Flow in a Pipe Bend

Rahul kumar, Pawan kumar, Sagar Babu, Harish Verma, R.S.S. Sri Ram, Vinodth Palithya
B. Tech Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology



Abstractthis experiment is conducted in aerodynamics lab study
the flow around bend pipes and observe the effect of streamline
curvature on the pressure distribution in the constant area
circular bend by measuring the static pressure distribution along
the wall in the flow direction at different regular positions as well
as perpendicular to it. . In this experiment the pressure at
different points was measured using the manometer along the
streamline (along the curvature of the bend in the duct), as well as
the pressure across the curvature (perpendicular to the
streamline). Using this pressure distribution the velocity at
different points was calculated across and along the curvature of
the duct, and the results were compared with the theoretical
values calculated using Bernoullis equation.
Keywords-component; inviscid, wind tunnel, streamline, pitot
tube, calibration curve, vortex
I. INTRODUCTION
If a fluid is moving along a straight pipe that after some point
becomes curved, the bend will cause the fluid particles to
change their main direction of motion. There will be an adverse
pressure gradient generated from the curvature with an increase
in pressure, therefore a decrease in velocity close to the convex
wall, and the contrary will occur towards the outer side of the
pipe. in a curved pipe the water is continually changing its
position with respect to the sides of the pipe, and the water
which is owing near the Centre at one part approaches the
sides as it moves through the pipe and owing near the sides it
exerts a scouring action on the pipe walls
.
The change of direction forced on a fluid when it negotiates a
bend produces turbulence in the fluid and a consequent loss of
energy. The net loss in pressure is greater than that for the same
length of straight pipes. Abrupt changes of direction produce
greater turbulence and larger energy losses than do smoothly
contoured changes.
Flows through the bend in a duct may be classified as internal
flows to distinguish them from flows over bodies such as
airfoils, called external flows. It is sometimes necessary to
shape a duct in such a way that particular requirements are met.
For example, it may be necessary to change the shape of cross-
section from square to rectangular with a small loss of total
pressure, or it may be required to form a bend in such a way
that the distribution of velocity at the exit is as nearly uniform
as it can be made.
Due to the presence of boundary layers along the duct walls,
the fluid mechanics of such flows are sometimes extremely
complicated. Separation may be produced where the pressure
rises in the direction of flow.
The curvature of the flow is accompanied by a pressure
gradient which rises across the section from the inner to the
outer wall. The pressure gradient extends over the whole
section, so that the boundary layers on the upper and lower
walls are subjected to the same pressure gradient as the main
flow. But because the streaming velocity in the boundary layer
is less than in the main part of the flow, the curvature of the
streamlines in the boundary layer is more severe. This gives
rise to a net inward-directed flow adjacent to the upper and
lower walls, which sets up a secondary flow in the form of a
double rotation, superimposed on the main stream. The motion
emerging from the curve in the duct is therefore a pair of
contra-rotating spirals, the strength of which depends on the
amount of curvature and on the thickness of the boundary
layer.
II. THEORY
A streamline is a line drawn at a given instant in time so that its
tangent is at every point in the direction of the local fluid
velocity. Streamlines indicate local flow direction, not speed,
which usually varies along a streamline.

General equations of motion for inviscid in compressible
flows can be written in streamline co-ordinates as



Where r is the streamline radius of curvature and s, n are
directions along and normal to the streamline respectively.
From these equations, it could be seen that, if the streamlines
are curved a pressure gradient is set up normal to flow direction
also.


Figure 1. Air flow through the bend

Within the bend we shall assume a free vortex distribution of
velocity, given by


Where u is the streaming velocity at radius r from the centre of
curvature of the bend. Separation and secondary flow will be
neglected. The constant C may be found by applying the
equation of continuity as follows:

Q = Ub(r2-r1 ) = budr

Where b is the width of the section of the duct. Substituting for
u from Equations and performing the integration leads to the
result

The corresponding pressure distribution may be found by
assuming that Bernoullis equation may be applied between the
upstream section and a section within the bend as follows:

where po is the static pressure upstream and p is the pressure at
radius r in the bend.




