Understanding the swirling flow in a gas cyclone is of great importance in improving the cyclone design. Once the three-dimensional strong swirling flow is fully understood, cyclone performance such as pressure drop and separation efficiency can be improved by optimizing the cyclone design. The swirling flow was investigated by the stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (Stereo-PIV) in this work. The instantaneous whole-field tangential, axial, and radial velocities were measured simultaneously in the cylindrical and conical separation zone, and in the dust hopper area of the cyclone with gas inlet velocity of 7.2-15.0m/s. The time-averaged flow pattern in the cylindrical and conical sections of the cyclone showed: a typical Rankine vortex with inner quasi-forced vortex and outer quasi-free vortex which is generated by tangential gas velocity; inner upward flow and outer downward flow of axial gas velocity; and centripetal flow in the region close to the wall due to the presence of radial gas velocity. In the dust hopper, a secondary longitudinal circular flow is formed in the annulus area between the conical body and the cylindrical wall. Experimental results indicate that the separated particles may be re-entrained into the cyclone from the bin to degrade the separation efficiency of the cyclone. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.