Effect of the turbulence model in the flow analysis of triple offset butterfly valve

Abstract

A valve is a device that regulates the flow of fluid by manipulating various passageways to control the pressure and flow stream. For the robust design of valves using a numerical approach, understanding the flow behavior through valves with complicated geometric structures is crucial. The present paper reports a numerical study of flow behavior through a 300 mm sized triple offset butterfly valve with different turbulence models of k–ε and Reynolds stress models. The effect of the turbulence model and consequent flow behavior analysis of the valve under different disc opening cases were carried out to examine the effect of different turbulence models. Different discrepancies between the numerical and experimental results were observed, and the Reynolds stress model showed a considerably smaller discrepancy than that of the k–ε model. Whereas the turbulence effect was well expressed with the Reynolds stress model at the developing location, it was well expressed with the k–ε model rather than the Reynolds stress model at the developed location.