III. EXPERIMENT
The experimental set up consists of the blower connected to
a diverging channel, which in turn, attached to a settling
chamber followed by a converging channel. Finally, the
converging channel is linked to the constant area 90
0
bend duct
through which the air flows. There are three reference
atmospheric pressure tapping, and three sets of tappings on the
bend duct; one set of 10 along the outer curved wall, one set of
10 along the inner curved wall and a set of 5 along a radius of
the bend. Besides, other two pressure tappings are located on
the inlet and exit of converging channel.

Figure 2. Experimental setup

Figure 3. Motor control set
IV. PROCEDURE
During the experiment Flow around a bend in a duct the
following steps were taken. The pressure tapings along the
outer wall, the reference tapping 0 and the pressure tapping in
the air box are all connected to the manometer. The air speed is
adjusted to a value slightly below the maximum, as indicated
by the air box pressure, and the pressures are recorded. (The
setting of air speed slightly below the maximum is to ensure
that the same setting may be repeated in later tests). The
tapings on the inner wall are then connected in place of the
ones on the outer wall. The air box pressure is adjusted to the
previous value and a further set of readings are recorded.
Finally the procedure is repeated with the third set of pressure
tapings
V. OBSERVATION
TABLE I. READING TABLE 1
Identify applicable sponsor/s here. (sponsors)
Pressure Readings on Inner Wall
RPM P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9

600 12 12.1 12.3 12.3 12.2 12.3 12.3 12.2 12.1
800 12 12.2 12.5 12.6 12.4 12.6 12.6 12.3 12.1
1000 11.8 12.2 12.7 12.8 12.4 12.9 12.9 12.3 12.1

TABLE II. READING TABLE 2
R
p
m
Pressure Readings on Outer Wall
P10 P11 P12 P1
3
P1
4
P15 P16 P17 P18 P19 P20

600 12 12 11.9 11.
9
11
.9
11.
9
11.
9
12 12 12.
1
12.
2
800 12 12 11.9 11.
8
11
.8
11.
8
11.
8
11.
9
12 12.
2
12.
2
1000 11.8 11.8 11.6 11.
8
11
.8
11.
7
11.
8
11.
7
11.
8
12 12
TABLE III. READING TABLE 1
Rpm Pressure Readings in
Radial Direction
Wind Tunnel
P21 P22 P23 P24 P25 P29 P30

600 12 12 12 12.2 12.3 12 11.4
800 11.9 11.9 12.1 12.3 12.5 11.9 10.8
1000 11.6 11.8 12 12.5 12.6 11.7 10







Series 1 rpm 600
Series 2 rpm 800
Series 3 rpm 1000



VI. RESULT
The main feature of flow through a bend is the presence of a
radial pressure gradient created by the centrifugal force acting
on the fluid. Because of this, the fluid at the center of the pipe
moves towards the outer side and comes back along the wall
towards the inner side. This creates a double spiral flow field.
If the bend curvature is strong enough, the adverse pressure
gradient near the outer wall in the bend and near the inner wall
just after the bend may lead to flow separation at these points,
giving rise to a large increase in pressure losses.
Pressure drop in the inner radius is due to the flow separation
taking place during entry of air from test section to bent tube.
Fluid particles in this region, because of their close proximity
to the wall, have low velocities and cannot overcome the
adverse pressure gradient and this leads to a separation of flow
from the boundary and consequent losses of energy in
generating local eddies. The distribution of Cp over the radial
section is comparable to the calculated one to a great extent,
indicating that the assumption of a free vortex velocity
distribution made in Equation (4), together with Bernoullis
equation is fairly reasonable
Since the plane of curvature of the pipe is reasonably
perpendicular to the gravity so neglecting the body forces due
to gravity seems to be a good approximation as the component
of this body force will be negligibly small while the force
equilibrium is considered in the normal direction.
Pressure loss in the tunnel circuit is also due to the following
factors:
Friction loss due to flow through the tunnel
circuit
Pressure loss due to flow separation and
turbulence in the different sections
Pressure loss due to spiral flow due to
secondary flow
Since the friction effects cannot be completely eliminated in
the tunnel hence there are pressure drop for every section
considered in wind tunnel and bent pipe
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to acknowledge with appreciation the
numerous and valuable persons whose contribution has been
important in this project. We would like to thank our
instructor Dr. Satheesh K for his valuable help. We also thank
our lab assistants for clearing our doubts.
REFERENCES

