Flow Visualization Experiments on Secondary Flow Patterns in an Isothermally Heated Curved Pipe

1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Cheng ◽  
F. P. Yuen

Secondary flow patterns at the exit of a 180 deg bend (tube inside diameter d = 1.99 cm, radius of curvature Rc = 10.85 cm) are presented to illustrate the combined effects of centrifugal and buoyancy forces in hydrodynamically and thermally developing entrance region of an isothermally heated curved pipe with both parabolic and turbulent entrance velocity profiles. Three cases of upward, horizontal, and downward-curved pipe flows are studied for constant wall temperatures Tw=55–91°C, Dean number range K=22–1209 and ReRa=1.00×106–8.86×107. The flow visualization was realized by the smoke injection method. The secondary flow patterns shown are useful for future comparison with numerical predictions and confirming theoretical models. The results can be used to assess qualitatively the limit of the applicability of the existing correlation equations for laminar forced convection in isothermally heated curved pipes without buoyancy effects.

1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Cheng ◽  
F. P. Yuen

Photographs are presented for secondary flow patterns in a straight tube (x/d = 0 ∼ 70) downstream of a 180 deg bend (tube inside diameter d = 2.54 cm, radius of curvature Rc = 12.7 cm) and in an isothermally heated horizontal tube (tube inside diameter d = 2.54 cm, heated length l = 46.2 cm) with free convection effects. Each test section is preceded by a long entrance length with air as the flowing fluid. For curved pipes, the Dean number range is K = 99 to 384. At the exit of the 180 deg bend, the onset of centrifugal instability in the form of an additional pair of Dean vortices near the central outer wall occurs at a Dean number of about K = 100. The developing secondary flow patterns in the thermal entrance region of an isothermally heated horizontal tube are shown for the dimensionless axial distance z = 0.8 × 10−2 to 1.83 (Re = 3134 ∼ 14) for a range of constant wall temperatures Tw = 55 ∼ 65° C with entrance air temperature at about 25° C. The secondary flow patterns shown are useful for future comparisons with predictions from numerical solutions.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Tada ◽  
Shuzo Oshima ◽  
Ryuichiro Yamane

The fully developed periodic laminar flow of incompressible Newtonian fluids through a pipe of circular cross section, which is coiled in a circle, was simulated numerically. The flow patterns are characterized by three parameters: the Womersley number Wo, the Dean number De, and the amplitude ratio β. The effect of these parameters on the flow was studied in the range 2.19 ≤ Wo ≤ 50.00, 15.07 ≤ De ≤ 265.49 and 0.50 ≤ β ≤ 2.00, with the curvature ratio δ fixed to be 0.05. The way the secondary flow evolved with increasing Womersley number and Dean number is explained. The secondary flow patterns are classified into three main groups: the viscosity-dominated type, the inertia-dominated type, and the convection-dominated type. It was found that when the amplitude ratio of the volumetric flow rate is equal to 1.0, four to six vortices of the secondary flow appear at high Dean numbers, and the Lyne-type flow patterns disappear at β ≥ 0.50.


1985 ◽  
Vol 158 ◽  
pp. 329-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. C. Topakoglu ◽  
M. A. Ebadian

A literature survey (Berger, Talbot & Yao 1983) indicates that laminar viscous flow in curved pipes has been extensively investigated. Most of the existing analytical results deal with the case of circular cross-section. The important studies dealing with elliptical cross-sections are mainly due to Thomas & Walters (1965) and Srivastava (1980). The analysis of Thomas & Walters is based on Dean's (1927, 1928) approach in which the simplified forms of the momentum and continuity equations have been used. The analysis of Srivastava is essentially a seminumerical approach, in which no explicit expressions have been presented.In this paper, using elliptic coordinates and following the unsimplified formulation of Topakoglu (1967), the flow in a curved pipe of elliptical cross-section is analysed. Two different geometries have been considered: (i) with the major axis of the ellipse placed in the direction of the radius of curvature; and (ii) with the minor axis of the ellipse placed in the direction of the radius of curvature. For both cases explicit expressions for the first term of the expansion of the secondary-flow stream function as a function of the ellipticity ratio of the elliptic section have been obtained. After selecting a typical numerical value for the ellipticity ratio, the secondary-flow streamlines are plotted. The results are compared with that of Thomas & Walters. The remaining terms of the expansion of the flow field are not included, but they will be analysed in a future paper.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Quanlin Dong ◽  
Pengfei Wang

In order to understand the mechanism of fluid flows in curved pipes, a large number of theoretical and experimental researches have been performed. As a critical parameter of curved pipe, the curvature ratioδhas received much attention, but most of the values ofδare very small (δ<0.1) or relatively small (δ≤0.5). As a preliminary study and simulation this research studied the fluid flow in a 90-degree curved pipe of large curvature ratio. The Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) turbulence model was employed to investigate the fluid flows at the Reynolds number range from 5000 to 20000. After validation of the numerical strategy, the pressure and velocity distribution, pressure drop, fluid flow, and secondary flow along the curved pipe were illustrated. The results show that the fluid flow in a curved pipe with large curvature ratio seems to be unlike that in a curved pipe with small curvature ratio. Large curvature ratio makes the internal flow more complicated; thus, the flow patterns, the separation region, and the oscillatory flow are different.


