The numerical solution of laminar flow in a re-entrant tube geometry by a Chebyshev spectral element collocation method

Abstract

A Chebyshev spectral element collocation method is used for the numerical solution of laminar flow in a re-entrant tube geometry. The high accuracy of the method allows the study of the merging process of the vortices in the re-entrant region. Results are presented for values of the Reynolds number up to 400 and for different lengths of the re-entrant tube lip. For low Reynolds number, the observed behaviour of the flow in the re-entrant region may be interpreted by analytical results on Stokes flow from the literature. As the Reynolds number is increased, a vortex that grows in size with the Reynolds number, is detected below the tip of the re-entrant lip. © 1992.