Three-dimensional particle dynamics analyzer was employed to Study the gas-solid flow in a square-shaped cyclone separator which was designed for large CFB application. Distribution of flow vector, fluctuating velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent intensity and particle concentration were discussed. The swirling flow inside the cyclone showed the Rankine vortex characteristics, i.e., strong swirling vortex at the central region of the cross-section and weak swirling quasi-free vortex near the wall. The quasi-laminar motion of particles enhanced the turbulent movement at the corners due to particle-particle/wall collision, which led to the local peak value of the turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent intensity. The corner is one of the major region to cause pressure drop because the suspension at the corners consumed more energy of the flow. The corners were found to be beneficial to particle separation mainly because the strong fluctuating flow consumed much of the kinetic energy of both the particle and the gas. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.