Numerical Simulation of the Flow in a Bend by the Finite

Volume Method
Lintao ZHANG

2010-09-24

1 Introduction
Nuclear fusion is the process in which two or more atomic nuclei join together to form a
single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large
quantities of energy. And the nuclear fusion reactor involving deuterium and tritium
occur in very hot plasma confined in side a toroidal shell by a set of superconducting
magnet coils [see Fig 1]. From general sketch of the fusion reactor ITER, we can see the
blankets modules [part b in Fig. 1] form the walls and the shell of the cooler in which
some liquid metal flows in bend-shaped ducts. The blankets are designed to absorb the
high energy neutrons from the fusion reaction, feeded it with tritium and transfer the
heat generated by the reaction to a water-cool loop to produce steam, that eventually
drives an electric turbine to generate electricity. As we mentioned before, during the

Figure 1: General overview of fusion reactor

process of the nuclear fusion large amounts of heat was released, and this heat is ex-
tracted from the reactor by means of the flowing liquid metal in the cooler. The aims
of the following research are to try to find out the most effective way to extract the
heat from the nuclear fusion reactor under the different and complex conditions. In
particular, heat transfer inside these blankets is more efficient if the flow is turbulent
and a technique to promote turbulence consists in altering the shape of the blankets,and
in particular the parameters of the bend [part a in Fig. 1]. Since the magnet coils [part

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c in Fig. 1] can produce the high magnetic field, which can strongly influence the flow
state of the conducting liquid metal in the cooler,we are also interested in the liquid
metal flows under an imposed magnetic field.Several designs of blankets are investigated
for the heat transfer. The design involves sharp bends such as the one on figure 2 where
hydrodynamic instabilities and recirculation flows occur that can impair or enhance the
device’s ability to carry heat away efficiently.Such instabilities have been found experi-
mentally by Stieglitz and Molokov[1] but neither the mechanism nor the conditions of
their appearance could be identified as the opacity of liquid metal opacity prevented
direct flow visualisation in experiments.We propose to circumvent this difficulty by an-
alyzing the flow in a bend under a strong homogeneous magnetic field numerically.The
problem is governed by the inlet velocity at the bend’s entrance,the intensity of the
externally applied magnetic field and the parameters of the bend geometry.The diffi-
culty in this approach is that under such high magnetic field, very thin boundary layers
develop along the duct that requires prohibitively high numerical resolution. For this
reason, we use a combination of Direct Numerical Simulation, wall function, and shal-
low water models.This will allow us to span a wide range of flow and magneitic field
while ensuring the reliability of our results as the different approaches can be validated
against each other where their respective ranges of validity overlap.Furthermore, in or-
der to compare the result of Non-MHD and MHD flows, the first step of the following
work is to clarify the relationship between the different regimes when the inlet velocity
and the parameters of the bend vary.

Figure 2: Configuration of the cases of numerical simulation

According to the bend-shaped dust,H.Yamashita’s experimental work[2] in 1986

shows when Re number is bigger than 460,the flow in the dust will become unsteady
in 90 ◦ bend.In 1987,H.Yamashita[3] through numerical simulation the 90 ◦ bend of the
dust has great effect on the flow state and when the Re is 600 to 1000 the flow become
unsteady.S.Molokov[4] find the flow is quite sensitive to the variation of parameters,and
the most efficient way to improve heat-transfer conditions is to reduce the distance of the
walls of the dust with U-bend and 90 ◦ bend.H.Sugiyama through numerical simulation

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find that the distribution of the mean velocity in the dust of developing turbulent flow in
a square-section 90 ◦ bend [5] and U-bend [6]at Re number is 4.0×104 . K.Sudo[7] used the
method of hot-wire to measure the velocity of 90 ◦ bend and got the distribution of the
velocity of different locations of the dust when Re number of 4.0 × 104 .M.R.H.Nobari[8]
found out that Due to rotation and the bend curvature of the duct, secondary flows
are generated as two counter-rotating vortices pushing the maximum axial velocity and
cold fluid to the outer wall.The pattern and strength of secondary flows are strongly
dependent on the direction of rotation.Direct influence of these secondary flows is the
increase of heat transfer rate on the high pressure side and reduction of it on the low
pressure side in U-bend dust.
According to our research, it should be 3D problem and the dust with complex shapes
in reality. In order to find out the nature of flow state with and without magnetic field
in U-bend dust, we set up a simple model which sketch can be seen as Fig.2. To continue
simplify the problem, we assume e = 0, it means the problem we worked from 3D to 2D.
At the same time, as we discussed before, the first step of the work is uncovering the
different flow regimes when the velocity of inlet of the U-bend dust varies on condition
of without magnetic field.
.

