Year Author Title

Selective dehydration of high-pressure

natural
2009 Karimi & Abdi gas using supersonic nozzles

Prediction of Mass Flow Rate in

2015 Yang et al. Supersonic Natural Gas Processing
 Computational Fluid Dynamics Study for
Flow of Natural Gas through High-
pressure Supersonic Nozzles: Part 1. Real
2008 Jassim (part1) Gas Effects and Shockwave
 CFD modeling of condensation process
of water vapor in supersonic
2017 Yang et al. flows

CFD modeling of particle behavior in

supersonic flows with strong swirls
2017 Yang and Chuen for gas separation
 CFD Modeling of Supersonic Airflow
Generated by 2D Nozzle With and
2014 Olivera et al. Without an Obstacle at the Exit Section

Comparative study of different fluids

flowing in a Supersonic separator used in
2016 Mylapili et al. Subsea Gas Pipeline systems

Numerical Study of the High Speed

Compressible Flow with Non Equilibrium
2015 Liu et al. Condensation in a Supersonic Separator

Effect of Inlet and Outlet Flow

Conditions on Natural Gas
Parameters in Supersonic Separation
2014 Yang et al. Process
 Investigation on Separation Efficiency in
Supersonic Separator with Gas-Droplet
2014 Liu et al. Flow Based on DPM Approach

Evaluation of natural gas dehydration in

supersonic swirling separators applying
2012 Wen et al. the Discrete Particle Method
Remarks

Predict flow behaviour and shockwave location in supersonic nozzle.

Linked two software packages to perform mathematical analysis namely,

MATLAB to solve the governing equations of the system such
as the continuity and momentum equations as well as the first
and second laws of thermodynamics, and HYSYS, as a process modeling and
simulation software. Input parameters to HYSYS are gas composition, inlet
temperature, pressure and the flow rate.

The link between MATLAB and HYSYS gives the simulation

model the capability of working with different EOSs.

The flow through the nozzle is assumed to be supercritical,

steady state, one-dimensional, isentropic, and compressible with
no heat exchange.

The proposed model was validated with CFD software, ANSYS Fluent where
water content of the natural gas is a function of temperature, pressure and gas
composition. K- turbulent model and Peng-Robinson equation of state was
used.

Discrete Particle Method (DPM) was employed to predict the particle

trajectories and separation efficiency in a supersonic separator for natural gas
dehydration

Continuous phase is gas phase and simulated as steady state.

Redlich-Kwong equation of state used to calculate physical property of fluids
in supersonic flow and predict gas dynamic parameters.

Discrete phase, a particle motion in a supersonic separator can determined by

Newton's second law of motion. A governing equation which consist of
mass,velocity,volume, gravity and gas-particle interaction force terms was
introduced.

Gravity force neglected because the density of the liquid particle is usually
much larger than the gas density, the buoyancy force acting on a particle also
has been ignored
The SIMPLE algorithm was employed to couple the velocity field and pressure.
The Reynolds stress model (RSM) was employed to predict the strong swirling
flow.

The pressure boundary conditions were assigned for the inlet and outlet of the
supersonic separator. Non-slip and adiabatic boundary conditions are specified
for the walls. In addition, for the discrete phase, the escape boundary
conditions are assigned for the inlet and dry gas outlet. The trap boundary
conditions are used for the walls of the cyclone separation section and the
liquid-collection space. We appoint the reflect boundary conditions for all
other walls.

k- turbulence model is commonly used for industrial applications and its

accuracy in modelling simple flows however it could be inaccurate for complex
flow. However, accuracy of the model calculations can be improved by
adjusting the constants
Cubic EOS such as Peng-Robinson equation is extremely useful vapor and liquid
PvT data, vapor-pressure data, and vapor-liquid equilibrium data however
their accuracy is limited by the use of only two or three adjustable parameters
therefore a more complex Modified Benedict-Webb-Rubin (MBWR) equation
was used.
Real gas model predicts shockwave position earlier.
Boundary conditions are chosen in such a way that the inlet pressure is
predicted. Hence mass flow rate and temperature as the inlet boundary
conditions while pressure and temperature are chosen for outlet boundary
conditions.
Working fluid is pure methane, mass flow rate is 430 kg/min

Real gas effects was studied by comparing different configurations in terms of

density, inlet pressure and temperature and it was found that perfect gas
model yields less accurate results as compared to real gas model.
Predict the spontaneous condensing phenomenon in the supersonic flows
using the nucleation and droplet growth theories

