Energy-efficient design and optimization of bent pipes with guide vanes based on laser powder bed fusion: Enhancing manufacturing precision and fluid flow

Pipelines are of significant importance in fluid systems, such as those utilizing chemical, oil and gas transport and nuclear energy, serving as bridges that connects all components. They have the highest energy consumption and the greatest potential for weight reduction. Bent pipes are commonly used in pipelines as a component for fluid steering. The laser powder bed fusion technology offers a new approach to designing and manufacturing bent pipes. However, bent pipes using laser powder bed fusion have poorer internal surface quality and lower dimensional accuracy, which results in greater local resistance and pressure pulsations. This research proposes a design method for bent pipes using laser powder bed fusion with built-in guide vanes to overcome the mentioned drawbacks. This paper investigates the effects of the number, size, and position of guide vanes on local resistance and pressure pulsations through a combination of numerical simulations and experiments. Furthermore, bent pipes with guide vanes of varying positions and sizes were manufactured using laser powder bed fusion. The samples were then subjected to experimental measurements and calculations to determine their actual profiles. The results show that adding guide vanes inside the bent pipes not only improves the dimensional accuracy of the pipes by over 60%, but also reduces local resistance and pressure pulsations at the pipeline inlet by 12% and 58.5%, respectively. This research assists engineers in selecting appropriate number, size, and position of guide vanes based on the actual pipeline diameter, thus effectively reducing energy consumption and pressure pulsation.