Abstract Sieve trays are widely used fractionating devices existing in separation and purification industries. The weeping phenomenon that has a critical effect on the efficiency of tray towers was studied by a numerical model in a rectangular sieve tray. An Eulerian–Eulerian Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method was performed. The obtained CFD results are in a good agreement with the experimental data and empirical correlation of Zuiderweg [Zuiderweg FJ. Sieve trays: a view on the state of the art, Chem Eng Sci 1982;37:1441–64] in terms of weeping rate and pressure drop, respectively. Furthermore, several hydraulic parameters are properly predicted by the model.
