Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

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Applied Thermal Engineering

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a p t h e r m e n g

Research Paper

Flow apportionment algorithm for optimization of power plant

ducting
Ramesh Avvari a,b, Sreenivas Jayanti c,*
a
b
c

Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036, India

Manager, CFD Group, Research & Development, BHEL Trichy 620014, India
Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036, India

H I G H L I G H T S

Algorithm developed for positioning of guide vanes in a manifold.

Optimal location arrived at in a small number of iterations.
Effectiveness of the algorithm demonstrated through simulations.
Experimental validation provided.

A R T I C L E

I N F O

Article history:
Received 19 April 2015
Accepted 27 October 2015
Available online 4 November 2015
Keywords:
Fluid ow
Ducting manifolds
Flow apportionment
Flow control
Guide vanes
Computational uid dynamics

A B S T R A C T

Due to tight thermal integration and the requirement for large volumetric ow rates, air ducting of a
power plant is boxy in structure and contains abrupt changes in ow direction and cross-section, ow
splits and mergers. Achieving a desired ow distribution among several possible paths is therefore a difcult task. In recent years, computational uid dynamics (CFD) has emerged as a useful tool for ow analysis
in a number of industrial applications. In the present study, a ow control algorithm is developed for
optimally locating guide vanes in header manifolds to achieve a desired ow distribution. It is based on
evaluating approximately the sensitivity of ow distribution at a ow split to the orientation of guide
vanes. A simple gradient-based method has been developed which enables a robust, automated procedure for nding the optimal orientation of guide vanes in a small number of CFD computations. Its
application to a typical industrial ow situation containing sharp bends and ow splits has been illustrated through a case study and veried experimentally.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Due to tight space constraints and thermal integration of various
streams, the equipment in power plants is placed in close proximity. The ducting which connects these equipment therefore has to
go through abrupt changes in ow direction and cross-section, ow
splits and mergers. Due to the requirement of large volumetric ow
rates at near-atmospheric pressure, the ducting has a boxy structure and is erected on-site. The lay-out of a typical coal-red power
plant from the economizer outlet is shown in Fig. 1. As it comes out
of the economizer, the ue gas takes an immediate 90o turn, splits
into two equal streams, each of which splits into two unequal streams
again to go through a primary or a secondary air-to-air heat exchanger. These streams again merge together and go through an
angled ducting to enter a manifold with four outlets leading to four
electrostatic precipitators. Although the arrangement of air

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 44 22574168, fax: +91 44 2257 4152.

E-mail address: sjayanti@iitm.ac.in (S. Jayanti).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.10.135
1359-4311/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

preheaters, etc. is symmetric, the system is designed, during maintenance or breakdown, to run with one set of air preheaters and
electrostatic precipitators so that the power plant can be run continuously. Despite these irregular geometries and abrupt changes
in direction and cross-section, the ducting system is expected to be
designed optimally, i.e., for minimum pressure drop and acoustic
noise while maintaining desired ow distribution among various
preheaters and electrostatic precipitators and providing reasonable lifetime of components. Usually the parameters or variables
available for optimization are the relevant geometrical dimensions such as length, angle, cross-section, shape of geometry, and
process parameters such as the ow rate, mixing/swirl, frequency
or rotational speed. Derived functions such as stresses induced, pressure drop, acoustic noise, which are obtained as a function of these
dependent parameters, are also of interest to the design engineer.
The challenges and requirements faced in designing the ducting
are by no means unique to coal-red power plants and may be encountered in many process and utility plants. Many engineering
processes and applications, such as heat exchangers [1], electronic cooling [2], fuel cells [3], nuclear reactors [4], catalytic converters

