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Fluid Dynamics and Pressure Drop Prediction of Two-Phase Flow Through

Sudden Contractions

Article  in  Journal of Fluids Engineering · September 2021

DOI: 10.1115/1.4050962

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 Fluid Dynamics and Pressure
Drop Prediction of Two-Phase
Saroj K. Patra Flow Through Sudden

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Gandhi Institute for Technological Advancement
(GITA),
Bhubaneswar, Odisha 752054, India
Manmatha K. Roul1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Gandhi Institute for Technological Advancement
(GITA),
Bhubaneswar, Odisha 752054, India
e-mail: mkroul@gmail.com
Prasanta K. Satapathy
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
College of Engineering and Technology (CET),
Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751029, India
Ashok K. Barik
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
College of Engineering and Technology (CET),
Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751029, India
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Contractions
The aim of the present study is to investigate fluid dynamics and pressure drop across
sudden contractions in a two-dimensional, axisymmetric pipe carrying a two-phase mix-
ture of air (secondary phase) and water (primary phase), using the Eulerian–Eulerian
model of the multiphase flow physics to solve the mass, momentum, volume fraction and
turbulent quantities with relevant boundary conditions in a finite volume framework. The
realizable per-phase k-e and Reynolds stress models have been used as the closure for
turbulent quantities along with enhanced wall function for the near-wall treatment. The
effects of various parameters such as mass flux, mass flow quality, area ratio
(0.056–0.619), flow directions (horizontal/vertical), and system pressure on the two-
phase pressure drops due to a contraction in the pipe have been quantified. For both the
single and two-phase flows, it has been observed that the pressure drop decreases with
area ratio, and increases with mass flux and mass flow quality of two-phase flow. The
vena contracta for a single-phase flow was found. But for two-phase flow, neither the
vena contracta nor the recirculation zone has been observed, as the mass quality exceeds
above 50%. A higher pressure drop has been observed for vertical pipes as compared to
horizontal pipes. The present numerical results have also been validated with published
experimental results, believed to be one of the alternatives to the costly experimental
methods for predicting the flow dynamics and pressure drop. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4050962]

Keywords: two-phase flow, area ratio, pressure drop, mass flux, flow quality, sudden
contraction

1 Introduction estimate the pressure drop reliably for two-phase flow through a
sudden contraction as a function of primary parameters.
Flow of gas–liquid mixtures in pipe lines is encountered in a
A number of works have been done on flow of mixtures of two-
number of industrial appliances, such as power generation, heat-
phase fluids through pipes. Hwang and Pal [1] experimentally
ing, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), chemical, nuclear
investigated the flow of oil–water mixtures across sudden changes
reactors, and petroleum industries to name a few. As the nature of
in the area in pipes. They observed that the contraction and expan-
two-phase flow is very complex, it generally needs more attention
sion loss coefficients for the oil–water mixture were independent
for their thorough understanding. Flow modification as a result of
of the type and concentration of mixtures. Schmidt and Friedel [2]
sudden change in pipe area leads to supplementary pressure drop.
investigated the flow of two-phase fluids utilizing combinations of
Information about this supplementary drop in pressure is very
air and other fluids, for example, water, refrigerant R12, calcium
much essential so that the pumping power can be correctly
nitrate, and glycerol across sudden contractions. They concluded
assessed for the different applications. For the flow of two-phase
that further contraction in flow area beyond the minimum cross-
fluids, the nature of streamlines and pressure profiles in the region
sectional area of the pipe does not occur in case of two-phase
where the flow separates from the pipe wall across sudden con-
flow. They reported that in two-phase flow, contraction coefficient
traction have not yet been properly identified. Since the nature of
should not be used to estimate the pressure drop as it is not a perti-
flow of two-phase fluids is very complex, especially, through sec-
nent parameter.
tions where sudden changes in area are encountered, commonly
Several investigators [3,4] considered that the vena-contracta
relevant computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes are not well
phenomenon of a two-phase flow was similar to that of a single-
established. The vast majority of the experiments on the multi-
phase flow. In these models, the location of the vena contracta
phase flow illustrated by the investigators in the recent past have
under similar conditions was assumed to be the same for both
been done with combination of steam and water. Therefore, the
two-phase and single-phase flows. Thus, same contraction ratio
various properties of the constituents are not considered in wide
has been considered for both single as well as two-phase flows.
ranges and parameters like mass flux and contraction areas have
Attou and Bolle [3] endeavored to formulate a theoretical model
not been altered appreciably. Furthermore, the correlation for pre-
for pressure drop in two-phase flow through a sudden contraction.
diction of pressure variation with orientation of flow under similar
They also considered the occurrence of the phenomenon of vena-
situations is not available. The effect of the gravity force is not
contracta similar to the single-phase flow, assuming dispersed
well established. Now, it can be considered that the recalculation
flow pattern in the separated flow region. Empirical correlation
of pressure drops will lead to erroneous results by using available
has been developed by Abdelall et al. [5] to predict the pressure
models. So, with the existing information, it is not feasible to
drop across contraction sections in small channels. It has been
reported by them that a considerable amount of slip occurs in a
1
Corresponding author. region where cross-sectional area changes.
Contributed by the Fluids Engineering Division of ASME for publication in the Santana et al. [6] evaluated the pressure drops associated with
JOURNAL OF FLUIDS ENGINEERING. Manuscript received July 16, 2020; final manuscript
received April 17, 2021; published online May 27, 2021. Assoc. Editor: Praveen liquid–gas slug flow in horizontal corrugated pipes considering
Ramaprabhu. the effect of internal diameters and cavity widths. They observed

