Experimental study of turbulent swirling flow in a straight pipe

Abstract

Swirling flow through a pipe is a highly complex turbulent flow and is still challenging to predict. An experimental investigation is performed to obtain systematic data about the flow and to understand its physics. A free-vortex-type swirling flow is introduced in a long straight circular pipe. The swirling component decays downstream as a result of wall friction. The velocity distributions are continuously changing as they approach fully developed parallel flow. The swirl intensity Ω, defined as a non-dimensional angular momentum flux, decays exponentially. The decay coefficients, however, are not constant as conventionally assumed, but depend on the swirl intensity. The wall shear stresses are measured by a direct method and, except in a short inlet region, are a function only of the swirl intensity and the Reynolds number. The velocity distributions and all Reynolds stress components are measured at various axial positions in the pipe. The structure of the tangential velocity profile is classified into three regions: core, annular and wall regions. The core region is characterized by a forced vortex motion and the flow is dependent upon the upstream conditions. In the annular region, the skewness of the velocity vector is noticeable and highly anisotropic so that the turbulent viscosity model does not work well here. The tangential velocity is expressed as a sum of free and forced vortex motion. In the wall region the skewness of the flow becomes weak, and the wall law modified by the Monin–Oboukhov formula is applicable. Data on the microscale and the spectrum are also presented and show quite different turbulence structures in the core and the outer regions.