• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2011

The objective of present work is to use numerical simulation to investigate the complex three-dimensional and secondary flow structures developed at the inlet and impeller in a centrifugal pump at design and off-design points. The pump impeller is shrouded with 6 backward swept blades and with a specific speed of 0.8574. The characteristic of the pump is measured experimentally with straight and curved intake sections. Numerical computation is carried out to investigate the pump inlet flow structures and subsequently the flow field within the centrifugal pump. The numerical results showed that strong interaction between the impeller eye and intake section. Secondary flow structure occurs upstream at the pump inlet has great influence on the pump performance and flow structure within the impeller.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.663-669
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• 2005

Performance characteristics of an axial flow fan having distorted inlet flow have been investigated using numerical analysis as well as experiment. Two kinds of hub-cap, round shape and right-angled front shape, are tested to investigate the effect of inlet flow distortion on the fan performance. In case of right-angled front shape, axisymmetric distorted inflow is induced by flow separation at the sharp edge of hub-cap, and the characteristics of the inflow depends on the distance between hub-cap and blade leading edge. Flow analysis of the blade passage is peformed by solving the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. numerical solutions are validated in comparison with experimental data measured by a five-hole probe downstream of the fan rotor. It is found from the numerical results that non-uniform axial inlet velocity profile near the hub results in the change of inlet flowangle. The changed inlet flow angle near the hub invokesa flow separation on the blade surfaces, thus deteriorating the fan efficiency. The effect of the distance between hub-cap and blade leading edge on the efficiency is also discussed.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.58-63
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• 2016

This research is to investigate the performance analysis for efficient design with four different inlet angles of the centrifugal pump impeller. Assuming that the rotation speed and exit angle are fixed, Four cases of the centrifugal pumps were numerically analyzed using ANSYS FLUENT. According to the numerical results, head and pump efficiency at inlet angle of 20 degrees was highest. There is no big difference of efficiency at inlet angle of 20 degrees compared to the inlet angle 30 degrees. About 15% of efficiency at inlet angle of 20 degrees is higher than inlet angle of 40 degrees and 31% higher than inlet angle oof 50 degrees. Because there is liner functional relationship between speed and flow rate, suction flow rate at inlet angle of 20 degrees is superior to the inlet angle of 30 degrees as much as 0.89%, inlet angle of 40 degrees as 13%, inlet angle of 50 as 28.4%. Head at inlet angle of 20 degrees is superior to the inlet angle of 30 degrees as much as 0.4%, inlet angle of 40 degrees as 2.7%, inlet angle of 50 degrees as 3.2%. There should exist highest efficiency and also optimal design shape at inlet angle of 20 degrees.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.8-12
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• 2009

It is absolutely necessary to measure the inlet pressure and temperature of a turbine or a compressor to evaluate the performance of it. And to measure the representative-averaged pressure and temperature of turbine inlet flow, rake is normally used. Rake has several elements for temperature and pressure and several rakes are installed at the inlet to average the radial and circumferential distribution of inlet flow. However the rakes cause unexpected losses and flow distortion at the turbine inlet which make the measured rake data different from true inlet value. So the evaluation of a turbine or a compressor performance becomes not accurate. This study suggest a correlation method which measure the loss by inlet rake and incorporates it in evaluating the performance of turbomachinery.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2015

The effect of the inlet swirling flow in a hydraulic turbine draft tube is a very complex phenomenon, which has been extensively investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In fact, the finding of the optimal flow distribution at the draft tube inlet in order to get the best performance has remained a challenge. Thus, attempting to answer this question, it was assumed that through an automatic optimization process a Genetic Algorithm would be able to manage a parameterized inlet velocity profile in order to achieve the best flow field for a particular draft tube. As a result of the optimization process, it was possible to obtain different draft-tube flow structures generated by the automatic manipulation of parameterized inlet velocity profiles. Thus, this work develops a qualitative and quantitative analysis of these new draft tube flow field structures provoked by the redesigned inlet velocity profiles. The comparisons among the different flow fields obtained clearly illustrate the importance of the flow uniformity at the end of the conduit. Another important aspect has been the elimination of the re-circulating flow area which used to promote an adverse pressure gradient in the cone, deteriorating the pressure recovery effect. Thanks to the evolutionary optimization strategy, it has been possible to demonstrate that the optimized inlet velocity profile can suppress or mitigate, at least numerically, the undesirable draft tube flow characteristics. Finally, since there is only a single swirl number for which the objective function has been minimized, the energy loss factor might be slightly affected by the flow rate if the same relation of the axial-tangential velocity components is maintained, which makes it possible to scale the inlet velocity field to different operating points.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2008

