Discharge of a Compressible Fluid Through a Control Valve

The original analysis on incompressible flow discharge from a vessel through an axisymmetric control valve has been extended to the discharge of a compressible fluid. The inviscid anlaysis is based on the method of hodograph transformation. While it is simple to account for the effect of compressibility for conditions of subcritical pressure ratios, special treatment must be applied to establish the sonic line and the free jet boundaries under conditions of supercritical pressure ratios. Discharge characteristics have been established for different pressure ratios and positions of the control valve. This series of investigations provides ample evidence that the hodograph transformation coupled with numerical computations is effective in dealing with problems of this nature.