Pipe flow

About: Pipe flow is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 13826 publications have been published within this topic receiving 351605 citations.

Reference values for drag and lift of a two‐dimensional time‐dependent flow around a cylinder

Abstract: We present a numerical study of a two-dimensional time-dependent flow around a cylinder. Its main objective is to provide accurate reference values for the maximal drag and lift coefficient at the cylinder and for the pressure difference between the front and the back of the cylinder at the final time. In addition, the accuracy of these values obtained with different time stepping schemes and different finite element methods is studied

Lubricated pipelining: Stability of core-annular flow

Abstract: The stability of core-annular flow (CAF) in pipes is analysed using the linear theory of stability. Attention is confined to the potentially stable case of lubricated pipelining with the less viscous liquid, say water, in the annulus. The effects of surface tension and density are included, but gravity is excluded. We find upper and lower branches of the neutral curve in a Reynolds number (ℝ) vs. wavenumber (α) plane. A window of parameters is identified in which CAF is stable to small disturbances. When ℝ is below the lower critical value, CAF is destabilized by surface tension and long waves break up into slugs and bubbles. The sizes of slugs and bubbles of oil in water observed by Charles, Govier & Hodgson (1961) are given by the wavelength of the fastest growing long wave. This long-wave instability is a capillary instability, modified by shear, which reduces to Rayleigh's instability in the appropriate limit. At higher ℝ, the capillary instability is stabilized by shear. At yet higher ℝ, above the upper critical value, the flow is unstable to generally shorter waves which leads to emulsification, water droplets in oil. The theory agrees with experiments. The analysis seems to be applicable to the design of lubricated pipelines; for example, there is an optimum viscosity ratio for stability, greater stability can be obtained by using heavy liquid as a lubricant when the flow is unstable to capillary modes on the lower branch and by using light liquids when the flow is unstable to emulsifying disturbances on the upper branch.

The Dynamics of Bursting Process in Wall Turbulence

Abstract: We have examined bursting processes observed in turbulent channel flow by direct numerical simulation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a minimal flow unit. A traveling wave solution (TWS) is obtained by a shooting method. The TWS corresponds to a saddle point in a two-dimensional phase space. A low-dimensional dynamics confined to the near-wall region is proposed in terms of the TWS and its manifolds. The characteristics of the coherent structures constituting the TWS are investigated dynamically and statistically in detail. The dynamics well describes an elementary process of intermittent turbulent regeneration in wall turbulence.

LDA measurements in the near-wall region of a turbulent pipe flow

Abstract: This paper presents laser-Doppler measurements of the mean velocity and statistical moments of turbulent velocity fluctuations in the near-wall region of a fully developed pipe flow at low Reynolds numbers. A refractive-index-matched fluid was used in a Duran-glass test section to permit access to the near-wall region without distortion of the laser beams. All measurements were corrected for the influence of the finite size of measuring control volume. Measurements of long-time statistical averages of all three fluctuating velocity components in the near-wall region are presented. It is shown that the turbulence intensities in the wall region do not scale with inner variables. However, the limiting behaviour of the intensity components very close to the wall show only small variations with the Reynolds number. Measurements of higher-order statistical moments, the skewness and flatness factors, of axial and tangential velocity components confirm the limiting behaviour of these quantities obtained from direct numerical simulations of turbulent channel flow. The comparison of measured data with those obtained from direct numerical simulations reveals that noticeable discrepancies exist between them only with regard to the flatness factor of the radial velocity component near the wall. The measured v’ flatness factor does not show the steep rise close to the wall indicated by numerical simulations. Analysis of the measured data in the near-wall region reveals significant discrepancies between the present LDA measurements and experimental results obtained using the hot-wire anemometry.