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On the enhancement of centrifugal separation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

H. P. Greenspan
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
M. Ungarish
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Abstract

We consider the two-phase flow of a suspension in a rotating cylinder with inclined endplates for which inertial and viscous effects are small. It is shown that, when the Coriolis force is dominant, flow in the core is essentially unaffected by geometry. If a fluid particle can make a complete circuit about the rotation axis, the sedimentation velocity cannot be augmented by geometrical effects as it can in gravitational settling. However, with the insertion of a complete meridional barrier to block movement around the centre, separation becomes more sensitive to the shape of the container walls. In this case, behaviour similar to that in a gravitational field is possible once again.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1985 Cambridge University Press

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