Three-dimensional analysis of the flow in the cyclones (Q1898077)

The author has presented an analytical solution to the problem of three- dimensional incompressible inviscid rotational steady flow in a reversed, vertical, infinitely elongated cone of half-angle \(0 \leq \alpha \leq \pi/2\), that can serve as an approximate model (a good one in the inviscid approximation) for the real basic flows in industrial cyclones for particle separation (truncated cone with a cylindrical upper part, in which lid a smaller pipe for the fluid exit is immersed, and with an open bottom part as an exit for the separated particles). To simulate the real cyclone, the amounts of the peripheral and centripetal velocity components of the flow in the cone \((v_\varphi (\alpha), v_R (\alpha)\) in a spherical \(R, \theta, \varphi\)-coordinate system) at the uper end of the cyclone cone (i.e. approximately at the cyclone entry) can be prescribed. This enables us (via \(v_R (\alpha))\) to explicitly find the constant \(\sigma\) which remains undetermined in the paper. To solve the set of nonlinear Euler equations, the author uses their transformed vector form, imposes the geometrical condition \(\partial/ \partial \varphi = 0\), introduces the continuity equation satisfied by the function \(\psi (R, \theta)\), uses Bernoulli theorem, finds that \(v_\varphi R \sin \theta = f(\psi)\), makes the assumption that \(f(\psi) f'(\psi) = \text{const}\), and so reduces the problem to the solution of the linear PDE: \(D\psi (R, \theta) = - 2 \sigma\), where \(D\) is the known Stokes differential operator in spherical coordinates. The solution of this PDE is found by the method of variable separation. In this inviscid solution, the axis of the cone is a singularity line. It is to be noted that, others as in the paper declared, this flow is not an axisymmetric one, and \(\psi (R, \theta)\) is not the stream-function. The streams are here three-dimensional spatially winding curves which now can be also calculated. The reviewer has transformed the solution in cylindrical coordinates and plotted the distribution of the velocity components. A realistic agreement with available measured results has been found.