18BEM0079 Prashant Sharma

18BEM0079
Expt. No.: 3 COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF
Date : LAMINAR FLOW THROUGH A PIPE
Slot:L21+L22
30/09/2021

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 = 0.2 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:

v - Momentum:

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

18BEM0079 Prashant Sharma

GEOMETRY:

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS:
Edge Type of Boundary Boundary Condition
Top Curved Surface No slip condition
Left Inlet Inlet velocity=0.005m/s
Right Outlet Gauge Pressure=0

PROCEDURE:
Geometry:
1. Right click geometry and ensure analysis type is 2d
2. Double click geometry in ANSYS fluent
3. In design workshop right click XY plane optionin modelling tab and click look at
4. Go to sketching
5. Go to constraints and click on auto constraints option and then click on global and cursor
option
6. Draw a rectangle
7. To dimension the rectangle, click the dimension bar followed by general and click
rectangle to dimension.
8. Set the dimensions to length=1m and breadth=0.1m
9. Select ‘Surfaces from Sketches’ option from ‘Concept’ Menu and create a Surface
10. Press generate to complete process.

Meshing:
1. Go to meshing select the surface and click on generate
2. Then create a mapped face meshing on the surface

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

18BEM0079 Prashant Sharma

3. Go to edge sizing and give mesh size for top edge and left edge, 100 divisions and 50
divisions repectively.
4. Click each face and right click on the face to rename them by using the option: create
named selection and click on update.

Problem setup:
1. Set problem to parallel after selecting double precision option and set number of
processes to 4
2. In models window, turn the viscous laminar equation to laminar settings and do not
change any other settings.
3. Set material as water.
4. Next we set the boundary conditions, we set inlet speed to 0.005m/s, outlet to pressure to
atmospheric and the wall to no slip condition.

Results and plots:

1. We then click solution methods and ensure that the momentum and energy equations are of
second order upwind
2. Go to the solution controls and then click on the default option
3. Go to the monitors window just to check the values and improve accuracy if needed
4. Change solution to standard initialization and change compute from to inlet. Click initialize.
5. In run calculation window set numbers of iterations to 1000 and click on calculate.

RESULT CONTOUR:
1. Pressure contour along the axis

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

18BEM0079 Prashant Sharma

2. Velocity contour along the axis

RESULT GRAPH:
1. Velocity vector along the axis

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

18BEM0079 Prashant Sharma

2. Velocity Plot at the outlet

INFERENCE:
We can see that the flow along the axi - symmetric is almost equal to the initial velocity at the
start of the flow. The velocity at the boundary of the pipe is zero due to the No-slip condition and
as the flow proceeds, the viscous effects result in the slowing down of the velocity in the fluid

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore

18BEM0079 Prashant Sharma

layers closer to the boundaries and to compensate for these viscous effects there is an increase of
the velocity in the fluid layers closer to the axi -symmetric line.
At the end of the pipe, the velocity profile is fully developed. Hence, we get a nice gradient with
a gradually increasing velocity as we get closer to the center. The velocity at the axisymmetric
line is double the initial velocity which was the trend expected in this output.

RESULT:
1. The shear stress profile has a higher value at the boundary which linearly drops down to
zero at the centre of the pipe.
2. In a laminar flow pipe flow the friction factor drops with increase in Reynolds number.
3. The maximum velocity in laminar flow is twice that of average velocity.

FACULTY SIGNATURE:
DATE:

CFD Lab – SMEC, VIT-Vellore