Dimensional Flow Simulation Research Articles

First coherent structure in elasto-inertial turbulence

Two dimensional channel flow simulations of FENE-P fluid in the elasto-inertial turbulence regime reveal distinct regimes ranging from chaos to a steady travelling wave which takes the form of an arrowhead structure. This coherent structure provides new insights in the polymer/flow interactions driving EIT, which are observed in a set of controlled numerical experiments and the study of transfer between elastic and turbulent kinetic energy.

A novel approach for modelling fluid flow and heat transfer in an Open Volumetric Air Receiver using ANSYS-FLUENT

Open volumetric air receiver (OVAR) has great potential as a source of process heat for metals processing operations. The two major components of OVAR are the porous absorbers and the return air flow chamber (RAFC). Heat exchange between the “cooler” return air and the hot curved absorber surface in RAFC is critical as it prevents overheating of absorbers. Unfortunately, modeling of air flow in the RAFC is conspicuous by its absence. Calculations were performed in ANSYS-FLUENT using the local thermal non-equilibrium model for heat transfer in the porous absorber. Three dimensional flow and heat transfer simulations were carried out in the RAFC. Unfortunately, ANSYS decoupled heat exchange between the absorbers and return air by splitting the curved absorber surface into real and imaginary surfaces. Decoupling also meant that heat flux had to be specified separately on the absorber and the RAFC, which was a challenge since only the total input solar flux is known. Hence the major contribution of this paper has been to incorporate two innovations in the simulation methodology. One, to couple the absorber and RAFC thermally by mapping the temperature of the real surface to the imaginary surface. Two, the flux used for heating air in the absorber was calculated iteratively. Limited simulations suggest that in laboratory experiments, relatively inexpensive circumferential (Joule) heating of absorbers can reasonably mimic heating of absorbers by concentrated solar radiation.

튜브 내부 압력에 따른 압축기 장착 하이퍼루프 차량의 공력 해석

The aerodynamic characteristics of Hyperloop train with air compressor were assessed according to the pressure inside the tube (PSUBtube/SUB). The computation processes were as follows; at first, three dimensional steady state flow computations were performed without the operation of the compressor. From the results and the compressor performance analysis module, the mass flow rate at the inlet of compressor was obtained and itself was applied again to boundary condition. Then, the three dimensional flow simulation and calculation of mass flow rate were performed iteratively until the mass flow rate at the inlet of compressor converged. The overall processes were executed with changing the PSUBtube/SUB; the PSUBtube/SUB was set as 100, 300, 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 Pa. By these parametric studies, it was confirmed that the aerodynamic drag of the train increased as PSUBtube/SUB increased because of the increase of air density. However, the drag did not linearly increase according to the Ptube because the drag coefficient (CD) decreased because Re of the Hyperloop train increased. These results can be used as the basic data for selecting proper PSUBtube/SUB and designing the appropriate tube system.

Effect of convergent duct geometry on the energy extraction performance of tandem oscillating hydrofoils system

In the present study, a new hydrokinetic energy harvester concept based on the tandem oscillating hydrofoils configuration is numerically investigated. Unsteady turbulent two dimensional flow simulations were performed, by using the commercial finite volume computational fluid dynamics code FLUENT, to study the power extraction from tandem hydrofoils oscillating inside a convergent duct. A sinusoidal function was used to interpret the plunging/pitching motion of NACA 0015 hydrofoil. Computations were carried out for the different configurations of area ratios (AR) that is defined as the ratio of the upstream hydrofoil’s inlet cross section (A1) to the downstream hydrofoil’s inlet cross section (A2) ranging from 1.0 (without the convergent section) to AR = 2.6. The study revealed that the power extraction was enhanced by the increased incoming flow velocity enabled by the geometry of the convergent duct, which positively affected the total pressure as well as the hydrofoil-vortex interaction time and resulted the generation of larger vertical hydrodynamic force. Upon analysis of the obtained results, it is found that the energy extraction efficiency is improved, compared to that of the conventional tandem configuration where the hydrofoils move in an open flow space, and, as the area ratio (AR) increased, the amount of extracted power becomes higher in a proportion ranging from 4% to 80%. The concept was numerically tested for tandem and single configurations and for non-dimensional frequencies in the range of f∗=0.04 - 0.20. One interesting finding is that, due to some positive effect of hydrofoil-vortex interaction, and at a specified area ratio and frequency, the downstream hydrofoil efficiency exceeds the efficiency of a single hydrofoil located at exactly same position as the downstream hydrofoil in the tandem configuration. The frequency and the area ratio are found to be critical factors that determine whether the downstream hydrofoil-vortex interaction is favorable or unfavorable. An optimal area ratio/frequency combination results in a positive hydrofoil-vortex interaction effect and allows the downstream hydrofoil to contribute positively to the total power extraction as a single hydrofoil. Based on the present results, and for an optimal efficient energy harvester design, a new correlation is suggested in order to properly control the area ratio in accordance with the variation of the oscillating frequency leading to more power production and high performance of the oscillating tandem hydrofoils. It is anticipated that this new innovative technique will be applied to improve the existing energy harvester devices.

