NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF PRESSURE DROP IN HYDRAULIC SPOOL VALVE

Abstract

Pressure drop normally occurs within spool valves in the power hydraulic systems. The complexities of the valve geometry make it complicated to calculate the pressure loss analytically. The flow characteristics inside a hydraulic spool valve were investigated in this study using FLUENT software. The relation between mass flow rate and pressure drop across the spool valve was studied by the simulation of the flow using different mass flow rates. Results of the study showed that, the pressure drop increases rapidly as the mass flow rate increases. The relation between the valve geometry and the pressure drop was studied as well. Different geometrical designs were proposed for both the valve chamber and the spool. Simulation of flow in the proposed valves was carried out. Results show that the pressure drops is highly affected by the valve chamber geometry and not by the spool geometry. It was noticed that the shape of outlet port of the valve chamber has the most significant effect on the flow behavior of the fluid, and hence on the pressure drop across the valve. The study concluded that, the modification of the outlet area of the valve chamber is the most effective way to reduce the pressure drop.