Numerical investigation of the performance of the etoile flow conditioner under different geometric and dynamic configurations

Numerical investigation of the performance of the etoile flow conditioner under different geometric and dynamic configurations

Abderrahmane Messoul Boualem Laribi Abdelkader Youcefi Lioua Kolsi Abdelkarim Aydi Mohamed Aichouni  

Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Sciences and Technology of Oran, Oran, Algeria

Industrial Fluids Laboratory, Measurements and Applications, University of Khemis-Miliana, Algeria

The Engineering College, University of Hail, PO Box 2440, Hail, Saudi Arabia

Laboratoire de recherche de Métrologie et des Systèmes Energétiques, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs, 5000 Monastir, University of Monastir, Tunisia

Laboratoire Matériaux Molécules et Applications-IPEST, La Marsa, Tunisia

Corresponding Author Email: 
lioua_enim@yahoo.fr
Page: 
141-152
|
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.3166/JESA.51.141-152
Received: 
| |
Accepted: 
| | Citation

OPEN ACCESS

Abstract: 

The present work is concerned with a numerical study on the performance of industrial flow conditioners to produce the fully developed flow condition required by international standards for accurate flow metering purposes. The Etoile flow straightener was tested under severe distorted flow generated by a double 90 degrees bend elbows in perpendicular planes, at different Reynolds numbers ranging from 103 to 106. Different geometrical settings for the Etoile were tested. The flow field has been simulated using the COMSOL CFD code. The performance of the flow straightener to produce the fully developed flow condition under different geometrical and dynamic conditions was investigated and discussed.

Keywords: 

computational fluid dynamics, flow conditioner, pipe flow, fully developed flow, flow rate measurements, international standards, industry 4.0

1. Introduction
2. Numerical method
3. Results and discussions
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
Nomenclature
  References

Aichouni M., Kolsi L., Ait-Messaoudenne N., Aich W. (2016). Computational study of the performance of the Etoile flow conditioner. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 9, pp. 23-31. https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2016.09.005

Aichouni M., Laws E. M., Ouazzane A. K. (1996). Experimental study of the effects of upstream flow condition upon venturi flow meter performance. In Flow Modeling and Turbulence Measurements VI, pp. 209. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2920114

Al-Rashed A. A. A. A., Kolsi L., Oztop H.F., Abu-Hamdeh N., Borjini M. N. (2017). Natural convection and entropy production in a cubic cavity heated via pin-fins heat sinks. International Journal of Heat and Technology, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 109-115. https://doi.org/10.18280/ijht.350115

ANSI/API 2530 AGA 3. (2000). Orifice metering of natural gas and other related hydrocarbon fluids’, Part 1. 

Barton N. (2002). Assessment of the performance of flow conditioners at elevated Reynolds numbers. Flow Measurement Guidance Note, No. 29, The National Engineering Laboratory, U.K, May.

Brown G. J., Griffith B. W. (2013). A new flow conditioner for 4-path ultrasonic flowmeters. FLOMEKO 2013, pp. 24-26.

Camaraza-Medina Y., Rubio-Gonzales Á. M., Cruz-Fonticiella O. M., García Morales O. F. (2018). Simplified analysis of heat transfer through a finned tube bundle in air cooled condenser. Mathematical Modelling of Engineering Problems, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 237-242. https://doi.org/10.18280/mmep.050316

Gersten K. (2008). Flow metering with disturbed inflow. Acta Mech, Vol. 201, No. 1-4, pp. 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-008-0068-9

Ghernaout D., Aichouni M., Alghamdi A. (2015). Applying big data in water treatment industry: A new era of advance. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 89. https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2018.03.013

ISO 5167. (2014). Measurement of fluid flow by means of orifice plates nozzles and Venturi tubes inserted in circular cross-section conduits running full.

Laribi B., Wauters P., Aichouni M. (2003). A comparative study of the aerodynamic behavior of three flow conditioners – Part I. The European Journal of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 22-30. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohamed_Aichouni/publication/269111115_A_Comparative_study_of_the_aerodynamic_behaviour_of_three_flow_conditioners/links/5481cbc20cf2941f830a00a3.pdf

Laufer J. (1954). The structure of turbulence in fully developed pipe flow, 1174. National Bureau of Standards. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022112079002081

Launder B. E., Spalding D. B. (1974). The numerical computation of turbulent flows. Computer methods in Applied Mechanics & Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 269-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/0045-7825(74)90029-2

Laws E. M., Ouazzane A. K. (1994). Compact Installation for differential flow meters. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 79-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/0955-5986(94)90040-X

Merzkirch W. (2001). Flow metering in non-developed pipe flow. The 6th Asian Symposium on Visualisation, Pusan, Korea.

Oil and Gas Authority, Guidance Notes for Petroleum Measurement, Issue 9.2: For Systems operating under the Petroleum (Production) Regulations.

Parchen R., Steenbergen W., Voskamp J. (1993). A study of swirling flows in long straight pipes. Engineering Turbulence Modelling and Experiments, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 207-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-89802-9.50024-1.

Sawchuk B. D., Sawchuk D. P., Sawchuk D. A. (2010). Flow conditioning and effects on accuracy for fluid flow measurement. American School of Gas Measurement Technology, pp. 1-9. http://asgmt.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf-docs/2011/1/M26.pdf

Sawchuk D. (2016). Fluid flow conditioning for flow meter accuracy & repeatability. CEESI North American Custody Transfer Measurement Conference, pp. 21-23. 

Turiso M., Straka M., Rose J., Bombis C., Hinz D. F. (2018). The asymmetric swirl disturbance generator: Towards a realistic and reproducible standard. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Vol. 60, pp. 144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2018.02.021

Yejjer O., Kolsi L., Al-Rashed A. A. A. A., Aydi A., Borjini M. N., Ben Aissia H. (2017). Numerical analysis of natural convection and entropy generation in a 3D partitioned cavity. International Journal of Heat and Technology, Vol. 35, No. 4. pp. 933-939. https://doi.org/10.18280/ijht.350429