Influence of microcirculation load on FFR in coronary artery stenosis model

BackgroundThe coronary artery hemodynamics are impacted by both the macrocirculation and microcirculation. Whether microcirculation load impact the functional assessment of a coronary artery stenosis is unknown. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of porous media of the microcirculation on fractional flow reserve (FFR) in stenotic coronary artery model.MethodsA three dimensional computational simulation of blood flow in coronary artery symmetric stenotic model was constructed. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed with Fluent 16.0. Blood was modeled as a shear thinning, non-Newtonian fluid with the Carreau model. A seepage outlet boundary condition and transient inlet conditions were imposed on the model. Coronary physiologica diagnostic parameter such as pressure, velocity and fractional flow reserve (FFR) were investigated in the model and compared with the microcirculation load (ML) and constant pressure load (PL) condition.ResultsThe present study showed the different hemodynamics in the ML and PL condition. The pre-stenotic pressure is almost the same in the two model. However the pressure in the post-stenotic artery domain is much lower in the PL model. The fluctuation range of the pressures is much higher in ML model than those in PL model. The velocity flow was more steady and lower in the ML model. For the PL model with 75% artery stenosis the FFR was 0.776, while for the ML model with the same stenosis, the FFR was 0.813.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that FFR increased in the presentation of ML condition. There is a strong hemodynamic effect of microcirculation on coronary artery stenosis.

Two dimensional simulation of laminar flow by three- jet in a semi-confined space

AbstractEquipment performance improvement in a wide range of working conditions is one of the major goals of aerodynamics. This goal can be achieved by the deformation of the object being examined or by using flow control techniques in active or inactive modes. In different researches, how to change the development ratio on the semi-confined space with input jet system is surveyed. In this study, two-dimensional simulation of the flow has been investigated in three-jet laminar flow in a semi-confined space. To determine the effective and optimal mixing in a laminar flow, critical Reynolds numbers were determined to distinguish when the flow in the channel from a steady-state symmetric flowformed downstream recirculation and ultimately transient flow. To better understand the flow characteristics, the simulations were changed at a fixed jet spacing (input jets distance to height of space ratio). Also, in this paper, for comparison, four jets were considered. Based on the results, it was observed that in all cases, mixing occurred in the space between three jets. Placing the jet along the walls of the semi-confined space allows the best combination, and increase in the distance between the first and third jets and reduction of the particle coefficient caused to reach the critical Reynolds number faster and, as a result, mixing in a laminar flow with geometric changes of the semi-confined space.

Numerical simulation of experimental tests performed on ZAO® non-evaporable-getter pump designed for neutral beam injector applications.

Vacuum systems of neutral beam injectors have very demanding requirements in terms of pumping speed, throughput, and capacity. Due to their high affinity to hydrogenic species, porous sintered Non-Evaporable Getters (NEG) are a possible candidate for deployment in giant hydrogen ion sources and neutral beam injectors for fusion. This paper presents the numerical interpretation of experimental tests on a recently developed NEG cartridge, that is part of a modular pump under development for neutral beam injectors. The cartridge is composed of six stacks of ZAO® porous sintered NEG disks and a heater. It was tested under hydrogen loads relevant for neutral beam injectors, namely, at constant pressure or constant flow, such that the hydrogen pressure was in the range of 20 mPa-40 mPa. The result of the sorption test was reproduced by a three dimensional flow simulation in molecular regime to determine the actual pumping speed, the effective sticking coefficient, and the uniformity of the gas load on the various NEG disks. The procedure developed and the results obtained provide the basic understanding for interpreting the large-scale tests on the modular pump, consisting of 34 of these cartridges.

狭小水路中の直線翼ダリウス型水車における デフレクター設置による性能向上効果

The performance improvement of the straight Darrieus water turbine has been needed to practical use for the small hydroelectric generator. Especially in a narrow channel, we suggested the setting the deflector (flat rectangular plate) at upstream of the turbine. To examine the performance improvement effect, we performed the torque measurement experiments and three dimensional numerical simulation of flow. All tested deflectors caused the change of the flow pattern compared to the without deflector. As results, it was clear that the most suitable aperture ratio (The aperture width divided by the channel width) is 60 % and the most suitable setting angle is 90 deg.