Journal of Fluids Engineering Copyright V

C 2021 by ASME SEPTEMBER 2021, Vol. 143 / 091401-1
that with an increase in cavity widths the pressure drop increases.
From their experimental data, they developed pressure drop corre-
lation using the multiplier factor concept which predicts the data
with 10% accuracy. Chinello et al. [7] conducted simulations for
stratified gas–liquid flow in pipes by solving Reynolds-averaged
Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with k-e turbulence model with
and without damping of turbulence at the interface. They con-
cluded that turbulence should be suitably damped near the inter-
face so as to acquire conformity with the experimental data for
drop in pressure. Otaru and Kennedy [8] studied the effect of both
particle size and void fraction to envisage the pressure drop across
packed spheres of various diameters having different porosities.
From the predicted pressure drop values they calculated the coeffi-
cients a and b in the Ergun equation which was found to be in
conformity with experimental data.
Annus et al. [9] analyzed numerically and experimentally the
two-sudden change in phase flow in pipes with a sudden change in
cross-sectional area. They used the particle image velocimetry
method to examine the flow development in those sections. They
found that RANS k-e model is appropriate for the investigation of
fluid flow trough pipes with abrupt variation in diameter. Nasrfard
et al. [10] simulated the intermittent two-phase flow to examine
the commencement and propagation of slug in horizontal pipes.
They used the volume of fluid model to capture the interface.
They also investigated the effect of superficial velocities of air
and water on slug and shape of bubbles and found that their model
can overcome the shortcomings of experiment and can predict
accurately the various aspects of intermittent two-phase flow in
pipes. Zeghloul et al. [11] explored experimentally the two-phase
flow pressure drop across valves in vertical pipes for various valve
opening areas and with different flow conditions. They observed
that pressure drop increases significantly by decreasing the valve
opening area. Chahed and Masbernat [12] numerically simulated
the bubbly boundary layer on a flat plate with vertical orientation
and analyzed the effect of bubbles on turbulence and void fraction
near the wall. They analyzed the interfacial forces and devised the
lift force adjacent to the wall as a function of dimensionless dis-
tance from the wall.
He et al. [13] explored both theoretically and experimentally
the performance of centrifugal pump with two-phase flow of air
and water. They considered the effect of various parameters such
as flowrate, head, volume fraction, efficiency, and speed of the
pump and observed that the performance of the pump can be
enhanced under two-phase flow condition by increasing the flow-
rate of water and peed of the pump up to a certain extent. Gudala
et al. [14] studied the effect of the addition of water and surfactant
in crude oil on viscosity, pressure drop, and hydrodynamic entry
length during its transportation through pipes. They observed that
pressure drop and viscosity were reduced; hydrodynamic entry
length was increased when water and surfactant were added up to
a certain extent to crude oil. Zeghloul et al. [15] experimented on
various orifices and observed that when area ratio was decreased
pressure drop across the orifice was increased for air–water to
phase flow in vertical pipes. They also concluded that flow pattern
has strong influence on two-phase pressure drop and pressure drop
enhances with the superficial velocity of air up to a critical value
of superficial velocity and beyond which it decreases.
In the present work, our prime objective is to carry out a thor-
ough numerical investigation on the fluid flow and pressure drop
characteristics of a two-phase mixture consisting of air and water
flowing through pipe sections where its diameter abruptly reduces.
The numerical simulation has been accomplished by incorporating
