Flow Simulation Software Research Articles

Numerical investigation and optimization of an experimentally analyzed solar CPC

In this study a compound parabolic collector (CPC) taken from literature was investigated optically and thermally through simulation. The collector was tested at different transversal and the longitudinal incident angles and the results showed us a total agreement between the present and the previous study where TracePro software was used. In addition, a new optical efficiency relationship was proposed and it was found that diverges significantly from the commonly used relationship as the reflector's shape losses and/or the absorber's diameter increase. Also, the CFD analysis results were validated from the previous study experimental data (4.2% mean divergence in thermal efficiency), something that reveals how sufficiently the real problem has been approached. Finally, an optimization process was followed in order to improve the collector's optical performance, while the novel CPC resulted from the optimization was compared with the initial design for the typical conditions of the 11th of June in Athens from 08:00 to 16:00, in order to examine the effect of different solar irradiation intensities in the comparison process. It was revealed that the novel design exceeds the initial one in all the examined hours. The design and the simulation of the collector were conducted via Solidworks Flow Simulation software.

Application of a Telescoping Microextraction Needle Trap Sampling Device on a Drone to Extract Airborne Organic Vapors

ABSTRACT A quadrotor drone was equipped with an active solid phase microextraction (SPME) sampling device, known as a needle trap sampler (NTS), for extracting airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The NTS, which has a 22-gauge stainless steel needle that is manually packed with 60–80-mesh adsorbent divinylbenzene (DVB) particles, was attached to a telescoping shaft to extend the sampling range beyond the strong downward stream that flows across the propellers of a hovering drone. The end of the NTS inlet was positioned below the head of the drone, which was the optimal location determined by using the flow simulation software SolidWorks. Our results confirm the feasibility of collecting toluene, ethylbenzene, and p-xylene matrix vapor with a telescoping SPME sampling device on a quadrotor drone using a pilot VOC exhaustion system. Therefore, we recommend this mobile system for sampling polluted air emitted by industrial factories.

Research on precipitation Simulation of Water-rich Subway Station based on Visual Modflow

Based on the foundation pit dewatering and recharge engineering of a subway station in Jinan City, the groundwater control technology of foundation pit engineering based on fluid-solid coupling is studied in this paper. With the measures of setting deep and shallow recharge wells and dewatering construction of foundation pit at the same time of dewatering and recharging, the actual foundation pit dewatering engineering is simulated by visual 3D groundwater flow simulation software Visual Modflow. The additional stress principle of soil is used to analyze the land subsidence. The software makes full use of the characteristics of flexible determination of well location, number of wells, well structure, water inflow, well diameter and so on in the foundation pit, and realizes the visualization, anticipation and verification of the design dewatering process at the same time. The reliability of the method is proved and a new way of dewatering design for foundation pit in the future is provided.

Optimization for Reducing Warpage in Injection Moulding

Injection molding is a standout technique utilized for the fabrication of thermoplastic parts in industry due to short product cycles, high part quality, good mechanical properties and low cost for large scale manufacturing. In molded case circuit breaker (MCCB), Trip-bar is one of the most critical components as safety is concerned which is manufactured by injection molding process. To get it manufactured within the specified warpage and deformities free, number of mold flow simulations is carried out using Creo-MoldFlow. The outcomes of the simulation are used to design the mold tool and the process parameters for injection molding are optimized. For process parameter optimization Taguchi based experimental design and ANOVA analysis is done. The objective of this work is to optimize the injection molding process parameters such as filling time, melt temperature and mold temperature to minimize the warpage. CAE flow simulation software is used to simulate the process and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) is used to find out optimum process parameters.

Adapting a Capillary Rheometer for Research on Polymer Melt Interfaces

Interfaces between immiscible polymers are widely known to be the origin of premature failure in multilayers and blends. Developing a small-scale, continuous method to fabricate interfaces from polymer melts with short contact times to simulate industrial coextrusion is critical for assessing new materials, polymeric systems, and processing conditions. Here we develop a miniature coextrusion die that can be fitted to a twin bore capillary rheometer for precise temperature and contact time control from 4.4 to 440 s. The design of the feedblock, stacker, manifold, and land zones was optimized via flow simulation software to allow bilayer coextrusion with minimal (<10%) edge distortions. Bilayer films of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and polyethylene (PE) were produced using 90% less material than a lab-scale continuous multilayer coextrusion device, and the interfacial adhesion was in excellent agreement with iPP/PE bilayers produced using a continuous coextrusion technique for a range of PE molecular archi...

