The wavelet transform in investigation of turbulent pattern in pipelines

This project aims to study the turbulent flow of a viscous fluid passing through a bifurcation in a pipeline. Numerical simulations of the Navier-Stokes equations using the OpenFOAM open source library were performed to obtain the velocity and vorticity fields along the intake tube and after the bifurcation that acts as a generator and vorticity injector. The resulting fields show the creation, injection, propagation, diffusion and dissipation of coherent structures as vortices of opposed vorticity polarization in the two branches. The images obtained via Paraview suggest the superposition of several coherent structures making the vortices. A two-dimensional wavelet transform was performed to obtain a selective image of these structures. Thus, it was possible to follow the wave dynamics along each branch, observing the movement of components of the packet that oscillate quickly and slowly. Finally, velocity and decay calculations of slowly varying components were performed, while suggestions and analyses were made on the transport of oil and gas in pipelines.