Effect of the Geometry of a Swirl Generator on Energy Loss and Shockwave Position in Arina Nozzle

To investigate the effect of the swirl generator (SG) on shockwave position and pressure drop, 3D simulation is conducted and validated by Arina's study. An increase of the blade number, height, and end angle leads to shockwave displacement toward the nozzle outlet. The maximum increment of the shockwave displacement, which is due to enlarging the angle of the blade end, is about 47 %. For this case, the pressure drop share of the SG is nearly half of the total pressure drop, while the residence time of particles is prolonged by about 51 %. As a general finding, increasing the swirl intensity provides a longer residence time to separate adequately the liquid from the gas. However, a higher energy loss is not desirable for the high-pressure process at the downstream of the 3S separator.