Identification of fluid flow bottlenecks

Abstract

Techniques for determining one or more fluid flow characteristic values of a structure are disclosed. A fluid flow vector and a pressure gradient vector for a portion of the structure are determined, and a dot/cross product of the fluid flow vector with the pressure gradient vector is obtained to provide a fluid flow characteristic value. The fluid flow characteristic value can be used for modifying the structure to improve fluid flow through the structure.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . One or more computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform a method, the method comprising:
 determining a fluid flow vector for the portion of the structure;   determining a pressure gradient vector for the portion of the structure;   determining a fluid flow characteristic value for the portion of the structure by obtaining a product of the fluid flow vector with the pressure gradient vector; and   displaying or storing the fluid flow characteristic value.   
     
     
         2 . The one or more computer-readable media recited in  claim 1 , wherein the determining a fluid flow characteristic value comprising:
 determining a fluid flow bottleneck characteristic value for the portion of the structure by obtaining an absolute value of a dot product of the fluid flow vector with the pressure gradient vector.   
     
     
         3 . The one or more computer-readable media recited in  claim 1 , wherein the determining a fluid flow characteristic value comprising:
 determining a fluid flow shortcut characteristic value for the portion of the device by obtaining a magnitude of a cross product of the fluid flow vector with the pressure gradient vector.   
     
     
         4 . The one or more computer-readable media recited in  claim 1 , further comprising normalizing the fluid flow characteristic value.