Abstract
This goal of this paper was to determine the flow characteristics of compressible airflow in the yarn duct of an interlacer using numerical simulations to study the effects of cross-sectional shapes of yarn duct on the performance of interlacers. A CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software package ANSYS CFX was used to calculate the flow patterns in the yarn duct. The relationship between the performance of the interlacer and the distribution of the velocity vector, the airflow speed and the particle trace of flow were examined in order to propose a better design of interlacers. From the results of the calculations, if the vortices on the middle cross-section of the yarn duct make the filaments revolve continuously, then a large number of entanglements can be achieved. The velocity at the central point of the yarn duct was the deciding factor as to a sufficient opening for the filaments. However, too high of a velocity makes the filaments stay on the wall, hindering them from entangling with each other.