Study of the natural vortex length of a cyclone with response surface

methodology
Fuping Qian∗, Mingyao Zhang
Key Laboratory on Clean Coal Power Generation and Combustion Technology of Ministry of Education, Thermo-energy Engineering Research
Institute, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, PR China
Received 7 March 2005; received in revised form 17 July 2005; accepted 17 July 2005 Available online 12 September 2005

Abstract

Numerical simulations of cyclones with various geometries and operating conditions were performed to study the natural vortex
length. The numerical solutions were carried out using commercial CFD code Fluent 6.1. A prediction model of the natural
vortex length was obtained based on response surface methodology by means of the statistical software program (Minitab V14).
The results show that inlet velocity, cyclone length and vortex finder insertion deepness also play an important role in influencing
the natural vortex length other than the factors mentioned in publications. Compared with some experimental conclusions, the
results indicate that present prediction model can estimate the effects of different geometries and operation conditions on the
cyclone’s performance more acutely than other models. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Natural vortex length; Cyclone; Response surface methodology; Prediction model

1. Introduction

Natural vortex length is an important parameter of a cyclone. It will influence separation efficiency, the particle
agglomera- tion and surface abrasion. The natural vortex length was used in the separation efficiency formula
presented by Leith and Licht (1972) and Dietz (1981). Presently, some researchers have studied this parameter, and
obtained its empirical formu- las. However, determining the influence of different geome- tries and operation
conditions on the natural vortex length of cyclones by means of experiments will waste time and resources. On the
other hand, with the rapid development of the com- puter and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques, the
use of numerical simulations to predict the performance of the cyclone has received much attention and it is at present
under intensive development (see e.g. Griffiths & Boysan, 1996; Ma, Ingham, & Wen, 2000). An evident advantage
of CFD calculations with respect to experiments is that a large num- ber of flow and geometry variables can be varied
at relative

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 25 83795119; fax: +86 25 57714489.

E-mail address: qfpqd@sohu.com (F. Qian).
low costs. In this work, CFD calculations are used instead of experiments to relate the natural vortex length with the
dimensions of a cyclone. However, a full factorial CFD cal- culations would be nonviable from the viewpoint of time
and resources.
Response surface methodology (RSM), a fractional factorial CFD calculations designs, provides a systematic and
efficient research strategy for studying the parameter effect using statisti- cal methods. It has been extensively applied
in industrial fields in recent years (Ontko, 1996; Hoekstra, 2000; Lin & Chyang, 2003; Hasan, Salah, Melo, Delba, &
Filho Rubens, 2005). Response surface methodology permits efficient experimental investiga- tion of the response of
a system to concurrent variations in any number of independent variables. This technique produces an empirical
equation describing the response and a statistical assessment of the adequacy of the description.
The present work is an attempt to study the natural vor- tex length in cyclones using RSM, aiming at determining the
relationship among the natural vortex length, geometries and operating conditions. An equation is derived, which
relates these variables with the natural vortex length. This model can be used for optimizing the design at a required
performance level.

