Quieting the Flows in Valves Using Kinetic Energy Degraders

Year 2013, Volume: 16 Issue: 3, 109 - 114, 05.09.2013

Michel Pluviose

Abstract

It’s common knowledge that nature is a subtle mixture of order and disorder. On a windless day, everything seems calm, and yet billions and billions of molecules are constantly moving and colliding in the microscopic world. We are oblivious to all this activity and believe we are safe. Then the wind picks up. It possesses kinetic energy that we can partially capture in wind turbines. Sometimes, violent gusts and gale force winds begin to blow, destroying houses and damaging nature in their path. In these extreme situations, what do we do? Nothing! We take shelter and wait until these tornadoes and strong winds have died down.
Similar phenomena occur in industrial installations that transport fluids. In certain cases, flows with a strong motive power excite the sidewalls containing them, weakening and sometimes destroying the structure.

Keywords

Thermodynamics; Entropy; 2nd Law

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