DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

FINAL YEAR PROJECT, DISSERTATION OR

PHYSICS EDUCATION REPORT
NAME:
DEGREE COURSE:
PROJECT TITLE:
YEAR OF SUBMISSION:
SUPERVISOR:
NUMBER OF WORDS:

Edmund Erskine, Thomas Greening, Alice Rushton,

and Adam Taylor
Level 3 BSc Physics
Siemens Magnet Technology - Industrial Group
Project: Cryogenic Fluids Management
2015
Professor David Cherns
7563

Declaration
All experimental data found in this project was collected by members of the group. All equipment used in the lab
was provided by the University of Bristol via Tom Kennedy, with the exception of the 12V Submersible Electric
Pump provided by Whale Pumpsr, and the diodes, which were designed by the group and constructed specifically
for this project by the Physics Mechanical Workshop. The diode designs were drawn using Autodesks AutoCAD
2013 software, and the fluid simulations and visualisations were completed using Autodesks Simulation CFD 2015
software package. Setup diagrams included in the report were drawn using Microsoft Paint and Publisher. Data
analysis was completed using Microsoft Excel 2013 and and OriginLabs Origin 9, both provided by the University
of Bristol.

Acknowledgements
Firstly we would like to thank Professor Cherns for his guidance and support throughout the project. Thanks also
to Bob Wiltshire for delivering safety training in handling cryogens;the Physics Mechanical Workshop, particularly
Adrian Crimp, for their advice and expertise in realising our designs and Dr Germinal Magro for his suggestions in
the safe use of flammable organic compounds. Many thanks to Tom Kennedy for his invaluable assistance in the
lab, practical advice, equipment provision, and good humour throughout the practical stage of our project.
Finally we would like to thank Siemens Magnet Technology, specifically Hannah Hale and Adrian Thomas for
hosting our visit, and making this project possible overall.

Contents
Declaration

Acknowledgments

Contents

ii

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1
1
1

Theory
2.1 Diodicity . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Reynolds Number . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Viscosity . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 Diode Design . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4.1 Tesla Diode . . . . . . . .
2.4.2 Vortex Diode . . . . . . .
2.5 Navier-Stokes Equations and CFD
2.6 Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . .

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2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3

Experimental
3.1 Initial Development . . . . .
3.2 Calibration of the Flowmeter
3.3 Variable Flow Experiment .
3.4 Viscosity Experiment . . . .
3.5 CFD Simulations . . . . . .

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4
4
5
5
5
6

Results and Discussion

4.1 Variable Flow Experiment . . . . . . . .
4.1.1 Reynolds Number . . . . . . . .
4.1.2 Diodicity . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1 Comparison with CFD Model . .
4.2.2 Comparison with Other Work . .
4.3 Dependence of Diodicity on Viscosity . .
4.4 Satisfaction of Objectives . . . . . . . . .
4.5 Recommendations for Future Investigation

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Conclusions

13

Bibliography

14

Appendices

16

A Flowmeter Calibration

16

B Diode Designs
B.1 Vortex Diode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
B.2 Tesla Diode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17
17
17

C Certification of Ownership

18

ii

Cryogenic Fluids Management

An investigation into the performance of fluidic diodes with variable viscosity, room-temperature fluids was
carried out in order to predict their success at effectively transporting low-viscosity cryogens. The vortex
diode and Tesla diode were compared with regard to their diodicities at different flow rates of water. For
the range observed the vortex diode exhibited diodicity up to 7 times greater than the Tesla diode. The
relationship between diodicity and viscosity was investigated using fluid viscosities between 0.24 and 1.19
centipoise. CFD simulations were produced to compare to experimental data. The CFD results greatly
improved understanding despite little correlation between simulation and laboratory data.

INTRODUCTION

contamination in the fluid will freeze and possibly cause

moving components of the system to fail. This problem
is exacerbated by the fact that the cryostat is inaccessible
1.1 Motivation
for maintenance. A solution would require a device that
One of the most powerful tools in modern medicine is can control the flow of a fluid without moving parts or
the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. The external interaction.
efficacy of MRI scanners as a non-invasive diagnostic
Consequently, attention has turned to a family of detool has meant they are now ubiquitous in modern hos- vices known as fluid diodes. These devices are designed
pitals. MRI scanners use incredibly strong magnetic such that their internal geometry modifies fluid flow: infields, typically around 1.5T 1 , though studies on ani- hibiting it in one direction whilst permitting it in the
mals have involved fields of up to 21.1T 2 . To gener- other. Fluid diodes are already used widely in industry to
ate such strong fields, large superconducting magnets solve a variety of problems such as effluent treatment 8 ,
are employed. Besides greater field strength, supercon- filtration of ballast water 9 and controlling the cooling
ducting magnets have greater field homogeneity and are fluid in nuclear reactors 10 . However, their suitability for
more stable than permanent, resistive alternatives 3 . The use with cryogens is essentially unknown. Whilst some
coil windings in these magnets are typically constructed diode designs have moving parts (for example, Ball-andof niobium-titanium, which is superconducting below Screen Diodes 11 ), there are several which are solid-state
temperatures of 10K 4,5 . Accordingly, the usual cool- devices, such as the Vortex Diode and the Tesla Valve.
ing agent is liquid helium, which has a boiling point of A detailed discussion of the design of these two devices
4.2K 6 .
can be found in 2.4.
Within the MRI scanner, the primary coils of the
main magnet are held in a magnet former, then placed
in a helium vessel which is sealed within a cryoshield 1.2 Objectives
and vacuum insulated. This is collectively known as the
cryostat. Currently, the magnet is cooled by bath cool- This project is sponsored by Siemens Magnet Technoling; half-filling the cryostat with liquid helium. With the ogy. Siemens are the current world-leaders in the MRI
addition of a refrigerator to condense any helium gas that market, with a 40 percent share of total sales in 2014.
may form, the cryogenic temperature (and therefore su- Their ambition for this project is to look towards the deperconductivity of the magnet) can be maintained with- velopment of a new cooling system for MRI magnets,
with a focus on the conservation of helium and an overout needing to frequently top-up the liquid helium.
The major drawback to bath cooling is that it uses a all enhancement of efficiency. The investigation will bevery large quantity of liquid helium: a finite and uncom- gin with a more open brief: to evaluate the success of
mon resource. With each scanner using upwards of 2000 fluid management devices with low-viscosity cryogenic
litres of liquid helium 7 , increasing scarcity and rising fluids. After an introductory meeting with the industrial
prices provide the motivation to find an alternative, more contacts, Hannah Hale and Adrian Thomas, and compleconservative, cooling method within MRI scanners. A tion of a detailed assessment of the available literature,
promising solution is the implementation of a cryogenic the following objectives were decided upon:
circuit, to ensure that the cooling agent covers the superconducting magnet in the most efficient way possible.
To design and construct a range of fluid diodes,
A significant hurdle for the development of a circuit
suitable for testing at both cryogenic and room
system is that at cryogenic temperatures, any impurity or
temperatures
1

