Large Scale Fluctuations in an Axisymmetric Sudden Pipe Expansion with Large Aspect Ratio

Abstract

The aim of the present work is the investigation of the turbulent flow field downstream of an axisymmetric sudden expansion with a large aspect ratio of D/d = 12,3. For the fundamentally understanding of the flow some numerical results are presented. They were achieved by using the RANS approach and SST turbulence model. The flow field is characterized by a jet-like flow near the nozzle exit and a large toroidal recirculation zone. The x-component of the velocity u was measured using one-component laser Doppler velocimetry. Axial and radial velocity distributions as well as some velocity spectra were measured. The spectra were calculated from the velocity signal using the Sample-And-Hold method together with the refinement technique. At the axial half length of the recirculation zone at the edge of the jet flow a narrow band peak was observed in spectra, suggesting the existence of large-scale fluctuations or instability of the flow field. Further investigations reveal that this effect is locally limited and shows no sensitivity against changes of the inlet conditions, e.g. the Reynolds number and velocity profile.

Keywords

• Axisymmetric sudden pipe expansion; Laser Doppler velocimetry; Sample-and-Hold; Incompressible turbulent flow; Large scale fluctuations; Narrow-band peak spectra.