Numerical Simulation and Theoretical Analysis of Flow Resistance Characteristics in the Honeycomb Ceramic Conduit

Abstract

In this study, three-dimensional numerical simulations were established for a honeycomb ceramic conduit, and the effects of the inlet methane volume fraction, inlet velocity, and the conduit length on the gas temperature and flow resistance in the conduit were investigated. The simulation results indicate that the mean gas temperature first rises rapidly and then slowly, with an increasing inlet methane volume fraction. The mean gas temperature increases slightly with an increasing inlet velocity, and first increases and then decreases with an increasing conduit length. As the inlet methane volume fraction increases, the conduit pressure loss increases, but the increase rate gradually slows down. The conduit pressure loss increases approximately linearly with an increasing inlet velocity and conduit length. A prediction model for the pressure loss in the conduit was obtained by a theoretical analysis. The theoretical results agree well with the simulation results, and the deviations between the theoretical and simulation results were in the range of 3.7% to 12.3%. When the mean gas temperature in the conduit was less than 1000 K, the deviations were less than 6.5%.

Keywords

• honeycomb ceramic conduit
• pressure loss
• inlet methane volume fraction
• inlet velocity
• conduit length