to viscous forces within the fluid 12 . The general expression for the Reynolds number of flow through a pipe is:

To design pumping systems suitable for use with a

range of fluids
To characterise and compare the performance of
these diodes in terms of:

Re =

uDH
QDH
=

(2)

Pressure versus flow rate

where is the density of the fluid, u is the mean
velocity perpendicular to the cross-section, is the dynamic viscosity, is the kinematic viscosity ( = /),
Q is the volumetric flow rate, A is the cross-sectional
area and DH is the hydraulic diameter (in the case of a
circular pipe this is simply the conventional diameter).
A low Reynolds number corresponds to the dominance of viscous forces within the fluid, and hence indicates laminar flow. Conversely, a high Reynolds number means that inertial forces are dominating, and that
the flow is turbulent 13 . Ideally, the flow within diodes
is predominantly laminar in the forward direction, with
a large amount of turbulence in reverse. This turbulent
flow increases the energy lost through frictional forces
increasing resistance. Therefore, to maintain the flow
rate an increase in pressure is required.

Fluid viscosity
To investigate the potential of Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling to simulate the
flow in the diodes under various conditions
Initial investigation will be conducted with water
at room temperature, to examine the properties of the
diodes. In addition, by investigating low viscosity fluids and utilising CFD software, the intention is to make
predictions about the behaviour of liquid helium in fluid
diodes. If successful, and if a suitable circuit/pumping
system can be devised, the diodes will then be tested with
cryogens (the most probable being liquid nitrogen) in order to support or invalidate these predictions.
As the field is relatively under-researched, the completion of the objectives above will satisfy a general
brief: to lay the foundation for future investigation into
the application of fluid diodes in the management of
cryogens.

2.3

Viscosity is a defining property of fluid flow and is especially influential within diodes, as the formula for the
Reynolds number, Eq. (2), clearly shows. As mentioned
in 1.1, previous investigations into fluidic diodes have
not involved cryogens. This is important as cryogenic
fluids typically have very low viscosities; just below their
boiling points liquid nitrogen is roughly 6 times less viscous than water 14 , and liquid helium is around 300 times
less viscous 15 .
At extremely low temperatures (< 2K), helium enters superfluidity, and therefore has no measurable viscosity 16 . However, as previously stated (1.1), MRI
scanners operate at 4.2K 7 and so superfluid behaviour
is beyond the scope of this investigation. Even without
considering superfluidity, the use (either practically or in
simulation) of cryogens within the diodes will involve a
far greater Reynolds number than in previous studies.

Theory

This section outlines the fundamental physical principles

relevant to the investigation, as well as useful formulae
for describing the fluid mechanics at work in the diodes.

2.1

Viscosity

Diodicity

The efficacy of a fluid diode is typically described by a

paramater called the diodicity, D. This is defined as the
ratio of the pressure drop in the high-resistance flow direction to the pressure drop in the low-resistance flow direction for the same mass flow rate 11 , expressed mathematically as:


Pr
(1)
D=
Pf F

where Pr is the pressure difference across the diode in

the reverse direction (high resistance), Pf is the pres- 2.4 Diode Design
sure difference in the forward direction (low resistance),
and the subscript F signifies a constant flow rate in both 2.4.1 Tesla Diode
directions.
It is worth noting that fluidic diodes are not new inventions. Perhaps the most famous example is the Tesla
2.2 Reynolds Number
diode (named after the inventor, Nikola Tesla), which
Another parameter to describe the flow conditions in a was patented in 1920. Fig. 1 shows the internal geomediode is the Reynolds number: the ratio of inertial forces try:
2

where d and h are the diameter and height of the chamber, respectively.
A previous experiment by Kulkarni has indicated that
the diodicity of a vortex diode increases with , until
6, beyond which there is no further increase. There
is a similar critical point for Reynolds number that also
marks an optimal diodicity 19,20 . These design features
will be important to consider in the practical element of
this investigation.

Figure 1 Cross-section showing the looped internal structure

of the Tesla diode 17 .