716

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

[5], paper machine headboxes [6], need division of a single uid

stream into several branching streams. Flow maldistribution is often
viewed as the prime suspect for sub-optimal performance of equipment. Uniform ow distribution is advantageous in providing better
heat transfer, and low pressure loss which is translated into less
pumping power and other benets which in turn can be translated into high reliability of industrial devices [7]. Often, this is
achieved through ow distribution manifolds wherein a single uid
stream from a header is distributed into parallel channels. However,
ow rates through the parallel channels are often not uniform [8]
and ow maldistribution may be attributed to a number of design
and operational factors such as stream velocity in the header, size
of the header, diameter of the parallel channels, location and size
of inlet port to the header, ow direction, orientation of the channels and the headers.
In theory, uniform ow distribution can be attained if the header
pressure is maintained constant throughout, for example, by decreasing the cross-sectional area of the header in the direction of ow to
account for reduction in velocity. Other factors that contribute to the
pressure changes in the header are wall friction and changes in ow
direction. A number of analytical approaches using one-dimensional
continuous or discrete mathematical models based on mass and momentum balance equations have been reported in the literature for both
uniform and non-uniform header cross-sections [814].
Such one-dimensional models cannot be applied in many largescale industrial applications where ow occurs through highly
irregular three-dimensional geometries as shown in Fig. 1. Computational uid dynamics (CFD)-based design and optimization
techniques are being increasingly used for the design of headers.
A CFD-based optimization for the design of manifold of the platen micro-devices showed that ow uniformity on the branched
channels depended largely on the shape of manifold, length and location of ns and inlet ow rate [1]. In another study, the
performance of the heater core in an automotive heat, ventilation
and air-conditioning module was enhanced through CFD based optimization by modifying the inlet manifold structure and introducing
a deector in the inlet manifold [15]. The shape of the headbox in
a paper machine was optimized using CFD and genetic algorithm
wherein the shape of the headbox was represented by a Bezier curve
[6]. Several geometric strategies involving changes in the crosssectional areas of the header or the outow channels [4,1618], use
of bae tubes [19,20], short vertical spacers [21] and modication of exit port geometry [22] have also been reported for ow

apportionment in manifold headers. The practice in power plant industries is to use guide plates to divert the ow. These are usually
located using thumb rules and scaled-down experiments. In a recent
study, Srinivasan and Jayanti [23] used the Box complex method [24],
which is a simplex-based method for constrained optimization [25],
together with CFD for the design of guide plates in a blowing manifold. Their study was done for a two-dimensional geometry and
required more than 200 CFD computations to arrive at the optimal
guide plate locations. In the present paper, we present a method
which has a faster convergence rate as it is gradient-based. Its application to a practical, three-dimensional turbulent ow case is
discussed here along with experimental validation.
2. Outline of ow apportionment algorithm
In ow branching situations, for example, in the header ducts
connecting various streams into or out of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) as in Fig. 1, the ow distribution among a set of several
ow paths is governed by the various ow resistances present in
each path. The ow rate through a path of higher ow resistance
arising, for example, from a longer path length or with sharper bends,
will have lower ow rate than one with a lower ow resistance. The
angle of approach of the inlet feed duct into the header may also
bring in skewness in the ow resistance. If the ow resistance is
not the same for all parallel paths, the ow rate through the paths
will vary so as to make the pressure drop the same for all paths.
In some cases, as in the case of ue gas owing through the heat
recovery systems, the ow split may have to be unequal by choice.
In all such cases, engineered intervention is necessary to divert the
ow. This can be done by placing a ow control valve. However, such
valves cause excessive pressure drop even under fully open conditions. The usual practice, when the ow distribution among the
parallel paths does not change with time and no dynamic control
is necessary, is to x guide vanes at appropriate places to divert the
ow as per requirement. Conventionally, the positioning of these
guide vanes is based on simple thumb rules [26]. While such an approach may work in simple cases, ow regulation is more dicult
when there are multiple feeder channels containing several parallel paths for the uid to ow through. Arriving at the correct valve
or vane position to satisfy a desired ow distribution among multiple ow paths is a non-trivial scientic problem. In the present
paper, we describe a method to locate guide vanes optimally so as
to achieve a desired ow distribution.
2.1. Formulation of ow apportionment problem as a root nding
problem

Fig. 1. Typical ducting lay-out in a pulverized coal-red power plant.

The basic ideas can be explained with reference to an articially constructed, 2-dimensional, three-stream case shown in Fig. 2.
Here, the ow comes in through one inlet and goes out to three
straight inlets. Any simple arrangement of the outlets will lead to
unequal ow distribution in the three outlets. For the purpose of
illustration of the ecacy of the present approach, we choose the
more dicult case of an asymmetric inlet arrangement which accentuates the ow maldistribution. The objective is to position guide
vanes in the three outlets in such a way that the ow rate in the
three outlets is the same. We pose this problem as a root nding
problem in which the root corresponds to zero deviation from the
desired distribution. Accordingly, for given guide vane positions, we
nd the ow rate through each outlet and evaluate an algebraic function which is the sum of the absolute value of the deviation in each
stream from its desired value. When this is zero, then the ow is
distributed in each stream in the desired manner. With reference
to Fig. 2, in which the total inlet ow rate Q splits into three outlet
streams with stream ow rates of Q1, Q2 and Q3, the algebraic function, F, is dened as

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

F = Q 1 Q avg + Q 2 Q avg + Q 3 Q avg

(1)

where Qavg = Q/3 for equal ow distribution through the three outlets.
If a different ow distribution is desired, for example, 30% through
the rst one, 50% through the second one and the rest through the
third one, the denition of the error can be modied as

F = (Q 1 0.3 Q ) + Q 2 0.5 Q + Q 3 0.2 Q

(2)

The ow rate going into each outlet stream can be inuenced

by the orientation of the guide vane provided at the entrance of each
outlet. Thus, F is a function of the angle of orientation of each guide
vane, i.e.

