Lagrangian Flow Skeletons Captured in the Wake of a Swimming Nematode C. elegans Using an Immersed Boundary Fluid-Structure Interaction Approach

In this paper, Lagrangian coherent structure (LCS) concept is applied to wake flows generated in the up/down-stream of a swimming nematode C. elegans in an intermediate Re number range, i.e., 250-1200. It materializes Lagrangian hidden structures depicting flow transport barriers. To pursue the goals, nematode swimming in a quiescent fluid flow environment is numerically simulated by a two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) approach with the aid of immersed boundary method (IBM). In this regard, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, fully-coupled with Lagrangian deformation equations for the immersed body, are solved using IB2d code. For all simulations, nematode’s body is modeled with a parametrized spring-fiber built-in case available in the computational code. Reverse von-Kármán vortex street formation and vortex shedding characteristics are studied and discussed in details via LCS approach, including grid resolution, integration time and Reynolds number effects. Results unveil presence of different flow regions with distinct fluid particle fates in the swimming animal’s wake and formation of so-called ‘mushroom-shaped’ structures in attracting LCS identities.

Conjugate Heat Transfer Analysis of a Combustion Chamber using ANSYS Computational Fluid Dynamics to Estimate the Thermocouple Positioning in a Chamber Wall

In most engineering cases, the working temperatures inside a combustion chamber are high enough that they lie beyond the operational range of thermocouples. Furthermore, design and manufacturing limitations restrict the use of internal thermocouples in many applications. Heat transfer inside a combustion chamber is caused due to interaction of the post-combustion hot fluid with the chamber wall. Heat transfer that involves an interaction between the fluid and solid is categorized as Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT). Therefore, to satisfy the needs of CHT, CHT Analysis is performed by using ANSYS CFD tool to estimate theoretically precise thermocouple positions at the combustion chamber wall where excessive temperatures (beyond thermocouple range) can be avoided. In accordance with these Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results, a combustion chamber is designed, and a prototype is manufactured with multiple thermocouple ports positioned at the specified distances so that the temperature of hot gases can be measured on the chamber wall where the temperatures do not exceed the thermocouple working range.

Effect of Two Radial Fins on Heat Transfer and Flow Structure in a Horizontal Annulus

Laminar natural convection in a cylindrical annular cavity filled with air and provided with two fins is studied numerically using the discretization of the governing equations with the Centered Finite Difference method based on the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) scheme. The fins are attached to the inner cylinder of radius ri (hot wall of temperature Ti). The outer cylinder of radius ro is maintained at a temperature To (To < Ti). Two values of the dimensionless thickness of the fins are considered: 0.015 and 0.203. We consider a low fin height equal to 0.078 and medium fin heights equal to 0.093 and 0.203. The position of the fin is 0.82π and the radius ratio is equal to 2. The effect of Rayleigh number, Ra, on the flow structure and heat transfer is analyzed for a range of Ra from 103 to 104. The results for established flow structures and heat transfer at low height indicate that the flow regime that occurs is unicellular for all Ra and fin thickness; in addition, the heat transfer rate increases with increasing Rayleigh number and is the same for both thicknesses. At median fin heights 0.093 and 0.203, the increase of Rayleigh number leads to transitions of flow structure which correspond to significant variations of the heat transfer. The critical Rayleigh numbers, Rac.app and Rac.disp corresponding to the appearance of the bicellular flow regime and its disappearance, are determined and their influence on the change of heat transfer rate is analyzed.

Semi-Analytic Method in Fast Evaluation of Thermal Management Solution in Energy Storage System

This article presents the application of the semi-analytic method (SAM) in the thermal management solution (TMS) of the energy storage system (ESS). The TMS studied in this work is fluid cooling. In fluid cooling, both effective heat conduction and heat convection are indispensable due to the heat transfer from solid to fluid. Correspondingly, an efficient TMS requires a design investigation of the following parameters: fluid inlet temperature, ESS initial temperature, fluid flow rate, working c rate, continuous working time, and materials properties. Their variation induces a change of thermal performance in the battery module, which is usually evaluated by numerical simulation. Compared to complicated computation resources and long computation time in simulation, the SAM is developed in this article to predict the thermal influence within a few seconds. In SAM, a fast prediction model is reckoned by combining numerical simulation with theoretical/empirical equations. The SAM can explore the thermal effect of boundary parameters in both steady-state and transient heat transfer scenarios within a short time. Therefore, the SAM developed in this work can simplify the design cycle of TMS and inspire more possibilities in TMS design.

