Numerical Investigation of Contribution of Three Flow Conditioners in the Development and Establishment of Turbulent Flows

This numerical study is a comparative study of the development and establishment of turbulent flows through three flow conditioners namely Laws perforated plate, the Etoile and the tube bundle. They are installed in a circular pipe with a disturbance generated by a 90° double bend out of plane which causes a very strong swirl of the fluid. The analysis is done with the code Fluent in which the Navier-Stokes equations describe a three-dimensional incompressible flow with the Reynolds stress model (RSM) as a closure system. This article focuses on the effectiveness of the three packers to produce the condition of fully developed velocity profile. The results are compared to references profiles cited in the literature and experimental results. The flow is simulated with air at Reynolds number of 105 in 100mm pipe diameter. The velocity profiles are compared with the profile obtained by the universal law of power 1/7th .Copyright © 2010 by ASME