Numerical Simulation of Ranque-Hilsch Effect

Ranque-Hilsch effect, the phenomenon of total temperature separation, which occurs in swirling flows in a tube, was investigated numerically. URAN CFD simulations were performed to capture the unsteadiness, which was supposed to play an important role to produce the effect. The simulation produced total temperature separations, which are in fair agreement with the experimental values. No appreciable unsteadiness appeared in the simulations, presumably due to the fact that experimentally observed oscillations were resonance type. Attempts were made to produce oscillations by periodically varying the inlet velocity. But so far no resonance has been realized.