Measurement of mass transfer coefficients and analyses of turbulent scalar transport with LES behind the orifice in a circular pipe

Abstract

It is necessary to evaluate the geometry factor for predicting the flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) of carbon steel piping in a complicated flow field. Geometry factor is defined as the ratio of wall mass transfer coefficient in the piping systems such as orifice to that in a straight pipe. The mass transfer coefficient behind the orifice is computed by large eddy simulation (LES) and is also measured by electrochemical method. The experimental measurement is conducted with the pipe of the test section made of Ni, in which the whole pipe surface acts as electrode (referred as ’overall electrode condition’). The obtained results are compared with the previous experiments, in order to clarify the effect of the area of the electrode, with a point electrode embedded in an insulated pipe (referred as ‘point electrode condition’). Geometry factor obtained from the overall electrode condition is larger than that of a point electrode measurement. In order to simulate the mass transfer coefficient in pipe flow, we adopt the analogy between mass transfer and heat transfer, and calculate the unsteady temperature field using the numerical data of LES. Geometry factor predicted by heat transfer coefficient agrees well with that measured in overall electrode condition. The large scale motions with vortex structure of separated flow from the orifice influence the instantaneous scalar fields. Analyses of turbulent scalar transport and space-time correlation between wall scalar transfer and flow fields reveal that the mean wall scalar transfer is affected by not only near the wall region but also the coherent scalar fields away from the wall.