicantly improves aerodynamic efciency while
further increasing of inlet angle until 25 doesnt affect the
aerodynamic efciency or even makes worse if the cyclone is
used as an intermediate device without untwisting device. It
can be concluded, that in terms of aerodynamic efciency it
is preferable to use cyclone with helical-roof inlet with inlet
angle in-between 20 and 25 .

5.

Conclusions

Five cyclones with helical-roof inlet of different inlet angles

and ve cyclones with a tangential inlet of different inlet
heights have been numerically investigated using LES with the
dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly SGS model to study the effect of
inlet angle on the ow pattern and pressure drop. The following conclusions have been done:
(1) increasing the inlet angle as well as the inlet height (inlet
area) decreases the absolute values of positive (close to
the cyclone wall) and negative (in the central region) static
pressure;
(2) the maximum tangential velocity is lower in a cyclone with
helical-roof inlet and increasing the inlet angle reduces the
tangential velocity in the cyclone body that in its turn may
decrease the collection efciency;
(3) increasing the inlet angle reduces the gas ow rates along
the cyclone axis regarding both downward (outer) and
upward (inner) vortices. This leads to lower pressure losses

320

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

but will probably reduce the separation capability of the

cyclone;
(4) increasing the inlet angle increases the maximum radial
velocity under the vortex nder that can enhance the
number of small particles entrained by the gas ow and
transferred from that region into the vortex nder and
negatively affect the overall collection efciency. In the
cyclone with tangential inlet the maximum radial velocity
is smaller compared to the cyclone with helical-roof inlet
at the same geometric dimensions (inlet aspect ratio and
geometric swirl number). For a more detailed investigation
of the effect of the maximum radial velocity in the cyclone
a new study is to be performed using much ner CFD grid
in the region right under the vortex nder with the highest
radial velocities;
(5) increasing the inlet angle greatly reduces the pressure
drop in a cyclone with helical-roof inlet which is mainly
determined by the losses in the cyclone body (under the
vortex nder) and in the vortex nder, and the pressure
drop coefcient normalized by the mean axial velocity in
the cyclone body. However, the dimensionless pressure
drop normalized with the inlet velocity is inversely proportional to the inlet angle and the equation for deriving
this parameter for the cyclone with helical-roof inlet of
different inlet angles has been proposed;
(6) the cyclones with helical-roof inlet have a higher aerodynamic efciency compared to the cyclones with tangential
inlet, and the highest aerodynamic efciency was reached
with the inlet angle of 20 .
Future extension of this work includes the numerical investigation the effect of the inlet angle on the precessing vortex
core, particles trajectories and fractional efciency of the
cyclones with helical-roof inlet in order to fully understand
the effect of inlet angle on a cyclone performance.

Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge nancial support provided by the Swedish Institute through the Visby Programme
scholarship for postdoctoral research to the rst author.

References
Andersson, A.G., Hellstrm, J.G.I., Andreasson, P., Lundstrm, T.S.,
2014. Effect of spatial resolution of a rough surface on a
numerically computed ow eld with application to hydraulic
engineering. Eng. Appl. Comput. Fluid Mech. 8 (3), 373381.
ANSYS CFX-Solver Modeling Guide, 2013. Release 15.0, ANSYS,
Inc, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
Avci, A., Karagoz, I., 2001. Theoretical investigation of pressure
losses in cyclone separators. Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf.
28 (1), 107117,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0735-1933(01)00218-4.
Bernardo, S., Peres, A.P., Mori, M., 2005. Computational study of
cyclone ow uid dynamics using a different inlet section
angle. Engenharia Trmica (Therm. Eng.) 4 (1), 1823.
Bernardo, S., Mori, M., Peres, A.P., Dionsio, R.P., 2006. 3-D
computational uid dynamics for gas and gas-particle ows
in a cyclone with different inlet section angles. Powder
Technol. 162 (3), 190200,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2005.11.007.
Boysan, F., Ayer, W.H., Swithenbank, J., 1982. A fundamental
mathematical modelling approach to cyclone design. Trans.
Inst. Chem. Eng. 60 (4), 222230.
Burstrm, P.E.C., Antos, D., Lundstrm, T.S., Marjavaara, B.D.,
2015. A CFD-based evaluation of selective non-catalytic

reduction of nitric oxide in iron ore grate-kiln plants. Prog.