F = f (1, 2, 3 )

(3)

The optimal location of the guide vanes is that combination of

1 , 2 and 3 which makes F = 0.
2.2. Solution of the root-nding problem
We can nd the root iteratively using, among other techniques,
a multi-dimensional form of the NewtonRaphson technique which
would have a good convergence rate. Such a method can be incorporated in a CFD calculation framework in the following way. For
the purposes of illustration, the discussion is based on the threestream problem shown in Fig. 2. For equal ow distribution, the error

717

function F is given by equation (1) above. For a given iteration k,

the error Fk can be evaluated using Qik from the CFD solution corresponding to ik , the kth iteration values of the three parameters.
We seek to improve the values of i such that the error is reduced
to zero for the next iteration, i.e.,

Fk+1 (ik+1 ) = 0

(4)

ik+1 satisfying equation (4) can be estimated using Newton

Raphson method extended to multi-dimensions as

Q = J

or ik+1 = ik ( J1 ) Q k
k

(5a)

(5b)

where J is the Jacobian matrix dened as

Q 1

1
Q
J= 2

1
Q 3

Q 1
2
Q 2
2
Q 3
2

Q 1
3

Q 2
3

Q 3
3

(6)

And and Q are the differential changes in the parameter values

(vane angles) and stream ow rates, respectively, i.e.,

Q 1
Q = Q 2

Q 3

(7a)

1
and = 2

(7b)

Q i
contains the information of how the
j
ow rate through a particular stream, Qi, is changed by a small
change in the value of the parameter j. In the absence of an analytical model for F () , the Jacobian is estimated numerically using
data generated in two previous iterations in the following way:
The Jacobian matrix

Q 1k Q 1k1
k k1
1
1
Q 2k Q 2k1
k
J = k
k 1
1 1
Q 3k Q 3k1
k
k 1
1 1

Fig. 2. Three stream problem ow domain for CFD simulations.

Q 1k Q 1k1
k2 k21
Q 2k Q 2k1
k2 k21
Q 3k Q 3k1
k2 k21

Q 1k Q 1k1
k3 k31

Q 2k Q 2k1

k3 k31
Q 3k Q 3k1

k3 k31

(8)

The Jacobian represents the change in ow rate through a leg

due to change in the vane angles; the inverse of the Jacobian can
be used to determine new (vane angles) using equation (5). Starting the calculation with two sets of guess values of the parameters,
one can successively generate improved values of the parameters
using equations (5) and (8).
The disadvantage with this approach lies in the fact that the
Jacobian is not known analytically and needs to be estimated at
every iteration. Estimation of the full Jacobian matrix accurately
requires a large number of iterations. Inaccurate estimate can
lead to wild oscillations in the control parameters. The solution
procedure is also prone to breaking down as the Jacobian can
become ill-conditioned because all the three outlet ow rates
cannot vary independently when the inlet ow rate is constant. In
view of this, we propose a simple, novel, approximate but effective approach which enables robust and recursive evaluation of
the gradient needed to advance toward the optimal solution. In
this method, each parameter is associated with its inuenced
variable. An increment in the value of the parameter i at the kth
iteration, namely, ik, is made proportional to the relative deviation of its inuenced variable value from the desired value. The
recursive method for nding improved value of i is found using
equations (9) and (10).

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ki +1 = ki +

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

(Cides Cki 1 ) k1 k ,
(
i )
(Cki 1 Cki ) i

cik cik1

(9)

where the matrix, ci , is given for equal distribution as

(Q 1 Q avg )
ci = (Q 2 Q avg )
(Q 3 Q avg )

(10)

