Characteristics of turbulent flow distribution in branch piping system

Abstract

Flow distribution in branch piping system is affected by flow characteristics and different geometric variations. Most of the flow distribution studies are performed with one-dimensional analysis to yield overall information only. However, detailed analysis is required to find effects of design parameters on the flow distribution. For this aspect, three-dimensional turbulent flow analysis was performed to assess turbulence model performance and effects of upstream pressure and branch pipe geometry. Three different turbulence models of standard k-ɛ model, realizable k-ɛ model and standard k-ω yield similar results, indicating small effects of turbulence models on flow characteristics analysis. Geometric variations include area ratio of main and branch pipes, branch pipe diameter, and connection shape of main and branch pipes. Among these parameters, area ratio and branch diameter and shape show strong effect on flow distribution due to high friction and minor loss. Uniform flow distribution is one of common requirements in the branch piping system and this can be achieved with rather high total loss design.