Analysis of Turbulent Flow in 180 deg Turning Ducts With and Without Guide Vanes

2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang Luo ◽  
Eli H. Razinsky

This paper presents a numerical study of the turbulent flows through a number of 2D and 3D 180 deg U-ducts, with and without guide vanes, using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes method. Computations have been first carried out for a 2D U-duct flow (W/H=1.0) with four turbulence models (V2F, k-ε, shear stress transport (SST), and Reynolds stress). The models’ capability for predicting streamline curvature effects on turbulence and separation has been assessed, using flow and turbulence data. The effects of adding a guide vane inside the bend have been analyzed to reduce/avoid flow separation. Three vanes with different radial locations have been studied, and the mechanism for pressure loss reduction has been examined. Analyses have been performed for turbulent flows in 3D U-ducts with square cross section and sharp 180 deg turning (W/D=0.2), similar to the U-bends in typical turbine blade cooling passages. The predictions are compared with the data of outer-wall pressure. The effects of the guide vane and outer-wall shape on the flow separation, secondary-flow vortices, and pressure loss have been evaluated. The combined vane and uniform cross section area are found to improve the flow distribution and reduce the pressure loss significantly.

Author(s):  
Jiang Luo ◽  
Eli H. Razinsky

This paper presents a numerical study of the turbulent flows through a number of 2-D and 3-D 180° U-ducts, with and without guide vanes, using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes method. Computations have been first carried out for a 2-D U-duct flow (W/H = 1.0) with four turbulence models (V2F, k-ε, SST and Reynolds stress). The models’ capability for streamline curvature effects on turbulence and separation has been assessed, using flow and turbulence data. The effects of adding a guide vane inside the bend have been analyzed, to reduce/avoid flow separation. Three vanes with different radial locations have been studied, and the mechanism for pressure loss reduction has been examined. Analyses have been performed for turbulent flows in 3-D U-ducts with square cross-section and sharp 180° turning (W/D = 0.2), similar to the U-bends in typical turbine blade cooling passages. The predictions are compared with the data of outer wall pressure. The effects of the guide vane and outer-wall shape on the flow separation, secondary-flow vortices and pressure loss have been evaluated. The combined vane and uniform cross-section area provide a large benefit for the flow distribution and pressure loss reduction.


Author(s):  
Sang-Won Kim ◽  
Youn-Jea Kim

An axial-flow pump has a relatively high discharge flow rate and specific speed at a relatively low head and it consists of an inlet guide vane, impeller, and outlet guide vane. The interaction of the flow through the inlet guide vane, impeller, and outlet guide vane of the axial-flow pump has a significant effect on its performance. Of those components, the guide vanes especially can improve the head and efficiency of the pump by transforming the kinetic energy of the rotating flow, which has a tangential velocity component, into pressure energy. Accordingly, the geometric configurations of the guide vanes such as blade thickness and angle are crucial design factors for determining the performance of the axial-flow pump. As the reliability of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been elevated together with the advance in computer technology, numerical analysis using CFD has recently become an alternative to empirical experiment due to its high reliability to measure the flow field. Thus, in this study, 1,200mm axial-flow pump having an inlet guide vane and impeller with 4 blades and an outlet guide vane with 6 blades was numerically investigated. Numerical study was conducted using the commercial CFD code, ANSYS CFX ver. 16.1, in order to elucidate the effect of the thickness and angle of the guide vanes on the performance of 1,200mm axial-flow pump. The stage condition, which averages the fluxes between interfaces and is accordingly appropriate for the evaluation of pump performance, was adopted as the interface condition between the guide vanes and the impeller. The rotational periodicity condition was used in order to enable a simplified geometry to be used since the guide vanes feature multiple identical regions. The shear stress transport (SST) k-ω model, predicting the turbulence within the flow in good agreement, was also employed in the CFD calculation. With regard to the numerical simulation results, the characteristics of the pressure distribution were discussed in detail. The pump performance, which will determine how well an axial-flow pump will work in terms of its efficiency and head, was also discussed in detail, leading to the conclusion on the optimal blade thickness and angle for the improvement of the performance. In addition, the total pressure loss coefficient was considered in order to investigate the loss within the flow paths depending on the thickness and angle variations. The results presented in this study may give guidelines to the numerical analysis of the axial-flow pump and the investigation of the performance for further optimal design of the axial-flow pump.


Author(s):  
S Washio ◽  
S Kikui ◽  
S Takahashi

If bubble nuclei are the cause of cavitation, how are they initially produced? According to what Washio et al. have found out so far, there are two possible ways for cavitation nuclei to be generated in liquid flows: separation of flow and a relative motion between solids contacting in liquid. The present article intends to reinforce that assertion by observing the cavitation occurring in an oil hydraulic poppet valve. At a certain flowrate, a microscopic cavity suddenly emerged on the valve seat where the flow separated. As the flowrate increased, the cavity developed extending circumferentially on the seat and discharged bubbles by splitting. A collision of the poppet with the valve seat also caused the generation of a cavity. As the poppet was away from the seat after the collision, the cavity shrunk leaving behind a bubble. Cavities generated on the seat by flow separation regularly repeated a process of growth and shrinkage accompanied by bubble discharge, which induced flow pulsation and consequently vibration of the poppet supported by a spring as well. Moreover, these cavities brought about so-called ‘choking’ in the poppet—seat constriction and acted to increase the pressure loss there by narrowing its cross-section.