Making the change in the parameter value proportional to the

extent of deviation of its inuenced variable from the desired value
makes the method robust and easily implementable. This method
is equivalent to using only the normal gradients (diagonal elements) of the Jacobian matrix and is henceforth referred to as the
normal gradient (NG) approach. The evaluation of the normal gradients is relatively straightforward and the NG method can thus start
with just two sets of initial guesses. Evaluation of the full Jacobian
would require many more initial guesses, especially for large number
of variables. The implementation of the NG method is discussed in
the next section.
2.3. Application to the three-stream manifold problem
For the three-stream problem, we need to nd the orientations
1,, 2, and 3 of the guide vanes in the rst, second and the third
outlet streams, respectively, such that the ow rates, Q1, Q2, Q3, are
equal, to within some tolerance. This is done recursively using equation (9) above. This requires evaluation of Q1, Q2 and Q3 for given
values of 1,, 2, and 3 . This is done using CFD simulations. The ow
domain for the calculation is shown in Fig. 2. The width of the inlet
duct is 0.1 m, and the outlet widths for the three streams are 0.05 m
each. All the vanes are assumed to have a constant length of 0.04 m
which is 80% of outlet width. The average inlet velocity of air, which
is the working medium, is 14.6 m/s (corresponding to a Reynolds
number of 181770) and a zero gauge pressure condition is specied for the three outlets. When equally distributed, the Reynolds
number in the outlet stream is 63470. Thus, the ow is turbulent,
which is typically the case in real conditions. The standard k- turbulence model [27] is used in the ow simulations. Tetrahedral cells
have been used for meshing for easier and automated meshing.
The solution of a root nding problem is obtained recursively;
several CFD simulations therefore need to be carried out. An automatic procedure has been developed as outlined below. CFD
simulations are generally conducted using solid modeling (either
GAMBIT or other solid modeling software like INVENTOR), meshing
(using GAMBIT) and CFD simulation (using FLUENT) and post processing. Although the FLUENT and its allied software have been used
in the present study, the algorithmic procedure is generic and is not
software-specic and thus can be performed with any other software. The specic tasks performed are however software-specic;
these are described here specically for the software used in the
present study. The coordinates of end points are noted from grid
generation software (GAMBIT), and they are rst distributed into
three categories, namely, xed coordinates which are nodes of all
edges to form the base duct, start point coordinates for guide vanes
and end point coordinates for guide vanes. They are read into
GAMBIT as text les, and the mesh is generated. The end point coordinates depend upon angle of the guide vane which is a variable,
and hence are calculated using the optimizer (MATLAB) and are
updated in the text le at end of iteration. The start coordinates are
constant and are utilized in calculation of end coordinates by the
optimizer. The sequence of commands is recorded in a journal le,
and the journal le is subsequently used for automation purpose.
The FLUENT simulation commands are recorded in journal le, which
will be further used for automation. MATLAB is used as an inte-

grating software which will call GAMBIT and FLUENT alternately and
generate mesh for a given vane angle positions for each iteration,
do a CFD simulation and generate mass ow rate data. The optimizer code in MATLAB programme will read mass ow rate data
from text les, and nd the new angles using the normal gradient
approach and the new end coordinates. The text les for new coordinates are subsequently used for next iterations by the GAMBIT
software to generate new geometries and iterations are continued. The optimizer can be enabled for checking some conditions
to limit the vane angles, if necessary. More details of the procedure can be found in Avvari [28]. A similar linkage of the grid
generator, the CFD solver and the post-processor has been used for
shape optimization [29] and guide vane positioning [23] by the
present authors.
The objective function is the square root of the sum of average
of squares of deviation of outlet ow rates from mean ow rate
shown in equation (11), which should approach close to zero on convergence of solution.

Error = sqrt

{ (Q

2
2
2
Q avg ) + (Q 2 Q avg ) + (Q 3 Q avg ) 3

(11)

The CFD simulations for two sets of angles are calculated for initialization purpose, and the normal gradient approach is used to
calculate the third set onward. The new angle of each vane at any
iteration is calculated from results of two immediately preceding
iterations using the NG approach. The geometry is reconstructed
with the new value and optimization is continued till convergence, which is dened based on two conditions: the objective
function achieving a suciently low value as dened by the user
(indicating a tolerable level of ow deviation) OR the objective function reaching a fairly low value for three successive iterations with
the control parameters showing little variation in between. The latter
case indicates the possibility that a solution, i.e., suciently equally
distributed ow, is perhaps not achievable with the chosen set of
guide vanes and the constraints within which the solution needs
to be obtained.
The progress of the iterative approach to the solution is summarized in Fig. 3a and b, the former showing the successive values
of the ow rates through each stream and the latter showing the
corresponding values of the decision variables, i.e., the vane angles.
Here, iteration number 0 is the base case without guide vanes and
Iteration numbers 1 and 2 are the rst two guess solutions; the
normal gradient solution starts from the third iteration. The ow
rates Q 1, Q 2, and Q 3 are compared with desired Qdes value and plotted
in the graph. It can be seen that the ow rates are highly nonuniform in the beginning but quickly converge to the constant
desired value (Qdes). Similarly the angles 1, 2, 3 show large variation initially and converge to constant values as the iteration
progresses. The computed variation of the objective function value
and the pressure drop between the inlet and the outlet are shown
in Fig. 3c. It can be seen that the value of the objective function,
which is a measure of the non-uniformity of the ow, is reduced
from its initial value of 47.8% to 1.8%, thus amounting to a decrease of 96% from base case without guide vanes. Simultaneously,
the pressure drop increases from 95.5 Pa to 318.6 Pa, i.e., an increase of 233% over the base case value without guide vanes. This
illustrates the earlier observation that ow apportionment incurs
additional pressure drop. The high value of the increase is attributable to the gross asymmetry in the lay-out and the severity of the
intervention required to make the ow uniform in all the outlet legs.
In the absence of an analytical expression for the objective function, it is not possible to determine if there are more optimal
solutions, i.e., ones which give the same or lesser objective function value at lower pressure drops. One possibility is to start from
a different set of initial guesses and see if a new solution can be
found. This has not been attempted here.

