Numerical studies of fluid flow through tubes with double constrictions

The flow fields in the neighbourhood of double constrictions in a circular cylindrical tube were studied numerically. The effects on the streamline, velocity and vorticity distributions as the flow passes through the constrictions in the tube were studied in the Reynolds number range 5–200. Double constrictions with dimensionless spacing ratios of 1, 2, 3 and ∞ were studied for a 50% constriction. It is noted that when the Reynolds number is below 10, no recirculation region is formed in the above constricted flow. For Reynolds numbers greater than 10, a recirculation region forms downstream of each of the constrictions. For constriction spacing ratios of 1, 2, and 3, when the Reynolds number is high, a recirculation region spreads between the valley of the constrictions. The recirculation region formed between the two constrictions has a diminishing effect on the generation of wall vorticity near the second constriction area. In general, the peak value of wall vorticity is found slightly upstream of each of the constrictions. When the Reynolds number is increased, the peak wall vorticity value increases and its location is moved upstream. Maximum wall vorticity generated by the first constriction is found to be always greater than the maximum wall vorticity generated by the second constriction. The extent of this spreading of the recirculation region from the first constriction and its effects on the second constriction depend on the constriction spacing ratio and the flow Reynolds number.     

Calculation of laminar recirculating flows using a local non-staggered grid refinement system

A grid-embedding technique for the solution of two-dimensional incompressible flows governed by the Navier-Stokes equations is presented. A finite volume method with collocated primitive variables is employed to ensure conservation at the interfaces of embedding grids as well as global conservation. The discretized equations are solved simultaneously for the whole domain, providing a strong coupling between regions of different refinement. The formulation presented herein is applicable to uniform or non-uniform Cartesian meshes. The method was applied to the solution of two scalar transport equations, to cavity flows driven by body and shear forces and to a sudden plane contraction flow. The numerical predictions are compared with the exact solutions when available and with experimental data. The results show that neither the convergence rate nor the stability of the method is affected by the presence of embedded grids. Embedded grids provide a better distribution of grid nodes over the computational domain and consequently the solution accuracy was improved. The grid-embedding technique proved also that significant savings in computing time could be achieved.     

A finite volume method for fluid flow in polar cylindrical grids

In the numerical simulation of fluid flows using a polar cylindrical grid, grid lines meet at a single point on the axis of the polar cylindrical grid system; this makes the grids around the axis degenerate from being general quadrilaterals into triangles. Therefore, a special treatment must be performed when the axis has to be included in the computational domain in order to solve a non-axisymmetrical fluid flow problem. In this paper a new numerical method has been developed to deal with the difficulty of the axis when the control volume technique is used with a non-staggered grid arrangement. Two illustrative examples of the proposed method are presented for simulating the fluid flows on the axis and all the numerical results obtained for the two examples are shown to be in good agreement with the available analytical solutions. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Overlapping grids and multigrid methods for three-dimensional unsteady flow calculations in IC engines

A new computational methodology with emphasis on using an overlapping grid technique and a multigrid method has been developed. The main feature of the present overlapping-grid system is of extended flexibility to deal with three-dimensional complex multicomponent geometries. The multigrid method is incorporated into this technique to accelerate the convergence of the numerical solution. The current scheme has been applied for computations of the laminar flows in the multicomponent configuration of internal combusion engines. The flow is governed by three-dimensional, time-dependent, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with the continuity equation. A time-independent grid system is constructed for the moving boundary, i.e. the moving piston in the engine. This grid system is entirely different from others for the same problem in previous works. The performance of the present method has been validated by comparing the results with those from an equivalent, single-grid method and those from experiments. In addition, the flexibility and potential of the method has been demonstrated by calculating several cases which would be very difficult to be handled by other schemes.     

Fluid flow and heat transfer test problems for non-orthogonal grids: Bench-mark solutions

Four problems of fluid flow and heat transfer were designed in which non-orthogonal, boundary-fitted grids were to be used. These are proposed to serve as test cases for testing new solution methods. This paper presents solutions of the test problems obtained by using a multigrid finite volume method with grids of up to 320 × 320 control volumes. Starting from zero fields, iterations were performed until the sum of the absolute residuals had fallen seven orders of magnitude, thus ensuring that the variable values did not change to six most significant digits. By comparing the solutions for successive grids at moderate Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers, the discretization errors were estimated to be lower than 0·1%. The results presented in this paper may thus serve for comparison purposes as bench-mark solutions.     

