Hidemi Yamada

Drag Reduction and Secondary-Flow Occurrence by Square Biplane Grid

In this paper, the characteristics of the three-dimensional flow field around the circular cylinder members forming a square biplane grid were experimentally investigated by using a wind tunnel and a water tunnel. In the wind tunnel testing, the span wise and circumference pressure distributions of surface on the circular cylinder were measured on the center mesh members formed by biplane grid in detail. Local drag coefficient was calculated from the surface pressure distributions. In addition, the flow visualization was performed in the water tunnel. As a result, it was suggested that the flow penetrating the contact region produced secondary-flow behind the biplane grid. Accordingly, the drag reduction would be caused by the presence of the secondary-flow.

Formation of Necklace-Type Vortex System Upstream of a Gate Valve in Pipe Flow

A gate valve is one of the main elements of a circular pipeline, but the flow characteristics around the gate valve are hardly known. In this study, clarification of the flow field in front of the gate valve model in a pipe flow via flow visualization and PIV analysis was attempted. As a result, four kinds of steady necklace-type vortex systems, 2-vortex, 4-vortex, 6-vortex and 8-vortex systems, were clearly observed in a Reynolds number between 290 and 2130. In addition, the main vortex was observed in the Reynolds number range between 2130 and 4870 with difficulty. On this account, both the center position and vorticity in the main vortex are presented against Reynolds number.