Geophysical Investigation of Abnormal Seepages in Goronyo Dam Sokoto, North Western Nigeria Using Self-Potential Method

In this research, Self-Potential (SP) method was employed to locate anomalous electrical conductivity located in Goronyo area and also to determine the condition of the embankment of the dam. SP data were plotted against distance along with the profile and spacing of electrode using surfer software (version 12). High and low zones of SP values were identified along the right and left abutments of the dam reservoir. The regions with high SP values were described to be high tendency of fluid flow associate with wet sandy soil. These zones have the SP values ranging from 200 mV and above. High SP values were due to the high moisture content that may lead to the seepage of water leaking through this zone. The zones with high SP values occupied Profiles S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 indicating the presence of potential seepage paths within the subsurface of the embankment. These regions of seepage were identified as weak zones and potential pathways through which water could be lost from the dam reservoir. The SP values for the regions range from 250 m to 400 m (S1), 306 m to 400 m (S2), 192 m to 400 m (S3), 48 m to 200 m (S4) and 7 m to 170 m (S5) with their corresponding maximum depths of 30 m, 28 m, 28 m, 30 m and 26 m respectively. However, zones of low SP values in the overburden were observed which shows the presence of intact regions, which may be due to the compactness and dryness around the dam. The weak zones were considered as geological features (such as fractures, joints, and faults) that have undermined the integrity of the dam structure, which has led to the abnormal seepage.

Piezoelectric Power Output Predictions Using Single-Phase Flow to Power Flow Meters

This research involved the utilization of fluid flow energy to predict power output using Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) piezoelectric stacks. The aim of this work is to extract energy from a controlled level of pressure fluctuation in single-phase flow which forms a part of the energy harvesting technology that powers flow meters. A device- Perspex box was developed and fixed to 50.8 mm rig to induce pressure fluctuation in the flow. An experimental test was carried out using the single-phase water flow in the developed rig in order to measure the power output generation from the piezoelectric stacks. 16 sets of experimental tests were conducted to ensure the maximum output result. The acquired signal of the pressure fluctuation was used to simulate the expected electrical output from the piezoelectric material. The results showed a maximum output voltage of 12 V with an instantaneous output power of 1 µW generated, when the pressure amplitude is 2.6 kPa at a frequency of 2.4 Hz.

Study of Temperature Distribution in Coolant Channel of Nuclear Power with Fuel Cylinder Element Using Fluent Software

In this research, we have focused on numeral simulation of a fuel rod in order to examine distribution of heat temperature in components of fuel rod by Fluent software by providing steady state, single phase fluid flow, frequency heat flux in a fuel rod in nuclear reactor to numeral simulation. Results of examining different layers of a fuel rod consist of fuel layer, gap, pod, and fluid cooling flow, also examining thermal properties and fluids such as heat transition rate and pressure drop. The obtained results through analytical method and results of other sources have been compared and have appropriate correspondence. Results show that using heavy water as cooling fluid along with few layers of gas and pod have the ability of reducing the temperature from above 300 ◦C to 70 ◦C. This investigation is developable for any geometry and material used in the nuclear reactor.

Hydrodynamic Analysis with Heat Transfer in Solid Gas Fluidized Bed Reactor for Solar Thermal Applications

Fluidized bed reactors are known as highly exothermic and endothermic according to uniformity in temperature as a safe and effective mean for catalytic reactors. In these reactors, a wide range of catalyst particles can be used and by using a continuous operation proceed to produce in succession. Providing optimal conditions for the operation of these types of reactors will prevent the exorbitant costs necessary to carry out laboratory work. In this regard, a hydrodynamic analysis was carried out with heat transfer in the solid-gas fluidized bed reactor for solar thermal applications. The results showed that in the fluid flow the input of the reactor has a lower temperature than the outlet, and when the fluid is passing from the reactor, the heat transfer happens between cylinder and solar panel and fluid. It increases the fluid temperature in the outlet pump and also the kinetic energy of the fluid has been raised in the outlet areas.