Comput. Fluid Dyn. 15 (1), 3246,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/PCFD. 2015.067327.
DeOtte Jr., R.E., 1990. A model for the prediction of the collection
efciency characteristics of a small, cylindrical aerosol
sampling cyclone. Aerosol Sci. Technol. 12 (4), 10551066,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02786829008959415.
Derksen, J.J., Van den Akker, H.E.A., 2000. Simulation of vortex
core precession in a reverse-ow cyclone. AIChE J. 46 (7),
13171331, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aic.690460706.
Derksen, J.J., Van den Akker, H.E.A., Sundaresan, S., 2008.
Two-way coupled large-eddy simulations of the gas-solid ow
in cyclone separators. AIChE J. 54 (4), 872885,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aic.11418.
Elsayed, K., 2011. Analysis and Optimization of Cyclone
Separators Geometry using RANS and LES Methodologies.
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Zelzate, Belgium (Ph. D. Thesis).
Elsayed, K., Lacor, C., 2011a. The effect of cyclone inlet dimensions on the ow pattern and performance. Appl. Math. Model.
35 (4), 19521968, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2010.11.007.
Elsayed, K., Lacor, C., 2011b. Numerical modeling of the ow eld
and performance in cyclones of different cone-tip diameters.
Comput. Fluids 51 (1), 4859,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compuid.2011.07.010.
Elsayed, K., Lacor, C., 2013. The effect of cyclone vortex nder
dimensions on the ow pattern and performance using LES.
Comput. Fluids 71, 224239,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compuid.2012.09.027.
Erdal, F.M., Shirazi, S.A., 2006. Effect of the inlet geometry on the
ow in a cylindrical cyclone separator. J. Energy Resour.
Technol. 128 (1), 6269, http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.2160512.
Funk, P.A., Hughs, S.E., Holt, G.A., 2001. Dust cyclone design. Appl.
Eng. Agric. 17 (4), 441444,
http://dx.doi.org/10.13031/2013.6458.
Gautam, M., Sreenath, A., 1997. Performance of a respirable
multi-inlet cyclone sampler. J. Aerosol Sci. 28 (7), 12651281,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8502(96)00472-7.
Germano, M., Piomelli, U., Moin, P., Cabot, W.H., 1991. A dynamic
subgrid-scale eddy viscosity model. Phys. Fluids A 3 (7),
17601765, http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.857955.
Gimbun, J., Chuah, T.G., Fakhrul-Razi, A., Choong, T.S.Y., 2005.
The inuence of temperature and inlet velocity on cyclone
pressure drop: a CFD study. Chem. Eng. Process. 44 (1), 712,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2004.03.005.
Gupta, A.K., Lilley, D.G., Syred, N., 1984. Swirl Flows. Abacus
Press, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.
Hoekstra, A.J., Derksen, J.J., Van Den Akker, H.E.A., 1999. An
experimental and numerical study of turbulent swirling ow
in gas cyclones. Chem. Eng. Sci. 54 (1314), 20552065,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2509(98)00373-X.
Hoekstra, A.J., 2000. Gas ow eld and collection efciency of
cyclone separators. Technical University Delft, Delft,
Netherlands (Ph. D. Thesis).
Hoffmann, A.C., Stein, L.E., 2008. Gas Cyclones and Swirl Tubes,
2nd ed. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Hsiao, T.-C., Huang, S.-H., Hsu, C.-W., Chen, C.-C., Chang, P.-K.,
2015. Effects of the geometric conguration on cyclone
performance. J. Aerosol Sci. 86 (1), 112,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2015.03.005.
Iozia, D.L., Leith, D., 1990. The logistic function and cyclone
fractional efciency. Aerosol Sci. Technol. 12 (3), 598606,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02786829008959373.
Karpov, S.V., Saburov, E.N., 2002. High-efciency Cyclonic Devices
for Cleaning and Thermal Utilization of Gas Emissions. ASTU,
Arkhangelsk, Russia (in Russian).
Kenny, L.C., Gussman, R.A., 2000. A direct approach to the design
of cyclones for aerosol-monitoring applications. J. Aerosol Sci.
31 (12), 14071420,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8502(00)00047-1.
Larsson, I.A.S., Lundstrm, T.S., Marjavaara, B.D., 2015a.
Calculation of kiln aerodynamics with two RANS turbulence
models and by DDES. Flow, Turbul. Combust.,
10.1007/s10494-015-9602-8. (published on-line).

chemical engineering research and design 1 0 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 307321

