Numerical simulation on effects of back pressure on supersonic condensation propertites of wet natural gas

Abstract

The back pressure at the outlet of supersonic cyclone separator usually causes aerodynamic shock wave in Laval nozzle, and the interaction of supersonic flow, shock wave and phase transition is very complicated. In order to explore the supersonic flow properties of wet gas under the action of shock wave, study was performed on the methane-water vapor mixtures. Then, a mathematical model for the supersonic condensation and flow of wet natural gas was established. Meanwhile, the effect of the outlet back pressure and inlet pressure on the supersonic condensation property of wet natural gas was analyzed to evaluate the performance of the supersonic cyclone separator under the action of shock waves. The simulation results show that the shock waves can cause the rapid increase in pressure and temperature of water vapor in a short time, leading to the condensed droplets re-evaporate and the liquid mass fraction at outlet reduces sharply. Besides, as the inlet pressure increases, the location of nucleation approaches the throat of Laval nozzle gradually, and the limit nucleation rate and the droplet number decrease accordingly. However, the liquid mass fraction increases due to the increasing of growth rate and sizes of droplets. Moreover, the nozzle loses its function of liquefaction when the back pressure is higher than 25 kPa (i.e., the pressure ratio is higher than 0.58), and then the nozzle cannot operate normally. Therefore, it is necessary to control the reasonable pressure ratio to ensure the dehydration efficiency of the supersonic separator with back pressure.

Keywords

• natural gas
• water vapor
• laval nozzle
• supersonic
• condensation
• back pressure
• shock wave
• numerical simulation