It is clear from the diagram how the bulk of a fluid

traveling from right to left is able to follow an unimpeded, mostly laminar flow, where any energy losses are
due to surface friction. However, if the same fluid is
made to enter from the left, it is forced back against the
original flow by the counter-flow loops. In this way, the
fluid itself provides the inhibiting force against the flow.
Because the geometry of the Tesla diode is so involved, many parameters can be adjusted in order to alter
the diodicity. Work with CFD has found that diodicity
increases in accordance with two variables in particular: increasing the number of loops (as one would expect), but also with decreasing the distance between the
loops 18 .
2.4.2

2.5

The Navier-Stokes equations are a fundamental aspect of

fluid dynamics; they quantify the motion of viscous fluids by applying Newtons second law to fluid motion 12 .
They are incredibly powerful because they relate the velocity, temperature and density of a moving fluid. They
are a set of time-dependent coupled differential equations that are solved approximately in the CFD simulation software for a given system. The software makes
use of finite element analysis (FEA) 21 which separates a
domain into smaller parts called finite elements. In the
context of the software this is the meshing stage (discussed later in 3.5) that separates the solid and fluid
volumes into a mesh of elements. The Navier-Stokes
equations are then solved for this simplified system to
produce an approximate solution which allows the analysis of fluid flows in terms of calculated values such as
velocity, temperature, density and pressure. The solution
is time-dependent so transient analysis over a time frame
is possible; the equations are solved repeatedly at different time steps where the initial conditions are taken from
the previous time step and the new variables are calculated. These transient analyses allow the investigation of
how fluid flows evolve over time and in some situations
converge. Convergence of the Navier-Stokes equations
over iterations is key in the calculation of variables in order to ensure a stable solution. Any divergent behaviour
results in significant deviations from the expected results
and therefore an invalid simulation.

Vortex Diode

Figure 2 Fluid motion within a vortex diode in the reverse

direction (left) and forward direction (right) 11 .

In comparison to the Tesla diode, the geometry of the

vortex diode is less detailed. It consists of a large circular cavity with an axial port and a tangential port. In the
forward direction, flow enters the axial port and passes
out through the tangential port, largely unimpeded. In
the reverse direction, however, flow enters the tangential
port and adopts a swirling motion, known as a vortex.
As opposed to a free vortex (those found naturally in the
form of hurricanes and whirlpools, etc.), a forced vortex
is observed within the diode, where the tangential velocity is proportional to the radius of the chamber. These
processes are displayed in Fig. 2.
A parameter conventionally used for describing the
geometry of a vortex diode is the aspect ratio, . This is
given by:
=

d
h

Navier-Stokes Equations and CFD

2.6

Assumptions

Throughout the practical element of this investigation,

it will be crucial to minimise the number of air bubbles
that could potentially enter the apparatus. This is to ensure that all pumping force is used to push the fluid, and
not to compress the gas in the bubbles. Eliminating air
bubbles will also ensure a constant fluid density. Hence,
the investigation may be carried out in accordance with
Bernoullis principle, where each fluid to be tested shall
be regarded as incompressible, with constant density and
viscosity.
Since viscosity is temperature dependent, it will be
important to ensure that isothermal conditions be held
throughout. This will be relatively simple to achieve, by

(3)
3

optimal geometrical guidelines suggested by Kulkarni 20 ,

which are discussed in 2.4. Two Tesla diodes were also
designed closely in style with the geometry specified in
Teslas 1920 patent 17 .

carrying out all measurements at room temperature, but

it will be very important to monitor.

3
3.1

Experimental
Initial Development

Figure 4 Large and small vortex diodes (for detailed

dimensions see Appendix B).
Figure 3 Prototype glass vortex diode used in initial tests.

A prototype vortex diode was constructed from glass

with an attached U-tube manometer, pictured in Fig. 3.
If the U-tube is partially filled with an indicating fluid,
an applied pressure difference will drive the levels of
fluid apart. The magnitude of this pressure difference
may then be directly inferred from the height difference between the two columns of indicating fluid in the
manometer. Silicone oil was chosen as a suitable indicating fluid since its density (of around 970kg m3 ) 22 is
less than that of water, which allows for greater sensitivity.
Though initial tests of the prototype exhibited successful diodic behaviour, it was quickly apparent that
various modifications needed to be made. For example, it was difficult to eliminate air bubbles from the
permanently-attached manometer tubing. This was a serious issue since the contamination of air changes the
overall density of the indicating fluid, which in turn will
give rise to inaccurate pressure measurements. For this
reason it was decided that further use of a glass manometer would be impractical, and was replaced by a digital
manometer.
The glass vortex diode was replaced with two larger
vortex diodes. These were built in accordance with the

Figure 5 Large and small Tesla diodes (for detailed

dimensions see Appendix B).

The four new diodes (Figs. 4 and 5) were constructed from polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), a robust, readily-available plastic with high chemical stability, which is commonly used in cryogenic apparatus 23 .
Transparent upper sections were used to both monitor
the flow and allow easy identification of excessive air
bubbles or leaks.
4

3.2

Calibration of the Flowmeter

After the flowmeter was calibrated, the four diodes were

placed in turn into the experimental set-up shown in Fig.
6 in order to investigate the diodicity of each. The system
was filled with room temperature (20C) water. Increasing the power of the water pump steadily increased the
flow rate, and measurements of pressure difference were
taken at ten evenly-spaced intervals. The P values were
obtained as averages over ten readings at each flow rate.
This method was repeated for each diode, in the forward
and reverse directions, to collect values of Pf and Pr
over a range of flow rates.
Precaution had to be taken to ensure the apparatus
was clear of all air bubbles before each test. This was
achieved by flushing the system at a high flow rate before beginning to collect data at lower flow rates.

Calibration of the flowmeter required the mass of the water pumped through in 5 seconds to be recorded against
the rotor frequency of the flowmeter.
With each rotation, a magnet inside one of the rotor paddles induced a current in a stationary wire within
the meter as it moved past, and the frequencies of these
fluctuations in current were recorded by an oscilloscope.
A Tf380 universal frequency counter recorded the average rotor frequency over 10 second intervals. From
these measurements, a relationship between frequency
and mass flow rate was obtained. The flowmeter became
an essential component of the apparatus because it allowed a consistent flow rate to be maintained by monitoring frequency readings. The ability to maintain a constant flow rate is vital in investigations of diodicity, since
the calculation requires measurements of P that correspond to the same flow rate in both directions.
The flow rates were recorded over the full range of
the pumps power. The frequency of rotation was increased by increments of 5 Hz, with 10 volume measurements taken at each frequency.
The optimum position of the flowmeter was found
to be between the pump and the first manometer tube.
Placing the flowmeter within the manometer tubes negatively affected the pressure readings. The flowmeter
was not placed after the diodes as the vortex created
by the vortex diodes disturbed the flowmeter, producing
wildly varying results. Once the relationship between
flow and frequency had been established, it was tested
with each diode in the system to ensure the calibration
of the flowmeter was accurate for all four diodes, in both
directions.

