An Analysis of Laminar Flow and Pressure Drop in Complex Shaped Ducts
Keyword(s):
An analytical method is presented for solving the governing equation for fully developed, steady, incompressible laminar flow through ducts of constant cross-section having a complex geometry. The technique uses the Schwarz-Neumann alternating method along with least squares point matching. The method is applied to a complex shaped duct and the resulting velocity series solution is used to calculate the flow rate and pressure drop (f•Re) for a range of duct sizes. Numerical results are presented and compared with experimentally determined friction factors for a duct of similar geometry.