Abstract
This paper presents numerical method of investigating flow characteristics of reed valves of reciprocating compressors. The numerically determined effective flow areas agreed within $5.4\%$ of those obtained from experimental measurements. Reasonably good agreements between the experimental and numerical results have been found, implying that the effective flow and force areas of reed valves could be obtained by CFD alone with enough accuracy. A computer simulation of reciprocating compressor has been performed using a numerical results of reed valves. The calculated P-V diagram shows a good agreement with experimental result.