3.3

3.4

Viscosity Experiment

Variable Flow Experiment

Figure 7 Experimental set-up for the viscosity experiment.

Readily available organic fluids, pentane and heptane, together with a 10% solution of acetic acid were chosen to
be tested in the second part of the investigation. These
fluids in particular were chosen because their viscosities
of 0.24 cP 24 , 0.39 cP 24 and 1.19 cP 25 respectively compare well to that of distilled water (1.00cP 26 ).
More viscous liquids were trialled but the pump
could not provide sufficient power to eliminate air bub-

Figure 6 Experimental set-up for the variable flow

experiment. M, F and P indicate the digital manometer,
flowmeter and pump respectively.

were used, 25g s1 for comparison with the experimental results and 100g s1 in order to better represent the
full range of flow rates used in the variable flow experiment. Simulations of forward and reverse flows must
be carried out separately, because the re-direction of the
mass flow rate causes the boundary conditions to change.
A mesh of the system was then generated, using the standard auto-meshing tool built into the software. A mesh
splits the system into smaller domains which allows the
flow to be analysed, and it was found that each mesh was
sufficiently refined to produce a convergent solution. A
simulation of fluid flow in the system was then created
by transient analysis with the variables assigned.

bles from within the apparatus. Furthermore, it was

decided that the pumping system used for water would
be inappropriate in the viscosity experiment, due to the
highly volatile nature of pentane and heptane, together
with the electrical wires in the pump and the flowmeter, potentially creating a fire-risk. Therefore, an alternative, safer system was assembled, which simply harnessed gravity as a pumping force (Fig. 7).
The new system consisted of a 200ml vessel, connected above the small Tesla diode via silicone tubing.
The digital manometer was connected, as before, immediately to either end of the diode. The flow of liquid
through the system was controlled using a screw-clamp
above the diode, which was adjusted for each liquid to
ensure a consistent flow rate of 25 1g s1 , despite the
fact that the various viscosities and densities would influence the movement of each fluid differently under gravity.
The smaller Tesla diode in particular was selected to
be used in the viscosity experiment for a number of reasons: the small internal volume meant that the amount
of fluid used in each run could be reduced and hence
the fire and fumes risk of pentane and heptane was kept
to a minimum. Also, the two-dimensional nature of the
diode eliminated gravitational bias (the fluid experienced
the same downward component of gravitational force for
each orientation). This would not have been the case for
different orientations of the vortex diode.

3.5

Transient analysis works to simulate the system at

individual time-steps with a set number of iterations for
each. For the solution to converge, a small enough timestep is required to capture the flow detail. A time-step
size of 0.01 seconds was found to converge for all simulations with sufficient flow detail and was the most time
efficient. The number of inner iterations of the transient
flow equations at each time-step was determined automatically by selecting the AutomaticIteration configuration option in the flag manager; this allowed for the most
time efficient solutions by minimizing the total number
of iterations. A stop time and data save intervals were
assigned: each simulation had a minimum stop time of
4 seconds to allow the flows to stabilise and accurately
simulate diodicity. Advection schemes control the numerical mechanism of transporting quantities such as velocity and pressure through the solution domain, each
of the schemes were tested and advection scheme 5 was
chosen for the final set of results for various reasons: it
was found to consistently converge, it produced the expected flow patterns and it is widely recommended for
recirculating flows and pressure drop predictions. The
standard K-epsilon turbulence model was also used in
the final set of simulations because it was found to be
the most convergent and stable over time in terms of the
calculated variables and flow patterns.

CFD Simulations

In order to simulate flow through a diode, one must first

create a geometry file which can be opened in the chosen
simulation software. For each diode, a three-dimensional
scale drawing was created using AutoCAD software by
Autodesk, so that the solid elements could be imported
into the simulation software. Autodesk Simulation CFD
2015 was chosen for its special capabilities in simulating fluid and thermal flows and its wide use in testing
product behavior.
Once the solid elements have been imported from
the geometry file, the fluid elements can be created by
selecting the volume to be filled. In order to simulate
the practical elements of this investigation the same variables must be applied to the simulated system as the experimental system. First the materials are defined. The
solid element was set as PVC, which is not the material
used in the experiment but the simulation only requires
that the wall roughness values (coefficients of friction)
are the same. Next, the fluid element was set to be one
of the experimental fluids: water, pentane, heptane and
acetic acid. For the variable flow experiment , the mass
flow rate boundary conditions were set at the inlet and
outlet ports to cover the range of mass flow rates practically tested through the diodes: between 20g s1 and
140g s1 . For the viscosity experiment two flow rates

The quality of the simulation was determined by

comparing the detail of the flow pattern with the expected flow pattern and the convergence of globally calculated values such as flow velocity, turbulence and pressure. Once the quality of a simulation was found to be
acceptable, a summary file was saved which contains all
the calculated information at each time-step (specifically
the inlet and outlet bulk pressures and the Reynolds number). From the bulk pressures, a value of diodicity may
be calculated using the average pressure drop from the
final five time-steps of the simulation.
6

