Hydrodynamics in a gravity settling vessel: CFD modelling with LDA validation

Vertical gravity settling vessels, usually referred to as primary separatio n vessels (PSV), are used in separating bitumen aggregates from slurry cont aining sand and fine clays. The hydrodynamics in the PSV influences the sep aration efficiency of recovered bitumen through the overall mean flow and t urbulent interaction. In order to deepen our understanding of the hydrodyna mic conditions in such vessels, this paper presents a combined study of the flow field using Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) to measure the velocity fi eld, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to validate the CFD model. The investigation shows that the flow geometry has a significant in fluence on the overall flow pattern in such vessels. It also demonstrates t hat the CFD simulation is a reliable tool in capturing the complex mean flo w pattern observed in experiments. Use of different turbulent models such a s the standard k-epsilon model and Reynolds stress model has very little ef fect on the mean flow field.