I would like numbers please... what speeds and pressures does this really start to be relevant for? Commercial scale? Home scale?
What's the observable result? Lower energy consumption to maintain the same temp? Or does slow turbulent air eventually do the job within an insignificant margin?
Lower pressure drop = lower blower motor energy consumption. Probably lower noise levels, too. This is true at any scale, but becomes more critical at the airflow capacity limitations of the duct (when the color is this visual is very red).
Numbers are irrelevant here - this is a representation of a best practice and numbers are going to be very specific to the application.
Yeah I think noise reduction is probably the most significant gain for these designs. Even just switching to round ducts instead of rectangular makes a noticeable difference.
My dad put all Y branches in our house. He would never do it again because they were extremely loud. They were more efficient at carrying soundwaves I guess.
This is exactly the right question. The simulation output animations do not include the numeric scale that corresponds to the color gradiation.
Ultimately a slight imbalance in velocities or pressures at turns or branches, or turbulence, only matters if there is a negative performance consequence, or possibly a negative reliability consequence, or other negative consequence associated with it.
If the only consequence of this is that one outlet duct receives 0.1% more or less air flow than the one next to it, who cares.
And there's a whole science to generating and validating mesh sizes and defining boundary conditions before you can even start to get results that mean anything!
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u/oneeyedziggy 3h ago
I would like numbers please... what speeds and pressures does this really start to be relevant for? Commercial scale? Home scale?
What's the observable result? Lower energy consumption to maintain the same temp? Or does slow turbulent air eventually do the job within an insignificant margin?