A Study on the Flow Characteristics in a Plug Valve With Various Port Shapes

Analyses on the characteristics of flow fields in the plug valve are required to improve performance and safety at severe operating conditions such as high-pressure and high-temperature. In this study, numerical and experimental analyses are carried out with various opening rates of the valve and the shapes of the plug port: circular, triangle, and modified triangle shapes. Especially, the distributions of the static pressure, velocity vector and streamlines are investigated to calculate the flow coefficient (C_v) and the resistance coefficient (K) in each opening rate and shape. For the case of full open, the static pressure passed through the valve port has almost been recovered. However, in case of other opening rates, pressure has not permanently recovered due to pressure drop leading to loss. This phenomenon in each shape of the valve shows the different behaviors. Result of calculation show that the modified triangle shape is good on flow characteristics and the triangle one is good for the flow rate control.