Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-lvtdw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-08T23:48:14.052Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The axial skew of flow in curved pipes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2006

B. Snyder
Affiliation:
Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, University of Michigan/V. A. Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Present address: Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557.
J. R. Hammersley
Affiliation:
Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, University of Michigan/V. A. Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
D. E. Olson
Affiliation:
Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, University of Michigan/V. A. Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Abstract

As a uniformly coiled pipe is wound progressively tighter, centrifugal acceleration would be expected to drive the axial flow increasingly towards the outer wall of the pipe bend. Instead, the effect of bend curvature R is found experimentally to become fully expressed at small curvature ratios (a/R < 0.02), where a is the pipe radius. No further increase in the axial skew is observed in more tightly coiled pipe sections (0.02 [les ] a/R [les ] 0.20). In this ‘asymptotic’ regime where pipe curvature is unimportant, the developing axial skew intensifies as ≈ [(Re − 100) L/a]¼, where $Re = 2\overline{W}a/\nu $ and L is the entrance length. These results suggest that the action of centrifugal force remains balanced by swirl as flow develops in tightly coiled pipes, while in loosely coiled pipes the development of centrifugal effects lags the growth of swirl.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1985 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.)

References

Agrawal, Y., Talbot, L. & Gong, K. 1978 Laser anemometry study of flow development in curved circular pipes. J. Fluid Mech. 85, 49751Google Scholar
Berger, S. A., Talbot, L. & Yao, L.-S. 1983 Flow in curved pipes. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 15, 461512.Google Scholar
Dennis, S. C. R. & Ng, M. 1982 Dual solutions for steady laminar flow through a curved tube. Q. J. Mech. Appl. Maths 35, 305324.Google Scholar
Humphrey, J. A. C., Taylor, A. M. K. & Whitelaw, J. H. 1977 Laminar flow in a square duct of strong curvature. J. Fluid Mech. 83, 509527.Google Scholar
Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. 1959 Fluid Mechanics. pp. 107108. Pergamon.
Olson, D. E. 1971 Fluid mechanics relevant to respiration: flow within curved or elliptical tubes and bifurcating systems. Ph.D. Thesis, University of London.
Olson, D. E. & Snyder, B. 1985 The upstream scale of flow development in curved circular pipes. J. Fluid Mech. 150, 139158.Google Scholar
Singh, M. P. 1974 Entry flow in a curved pipe. J. Fluid Mech. 65, 517539.Google Scholar
Soh, W. Y. & Berger, S. A. 1984 Laminar entrance flow in a curved pipe. J. Fluid Mech. 148, 109135.Google Scholar
Taylor, G. I. 1929 The criterion for turbulence in curved pipes. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 124, 243249.Google Scholar
Van Dyke, M. 1978 Extended Stokes series: laminar flow through a loosely coiled pipe. J. Fluid Mech. 86, 129145.Google Scholar
White, C. M. 1929 Streamline flow through curved pipes. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 123, 645663.Google Scholar
Yao, L.-S. & Berger, S. A. 1975 Entry flow in a curved pipe. J. Fluid Mech. 67, 177196.Google Scholar