Hydraulic Characteristics of Transporting a Piped Carriage in a Horizontal Pipe Based on the Bidirectional Fluid-Structure Interaction

Abstract

Energy shortage restricts the rapid development of the global transport industry. Trying to develop innovative modes of transport becomes an inevitable trend. Hydraulic Capsule Pipelines (HCPs) are the freight transportation modes that use a kind of fluid to push capsules filled with bulk solids materials through water-filled pipelines. HCPs not only alleviate everincreasing costs caused by energy scarcities and oil price up, but also solve issues like traffic congestion and environmental pollution. Published literature is mainly limited to numerical simulation of the unidirectional fluid-structure interaction between the capsules and the fluid inside the pipelines; furthermore, the hydraulic characteristics only involve the speed of the capsules and the pressure drop characteristics of the fluid within the pipe. This research was conducted on the following four aspects of HCPs. First, an improved cylindrical capsule called a “piped carriage” was evaluated. Second, an associated solution between the fluid domain within the pipe and the solid domain of the piped carriage was investigated numerically on the basis of the bidirectional fluid-structure interaction methods. Third, the effects of diameter ratio b (ratio of a diameter of the piped carriage De to a pipe diameter Dp, widely ranging in b=0.4~0.95) on hydraulic characteristics of transporting the piped carriage within the pipeline were extensively discussed. Finally, based on Least-Cost Principle, an optimization model of HCPs was effectively built. The results showed that the simulated results were in good agreement with the experimental results, which further indicated that it was feasible for solving the hydraulic characteristics of transporting the piped carriage by using the bidirectional fluid-structure interaction methods. The results will be of great reference value for further research on HCPs and also provide a theoretical foundation for the optimal design of HCPs.