Impact of the vibrations on soret separation in binary and ternary mixtures

CFD simulations have been made to understand the impact of the vibrations of the ISS on the thermodiffusion process. Simulations were made for two ternary hydrocarbon mixtures and one binary associated mixture. While one of the ternary mixture was at a pressure of 35 MPa, the second ternary mixture as well as the binary mixture were at a pressure of 0.101325 MPa. The analysis of the results showed that imposing the ISS vibrations had a profound effect on the Soret effect in all three systems. More precisely, in all three mixtures, a single convective flow cell is established. Such a cell is responsible for a mixing effect, destroying most of the Soret separation. Further, the vibrations have a more damaging effect on the low pressure systems than the high pressure mixture. This is because, at a lower pressure the fluids respond more easily to the applied vibrations. © 2011 Tech Science Press.