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Spiral concentrators are used globally in the mineral processing industry.
Consisting of an open trough that twists vertically downward, a slurry
mix of particles and water is fed to the top of the concentrator. Particles
are then separated radially on the basis of density and size.
FLUENT has been used to develop a baseline model for the fluid phase.
Using the VOF model and the RNG turbulence model, successful simulations
predicted the shallow free-surface flow with secondary swirling motion
and coexisting laminar and turbulent regimes. By tracking individual particles,
the CFD simulations quickly yielded qualitative performance predictions.
In addition, FLUENT's Eulerian granular multiphase model produced excellent
prediction of particle-particle interactions in the device.
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