An Analysis of Laminar Flow and Pressure Drop in Complex Shaped Ducts

Abstract

An analytical method is presented for solving the governing equation for fully developed, steady, incompressible laminar flow through ducts of constant cross-section having a complex geometry. The technique uses the Schwarz-Neumann alternating method along with least squares point matching. The method is applied to a complex shaped duct and the resulting velocity series solution is used to calculate the flow rate and pressure drop (f•Re) for a range of duct sizes. Numerical results are presented and compared with experimentally determined friction factors for a duct of similar geometry.