Flow Distribution in Manifolds

Abstract

A Numerical study of two-dimensional, turbulent, incompressible fluid flow through manifold pipe that divides flow to five consecutive laterals is carried out. Each lateral is oriented at ninety degree to manifold axis. The study is based on the solution of the elliptic partial differential equations representing the conservation of mass, momentum, turbulence energy and its dissipation rate in finite volume form. The turbulent viscosity and diffusion coefficients are calculated using the (k-ε) model. Different parameters are considered to illustrate their influences on the flow distribution along manifold. These parameters include the area ratio (the ratio of the sum of areas of all laterals to manifold area) (A.R), curvature radius at the junction points between manifold and laterals (R), and space between each two consecutive laterals. The results show that the area ratio has a significant effect on flow distribution along manifold pipe and as a result of these effects the discharge through laterals near from uniform as the area ratio becomes less than unity (A.R<1), while when area ratio becomes larger than unity (A.R>1) the discharge distribution through laterals is far from uniform (flow rate through the last lateral will be greater than the flow through the first lateral), especially for short manifold (L/D≤10) and sharp-edged laterals.