[1] Equation of Motion in Streamline Coordinates Ain A. Sonin, MIT
[2] http://www.tafsm.org/PROJ/FSI/mesh.html
[3] http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/234/1198/335.abstract
[4] http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:515647/FULLTEXT02
[5] http://www.thermopedia.com/content/577/?tid=104&sn=1422

Appendix

INNER WALL

Fan speed (rel. from 11th ) Probe Reading Ptest V Pressure Cp
m Pa m/sec Pa
0.000 P2 0.121 101439.6 14.89 101379.7 -0.419
11.458 P3 0.123 101439.6 14.89 101369.8 -0.488
16.976 P4 0.123 101439.6 14.89 101369.8 -0.488
600 38.576 P5 0.122 101439.6 14.89 101374.7 -0.454
53.854 P6 0.123 101439.6 14.89 101369.8 -0.488
64.548 P7 0.123 101439.6 14.89 101369.8 -0.488
75.624 P8 0.122 101439.6 14.89 101374.7 -0.454
90.897 P9 0.121 101439.6 14.89 101379.7 -0.419


0.000 P2 0.122 101404.7 19.23 101374.7 -0.126
11.458 P3 0.125 101404.7 19.23 101359.8 -0.188
800 16.976 P4 0.126 101404.7 19.23 101354.8 -0.209
38.576 P5 0.124 101404.7 19.23 101364.8 -0.167
53.854 P6 0.126 101404.7 19.23 101354.8 -0.209
64.548 P7 0.126 101404.7 19.23 101354.8 -0.209
75.624 P8 0.123 101404.7 19.23 101369.8 -0.146
90.897 P9 0.121 101404.7 19.23 101379.7 -0.105


0.000 P2 0.122 101379.8 31.77 101374.7 -0.008
11.458 P3 0.127 101379.8 31.77 101349.9 -0.046
16.976 P4 0.128 101379.8 31.77 101344.9 -0.054
1000 38.576 P5 0.124 101379.8 31.77 101364.8 -0.023
53.854 P6 0.129 101379.8 31.77 101339.9 -0.061
64.548 P7 0.129 101379.8 31.77 101339.9 -0.061
75.624 P8 0.123 101379.8 31.77 101369.8 -0.015
90.897 P9 0.121 101379.8 31.77 101379.7 0.000



OUTER WALL

fan speed (rel. from 11th ) Probe Reading static
pressure
before
bend
V Pressure Cp
m Pa m/sec Pa
0.000 P11 0.120 101439.6 31.770 101394.7 -0.068924
8.304 P12 0.119 101439.6 31.770 101399.7 -0.061273
19.670 P13 0.119 101439.6 31.770 101399.7 -0.061273
1000 34.090 P14 0.119 101439.6 31.770 101399.7 -0.061273
51.670 P15 0.119 101439.6 31.770 101399.7 -0.061273
66.785 P16 0.119 101439.6 31.770 101399.7 -0.061273
80.887 P17 0.120 101439.6 31.770 101394.7 -0.068924
90.688 P18 0.120 101439.6 31.770 101394.7 -0.068924
100.882 P19 0.121 101439.6 31.770 101389.7 -0.076575
0.122



0.000 P11 0.12 101404.7 19.234 101384.8 -0.083454
8.304 P12 0.119 101404.7 19.234 101389.8 -0.062573
800 19.670 P13 0.118 101404.7 19.234 101394.8 -0.041692
34.090 P14 0.118 101404.7 19.234 101394.8 -0.041692
51.670 P15 0.118 101404.7 19.234 101394.8 -0.041692
66.785 P16 0.118 101404.7 19.234 101394.8 -0.041692
80.887 P17 0.119 101404.7 19.234 101389.8 -0.062573
90.688 P18 0.12 101404.7 19.234 101384.8 -0.083454
100.882 P19 0.122 101404.7 19.234 101374.8 -0.125216