Results and Discussion

For the reverse direction, shown in Fig. 9, there is

a similar positive correlation between Pr and flow rate.
The small vortex diode clearly remains the strongest over
4.1 Variable Flow Experiment
the whole range, with the small Tesla diode again proFig. 8 shows the experimentally-observed dependence of ducing the second-highest pressure differences. HowPf on mass flow rate for each of the diodes in the for- ever, the large vortex diode now exhibits a greater presward direction. There is a positive correlation between sure difference than the large Tesla diode.
pressure difference and flow rate. However, the trend for
Once again, each data-set converges to zero for small
each data-set was found to be non-linear.
F. However, the pressure gradient for the small vortex
A notable feature of the graph is that for each diode, diode is by far the steepest at this point. The resistance
Pf converges to zero as F becomes small, as one might of this diode in the reverse direction was observed to be
expect. It is also worth noting that, of the four diodes, so large that the maximum power setting of the pump
the small vortex diode consistently exhibited the greatest was unable to produce a flow rate of more than 55g s1 .
pressure difference, over the whole range of flow rates.
The small Tesla diode displayed the next highest Pf
above a flow rate of 40g s1 . At 40g s1 , the values
of Pf for the small and large Tesla diodes were very 4.1.1 Reynolds Number
similar: 5.09mbar and 5.13mbar respectively. Below
40g s1 the large Tesla diode exhibited a greater pressure difference than the smaller Tesla diode. The large
vortex diode consistently produced the smallest Pf over
all flow rates.

Figure 10 Graphs comparing the relation between Reynolds

number to pressure for the Tesla diodes in both directions.
Figure 8 Experimental relationship between flow rate and Pf
for all diodes in the forward direction.

Figs. 8 and 9 (displaying the relationship between flow

rate and Pf or Pr for the four diodes) are useful to interpret how each diode would perform in a given system.
However, the effectiveness of the diodes in comparison
to one another is best represented, not by a comparison of
flow rate to P, but by the comparison of Reynolds number to P. This is because the Reynolds number takes
into account the relative hydraulic radii of the diodes,
such that the volumetric flow rate is scaled to the volume
of the port through which it enters the system. Two flows
with the same Reynolds number will have a similar flow
pattern, as discussed in 2.2.
Fig. 10 shows the clear difference between the effectiveness of the small and large Tesla diodes. Both sizes
display similar pressure differences for similar flow patterns (described by the Reynolds number) in the forward
direction. However when the flow is reversed the pressure drop in the small diode is far greater than the large
diode over the same range of Reynolds numbers.

Figure 9 Experimental relationship between flow rate and Pr

for all diodes in the reverse direction.

Figure 11 Comparison of vortex diodes.

Figure 12 Diodicity (calculated from polynomial fits to

experimentally-obtained Pf and Pr values) against
Reynolds number for all diodes.

Transforming flow rate to Reynolds number for the

vortex diodes (Fig. 11) shows even more clearly the
effect of scale - the limited range of flow rates in the
small vortex diode is no longer a problem as the range
of Reynolds numbers for the diodes is more comparable. In Fig. 11, we can see that the relationship between
Reynolds number and Pf is similar for both diodes,
whilst, as with the Tesla diodes, the smaller of the two
achieves much greater success in reverse.

From Fig. 12 it can be seen that the vortex diodes

display a very slight increase in diodicity with Reynolds
number, which is not true of the Tesla diodes. From this
it can be surmised that for Tesla diodes, increased turbulence affects flow in both directions proportionally to one
another. Accordingly, the diodicity values for the Tesla
diodes level off. Within the vortex diodes, increased turbulence affects the reverse direction more than the for4.1.2 Diodicity
ward, increasing the diodicity.
The large Tesla diode has the lowest diodicity of the
Diodicity can be also calculated from the Reynolds num- four diodes, which seems to keep to a maximum value of
ber because Reynolds number is directly proportional to D 2.75 for Re > 5000. Unfortunately, the pump used
flow rate for both directions, as seen in Eq. (2). Values in the system was not powerful enough for data collecof diodicity could not be calculated directly from the ex- tion at Re > 10000 due to the large internal volume.
perimental results as matching the flow rate to the corNeither of the vortex diodes exhibited the steady inresponding reading in the opposite direction was near crease in diodicity displayed by the large Tesla diode at
impossible. In light of this problem, it was decided lower Reynolds numbers. The small and large vortex
that a polynomial fit would be plotted to the graphs of diodes do both appear to have slight increases at higher
P against Re for each diode, in the forward direction. Reynolds number but this trend is far from steady and
The forward direction was chosen for the fit because the consistent. The steady increase shown for the large Tesla
Reynolds numbers calculated had a greater range. The diode may have already occurred at lower Reynolds
benefit of using a fit calculated over the greatest range numbers for the vortex diodes. However, this could not
means that the fit would not need to be extrapolated to be ascertained as the flow would have been too slow to
compare of Reynolds numbers in the reverse direction. register on the flowmeter.
The coefficient of determination (denoted R2 ) was calWe can see that the performance of both Tesla diodes
culated for each data-set to evaluate the accuracy of each is notably below that of the vortex diodes. The diodicity
fit. Since an R2 value of 1 corresponds to a perfect fit, values for the large Tesla diode appear to reach a steady
it was decided that any fit in this experiment would be value of about 5.9 above the Reynolds number of 5000.
deemed acceptable if R2 > 0.995.
This is notable as 5000 is the value at which the flow goIn this way, each fit could be used to predict, with ing into the diodes is likely to be already turbulent. This
a good degree of confidence, P for the same Reynolds possibly suggests that once the flow entering the Tesla
number in the forward direction. Taking the recorded Re diodes reaches a certain turbulence the diodicity does not
for the reverse direction, then using the trend-line to cal- change.
The vortex diode results are not as consistent, but
culate the corresponding Pf , an estimate for diodicity
could be calculated at this Reynolds number using Eq. they do appear to level off, or have a very small increase
(1). For consistency, the same type of polynomial fit was in diodicty, as the turbulence of the flow entering increases with Reynolds number. This suggested that the
applied to each forward flow.
8

vortex diodes outperform the Tesla didoes for more turbulent flows. R. Narasimha and Sreenivasan suggested
that this may be due to an effect called relaminarisation when the flow enters the chamber. 27
Using the definition of Reynolds number 2, we can
see that if the viscosity is reduced below 1, say to the
same as a cryogenic fluid such as liquid nitrogen, the
Reynolds number would increase dramatically. With the
performance of the vortex diode being better than the
Tesla diode at high Reynolds numbers, it implies that
the vortex diode would also outperform the Tesla diodes
when using liquid helium, the very low viscosity cooling
agent within an MRI machine.