Euler-Euler two-phase flow model was developed to predict the spontaneous

condensing phenomenon in the Laval nozzle. The modified internally
consistent classic nucleation theory and Gyarmathys droplet growth model
are employed to perform the simulation cases

Conservation equations used to describe water vapor condensation and direcly

solved in FLUENT and another two transport equation was used to describe
the phase change process during the condensation of the water vapor.
k- turbulence model is used to predict the supersonic flows

The SIMPLE algorithm is used to couple the velocity field and pressure. The
second-order upwind scheme is adopted for an accurate prediction.

Discrete Particle Method was used to study the particle motion in supersonic
flows with a strong swirl.
Mass, momentum and energy equation was used for gas flow and another
governing equation was used for discrete liquid particles.
Saffmans lift force was involved to accomodate strong shear and swirling flow
exist in a supersonic separator .
The governing equations are discretized with the finite volume
method, and the velocity and pressure fields are coupled by the
SIMPLE algorithm.

Reynolds Stress Model was used to predict supersonic flow with strong swirl.

For the gas phase, the pressure inlet and pressure outlet conditions
are assigned to the entrance and exits of the supersonic separator.
The no-slip and adiabatic conditions are utilized for all of
the solid walls. For the particle flow, the escape boundary conditions
are employed to the entrance and dry gas exit of the supersonic
separator
Calculation characteristics inside the adopted control volume were performed
using RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) equations with k-omega SST
(Shear-Stress Transport) turbulent model. The
most important settings that have been applied are:
Solver: 2D density-based.
Model: viscous, SST k-omega with compressibility effects.
Fluid: air, ideal gas, viscosity by Sutherland law, three coefficient method.
Boundary conditions: control volume inlet and outlet parameters as defined in
[1], for given test case.
Calculation: flow type supersonic, FMG - the Full Multi-Grid solution
initialization at 4 levels, initial optimum reordering of the mesh domain using
Reverse Cuthill-McKee method , active solution steering, applying automatic
optimization of Courant number for the achieved solution convergence stage,
etc.

Used three different fluids, air, methane and natural gas given the same
boundary conditions and initial physical parameters in ANSYS Fluent. The
Redlich Kwong real gas equation and standard k- turbulence model was
employed.

Shock formed in the nozzle of the supersonic separator is depending on the

density of the fluids, the lighter the fluid the closer the shock position to inlet.
The Pressure and temperature variation is also high in low density fluids.

Explore the separation mechanism and heat transfer inside the separator by
using a fully three-dimensional numerical dynamic model with consideration of
effects such as strong swirling turbulent and non-equilibrium condensation
process. In addition to continuity, momentum and energy equation used for
the gas, droplet species and droplet mass equation was implemented using
User Defined Function in Fluent to consider the effect of non-equilibrium
condensation process. For EOS and turbulence model, VIrial equation and k-
equation was used respectively.

Investigate the effects of the operating parameters on natural gas

supersonic separation process, including the back pressure, inlet
mass flow rates, inlet pressures and inlet temperatures. the shock wave was
sensitive to the inlet or back pressure compared to the inlet temperature.
Redlich-Kwong real gas model and Shear Stress Transport equation was used
as equation of state and turbulence model respectively.
Study the effect of droplet diameter and swirl intensity on flow behaviour and
separation efficiency in a supersonic separator. Mixture of air and water
droplets used as working medium using Discrete Particle Method. Gas phase
modelled by compressible Navier-Stokes equation with Reynolds Stress Model
as turbulence model while liquid particles was modelled as discrete phase with
its diameter distributed using Rosin-rammler distribution. ;
droplets are assumed to have the same sphere shape and ignore
the phase transition and nucleation process.

