Flow distribution is critical in all gas / liquid and liquid / liquid separation processes. As vessel sizes are reduced or more capacity is expected from existing equipment, traditional design rules for vessel geometry and flow distribution must be reviewed. Flow velocities through inlet nozzles, outlet nozzles and internals and over liquid levels all can affect the separation performance. One reliable tool used by CDS to investigate this is Computational Fluid Dynamics that provides an accurate representation of the flow profiles inside a separator.

CFD can be used for both steady state cases when for instance looking at the flow profile through a scrubber vessel as shown below.

 

 

 

CFD can also be used to model time dependent studies like for instance floating separators to ensure that the proposed slosh mitigation technique is adequate for both a gas / liquid vessel.

 

Also the same technique can be applied for gas / liquid / liquid vessels.

 

CFD is not only limited to individual vessels but can also be used to evaluate flows in piping systems.