MATHEMATICAL-MODELING OF FLOWS IN DIVIDING AND COMBINING FLOW MANIFOLD

A finite-difference procedure has been developed for predicting flows in dividing and combining flow manifolds. A one-dimensional elliptic formulation has been proposed; this requires the prescription of total flow rate through the header and the pressure of the surroundings where the fluid is either discharged (for a dividing-flow manifold) or sucked (for a combining-flow manifold). Continuity and momentum equations are solved by an iterative procedure. Predicted flow distributions in the lateral branches as well as the pressure distribution compare well with the available experimental results. A parametric computation has been performed to demonstrate the effect of governing dimensionless parameters. Design charts for estimating imbalance in the lateral flow distribution as well as pressure drop in manifolds are presented.