Studi Numerik Unjuk Kerja Penggunaan Winglet Pada Heat Exchanger Tipe Compact

The compact heat exchanger is one type of heat exchanger which has an area of heat transfer per unit volume the largest (≥ 400 m2 / m3 for liquids and ≥ 700 m2 / m3 for gases) which is composed of fin and tube. But often found a decrease in heat transfer performance on a heat exchanger. To increase the heat transfer performance, changes are made on the surface of the fin or by adding a vortex generator. In this numerical study vortex generator was added to the winglet delta curve type which aims to determine the flow characteristics and the transfer of heat produced. This numerical study uses solidworks flow simulation software as a numerical simulation tool. Speed variations on the inlet side are 0.5 m / s, 1.15 m / s and 1.8 m / s. Simulation results were obtained by comparing fin using winglet delta curve with those without the winglet delta curve and compared to adding holes on the winglet delta curve. From the simulation results obtained compact heat exchanger which uses the winglet delta curve without and with holes the increase in heat transfer rate ranges from 16.43% - 30.67% compared to a heat exchanger without a winglet delta curve.

Development of Tooling and Modes of Dispersion for Powders of Solder Aluminum Alloys

It is known that the main factor specifying the dispersity of spraying of particles of metallic powders is the energy of blowing, which is, as a rule, controlled by the speed of supply of gaseous energy carrier to the jet of the melt. We study the modes of manufacturing and, on the basis of the results of computer simulation, develop special tooling for the procedure of dispersion of powders of solder aluminum alloys. We consider technical and technological schemes of getting powders from aluminum alloys intended for soldering the waveguides. The computer investigations of the influence of the geometry of structural elements of equipment on the parameters of dispersion of the AK12Ts10 melt are carried out by using the Solidworks Flow Simulation package for engineering analysis. In this case, it is assumed that the speed of the gas (argon) jet at a temperature of 20°С at the site of collision with the melt must be maximum for the identical other conditions (initial pressure, gas temperature, and temperature of the melt). We establish the dependences necessary and sufficient for the design of structural elements of the equipment and the creation of technological modes guaranteeing the realization of conditions of stability of the process of dispersion of the metal melt in getting powder of the required fraction (70 μm) in a laboratory installation. We present a description of the installation intended for the dispersion of AK12Ts10 melts with the help of which we prepared a pilot batch of a powder fraction 70 μm in size with a mass of 400 g. This batch was then delivered to the Reshetnev “Information Satellite Systems” Enterprise for industrial tests aimed at soldering aluminum waveguides. The tests of the paste in the course of soldering of elements of the waveguides under industrial conditions exhibited positive results.

THE INFLUENCE OF LENGTH CUTS TRAILING EDGE ON FLOW CHARACTERISTICS IN THE RAILWAY HELM USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

There are many important reviews about the flow characteristics in the body of the racing bike helmet caused by the relative motion of the air along the Trailing Edge shape. The lines formed in such a way in the speed field will form a streamline stream so that the lines are in line with the flow at each point in the flow field. Thus, the streamline will form a pattern of airflow around the helmet. This aerodynamic characteristic study was performed on time meter helmet body visualized numerically using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with Solid Work Flow Simulation software. With variation of Trailing Edge 25 mm, 75 mm, 125 mm. Urgency research about helm time trial is believed to provide information about the flow that occurred. The result shows that the drag coefficient reduction that occurs on the cut variation of 75 mm compared with other variations on the Reynolds number 1.16 x 105 of 0.395.

A High-Speed Magnetoelectric High-Power Generator

The efficiency of increasing the power of a magnetoelectric generator (MEG) was investigated in the RMXprt module of the Ansoft Maxwell software package. The MEG under study has four poles. Its magnetic system consists of cylindrical permanent magnets equally spaced over the rotor diameter. The magnetization of the rotor permanent magnets has a radial direction. To determine the thermal state of the MEG, the Solid Works Flow Simulation software package was used. An estimation of efficiency of using the Halbach magnet system in high-speed magnetoelectric energy converters is presented. The influence of the ratio of the rotor pole arc to the pole pitch was investigated, and as a result of the studies it was found that decreasing the pole arc makes it possible to reduce a total harmonic distortion (THD), but a current density increases and short-circuit current decreases. Therefore, when using this method, it is necessary fully to determine all of these parameters. The research results were used as a basis for design of a high-speed liquid-cooled MEG with 450-kW power and a 50 000-rpm rotor speed.

