Register Number

Expt. No.: 3 COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF 16BME0486

LAMINAR FLOW THROUGH A PIPE
Date : 12/08/19 Slot: L5 + L6

OBJECTIVE OF THE EXPERIMENT:

To simulate the Two dimensional steady state Laminar flow through a pipe of given
dimensions.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
Consider fluid flowing through a circular pipe of constant radius. The pipe diameter D = 0.1 m
and length L = 3 m. The inlet velocity Ūz = 1 m/s. Consider the velocity to be constant over the
inlet cross-section. The fluid exhausts into the ambient atmosphere which is at a pressure of 1
atm. Take density ρ = 1 kg/ m³ and the Reynolds number (Re) based on the pipe diameter is
1000. Calculate the Entrance region length for laminar flow and verify with computational result.
Also, plot the following, (Le/d = 0.06 Re)
1. Pressure contour along the axis
2. Velocity contour along the axis
3. Velocity vector along the axis
4. Velocity Plot at the outlet
SOFTWARES USED:
1. ANSYS – WORKBENCH / GAMBIT and FLUENT

GOVERNING EQUATION:
Continuity Equation:

u - Momentum:

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

v - Momentum:

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS:
Face Type of Boundary Boundary Condition
Left Inlet Fluid inlet
Right Outlet Outlet
Whole cylinder wall Insulated wall

PROCEDURE:
Geometry:
 Select any plane to proceed with designing the geometry.
 Go to sketching and select constraints > Auto constraints > Global and cursor select.
 With various sketching tool design the required shape and select dimensions to give the
required dimensions to the sketch then select extrude to make a 3-D body of required
size.

Meshing:
 Right click on mesh and select sizing. Select the volume select option and select whole
body and then give element size as 0.01.
 Then again right click the mesh and select inflation. This is used to give finer mesh near
the edges. For geometry select the whole body while for boundary select the wall face
and increase the layers to 15.
 Then select face click from the toolbar and select every face and right click then select
named selection to name the faces.

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

Problem Setup:
 In the setup window keep the general info unchanged and in the model tab enable the
Viscous > Laminar.
 In the material tab choose the required material for the solid and fluid part of the design.
 In Cell zone keep everything unchanged.
 In boundary condition select inlet and outlet and give the required conditions.
 Then go to solution initialization tab > standard initialization > Relative to cell zone >
inlet and then initialize.
 Go to run calculation increase the iteration and click run to get the converged solution.

Results and plots:

 Open Result tab from workbench and make a Plane and a line using insert tab.
 Create contours of pressure and velocity from contours tab.
 Create the required graph from the Chart tab.

RESULT CONTOUR:
1. Velocity contour

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

 2. Pressure contours

RESULT GRAPH:
1. Velocity Vs Y-axis

2. Pre

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

 2. Pressure Vs Y-axis

INFERENCE:
From the procedure given we were able to stimulate the fluid flow inside a circular cylinder and
obtain the velocity and pressure contours as well as graphs to provide a better understanding of
the process.

RESULT:
From the above experiment we know that as the fluid enters the cylinder its velocity decreases
but then increases as we move towards the outlet. In contrast the pressure at the inlet is
maximum and it decreases as we move towards the outlet.

FACULTY SIGNATURE:
DATE:

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore