FLOW ANALYSIS IN SUDDEN AND GRADUAL CONTRACTION AND EXPANSION PIPES

Abstract

This project aims to study the fluid flow characteristics of sudden and gradual contraction and expansion pipes. Recent study has revealed that the flow behavior in sudden contraction and expansion pipes can be quite complicated with vortices, eddies, and other flow phenomena affecting the pressure and velocity distribution. This understanding is important to design more efficient and reliable piping systems that can reduce energy consumption, improve system performance, and minimize failure risk. In this study, the length of larger diameter for sudden and gradual contraction and expansion pipes is 0.040 m. Next, the length of the smaller diameter for gradual is 0.050 m and 0.060 m for sudden. The sudden and gradual contraction and expansion pipes are designed using the SolidWorks software and ANSYS Fluent simulation software was used to plot the contour of velocity magnitude and static pressure of the pipes in which water is a media. In a sudden contraction pipe, the velocity flow shows a large separation at the edge of the upstream region before entering the contraction region which creates vortices and eddies. In a sudden expansion pipe, the pressure is unstable and fluctuates in the wider section. In a gradual expansion, the pressure pattern near the wall of the upstream section increases gradually and steadily. It proves that the flow pattern in the gradual expansion and gradual contraction creates less separation and disturbance of flow compared to the sudden expansion and sudden contraction pipes.