CFD Simulation and Optimal Design of a New Parabolic-Shaped Guided Valve Tray

A new parabolic-shaped guided valve tray is proposed. The gas-liquid two-phase flow of parabolic and conventional rectangular guided valve trays is simulated using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The clear liquid height on the tray was predicted for different combinations of the superficial gas velocity, liquid flow intensity and weir height. The predicted values were in good agreement with the calculated ones. The parabolic-shaped guided valve tray has a more uniform flow form by comparing the gas-liquid two-phase flow behavior of parabolic and rectangular guided valve trays: the liquid level difference is slight, the guiding effect is strong, and the re-mixing phenomenon is improved. Further modeling and simulations were conducted for nine parabolic-shaped guided valve trays of different function expressions. The optimum valve structure is the parabolic-shaped guided valve of the a-value at 0.075 and the t-value at 26.