The steady and unsteady state analysis of a simple gas centrifuge

The operating theory of the gas centrifuge is developed under both steady and unsteady state behavior. It is shown that countercurrent flow patterns in a gas centrifuge enhance the possible separation. The effect of self-diffusion of the gaseous mixtures is shown to be significant with low molecular weight gases but of less significance with heavy gases such as uranium isotopes. The time required to develop steady state pressure and concentration profiles is in the order of minutes, even with no net flow to and from the machine.