2 MHD fundamentals
2.1 Navier-Stokes equations
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is a branch of continuum mechanics which deals with
the motion of an electrically conducting fluid in the presence of a magnetic field. The
subject is also sometimes called ”hydromagnetics” or ”magneto-fluiddynamics”. The
motion of conducting material across the magnetic field lines create potential differences
which, in general, cause electric currents to flow. Fluid dynamics in magnetic field are
governed by the Navier-Stokes equations which contain the momentum conservation(1)
and the mass conservation (2):

∂t U + (U · ∇)U + (−∇p/ρ) = ν∇2 U + Fvol (1)

∇· U = 0 (2)
where U is the velocity of the fluid in meter s−1 ; p is the pressure in N m−2 ; ρ is the
density of the fluid in Kg m−3 ; ν is kinematic viscosity; J is the current density; B is the
magnetic field in T; and Fvol denotes all kinds of the volume force of the physical process;
i.e. gravitational force, externally imposed pressure gradient. ∂t U is the velocity time
variations and (U · ∇)U is the advection term; (−∇p) is the pressure force.

2.2 Electromagnetic equations

As we all known the Maxwell equations governing the electrodynamics’field, and it can
be shown as:
∇ × B = µJ (3)
∇ × E = −∂t B (4)
∇· E = 0 (5)
∇· B = 0 (6)
Equation (3) describes how a current density generates a magnetic field. Equation (4)
describes how a changing magnetic field induces an electric field. Equation (5) means

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how electric charges distribute within the medium generate an electric field. Equation
(6) means the magnetic field lines are closed possibly at infinity.Furthermore,Ohm’s law
and the current conservation read:

J = σ(−∇φ + U × B) (7)

∇· J = 0 (8)

2.3 Indution equation

The induction equation is an equation that is used to describe how the magnetic field
can be taransfered by the conductive fluid in some situations.Following equations from
(3) to (7),we can get the expression of the induction equation:

∂t B + (U · ∇)B = (B· ∇)U + (1/µ0 σ)∇2 B (9)

(1/µ0 σ) can be defined as the magnetic diffusivity.The induction equation gives the rela-
tionship between the time variations of the magnetic field with the sum of the advection
of the magnetic field and the diffusion of the magnetic field. During the advection pro-
cess the magnetic lines of force were deformed by the moving conductive materials and
at the same time the deformed the magnetic field can also affect the velocity field. If we
use L denotes the characteristic length; U denotes the characteristic velocity; T denotes
the characteristic time scale; B0 denotes the characteristic magnetic field density; then
we can get:
x
x̂ = (10)
l
y
ŷ = (11)
l
z
ẑ = (12)
l
ux
ûx = (13)
U
uy
ûy = (14)
U
uz
ûz = (15)
U
t
t̂ = (16)
T
B
B̂ = (17)
B0
An alternative expression(non-dimensional induction equation) of (8) can be obtained
from (9)-(16):
∂t B + (U · ∇)B = (B· ∇)U + (1/Rem )∇2 B (18)
where Rem is a dimensionless parameter knowns as the magnetic Reynolds number:

Rem = µσU L (19)

from the equation of (17),we can see when magnetic Reynolds number is much bigger
than 1,then the diffusion term will be equal zero which means magnetic field is adverted
by the fluid. On the contrary, when the magnetic Reynolds number is much smaller than
1, the term of diffusion will be more important than the other term, all the following
research are based on this case.

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2.4 Boundary conditions
Initial conditions are required to define all the flow variables at the initial time instant
in the whole domain, and boundary conditions must be defined at all the boundaries
of the fluid domain under consideration.the boundary may be located at the interface
between two materials such as at the interface between the fluid and the solid surface or
between different media. In case of the infinite fluid domain, the boundary conditions
must accurately characterize the fluid infinity.The kinematic boundary conditions and
electromagnetic boundary conditions are introduced in this part.
The mass conservation requires the velocity component is continuous at the interface
between the fluid and another medium.So,we can define that the velocity is uniformly
zero at interface Γ between the fluid and the solid wall at Γ.The condition is defined as
the no-slip condition.In case of the boundary at an impermeable,rigid and no-moving
wall,due to viscosity,the no-slip boundary condition can be applied to the case.
U =0 (20)
From the equations (6) and (8),we can know the magnetic and the current filed are
all solenoid and it means the normal components of both fields is continuous at the
interface.If the wall is electrically insulating (σwall = 0),no current can penetrate into
the wall.And on the other hand, if the wall is perfectly conducting(σwall → ∞),the
whole current enters the wall and the component of the current density tangential to Γ
vanishes at the wall.

