Research PaperEffect of the rectangular exit-port geometry of a distribution manifold on the flow performance

•Effect of the inlet Reynolds number on the flow distribution uniformity was studied.•Effect of the aspect ratio (AR) of the rectangle exit-port on the flow distribution uniformity was studied.•The flow pressure drop of the distribution manifold was investigated.•Design variables that affect the flow performance were suggested.

Flow distribution performance of the distribution manifold is the most important index to evaluate its design rationality. To date, many published literatures have extensively investigated the effect of the manifold geometry on its flow distribution performance; however, there is no related study regarding the effect of the aspect ratio (AR) of the rectangle exit-port. In this paper, the effect of the AR on the flow distribution performance in the turbulent-flow regime is numerically simulated and analyzed. The research results are as follows: (i) With constant AR, the variation of the inlet Reynolds number (Re, 1.0 × 105-1.0 × 106) has little effect on the flow distribution uniformity in the obvious turbulent-flow regime. (ii) With a constant inlet Reynolds number, the corresponding uniformity coefficient decreases from 89.81% to 82.60% when the AR increases from 0.2 to 4.0, which indicates that the flow distribution becomes less uniform with the increase in AR. (iii) With the same inlet Reynolds number, the flow pressure drop of the distribution manifold maintains a decelerated increasing trend with increased AR, which becomes stable after the AR reaches 2.0. The research results can provide a reference for the geometrical optimization of distribution manifolds.