Dependence of the separative power of an optimised Iguassu gas centrifuge on the velocity of rotor

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this work is to determine dependence of theseparative power of the Iguassu gas centrifuge (GC) on the velocity of therotor. Design/methodology/approach - The dependence is determined by means ofcomputer simulation of the gas flow in the GC and numerical solution of thediffusion equation for the light component of the binary mixture of uraniumisotopes. 2D axisymmetric model with the sources/sinks of the mass, angularmomentum and energy reproducing the scoops was explored for the computersimulation. Parameters of the model correspond to the parameters of theso-called Iguassu centrifuge. The separative power has been optimised inrelation to the pressure of the gas, temperature of the gas, the temperaturedrop along the rotor, power of the source of angularmomentum and energy, feedflow and geometry of the lower baffle. Findings - In the result, the optimised separative power depends only on thevelocity, length and diameter of the rotor. The dependence on the velocity isdescribed by the power law function with the power law index 2.6 whichdemonstrate stronger dependence on the velocity than it follows fromexperimental data. However, the separative power obtained with limitation onthe pressure growth with the velocity depends on the velocity on the powersimilar to 2 which well agree with the experiments. Originality/value - For the first time, the optimised separative power of theGCs have been calculated via numerical simulation of the gas flow and diffusionof the binary mixture of isotope.