A numerical study for laminar flow in the entrance region of helical tubes for uniform inlet velocity conditions is carried out by means of the finite volume method to investigate the effects of Reynolds number, pitch and curvature ratio on the flow development. This results cover a curvature ratio range of 1/10$\sim$1/320, a pitch range of 0.0$\sim$3.2, and a Reynolds number range of 125$\sim$2000. It has been found that the curvature ratio does significantly effect on the angle of flow development, but the pitch and Reynolds number do not. The characteristic angle $\phi_c(=\phi/\sqrt{\delta})$, or the non-dimensional length $\overline{l}(=l\sqrt{\delta}cos(atan\lambda)/d)$ can be used to represent the flow development for uniform inlet velocity conditions. In uniform inlet velocity conditions, the growth of boundary layer delays the flow development attributed to centrifugal force, and in which conditions the amplitude of flow oscillations is smaller than that in parabolic inlet velocity conditions. If the pitch increases or if the curvature ratio or Reynolds number decreases, the minimum friction factor and the fully developed average friction factor normalized with the friction factor of a straight tube and the flow oscillations decrease.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.37-43
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• 2008

The air and water flow distributions are experimentally studied for a round header - ten flat tube configuration. Three different inlet orientation modes (parallel, normal, vertical) were investigated. Tests were conducted with downward flow configuration for the mass flux from 70 to $130kg/m^2s$, quality from 0.2 to 0.6, non-dimensional protrusion depth (h/D) from 0,0 to 0.5. It is shown that, for almost all the test conditions, vertical inlet yielded the best flow distribution, followed by normal and parallel inlet. Possible explanation is provided using flow visualization results.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.132-138
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• 2004

Flush inlet, which has been chosen for modem air vehicles to take advantage of structure compactness and small RCS, gives rise to some aerodynamic problems such as flow separation and distortion due to vortices which deteriorate the performance of both inlet and engine. In this study, pressure recoveries at inlet exit plane were evaluated through numerical analyses of 3D turbulent flow for various inlet shapes and flight conditions. Inlet shape was controlled by changing ramp angle and width of throat, and effects of mass flow rate and angle of attack were investigated.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.65-69
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• 2004

In the present work, characteristics of an axial flow fan haying distorted inlet flow produced by hub cap are investigated. The distorted inlet flow is generated by the shape of hub cap installed in front of the axial flow fan. Two different cases of hub cap geometry are analyzed to verify the influence of flow distortion. The flow fields are analyzed numerically by solving steady form of three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Wavier-Stokes equation and standard k-$\epsilon$ model is used for a turbulence closure. The results obtained from the numerical simulation are compared to those from experimental measurements. It is found that the overall performance of the axial flow fan is increased by reducing the flow distortion at the hub. Detailed characteristics of the flow fields of two different geometric conditions are also discussed.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2005

The inlet boundary condition of computations about the supersonic turbine flow is commonly applied as far-field inlet boundary condition with specified velocity. However, the inflow condition of supersonic turbine is sometimes affected by the shocks or expansion waves propagated from leading edges of blade. These shocks and expansion waves alter the inlet boundary condition. In this case, the inlet boundary condition can not be specified Therefore, in this paper, numerical analyses for three different inlet conditions - fa-field inlet boundary condition, inlet boundary condition with a linear nozzle and inlet boundary condition with a converging-diverging nozzle - have been performed and compared with experimental results to solve the problem. It is found that the inlet condition with a linear nozzle or a converging-diverging nozzle can prevent changing of inlet boundary condition, and thus predict more accurately the supersonic flow within turbine cascade than a far-field inlet boundary condition does.