A numerical analysis is presented of the flow of a binary gas mixture of UF
6 and N
2 in a rotating cylinder. The equations for flow and the diffusion equation are solved simul-taneously for the binary mixture in static state, taking account of viscosity and compres-sibility, using a modified version of the Newton method, commonly applied to rotating fluid flow. An appropriate model is assumed for a centrifuge provided with scoop and baffle plate. Computations are carried out with the N
2 to UF
6 mixing ratio adopted as parameter.
At small values of mixing ratio, the pressure distribution of UF
6 in the radial direction is little influenced by the presence of N
2. The N
2 pressure distribution is close to that at equilibrium of N
2 itself in zones inside cylinder of relatively slow gas travel. In the zones of faster gas travel, conversely, the N
2 pressure distribution deviates from that of its equi-librium and approaches that of UF
6.
The pressure distribution of UF
6, on the other hand, is strongly influenced by the presence of N
2 when the mixing ratio is above 0.2. The resulting radial distribution along a section close to the exit scoop presents a peculiar concave configulation with a shallow valley appearing in the intermediate zone, and this significantly lowers the concentration of UF
6 extracted through the scoop. The separation efficiency obtained between the two gases is extremely low, but this is due to the mass flow rate having been chosen to opti-mize the separation efficiency between UF
6 isotopes.
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