Author(s):  
Milad Kelidari ◽  
Ali Jabari Moghadam

Different-radius of curvature pipes are experimentally investigated using distilled water and Fe3O4–water nanofluid with two different values of the nanoparticle volume fraction as the working fluids. The mass flow rate is approximately varied from 0.2 to 0.7 kg/min (in the range of laminar flow); the wall heat flux is nearly kept constant. The experimental results reveal that utilizing the nanofluid increases the convection heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number in comparison to water; these outcomes are also observed when the radius of curvature is decreased and/or the mass flow rate is increased (equivalently, a rise in Dean number). The resultant pressure gradient is, however, intensified by an increase in the volume concentration of nanoparticles and/or by a rise in Dean number. For any particular working fluid, there is an optimum mass flow rate, which maximizes the system efficiency. The overall efficiency can be introduced to include hydrodynamic as well as thermal characteristics of nanofluids in various geometrical conditions. For each radius of curvature, the same overall efficiency may be achieved for two magnitudes of nanofluid volume concentration.


1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. Sanz ◽  
R. D. Flack

Secondary flows were experimentally examined in three 90° curved ducts with square cross sections and different radii of curvature. Dean numbers were from 1.5 × 104 to 3.6 × 104 and radius ratios of 0.5, 2.3, and 3.0 were used. Streak photography flow measurements were made and general developing secondary flow patterns were studied for three cross sections in each bend: the inlet (0° plane), the midpoint (45° plane), and the outlet (90° plane). At the 0° plane, stress driven secondary flows were found to consist of flow toward the duct corners from the center, balanced by return flow at the side bisectors. This resulted in eight symmetric flow patterns at the inlet. After a rapid transition region, the pressure driven secondary flow patterns were found to be characterized by flow moving toward the outer curved wall at the axial midplane and returning to the inner wall along the duct walls. At the 45° and 90° planes two symmetric flow patterns were observed. Secondary flow velocities in the test elbow with the smallest radius of curvature, where centrifugal forces are greater, were as much as 27% higher than secondary flows in the more gradual turns examined in this study. Also, the pressure driven secondary flows at the exit were higher than the stress driven flows at the inlet by as much as 39%. The elbow with a radius ratio of 0.5 was found to influence the upstream inlet conditions the most and the secondary flow velocities at the inlet were as much as 56% higher than for the larger radii of curvature.


1978 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Agrawal ◽  
L. Talbot ◽  
K. Gong

An experimental investigation was carried out of the development of steady, laminar, incompressible flow of a Newtonian fluid in the entry region of a curved pipe for the entry condition of uniform motion. Two semicircular pipes of radius ratios 1/20 and 1/7 were investigated, covering a Dean number range from 138 to 679. The axial velocity and the component of secondary velocity parallel to the plane of curvature of the pipe were measured using laser anemometry. It was observed that, in the upstream region where the boundary layers are thin compared with the pipe radius, the axial velocity within the irrotational core first develops to form a vortex-like flow. In the downstream region, characterized by viscous layers of thickness comparable with the pipe radius, there appears to be three-dimensional separation at the inner wall. There is also an indication of an additional vortex structure embedded within the Dean-type secondary motion. The experimental axial velocity profiles are compared with those constructed from the theoretical analyses of Singh and Yao & Berger. The quantitative agreement between theory and experiment is found to be poor; however, some of the features observed in the experiment are in qualitative agreement with the theoretical solution of Yao & Berger.


Author(s):  
Mojtaba Jarrahi ◽  
Cathy Castelain ◽  
Hassan Peerhossaini

Effects of different parameters on the secondary flow pattern have been studied experimentally by particle image velocimetry (PIV) for a developing laminar pulsating flow through a circular curved pipe. The curvature ratio is η = rc/r0 = 11 and the curvature angle is 90°. As different secondary flow patterns formed by oscillation cause different transverse mixings, the enhancement of transverse mixing is investigated here. A T-shaped structure installed downstream of the curved pipe allowed PIV measurements obviating light diffraction effects. From knowledge of the velocity components of the secondary flow, the variation in axial vorticity (ξ) and transverse strain (ε) were calculated. The experiments were carried out for the range of stationary Reynolds numbers 420≤Rest≤1000 (corresponding to Dean numbers 126.6≤Dn≤301.51), velocity component ratios 1≤(β = Umax,osc/Um,st)≤4 and frequency parameters 8.37&lt;(α = r0(ω/v)0.5)&lt;24.5. To guarantee being in the laminar regime, the higher values of β (β = 3 and 4) were studied just for Rest = 420. The effects of each parameter ((Rest, β and α) on transverse mixing are discussed by comparing the dimensionless vorticities (|ζP|/|ζS|) and dimensionless transverse strains (|εP|/|εS|) during a complete oscillation period.


1971 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Lyne

The flow in a pipe of circular cross-section which is coiled in a circle is studied, the pressure gradient along the pipe varying sinusoidally in time with frequency ω. The radius of the pipeais assumed small in relation to the radius of curvature of its axisR. Of special interest is the secondary flow generated by centrifugal effects in the plane of the cross-section of the pipe, and an asymptotic theory is developed for small values of the parameter β = (2ν/ωa2)½, where ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid. The secondary flow is found to be governed by a Reynolds number$R_s = \overline{W}^2a/R \omega\nu$, where$\overline{W}$is a typical velocity along the axis of the pipe, and asymptotic theories are developed for both small and large values of this parameter. For sufficiently small values of β it is found that the secondary flow in the interior of the pipe is in the opposite sense to that predicted for a steady pressure gradient, and this is verified qualitatively by an experiment described at the end of the paper.


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