Experimental investigation of periodic flow in branching pipes

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the unsteady periodic flow near the point of bifurcation in a branching pipe. For this purpose an experimental setup was constructed and a laser light sheet flow visualization technique was used. Experiments were carried out at low Reynolds numbers for branching angles of 30-degrees and 90-degrees. Flow separations and large recirculating regions occurred, especially at the beginning and end of periods of observation. The effects of both the variation of Reynolds number and the branching angle on the flow separation and recirculation are discussed