Study on hydrodynamic torque of a butterfly valve

Abstract

Since knowledge on hydrodynamic torque of a butterfly valve is very important for butterfly valve design, its hydrodynamic torque is investigated theoretically. For this, a recently developed two-dimensional butterfly valve model is solved through the free-streamline theory with a newly devised iterative scheme and the resulting two-and three-dimensional torque coefficients are compared with previous theoretical results based on the conventional butterfly valve model and experiments. Comparison shows that the improvement due to the new butterfly valve model is marginal. That is, the three-dimensional torque coefficient is well represented by the new model. Otherwise, the two-dimensional torque coefficient is well predicted by the conventional model. In spite this fact, the present results can be used in further researches on butterfly valves because the improved butterfly valve model is mathematically correct and reflects physical reality more correctly than the conventional valve model.