SYNOPSIS The pressure losses arising from the flow through internal flow systems are usually estimated by subdividing the system into elementary components, assigning a loss to each component, and then summing these individual contributions. This approach can lead to appreciable errors when the components are sufficiently close to one another for interactions to occur. As a contribution to the discussion of this complicated subject, this paper is concerned with the steady, turbulent flow through combinations of bends and diffusers. Under some circumstances the combined losses of the interacting components are greater than the sum of the individual losses in interference free flow. In other circumstances the reverse is the case. However, as this paper demonstrates, in all cases it is possible to produce sound physical reasons for the variations and, as a consequence, it is possible to generalise the results to interactions involving other components in combination. The paper concludes with a list of broad design principles which have wide application to systems in which interaction effects are important.
Discharge of a Triangular Orifice under Free Flow Conditions