0098-1354/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2005.07.011

Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 2155–2162

2156 F. Qian, M. Zhang / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 2155–2162
Nomenclature
a height of cyclone inlet b width of cyclone inlet C dust outlet diameter dp particle size D diameter of cyclone body De
diameter of cyclone vortex finder h length of cyclone cylinder H length of cyclone k number of factor l natural
vortex length S deepness of vortex finder insertion XiH the high levels of the ith factor XiL the low levels of the ith factor Vin inlet velocity
Greek letters μ dynamic viscosity ρg density of gas ρp density of particle
2. Natural vortex length
2.1. Background
It is well known that in a reverse flow cyclone, the outer vor- tex flow weakens and changes its direction at a certain
axial distance from the vortex finder. This axial magnitude has been called the “natural vortex length” of the cyclone,
and the axial position is referred to as “the end of the vortex”. It is assumed that below this point, the gas flow has
leaked entirely out to the inner vortex. This length is determined by the radial pressure distribution in the cyclone,
caused by the strong swirl imposed by the tangential inlet and the location of the clean gas exit (vor- tex finder). Since
the space below the vortex is known to be less efficient for particle separation and transport to the collec- tion device,
cyclone designs with a natural length equal to or greater than the physical length of the cyclone would be advis- able
(Stairmand, 1951; Abrahamson & Allen, 1986). However, although experience with industrial units has shown that
this vertical distance has a relevant influence in the collection effi- ciency process, little experimental work has been
done since the empirical approach of Alexander (1949). Alexander obtained an expression relating the natural length
with the inlet and out- let areas, by means of tests performed with glass cyclones of diameter 30.2–1200 mm:
lD = 2.3DeD
for vortex depth: lD = 2.26(DeD
)−1(D2ab
)−0.5
(2)
Ji et al. (1991) found the following correlation: lD = 2.4(DeD
)−2.25(D2 ab
)−0.361
(3)
It is conspicuous that the variation of l with both of the two dimensionless factors on the right side in Eq. (1) is opposite
that of in Eqs. (2) and (3). In addition, in Eqs. (2) and (3), the expo- nent of the two dimensionless factors are different.
However, in fact, inlet velocity, cyclone length and vortex finder insertion deepness also play an important role in
influencing the nature vortex length. A further research will be conducted in this work.
2.2. Definition of the natural vortex length
Ji et al. indicated that there was a dust ring at the bottom of the vertical-cylinder cyclone by means of experimental
investi- gation, and the axis width of this ring was about D/4. This result was consistent with Alexander experimental
observation. Ji et al. (1991) observed that the maximum of tangential velocity of the plane where the dust ring was
located was only about 12% of the maximum tangential velocity of the bottom of vortex finder by means of flow field
measurement. In addition, the tangential velocity profile of the plane where the dust ring was located was flat, and
more than 90% of the axis velocity had been attenu- ated. Therefore, he defined the distance from the dust ring to the
bottom of the vortex finder as the natural vortex length. In this paper, this method is used to define the natural vortex
length.
3. Model set-up
3.1. Response surface design
Provided that the response surface is adequately fit by a second-order model, the estimated response Y for input k vari-
ables is given by (Hinkelmann & Kempthorne, 1994):
Y = β0 +
∑ki=1βiXi +
∑ β
∑ki=1βiiX2i + i<j ijXiXj + e(X1,X2,...,Xk) (4)
where Xi is the level setting of factor i, βi, βii, and βij represent regression coefficients for the linear, quadratic and interaction
( D2
terms, and e is the error. There are two sources of error, viz. an experimental error, and a lack-of-fit error; the latter
incorporates ab
higher order terms or interactions. It was not possible to estimate the experimental error due to the deterministic
character of the CFD model applied in this study; as a result, the error term only relates to the model capability.
It is assumed that the performance of a cyclone is affected by at least five factors, viz. a/D, b/D, De/D, (h−S)/D, ln
Re, ρp/ρg )1/3
(1)
However, Bryant, Silverman, and Zenz (1983) and Ji, Wu, and Shi (1991) found experimentally that Alexander’s
formula for the natural vortex length in many cases cannot predict the length of the vortex. Therefore, Bryant proposed
the following formula
Fig. 1. A three-factor central composite design.
and Stk50. Where Re= ρgVinD/μ, Stk50 = (ρpd2p/18μ)(Vin/D). It is worthwhile noticing that the former five factors are consid- ered in
this model, because only the gas flow field of a cyclone is studied in this work.