4.2

Simulations

The flow patterns inside the diodes were investigated using a range of tools in the simulation software. Fig. 13
shows a top-down contour plot of velocity magnitude
within the large Tesla diode. The forward and reverse
directions are shown below and above, respectively. It
is clear from the diagram that the fluid reaches much
higher velocities in the forward direction compared to
the reverse direction, as expected.

Figure 14 Simulated trace particles shown travelling through

the vortex diode in both directions, velocity magnitude shown
by the colour.

4.2.1

A set of traces was used to investigate the flow pattern inside the vortex diode (see Fig. 14) Again, the difference in flow pattern for each direction is clear. In the
forward direction the flow enters through the axial port
into the chamber and flows out radially, in the reverse
direction the flow enters through the tangential port into
the chamber and creates a forced vortex.

Comparison with CFD Model

Figure 15 Simulation versus experimental data in the forward

direction.

Figure 13 Tesla diode contour plot of velocity magnitudes.

critical Reynolds number for a flow in a pipe to be turbulent is 4000 28 ; for any Reynolds number below the
flow is likely to be exhibiting laminar characteristics.
When the flow enters the chamber the hydraulic radius
increases, which reduces the Reynolds number and in
some cases will produce a laminar flow. This is relaminarisation. This drop in turbulence and Re is underestimated in the CFD model. To correct this the plots would
need to be shifted to the left. However, for Re < 4000
the flow in the port is already laminar and would not undergo relaminarisation. The difference between the CFD
model and the experimental data is that the relaminarisation is measured experimentally, but is underestimated in
the CFD model. The chaotic nature of turbulence means
that any deviation from the correct model, in this case
laminar flow, will result in drastic changes in the flow
Figure 16 Simulation versus experimental data in the reverse
pattern and therefore any calculated P.
direction.
Another explanation for the differences suggested by
the
data is the uniform nature of the flow at the inlet.
Figure 15 shows how the simulations of the diodes (data
In
the
laboratory set-up, the fluid has already travelled
points with connecting lines) compare to the experimenthrough
pipes, the flowmeter and the manometer junctal data collected (data points with associated error bars
tion.
This
could result in a non-uniform flow entercollected in the laboratory). The relationship between
ing
the
diode
which would in turn result in more turReynolds number and pressure is similar for both the
bulence
within
the system. This would suggest that
simulation and experimental result: a steadily increasthe
Reynolds
numbers
calculated for the practicallying pressure possibly with a polynomial or exponential
obtained
data
could
be
too
low. Correcting this calcutrend. The simulations most noticeable drawback aplation
would
shift
the
experimental
data to the right in
pears to be the reduction of the size of the diodes givFig.
9,
moving
them
closer
to
the
CFD
data. The only
ing an exaggerated increase in Pf . The experimental
way
to
account
for
this
in
the
simulation
would be to
data for the large Tesla diode appears to have a good corsimulate
the
entire
system,
however
this
increased
comrelation with the CFD data until the Reynolds number
plexity
would
likely
result
in
a
less
stable
solution
and
a
reaches 8000. From here the simulation suggests that
deviation
from
the
measurement
of
the
true
effectiveness
the pressure remains the same for a period and then increases again. This constant pressure drop being main- of the isolated diode.
In Fig. 17, an area where there is a rapid change
tained over such an increase in the Reynolds number
in
colour
gradient or the vector direction indicates areas
is not exhibited in any other experimental result, or inwhere
turbulent
flow is likely to arise. These turbulent
deed any other simulation result for any of the diodes.
pockets,
called
eddies,
are not present in the CFD simuThis suggests that this data point is a bad result, poslation
for
the
bulk
of
the
vortex diode chamber, indicatsibly due to decreased stability in the solution with a
ing
some
degree
of
relaminarisation.
As the flow pattern
higher Reynolds number. The following data point afsuggests,
the
greatest
tangential
velocities
are found on
ter the bad result is also lower than the experimental
the
outside
of
the
chamber.
This
implies
that
the entire
result, which is expected if the solution loses its validity
volume
of
water
in
the
chamber
is
behaving
as
a forced
at higher Reynolds numbers.
vortex.
In the reverse direction there is a clear difference in
the respective correlations between the experimental and
Another factor in the differences between the CFD
CFD data for the Tesla diode and the vortex diode, shown and experimental results for the vortex diode is the lack
in Fig. 16. The simulated pressure drops for the small of gravity in the simulated system. In the laboratory, all
Tesla diode show the most agreement with the experi- data was collected with the axial port vertical and the
mental data. The results for the larger Tesla diode below tangential port horizontal; this results in an increased Pr
a Reynolds number of 5000 also show good correlation because more energy is required for the fluid to flow out
with the experimental results. The divergence from the of the axial port. In the forward direction, the opposite is
experimental results above this value could be explained true: the flow into the axial port accelerates as it travels
by the turbulent nature of the flow at these points.
into the chamber, requiring less energy and resulting in
When Re < 4000, the simulation for both Tesla a smaller pressure drop. Any attempt to simulate gravity
diodes are in agreement with the experimental results, in the vortex diode system resulted in an unstable, diverbut above this point the simulations display pressure that gent solution so the quantitative effect of gravity on the
is lower than the experimentally-determined values. The pressure drop is not known.
10

centre of the chamber. Kulkarnis plot of tangential velocity against the normalised radius used similar sized
diodes within the range of velocity flow that was investigated in this experiment. However, in contrast to our
simulation of what appears to be a forced vortex throughout the chamber, Kulkarnis plot suggests that the vortex behaves as a free vortex (with the tangential velocity
increasing towards the centre) before transitioning to a
forced vortex. This clear discrepancy in the simulations
casts further doubt over the accuracy of the simulations
computed in this experiment.