Turbulent free surface flow simulation using a multilayer model

Based on the steady hydrodynamic equations, a multilayer (ML) model has been formulated for simulating turbulent flow in open channels. The model is imposed on a general curvilinear co-ordinate system with non-staggered finite volume discretization. The turbulent quantities in the model are described by the layer-averaged K-ε turbulence model with standard coefficients. Assuming a vertical hydrostatic pressure distribution, a depth correction scheme, originating in the Rhie and Chow approach for confined flows, is incorporated into the SIMPLE procedure to compute the water surface. Using the multilayer model, flows in a 180° channel bend, near a groin, and in straight open channels are computed. The results are compared with experimental data and with calculations of a depth-averaged model (DAV) having three-dimensional effect corrections. The comparisons show that the predictions of the ML model on mean flow values are in good agreement with the available data and are better than those of the DAV model. The vertical distribution of the turbulent energy dissipation rate is also shown to agree well with the open-channel measurements.     

Finite scale theory: The role of the observer in classical fluid flow

In this paper I review a coarse-grained fluid theory named the finite scale theory and describe the development of its numerical analog, implicit large eddy simulation (ILES). The derivation, interpretation and properties of the finite scale equations are discussed and connections to other physical theory and numerical methods are elucidated.     

Three-dimensional surface water modelling using a mesh adaptive technique

Numerical simulation of open water flow in natural courses seems to be doomed to one- or two-dimensional numerical simulations. Investigations of flow hydrodynamics through the application of three-dimensional models actually have very few appearances in the literature. This paper discusses the development and the initial implementation of a general three-dimensional and time-dependent finite volume approach to simulate the hydrodynamics of surface water flow in rivers and lakes. The slightly modified Navier-Stokes equations, together with the continuity and the water depth equations, form the theoretical basis of the model. A body-fitted time-dependent co-ordinate system has been used in the solution process, in order to accommodate the commonly complex and irregular boundary and bathymetry of natural water courses. The proposed adaptive technique allows the mesh to follow the movement of the water boundaries, including the unsteady free-water surface. The primitive variable equations are written in conservative form in the Cartesian co-ordinate system, and the computational procedure is executed in the moveable curvilinear co-ordinate system. Special stabilizing techniques are introduced in order to eliminate the oscillating behaviour associated with the finite volume formulation. Also, a new and comprehensive approximation for the pressure forces at the faces of a control volume is presented. Finally, results of several tests demonstrate the performance of the finite volume approach coupled with the adaptive technique employed in the three-dimensional time-dependent mesh system.     

正交数值网格的生成及平面二维流场的数值模拟

提出了一种边界正交曲线网格的生成方法。在内域,求解拉普拉斯方程组生成二维正交曲线网格;在计算域边界,提出了正交曲线网格边界正交化处理的分段拉格朗日插值边界滑动法,并对控制方程N-S方程进行曲线坐标变换,使用SIMPLEC算法求解曲线坐标下的k-ε双方程湍流模型。文中以长江重庆九龙坡弯道河段正态模型为资料进行验证,计算了流场,数值模拟结果与实测结果吻合较好。     

Fluid flow in curved ducts

The advent of standard algorithms for the numerical solution of partial differential equations has given researchers a new tool for fluid flow calculations. In this paper, single-phase flow in curved ducts is numerically simulated by imposing a spatially varying centrifugal force on a fluid flowing in a straight tube. The resulting set of partial differential equations is solved using the HARWELL-FLOW3D computer program. Comparison with other numerical and experimental results shows that this simplified formulation gives accurate results. The model neglects certain geometric terms of the order d/D, the duct-to-coil diameter ratio. The effect of these terms is investigated by considering the flow in a 90° bend for large d/D. It is shown that while there may be significant error in the prediction of the local variables for large d/D, the circumference-averaged quantities are well predicted.     

Simulation of interface and free surface flows in a viscous fluid using adapting quadtree grids

A new adaptive quadtree method for simulating laminar viscous fluid problems with free surfaces and interfaces is presented in this paper. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved with a SIMPLE‐type scheme coupled with the Compressive Interface Capturing Scheme for Arbitrary Meshes (CICSAM) (Numerical prediction of two fluid systems with sharp interfaces, Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, 1997) volume of fluid (VoF) method and PLIC reconstruction of the volume fraction field during refinement and derefinement processes. The method is demonstrated for interface advection cases in translating and shearing flow fields and found to provide high interface resolution at low computational cost. The new method is also applied to simulation of the collapse of a water column and the results are in excellent agreement with other published data. The quadtree grids adapt to follow the movement of the free surface, whilst maintaining a band of the smallest cells surrounding the surface. The calculation is made on uniform and adapting quadtree grids and the accuracy of the quadtree calculation is shown to be the same as that made on the equivalent uniform grid. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two-dimensional subcritical and supercritical open channel flow calculation using a time-marching method

A time-marching method is presented for the calculation of two-dimensional, high-speed channel flow, including the usually neglected terms of slope and bottom friction. Time-marching methods are potentially the most flexible means of calculating flow through geometrically complex channel passages, since they can readily deal with subcritical and supercritical flows. The adopted numerical scheme comes straight from gas flow computations in turbomachines. The flow is assumed to be fully mixed in the vertical direction, so that vertical variations may be neglected. Comparisons with other numerical solutions for various open channel configurations show that the proposed approach is a comparatively accurate, reliable and fast technique. It can be utilized for open channel designs.     