Author(s):  
Masoud Kharati-Koopaee ◽  
Hossein Moallemi

This research aims at the numerical study of the blade tip grooving effect on the performance of a ducted axial fan at different tip clearances in the absence and presence of inlet guide vanes. To do this, significant parameters of the fan (i.e. pressure and torque coefficients as well as fan efficiency) comprising single- and double-grooved tips are evaluated and compared with those of the original fan. Validation of the considered numerical model is performed through comparison of the numerical findings with experimental results of a single-stage ducted fan, which comprises a set of 37 guide vane and 24-blade rotor rotating at the speed of 3600 r/min. Results reveal that grooving the blade tip causes the fan parameters to increase and higher fan parameters could be attained adopting single-grooved tip. It is shown that employing grooved blades causes the sensitivity of fan parameters to the change in the tip clearance to diminish. Results exhibit that the impact of grooving the blade on the reduction of sensitivity of fan parameters to the change in the tip clearance for the single-grooved tip in the absence of guide vanes is more remarkable than the other cases and in this case, as the tip clearance increases from the lower to the upper considered value, the decreased percentages in pressure coefficient, torque coefficient, and fan efficiency are 29.8%, 8.9%, and 22.8%, respectively. Numerical findings show that the influence of grooving the blade on the fan parameters in the presence of guide vanes is lower than that without guide vanes and in the presence of guide vanes, the highest average increase percentages in pressure coefficient, torque coefficient, and fan efficiency relative to those of the original fan, which is observed in the single grooved tip, are 3.1%, 1.4%, and 1.7%, respectively.


Author(s):  
Setyo Nugroho ◽  
Achmad Arifudin Hidayatulloh

The use of elbow or curved pipe in the installation of piping has a loss of pressure (pressure drop) which could lead the power of pump that drive the fluid and decrease the energy efficiency of the system. The pressure drop is caused by the curved shape of the elbow that cause pressure on the outer wall (outter) larger and blocking off the pace of the fluid, and flow pressure losses caused by friction, flow separation and secondary flow. A method that can be used to reduce flow separation and pressure loss in the elbow is by the insertion guide vane. The test model in the form of rectangular elbow 900  with a radius ratio (rc/Dh) = 1.1249 without using a guide vane and number of guide vane insertion one until three guide vanes. With Reynolds number ReDh ≈ 8.6 × 104. The velocity inlet is uniform, the measured variable is static pressure. Static pressure was measured using an inclined manometer. With variation the number of guide vane gives a more effect on the value of pressure drop, the largest pressure drop until 123.35% compared to that without guide vane. The velocity distribution profile on the outlet side becomes more uniform. The magnitude of this pressure drop occurs as a result of the increased flow friction and its secondary flow become smaller.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Sulaiman Alsaleem ◽  
Lesley Wright ◽  
Je-Chin Han

Abstract Serpentine, multi-pass cooling passages, are used in cooling advanced gas turbine blades. In open literature, most internal cooling studies use a fixed cross-sectional area for multi-pass channels. Studies that use varying aspect ratio channels, along with a guide vane to direct the flow with turning, are scarce. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of using different guide vane designs on both detailed heat transfer distribution and pressure loss in a multi-pass channel with an aspect ratio of (4:1) in the entry passage and (2:1) in the second passage downstream of the vane (s). The first vane configuration is one solid-vane with a semi-circular cross-section connecting the two flow passages. The second configuration has three broken-vanes with a quarter-circular cross-section; two broken vanes are located downstream in the first passage, and one broken vane is upstream in the second passage. Detailed heat transfer distributions were obtained on all surfaces within the flow passages by using a transient liquid crystal method. Results show that including the semi-circular vane in the turning region enhanced the overall heat transfer by around 29% with a reduction in pressure loss by around 20%. Moreover, results show the quarter-circular vane design provides higher overall averaged heat transfer enhancement than the semi-circular vane design by around 9% with penalty of higher pressure drop by 6%, which yields higher thermal performance by 7%, over a Reynolds number range from 15,000 to 45,000.


2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong-Miin Liou ◽  
Hsin-Li Lee ◽  
Chin-Chun Liao

Three-dimensional flowfields in a 60-deg curved combustor inlet duct of rectangular cross-section with and without guide vanes were measured using Laser-Doppler velocimetry for the longitudinal, radial, and spanwise velocity components. The Reynolds number based on the bulk mean velocity and hydraulic diameter was 2.53×104. The main parameters examined were the guide-vane number and Reynolds number. The results show that to completely eliminate flow separation in the curved combustor inlet three guide vanes should be installed. The critical Reynolds number for the absence of the flow separation is found to decrease with increasing product of radius and aspect ratios. In addition, it is found that in most regions the maximum radial mean velocity, difference between radial and spanwise normal stress, and the turbulent kinetic energy decrease with increasing guide-vane number. A rationale for the absence of flow separation in the one-vane case predicted by previous researchers is also provided.


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