Three dimensional flow simulation over a sharp-crested V-Notch weir

Thin-plate weirs are widely used to monitor the flow rate in open channels. Thereby, three dimensional (3D) modeling of the flow over a weir in an open channel can be considered as one of the main topics in hydraulic science. In this study, the flow over a sharp-crested v-notch weir (SCVW) is simulated by a 3D numerical model. Laboratory experiments were conducted to monitor and measure the behavior of the SCVW in practice. Finally, the simulated velocity distributions, water surface profiles, and hydraulic jump were compared with those of the experimental data. Due to the turbulent nature of the flow over the SCVW, a Reynolds stress model (RSM) and three types of the k–ϵ turbulence models with the fractional volume of fluid technique (VOF) were used in the analysis. In this respect, the two-phase solution method and dense mesh were used in generating the simulation domain. Results indicated that the RSM exhibited higher accuracy in defining the velocity distribution, complex flow pattern, and predicting the hydraulic jump formation downstream of the SCVW.

New equations for Nusselt number and friction factor of the annulus side of the conically coiled tubes in tube heat exchangers

Three dimensional simulation of heat transfer (turbulent/laminar) and fluid flow of water through the annulus side of conically tube heat exchangers is presented in this study. This study shows an accurate and clear results which were not available before. Realizable K-ɛ model is chosen for perusing the turbulence influences. The influence of operational and geometrical characteristics on the Friction factor and the Nusselt number is obtained. The results show if the cone angle increases from 0° to 90° the Friction factor and the Nusselt number increase by 15.51% and 37.17%, respectively. Furthermore, it is concluded that if the dimensionless ratio of the outer tube diameter to the inner one increases by 50% the Nusselt number increases by 39.11% while the friction factor decreases by 23.29%. The outcomes of this study proposed two new correlations (that cannot be found in the previous studies) to estimate the friction factor and the Nusselt number of the annulus side of these heat exchangers. These proposed equations are necessary and important for engineering applications involving designs of these heat exchangers. Furthermore, the current results are validated using the experimental data available in the literature. This validation shows an average error of only 9.87% in calculating Nusselt numbers, which is more accurate than any other predictive equations available in the literature.

TOWARDS REDUCING COMPUTATIONAL EFFORT IN VORTEX INDUCED VIBRATION PREDICTIONS OF A CYLINDRICAL RISER.

Vibrations induced by flow, generally referred to as vortex induced vibrations, are of great importance in the design of marine risers. These flexible cylindrical risers undergo vibrations of very high amplitude when the vortex shedding frequency matches the natural frequency of the riser. Such vibrations are capable of putting the safety of crew working on offshore platforms in question. Hence the prediction of response of such structures is considered very important. Although a lot of numerical work has been done in this field treating the problem as a two-way fluid structure interaction, the fact that these works demand very high computational efforts has not made it pertinent where high end computing resources are not readily available. A quick prediction of the structural response of such slender structures needs to be handy to the engineers at times of need. This paper addresses a solution technique for such a problem through an economical method for quick and reliable prediction of riser response under vortex induced vibration utilizing minimum computational effort for moderate Reynolds number (Re = 3 x 105). Two dimensional flow simulations are carried out using RANSE based CFD followed by the uniform mapping of hydrodynamic forces on to the three dimensional riser. The grid used for the numerical simulation has been well validated against wind-tunnel experimental results for Re= 5.3 x 104. Hydrodynamic forces corresponding to the first three harmonics of natural frequency of the riser have been used as input in the structural solver to analyse the response using finite element method. Trajectories of the cylinder in the first three modes of vibration have been obtained, a typical eight figure pattern which is characteristic for lock-in vibration. It is found that the method is quite effective in the quick computation of flow induced vibration problems for low and moderate Reynolds numbers.