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

(a)

3. Validation of the ow apportionment algorithm

Mass flow rate, (kg/s)

1.2
1

Q1

0.8

Q2

0.6

Q3

0.4
Q des
0.2
0
0

3
6
Iteration number

12

(b)
60
1
2
3

Angle, ()

50
40
30

An experimental validation of the optimal guide vane angles predicted by the NG method has been carried out by conducting
experiments in a scaled-down model of ow through a typical ow
distribution manifold of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) in a coalred power station. This example illustrates the application of the
method to a three-dimensional ow case in which ow asymmetry is introduced partly by an angled inlet and partly by the layout of the outlet channels. Thus, the ow features of this case study
account for common causes of ow maldistribution in practical
manifolds. A base case simulation has been carried out which conrms that the ow distribution is far too skewed. The NG method
has then been used to nd optimal orientations of guide vanes in
the manifold. Experiments have then been conducted for the base
case and for the case with optimally-oriented guide vanes, and the
results are compared with the predicted values. The ow geometry considered, the optimal solution obtained through the NG
method, and the comparison with experimental data is described
in the present section.
3.1. Flow geometry for experimental validation

20
10
0
0

6
Iteration number

12

1000

100

100
10
10
1

1
0

4 5 6 7 8
Iteration number

Pressure drop (Pa)

10 11

Mean abs % error deviation

(c)
Pressure drop (Pa)

719

Mean abs % Error dev

Fig. 3. Variation of (a) outlet discharges, (b) vane angles, and (c) pressure drop and
mean absolute error deviation with iteration number.

The computed pressure and velocity elds for the base case and
the converged case are compared in Fig. 4a and b respectively. Here,
the velocity elds are drawn to the same scale, but the scales for
the pressure eld are different. Without the guide plate, most of the
ow goes through the rst outlet (Fig. 4a). This is corrected by placing
guide plates in the positions shown in Fig. 4b. It is instructive to note
that in the base case, the pressure variation is smooth while the velocity eld shows large non-uniformity. In the converged case for
uniform ow distribution through the three outlets, it is the velocity eld that is more uniform (except in the vane region) and the
pressure eld shows much larger variations. It is also interesting
to note that in the rst stream, the larger angle of the guide vane
leads to a narrowing of the ow passage causing a large drop in pressure. As the ow going through the narrow portion expands into
the outlet branch, there is a signicant pressure recovery. The pressure variation in the third stream is smoother and rather monotonic.
These variations illustrate the complications in nding the optimal
angles in each stream to ensure equal ow rate and the effectiveness therefore of the present approach in nding the correct angles.

