Computational modeling of coolant flow in channels of complex shape at high medium parameters

Nowadays, modeling the flow of a medium in channels of complex shape is impossible without the use of numerical methods. The complexity of the form should be understood as the impossibility of a formulaic assignment of a function that would describe the change in the shape and area of the flow living section. Nevertheless, channels of complex shape are of interest for practical use in various fields of industry. A special case of such a channel is a hydraulic diode. The main purpose of the paper is the computational modeling of the flow of the medium in a hydraulic diode at elevated parameters of the medium by means of finite element methods. The relevance of the research lies in the absence of experimental studies and examples of the operation of hydraulic diodes at elevated environmental parameters. In this paper, a hydraulic diode is modeled according to the schematics by physicist Nikola Tesla. The parameters of the medium were set as follows: pressure 16 MPa, temperature 298 °C. As evidenced by the results of calculations, the ratio of hydraulic resistances at different directions of the medium flow was 19–23. It was found that the hydraulic diode is not applicable as a check valve in technological systems since it is not able to completely block the return flow. It was also demonstrated that the hydraulic diode is physically more effective than classical leak limiters because it has a jet reaction force in the "small leak" mode of 24.5 kN versus 220 kN of the closest classical leak limiter in terms of parameters. The results of the research indicate the complex nature of the efficiency of hydraulic diodes. They also made it possible to estimate the parameters and nature of the flow of the medium in channels of complex shape with increased parameters of the medium. They can be used to optimize future calculations and modeling of hydraulic diodes for various technological systems.

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