Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-zlgnt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T15:35:44.536Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Experimental study of turbulent swirling flow in a straight pipe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

Osami Kitoh
Osami Kitoh
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Gokisocho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466, Japan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Swirling flow through a pipe is a highly complex turbulent flow and is still challenging to predict. An experimental investigation is performed to obtain systematic data about the flow and to understand its physics. A free-vortex-type swirling flow is introduced in a long straight circular pipe. The swirling component decays downstream as a result of wall friction. The velocity distributions are continuously changing as they approach fully developed parallel flow. The swirl intensity Ω, defined as a non-dimensional angular momentum flux, decays exponentially. The decay coefficients, however, are not constant as conventionally assumed, but depend on the swirl intensity. The wall shear stresses are measured by a direct method and, except in a short inlet region, are a function only of the swirl intensity and the Reynolds number. The velocity distributions and all Reynolds stress components are measured at various axial positions in the pipe. The structure of the tangential velocity profile is classified into three regions: core, annular and wall regions. The core region is characterized by a forced vortex motion and the flow is dependent upon the upstream conditions. In the annular region, the skewness of the velocity vector is noticeable and highly anisotropic so that the turbulent viscosity model does not work well here. The tangential velocity is expressed as a sum of free and forced vortex motion. In the wall region the skewness of the flow becomes weak, and the wall law modified by the Monin–Oboukhov formula is applicable. Data on the microscale and the spectrum are also presented and show quite different turbulence structures in the core and the outer regions.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 225 , April 1991 , pp. 445 - 479
Copyright
© 1991 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allen, J. M.: 1977 Experimental study of error sources in skin-friction balance measurements. Trans. A8ME I: J. Fluids Engng 99, 197.Google Scholar
Backshall, R. G. & Landis, F., 1969 The boundary-layer velocity distribution in turbulent swirling pipe flow. Trans. ASME D: J. Basic Engng 91, 728.Google Scholar
Baker, D. W.: 1967 Decay of swirling, turbulent flow of incompressible fluids in long pipes. Dissertation, University of Maryland.
Barlow, R. S. & Johnston, J. P., 1988 Structure of a turbulent boundary layer on a concave surface. J. Fluid Meck. 99, 137.Google Scholar
Bissonette, L. R. & Mellor, G. L., 1974 Experiments on the behaviour of an axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer with sudden circumferential strain. J. Fluid Mech. 63, 369.Google Scholar
Bhadshaw, P.: 1969 The analogy between streamline curvature and buoyancy in turbulent shear flow. J. Fluid Mech. 36, 177.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, P.: 1971 Calculation of three-dimensional turbulent boundary layers. J. Fluid Mech. 46, 417.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, P., Ferris, D. H. & Atwell, N. P., 1967 Calculation of boundary-layer development using the turbulent energy equation. J. Fluid Mech. 28, 593.Google Scholar
Eskinazi, S. & Yeh, H., 1956 An investigation on fully developed turbulent flows in a curved channel. J. Aero Sci. 23, 23.Google Scholar
Gibson, M. M. & Younis, B. A., 1986 Calculation of swirling flow jets with a Reynolds stress closure. Phys. Fluids 29, 38.Google Scholar
Gills, J. C. & Johnston, L. P., 1983 Turbulent boundary-layer flow and structure on a convex wall and its redevelopment on a flat wall. J. Fluid Mech. 135, 123.Google Scholar
Hirai, S., Takagi, T. & Matsumoto, M., 1988 Prediction of the laminarization phenomena in an axially rotating pipe flow. Trans. ASME I: J. Fluids Engng 110, 424.Google Scholar
Hirai, S., Takagi, T., Tanaka, K. & Kida, K., 1987 Effect of swirl on the turbulent transport of momentum in a concentric annular with a rotating cylinder. Trans. JSME B 53, 432.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. P.: 1970 Measurements in a three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer induced by a swept, forward-facing step. J. Fluid Mech. 42, 823.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. P., Halleen, R. M. & Lezius, D. K., 1972 Effects of spanwise rotation on the structure of two-dimensional fully developed turbulent channel flow. J. Fluid Mech. 56, 533.Google Scholar
Kito, O.: 1984 Axi-asymmetric character of turbulent swirling flow in a straight circular pipe. Bull. JSME 27, 683.Google Scholar
Kito, O. & Kato, T., 1984 Near wall velocity distribution of turbulent swirling flow in circular pipe. Bull. JSME 27, 1659.Google Scholar
Klein, S. J., Cantwell, B. J. & Lilley, G. M., 1980–81 AFOSR-HTTM-Stanford Conference on Complex Turbulent Flows.
Kobayashi, T. & Yoda, M., 1987 Modified k — ε model for turbulent swirling flow in a straight pipe. JSME Intl J. 30, 66.Google Scholar
Laufer, J.: 1952 The structure of turbulence in fully developed pipe flow. NACA Tech. Rep. 1174.Google Scholar
Launder, B. E., Reece, G. J. & Rodi, W., 1975 Progress in the development of a Reynolds-stress turbulence closure. J. Fluid Mech. 68, 537.Google Scholar
Lilley, D. G. & Chigier, N. A., 1971 Nonisotropic turbulent stress distribution in swirling flows from mean value distributions. Intl. J. Heat Mass Transfer 14, 573.Google Scholar
Müller, U. R.: 1982a Measurement of the Reynolds stresses and the mean-flow fields in a three-dimensional pressure driven boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 119, 121.Google Scholar
Müller, U. R.: 1982b On the accuracy of turbulence measurements with inclined hot wires. J. Fluid Mech. 119, 155.Google Scholar
Padmanabhan, M. & Janek, C. R., 1980 Swirling flow and its effect on wall pressure drop within pipes. In Vortex Flows: ASME Meeting 1980 (ed. W. L. Swift, P. S. Barna & C. Dalton), p. 65. ASME.
Perry, A. E. & Joubert, P. N., 1965 A three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer. J. Fluid Mech. 22, 285.Google Scholar
Reynolds, A.: 1961 On the dynamics of turbulent vortical flow. Z. Angew. Math. Phys. 12, 149.Google Scholar
Seno, Y. & Nagata, T., 1971 Swirling flow through a long straight pipe (4th report). Preprint of Annual meeting of JSME No. 710–3, p. 149. (In Japanese.)Google Scholar
Seno, Y. & Nagata, T., 1972 Swirl flow in long pipes with different roughness. Bull. JSME 15, 1514.Google Scholar
Smithberg, E. & Landis, F., 1964 Friction and forced convection heat-transfer characteristics in tubes with twisted tape swirl generators. Trans. ASME C: J. Heat Transfer 86, 39.Google Scholar
So, R. M.: 1975 A turbulent velocity scale for curved shear flows. J. Fluid Mech. 70, 37.Google Scholar
Townsend, A. A.: 1976 The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow, 2nd edn, p. 398. Cambridge University Press.
Van Den Berg, B. 1982 Some notes on three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer data and turbuence modelling. IUTAM Symp. on Three-dimensional turbulent boundary layers, Berlin (ed. H. Fernholz & E. Krause), p. 1. Springer.
Weske, D. R. & Sutrov, G. Ye., 1974 Experimental study of turbulent swirled flows in a cylindrical tube. Fluid Mech. Sov. Res. 3, 77.Google Scholar
Yajnik, K. S. & Subbaiah, M. V., 1973 Experiments on swirling turbulent flows. Pt. 1. Similarity in swirling flows. J. Fluid Mech. 60, 665.Google Scholar