The ow geometry considered for experimental validation is

shown schematically in Fig. 5a and is a part of the ducting that distributes ue gas into electrostatic precipitators (see Fig. 1). It consists
of one angled inlet duct of rectangular cross-section, a manifold,
and four outlet legs. The duct cross-section is primarily rectangular and varies in each section so as to maintain a constant average
velocity. The cross-sectional area of the manifold changes and transitional pieces having one or more inclined planes are used to
connect duct sections of different dimensions. The inlet has a width
of 29.2 cm and height of 37.5 cm, and the outlets leading to ESP
streams are of average width of 14.5 cm and height of 17.1 cm. For
ease of manufacturing and layout, the bottom plane of the ducting
is kept as a single plane and the height of duct is varied to adjust
the cross-sectional area. A straight development length of about 2.7D
times is given at the inlet and the outlets are extended by about
5D.
A photograph of the set-up is shown in Fig. 5b. The ow enters
the manifold through the angled inlet duct and splits into left and
right streams, each of which then splits into two further streams,
thus creating a four-stream outlet manifold. All the four outlet
streams are of the same cross-section and are arranged in such a
way that the two inner streams and the two outer streams are placed
nearly symmetrically. However, the ow path is different for each
outlet stream. Also, the angled inlet creates a leftright imbalance
in the ow distribution. It is sought to correct these imbalances by
positioning guide vanes. The proposed arrangement of the guide
vanes is illustrated schematically in Fig. 5c. One set of guide vanes
is proposed to be located near the entrance to the manifold to correct
the leftright imbalance created by the angled inlet. Two additional sets of guide vanes are sought to be located inside the manifold
to equalize the ow in the two left legs and in the two right legs.
Since the inlet duct/manifold cross-section is large, at each crosssection two sets of guide vanes, dividing the cross-section into three
compartments of equal width and extending all the way from the
bottom plane to the top plane, are to be located. Based on current
industrial practice, the length of each guide vane is xed to be equal
to one-third of the duct cross-section. The objective of the problem
is to nd the orientation of the guide vanes such that the ow distribution through the four outlets is within 1% of each other. A base
case calculation without the guide vanes has been carried out for
this geometry, and the results are shown in Fig. 6 in the form of the
velocity contours at mid-channel height (Fig. 6a) and those in the
outlet plane (Fig. 6b). One can see that, without any guide vanes,

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R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

a(i)

a(ii)

b(i)

b(ii)

Fig. 4. (a) Pressure contours (Pa) and (b) velocity contours for the base case (Iter-0) and the converged case (Iter-10). (For interpretation of the references to color in this
gure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

721

(a)

(ii)

(i)
(b)

(c)

(i)

(ii)

Fig. 5. (a) Flow manifold geometry (schematic) (i) Plan view and (ii) Front view. (b) Experimental set-up without vanes (left) and with vanes (right). (c) Modeled geometry with three pairs of guide vanes: (i) plan view and (ii) zoomed view of the junction.

the distribution is skewed with the two inner channels receiving

more ow rate than the two extreme ones. We seek to correct this
skewness using guide vanes.
3.2. Determination of optimum angles using the NG method
Let us assume that the inlet ow rate is Q and that the outlet
ow rates are Q 1, Q 2, Q 3 and Q 4 in the four streams leading to ESP
and that ow conditions are steady. Three sets of vanes at angles
1, 2, 3 respectively are provided at inlet and left and right side
of junction as shown in Fig. 5. The guide vanes are located
equidistantly across the cross-section at the start of transition region
in the inlet, and in the left and the right sides of junction in the
header. The vane angles are measured with respect to the horizontal passing through the start points in anti-clockwise direction. We
seek to control the outlet stream ow rates, and eventually equalize them, by varying the angles of these guide vanes. This has been
done iteratively using the NG method described above by doing calculations directly in 3D taking into account all important geometric

details of the ow domain. The criteria for nding new values of

angles of the guide vanes have been based on their functionality.
The rst set of guide vanes are meant to correct the leftright imbalance in the ow as it enters the header. The left side vanes in
the header are meant to equalize the ow distribution in the two
left legs, and the right side vanes in the header are meant to do the
same for the two right legs. Accordingly, the updated values of the
guide vane angles have been found using the following recursive
formula:

ni +2 = ni +

(Cides Cni ) n n+1

(
)
(Cni Cni +1 ) i i

(12)

Here, the coecients Ci are obtained as follows:

(Q 1 + Q 2 ) (Q 3 + Q 4 )

Ci =
(Q 1 Q 2 )

(Q 3 Q 4 )

(13)

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R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

Fig. 6. Predicted velocity contours (m/s) for base case geometry without guide vanes: (a) top view and (b) in the four outlets. (For interpretation of the references to color
in this gure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

and Cides = 0 as all the ow rates are desired to be equal. The rst
constraint forces the ow in left half and right half to be equal; the
second constraint forces the ow in the outer and the inner streams
of the left side to be equal, and the third constraint does the same
for the inner and the outer streams of the right side.
The search for the optimal vane angles has been done using two
sets of initial guesses for the guide vane angles. The new set of
angles for next iteration is calculated from the normal gradient
method and a new geometry is created and meshed with the new
set of angles. A CFD simulation is then carried out with air as the
working medium and a specied volumetric ow rate (0.2 m3/s) as
the inlet condition and zero pressure as the outlet boundary conditions. A no-slip boundary condition is imposed on the walls.
Tetrahedral volume elements have been used to mesh the 3-d
volume. The discharge values through each outlet are computed from
the CFD solution and are used to update the guide vane orientations for the next iteration. It may be noted that the nal set of CFD
simulations were carried out after the physical model had been constructed so that the actual dimensions could be used in the CFD
simulations. Table 1 summarizes the progress of the iterative and

gives the numerical values obtained for these quantities along with
the variation of the deviation in the ow rates and the pressure drop
during the calculation. Taken together, these results show that convergence of the iterative process is achieved rather quickly and
reasonable angles of orientation of the guide vanes could be found
in a small number of iterations. The pressure drop increased from
4.20 Pa for the base case without guide vanes to 5.84 Pa, i.e., an

