Numerical simulation on thermoacoustic separation effect in an acoustic resonator

Thermoacoustic separation is a totally new method for separating gas mixtures. A two-dimensional numerical model has been developed to study the thermoacoustic separation effect in an acoustic resonator filled with He-Ar mixture. Numerical results are validated via a separation resonator with a theoretical prediction. It is shown that the heavy component can be pumped from the pressure node to the velocity node while the light component moves in the opposite direction, which results in separation of the mixture along the propagation direction of sound wave. This work lays a foundation for analysing the mechanism of this novel separation method.