Design Of Flow Control Devices Research Articles

Rheological impact of viscous fluid in the core region of heated curved pipe surrounded by Casson rheological fluid

The immiscible fluids can help design more efficient systems for drug delivery and understanding the blood flow through diseased arteries. It can also have implications for the design of flow control devices or medical implants that involve curved geometries. Therefore, the current article scrutinizes the characteristics of heat transfer on the flow of two immiscible Casson and Newtonian fluids through a curved pipe induced due to a pressure gradient in an axial direction. The pipe is divided into two distinct regions: namely, (i) Region 1 (core) is filled with Newtonian fluid while (ii) Region 2 (peripheral) is filled with non-Newtonian Casson fluid. The complex curvilinear coordinates called toroidal coordinates are used to form a mathematical model for the present problem. Equations governing the flow are considered without ignoring any curvature ratio terms and are solved analytically by considering the perturbation series. The continuity of velocities and shear stresses at the fluid-fluid interface is taken into account along with no-slip, symmetric, and regularity conditions while solving the two-fluid flow problem under consideration. The effect of various fluid parameters such as curvature ratio, Casson fluid parameter, Reynolds number, viscosity ratio, density ratio, Eckert number, and conductivity ratio on the axial velocity and temperature is studied through 2-dimensional graphs and contour plots. In addition, the volumetric flow rate and shear stress are also presented to evaluate the effects of various key parameters. The results show that the axial velocity of immiscible fluids flow increases with an increase in the values of the viscosity ratio parameter and the fluid temperature is decreased by increasing the conductivity ratio parameter.

Optimization of flow control devices to minimize the grade mixing in steelmaking tundish

The minimization of grade intermixing in a tundish is one of the import concern of steelmakers. Different design and operating parameters of the tundish, as well as flow control devices (FCDs), has been used in last decade by researchers to modify the flow characteristics of melt in the tundish. In the present work, the three-dimensional numerical investigations have been carried out to optimise the design of FCDs in multi-strand tundish by using response surface methodology. The interaction of design parameters i.e., shroud depth, advanced pouring box (APB) wall angle, dam height and dam position has been studied by the response surface plots. An effort has been made to quantify the impact of APB angle and shroud depth. Moreover, these two FCDs have important implications in future for efficient inclusion removal. The quantification of intermixed grade steel in tundish has been made at each strand. Further, average output from all strand has been analyzed and the optimum design of FCDs has been suggested. An important finding from this study is that some FCDs have an adverse impact on mixing in the far zone of the tundish.

Design of flow control devices in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) completion

Commercialization of the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process has made recovery of heavy oil/bitumen possible in a number of reservoirs hindered by hydrocarbon immobility. However, the economics of this process are highly sensitive to the efficiency of steam creation, delivery, and use, with a successful and unsuccessful SAGD well pair often separated by how effectively thermal inefficiencies can be mitigated in the flow profiles of steam injection and/or in emulsion recovery. To improve flow profiles, Albertan SAGD completions have experimented with the addition of flow control devices (FCDs). These completion tools have historically been used to regulate liquid inflow across long producing laterals, adding a variable pressure drop along the lateral to improve the conformance of hydrocarbon production and delay water breakthrough; within SAGD completions, FCDs find novel use to force a more even flow distribution of steam in the injector and a thermally dependent inflow profile in the producer to maximize recovery of heavy oil/bitumen. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of different FCD designs, discussing their respective methods of regulation, the fluid-adaptive behavior of “autonomous” FCDs, operational strengths and weaknesses of different commercial offerings, and suggestions on how to use existing pressure loss models for FCDs and apply them to the non-traditional application of regulating SAGD flow profiles, both for equipment sizing and estimation of pressure loss/flow rates across the device. From this work, it is proposed that use of autonomous FCDs in the production lateral are of greater value than use of flow control in the injector; however maximum benefits are achieved by coupling simple orifice-style FCDs in the injector lateral with autonomous, large flow path (non-orifice) FCDs capable of controlling steam flash events in the production well.

Tundish Technology for Casting Clean Steel: A Review

With increasing demand of high-quality clean steel, cleanliness is of paramount importance in steel production and casting. Tundish plays an important role in controlling the continuously cast steel quality as it links a batch vessel, ladle, to a continuous casting mold. Tundish is also the last vessel in which metal flows before solidifying in mold. For controlling the quality of steel, flow and temperature control of the melt are critical, and these are presented in this paper. Use of proper flux, design of flow control devices, and gas injection in tundish become important factors in casting clean steel. Recycling of hot tundish, centrifugal flow tundish, H-shaped tundish, etc. are some of the developments which were implemented to cast clean steel and these are discussed.

Optimization of Flow Control Device in 300,000t Heavy-Duty Casting and Forging CCM Tundish

Fluid flow fields of molten steel were calculated under the different setting of flow control device in the tundish, and the characteristics of flow were investigated by residence time distribution curves (RTD). The results show that the response time and peak time are small without the flow control device installed in the tundish. A suitable design of flow control device could extend the mean residence time of molten steel in the tundish, and increases the volume of piston-type flow zone with decreasing the volume of dead zone. It is found that the effect of flow control adopting turbulence inhibitor 2# and dam is the best. The volume fraction of the dead zone is reduced from 54.19% to 16.51%, and the proportion of dead zone becomes much lower. The dominant role of the dead zone has been replaced by that of the piston-type flow zone. A satisfactory effect of flow control could be achieved by adopting wall 3# if a turbulence inhibitor is not available, and the volume fraction of the dead zone is decreased to 24.32%.

A Simple Innovation in Continuous Casting Mold Technology for Fluid Flow and Surface Standing Waves Control

This paper reports on the development of a novel technique to control standing surface waves and turbulence. The technique uses external refractory shapes in the continuous casting mold to modify fluid flow and control the surface waves. The method is both economical and flexible as compared to contemporary technologies to solve the problem. Two distinct methods are described based on the placement of the shapes in the mold. Type A shapes are placed nearer the free surface and predominantly work by modifying the upper recirculation region. Type B shapes are placed deeper in the mold and work by altering the overall fluid flow pattern. Water modeling was carried out on thick slab caster models to understand the behavior of the surface waves. An optimum design of flow control device and its positioning were developed based on the study. Mathematical modeling using commercial fluid flow codes was also used to supplement the experimental results of the process.