How to Determine Losses in a Flow Field: A Paradigm Shifttowards the Second Law Analysis

Assuming that CFD solutions will be more and more used to characterizelosses in terms of drag for external flows and head loss for internal flows, we suggest toreplace single-valued data, like the drag force or a pressure drop, by field information aboutthe losses. These information are gained when the entropy generation in the flow field isanalyzed, an approach that often is called second law analysis (SLA), referring to the secondlaw of thermodynamics. We show that this SLA approach is straight-forward, systematicand helpful when it comes to the physical interpretation of the losses in a flow field. Variousexamples are given, including external and internal flows, two phase flow, compressible flowand unsteady flow. Finally, we show that an energy transfer within a certain process can beput into a broader perspective by introducing the entropic potential of an energy.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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