CFD Analysis of Behavior in Horton Sphere

Horton sphere is industry-standard vessels to store fertilizers and petrochemicals. During stress relieving operation of such a large vessel, it is not only simple heat transfer calculations but also fluid dynamics that play a vital role. In present work, an attempt has been made to study flow field inside spheres at different conditions to get a better picture of the heat transfer phenomenon in the sphere. The experimental study on the scaled model of a Horton Sphere is for cold flow. A flow visualization set-up is a build-up using high-intensity laser light to map flow inside the sphere. The laser sheet method is used to capture the pattern of flow by photography. It is visibly apparent that flow has a centerline jet with high velocities and a recirculation zone with very low velocities. The computational work involves cold flow study for different Reynolds number. The grid independence study is carried out and optimum grid size is decided unstructured meshes and also regenerate structured meshed models for flow simulations in the sphere.