Experimental investigation of the motion trajectory of solid particles inside the hydrocyclone by a Lagrange method

Experimental investigations on the motion trajectory of solid particles inside the hydrocyclone have been successfully carried out by using a high-speed motion analyzer to track the particle movement. For each single particle, the motion trajectory is featured with stochastic characteristic; however, for the overall samples of particles, their motions hold the statistical property. The initial position of particles at the entrance of hydrocyclone heavily affects the motion trajectory of particles inside hydrocyclone and consequently the separation performance. An inlet with pre-sedimentation effect should be very helpful for the separation inside hydrocyclones. The results in this study are valuable for understanding the stochastic and statistical behaviors of particle motion in the separation process inside hydrocyclones, and provide some valuable information for finding some effective way to improve the separation performance in the hydrocyclone. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.