Experimental and numerical study of a choke valve in a turbulent flow

This study investigates a flow past a choke valve by experimental and numerical means. The flow profile after a choke valve with high Reynolds number of approximately 1,000,000 was measured using a LDV and computed using RANS simulations. Two turbulence models were used for the simulation, namely k-epsilon and k-omega turbulence models. It was found out that the k-omega model produces more similar results to LDV measurements than the k-epsilon model. This study also reports citable flow profiles past a choke valve computed by both turbulence models. Furthermore, the accuracy of the LDV based volume flow measurements was also discussed. The volume flow estimates were compared with simulation results, and with flow meter results. Results showed that LDV can be used for volume flow estimation even in unsymmetrical situations, such as after the choke valve, with error ranging from 0.3% to 2.6%. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.