0.000 P11 0.118 101379.8 14.892 101394.8 0.104530
8.304 P12 0.116 101379.8 14.892 101404.7 0.174192
600 19.670 P13 0.118 101379.8 14.892 101394.8 0.104530
34.090 P14 0.118 101379.8 14.892 101394.8 0.104530
51.670 P15 0.117 101379.8 14.892 101399.7 0.139361
66.785 P16 0.118 101379.8 14.892 101394.8 0.104530
80.887 P17 0.117 101379.8 14.892 101399.7 0.139361
90.688 P18 0.118 101379.8 14.892 101394.8 0.104530
100.882 P19 0.120 101379.8 14.892 101384.8 0.034868



Radial direction

Fan
speed
Manometer
Reading
before
Converging
Section
Manometer
Reading
before
Bent Tube
Static
Pressure
before
Converging
Section
Static
Pressure
before
Bend
Velocity
before
Bent
Tube
Radial
distance
Height Pressure Cp Velocity
Rpm m m Pa Pa m/s m m Pa m/sec
1000 0.01 0.117 101882.8 101255.3 32.8044 0.155 0.155 101160.6 -0.13644 34.97085
101255.3 32.8044 0.165 0.143 101220.4 -0.04728 33.61989
101255.3 32.8044 0.175 0.125 101310.1 0.074043 31.48496
101255.3 32.8044 0.185 0.113 101369.8 0.154928 29.97731
101255.3 32.8044 0.195 0.104 101414.7 0.215591 28.79483



800 0.108 0.119 101394.7 101265.3 14.53578 0.155 0.148 101195.5 -0.51212 27.70535
101265.3 14.53578 0.165 0.139 101240.3 -0.13417 24.50753
101265.3 14.53578 0.175 0.127 101300.1 0.187012 19.44211
101265.3 14.53578 0.185 0.118 101344.9 0.427898 14.52681
101265.3 14.53578 0.195 0.112 101374.8 0.588488 9.985822



600 0.114 0.12 101364.8 101265.3 12.65429 0.155 0.142 101225.4 -0.3864 20.11479
101265.3 12.65429 0.165 0.137 101250.3 -0.06464 18.2822
101265.3 12.65429 0.175 0.13 101285.2 0.08554 15.35338
101265.3 12.65429 0.185 0.123 101320 0.235715 11.71383
101265.3 12.65429 0.195 0.119 101339.9 0.32153 8.995609


Comparison between theoretical value and experimental value

RPM V1 Radial
distance
C V theor V exp Cp Exp Cp theo
m/s m m
2
/s m/sec m/sec
1000 14.53578 0.155 2.532133 34.97085 34.97085 -0.08246 -0.07896
14.53578 0.165 2.532133 34.63805 33.61989 0.010209 0.012652
14.53578 0.175 2.532133 32.56992 31.48496 0.133772 0.12962
14.53578 0.185 2.532133 31.1149 29.97731 0.226444 0.20341
14.53578 0.195 2.532133 29.97731 28.79483 0.288226 0.3298


800 12.65429 0.155 2.204378 25.02418 27.70535 -0.06236 -0.07896
12.65429 0.165 3.879949 25.32479 24.50753 0.015466 0.012652
12.65429 0.175 3.879949 21.4412 19.44211 0.124426 0.12962
12.65429 0.185 3.879949 17.98639 14.52681 0.233387 0.20341
12.65429 0.195 3.879949 15.25452 9.985822 0.29565 0.3298


600 23.28877 0.155 4.056903 14.89985 20.11479 -0.08612 -0.07896
22.27295 0.165 2.858566 19.57551 18.2822 -0.00918 0.012652
22.27295 0.175 2.858566 18.14241 15.35338 0.143291 0.12962
22.27295 0.185 2.858566 16.58595 11.71383 0.22932 0.20341
22.27295 0.195 2.858566 15.62709 8.995609 0.286673 0.3298