Mass and momentum transfer characteristics in and downstream of 90° elbow

Mass and momentum transfer characteristics in and downstream of a 90° elbow are studied experimentally with the aid of the plaster dissolution method, surface flow visualization in the elbow and the cross-sectional velocity field measurement by stereo particle image velocimetry (SPIV) downstream of the elbow. The experiments are carried out for the elbow with the radius to diameter ratio 1.5 at moderate Reynolds number Re = 5 × 104. The mass transfer measurements in the elbow indicate that the major change of mass transfer coefficient is observed along the inner wall of the elbow, where low mass transfer coefficient is found in the first half of the inner wall and it increases abruptly in the second half of the elbow, which is followed by a gradual recovery of the mass transfer in the downstream, while the mass transfer on other wall does not change so much with that of the straight pipe. These features are mainly due to the flow acceleration in the first half of the inner wall and the following flow separation in the second half of the inner wall, where the high turbulent energy production is expected from the SPIV measurement downstream of elbow. These results indicate that the mass transfer coefficient in and downstream of the elbow is highly modified by the flow separation and secondary flow in the elbow, which may generate the high turbulent energy production in the second half of the inner wall in the elbow.