Numerical Studies on Turbulent Flow Field in a 90 deg Pipe Bend

This paper deals with the modeling of turbulent flow through a 90 deg pipe bend using an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (U-RANS) approach where k-epsilon model is used for turbulence closure. While limitations in solving complex flows of the k-epsilon model have been reported in the literature, this study demonstrates that for pipe flows with curvature, the k-epsilon model performs reasonably well. Investigations have been carried out to find out the influence of Reynolds number (Re) and bend curvature ratio (Rc/D) on turbulent flow parameters, namely, instantaneous axial velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent intensity, and wall shear stress. Bend curvature is found to strongly influence the turbulent flow characteristics, while no such high Reynolds number dependency is observed in this study range. In general, this paper presents a computationally cost-effective numerical study on the time averaged turbulent flow field in a 90 deg pipe bend, which may be used for the design and development of 90 deg pipe bends at a high Reynolds number regime.

Automated summary

This paper presents a numerical study on the turbulent flow in a 90 deg pipe bend. It demonstrates that the k-epsilon model performs reasonably well for pipe flows with curvature. The influence of Reynolds number and bend curvature ratio on turbulent flow parameters is investigated. The results show that bend curvature strongly affects the turbulent flow characteristics, while no high Reynolds number dependency is observed within the range studied. This study provides cost-effective insights for the design and development of 90 deg pipe bends at high Reynolds number regimes.