Work

Performance Analysis of Poppet Valves in Deep-Sea Hydraulic Systems: Considering Viscosity–Pressure Characteristics

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Deep-sea hydraulic systems, powering a wide range of numerous deep-sea operating equipment, employ many poppet valves to adjust the pressure and flow rate, thereby realizing precise movements of the actuators. With greater depths and ambient pressures, the hydraulic oil viscosity increases exponentially, leading to a significant difference in the performance of the poppet valve compared to on-land usage and across varying depths. Based on the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model and the dynamic mesh method, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the poppet valve was established. With the viscosity–pressure characteristics considered, the performance of the poppet valve was analyzed under different depths, different inlet flow rates, and different cracking pressures. The results indicate significant performance deterioration in poppet valves at increased depths, characterized by increased pressure loss and extended response rise time. At 11 km underwater, the pressure loss can be 7 MPa larger than the preset cracking pressure of 10 MPa, and the rise time is doubled compared with the land condition. It is recommended to use hydraulic oils with a lower initial viscosity and a slower increase in viscosity with pressure in deep sea conditions.

Source: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

DOI: 10.3390/jmse13061177

Authors: Pin-Jian Wang, Jia-Bin Wu

Institution: Central South University

Language: English

Topic: Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funder: Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Department