Numerical simulation of entry flows of corn meal

Control volume formulation was used to calculate the entry flow of the corn meal. The contraction ratio was 6 and the half die angles were 30°, 37.5°, 45° and 90°. To test the accuracy of the method, the calculation was first carried out for Newtonian fluid and low-density polyethylene. The numerically estimated entrance pressure drop for corn meal was compared with experimental values. Effects of die angles on entrance pressure drop and on the distribution of axial velocity were presented. The numerically estimated entrance pressure drop was lower than the experimental values, which can be mainly attributed to the constitutive equation used in this study, the power-law, which failed to predict the extensional behaviors of corn meal. It was also found that entrance pressure drop increased with increased die angle and there was an overshoot in axial velocity at the contraction. The convergence of the solutions was improved by using control volume formulation.