Abstract: The inline cyclone gas-liquid separator has received much attention because of its high separation efficiency and compact structure, but the ability to adapt to a wide range of inlet gas holdup is the key to its practicality. In this work, the flow field characteristics and separation performance of a inline cyclone gas-liquid separator that can adapt to a wide range of gas holdup changes are investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental tests in air-water media system. The CFD numerical simulation results show that when the inlet gas holdup changes in the range of 10%~90%, the gas-phase separation efficiency is greater than 80% and the amplitude of change is less than 9.9%, and the liquid-phase separation efficiency is greater than 97% and the amplitude of change is less than 2.2%. The experimental results show that when the inlet gas holdup changes in the range of 9.4%~89.2%, the liquid holdup of the gas-phase outlet gradually decreases and the gas holdup of the liquid phase outlet gradually increases with the increase of the inlet gas holdup. The liquid holdup of the gas-phase outlet is less than 4%, and the gas holdup of the liquid-phase outlet is less than 10% except at liquid flow rate of 12 m3/h. Comparing the gas-phase separation efficiency and liquid-phase separation efficiency under different liquid flow rates, the best separation performance is achieved at a liquid flow rates of 8 m3/h. The CFD numerical simulation results are slightly different from the experimental test results, but the overall trend is consistent, which can be used as an effective tool for the design of structure enlargement. The research results show that the inline cyclone gas-liquid separator adopts the action form of "strong cyclone+weak cyclone+gravity", which has high separation efficiency and good resistance to fluctuations in working conditions.

Key words: Gas-liquid separation, Inline Cyclone Flow, Numerical simulation, Experimental testing, Flow field characteristics, Separation efficiency

摘要： 管式旋流气液分离器因具有分离效率高、结构紧凑等优点而受到广泛关注，但能否适应入口气含率大范围变化是制约其实用性的关键。本工作考察了能够适应气含率大范围变化的管式旋流气液分离器，采用计算流体力学(CFD)，结合空气-水介质体系下的实验测试，对其流场特性和分离性能进行研究。CFD数值模拟结果显示，入口气含率在10%~90%范围内变化时，气相分离效率均大于80%且变化幅值小于9.9%，液相分离效率均大于97%且变化幅值小于2.2%。实验测试结果显示，入口气含率在9.4%~89.2%范围内变化时，随入口气含率增加，气相出口的含液率逐渐减小而液相出口的气含率逐渐增加，气相出口的含液率均小于4%，除液体流量为12 m3/h的工况外，其他工况下液相出口气含率始终小于10%。对比不同液体流量下的气相分离效率和液相分离效率，液体流量为8 m3/h时分离性能最佳。CFD数值模拟结果与实验测试结果略有差异，但整体变化趋势一致，可作为结构放大设计的有效手段。研究结果表明，管式旋流气液分离器整体采用“强旋流+弱旋流+重力”的作用形式，具有较高的分离效率和良好的抗工况波动性能。

关键词: 气液分离, 管式旋流, 数值模拟, 实验测试, 流场特性, 分离效率