Table 1
Iteration-wise data of the parameters.
Iter no

Error

DP (Pa)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Final CFD

80
100
30.71
82.52
83.91
83.53
83.79
83

200
190
196.43
190.70
190.71
190.70
190.73
191

320
340
336.47
339.89
339.78
340.09
338.05
340

1.02E-03
1.34E-03
5.53E-03
1.36E-04
1.88E-04
2.60E-04
4.08E-04
2.84E-04

6.71
5.64
11.94
5.84
5.77
5.8
5.82
5.83

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

723

Fig. 7. Predicted velocity contours (m/s) for optimally positioned guide vanes: (a) top view and (b) in the four outlets. (For interpretation of the references to color in this
gure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

increase of 39%, for a duct with guide vanes in the junction. This
is to be expected as the guide vanes introduce additional resistances in the stream where there is high ow and hence increase
the overall pressure drop of the system. The predicted velocity contours in the mid-channel height and in the outlet planes with the
guide vanes in their optimal position are shown in Fig. 7. Comparing these with the corresponding ones in Fig. 6, one can see that
the intervention effected through the guide vanes has been effective in making the ow rate uniform through all the four outlets.
It may be noted that these calculations are three-dimensional and
turbulent and have been done for the actual geometry taking account
of all the changes in the duct cross-section at various locations.
Fig. 8 compares the predicted velocity vectors in the manifold
in the region of the ow splits. One can see that in the absence of
guide vanes, the ow splits nearly evenly at the rst split with a
slightly larger recirculation zone toward the R1 and R2 indicating
a slightly lesser ow rate. Further downstream, there is clearly
uneven split between R1 and R2 and also between L1 and L2 resulting in signicantly lower ow rate through the two extreme
outlets. The predicted orientations of the three sets of guide vanes,

which can be seen clearly in Fig. 8b, correct these maldistributions

effectively. Compared to the set of guide vanes leading into R1 and
R2, the set of guide vanes leading into L1 and L2 are more inclined
into the incoming ow causing a slightly higher resistance. The R1
R2 and L1L2 imbalance is corrected by having two sets of guide
vanes at each location with appropriate orientation. One can thus
see that the predicted orientation of the guide vanes stands scrutiny in terms of reasonableness.
There is considerable inuence of the guide vanes on the pressure
drop (see Fig. 9). There are recirculation zones in the base case just after
the bend on the left side and the right side of duct. There is also a dead
zone opposite to the inlet stream in the junction. These dead zones
increase the pressure drop in the system, and also cause ash particles
to settle on ducts if the velocity becomes too low. When guide vanes
are inserted in the ESP junction header duct, the ow distribution in
each of the stream is controlled by area of opening being varied due
to variation in angle, allowing the ow to be diverted to the lower velocity regions by blocking the area where the velocities are higher.
Insertion of guide vanes will increase the trailing wake (recirculation)
zones just after the guide vanes, which are main sources of additional

724

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

Fig. 8. Predicted velocity vectors (m/s) in the header section for (a) base case geometry without guide vanes and (b) with optimally positioned guide vanes. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

been noted and the average of these was taken as the velocity at
that location. Each experiment was conducted twice and the average
value was used for calculating the area-averaged volumetric ow
rate through these outlets. Measurements of the ow rates have been
carried out for the base case without any guide vanes as well as for
the case with the guide vanes in the optimal orientations predicted by the NG method, i.e., 1 = 83, 2 = 191 and 3 = 340. The
data consisting of 20 velocity measurements each in the four outlet
ducts for the base case without guide vanes are presented in Table 2
while those corresponding to the case with optimally positioned
guide vanes are presented in Table 3. The fractional ow rate through
each outlet in the two cases (with and without guide vanes) is compared in Table 4 with the corresponding CFD predictions. One can

pressure drop. In the present case, this has resulted in 39% higher pressure drop in the header. Thus, one has to pay a penalty in pressure drop
to get equal ow distribution. This is important in a retrotting situation as it will indirectly increase the auxiliary power consumption and
may even require re-rating of the blower supplying the uid which calls
for high initial investment.
3.3. Comparison of CFD predictions with experimental data
Local velocity measurements have been carried out using a handheld hot-wire anemometer at 20 locations within the duct
cross-section for a constant air ow rate of 0.20 m3/s. The anemometer had a digital display of velocity; ten successive readings have