Simulation of a gas and air flow exhausted by production equipment

The paper provides the results of researching the influence of the gas and air flow at the exit from the pipeline of the technological channel on the performance of a gas and air power unit. It has been determined that in order to obtain the maximum electrical energy by the gas and air power unit, it is necessary to take into account the influence of the gas and air flow. In this case, the location of the generator’s propeller in the field of the gas and air flow has a significant effect. The energy parameters of the gas and air flow are influenced by the parameters of the fan, the generator, the process channel and the generator’s propeller. A technique was developed to analyse changes in the speed of the gas and air flow at the exit from the pipeline. The physical equations included in the method characterize the processes occurring in the gas and air channel. In this case, the law of conservation of mass and the pressure balance in the form of a system of differential equations for a section before and after the propeller of the generator are used. The dependencies of the air flow rate variation on the output power of different types of fans are calculated. It has been shown that in order to increase the air flow speed at the exit from the pipeline, it is necessary to increase the output power of the fans. A mathematical model was constructed to analyse gas and air flows before and after the propeller of the generator when changing its distance from the process channel exit, its parameters, and the parameters of the generator’s propeller. The model includes equations on the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy of a non-stationary spatial flow. The equations are represented in the Cartesian coordinate system that rotates with an angular velocity around the axis passing through its origin. The model also includes equations on the kinetic energy of turbulence and the dissipation of this energy. The study provides the results of the computer simulation of the process of distribution of the gas and air flow blown by a fan of the working unit. The research was done using the SolidWorks Flow Simulation software environment. The article presents the simulation results that helped obtain the recommended limits of the best location of the generator propeller in the field of the gas and air flow to produce the maximum amount of electrical power by the gas and air unit. The adequacy of the obtained results of the computer simulation of the process of air flow production by a fan has been verified by conducting experimental tests on the laboratory facility. It has been determined that the practical value of the results obtained is the possibility of using the proposed analytical dependencies to develop algorithms for controlling the performance of the gas and air power unit.

Adaptive refinement strategies for the simulation of gas flow in networks using a model hierarchy

A model hierarchy that is based on the one-dimensional isothermal Euler equations of fluid dynamics is used for the simulation and optimisation of natural gas flow through a pipeline network. Adaptive refinement strategies have the aim of bringing the simulation error below a prescribed tolerance while keeping the computational costs low. While spatial and temporal stepsize adaptivity is well studied in the literature, model adaptivity is a new field of research. The problem of finding an optimal refinement strategy that combines these three types of adaptivity is a generalisation of the unbounded knapsack problem. A refinement strategy that is currently used in gas flow simulation software is compared to two novel greedy-like strategies. Both a theoretical experiment and a realistic gas flow simulation show that the novel strategies significantly outperform the current refinement strategy with respect to the computational cost incurred.

Analysis of BJ493 diesel engine lubrication system properties

The BJ493ZLQ4A diesel engine design is based on the primary model of BJ493ZLQ3, of which exhaust level is upgraded to the National GB5 standard due to the improved design of combustion and injection systems. Given the above changes in the diesel lubrication system, its improved properties are analyzed in this paper. According to the structures, technical parameters and indices of the lubrication system, the lubrication system model of BJ493ZLQ4A diesel engine was constructed using the Flowmaster flow simulation software. The properties of the diesel engine lubrication system, such as the oil flow rate and pressure at different rotational speeds were analyzed for the schemes involving large- and small-scale oil filters. The calculated values of the main oil channel pressure are in good agreement with the experimental results, which verifies the proposed model feasibility. The calculation results show that the main oil channel pressure and maximum oil flow rate values for the large-scale oil filter scheme satisfy the design requirements, while the small-scale scheme yields too low main oil channel’s pressure and too high. Therefore, application of small-scale oil filters is hazardous, and the large-scale scheme is recommended.

Verification Assessment of Piston Boundary Conditions for Lagrangian Simulation of the Guderley Problem

This work is concerned with the use of Guderley's converging shock wave solution of the inviscid compressible flow equations as a verification test problem for compressible flow simulation software. In practice, this effort is complicated by both the semi-analytical nature and infinite spatial/temporal extent of this solution. Methods can be devised with the intention of ameliorating this inconsistency with the finite nature of computational simulation; the exact strategy will depend on the code and problem archetypes under investigation. For example, scale-invariant shock wave propagation can be represented in Lagrangian compressible flow simulations as rigid boundary-driven flow, even if no such “piston” is present in the counterpart mathematical similarity solution. The purpose of this work is to investigate in detail the methodology of representing scale-invariant shock wave propagation as a piston-driven flow in the context of the Guderley problem, which features a semi-analytical solution of infinite spatial/temporal extent. The semi-analytical solution allows for the derivation of a similarly semi-analytical piston boundary condition (BC) for use in Lagrangian compressible flow solvers. The consequences of utilizing this BC (as opposed to directly initializing the Guderley solution in a computational spatial grid at a fixed time) are investigated in terms of common code verification analysis metrics (e.g., shock strength/position errors, global convergence rates). For the examples considered in this work, the piston-driven initialization approach is demonstrated to be a viable alternative to the more traditional, direct initialization approach.