Studied separation efficiency tracking the liquid particle trajectory using DPM
method. Continuous gas phase is simulated using averaged Navier Stokes
equation with RNG k- as turbulence model while discrete particle was
described using Newton's 2nd law of motion. Gas-particle interaction force
was based on the Newtons third law of motion.
Effect of pressure ratio and inlet temperature to the
mass flow rate was studied. The particle trajectories and
separation efficiency in a supersonic separator for
natural gas dehydration was predicted using Discrete
Particle Method with various EOS and Reynolds Stress
model to predict the swirling flow.
Studied real gas effect to flow of natural gas in
supersonic nozzle. Modified Benedict-Webb-Rubin
(MBWR) equation was used instead of cubic equation of
state such as Peng-Robinson due to its complexity and k-
turbulence model used to predict turbulence
parameters.
The influence of the geometry and
vorticity were investigated
in this article. But in their work, the
multi-component
fluid systems were not induced.
Euler-euler two-phase flow model with additional two
transport equations which implements the modified
internally consistent classic nucleation
theory and Gyarmathys droplet growth model are
employed through User Defined Function in Fluent to
describe the phase change process during the
condensation of the water vapor including analysis
nucleation rate, droplet numbers, droplet radius and
droplet fraction.

Discrete Particle Method was used to study the particle

motion in supersonic flows with a strong swirl with RSM
model for turbulence prediction. Effect of cyclonic
separation length on liquid particle collection efficiency
was studied.
Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations with k-
omega SST turbulent
model applied to numerically analyse supersonic airflow
focusing on free exit flow, and flow with one selected
obstacle type. Density type solver was used with air
defined as ideal gas.

Used three different fluids, air, methane and natural gas

given the same boundary conditions and initial physical
parameters in ANSYS Fluent to investigate the effect of
different fluid density to shockwave position. Density
based solver, Redlich Kwong real gas equation and
standard k- turbulence model was employed. Shock
formed in the nozzle of the supersonic separator is
depending on the density of the fluids, the lighter the
fluid the closer the shock position to inlet.
pressure loss ratio which is
another significant factor
on the separation performance, is
defined as the ratio of the
pressure loss p of the supersonic
separator to its inlet pressure ; It
can be found that by increasing the
droplet diameter
markedly, the separation efficiency
can be effectively improved.
However, this rising trend will
change when the droplet diameter
exceeds the critical diameter (for
different pressure loss ratio
37.5%, 50%, 60%, 70%, the critical
diameter is 40 m, 41.2
m, 42.2 m, and 43.6 m,
respectively). When the droplet
diameter is larger than the critical
diameter the separation efficiency
of the supersonic separator will be
crippled. From the results, one can
know that by increasing the
swirl intensity, the separation
efficiency increases markedly.
The results of numerical calculation
have shown that the maximum
separation efficiency can reach

In the two-phase flow models, the

governing equations of
continuous phase are generally
written in Eulerian form,
whereas,the governing equations of
the discrete phase can be described
in
either Eulerian or Lagrangian form.
Comparing with Euler
Euler model, the EulerLagrange
model, in which the motion of
each particle can be individually
tracked, provides the most
detailed insight into single particle
dynamics.
Year Author

2008 Jassim et al.

2009 Karimi & Abdi

2012 Wen et al.

2014 Liu et al.

2014 Yang et al.

2014 Olivera et al.

2015 Xingwei et al.

2015 Yang et al.

2016 Mylapili et al.

2017 Yang and Chuen

2017 Yang et al.

The flow in the
supersonic
separator is
multi-
component,
non-
equilibrium,
and also with
phase
transition. In
order to
further
improve the the thermodynamic
separation phenomenon include
performance, it pressure expansion,
is necessary to cryogenic process,
understand the supersonic region,
flow shock wave location
mechanism and spontaneous
inside a condensation have
supersonic been reproduced.
separator. These
 Pressure boundary
conditions are imposed
for the inlet and outlet
of the supersonic
swirling separator. Total
pressure (absolute
pressure) and total
temperature at the
nozzle inlet are set to
be
The combined 4 MPa and 303 K,
gas flow with respectively. The static
discrete pressure and stagnation
particle temperature are
method (20, chosen for outlet
21) considered boundary conditions,
to be a cost- which
effective are 2.68 MPa and 290
approach to K, respectively.
reproduce the Turbulence intensity
general and viscosity
phenomenon ratio are assigned as
of the gas- turbulence parameters.
liquid flow, was No-slip and adiabatic
proposed in boundary conditions
separation are specified for the
field. Wen walls.
 40

Title

Computational Fluid Dynamics Study for Flow of

Natural Gas through High-pressure Supersonic
Nozzles: Part 1. Real Gas Effects and Shockwave