the Eulerian–Eulerian model of ANSYS FLUENT software for a two-
dimensional and axisymmetric computational domain. The fluid
dynamics and the evolution of the flow field near the abrupt con-
traction region have been illustrated in terms of velocity vectors
for different area ratios. Also, the effects of other parameters (i.e.,
the mass flow quality, area ratio, flow orientation, mass flux, sys-
tem pressures, etc.) on pressure drop for two-phase flow are quan-
tified. We, first, deploy different turbulence models to test their
091401-2 / Vol. 143, SEPTEMBER 2021
suitability for the two-phase flows. Then, different area ration of
the contracted regions is considered to obtain the two-phase as
well as the pressure drops. Attempts have been given to find the
occurrence of the vena contracta both for the single as well as
two-phase flows. We observe the vena contracta in the single-
phase flow, whereas the same is not found in the two-phase flow.
To corroborate our computational results, we selected the experi-
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mental data of Schmidt and Friedel [2] as the benchmark refer-
ence. Our computational results are found to be in excellent
conformity with the experimental data as could be seen from dif-
ferent figures that are given in latter sections.
The schematic diagram for single-phase pressure drop across a
pipe section with a sudden decrease in its cross-sectional area has
been shown in Fig. 1. The boundary streamlines are depicted in
Fig. 1(a), while the evolution of the axial pressure across the
entire length of the pipe (including the contraction region) carry-
ing a steady and incompressible fluid has been illustrated in
Fig. 1(b). This perception corresponds to the experimental calcu-
lation by Schmidt and Friedel [2] taking water as the fluid. The
flow is found to be separated from the wall before the contraction
section. The distance between the point of flow separation and
contraction section is around 1.5D1, where D1 is the inlet pipe
diameter. Just after the contraction section the flow cross section
reaches the minimum value which is called vena contracta.
Thereafter, the flow enlarges and is reattached to the wall of the
pipe within a distance of around 14D2 from the contraction sec-
tion, where D2 is the outlet pipe diameter. In the region of contrac-
tion, the static pressure falls rapidly as compared to that of the
region of fully developed flow. The local minimum value of the
static pressure is reached at the vena contracta, and thereafter it
increases and mingles with the frictional pressure profile in the
outlet pipe. Eddies are formed in the region adjacent to the con-
traction section where separation of flow occurs.
Eight pipe sections having area ratios varying from 0.0568 to
0.619 have been considered for the present computation as shown
in Table 1. In order to achieve fully developed flow before the
flow reaches the reduction section, the length of the pipe from
inlet to contraction is taken as 2 m. Similarly, the length of the
outlet pipe is also selected as 2 m so that outflow boundary condi-
tions can be assigned at the outlet. For computations of flow of
air–water mixtures, the flow qualities are varied from 0 (only
water) to 100% (only air) and mass fluxes are varied from 500 to
4000 kg/m2/s. The pressure loss due to contraction is determined
by extrapolating the calculated pressure plots at upstream and
downstream to the contraction section.
Fig. 1 (a) Boundary streamline and (b) static pressure at con-
traction (not to scale)
Transactions of the ASME
2 Mathematical Formulation where CD is known as the drag coefficient. It is represented in
terms of relative Reynolds number [20–21]
Eulerian model is used, and both the phases are considered as
an interpenetrating continuum. Water is considered as the continu-
ous phase whereas air is taken as a dispersed phase. The realizable CD ¼ 24ð1 þ 0:15Re0:687 Þ=Re; for Re  1000
(8)
per phase k-e turbulence model is used with the two-layer near- CD ¼ 0:44; for Re > 1000
wall treatment.

