Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-020-09825-2 CFD modeling and analysis of a two‑phase vapor separator V. Vijayan 1  · M. Vivekanandan 2  · R. Venkatesh 3  · K. Rajaguru 1  · A. Godwin Antony 1 Received: 26 November 2019 / Accepted: 11 May 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020 Abstract Vapor separator is a vital component in liquid-dominated steam feld equipment. While various designs exist, the currently employed separator design was not so efective on separation and there is limitation in understanding the fuid behavior within the separator. Challenges arise from the difculties in predicting the pressure distribution, fow regime and separation efciency inside the separator vessel. Owing to this complexity, computational fuid dynamics (CFD) simulation of two-phase fuid movement inside a vapor separator was carried out using Cosmos Express software package. The modifcations made to the existing vapor separator were done considering the major mechanisms such as gravity separation, inertial separation, centrifugal separation and surface tension force. This paper describes the CFD analysis of a modifed vapor separator model. The design modifcation made in this vapor separator was to increase the efciency of the system by reducing its drawbacks. The efect of turbulence and pressure drop on the existing vapor separator design was studied while improving their ef- ciency to 100% and 99.5% in two diferent designs. The separator efciency was calculated by injecting water droplets after a converged solution was achieved. Though, pressure drop inside the vapor chamber is higher (1344.91 N m −2 ) for the frst design compared to later having a lower value of 817.68 N m −2 . CFD simulation results demonstrated a promising method to optimize the separator design. Keywords Vapor separator · CFD · Cosmos Express · Turbulence Introduction A two-phase vapor separator is a device that separates vapor from vapor–liquid mixture by means of density gradient. Separation is enhanced by either centrifugal force or gravi- tational force. Chemical processes are carried out by sepa- ration and purifcation. Such separations mainly depend on physical property diferences in the fuid stream. There are two or more phases with diferent compositions in hetero- geneous mixtures. The components of these mixtures do not react chemically, and the boundaries of separation between the diferent phases are clearly visible. These separations are carried out with the aid of density diferences between the phases. The position of separation units can be either horizontal or vertical. Removal of liquids and solids from a gas stream is vital in refning and gas processing applica- tions. The contaminants should be removed from the vapor to prevent the colliding of particles over the downstream equipment such as compressor, turbine and burner, thus reducing the cost of damage. Moreover, HCs and solid con- taminants can consequently induce foaming in an amine * V. Vijayan vijayan.me@gmail.com M. Vivekanandan vivekbanu@gmail.com R. Venkatesh venkidsec@gmail.com K. Rajaguru rajaguruk.cad@gmail.com A. Godwin Antony eternal.tony@gmail.com 1 Mechanical Engineering Department, K. Ramakrishnan College of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Energy and Environment, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Mechanical Engineering Department, Kongunadu College of Engineering and Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India