Simulation of Tapered Pipe Turbulent Flow in Various Internal Flow Geometries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37934/afhme.5.1.19aKeywords:
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), geometry, k-ε turbulenceAbstract
This research focuses on established turbulent flow profiles in tapered pipes of different lengths but fixed minimum external diameter and constant pipe material properties, and uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Three geometries were analysed: Variety of three profiles of 50 cm, 75 cm and 100 cm lengths and outlet diameter. To test the suitability of the node density, a grid independence test (GIT) was performed on the 50 cm length tapered pipe geometry to obtain an accurate yet efficient model. The mentioned derived mesh settings were adopted and applied on other geometries. Computational results were verified by comparing the velocity and pressure fields with the numerically obtained fields as well as the published findings. The k-ε turbulence model, combined with the finite volume method of the ANSYS Fluent simulated the velocity and the pressure of the flow. At the same time, marginal variations at the outlet may suggest the limitations of the chosen model. Velocity distribution and flow behaviour are depicted by contour plots where colour gradients represent geometrical effects. The present work is useful in understanding the parametric variations of the CFD model necessary for internal flow applications.