Three-Dimensional Analysis of Flow Forces on Directional Control Valves

Abstract

This paper deals with a sufficiently complete analysis of flow forces acting on spools of hydraulic directional control valves. The analysis performed, using the very reliable and commercially widespread “Fluent” code, aims to describe global parameters in order to evaluate such forces with a reasonable accuracy and without performing expensive three-dimensional calculations. To this aim, different fluid dynamics analyses have been carried out inside the valve, starting from simple axis-symmetric models, up to full three-dimensional simulations. A comparison of the 2D and 3D results is then presented.