On the validation of numerical simulation with experimental results on compressible turbulent flow in an inertial particle separator device

Abstract

Abstract To remove particles from entering the engine or Environmental Control System (ECS), an Inertial Particle Separator (IPS) can be situated in the intake. In IPS, a rapid change in flow direction is induced, and particles separate from the core outlet because of their inertia. Small particles with a low Stokes number (St) follow the flow and often enter the core outlet, while the large particles with a high St are thrown into the scavenge by their high inertia. Accurately capturing the unsteadiness of the fluid is crucial, especially with low scavenge mass flow fraction for the particles with low St. The numerical simulation of the compressible flow is validated here, implementing the 3D Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) and the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) methods against experimental data. It is shown that the IDDES method can capture correctly the unsteadiness of the flow. After validation of the fluid phase, the particle separation efficiency was studied for different particle diameters using these turbulence numerical methods along with three different ambient temperatures: standard, hot, and cold. The separation efficiency values were in agreement with the experimental data.