NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF MINOR HEAD LOSSES IN 3D FLOW GEOMETRIES USING FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

Tóm tắt

This study presents a numerical investigation of minor head losses in three-dimensional (3D) complex geometries using the finite element method (FEM). Minor losses commonly occur due to abrupt geometric variations in hydraulic systems, leading to significant energy dissipation. Although experimental techniques have traditionally been employed to quantify such losses, they often encounter limitations in capturing intricate flow structures. With the advancements in computational power, numerical simulations have emerged as a robust alternative. In this work, FEM is applied to simulate incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian fluids through various 3D configurations, including flow past a sphere, sudden expansions, and curved bends. The computational domain is discretized using unstructured tetrahedral and hexahedral meshes, and a semi-implicit time integration scheme is adopted. The numerical model is validated against benchmark solutions, and the minor loss coefficient is evaluated for a range of Reynolds numbers. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of FEM in accurately capturing flow separation and pressure drop in complex 3D geometries.