Study on Separation Performance of a Hydrocyclone with a Built-in Thimble Underflow Tube

A hydrocyclone with a built-in thimble underflow tube(TUT) is put forward in order to improve hydrocyclone separation performance.The internal flow field in the hydrocyclone is numerically simulated by computational fluid dynamics,and a comparative analysis of the conventional hydrocyclone and the hydrocyclone with a built-in TUT is made.According to the results of the simulation analysis,the oil-water separation experimental study of the hydrocyclone with a built-in TUT is carried out.With the increase of the inlet flowrate,the separation efficiency of the hydrocyclone with a built-in TUT and the conventional hydrocyclone increased at first and then decreased,the pressure drop increased.The results show that the separation efficiency of the hydrocyclone with a built-in TUT is higher than the conventional hydrocyclone and the pressure loss is lower than the conventional hydrocyclone,and verify numerical simulation results.