Numerical evaluation on aerodynamic design of pressure-regulating valve in trisonic intermittent wind tunnel

Abstract

The pressure-regulating valve can realize the rapid adjustment and precise controlling of operating pressure and Mach number, to stabilize the flow field and avoid the test interference such as the air source loss or the unstable flow. This paper takes the design and optimization of pressure-regulating valve in trisonic intermittent wind tunnel as the research object to investigate its special pressure-regulating characteristic and performance in the wind tunnel. According to the requirement of the wind tunnel, the annular-gap type pressure-regulating valve is selected to match its wide adjustment range of operating parameter, high regulation accuracy, and low running resistance. The design and optimization of the pressure-regulating valve are carried out, including aerodynamic and structural design, analysis on pressure regulation characteristics, kinematics analysis, flow field analysis, vibration analysis, and structure optimization. The design and selection of some important components are carried out based on the pneumatic design and performance requirements. The pressure regulation characteristics of the pressure regulating valve are discussed and the affecting factors of the irregular flow are analyzed and evaluated by numerical simulation. The final structure of the pressure-regulating valve is determined and the test results perform well with prediction of characteristic curve.