Fluid force on a Ball Valve
 

Hi all,

I'm looking to investigate the torque on a ball valve due to the fluid flow exerting a force on the internal ball.
I have found a lot of work has been done on this type of study but mainly on butterfly valves.
For these studies, the method employed is usually integrating the pressure and viscous force distributions over the surface of the valve.

Can anyone point me in the right direction so that I can understand this method and underlying theory better?

I'd also like to understand which Turbulence Model and Discretization Scheme will give the most reliable results for this specific problem.

Where can I learn more about this, and is there a better forum to pose this question?

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.