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Reynolds number for phase q relative to phase p can be expressed
as
2.1 Governing Equations. The assumptions, which are real-
istic for our present study, are given as follows: qq jvq  vp jdp
(1) Both the fluids (i.e., primary and secondary) are considered Re ¼ (9)
lq
incompressible Newtonian fluids.
(2) The pressure is considered to be the same for both fluids. The force due to virtual mass effect as a result of acceleration of
(3) The realizable per-phase k-e turbulence model is employed secondary phase is given by [19]
to predict the effect of turbulence.
(4) The thermo-physical properties of the primary and second-  
VM VM dq vq dp vp
ary fluids are considered as constant, and independent of Mq ¼ Mp ¼ CVM ap qq  (10)
the temperature due to isothermal condition of the flow. dt dt
(5) The effect of surface tension is not considered.
where; CVM ¼ virtual mass coefficient ¼ 0:5; for a spherical bubble
Considering the aforementioned assumptions, the governing [19]
equations for phase ‘q’ is given by [16–19] The lift force can be expressed as
Continuity equation
MqL ¼ MpL ¼ CL ap qq ðvp  vq Þ  ðr  vq Þ (11)
@
aq q þ r:ðaq qq vq Þ ¼ 0 (1)
@t ð q Þ where; CL ¼ lift coefficient ¼ 0:5; for a spherical bubble ½19
The sum of the volume fractions of both the phases in any compu-
2.2 Turbulence Modeling. For turbulence modeling, realiz-
tational cell is one
able per phase k-e turbulence model is considered.
aq þ ap ¼ 1 (2) Transport equations for k [20,22–24]:

@   
Momentum equation aq q kq þ r: aq qq Uq kq
@t q  

@   lt;q  
aq q vq þ r:ðaq qq vq vq Þ ¼ aq rp þ r: s q þ aq qq g þ Mq ¼ r: aq lq þ rkq þ aq Gk;q  aq qq eq
@t ð q Þ rk
(12)
(3) lt;p
þKpq ðCpq kp  Cqp kq Þ  Kpq ðUp  Uq Þ: rap
ap rp
where s q , is the qth phase stress tensor lt;q
þ Kpq ðUp  Uq Þ: raq
  aq rq
s q ¼ aq leff
q rvq þ rvTq (4)
Transport equations for e
leff
q ¼ lq þ lt;q (5)
@  
Momentum at the interface between the phases can be expressed aq q eq þ r: aq qq Uq eq
as @t ð q Þ
 

lt;q e2q
Mq ¼ Mqd þ MqVM þ MqL (6) ¼ r: aq lq þ req þ aq qq C1 Seq  C2 aq qq pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
re kq þ vt;q eq

eq lt;p
where; Mqd ¼ drag force; MqVM ¼ virtual mass force and MqL ¼ lift þC1e Kpq ðCpq kp  Cqp kq Þ  Kpq ðUp  Uq Þ: rap
kq ap rp
force

lt;q
þKpq ðUp  Uq Þ: raq
3   a q rq
Mqd ¼ ap qq CD vp  vq ðvp  vq Þ (7)
4dp (13)

Table 1 Area ratios and inner diameters of inlet and outlet pipe with other details

Area ratio A2/A1 Inner pipe diameter Mass flux (kg/m2/sec) Mixture quality

Inlet, D1 (mm) Outlet, D2 (mm)

0.057 72.2 17.2 (i) 1000–5000 for only water flow (i) 0 for only water flow
0.115 56.0 19.0 (ii) 50–300 for only air flow (ii) 1 for only air flow
0.167 72.2 29.5 (iii) 500–4000 for air–water flow (iii) 0.15–0.80 for air–water flow
0.180 56.5 24.0
0.276 56.2 29.5
0.375 72.2 44.2
0.445 44.2 29.5
0.619 56.2 44.2

Journal of Fluids Engineering SEPTEMBER 2021, Vol. 143 / 091401-3

where Uq is the phase-weighted velocity
g k
C1 ¼ max 0:43; ; g¼S ;
gþ5 e
The turbulent viscosity lt;q can be expressed as
The generation term, Gk;q is given by
 
Gk; q ¼ lt; q rvq þ rvTq : rvq (22)
S ¼ ð2Sij Sij Þ0:5
Cl is expressed as

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1
Cl ¼  (23)
kq2 A0 þ As kUe
lt;q ¼ q q Cl (14)
ep
here
The terms Cpq and Cqp can be given by qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 g  U ¼ Sij Sij þ X ~ ij X~ ij (24)
pq
Cpq ¼ 2; Cqp ¼ 2 (15)
1 þ gpq ~ ij ¼ Xij  2eijk xk
X
(25)
Xij ¼ X ij  eijk xk
where gpq is defined as
st; pq where X  ij denotes mean rate of rotation tensor. A0 and As are con-
gpq ¼ (16)
sF; pq stants and are expressed as
pffiffiffi
where the Langrangian integral time scale (st; pq ), is given by A0 ¼ 4:04; As ¼ 6cos/
st; q here
st; pq ¼ rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
  (17)
1 þ Cb n 2 1 pffiffiffi  Sij Sjk Ski pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
/ ¼ cos1 6W ; W¼ ; S~ ¼ Sij Sij ;
3  S3
(26)
where 1 @uj @ui
Sij ¼ þ
2 @xi @xj
jvpq jst; q
n¼ (18)
Lt; q The values of the various constants are taken as

where characteristic time st; q is given by rk ¼ 1:0; re ¼ 1:2; C1e ¼ 1:44; C2 ¼ 1:9

