Comparison of Performance of Two Software Tools, FLUENT and FLOW3D in Determination of Flow Rate of Small and Labyrinth Channels in Laminar Flow

Abstract

Emitter is the key component in drip irrigationsystem. Therefore, hydraulic performance of emitters has an important impact onthe performance and uniformity of trickle irrigation. On the other hand, process production ofemitter is time-consuming and expensive. Because of small size and complexstructure of labyrinth-channel used in most drip emitters, it is not possibleto observe the flow behavior of water passing through thechannel. In this study three types emitter (A, B and C) wereselected andstructural parameters of emitter channel was determined by taking photos usingScanning Electronic Microscope (SEM). Flow behavior of water in channelsimulated by two Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) softwareFLUENT and FLOW3D. Then relationship between pressure and rate ofemitters discharge was calculated. Verification of the results obtained fromthe CFD simulation was conducted in laboratory. Average of prediction errorpercentage (Er) was 5.5 and 3.6 percentage for FLOW3D andFLUENT software respectively. Therefore results indicate that the FLOW3D andFLUENT softwares are a powerful technique to simulate flow behavior of thewater passing through channels emitters, as well as to optimize the design ofthe labyrinth channel.

Keywords

• emitter discharge؛ computational fluid dynamics؛ flow3d
• fluent