Title: The numerical analysis of a large diameter spherical valve

Authors: Shidong Li; Zhiyong Wu

Addresses: Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming, Guangdong, 525000, China ' Key Laboratory of Solar Thermal Energy and Photovoltaic System, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Electrical Engineering, No. 6 Beiertiao, Zhongguancun, Beijing, 100190, China

Abstract: The hydraulic performance of a spherical valve is significant in ensuring that hydropower plants work efficiently, steadily, and above all, safely. However, it is almost impossible to conduct live experimental studies on a larger-sized spherical valve in the laboratory. In this paper, the hydraulic performance of a spherical valve with a diameter of 1,100 mm was numerically studied. Three-dimensional numerical simulations were conducted with the commercial software ANSYS-CFX® to investigate the flow coefficient of a spherical valve and the flow patterns inside of the valve under different working conditions. In this study, the flow coefficient and the flow fields inside of this spherical valve were obtained. The computed flow coefficient of this spherical valve agrees well with the field measurement data of hydropower plants. Above all, this methodology of numerical simulation can aid in designing future spherical valves and in guiding the operation and maintenance of hydropower plants.

Keywords: large diameter spherical valve; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; flow coefficient; flow patterns.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2018.094615

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2018 Vol.18 No.5, pp.300 - 307

Accepted: 12 Dec 2016
Published online: 10 Sep 2018 *

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