Flow conditioners are widely utilized in pipeline systems to improve the precision of flow rate measurement in the pipeline systems of the offshore and subsea oil and gas industry. There is a lack of knowledge about the influences of the conditioners on the flow inside a bend pipe due to the measurement inaccuracy caused by geometries complexity. In this study, numerical simulations are carried out solving the three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with the κ–ω SST model to investigate the large-scale flow characteristics inside a double bend pipe and the performance of a conditioner with a bundle of 19 tubes. The obtained axial velocity inside a double bend pipe flow with no flow conditioner are compared with those of the previously published numerical simulations results and experimental data as the validation study. Helical flow structures are found behind the double bend and effectively removed by the flow conditioner. The performance of the flow conditioner is evaluated based on the axial flow velocity profiles, the swirl intensities and the deviation from the flow inside a straight pipe. The effects of Reynolds numbers and the lengths of the tube bundle on the flow downstream the flow conditioner are discussed.

流量调节器广泛应用于管道系统，以提高海上和海底石油和天然气工业管道系统中流量测量的精度。由于几何形状的复杂性导致测量不准确，因此缺乏关于调节器对弯管内流动的影响的知识。在本研究中，数值模拟采用 κ–ω SST 模型求解三维雷诺平均纳维-斯托克斯 (RANS) 方程，以研究双弯管内的大范围流动特性和调节器的性能一捆 19 根管子。将获得的没有流动调节器的双弯管流内的轴向速度与先前公布的数值模拟结果和实验数据进行比较，作为验证研究。螺旋流结构位于双弯管后面，并被流量调节器有效去除。流量调节器的性能根据轴向流速分布、涡流强度和与直管内流动的偏差进行评估。讨论了雷诺数和管束长度对流量调节器下游流动的影响。