Figure 17 A snapshot of the different vector components in

the vortex diode, a red or purple colour signifies a fast flow
rate and a blue colour signifies a slower flow rate.

4.3

A comparison of the CFD and experimental diodicity

values showed that there is significant deviation between
the results. The simulated diodicity values are lower than
the experimental values, this is because the simulated
forward pressure drops are in general larger and the simulated reverse pressure drops are in general smaller than
the experimental values. The simulated results did agree
with the experimental and literature results in that all the
diodes diodicity values increase with increased Reynolds
number.

Dependence of Diodicity on Viscosity

The second half of the investigation attempted to evaluate the success of the small Tesla diode at low viscosities. This diode was chosen for reasons highlighted in
3.4, but the selection was further supported by the results of the variable flow investigation; in terms of inhibiting reverse flow, the small Tesla diode was the most
successful, apart from the small vortex diode. However, the small vortex diode was too strong for the lower,
gravity-induced flow rates used in the viscosity experiment. Therefore the small Tesla diode was selected as
the best alternative.
4.2.2 Comparison with Other Work
Due to a number of practical challenges, by way of
procuring
suitable equipment and trialling various methKulkarni 19 also experimented with different sized vorods of data-collection, only four substances were used
tex diodes. However, the experimental data is not dito practically observe the effect of viscosity on diodicity.
rectly comparable as the vortex diodes that were used
Fig. 18 displays the measured diodicities together with
were of slightly different chamber diameters. Nonethea CFD simulated relationship that was obtained for the
less, plots of the relationship between Reynolds number
same range.
and pressure drop were made for a vortex diode of diameter of 90mm. The large vortex diode in this experiment had a chamber diameter of 86.9mm,and an aspect
ratio of = 6 (as suggested by Kulkarni in his design
paper 20 ), a comparison of the pressure drops for different flows can be made. Kulkarnis larger diode exhibited
a very similar pattern of increasing pressure drop with
Reynolds number for both directions. In accordance with
our findings in Fig. 11, the larger diameter chamber size
produced a lower pressure drop for the same Reynolds
number again in both flow directions. This similarity in
the relationships is encouraging as it confirms the vortex
diodes built for this experiment behaved in a consistent
manner to the diode built in Kulkarnis experiment.
A plot of flow rate against pressure drop for a vortex
diode with an axial port diameter of 10mm, was made
by Priestman in 1987 29 . The plot displays a very similar polynomial-type relation to that observed in this ex- Figure 18 Relationship between diodicity and viscosity for
periment displayed in Fig. 9. The port diameter of the experimentally-obtained data and CFD simulations.
large vortex diode used in this experiment was 12.4mm
A feature of the graph that is immediately obvious is
(shown in Appendix B), similar to the size of the diode
used in Preistmans experiment. As stated earlier our the lack of correlation between the practically-observed
simulation results suggested that the entire volume of the data points. It is likely that this may be attributed to invortex diode was behaving as a forced vortex diode, in- consistencies in the method. For example, the gravitydicated by the decreasing tangential velocity towards the induced flow rate was too low to totally eliminate air
11

bubble contamination within the diodes. As previously

discussed, this type of contamination causes any pressure reading to be an inaccurate measure of diode behavior. The strong temperature-dependence of viscosity
could also be a source of error, if the temperature of the
system was not monitored to an acceptable degree.
It is hence difficult to draw a conclusion about the
direct effect of viscosity on diodicity using practical results alone. For this reason, the system was simulated
using CFD and these results are plotted on the graph for
comparison. The simulation predicts a gradual increase
in diodicity as viscosity decreases.
For lower viscosities, the resistance due to surface
friction between the fluid and the diode walls is reduced.
Therefore, an overall decrease in P is expected to occur in both directions, but to different degrees; resistance
due to surface friction is larger in the reverse direction
because the counter-flow loops cause the molecules to
spend a longer time in contact with the diode walls. So
for a smaller Pf in comparison to Pr , the overall diodicity will increase.

trend by considering the diodicity of the small Tesla

diode with water. Water has a viscosity of 1.00cP and
hence a Reynolds number of 3067.4 in this system.
Fig. 12 indicates that for this Reynolds number, the diodicity of the small Tesla diode should lie between 8 and
10. Since the CFD simulated trend predicts that D 2
for this Re = 3067.4, the simulation may be underestimating the diodicity by up to a factor of 5.
Despite this limitation of the CFD software, a further simulation was run at the visocisty of liquid helium
(0.0033 cP 15 ). A flow rate of 100g s1 was chosen because previous data has shown that, in general, higher
flow rates exhibit greater pressure differences and more
reliable results. The simulation predicted that if the small
Tesla diode was used to manage liquid helium, it would
exhibit a diodicity of 2.65.
In the context of diodicity, this result is quite small.
However, it is important to remember that a correction
must be made for the under-estimation of turbulence by
the software. This is done, as before, by comparing
Reynolds number to the diodicities shown in Fig. 12.
It was calculated that the Reynolds number for liquid helium in this case is around 465,000. This value
is very high and is unfortunately not included in the
range of Reynolds number observed practically. However, Fig. 12 shows a fairly flat relationship between
Reynolds number and diodicity for the small Tesla diode,
which seems to remain constant towards higher Re; for
Re > 6000, D 6. In this way, it is reasonable to assume
that for low viscosity, high Reynolds number fluids, the
effect of diodicity may still be observed.

Figure 19 Relationship between Reynolds number and

viscosity for the experimental fluids.

