In order to gain a preliminary understanding of the fluid dynamics developed past a curved riser pipe, a numerical investigation into the flow past curved cylinders at a Reynolds number of 100 has been performed. To approximate the flow conditions on curved riser pipes, different velocity profiles and flow directions were applied and the corresponding results compared. In addition, the fluid dynamic loading and the wake structures for curved cylinder flows were investigated. The fully three-dimensional simulations were computed with a spectral/hp element method. The computational results were compared with experiments undertaken in the towing tank facility of the Department of Aeronautics of Imperial College.

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
fluid dynamics, petroleum industry, flexible structures, deformation, load distribution, mechanical engineering
Topics:
Cylinders, Flow (Dynamics), Pipeline risers, Pipes, Risers (Casting), Wakes, Dynamic testing (Materials), Fluids, Vortices, Seabed, Reynolds number, Computation
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