CFD Simulation of a Single Phase flow in a Pipe Separator using Reynolds Stress Method

Abstract

The Reynolds stress method of commercial ANSYS FLUENT software is used for the numerical simulation of the single phase flow in a 30mm ID pipe separator. The CFD predicted results is then compared with the stereoscopic PIV measurements at the three different axial positions. The comparison between the experimental and computational results showed good qualitative agreement at most axial positions within the pipe separator and considerable insight was gained into the flow mechanism. However, there were some discrepancies between the CFD results and the SPIV measurements at some axial positions away from the inlet section. Therefore, Reynolds stress model (RSM) is deemed to be a good methodology for modelling the hydrodynamic behaviour in a pipe separator system.