REVIEW ARTICLE


Numerical Calculation of the Tee Local Resistance Coefficient



Qin Zhang1, Manlai Zhang1, Zhihong Zhou1, Shizhong Wei*, 2
1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434023, China
2 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, Henan, 471023, China


© 2015 Zhang et al

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.



Abstract

The local head loss of tee could be calculated with the determination of local resistance coefficient by CFD simulation and test. Based on the mesh-independent feature identified, the flow field inner tee was numerically simulated by the standard k - ε turbulent model and SIMPLEC algorithms, which has revealed the mainstream was obliged to turn to the opposite side of tee junction, and a rise in pressure drop between upstream and downstream was caused as a result. Furthermore, the frictional resistance coefficient was calculated for eliminating the frictional head loss of model, which decreased from 0.0207 to 0.0133 when the inlet velocity increased from 1 m/s to 12 m/s. Additionally, the local resistance coefficients of tee at flow conditions were attained, and the quadratic polynomial between the local resistance coefficient and flux ratio was presented due to the influence of branch on mainstream. Through the test, the simulation result has been compared and the effectiveness of simulation has been verified.

Keywords: CFD, flow field, local resistance coefficient, numerical simulation, tee.