ShiXu Guo1, Shili Chen1, Xinjing Huang1, Yu Zhang1, Shijiu Jin1
CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.101, No.1, pp. 59-80, 2014, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2014.101.059
Abstract Spherical leak detectors can detect very tiny leakage in pipelines and have low risk of blockage. In this paper the passing ability of the detector in the vertical segment of a pipe was studied using CFD simulations and experiments. The Reynolds number for the sphere exceeds 104 at the economical velocity range for oil pipelines, and there were few researches related to the hydrodynamic force on the sphere by the pipe flow at high Reynolds number. For sphere with different sizes and density, and at different flow rates, more than 100 3-D steady numerical simulations were… More >