A way to estimate the parameters of Eq. (4) is to study the response for all (combinations of) factors set at three
different levels. This full factorial design would require 3 5 = 243 different CFD simulations. However, the number of
degrees of freedom (d.f.) of the second-order model is only 2k + 1/2k(k −1), which is equal to 20 for a five factor
design. A more suitable design to estimate the regression coefficients with a limited number of points of the central
composite design (Box & Draper, 1987) were located on a face centred hypercube, which is composed of three parts:
(1) a full factorial part of 2k vertices; (2) an axial part of 2k points at the origin of each factors axis; and (3) a center
point (Hoekstra, 2000). This set-up results in a central composite design of five factors demanding only 43 CFD calcu-
lations, which is a considered reduction compared to the three level factorial design. A three-factor central composite
design is illustrated in Fig. 1.
The regression coefficients of Eq. (4) are estimated by means of a least squares method. Since the variance of the
model param- eters depends on both the mean square error (M.S.E.) and the factor magnitude, it is convenient to scale
the factor level as follows:
xi = Xi − Xi
1/2(XiH − XiL) (5)
where XiH andXiL denote the high and low level of the ith factor, respectively, and Xi is the mean level. In coded units, the high and low levels become
xiH =1 and xiL =−1, respectively, and the mean factor level, ̄xi, is equal to zero. Coded factor levels are used in the so-called design-model
matrix, which represents all points needed in the central composite design.
3.2. CFD model
The flow field in a cyclone can be considered as a special case of swirling flow, as additional complex flow features,
such as axial flow reversal and subcriticality, strongly affect the mean velocity field as well as the turbulence
distribution. One of the first CFD simulations was done by Boysan, Ayer, and Swithen- bank (1982). He found that
the standard k −ε turbulent model
F. Qian, M. Zhang / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 2155–2162 2157
is inadequate to simulate flows with swirl. In contrast to the standard k −ε and RNG k −ε model, Reynolds stress
transport model (RSTM) takes into account the anisotropy turbulent, so it can be used to simulate the cyclonic flow
(Gimbun, Chuah, Fakhru’l-Razi, & Choong, 2005; Qian & Zhang, 2005; Wang, Xu, Xiao, Chu, & Yu, 2003; Hoekstra,
Derksen, & Akker, 1999). The simulations were performed by use of the commercial finite volume flow solver Fluent
V6.1.18. Under the RSTM in Fluent, although the first-order upwind scheme discretization can yield better
convergence, it generally will lead to less accurate results. Therefore, the QUICK discretization scheme is used in
calculat- ing momentum, turbulence kinetic energy and its dissipation rate equations. For Reynolds stress equations,
the first-order upwind scheme discretization is used. SIMPLEC arithmetic is used in pressure–velocity coupling in
order to accelerate the conver- gence of the continuity equation. PRESTO ! scheme is applied in discretizing pressure
gradient taking into account non-staggered grid. In the RSTM second order upwind for discretisation there is a
difficulty to reach the convergence. The residuals may exhibit cyclic tendencies which mean that the transient pattern
occurs. In this instance, the solver must be changed to a transient solver and makes the time step something in the
region of 0.025 s or a tiny fraction of the residence time of the cyclone. The simula- tion is then solved with a coupling
of unsteady and steady state solver in Fluent 6.1 (Gimbun et al., 2005).
Hoffmann, de Jonge, Arends, and Hanrats (1995) noted that the end of the vortex was in most cases located in the
vertical tube for conventional cylinder-on-cone cyclones. Furthermore, Hoffmann, de Groot, and Hospers, (1996) and
Derksen (2003) noticed that the inclusion of the dust collection system had a considerable effect on the flow pattern
in the gas cyclone as well as the collection efficiency. So the tube section and the dust collection bin definitely need
to be taken into account in order to realistically model the flow in the cyclone. Fig. 2 shows the schematic
representation of the cyclone.
3.3. Responses and factors
The high and low levels of the geometrical design ratios were chosen to include a wide range of both high-efficiency
and high- throughput industrial cyclone. In Table 1, these level settings are presented. The coded factor levels
correspond to −1, 0, and 1 according to Eq. (5), and the factors are denoted by xi.
The levels chosen for the Reynolds number are based on the operating condition for Vin, μ and D. In this work, Vin = 2–30 m/s, D=
0.2 m, S=a, H/D= 4.0, C/D= 0.375, ρg = 1.225 kg/m3 and μ = 1.81×10−5 kg/m s.
Table 1 Low and high level settings of the factors used in the response surface model (Hoekstra, 2000)
Factor xi XiL XiH
De/D x1 0.30 0.70 a/D x2 0.30 0.80 b/D x2 0.15 0.35 (h −S)/D x4 0.50 2.50 lnRe x5 10.2 12.9