3 kq The interphase turbulent drag is modeled via the interphase

st; q ¼ Cl (19)
2 eq momentum exchange (Kpq ), phase-weighted velocities (Up and
Uq ) and the drift velocity (vdr;pq ) as given follows:
and
Kpq ðvp  vq Þ ¼ Kpq ðUp  Uq Þ  Kpq vdr;pq (27)
Cb ¼ 1:8  1:35cos2 h (20)
The drift velocity (vdr;pq ) is modeled as
where h is the angle made by mean particle velocity with mean  
relative velocity. Dp Dq
vdr;pq ¼  rap  raq (28)
The characteristic particle relaxation time for phase p is rpq /p rpq /q
expressed as
  The diffusivity terms (Dp and Dq ) are directly obtained from the
1 qp transport equations. The drift velocities are the outcomes from the
sF; pq ¼ ap qq Kpq þ CV (21)
qq turbulent fluctuation of volume fractions of individual phases.

where CV ¼ 0:5 and Kpq is the interphase momentum exchange

coefficient. For flows having unequal amount of two fluids, the 2.3 Boundary Conditions. In this study, the transport equa-
predominant fluid is modeled as primary and the sparser fluid is tions for each of the phases are mathematically nonlinear and
modeled as the secondary fluids. The sparser fluid is likely form numerically elliptic-type equations. Thus, one needs to specify the
droplets and bubbles. The exchange coefficient for these types of boundary conditions at all of its bounding surfaces. The boundary
gas–liquid mixture, liquid–liquid or bubbly flows are expressed as conditions for the present study have been shown graphically in
d2 q Fig. 2. The axial length from inlet to outlet of the computational
p p
sp ¼ 18l , where dp is the diameter of bubbles/droplets of pth domain is not to scale. At the inlet, we considered velocity inlet
q
phase. The averaged fluctuating quantities are modeled through boundary condition. The outflow boundary condition is applied at
eddy-viscosity model by computing the Reynolds stress for qth the outlet. The outflow boundary condition essentially means that
phase according to the gradient of any physical quantity normal to the conduit outlet
is zero. On the walls of the pipe, no-slip and no- penetration con-
  ditions are imposed.
2  
s ¼ qq kq þ qq lt;q r:Uq I þ rUq þ UTq An enhanced wall function is used to the physical quantities
3 relate to the first half cell near the wall to the flow domain. The
near-wall region is highly viscous in nature, and we use the wall-
function approach so as to reduce the excessive use of grids near
where the turbulent viscosity (lt;q ) is related to kinetic energy of the wall, which may otherwise become computationally expen-
k2 sive. On the pipe axis, we impose the symmetry boundary
qth phase as lt;q ¼ qq Cl eqq . condition.

