A Validated CFD Methodology to Obtain the Total Pressure Loss Coefficients in Internal Compressible Flow at Junctions

A global methodology has been developed and validated to obtain the total pressure loss coefficient in internal compressible flow at T-type junctions. This methodology is based on the calculation of the thermo-fluid properties extrapolated to the branch axes intersection, once the straight pipe friction losses numerically calculated have been subtracted from the total energy losses. For this purpose, a steady adiabatic compressible one-dimensional flow with friction mathematical model has been applied to the results obtained by numerical simulation using the commercial finite volume code FLUENT. A 90 degree T-type junction has been studied and the predicted loss coefficient has been related to the extrapolated Mach number in the common branch and to the mass flow rate ratio between branches at different flow configurations, in both combining and dividing flows. The numerical results have been compared with experimental results and published data in open literature. In general, a good agreement is obtained. The correlations obtained will be applied as boundary condition in one-dimensional global simulation models of fluid systems in which these components are present.