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A tubular centrifuge is a type of centrifugal separation device that is often used for separation of very fine solid particles from a liquid. It can be run in both a continuous and batch type configurations. The device usually consists of a cylindrical rotating bowl with a large aspect ratio where its length is often many times larger than the radius. The bowl has an inlet feed and an outlet.

The particle–liquid mixture enters the rotating bowl through the inlet feed. The large rotation speed of the bowl induces centrifugal forces on the particles which cause them to sediment near the inner walls of the bowl as long as the particle has a larger density compared to the fluid. The sedimentation rate depends on the particle densities and the rotation speeds. Larger rotation speeds enhance the sedimentation rate. Further, the particles with larger densities tend to sediment faster. This dependence on the particle densities can lead to a preferential sedimentation along the axial direction with the most dense particles sedimenting close to the inlet, while the less dense particles sediment at a larger axial distance from the inlet.

This model also demonstrates the process of restarting particle tracing simulations whereby the information of the particles from one study step is used as the initial conditions for a subsequent study step.