Numerical Investigation of surface roughness effects on the flow field in a swirl flow

The aim of this study is to investigate axial and tangential velocity profiles, turbulent dissipation rate, turbulent kinetic energy and pressure losses under the influence of surface roughness for the swirling flow in a cyclone separator. The governing equations for this flow were solved by using Fluent CFD code. First, numerical analyses were run to verify numerical solution and domain with experimental results. Velocity profiles, turbulent parameters and pressure drops were calculated by increasing inlet velocity from 10 to 20 m/s and roughness height from 0 to 4 mm. Analyses of results showed that pressure losses are decreased and velocity field is considerably affected by increasing roughness height.