091401-4 / Vol. 143, SEPTEMBER 2021 Transactions of the ASME


Fig. 2 Computational domain with grid layout, boundary
conditions
Moreover, in two-layer model, the entire computational domain
is divided into two different regions: the viscosity-affected region
and the fully turbulent region. This demarcation of regions is
dependent on the Reynolds number based on the vertical distance
from the wall to the cell centroid of the first cell near the wall. For
high Reynolds number flows, the blending of these two regions is
achieved by using the enhanced wall function, which relates the
turbulent viscosity to other quantities as follows:
lt;en ¼ ke lt þ ð1  ke Þlt;2layer
whereh ke is the  blending
i function and defined as: ke
1 Rey Rey
¼ 2 1 þ tanh A . The Reynolds number based on the nor-
mal distance pffiffifrom the wall to centroid of first cell is
Rey ¼ qyl k . p Inffiffiffi viscosity affected region (Rey < Rey ¼ 200),
lt;2layer ¼ qCl ll k; where ll ¼ ycl ð1  eRey =Al Þ, and Al ¼ 70.
yjDRe j
The values of A, cl , and y are computed as: A ¼ tanhð0:98 Þ;
 =4
3
cl ¼ kCl , and y ¼ minkr  rw k, respectively. The position
vectors at a point in flow domain and on the wall are denoted as r
and rw .
2.4 Numerical Solution Procedures. The governing equa-
tions of continuity, momentum, turbulent quantities with the
numerical boundary conditions are solved numerically using
Eulerian two-phase flow model. The convective and viscous terms
are discretized using second-order upwind and central difference
schemes, which are of second-order accurate. For better accuracy,
the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics
scheme has been deployed to discretize all the transport equations.
The quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics is
generally suitable for structured meshes aligned along with the
flow directions and typically based on a weighted average of the
second-order upwind scheme and the central interpolation scheme
Fig. 3 Grid independence study for area ratio 0.115 and 0.180
Journal of Fluids Engineering
for a convected variable [25]. The pressure velocity coupling, dur-
ing the solution procedure, has been established by incorporating
the phase coupled SIMPLE method [26]. Since the mean flow is
turbulent, the realizable per-phase k  e turbulent model was
employed to solve the turbulent quantities. The simulation has
been started with a very small time-step size (i.e., 0.00001 s), and
allowed the solution to converge for each time-step. Then, we
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increased the time-step size to 0.001 s so as to speed up the solu-
tion procedure. For any time-step greater than 0.001 s, we found
that solution does not converge. Thus, the time-step size 0.001 s is
declared as the time-step independent solution. The solution was
considered to be converged when the residuals of all the variables
fall below the convergence criteria. The user-specified conver-
gence criteria for all the solution variables were taken as 106. At
three locations near transition section (one before the section and
two points after the section) velocity and pressure were moni-
tored. The iterations were continued till there was any observable
change in different properties at any location.
3 Results and Discussion
A grid independence test has been executed for a circular pipe
with sudden contraction for two different area ratios (inlet area to
the contraction area) of 0.115 and 0.18, respectively. The mass
flux of the water flowing through the pipe was 3000 kgm2s1.
As the computational domain is axisymmetric about its axis, we
considered only the upper half of the domain for the grid sensitiv-
ity test. Initially, a fewer number of rectangular cells have been
incorporated in the entire computational domain, and then the
number of cells are progressively increased to make them fine.
The pressure drop (DP) is computed for two different area ratios
(i.e., 0.115 and 0.18) by varying the number of cells at a particular
Reynolds number. For areas ratio of 0.18, we considered the pipe
diameters at inlet and outlet sections as 0.565 and 0.24 m,
respectively.
It has been observed from Fig. 3 that the pressure drops signifi-
cantly as more cells are inserted into the domain, and the pressure
drop remains invariant with the number of cells in the domain
after 115 200 cells. Therefore, we considered the domain with 115
200 cells as the grid-independent domain, and we carried out our
further investigation with this cell size in the domain. Figure 4
illustrates the variation of axial static pressure across the contrac-
tion region of the pipe for different turbulence models. Five differ-
ent turbulent models (the k-x, standard k-e, renormalization group
k-e, realizable k-e, and Reynolds stress model) have been tested to
compute the axial static pressure across the contraction region of
the pipe. As it could be seen from Fig. 4 the axial static pressure
predicted by all of these models is almost same in the upstream of
the contraction region, and it matches quite well with the experi-
mental result of Ref. [2]. Both the k-x model and standard k-e
model over predict the pressure in the contraction region, whereas
the Reynolds stress model and realizable k-e model predict the
pressure drop accurately. However, the k-x and standard k-e mod-
els under-predict the pressure drop as compared to the experimen-
tal values. As the k-e model is an isotropic model, it expects the
turbulence to be the same anywhere in the flow domain. But in
our case, the flow is separated at the contraction region, and then
it reattaches to the pipe wall in the downstream to generate a recir-
culation zone. As a result of these recirculation zones, the turbu-
lence is not necessarily the isotropic in nature, and hence the
pressure predicted by an isotopic model such as k-e model, is dif-
ferent from the experimental prediction. It is found that the realiz-
able k-e model and Reynolds stress model give nearly identical
results that are very close to the experimental results.
The Reynolds stress model is computationally expensive as it
solves number equations compared to eddy-viscosity-based mod-
els. As the realizable k-e turbulence model predicts the pressure
drop quite well, and at the same time the model is computationally
inexpensive, so we prefer to adopt the realizable k-e turbulence
model in our investigation. The variation of the pressure profile
SEPTEMBER 2021, Vol. 143 / 091401-5

