Pulsatile entrance flow in curved pipes: effect of various parameters

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the developing pulsatile flow in curved pipes with a long, straight pipe upstream. In order to examine the dependence of flow-field development on the governing parameters, LDV measurements were conducted systematically for six cases of flow, where the Womersley number α was varied from 5.5 to 18, the mean Dean number D m was 200 and 300, the flow rate ratio η was 0.5 and 1, and the curvature radius ratio Rc was 10 and 30. Peculiar flow phenomena, such as flow reversal for all values of α and a depression in the axial velocity profile for α = 10, were analyzed by decomposing the axial velocity into a time-mean and a varying component, as well as by obtaining the bias of their profiles. The velocity distributions abruptly change with the phase at turn angles Ω of 15–30°, corresponding to the nondimensional axial length z′ ≅ 1–2 from the bend entrance, and their development along the pipe axis is the most complicated for the flow at a moderate α of 10 and large η of 1. The entrance length in the case of pulsatile flow is shorter than that for steady flow with the same flow rate as the maximum pulsatile flow rate.