MSc project, Advanced Mechanical

Engineering.

Computational Fluid
Dynamics simulation
on a large diameter,
Square knife gate
valve.

University Of Leicester
Student: Raef Kobeissi
Supervised by: Dr. Shian Gao
29th of July 2012
 Table of Contents
Abstract.......................................................................5
1. Introduction......................................................................6
1.1 Background..................................................................................6
1.2 Case Study................................................................................7
1.3 Objective...................................................................................8
2. Theory.............................................................................. 9
2.1.1 Navier Stokes equations...........................................................9
2.1.2 RANS - Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations..............10
2.2........................................................ Large Eddy simulation - LES
....................................................................................................12
3. Pre-processing................................................................14
3.1 Geometry......................................................................................... 14
3.2 Meshing........................................................................................... 18
3.3 ANSYS Fluent Pre-processing.........................................................23

4. Results...........................................................................25
4.1 Velocity and Pressure fields...............................................................25
4.2 Statistical Data................................................................................33
3.1Results Analysis.................................................................................... 40

5. Conclusion......................................................................43
Appendix A.............................................................................42
References.............................................................................. 45
 Abstract

Based on differences in flow measurement readings on a constant

diameter pipe line, the project herein establishes a connection
between a partially closed square knife gate valve and the
behaviour of a downstream flow utilising experimental data
collected by a variety of Ultrasonic metering devices. The pipe line
is located in one of Severn Trent Water treatments facilities. Two
computational fluid dynamic simulations were carried out to study
the levels of turbulence in the down-stream side of the pipe. The
results obtained from the two models (LES / K-EPSILON) were
investigated and compared. Fluent 13.0 from ANSYS was the
chosen package for the computational processing, the results
obtained were post processed in Fluent and CFD post. Further
improvements were suggested at the end of this dissertation to
improve the quality of the simulation and to get generalised
results that can be based on for any future study case of similar
nature.
5. Conclusion
The simulations that were carried out on the square knife gate
valve show high turbulence levels in the downstream side of the
main (30 to 60 %). An analysis for its intensity has concluded that
even at two meters away from the valve and just at the inlet side
of a bend the turbulence did not decay but instead the highest
levels were registered at that location.
High levels of turbulence and the presence of vortices are
considered the main for different velocity readings in separate
locations. The position of the valve near a bend contributes in
amplifying the turbulence and creating swirls ahead down-stream.
Due to swirl formation, the valve is not recommended to be
installed near a bend and it is advised to keep a fair distance
between them (50 X Diameter) so that the turbulence levels
decrease and the velocity profile restores its developed shape
before it reaches a metering device. (Figure 4.28).
The LES simulation gave better results in predicting the behaviour
of the flow with respect to time and that was evident in the show
case presented in this dissertation. Large eddies and separate
chaotic circulations that were moving from the centre and the
upper side along the pipe were captured by the LES method. The
video submitted with this dissertation gives a better description of
the flow. This method is more preferable for deep analysis and
realistic perspective of the flows turbulent nature.
Although the advantages of LES are numerous unlike the time
averaged RANS method, it is known to be much more expensive
than the RANS method due to its long processing time and the
difficulty in applying an appropriate mesh with a convenient near
wall damping function. The implementation of Van Driest near wall
damping function is a futuristic complementary improvement for
this project. For a better understanding of the relationship between
high turbulence and the measurement data, the case studied
herein should be extended to include a longer section of the pipe
downstream with all the existing bends.
The gate valve modelled for this simulation has an irregular profile
(Figure 3.12) due to corrosion, it is recommended to make a
comparison study between a normal valve and a corroded one to
study the effect of corrosion and the geometrical shape of the
valve on the nature of the flow.

Figure -3.12- gate valve corrosion Video monitoring

Figure 4.28 Velocity profile in y direction (LES), line at y=1m