Computational Study of Fluid Flow Inside a Concentric Reducer

Abstract

Scale growth in pipe fittings is a major problem for an alumina refinery. Investigation into the scale growth mechanism at an alumina refinery found almost 60% more scale growth in concentric reducer when compared with the connecting straight pipe sections for similar flow conditions. The current study is an attempt to characterise the fluid flow inside a concentric reducer, especially streamwise and crossflow fluctuations using computational fluid dynamics methodology. The present study shows that streamwise component of instantaneous velocity fluctuation decreased and cross component of the instantaneous velocity fluctuation increased inside the concentric reducer. Present Computational results have shown good agreement with the experimental data.