The effects of flow structure and particle mass loading on particle dispersion in particle-laden swirling jets

A direct numerical simulation of particle dispersion in particle-laden swirling jets issued into a rectangular container through a round nozzle is carried out. The swirl number is S = 1.42 when the bubble vortex breakdown takes place. Two cases are simulated for comparison. i.e. five types of particles with Stokes numbers St = 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 respectively under the same flow rate, and four types of particles with St = 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 respectively under the same mass loading. After simulation, it is found that the rectangular flow domain induces an important modification to the flow structure. It influences the dispersion characteristics in the peripheral cross area, forming a centrosymmetric dispersion of particles in the cross-sectional area. A quantitative analysis of the non-uniform particle dispersion is carried out. Moreover, the effect of mass loading on particle dispersion is explored and explained. It indicates the correlation between the inter-phase moment coupling and particle mass loading via the change of probability density function of the inter-phase velocity difference. Heavy mass loading causes an insufficient inter-phase momentum transport and the worse dispersion of large particles than that of small mass loading. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.