Effects of particle size and concentration on bubble coalescence and froth formation in a slurry bubble column

A new approach for simulating the formation of a froth layer in a slurry bubble column is proposed. Froth is considered a separate phase, comprised of a mixture of gas, liquid, and solid. The simulation was carried out using commercial flow simulation software (FIRE v2014) for particle sizes of 60–150μm at solid concentrations of 0–40vol%, and superficial gas velocities of 0.02–0.034m/s in a slurry bubble column with a hydraulic diameter of 0.2m and height of 1.2m. Modelling calculations were conducted using a Eulerian–Eulerian multiphase approach with k–ε turbulence. The population balance equations for bubble breakup, bubble coalescence rate, and the interfacial exchange of mass and momentum were included in the computational fluid dynamics code by writing subroutines in Fortran to track the number density of different bubble sizes. Flow structure, radial gas holdup, and Sauter mean bubble diameter distributions at different column heights were predicted in the pulp zone, while froth volume fraction and density were predicted in the froth zone. The model was validated using available experimental data, and the predicted and experimental results showed reasonable agreement. To demonstrate the effect of increasing solid concentration on the coalescence rate, a solid-effect multiplier in the coalescence efficiency equation was used. The solid-effect multiplier decreased with increasing slurry concentration, causing an increase in bubble coalescence efficiency. A slight decrease in the coalescence efficiency was also observed owing to increasing particle size, which led to a decrease in Sauter mean bubble diameter. The froth volume fraction increased with solid concentration. These results provide an improved understanding of the dynamics of slurry bubble reactors in the presence of hydrophilic particles.

Simulation on the Performance of a Driven Fan Made by Polyester/Epoxy interpenetrate polymer network (IPN)

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of a driven fan design made by Polyester/Epoxy interpenetrate polymer network (IPN) material that specifically used for turbocharger compressor. Polyester/Epoxy IPN is polymer plastics that was used as replacements for traditional polymers and has been widely used in a variety of applications because of their limitless conformations. Simulation based on several parameters which are air pressure, air velocity and air temperature have been carried out for a driven fan design performance of two different materials, aluminum alloy (existing driven fan design) and Polyester/Epoxy IPN using SolidWorks Flow Simulation software. Results from both simulations were analyzed and compared where both materials show similar performance in terms of air pressure and air velocity due to similar geometric and dimension, but Polyester/Epoxy IPN produces lower air temperature than aluminum alloy. This study shows a preliminary result of the potential Polyester/Epoxy IPN to be used as a driven fan design material. In the future, further studies will be conducted on detail simulation and experimental analysis.

Implementation of Different Gas Influence for Operation of Modified Atomic Force Microscope Sensor

This paper presents modelling of various gas application to modified atomic force microscope sensor in order to change its existing dynamic characteristics. This paper represents part of continuous research, which is focused on improvement of scanning speed of atomic force microscope (AFM) sensor. Subject of our research is enhancement of dynamic characteristics of Atomic force microscope sensor. Natural frequency of AFM sensor is the main factor influencing max scanning speed of atomic force microscope. In case of working range of frequencies approaches to the resonant frequency of cantilever, scanning results becoming inaccurate and unreliable. Improvement of properties of atomic force sensor made by adding additional nonlinear aerodynamic force to the AFM sensor. This force would act as additional controllable stiffness element, which allows shift resonant frequency to higher side. In this paper is presented research of additional nonlinear force behavior using different gasses as well as compressed air. Research covers factor of humidity of compressed air. Our research performed using 3D atomic microscope cantilever model in SolidWorks flow simulation software. Results of simulation delivered as dependencies of additional stiffness in the AFM sensor in all modelled cases. Finally, results presented in graphical form and conclusions are drawn.

Resin flow modeling in compliant porous media: an efficient approach for liquid composite molding

In Liquid Composite Molding (LCM) processes such as Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) and Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM), complete saturation of reinforcement with resin during the injection step is necessary. In RTM, reinforcement experiences no deformation during infusion but for other methods reinforcement thickness changes during the injection. To model resin flow in compliant media, RTM flow simulation software is routinely used. It has been successful in predicting flow patterns if appropriate “effective” permeability is used. The proper approach requires new implementation that couples the deformation and pressure field which is computationally more demanding. Our work describes a computationally efficient methodology to add corrections into RTM simulation environment to account for deformation. This approach is verified with known solutions and experimental validation. The simulation is applied to a complex geometry which demonstrates better computational performance and confirms that the “effective” permeability may be used to model flow in complex geometries.