3 Numerical method
3.1 Finite Volume Method
The finite volume method is a method for representing and evaluating partial differential
equations in the form of algebraic equations. Similar to the finite difference method or
finite element method, values are calculated at discrete places on a meshed geometry.
”Finite volume” refers to the small volume surrounding each node point on a mesh. In
the finite volume method, volume integrals in a partial differential equation that contain
a divergence term are converted to surface integrals, using the divergence theorem. These
terms are then evaluated as fluxes at the surfaces of each finite volume. Because the
flux entering a given volume is identical to that leaving the adjacent volume, these
methods are conservative. Another advantage of the finite volume method is that it
is easily formulated to allow for unstructured meshes. The method is used in many
computational fluid dynamics packages.

3.2 PISO
In the finite method,the most widespread pressure-velocity schemes are the SIMPLE
algorithm proposed by [?] and the Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators(PISO)
algorithm introduced by [??].And it is an efficient method to solve the Navier-Stokes
equations in unsteady problems.According to the SIMPLE algorithm,the main differ-
ences of them are no under-relaxation is applied and the momentum corrector step is
preformed more than once.

4 Problem study
4.1 2D Navier-Stocks equations and boundary conditions
∂t U + (U· ∇)U + (−∇p/ρ) = ν∇2 U

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According to the boundary conditions,A zero normal gradient is imposed on the pressure
at all the mesh boundaries and no-slip boundary conditions is applied at the side walls.
At the inlet, we impose an analytical velocity profile imposed at the inlet.

4.2 Configurations and the mesh of the cases

The configuration of our cases are shown as Fig.3 and Fig.4. In case 1 we assume a =

Figure 3: Configuration of the case1 of numerical simulation

1m,b = 0.1m c = 0.004m d = 0.1m e = 3m and in case 2, a = 1m,b = 0.05m c = 0.004m

d = 0.1m e = 3mWe consider a flow of the electrically conducting,incompressible liquid
mental.(density ρ = 1.0 × e4 Kg· m−3 ,kinematic viscosity ν = 1.0 × e−6 m2 · s−1 , electrical
conductivityσ = 1.0 × e6 Ω−1 · m−1 ) The walls of the U-bend dust are assumed to be
electrically insulating. A detail of this mesh is shown on Fig. 5.

Table 1: Dimensions of Case 1 and Case 2

a b c d e
Case1 1m 0.1 m 0.004 m 0.1 m 3m
Case1 1m 0.05 m 0.004 m 0.1 m 3m

4.3 Nodes of numerical simulation model selection

As we all known, before numerical simulation, the number of nodes of different models
should be selected. It should satisfy the computational accuracy and it also can not be
to big for the computer to work on at the same time. We defined the different boundary
layer as Fig.6. Fig.7 shows the the relationship between different nodes number and the
lift coefficient. We selected the different nodes as 34422, 68202, 100602, 165402, 335462.

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 Figure 4: Configuration of the case2 of numerical simulation

Figure 5: Detail of the mesh near the U-bend on the computational domain

From the figure, we can see that according to insideShercliff 1, outsidShercliff 1 and
outsidShercliff 2 the lift coefficient almost the same when the nodes of model increase
about 100602 to 165402. When the nodes number reach at 335462, the lift coefficient of
different faces change little. So we select the model which contains 165402 nodes as the
case for us to do numerical simulation work.

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 Figure 6: Different boundary layers of the model

Figure 7: Relationship with the number of nodes and the lift coefficient

4.4 Results and discussions

In this research work, two cases(see Fig.3 and Fig.4) were investigated with different Re
number.Reynolds number can be written as:
UL
Re = (21)
ν
The physical meaning of Reynolds number is the ratio of inertia force and friction
force.According to our cases, the ν and L are fixed, when we increase the velocity of
the inlet,the Reynolds number increases at the same time.In order to investigate the flow
state of the flow, we choose Re=1,10,20,21,23,25,30,50,75,100,200,230,240,250,300,400,500,
550,600 for case 1 and Re=1,10,13,15,50,75,100,130,150,200,250,300 for case 2.

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4.4.1 Flow regimes
According to case 1, when the Re number is between 1 and 24, the flow regime can
be defined as creeping flow regime. The streamlines of the velocity can be shown from
Fig.8.We can define this flow regime as I. From the Fig.8 we can see the feature of regime
I is the creeping flow and no recirculation appear throughout the U-bend dust.