Fig. 4 Comparison of different turbulent models
(i.e., the axial static pressure) along the pipe length at different
area ratios has been depicted in Fig. 5. It has been found that the
pressure drop increases with the area ratio. A small area ratio
essentially signifies a very abrupt reduction the pipe cross-
sectional area which significantly resists the flow, and as a result
of this, the axial pressure abruptly and more significantly drops.
As the area ratio increases the downstream pressure increases
because of low resistance offered by the flow contraction.
We assumed that both the fluids are Newtonian, incompressi-
ble, and viscous. As per system pressure, the density of air was
determined considering air as an ideal gas and it was specified at
the inlet and there after it was assumed that the density of air
remained constant. We have assumed that the gas density inside
the bubbles does not depend on pressure. In Fig. 6, the pressure
drops through contraction along a horizontal pipe due to the flow
of air–water mixture are depicted. The mass fluxes are varying
from 500 to 4000 kg/m2/s and mass flow qualities are varying
from 0 to 1 for an area ratio (r2/r1) of 0.0568.
The mass flow quality of 0 corresponds to only water flow,
where as mass flow quality 1 corresponds to only air flow. The
static pressure at the inlet section is taken as 5 bar for all numeri-
cal experiments. With increase in mass flow quality, the volume
fraction of air increases for the same mass flux of the mixture.
Therefore, the pressure drop enhances precipitously. The pressure
drop also invariably enhances with enhancement in the value
mass flux, i.e., for same mass flow quality pressure drops are more
for higher mass fluxes. For a particular value of mass flux, the
flow quality could be increased up to a maximum value and
Fig. 5 Pressure profile as a function of area ratio
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Fig. 6 Pressure drop for various mass flux and flow quality
beyond which critical flow situation (i.e., abrupt change in pres-
sure) was accomplished.
When critical flow condition reaches, the system pressure
increases abruptly with a slight increase in quality of flow. For
mass flux of 1000 kg/m2/s at the inlet section, critical flow condi-
tion was recognized in the transition section for a flow quality of
0.4. Similarly, for mass fluxes of 1500 kg/m2/s and 2000 kg/m2/s
at the inlet section, critical flow condition was observed in the
transition section for flow qualities of 0.2 and 0.11 , respectively.
The solid lines show the computational results where as the sym-
bols show the experimental results of Schmidt and Friedel [2].
From the figures, it is evident that present numerical result
matches well with the benchmark experimental data.
The effect of flow direction, i.e., horizontal and vertical flow, is
shown in Fig. 7, for an area ratio of 0.0568 and mass flux of
1000 kg/m2/s as a function of mass flow quality for two different
system pressures of 5 bar and 8 bar. For lower values of flow qual-
ity, the effect of pipe orientation has negligible effect on the pres-
sure drop. But for higher values mass flow quality, the flow
orientation has strong effect on the pressure drop. Differences of
pressure drop up to 50% between the horizontal and vertical direc-
tion have been observed for higher value of mass flow quality.
It is further examined that with enhancement in system pres-
sure, there is decrease in pressure drop. The two-phase pressure
drop due to sudden changes in flow area is more for system pres-
sure of 5 bars than that for system pressure of 8 bars. This is due
to the fact that with increasing the system pressures the density of
Fig. 7 Pressure drop for various system pressure, flow quality,
and flow direction
Transactions of the ASME

