NUCLEAR ENGINEERING AND DESIGN, ss.172-180, 2014 (SCI-Expanded)
Piston-driven pulsating flow is a specific type of pressure-driven pulsating flows. In this study, piston-driven laminar pulsating flow in a pipe is studied. This study mainly exists of two parts: developing flow and fully developed flow. In this part, hydrodynamically fully developed flow is examined analytically, numerically and experimentally. A constant value of the time-averaged Reynolds number is considered, Re = 1000. In the theoretical studies, both analytical and numerical, an inlet velocity profile representing the experimental case, i.e., the piston driven flow, is assumed. In the experiments, in the hydrodynamically fully developed region, radial velocity distribution and pressure drop are obtained using hot-wire anemometer and pressure transmitter, respectively. The effect pulsation frequency on the friction coefficient as well as velocity profiles are obtained. A good agreement is observed among analytical, numerical and experimental results. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.