Numerical study of energy separation in a vortex tube with different RANS models

► Energy separation and flow phenomena within a vortex tube were studied numerically. ► A 3D computational domain was generated considering the quarter of the geometry. ► The flow predictions are based upon k-ɛ, k-ω and SST k-ω models and the RSM model. ► All the models predict fairly well the general flow features. ► Only the RSM model matches correctly the measured cold and hot outlet temperatures.