School of Engineering, The University of Queensland
Abstract
Components used in high-pressure, high-temperature, flowing oxygen are susceptible to ignition and combustion in presence of restriction or when particles impact these restriction. The valves in any systems are the common flow restrictors, hence, the design and analyses of valves are most critical tasks. The flow of oxygen through valves distinguishes itself by accentuating auto-ignition and consequent flame propagation in metals and non-metals, apart from other usual characteristics present with gases/liquids. The combination of ignition resistance, proper and reliable performance and fabrication economy marks the specification of material and design of valves in oxygen-enriched environment. The analyses have been performed by applying the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT, to obtain the solution of the two-dimensional turbulent flow field through a globe valve for its different openings in the GOX environment. The flow control valves in high velocity oxygen systems for different openings are simulated for turbulence and eddy dissipation. The influence of pressure, flow rate and opening of the valve on the rise in temperature and eddy dissipation rate is also obtained for compressible flow range. The simulation for turbulence is done by k- and k- turbulence models and the results have been compared
