Experimental and numerical simulation of flow in a 90° bend

The purpose of this study is to simulate flow pattern in a 90 degrees bend experimentally and numerically. The numerical model used in this study is SSIIM 1.1. The k-epsilon model was used to predict the turbulence and the SIMPLE method was used to compute the pressure. For verification of the results of the numerical model the experimental data was used. The flow velocities were measured experimentally with P-EMS velocimeter. The results of the experimental data and the numerical simulation showed that the flow pattern in a channel bend is influenced widely by the secondary flow and centrifugal force. The comparison between the experimental data and the numerical model showed that SSIIM-1.1 is capable to simulate accurately the flow pattern in a 90 degrees bend. The variations of components of velocity, streamlines, bed shear velocity and secondary flow are addressed in the study. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.