Pressure Drop Predictions in Hydraulic Bends Transporting Cylindrical Capsules

Description

The hydrodynamics associated with the transport of cylindrical capsules in hydraulic bends is very complex in nature. The experimental approach can provide useful information on the global performance parameters, such as pressure drop, however, the complex flow behaviour within these bends cannot be easily mapped using experimental facilities. The difficulty further increases substantially due to the bend curvature and hence, mounting the flow measuring instruments can be very challenging. The present study makes use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in order to predict pressure drop across capsule transporting bends. From the detailed numerical investigations, it has been observed that the presence of cylindrical capsules in a hydraulic bend can significantly alter the flow structure within the bend, resulting in increased pressure drop and secondary losses across it. Furthermore, increase in the capsules size and concentration further increases the hydrodynamic losses. Novel correlations have been developed to predict the pressure drop across these bends.

Period	10 Dec 2018
Event title	7th International and 45th National Conference on Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power
Event type	Conference
Location	Mumbai, India
Degree of Recognition	International