Supersonic Flow around a Dihedral Airfoil: Modeling and Experimentation Investigation

Numerical modeling of fluid flows, whether compressible or incompressible, laminar or turbulent presents a considerable contribution in the scientific and industrial fields. However, the development of an approximate model of a supersonic flow requires the introduction of specific and more precise techniques and methods. For this purpose, the object of this paper is modeling a supersonic flow of inviscid fluid around a dihedral airfoil. Based on the thin airfoils theory and the non-dimensional stationary Steichen equation of a two-dimensional supersonic flow in isentropic evolution, we obtained a solution for the downstream velocity potential of the oblique shock at the second order of relative thickness that characterizes a perturbation parameter. This result has been dealt with by the asymptotic analysis and characteristics method. In order to validate our model, the results are discussed in comparison with theoretical and experimental results. Indeed, firstly, the comparison of the results of our model has shown that they are quantitatively acceptable compared to the existing theoretical results. Finally, an experimental study was conducted using the AF300 supersonic wind tunnel. In this experiment, we have considered the incident upstream Mach number over a symmetrical dihedral airfoil wing. The comparison of the different Mach number downstream results of our model with those of the existing theoretical data (relative margin between 0.07% and 4%) and with experimental results (concordance for a deflection angle between 1° and 11°) support the validation of our model with accuracy.

Study of the Effect of the Contra-Rotating Component on the Performance of the Centrifugal Compressor

This article presents a study of the effect of a contra-rotating component on the efficiency of centrifugal compressors. A contra-rotating centrifugal compressor (CRCC) is constructed using two independent rotors, rotating in the opposite direction and replacing the single rotor of a conventional centrifugal compressor (REF). To respect the geometrical parameters of the REF one, two rotors of the CRCC are designed, based on a single rotor geometry, using the hub and shroud length ratio parameter of the meridional contour. Firstly, the first rotor is designed by choosing a value of length ratio. Then, the second rotor is calculated to be adapted to the fluid flow of the first rotor according aerodynamics principles. In this study, four values of length ratios 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6 are used to create four configurations CF1, CF2, CF3, and CF4 respectively. For comparison purpose, the circumferential velocity at the outlet of the REF and the CRCC are preserved, which means that the single rotor of the REF and the second rotor of the CRCC rotate with the same speed of 16000rpm. The speed of the first rotor in this case is chosen to be equal to the speed of the second rotor. The CFD simulation is conducted to compare the performance of the CRCC and the REF with the same boundary conditions. The results show that the configuration with a higher length ratio gives higher pressure rise. However, its efficiency is lower. An investigation over the entire operating range shows that the CF1 is the best configuration in this case. In addition, the CRCC can improve the pressure rise as well as the efficiency by changing the speed of each rotor independently. The results of changing the first rotor speed show with a 130% speed increase, the pressure ratio rises of 8.7% while the efficiency remains stable at the flow rate of the design operating point.

CFD Modeling of Mixing Enhancement in a Pitted Micromixer by High Frequency Ultrasound Waves

Use of ultrasound waves is one of the techniques for increasing the mixing and mass transfer in the microdevices. Ultrasound propagation into liquid medium leads to stimulation of the fluid, creates turbulence and so increases the mixing performance. In this study, CFD modeling of two-phase flow in a pitted micromixer equipped with a piezoelectric with frequency of 1.7 MHz has been studied. CFD modeling of micromixer at different velocity of fluid flow in the absence of ultrasound waves and with ultrasound application has been performed. The hydrodynamic of fluid flow and mixing efficiency for using ultrasound has been compared with the layout of no ultrasound application. The result of CFD modeling shows well agreements with the experimental results. The results showed that the flow pattern inside the micromixer in the absence of ultrasound waves is parallel, while when ultrasound has been applied, it is not parallel. In fact, propagation of ultrasound energy into the fluid flow in the studied micromixer changed the hydrodynamic and the forms of the flow pattern and caused to mixing enhancement. In general, from the CFD modeling results, it can be concluded that the applying ultrasound energy into the liquid medium causes an increase in the turbulences and mixing and consequently, improves the mass transfer rate within the micromixer.