Table 2
Measured velocities at the outlets of the four streams for the base case (no guide vanes).
Stream R2
Velocity (m/s)

Average velocity (m/s)

Flow rate (m3/s)
Percentage of total ow rate
% Deviation from average ow rate

1.1
1.2
1.7
1.8
1.7

1.1
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.6
1.9
1.9
2.0
1.9
1.615
0.0403
21.3%
14.9%

Stream R1
1.5
1.6
1.8
1.9
1.8

1.6
2.1
2.1
2.1
1.7

2.1
2.5
2.5
2.3
2.0

2.3
2.7
2.5
2.4
2.2

2.23
0.0545
28.8%
+15.2%

Stream L1
2.2
2.4
2.5
2.2
2.2

2.0
2.1
2.1
2.2
2.0

2.1
2.6
2.6
2.2
2.0

2.0
2.6
2.6
2.6
2.3

2.24
0.0566
29.9%
+19.6%

Stream L2
1.9
2.3
2.4
2.3
1.9

1.4
1.3
1.5
1.5
1.4

1.2
1.6
1.6
1.8
1.9

1.4
1.4
1.6
1.8
1.9

1.54
0.0379
20.0%
19.9%

1.3
1.4
1.6
1.6
1.6

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

725

(a)

(b)

Fig. 9. Predicted pressure contours (Pa) in the header section for (a) base case geometry without guide vanes and (b) with optimally positioned guide vanes. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

see that the agreement between the data and the CFD predictions
is excellent in both cases. This serves both as a validation of the CFD
calculations and the effectiveness of the NG method in nding
optimal orientations of the guide vanes.

tions, ow splits and ow apportionment measures which introduce

large pressure losses, ow maldistribution, noise and vibration. While
improved designs can in principle be obtained using computational uid dynamics tools coupled with formal optimization
techniques currently available in the literature, their usage has
limited application in something as complicated and as spread out
as typical power plant ducting. The approximate gradient-based ow
apportionment algorithm developed in the present work obviates
the need for the determination of the full Jacobian and therefore
makes the method more robust and quicker to start. The robustness of the method can be attributed to the fact that the location
of the guide vane is linked to an absolute or differential ow rate
through a section of the duct/manifold that it controls. Since only

4. Conclusions
Industrial ducting serves the necessary purpose of carrying
process uids from one equipment to another. Its lay-out is subject
to severe practical constraints such as the connectivity of the equipment, need for on-site erection and maintenance and minimization
of the footprint of the factory, etc. Satisfying these constraints results
in a ducting lay-out which features sharp bends, abrupt transi-

Table 3
Measured velocities in the four outlet streams with guide vanes in the optimal positions.
R2
Velocity (m/s)

Average velocity (m/s)

Flow rate (m3/s)
Percentage of total ow rate
% Deviation from average ow rate

2.0
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.4

2.1
1.9
2.1
2.0
2.1
1.9
2.2
2.0
2.4
2.2
2.055
0.0513
24.8%
0.7%

R1
1.6
1.8
1.8
1.8
1.9

1.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.3

1.8
2.2
2.4
2.4
2.3

L1
1.7
2.1
2.3
2.3
2.1

2.11
0.0516
25.0%
0.1%

1.4
1.8
2.0
2.0
2.0

1.7
1.9
2.1
2.0
1.8

1.9
2.0
2.2
2.1
2.1

L2
1.9
2.1
2.3
2.2
2.0

2.05
0.0519
25.1%
+0.4%

1.9
2.2
2.3
2.2
2.1

1.7
2.0
2.0
1.9
1.9

2.0
2.2
2.1
2.2
2.1
2.2
2.0
2.1
2.0
2.3
2.105
0.0518
25.1%
+0.3%

2.0
2.2
2.4
2.4
2.4

726

R. Avvari, S. Jayanti/Applied Thermal Engineering 94 (2016) 715726

Table 4
Comparison of the fractional ow rates through the four outlets for different cases.
With guide vanes
at optimal
orientations

Stream

Base case,
without
guide vanes
Measured

CFD

Measured

CFD

L2
L1
R1
R2

0.200
0.299
0.288
0.213

0.220
0.282
0.277
0.221

0.251
0.251
0.250
0.248

0.250
0.252
0.250
0.248

a part of the full Jacobian needs to be determined, the method is

also quicker to start. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated by applying to two manifolds, and the correctness of the optimal solution
has been veried experimentally.
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