Fig. 19 displays calculated values of Reynolds number for each of the four experimental fluids. These values
confirm the inverse proportionality between Re and viscosity, given by Eq. (2). Since Re indicates the proportion of inertial forces to viscous forces within the fluid
(2.2) it can be physically understood how Re (and hence
turbulent, inertial forces) would increase as the contribution of viscous forces tends to zero.
Data collected previously in the experiment (Fig. 16)
indicates that the CFD software has underestimated the
amount of turbulence in the Tesla diode; a smaller Pr
is predicted than was observed experimentally. Hence,
the CFD simulated trend in Fig. 18 may contain the
same discrepancy. If this is the case, then the lower viscosities (corresponding to higher Reynolds numbers and
the dominance of turbulent flow) may in fact give rise to
greater diodicities.
We may assess the accuracy of the CFD predicted
12

At this stage it is useful to consider how a vortex diode might behave with the management of lowviscosity fluids. Previous experimentation highlighted
the small vortex diode as the most effective diode of all
four tested. It is therefore sensible to assume that, even
for lower-viscosity fluids, it would exhibit greater diodicities than the small Tesla diode.
This hypothesis, however, requires further experimentation with a system that allows much greater flow
rates to be achieved, both consistently and safely, if
volatile low-viscosity fluids are tested.
In summation, it has been shown that diodicity is
still an observable effect for low viscosity fluids. This is
because the contribution of viscous forces becomes less
important at high Reynolds numbers. Instead, turbulent
forces dominate and diodicity sees a slight increase due
to the decrease in Pf caused by the reduced effect of
surface friction.
However, this relationship was not observed in
practical experimentation due to inconsistencies in the
method and the possibility that the system was not maintained at a constant temperature.

4.4

Satisfaction of Objectives

Perhaps most obviously, this investigation failed to

undertake any tests with cryogens. Supporting the work
already completed with practical tests at cryogenic temperatures should be a priority of any future projects. Additionally, the results of the viscosity experiment were
inconclusive and so more research is needed in this area.
The starting point should be the design of a better pumping system than the gravity feed used here, so that viscosity tests can be conducted in the vortex diode, which
has been shown to be by far the more effective of the two
models used.
Whilst CFD proved useful, several improvements
could be made in the modelling process. The capability of computer simulations in this project was severely
limited by a lack of computing power, such that generating data took a long time, and was limited to only one
computer. CFD is a powerful tool and could be incredibly useful in this field, but the complexity and breadth of
CFD means it is probably best treated as the focus of an
independent study, rather than as a supporting aspect of
a practical investigation.

As discussed previously, there were 4 objectives set at

the beginning of the project
To design and construct a series of fluid diodes of
different models, suitable for testing at both cryogenic and room temperatures
Testing with cryogenic fluids was not achieved due to the
notable complications involved in producing a pumping
system capable of withstanding cryogenic temperatures.
PMMA was used to construct the diodes used in room
temperatures, as it was robust, transparent and readily
avaliable.
To design pumping systems suitable for use with a
range of fluids
A pumping system for water was assembled with the use
of an electronic pump, and a gravity feed system was
constructed to cater for hazardous liquids.
To characterise and compare the performance of
these diodes in terms of:
Pressure versus flow rate
Fluid viscosity

It was found that comparing Reynolds number to pressure was more appropriate than flowrate. The comparison of the performance of the diodes was completed,
determining the small vortex diode the most effective.

The vortex diode design was shown to be more effective

than the Tesla diode in terms of diodicity. This superiority was especially clear at high Reynolds numbers.
Extrapolating the data towards the even higher Reynolds
numbers of low-viscosity fluids suggests that the vortex
diode would be the most effective for use with cryogens.
The management of low-viscosity fluids was simulated for the small Tesla diode and the CFD results predicted that diodicity sees a slight increase towards lower
viscosities. However, the simulated diodicities were still
quite low; it was predicted that liquid helium would give
rise to a diodicity of 2.65.
The CFD modelling was a valuable tool for understanding the physics at work within the diodes. However,
the results failed to correlate with much of the experimental data, so improvements to the CFD model must
be made before predictions can be made for low viscosity fluids.

To investigate the potential of Computational

Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling to simulate the
flow in the diodes under various conditions
The CFD modelling produced some comparable results
for the variable flow experiment but other deviations
from the model suggested that the model needed significant improvement if any comparison is to be made for
cryogens in future systems.

4.5

Conclusions

Recommendations for Future Investigation

Despite the achievements detailed in the previous section, there are still many aspects of this project which
require further investigation.

13

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15

Appendices
A

Flowmeter Calibration

Figure 20 Linear relationship between mass flow rate and flowmeter rotor frequency. F = 1.812 5.269 Where F is the mass
flow rate in g s1 and is the rotor frequency, in Hertz. The y-intercept shows that a minimum flow rate of 5.3 g s1 is required
to turn the paddles of the flowmeter. However, a flow rate of 5g s1 could not produce a reliable reading on the manometer, as
its sensitivity was too low. For this reason a minimum flow rate of 20g s1 was chosen for data collection.

Each systems actual flow rate was within 1% of the predicted flow rate when the flow rate was set to 100g s1

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B
B.1

Diode Designs
Vortex Diode

Figure 21 Schematic diagram showing the dimensions (in mm) of the large and small vortex diodes.

B.2

Tesla Diode

Figure 22 Schematic diagram showing the dimensions (in mm) of the large and small Tesla diodes.

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Certification of Ownership

This Project Report/Dissertation presented as part of, and in accordance with, the requirements for the Final Degree
of BSc at the University of Bristol, Faculty of Science.
We hereby assert that we own exclusive copyright in the item named below. we give permission to the University
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Authors
Title
Date of submission

Edmund Erskine, Thomas Greening, Alice Rushton, and Adam Taylor

Siemens Magnet Technology - Industrial Group Project: Low Temperature Fluid
Management
30/04/2015

Signed:

Full names: Edmund Erskine, Thomas Greening, Alice Rushton, and Adam Taylor
Date: 30/04/2015
This project/dissertation is the property of the University of Bristol Library and may only be used with due regard
to the rights of the author. Bibliographical references may be noted, but no part may be copied for use or quotation
in any published work without the prior permission of the author. In addition, due acknowledgement for any use
must be made.

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