Design Optimization of a Conical Annular Centrifugal Contractor

The present work is concerned with a numerical study of the performance of a conical annular centrifugal contractor through the analysis of the flow properties when the apex angle is changed for different imposed axial flows. The calculations revealed the advantage of using conical annular centrifugal contractors compared to the cylindrical annular centrifuges. The study is conducted by a comparison analysis of the hydrodynamics of fluid flow in both conical and cylindrical contractors where moderate axial flows are imposed. In both systems the outer body is stationary while the inner rotor is maintained at constant speed. The calculations are achieved by a finite differences formulation using the Simplified Marker and Cell algorithm.