Separation in a gas centrifuge at high feed flow rate

Abstract

The separation of a binary gas mixture for high feed flow rates such that the E¼ vertical shear layer is nonlinear is considered. Numerical solutions for the velocity field and the temperature within the centrifuge are computed using the method originally described by Bennetts & Hocking (1973). These solutions are inputs to the separation problem which is characterized by a concentration boundary layer also of width of O(E¼). Results are presented for a wide range of parameters and the effect of thermal drive strength is examined in detail. Surprisingly the numerical results indicate that the analytical solution for the separation factor given by Conlisk, Foster & Walker (1983) may be used far outside its strict asymptotic region of validity.