Prevention of methane hydrate re-formation in transport pipeline using thermodynamic and kinetic hydrate inhibitors

Methane gas produced from marine hydrate deposits will flow together with dissociated water in two phases, and the risk of hydrate reformation must be managed. This study used the OLGA multiphase flow simulation software to simulate methane transportation with dissociated water through a vertical 2160m pipeline in order to determine the amount of monoethylene glycol (MEG) as a thermodynamic hydrate inhibitor. When the hydrate saturation ratio in hydrate deposits varies, a large amount of MEG becomes inevitable. Moreover, when undesired water breakthrough occurs, the MEG concentration would decrease to where hydrates may re-form before responding in the offshore platform. A risk management strategy for hydrate reformation is investigated by adopting under-inhibition with MEG and the addition of PVCap as a kinetic hydrate inhibitor (KHI). The experimental results in high pressure autoclave showed that PVCap exhibited a limited performance in delaying the hydrate formation in a high subcooling condition. Considering the vertical flowline of 2160m, the delay time was not sufficient to prevent the hydrate re-formation in the transport pipeline. Complete prevention of hydrate re-formation can be avoided with 35wt% MEG concentration, however decreasing the MEG concentration to 20wt% was also feasible in order to avoid hydrate formation since it was not observed for more than 960min. In the presence of 0.1wt% of PVCap and 10wt% MEG, the hydrate delay time was of about 311.5min. This delay time is 76% longer than the residence time of methane and water mixture in the transport pipeline, thus this synergistic inhibition can significantly reduce the injection rate of MEG while preventing hydrate formation. This is the first work suggesting a risk management strategy for hydrate reformation in hydrate production system, and thus will provide insights to develop advanced hydrate production technologies.

Research on Gas-liquid Mixed Transportation Technological Adaptability: A Case Study of the Western Sichuan Gas Field

Background: The western Sichuan gas field belongs to the low-permeability, tight gas reservoirs, which are characterized by rapid decline in initial production of single-well production, short periods of stable production, and long periods of late-stage, low-pressure, low-yield production. Objective: It is necessary to continue pursuing the optimization of transportation processes. Method: This paper describes research on mixed transportation based on simplified measurements with liquid-based technology and the simulation of multiphase processes using the PIPEPHASE multiphase flow simulation software to determine boundary values for the liquid carrying process. Conclusion: The simulation produced several different recommendations for the production and maximum multiphase distance along with difference in elevation. Field tests were then conducted to determine the suitability of mixed transportation in western Sichuan, so as to ensure smooth progress with fluid metering, optimize the gathering process in order to achieve stable and efficient gas production, and improve the economic benefits of gas field development.

Development of an Automated System for Modeling and Prediction of Physical Processes in Wood Drying Chambers

Proper understanding of the nature of the process of forecasting, modeling and research methods of wood drying is necessary to enable saving time and material resources in developing real industrial projects in order to be implemented on the domestic and foreign markets. The object of our investigation is the aerodynamic processes in wood drying chambers that wiil be used for calculating the parameters of agent timber (ASD) using SolidWorks Flow Simulation software application. To perform the tasks we used software for automatic calculation and design of components for the wood drying chamber using the application-programming interface, which is called SolidWorks API. The primary objective in this work is to determine the correct choice points, which will be used to form the arrays of input for the training samples. To perform this task, we decided to divide the wood drying chamber into five planes, each of which is defined by twenty points. Firstly, we have created a radial-basis artificial neural network to get the value of any parameter for drying agent. The function of the neural network of radial basis has three layers. As a result of using the ‘Mynetwork' function, we have got the desired value parameter of drying agent in wood drying chamber at a given point and in a given time. Then, we proceed with the graphical representation of the results. To perform this task it was decided to create a graph, where you can track the temperature change of agent timber in space and time. Our space is presented by previously mentioned points that are placed along the perimeter of the drying wood chamber according to the coordinates, at the total number of 100 points. Therefore, to construct the graph of the appearance, we must specify two axes. To conclude, as the result of the work using SolidWorks Flow Simulation experiments, values of drying agent parameters, which include relative humidity, air velocity and its temperature were found. With the average value, graphs for parameter changes of drying agent by time were constructed. Another equally important task that was done was the creation of radial-basis neuron network, which would allow us to get values for parameters of drying agent anywhere in the chamber drying wood and at any time. Lastly, we have created the graphs for drying agent parameter. This task was also performed in the Matlab environment.