Larsson, I.A.S., Lundstrm, T.S., Marjavaara, B.D., 2015b. The ow

eld in a virtual model of a rotary kiln as a function of inlet
geometry and momentum ux ratio. J. Fluids Eng.,
10.1115/1.4030536. (published on-line).
Lazarev, V.A., 2006. Cyclones and Vortex Dust Traps: A Handbook,
2nd ed. Ozon-NN, Nizhnii Novgorod, Russia (in Russian).
Lidn, G., Gudmundsson, A., 1997. Semi-empirical modelling to
generalise the dependence of cyclone collection efciency on
operating conditions and cyclone design. J. Aerosol Sci. 28 (5),
853874, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8502(96)00479-X.
Lilly, D.K., 1992. A proposed modication of the Germano
subgrid-scale closure method. Phys. Fluids A 4 (3), 633635,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.858280.
Lim, K.S., Kwon, S.B., Lee, K.W., 2003. Characteristics of the
collection efciency for a double inlet cyclone with clean air. J.
Aerosol Sci. 34 (8), 10851095,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8502(03)00079-X.
Lipowsky, J., Sommerfeld, M., 2007. LES-Simulation of the
formation of particle strands in swirling ows using an
unsteady Euler-Lagrange approach. In: Proceedings of the 6th
International Conference on Multiphase Flow, Leipzig,
Germany, July 913 (paper S3 Thu C 54).
Martignoni, W.P., Bernardo, S., Quintani, C.L., 2007. Evaluation of
cyclone geometry and its inuence on performance
parameters by computational uid dynamics (CFD). Braz. J.
Chem. Eng. 24 (1), 8394,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-66322007000100008.
Majumdar, S., 1988. Role of underrelaxation in momentum
interpolation for calculation of ow with nonstaggered grids.
Numer. Heat Transfer 13 (1), 125132,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10407788808913607.
Misiulia, D.I., Kuzmin, V.V., Markov, V.A., 2013. Developing an
untwisting device for cyclones and estimating its parameters.
Theor. Found. Chem. Eng. 47 (3), 274283,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1134/S004057951303007X.
Misiulia, D., Andersson, A.G., Lundstrm, T.S., 2015.
Computational investigation of an industrial cyclone
separator with helical-roof inlet. Chem. Eng. Technol.,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ceat.201500181 (published online).
Movafaghian, S., Jaua-Marturet, J.A., Mohan, R., Shoham, O.,
Kouba, G., 2000. The effects of geometry, uid properties and
pressure on the hydrodynamics of gasliquid cylindrical
cyclone separators. Int. J. Multiphase Flow 26 (6), 9991018,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0301-9322(99)00076-2.
Moore, M.E., McFarland, A.R., 1996. Design methodology for
multiple inlet cyclones. Environ. Sci. Technol. 30 (1), 271276,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es950302e.
Pope, S.B., 2000. Turbulent Flows. Cambridge University Press,
New York.
Qian, F., Zhang, M., 2007. Effects of the inlet section angle on the
ow eld of a cyclone. Chem. Eng. Technol. 30 (11), 15641570,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ceat.200700246.
Qian, F., Wu, Y., 2009. Effects of the inlet section angle on the
separation performance of a cyclone. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 87
(12), 15671572, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2009.05.001.

321

Rhie, C.M., Chow, W.L. 1982. A numerical study of the turbulent

ow past an isolated airfoil with trailing edge separation.
AIAA Paper 82-0998 (in 20th Aerospace Sciences Meeting).
DOI: 10.2514/6.1982-998.
Sagaut, P., 2006. Large Eddy Simulation for Incompressible Flows,
3rd ed. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg.
Shalaby, H., Pachler, K., Wozniak, K., Wozniak, G., 2005.
Comparative study of the continuous phase ow in a cyclone
separator using different turbulence models. Int. J. Numer.
Methods Fluids 48 (11), 11751197,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/d.942.
Shalaby, H.H., 2007. On the Potential of Large Eddy Simulation to
Simulate Cyclone Separators. Chemnitz University of
Technology, Chemnitz, Germany (Ph. D. Thesis).
Shalaby, H., Wozniak, K., Wozniak, G., 2008. Numerical
calculation of particle-laden cyclone separator ow using LES.
Eng. Appl. Comput. Fluid Mech. 2 (4), 382392,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19942060.2008.11015238.
Slack, M.D., Prasad, R.O., Bakker, A., Boysan, F., 2000. Advances in
cyclone modelling using unstructured grids. Chem. Eng. Res.
Des. 78 (8), 10981104,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1205/026387600528373.
Smagorinsky, J., 1963. General circulation experiments with the
primitive equations. Mon. Weather Rev. 91 (3), 99164,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1963)091<0099:gcewtp>
2.3.co;2.
Speziale, C.G., Sarkar, S., Gatski, T.B., 1991. Modelling the
pressure-strain correlation of turbulence: an invariant
dynamical systems approach. J. Fluid Mech. 227, 245272,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022112091000101.
Syred, N., Beer, J., 1974. Combustion in swirling ows: a review.
Combust. Flame 23 (2), 143201,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-2180(74)90057-1.
Wilcox, D.C., 2006. Turbulence Modeling for CFD, 3rd ed. DCW
Industries, Glendale, California, USA.
Yoshida, H., Ono, K., Fukui, K., 2005. The effect of a new method
of uid ow control on submicron particle classication in
gas-cyclones. Powder Technol. 149 (23), 139147,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2004.10.005.
Yoshida, H., Inada, Y., Fukui, K., Yamamoto, T., 2009.
Improvement of gas-cyclone performance by use of local uid
ow control method. Powder Technol. 193 (1), 614,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2009.01.025.
Zhao, B., Shen, H., Kang, Y., 2004. Development of a symmetrical
spiral inlet to improve cyclone separator performance. Powder
Technol. 145 (1), 4750,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2004.06.001.
Zhao, B., 2005. Experimental investigation of ow patterns in
cyclones with conventional and symmetrical inlet
geometries. Chem. Eng. Technol. 28 (9), 969972,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ceat.200500088.
Zhao, B., Su, Y., Zhang, J., 2006. Simulation of gas ow pattern and
separation efciency in cyclone with conventional single and
spiral double inlet conguration. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 84
(A12), 11581165, 10.1205/cherd06040.