Title: Characteristics of fluid flow in unidiameter deadlegs

Authors: Kuang Ding; Hongwu Zhu; Jinya Zhang; Xiangling Kong

Addresses: College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Changping District, Beijing, 102249, China ' College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Changping District, Beijing, 102249, China ' College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Changping District, Beijing, 102249, China ' College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Changping District, Beijing, 102249, China

Abstract: The unidiameter deadleg refers to the lateral branch of a three-way pipe with the same diameter, and generally, one end of the lateral branch, namely, the deadleg, is closed. In this paper, the characteristics of fluid flow in unidiameter deadlegs were numerically studied. The effects of deadleg length to diameter ratio (H/D) and the inlet flow velocity of the main pipe on the flow pattern and velocity distribution of the deadlegs were investigated. The results indicated that the inlet velocity is the primary factor for the development of mixing zone in the deadleg, and is proportional to the length and the intensity of the mixing zone which consists of a series of opposite circulation flow. Additionally, at the same inlet velocity, although increasing the total length of the deadleg favours of the growth of the mixing zone and circulation flow, it will lead to a longer stagnant zone, which brings enormous challenges to industrial applications. Furthermore, to verify the numerical method adopted, flow visualisation experiment was conducted under three different lengths to diameter ratios. The comparison between the results photographed and calculated shows a good agreement.

Keywords: unidiameter deadlegs; turbulence penetration; fluid flow; flow patterns; circulation flow; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; flow visualisation.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2013.055058

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2013 Vol.13 No.5, pp.296 - 311

Published online: 31 Oct 2013 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article