Selective Dehydration of High-Pressure Natural

Gas Using Supersonic Nozzles

Evaluation of natural gas dehydration in

supersonic swirling separators applying the
Discrete Particle Method

Investigation on Separation Efficiency in

Supersonic Separator with Gas-Droplet Flow Based
on DPM Approach

Effect of Inlet and Outlet Flow Conditions on

Natural Gas
Parameters in Supersonic Separation Process

CFD Modeling of Supersonic Airflow

Generated by 2D Nozzle With and
Without an Obstacle at the Exit Section

Numerical Study of the High Speed Compressible

Flow with Non Equilibrium Condensation in a
Supersonic Separator

Prediction of Mass Flow Rate in Supersonic

Natural Gas Processing
Comparative Study of Different Fluids Flowing in a
Supersonic Separator Used in Subsea Gas Pipeline
systems

CFD Modeling of Particle Behavior in Supersonic

Flows with Strong Swirls
for Gas Separation

CFD Modeling of Condensation Process of Water

Vapor in Supersonic
Flows
effect inlet, numerical -- The gas and liquid phase
conservation
equations are discretized using finite-volume
method. Quick
scheme is used to discretize convective terms, and
coupled
procedure is used to solve the momentum and
energy
equations simultaneously. First-order upwind
schemes are
set for density term. Second-order upwind
schemes are
selected for the necessary terms, such as
turbulent kinetic
energy, and turbulent dissipation rate. ; the
pressure boundary conditions
were assigned for the inlet and outlet of the
supersonic
separator, respectively, according to the flow
characteristics of the
supersonic compressible fluid,. No-slip and
adiabatic boundary
conditions were specified for the walls. The
turbulent kinetic
energy and turbulent dissipation rate were
employed as the
turbulence parameters. ; The SIMPLE algorithm
[23] was applied to couple
Methodology

Real gas effects was studied by comparing different

configurations in terms of density, inlet pressure and
temperature. A more complex Modified Benedict-Webb-Rubin
(MBWR) equation was used instead of Peng-Robinson equation. K-
turbulence model due to it's common industrial application.

Predicted flow behaviour and shockwave location in supersonic

nozzle. Link between MATLAB and HYSYS gives the simulation
model capability of working with different EOS. The proposed
model was validated with ANSYS Fluent where K- turbulent
model and Peng-Robinson equation of state.
Studied separation efficiency tracking the liquid particle trajectory
using DPM method. Continuous gas phase is simulated using
averaged Navier Stokes equation with RNG k- as turbulence
model.

Mixture of air and water droplets used as working medium using

Discrete Particle Method. Gas phase modelled by compressible
Navier-Stokes equation with Reynolds Stress Model as turbulence
model while liquid particles was modelled as discrete phase.

Investigated the effects of back pressure, inlet mass flow rates,

inlet pressures and inlet temperatures on natural gas supersonic
separation process, using the Redlich-Kwong real gas model and
Shear Stress Transport equation as equation of state and
turbulence model respectively.

Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations with k-omega SST

turbulent model applied to numerically analyse supersonic airflow
focusing on free exit flow, and flow with one selected obstacle
type. Density type solver was used with air defined as ideal gas.

In addition to continuity, momentum and energy equation for the

gas, droplet species and droplet mass equation was implemented
using User Defined Function in Fluent to consider the effect of
non-equilibrium condensation process. For EOS and turbulence
model, VIrial equation and k- equation was used respectively.

Effect of pressure ratio and inlet temperature to the mass flow

rate was studied. The particle trajectories and separation
efficiency in a supersonic separator for natural gas dehydration
was predicted using Discrete Particle Method with various EOS
and Reynolds Stress model to predict the swirling flow.
Used three different fluids, air, methane and natural gas given the
same boundary conditions and initial physical parameters in
ANSYS Fluent to investigate the effect of different fluid density to
shockwave position. Density based solver, Redlich Kwong real
gas equation and standard k- turbulence model was employed.

Discrete Particle Method was used to study the particle motion in

supersonic flows with a strong swirl with RSM model for
turbulence prediction. Effect of cyclonic separation length on
liquid particle collection efficiency was studied.

Euler-euler two-phase flow model with implementsyion of the

modified internally consistent classic nucleation
theory and Gyarmathys droplet growth model are used through
User Defined Function in Fluent to describe the phase change
process during the condensation of the water vapor.
At the separator entrance, compressed air with known
pressure and total temperature are specified,
2) At the dry and wet outlet, pressure is assumed,
3) The wall of the supersonic separator is assumed
adiabatic and no slip conditions are used for flow
velocity components.