2025, Vol. 6, Issue 2, Part A

Hydraulic valves are fundamental components in fluid power systems, serving to regulate pressure, direction, and flow rate. Optimizing their internal flow dynamics is critical for ensuring energy efficiency, system responsiveness, and operational longevity. This study employs Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations using ANSYS Fluent to investigate and enhance the flow characteristics within a standard poppet-type hydraulic valve.
Instead of relying solely on geometric variation, this work focuses on iterative simulation-based refinement to identify pressure drop hotspots and streamline internal fluid paths. By coupling turbulence modeling with mesh refinement strategies, the study identifies the most influential design parameters affecting flow uniformity and velocity distribution. The optimized valve design demonstrates a reduction of over 25% in pressure losses compared to the baseline configuration. These results highlight the efficacy of CFD-guided design iterations in developing more efficient hydraulic components with minimal physical prototyping.