A study of the recirculating flow in planar, symmetrical branching channels

A numerical method is employed to examine the now in symmetrical, two-dimensional branches of Y shape and Tee shape. The methodology is based oil a pressure-correction procedure within the frame of unstructured grids. Specified pressures are imposed at the outlets of the two branches. The area ratio of the branch is allowed to vary in the range of 2-3. Separation of the flow in the bifurcating region is inevitable. Willi equal Millet pressures, symmetrical flow patterns prevail except for the Y type branch Under the conditions of high Reynolds numbers and large area ratios. This implies that the Y-branch flow is more sensitive to small disturbances. It is shown that with a slightly higher pressure imposed oil one of the two branches the structure Of the recirculating flow for the Y type is greatly affected and the flow rate is reduced dramatically in the high-pressure branch channel. In contrast, the influence on the Tee type branch is much lower since the flow behaves like a jet impinging oil a confined duct. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.