Figure 8: Streamlines of velocity of case 1: Re=10

And when the Re number is near 25, the first flow recirculation appears at the
location of the U-bend conner as shown in Fig.9. It is because the pressure and velocity
differences between the insideShercliff 1 and outsidShercliff 3. When the Re number is
between 26-250 is the flow regime we define this flow regime as II. The feature of regime
II is the recirculation appears at the conner of the U-bend dust which can effect the
state of the flow state.

Figure 9: Streamlines of velocity of case 1: Re=25

We continue increase the Re, when it researchs around 250, the second recirculation

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appears at the outsidShercliff 3, as shown in Fig.10s.

Figure 10: Streamlines of velocity of case 1: Re=250

we can define this flow regime as III. The feature of this regime is two recirculation
appear at different locations in the U-bend dust. When the Re number is over than 500,
the flow in the dust become turbulent. It was defined as IV in our case.
According to our case 2, the critical Re number is 15 for regime I and II, 200 for
regime II and III. As we can see in Fig.11 to Fig.13.

Figure 11: Streamlines of velocity of case 2: Re=10

The critical Re numbers of case 1 and case 2 are shown in table 2.From the table 2,
we can know when we decrease the value of b, the critical Re for Regime I, Regime II
and Regime III all become smaller.It also means the critical Re number for the flow to
change to turbulent also become smaller.

Table 2: Critical Re of Case 1 and Case 2

Re Regime I Regime II Regime III

Case1 1∼25 25∼250 250∼550
Case2 1∼15 15∼200 200∼300

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 Figure 12: Streamlines of velocity of case 2: Re=15

Figure 13: Streamlines of velocity of case 2: Re=200

4.4.2 Drag and Lift Coefficient

As the fluid pass the U-bend dust, the wall of the dust will exert force because the
pressure and viscous forces. The projection of the force along the streamwise direction
is the drag force. And if the direction of the force is normal to the wall, it was defined
as lift force. They can be written:
2FD
CD = (22)
ρU0 2 d
2FL
CL = (23)
ρU0 2 d
In the steady flow, the drag and lift coefficient can be get when the flow is fully
established. According to our case 1, the distribution of drag and lift coefficient can be
seen in Fig.14 and Fig.15.Fig.14 and Fig.15 shows the relationship between Re and drag
and lift coefficient at insideShercliff 1 and outsidShercliff 3 respectively.From the picture
we can see, according to case 1,as to the lift coefficient at insideShercliff 1 and outsidSh-
ercliff 3,when Re number is in the range of 1 ∼ 100, it changed rapidly.When Re is over
100, it change little until the flow become turbulent.According to drag coefficient, it is
almost the same trend with the lift coefficient.Fig.16 and Fig.17 shows the relationship
between Re and drag and lift coefficient at insideShercliff 1 and outsidShercliff 3 of case
2 respectively.It is obviously that when we decrease the value of b, the lift coefficient of
critical Re can be seen more clearly.

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 Figure 14: Drag and lift coefficient with different Re on insideShercliff 1 of case 1

Figure 15: Drag and lift coefficient with different Re on outsidShercliff 3 of case 1

4.4.3 Recirculation length

Fig.18 shows the relationship between the Re and recirculation length of case 2.From
the Fig.we can see the first recirculation appears when the Re is near 13 ∼ 15,and the
second recirculation appears when Re is over 150.

5 Outlook of the future work

5.1 Affection of geometries of the U-bend dust on the state of the flow
As we discussed before, the past work only keen on the 2 cases with different geometries
of the U-bend dust. More cases should be finished in the next steps until to find out

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 Figure 16: Drag and lift coefficient with different Re on insideShercliff 1 of case 2

Figure 17: Drag and lift coefficient with different Re on outsidShercliff 3 of case 2

the relationship between the critical Re number and the geometries of the dust.

5.2 Stability problem

According to our non-MHD cases,the linear stability analysis which is quite helpful for
us to know the nature of the state-changing should be done in the next step.From linear
stability analysis of the system we can know when instabilities occur when perturbations
or the control parameters vary.

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 Figure 18: Relationship between the Re and recirculation length of case 2

5.3 3D MHD problem

All the research had done before are all the simplified cases from the practical cases.It
is very helpful for us to know how the physical phenomenon appears and varies of the
system.In order to investigate the more practical cases, 3D-MHD problem should be
done in the future work.

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