Evaluation of Non-Staggered Body-Fitted Grid Based Solution Method in Application to Supercritical Fluid Flows

The efforts to understand the heat transfer behavior of supercritical water in supercritical water cooled reactor (SCWR) are ongoing worldwide to fulfill the future energy demand. The higher thermal efficiency of these reactors compared to a conventional nuclear reactor is one of the driving forces for attracting the attention of nuclear scientists. In this work, a solution procedure has been described for solving supercritical fluid flow problems in complex geometries. The solution procedure is based on non-staggered grid. All governing equations are discretized by finite volume method (FVM) in curvilinear coordinate system. Convective terms are discretized by first-order upwind scheme and central difference approximation has been used to discretize the diffusive parts. k-ε turbulence model with standard wall function has been employed. SIMPLE solution procedure has been implemented for the curvilinear coordinate system. Based on this solution method, 3-D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code has been developed. In order to demonstrate the capability of this CFD code in supercritical fluid flows, heat transfer to supercritical water in circular tubes has been considered as a test problem. Results obtained by code have been compared with experimental results reported in literature.

Performances Analysis of the Pressure and Production of an Oil Zone by Simulation of the Flow of a Fluid through the Porous Media

This work is the modeling and simulation of fluid flow (liquid) through porous media. This type of flow occurs in many situations of interest in applied sciences and engineering, fluid (oil) consists of several individual substances in pure, single-phase flow is incompressible and isothermal. The porous medium is isotropic, homogeneous optionally, with the rectangular format and the flow is two-dimensional. Modeling of hydrodynamic phenomena incorporates Darcy's law and the equation of mass conservation. Correlations are used to model the density and viscosity of the fluid. A finite volume code is used in the discretization of differential equations. The nonlinearity is treated by Newton's method with relaxation coefficient. The results of the simulation of the pressure and the mobility of liquid flowing through porous media are presented, analyzed, and illustrated.

Mixed Convection Heat Transfer of Copper Oxide-Heat Transfer Oil Nanofluid in Vertical Tube

In this paper, experiments were conducted to investigate the heat transfer of Copper Oxide-Heat Transfer Oil (CuO-HTO) nanofluid laminar flow in vertical smooth and microfin tubes as the surface temperature is constant. The effect of adding the nanoparticle to base fluid and Richardson number on the heat transfer enhancement is investigated as Richardson number increases from 0.1 to 0.7. The experimental results demonstrate that the combined forced-natural convection heat transfer rate may be improved significantly with an increment of mass nanoparticle concentration from 0% to 1.5%. In this experiment, a correlation is also proposed to predict the mixed convection heat transfer rate of CuO-HTO nanofluid flow. The maximum deviation of both correlations is less than 14%. Moreover, a correlation is presented to estimate the Nusselt number inside vertical smooth and microfin tubes as Rayleigh number is between 2´105 and 6.8´106 with the maximum deviation of 12%.

Evaluation of Geomechanical and Geometrical Parameters’ Effects on Hydro-Mechanical Estimation of Water Inflow into Underground Excavations

In general, mechanical and hydraulic processes are not independent of each other in jointed rock masses. Therefore, the study on hydro-mechanical coupling of geomaterials should be a center of attention in rock mechanics. Rocks in their nature contain discontinuities whose presence extremely influences mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of the medium. Assuming this effect, experimental investigations on intact rock cannot help to identify jointed rock mass behavior. Hence, numerical methods are being used for this purpose. In this paper, water inflow into a tunnel under significant water table has been estimated using hydro-mechanical discrete element method (HM-DEM). Besides, effects of geomechanical and geometrical parameters including constitutive model, friction angle, joint spacing, dip of joint sets, and stress factor on the estimated inflow rate have been studied. Results demonstrate that inflow rates are not identical for different constitutive models. Also, inflow rate reduces with increased spacing and stress factor.

An Automated Approach to the Nozzle Configuration of Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Drill Bits for Effective Cuttings Removal

Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits are extensively used in the oil and gas industry as well as the mining industry. Industry engineers continually improve upon PDC drill bit designs and hydraulic conditions. Optimized injection nozzles play a key role in improving the drilling performance and efficiency of these ever changing PDC drill bits. In the first part of this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling is performed to investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of drilling fluid flow around the PDC drill bit. An Open-source CFD software – OpenFOAM simulates the flow around the drill bit, based on the field input data. A specifically developed console application integrates the entire CFD process including, domain extraction, meshing, and solving governing equations and post-processing. The results from the OpenFOAM solver are then compared with that of the ANSYS Fluent software. The data from both software programs agree. The second part of the paper describes the parametric study of the PDC drill bit nozzle to determine the effect of parameters such as number of nozzles, nozzle velocity, nozzle radial position and orientations on the flow field characteristics and bit washing patterns. After analyzing a series of nozzle configurations, the best configuration is identified and recommendations are made for modifying the PDC bit design.

