CFD analysis of the performance of elbow-meter with high concentration coal ash slurries

Elbow meter is a simple flow measuring device and its characteristics for the flow of single-phase fluids are reasonably well understood and the functional dependence of elbow meter coefficient (C_k) on parameters like Reynolds Number, radius ratio, pipe roughness etc. Is well documented in literature. Elbow meters are also being used for solid liquid flow in many industries. The present study aims to establish the characteristics of an elbow meter for high concentration coal ash slurry pipelines using validated CFD. High concentration coal ash slurries are known to behave as homogeneous fluids exhibiting behavior as Bingham plastic fluids. The validated CFD methodology has been used to predict the values of C_k for the flow of Bingham plastic fluid and establish its dependence on radius ratio, Hedstrom Number and Bingham Reynolds Number. Further, for the flow of high concentration fly ash slurry flows, C_k for any given radius ratio is observed to be independent of Hedstrom Number (over the range investigated He ≤ 10⁵). Further, in fully turbulent flows, beyond a critical Reynolds number (Re_B ≥ 5.3 × 10³), C_k remains constant and is dependent only on the radius ratio.