Fig. 8 Axial static pressure for air flow through area ratio of
0.18
air increases and hence the acceleration pressure drop decreases.
Figures 8 and 9 depict the pressure drop across sudden contraction
with single-phase flow of air and water respectively for an area
ratio of 0.18 for different mass fluxes. For both the cases when
mass flux enhances, the pressure drop also enhances. It is evident
from both these figures that the static pressure reduces more
swiftly in the region adjacent to the contraction plane as compared
to that of the fully developed flow region in the inlet line. The
static pressure reaches the local minimum value at a location
which is about 12 mm after the contraction plane. The point of
occurrence of local minima in the static pressure is almost
Fig. 9 Axial static pressure for flow of water through a contrac-
tion ratio of 0.18
Fig. 10 Velocity vectors with r 5 0.18 for water flow with mass
flux 5 5000 kg/m2/s
Journal of Fluids Engineering
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Fig. 11 Velocity vectors with r 5 0.18 for air flow with mass
flux 5 300 kg/m2/s
independent of the mass flux. It can be concluded that the position
of local minima in static pressure occurs at the position of vena
contracta.
Since the flow area is the minimum at the point of vena con-
tracta, the velocity of flow is maximum as a result of which the
static pressure attains local minimum value. Just after the vena
contracta, the static pressure enhances and merges with the fric-
tional pressure drop curve. This phenomenon is also depicted by
the velocity vectors in Figs. 10 and 11 for flow of single-phase
water and air, respectively, which demonstrates that the flow sepa-
rates from the wall of the pipe at a distance of about 1.5 times the
inlet pipe diameter before the contraction and flow attains mini-
mum cross-sectional area at a distance of about 0.5 times the out-
let pipe diameter after the contraction as shown in Fig. 12.
The jet after attaining minimum area at the vena contracta sec-
tion expands and reattaches to the wall of the pipe at a distance
about 10D, where D stands for outlet pipe diameter. The estimated
pressure drop for the flow of water–air mixtures across contraction
having area ratio of 0.1804, mass flux of 250 kg/m2/s, and system
pressure of 2 bars at different mass flow qualities are depicted in
Fig. 13. The pressure drops are found to increase with an increase
in mass flow quality. In two-phase flows, a local pressure
Fig. 12 Velocity vectors and stream lines with r 5 0.18 for two-
sphase flow with flow quality 5 0.8
SEPTEMBER 2021, Vol. 143 / 091401-7

Fig. 13 Axial static pressure in two-phase flow across a pipe contraction
Fig. 14 Dynamic pressure at 12 mm downstream of contrac-
tion for vertically upward air–water flow
minimum is not detectable. When the mass flow quality is 1, i.e.,
for only air flow, the pressure profile attains a locally minimum
value just after the contraction section. Similarly, when the mass
flow quality is 0, i.e., for only water flow, the pressure profile
attains a locally minimum value just after the contraction section.
But the same trend is not observed for flow of two-phase fluids
across such sections. This effect is further validated by computing
the dynamic pressure in radial direction at the expected vena-
contracta region as shown in Fig. 14 for a system pressure of
2 bar, mass flux of 1000 kg/m2/s, and flow qualities of 2, 5, and
7.5%. The dynamic pressure attains a maximum value at the cen-
ter of flow and decreases gradually in the radial direction toward
the wall without attaining negative values which are generally
observed in one phase flow of only water or air.
4 Conclusions
The flow across sudden contractions in a pipe has been numeri-
cally explored with mixtures of water and air with respect to vari-
ous physical constraints such as mass flux, flow direction, area
ratio, system pressure, mass flow quality, and so forth by employ-
ing Eulerian model of two-phase flow. The computational
091401-8 / Vol. 143, SEPTEMBER 2021
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outcomes have been validated against benchmark experimental
results, and are found to be in excellent conformity. Among vari-
ous, the turbulence models used for pressure drop prediction of a
sudden contraction region of a pipe via the numerical method,
both the realizable k-e and Reynolds stress models are found to
compute the pressure drop accurately, and the results obtained
from these models match well with the experimental data of
Ref. [2]. The pressure-drop decreases with increase in area ratio
for both single-phase flow of either the water or the air, and two-
phase flow of air–water mixture. The two-phase pressure drops
increase with an increase in mass flux and mass flow quality. The
flow quality could be increased maximum up to 40% for mass flux
of 1000 kg/m2/s, due to the occurrence of critical flow in contrac-
tion section. The pressure drop in the vertically upward flow
direction is larger than that in horizontal flow, but the effect of
orientation is lesser for lower mass flow qualities. In case of a
single-phase flow, the vena contracta could be established at about
L/D ¼ 0.5 behind the transitional cross section. The area ratio and
mass flux have little effect on the position of vena contracta. But
for a two-phase flow, the Vena contracta phenomena could not be
established just after the contraction section. Also, the flow rever-
sal is not observed in a two-phase flow for mass flow quality of
more than 50%. The dynamic pressure in radial direction at the
expected vena contracta region is the maximum at the center of
the flow and slowly decreases toward the wall without attaining
negative values that are usually observed in single-phase flow.
Funding Data
 All India Council for Technical Education F. No. 8-10/
RIFD/RPS/Policy-1/2017-18, Dated: 15 March 2019 (Funder
ID: 10.13039/501100001427).
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