Numerical simulation and experimental study on hydrodynamic characteristics of T-type pipes

In order to research flow characteristics of T-type pipeline, experiments and numerical simulations were conducted. Pressure sensors were used to monitor the dynamic water pressure of the pipeline, and SIMPLEC method was applied to solve the Navier-Stokes equations and the κ-ε turbulence equation in Numerical simulation. Mechanism of pressure loss under different operating cases were analyzed, and impacts of different split ratios, entrance velocities, length-diameter ratios on head loss coefficient were obtained. The head loss coefficient of single tube was 1.01-1.94 times larger than that of double-pipe. The pressure loss coefficient of vertical branch pipe was 2.20-2.55 times larger than that of horizontal branch pipe given same inlet Re. The influence of different length-diameter ratio on head loss coefficient of the vertical branch pipe was not obvious, while the head loss coefficient of the horizontal branch increased with decrease of length-diameter ratio. The numerical simulation results accord with the experimental results well, and they are instructive to project applications.