Modelling Transport of Heavy Metals in Geita Wetland along Mamubi River

The modelling of heavy metals in rivers is highly dependent on hydrodynamics, the transport of suspended particulate matter and the partition between dissolved and particulate phases. This paper presents the development of hydrodynamic model DUFLOW, which is a one dimensional flow and water quality simulation package, that describes the processes governing transformations and transport of heavy metals (Hg, Ni and Cu) along Mabubi River in the Geita wetland. Two monitoring stations were established along Mabubi River at the inlet (MBSP1) and outlet (MBSP2) of the wetland. A set of DUFLOW model inputs representative of the water conditions were collected from the established monitoring stations. The model was calibrated and validated for the prediction of flow and heavy metals (Hg, Ni, and Cu) transport, against a set of measured mean monthly monitoring data. Sensitive model parameters were adjusted within their feasible ranges during calibration to minimize model prediction errors. At the gauging station MBSP2, the calibration results showed the model predicted mean monthly flow within 17% of the measured mean monthly flow while the r2 coefficient and Nash-Sutcliffe (NSE) were 0.83 and 0.79 respectively. At the water quality monitoring station MBSP2, the calibration results showed the model predicted heavy metals (Hg, Ni and Cu) concentrations within 13% and 17% of their respective measured mean monthly concentrations. The mean monthly comparisons r 2 values for heavy metals ranged from 0.75 to 0.88 while the NSE values were between 0.70 and 0.82. The model results and field measurements demonstrated that about 40% of the annual heavy metals loadings which would otherwise reach the Lake Victoria are retained in the wetland. The Mabubi river model can therefore be used for prediction of heavy metals (Hg. Ni and Cu) transformation processes in the Geita wetland.

Influence of thickness on performance characteristics of non-sinusoidal plunging motion of symmetric airfoil

For the past few decades flapping wing aerodynamics has attracted a great deal of research interest from both the aeronautical and biological communities pertaining to the development of MAVs. The objective of this study is to examine and understand the effect of non-dimensional plunge amplitude and reduced frequency on propulsive performance of NACA 4-digit airfoil series and to examine the performance characteristics of square plunge motion and trapezoidal plunge motion. Two dimensional flow simulations around plunging symmetric aerofoils were performed using FLUENT. The simulations were carried out at Reynolds number of 20000 using incompressible laminar, NS solver. The reduced frequency (k) was varied from 0.5–5 and the plunging amplitude (h) was varied from 0.25–1.5. The plunging motions to the aerofoils were provided through UDFs. The effect of variation of k and h on the thrust coefficient (CT), power-input coefficient (CP) and propulsive efficiency (η) is studied. CT value is maximum for square plunge profile for all the airfoils. However, for a given value of h, with the increase in k, CT increases with increasing thickness of the airfoil and reaches a maximum value for airfoil thickness of NACA0018 and then starts decreasing. With varying h and k, it was observed that the propulsive efficiency reached a peak value and the peak shifts to higher h and k with increasing airfoil thickness. From the above study, it was concluded that airfoil thickness played a major part in influencing the thrust generation at low Strouhal number. However, at high Strouhal numbers airfoils showed diverse trends with respect to thrust generation. Sinusoidal plunging motion was more efficient but generated less thrust when compared to square and trapezoidal plunging motions.

Numerical Prediction of a Radial Turbine Performance designed for Automotive Engines Turbocharger

These days the turbocharging system is assuming an essential part in enhancing car engines performance and diminishing fuel utilization and the fumes emanations, in spark-ignition and compression ignition engines. The performance of a radial turbine for the turbocharger device is heavily affected by the flow dynamics in a radial impeller. Furthermore, modification and improvement of a radial turbine impeller is a challenging task for turbomachinery engineers. Hence, this study aimed to further computational fluid dynamic analyses of a radial turbine stage performance .The design characteristics of a radial turbine stage, was used to simulate the flow by using independent packages of ANSYS CFX. The comparative study of a three dimensional flow simulation will give a more reasonable results of the turbine stage flow behavior and computational fluid dynamic simulation can give a more detailed result and reveal unexpected flow behavior like separation and vortexes.The results showed that the fluid flow dynamics within a turbine stage has indicated a noticeable performance characteristics. Obviously, it was observed that the pressure ratio and volume flow rate and efficiency were predicted numerically. Overall numerical results obtained from computational fluid dynamic simulations could produce a highly reliable for estimation on the performance a radial turbine of turbocharger.

Visualization of vortex flow field around a flat plate with noncircular hole

In this paper we study the numerical three dimensional simulation of laminar incompressible viscous flow over a flat plate with circular and noncircular hole. The hole is located at the center of the plate. The aim of this paper is to visualize the steady and unsteady vortex dynamics using immersed boundary method. This method takes three variables, viz. velocity, vortices and the pressure to solve the flow field over a specimen. The plate considered is of 0.01 m length and the air is used as the flow medium and hole is made of same area. The analysis are done both circular hole plate and non-circular hole to examine the difference in the force and wake at the trailing part of the flat plate. In this study we measure the magnitude of vortices behind a flat plate and we also study the physical backdrop of how vortex strength is depend on the inner profile of the body. From the results it is evident that the reverse flow is stronger in non circular profile however the strength of vortex is higher in circular holed plate. It’s also found that velocity is inversely proportional to strength of vortices in flat plate with noncircular hole.

