On the effect of a sharp bend in a fully developed turbulent pipe-flow

Abstract

It has been found experimentally that the turbulent pipe flow through a mitred, right-angle bend produces a downstream secondary circulation which does not conform to the twin-circulatory flow usually to be found in pipe bends. The secondary flow is dominated by a single circulation about the axis in either a clockwise or an anticlockwise sense, between which it switches abruptly at a low, random frequency. The phenomenon is explained in terms of the asymmetry of the inner wall separation and the turbulent axial circulation generated in the upstream flow.