NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF 3-D TURBULENT FLOWS IN A CUT-OFF VALVE AND ANALYSIS OF FLOW CHARACTERISTICS IN PIPE

1 .　INTRODUCTIONThevalvehasbeenplayinganimportantroleinthe pipeengineeringandisalsooneofmaincomponentsgeneratingtheheadloss .Becauseofthecomplexgeometry ,thedesignwasusuallyeval uatedempiricallyinthepast,whichcausesmuchenergyloss .Toreducetheenergyloss ,itisessen tialforadesignertoknowthedetailsofflowfieldinthevalvepipe .Recently ,withtheremarkableprogressintheComputationalFluidDynamics(CFD)andcomputerhardware ,itisexpectedthatCFDwillbecomeapowerfultoolinthedesignofvalve .Intheactual…

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF 3-D TURBULENT FLOWS IN A CUT-OFF VALVE AND ANALYSIS OF FLOW CHARACTERISTICS IN PIPE

The 3-D turbulent flows in a valve pipe were described by the incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with an RNG k-ε turbulence model. With the finite volume method and a body-fitted coordinate system, the discretised equations were solved by the SIMPLEST algorithm. The numerical result of a cut-off valve with curved inlet shows the flow characteristics and the main cause of energy loss when fluid flows through a valve. And then, the boundaries of valve were modified in order to reduce the energy loss. The computational results of modified valve show that the numerical value of turbulent kinetic energy is lower, and that the modified design of the 3-D valve boundaries is much better. The analysis of the result also shows that RNG k-ε turbulence model can successfully be used to predict the 3-D turbulent separated flows and the secondary flow inside valve pipes.