Noise reduction of a horizontal wind turbine using different blade shapes

Investigation of blade tip shape effect on the noise emission from horizontal axis wind turbine is the target of this work. To recognize the flow around blade wind turbine, and to minimize the noise emission especially at the tip; three different tip blade configurations are tested by using the aerodynamic and the aero-acoustic computational methods. Three dimensional flow simulations are carried out with two unsteady CFD simulations; Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Naviere-Stokes (URANS) and Detached Eddy Simulation (DES). These methods are used to calculate the near-field flow around a HAWT of NREL Phase VI small scale model with different tip blade shapes. Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings (FW–H) analogy is used to predict the sound generated from the turbine, and then it is validated and compared with available experimental data for small-scaled model of NREL Phase VI. In general, the comparison confirms a good and acceptable agreement between DES results and the experimental measured noise results. Moreover, it is shown that a possibility to reduce or minimize the sound pressure level by using a specific tip shape. The results indicated that the usage of a specific tip shape has an important and significant influence on the noise emission in particular at the high frequency range.

Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Cavity Flows on Graphic Processing Unit with Memory Management

AbstractLattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is adopted to compute two and three-dimensional lid driven cavity flows to examine the influence of memory management on the computational performance using Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Both single and multi-relaxation time LBM are adopted. The computations are conducted on nVIDIA GeForce Titan, Tesla C2050 and GeForce GTX 560Ti. The performance using global memory deteriorates greatly when multi relaxation time (MRT) LBM is used, which is due to the scheme requesting more information from the global memory than its single relaxation time (SRT) LBM counterpart. On the other hand, adopting on chip memory the difference using MRT and SRT is not significant. Also, performance of LBM streaming procedure using offset reading surpasses offset writing ranging from 50% to 100% and this applies to both SRT and MRT LBM. Finally, comparisons using different GPU platforms indicate that Titan as expected outperforms other devices, and attains 227 and 193 speedup over its Intel Core i7-990 CPU counterpart and four times faster than GTX 560Ti and Tesla C2050 for three dimensional cavity flow simulations respectively with single and double precisions.

Numerical study of flow past a solid sphere at high Reynolds number

The present study gives a detail description of separation flow and its effect under high Reynolds number. The unsteady three dimensional flow simulation around sphere using numerical simulation computational fluid dynamics for high Reynolds number between 300 000 < Re < 600 000 is discussed. The separation angle and drag coefficient are also presented. The results show that the increasing Reynolds number affecting the formation of vortex shedding, separation point and drag coefficient. The agreement was good, confirming the reliability of the predicted data from computational fluid dynamic in flow analysis around sphere at high Reynolds number.

Reducing Noise Generated from a Wind Turbine Blade by Pitch Angle Control using CFD and Acoustic Analogy

Investigation of the effects blade pitch angle on noise emission from a horizontal axis wind turbine is the goal of this paper. To understand the flow around blade wind turbine, and to reduce noise emission in order to respect noise regulation, especially a residential area , three different pitch angles 0°, 3°, and 6° are tested, using computational aerodynamic and aero acoustic methods. Three dimensional flow simulations are carried out with two unsteady CFD simulations URANS, DES used to calculate the near-field flow around a HAWT of NREL Phase VI small scale. The far field noise is predicted from the simulated sources by the Ffowcs William and Hawkings analogy, and compared and validated with available test data for a small-scaled model of the NREL Phase VI. The comparison demonstrates a generally good agreement between DES predicted and measured noise levels. It can be seen that the noise emission increases by decreasing pitch angle. Moreover, the pitch angle control has a significant effect on the noise emission especially in the intermediate frequency range. We show that it is possible to reduce the noise level by control pitch angle without losing too much the power.

Three Dimensional Computational Flow Simulation of Truncated Aerospike Nozzle Considering Different Plug Lengths

Propulsive systems for planetary landing and ascent needs mass reduction since the cost of delivering the required propellant and structural mass is very high. Aerospike nozzle has demonstrated a significant potential advantage for purely in-space applications. This paper mainly concentrates on the CFD analysis of aerospike nozzle for 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% plug length with the CFD analysis at cases considering multiple altitudes representing ideal, under-expansion and over-expansion conditions of the flow had been carried out. ANSYS CFX was used to simulate the flow at these different conditions. The visualisation obtained through the CFD simulation was used to compare the performance of different spike lengths at different above mentioned operation conditions. A deduction had been made that at overexpansion condition the spike nozzle is efficient of producing five percent more thrust and the loss of the thrust is proportional to the truncation.