Prediction of thermal stratification in a curved duct with 3D body-fitted co-ordinates

This paper concerns a numerical prediction method for buoyancy-influenced flows using three-dimensional non-orthogonal curvilinear co-ordinates. The numerical analysis of the transformed governing equations for thermal hydraulics is based on a Lagrangian method, in which advected physical values are evaluated by local cubic spline interpolations with third-order accuracy in the three-dimensional computational domain. In addition, the buoyancy and diffusion terms are discretized in the Lagrangian scheme so as to have second-order accuracy with respect to time and space. The Neumann boundary conditions, which have been rather difficult for non-orthogonal co-ordinates to deal with, can be implemented by making use of normal vectors on the physical boundary surfaces and cubic spline interpolations. The developed numerical method is applied to the steady isothermal flow in a curved pipe and the unsteady stratified flow in a curved duct. Both of the predicted values are in good agreement with the experimental results and the validity of the prediction method is confirmed.     

Computation of fluid flow with a parallel multigrid solver

A finite volume numerical method for the prediction of fluid flow and heat transfer in simple geometries was parallelized using a domain decomposition approach. The method is implicit, uses a colocated arrangement of variables and is based on the SIMPLE algorithm for pressure-velocity coupling. Discretization is based on second-order central difference approximations. The algebraic equation systems are solved by the ILU method of Stone.¹ To accelerate the convergence, a multigrid technique was used. The efficiency was examined on three different parallel computers for laminar flow in a pipe with an orifice and natural convection in a closed cavity. It is shown that the total efficiency is made up of three major factors: numerical efficiency, parallel efficiency and load-balancing efficiency. The first two factors were thoroughly investigated, and a model for predicting the parallel efficiency on various computers is presented. Test calculations indicate reasonable total efficiency and favourable dependence on grid size and the number of processors.     

The simulation of inviscid,compressible flows using an upwind kinetic method on unstructured grids

A kinetic flux-vector-splitting method has been used to solve the Euler equations for inviscid, compressible flow on unstructured grids. This method is derived from the Boltzmann equation and is an upwind, cell-centered, finite volume scheme with an explicit time-stepping procedure. The Delaunay triangulation has been used to generate the grids. The approach is demonstrated for three flow field simulations, namely the subsonic flow over a two-component high-lift aerofoil, the transonic flow over an aerofoil and the supersonic flow in a channel.     

Finite volume scheme for the solution of fluid flow problems on unstructured non‐staggered grids

A recently developed non‐staggered methodology which uses the principle of applying fourth‐order dissipation to the governing pressure‐correction equation is developed so it can be applied to unstructured grids. A finite volume methodology is used for discretization. The fourth‐order dissipation term is found using second‐order gradient operators. This makes it straightforward to incorporate the dissipation term on unstructured grids. The new methodology is compared with solutions from a standard finite volume second‐order flow solver and is also tested for a standard laminar driven‐lid flow problem with grids systems that do not have a uniform structure. Finally, we demonstrate how the new methodology can be used to predict flow over a wavy boundary. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Incompressible low-speed-ratio flow in non-uniform distensible tubes

The fluid flow in distensible tubes is analysed by a finite element method based on an uncoupled solution of the equations of wall motion and fluid flow. Special attention is paid to the choice of proper boundary conditions. Computations were made for sinusoidal flow in a distensible uniform tube with the Womersley parameter α = 5, and a ratio between tube radius and wavelenth from 0·0001 to 0·5. The agreement between the numerical results and Womersley's analytic solution depends on the speed ratio between fluid and wave velocity, and is fair for speed ratios up to 0·05. The analysis of the flow field in a distensible tube with a local inhomogeneity revealed a marked influence of wave phenomena and wall motion on the velocity profiles.     

Newtonian and Power-Law fluid flow in a T-junction of rectangular ducts

The aim of the present study is the numerical investigation of the shear-thinning and shear-thickening effects of flow in a T-junction of rectangular ducts. The employed CFD code incorporates the SIMPLE scheme in conjunction with the finite volume method with collocated arrangement of variables. The code enables multi-block computations in domains with multiple apertures, thus coping with the two-block, two-outlet layout of the current 3D computational domain. The shear-thinning and shear-thickening behaviours of the flow are covered by changing the index n of the Power-Law model within a range from 0.20 to 1.25, and the subsequent effects are investigated by means of different flow parameters namely the Reynolds (Re) number and the boundary conditions at the outlets. Results exhibit the extent of the effect of the Re number on the velocity profiles at different positions in the domain for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian cases. Similarly, the trend of the effect of shear-thinning and shear-thickening behaviours on the flow rate ratio between inlet and outlets, in the case of equal pressure imposed on outlets, is shown.