Vortex Tube: A Comparison of Experimental and CFD Analysis Featuring Different RANS Models

Abstract

The Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube represents a device for both cooling and heating applications. It uses compressed gas as drive medium. The temperature separation is affected by fluid flow behaviour inside the tube. It has not been sufficiently examined in detail yet and has the potential for further investigation. The aim of this paper is to compare results of numerical simulations of the vortex tube with obtained experimental data. The numerical study was using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), namely computational code STAR-CCM+. For the numerical study, a three-dimensional geometry model, and various turbulence physics models were used. For the validation of carried out calculations, an experimental device of the vortex tube of identical geometrical and operating conditions was created and tested. The numerical simulation results have been obtained for five different turbulence models, namely Standard k-ε, Realizable k-ε, Standard k-ω, SST k-ω and Reynolds stress model (RSM), were compared with experimental results. The most important evaluation factor was the temperature field in the vortex tube. All named models of turbulence were able to predict the general flow behaviour in the vortex tube with satisfactory precision. Standard k-ε turbulence model predicted temperature distribution in the best accordance with the obtained experimental data.