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Prediction of pressure drop for turbulent uid ow in 90 bends

N M Crawford*, G Cunningham and P L Spedding School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Queens University of Belfast, Belfast, UK Abstract: The pressure drop for turbulent single-phase uid ow around sharp 90 pipe bends has proven to be dif cult to predict owing to the complexity of the ow arising from frictional and separation effects. Existing models accurately predict the frictional effects, but no precise models are available to predict the ow due to separation. It is the purpose of this work to propose a model capable of such prediction. The proposed model is presented and added to an existing model to predict pressure losses over the turbulent Reynolds number range up to 3 105. The predicted data is within a spread of 3 to 72 per cent of existing experimental data. Future work will validate this model experimentally and computationally . Keywords: pressure loss, 90 bend, friction factor

NOTATION d D De f le r R Re v m r t pipe diameter (m) pipe bend centre-line diameter (m) Dean number friction factor equivalent straight pipe length (m) pipe radius (m) pipe bend centre-line radius (m) Reynolds number velocity (m/s) dynamic viscosity (kg/m s) density (kg/m3) shear stress at the pipe wall (kg/m s2)

the viscous forces and can be de ned in terms of either the centre-line bend radius R or diameter D De dvr m r R
1=2

(1)

The pressure drop for the bend can be expressed as either the bend friction factor, fA , or the equivalent length of straight pipe, le. Essentially, the bend pressure drop can be viewed as the sum of two separate effects. The rst is due to the adverse pressure gradient at the outer wallas the uid ows around the bend it encounters the pressure gradient, which results in excess friction on the surface of the bend outer wall (Fig. 1, point A). The second effect arises from the ow

Subscripts A B curved pipe elbow bend

Flow in pipe bends is characterized by the Dean number De [1], which governs the relative importance of viscous, inertia and curvature terms. The Dean number represents the ratio of the product of the inertia and centrifugal forces to

The MS was received on 20 December 2002 and was accepted after revision for publication on 11 February 2003. *Corresponding author: School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Queens University of Belfast, Ashby Building, Stanmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5AH, UK.
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Fig. 1

Pipe bend

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part E: J. Process Mechanical Engineering

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N M CRAWFORD, G CUNNINGHAM AND P L SPEDDING

Fig. 2

Variation in pressure loss with the ratio of diameters for a 90 bend at Re 104

separating from the pipe wall at the inside surface of the bend (Fig. 1, point B). Owing to the geometry of the bend and ow conditions at entry to the bend, secondary ow is set up, which adds signi cantly to the pressure loss, causing a rapid rise in friction as R/d falls and the bend tightens. These two effects are obviously interlinked, but normally, with the former at A, the ow is fully developed and inlet and outlet tangent effects are absent. The latter effect at B only becomes of practical signi cance when R/d < 15, the actual value falling with the uid Reynolds number. Above this value of R/d the bend is referred to as a curved pipe, while below this value of R/d it is referred to as an elbow bend. Wilson et al. [2] have shown that the bend pressure drop, when properly constructed, is only marginally dependent on the uid Re. In Fig. 2, data are presented for turbulent ow in a 90 bend as a full line [3, 4]. The data are composed of the addition of the pressure loss for the two effects at A and B mentioned above. The curved pipe data at higher R/d values represent effect A and have been shown to follow the models of Ito [3] fA D d
0 :5

where le d 19:8333fA Re0:25 D d (4)

within 1 per cent. Other models for prediction of pressure loss in curved pipes are available [615], but not all are as precise in the prediction of accurate data. In this work it has been found that effect B of separation at the inner part of the bend can be predicted by the relation " le d d 22:2126 Re D B # 2 0:7888

Re0:71438

(5)

" d 0:003625 0:038 Re D

# 2 0:25 (2)

Equation (5) summed together with equation (2) gave prediction of the bend pressure drop data over the turbulent Re range up to Re 3 105 within a spread of 3 to 72 per cent. A preliminary computational uid dynamics (CFD) validation has shown a good correlation with Itos work on R/d values greater than 10. Future publications will include experimental and CFD validation of the above model.

and Mori and Nakayama [5] fA D d

0 :5

" 0:0375 Re 8 < :

d 2 D "

#0:2 # 2 0:2 = ; (3) 9

REFERENCES
1 Dean, W.R. Fluid motion in a curved channel. Proc. R. Soc. (Lond.) A, 1928, 121, 402420. 2 Wilson, R.E., McAdams, W.H. and Seltzer, M. The ow of uids through commercial pipelines. IEC, 1922, 14, 105119. 3 Ito, M. Friction factors for turbulent ow in curved pipes. Trans. ASME, J. Basic Engng, 1959, 81D, 123134.
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1 0:112 Re

d D

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4 Woods, G.S. and Spedding, P.L. Vertical upward cd-current multi phase ow. Department of Chemical Engineering 96/2, Queens University Belfast, 1996. 5 Mori, Y. and Nakayama, W. Study of forced convective heat transfer in curved pipes. 2nd Report: turbulent region. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 1967, 10, 3759. 6 White, C.M. Fluid friction and its relation to heat transfer. Trans. Inst. Chem. Engrs, 1932, 10, 6686. 7 Spiers, H.M. Technical data on fuel. In Proceedings of World Power Conference, London, 1961, Vol. 42. 8 Kontsky, J.A. and Adler, R.J. Minimisation of axial dispersional use of secondary ow in helical tubes. Int. J. Chem. Engng, 1964, 42, 239246. 9 Schmidt, E.F. Heat ow and pressure loss in spiral pipe. Chem. Ing. Tech., 1967, 39, 781789. 10 Srinirasan, P.S., Nandapurkar, S.S. and Holland, F.A. Friction factors in oils. Trans. Inst. Chem. Engrs, 1978, 48T, 156161.

11 Stevens, A.F.W., Trenberth, R. and Wood, R.W. An experimental investigation into once-through boiling of high pressure water in a helically wound tube (corkscrewboiler design). Part 1. VKAEC Department AFEW-R730, 1972. 12 Anglesea, W.T., Chambers, D.J.B. and Jeffrey, R.C. Measurement of water/steam pressure drop in helical coils at 170 bars. In Proceedings of Symposium on Multiphase Flow Systems, 1974, Inst. Chem. Engrs Symp., Series 38, paper 12. 13 Ruffell, A.E. The application of heat transfer and pressure drop data to design of helical coil once-through boilers. In Proceedings of Symposium on Multiphase Flow Systems, 1974, Inst. Chem. Engrs Symp. Series 38, paper 15. 14 Mishra, P. and Gupta, S.N. Momentum transfer in curved pipes. IEC Process Des., 1979, 18, 130136, 137142. 15 Das, S.K. Water ow through helical coils in turbulent conditions. Can. J. Chem. Engng, 1993, 71, 971973

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