Coefficients of Local Head Losses in Steady-State Flow of Throttled Surge Tanks with Standpipe by CFD

Abstract

This study investigates the steady-state flow pattern of throttled surge tanks with standpipe, especially the coefficients of local head losses. The experiments were carried out, and FLUENT, which solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, was applied to experimental data for solving flow fields. The results show the computed and measured local head losses agree closely. The coefficients of the local head losses are linearly proportional to diameter ratio with the slope of 0.037. The anticlockwise backflow region occurs in the standpipe, and it induces inflow into and outflow from the standpipe. For hydraulic engineering projects, the discharge into and out from standpipe does not change with velocity and diameter of main conduit, but are linearly proportional to diameter ratio with the slope of 0.0378.