Experimental Investigation of Two-Dimensional Velocity on the 90° Double Bend Pipe Flow Using Ultrasound Technique

An experimental investigation was performed to investigate two-dimensional axial velocity field at downstream of the 90° double bend pipe with and without inlet swirling condition. The main objectives are to find separation region and observe the influence of inlet swirling flow on the velocity fluctuation using ultrasound technique. The experiments were carried out in the pipe at Reynolds number Re = 1 × 104. In case of inlet swirling flow condition, a rotary swirler was used as swirling generator, and the swirl number was setup S = 1. The ultrasonic measurements were taken at four downstream locations of the second bend pipe. Phased Array Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler (Phased Array UVP) technique was applied to obtain the two-dimensional velocity of the fluid and the axial and tangential velocity fluctuation. It was found that the secondary reverse flow became smaller at the downstream from the bend when the inlet condition on the first bend was swirling flow. In addition, inlet swirling condition influenced mainly on the tangential velocity fluctuation, and its maximum turbulence intensity was 40%.