Liquid Draining Through Multiple Ports: An Investigation on Air Core Vortex Formation

Prabhu, Mahadev; Kumar, R. Ajith; Warrier, R. Gopinath; Mouli, B. S. N. V.; Kiran, S. L.

doi:10.1134/s0015462821050116

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Losses incurred during draining is broadly classified as no rotational losses (losses occurring in the absence of rotation) and swirl loss. 14,18 Prabhu et al 14,18 has mentioned that, when liquid is drained without rotation, losses are limited to frictional loss (friction between draining liquid and tank surfaces) and entry loss. They have also assumed that these losses do not change with rate of fluid rotation provided.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air core vortexing in liquid draining tanks: Influence of surface roughness

Prabhu

Nair²,

Kumar

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C:

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper study the influence of roughness of the tank base in the formation of air core vortex when liquid inside the cylindrical tank is rotated and subsequently drained. The vortex air core formation in drain tanks can lead to the blockage of drain port and can result in reduced discharge of draining liquid as an immediate consequence. The formation of such a vortex in propellant tanks of spacecraft and rockets will lead to underutilization of propellants and can adversely affect the performance of rocket engines. Ingestion of air core vortex in metal casting process can affect the mechanical properties of casted metal. Hence, suppression of air core vortex is inevitable in the fields of aerospace, metal casting and other hydraulic engineering systems. Current study makes use of roughness of the tank base to suppress vortexing which is the first of its kind and therefore, novel. Experimental investigations have been carried out at several values of roughness height and initial fluid rotation to study the characteristics of air core vortex. It is found that at the highest value of initial rotation provided to the liquid, air core vortexing can be subdued up to 25% by making use of base roughness. Current study also recommends drain tank manufacturers not to smoothen the tank base surface spending time at extra cost. In addition, applying roughness on the tank base will further weaken the formation of air core vortex, in the light of this study.

show abstract