A fluid-structure interaction solver for the fluid flow through reed type valves

Suction and discharge processes with self actuated valves have a major influence in efficiency and reliability of hermetic reciprocating compressors. Understanding the operation completely in order to enhance compressor's design needs precise prediction of the fluid-structure interaction complexities involved in these processes. This paper presents a comprehensive description of a numerical methodology to account for the coupled behaviour of a reed valve and a turbulent flow. The method is based on a partitioned semi-implicit scheme that only strongly couples the fluid pressure term to the structural solver. A three-dimensional CFD analysis with LES turbulence modelling is used for the flow while a combination of plate theory and mode summation method is used for the solid. The dynamically changing domains are tackled by means of lagrangian and arbitrary lagrangian-eulerian approaches for the solid and the fluid, respectively. The whole model is compared with experimental data at Reynolds number 10, 000, showing good agreement in lift amplitude and deformation fluctuations. Finally, as an illustrative case, results regarding lift, pressures, force and effective areas are compared with those of a valve with wider gland. (paper)