Understanding Pipe Flow Loses using CFD with Ansys Fluent Software
Fluid flowing through pipes is fundamental to modern civilization, enabling essential services and industries that power and support daily life. Recent advances in CFD enable us to get details about pipe flow losses phenomena and extend learners’ understanding of fluid flows through visualizations and animations and compare them with existing experimental results. Understanding how critical losses can be across majority of engineering disciplines including aerospace, mechanical, chemical, civil, biomedical etc. makes it a real-world motivation for students in learning fundamentals and application of fluid mechanics. The present work explores the types of losses under varying Reynolds number over a wide range, highlighting the effectiveness of CFD simulations performed using Ansys Fluent® fluid simulation software in its understanding with the help of flow visualization using streamlines and pressure contours along with velocity components and velocity vector plots for each case.
Learning Outcomes
- Understand basic application of CFD for internal flow.
- Investigate the effect of Reynolds number on friction factor.
- Observe the flow behavior through visualization using contour and vector plots.
Applicable Courses for Use
- Fluid Mechanics
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
- Advanced Fluid Mechanics
Downloadable Content
- Case Study pdf
- Turbulent_Re=6000 - case, data and mesh files.
- Pipe_Contraction – case, data files.
- Pipe_Expansion – case, data files.
Related Resources
Navier-Stokes Equations in Ansys Fluent | Education Resources
