Numerical Study of Secondary Flows in a Sinusoidal Pipe

O. Ayala [1], I. Ahumada [2], L. Renaudin [2],
[1] Engineering Technology Department, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
[2] Brazil Scientific Mobility Program, CAPES, Brasilia DF, Brazil
Published in 2016

The direction of the fluid is strongly related to the Reynolds number; as it increases, so does the centrifugal acceleration which tends to push the axial flow towards the outer side of the pipe. Secondary flow appear as 2 or 4 vortical structures after the inflection point. For low Reynolds number, the rotational direction of vortical structures remains unchanged. The core of the vortical structures get closer to the wall as the Reynolds number increases.

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