Experimental on Free and Forced Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Copper Oxide-Heat Transfer Oil Nanofluid in Horizontal and Inclined Microfin Tube

In this paper, the combined free and forced convection heat transfer of the Copper Oxide-Heat Transfer Oil (CuO-HTO) nanofluid flow in horizontal and inclined microfin tubes is studied experimentally. The flow regime is laminar, and pipe surface temperature is constant. The effect of nanoparticle and microfin tube on the heat transfer rate is investigated with the Richardson number which is between 0.1 and 0.7. The results show an increasing nanoparticle concentration between 0% and 1.5% leads to enhance the combined free and forced convection heat transfer rate. According to the results, five correlations are proposed to provide estimating the free and forced heat transfer rate as the increasing Richardson number from 0.1 to 0.7. The maximum deviation of both correlations is less than 16%. Moreover, four correlations are suggested to assess the Nusselt number based on the Rayleigh number in inclined tubes from 1800000 to 7000000. The maximum deviation of the correlation is almost 16%. The Darcy friction factor of the nanofluid flow has been investigated. Furthermore, CuO-HTO nanofluid flows in inclined microfin tubes.

Aeroacoustics Investigations of Unsteady 3D Airfoil for Different Angle Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Software

Noise disturbance is one of the major factors considered in the fast development of aircraft technology. This paper reviews the flow field, which is examined on the 2D NACA0015 and 3D NACA0012 blade profile using SST k-ω turbulence model to compute the unsteady flow field. We inserted the time-dependent flow area variables in Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) equations as an input and Sound Pressure Level (SPL) values will be computed for different angles of attack (AoA) from the microphone which is positioned in the computational domain to investigate effect of augmentation of unsteady 2D and 3D airfoil region noise level. The computed results will be compared with experimental data which are available in the open literature. As results; one of the calculated Cp is slightly lower than the experimental value. This difference could be due to the higher Reynolds number of the experimental data. The ANSYS Fluent software was used in this study. Fluent includes well-validated physical modeling capabilities to deliver fast, accurate results across the widest range of CFD and multiphysics applications. This paper includes a study which is on external flow over an airfoil. The case of 2D NACA0015 has approximately 7 million elements and solves compressible fluid flow with heat transfer using the SST turbulence model. The other case of 3D NACA0012 has approximately 3 million elements.

Pull-In Instability Determination of Microcapacitive Sensor for Measuring Special Range of Pressure

Pull-in instability is a nonlinear and crucial effect that is important for the design of microelectromechanical system devices. In this paper, the appropriate electrostatic voltage range is determined by measuring fluid flow pressure via micro pressure sensor based microbeam. The microbeam deflection contains two parts, the static and perturbation deflection of static. The second order equation regarding the equivalent stiffness, mass and damping matrices based on Galerkin method is introduced to predict pull-in instability due to the external voltage. Also the reduced order method is used for solving the second order nonlinear equation of motion. Furthermore, in the present study, the micro capacitive pressure sensor is designed for measuring special fluid flow pressure range. The results show that the measurable pressure range can be optimized, regarding damping field and external voltage.

Mixed Convection Enhancement in a 3D Lid-Driven Cavity Containing a Rotating Cylinder by Applying an Artificial Roughness

A numerical investigation of unsteady mixed convection heat transfer in a 3D moving top wall enclosure, which has a central rotating cylinder and uses either artificial roughness on the bottom hot plate or smooth bottom hot plate to study the heat transfer enhancement, is completed for fixed circular cylinder, and anticlockwise and clockwise rotational speeds, -1 ≤ Ω ≤ 1, at Reynolds number of 5000. The top lid-driven wall was cooled, while the other remaining walls that completed obstructed cubic were kept insulated and motionless. A standard k-ε model of Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method is involved to deal with turbulent flow. It has been clearly noted that artificial roughness can strongly control the thermal fields and fluid flow patterns. Ultimately, the heat transfer rate has been dramatically increased by involving artificial roughness on the heated bottom wall in the presence of rotating cylinder.