Non-dimensional Groups Research Articles

Non-negligible buoyancy effect on bubbles travelling in horizontal microchannels of comparable size at small Bond numbers

When a gas bubble is transported by a liquid flow confined within a horizontal channel of comparable size, buoyancy effects are usually assumed to be negligible if the Bond number of the flow is less than unity. However, recent experimental studies showed that buoyancy may still significantly impact the bubble dynamics even when Bo≪1, provided that the flow speed is sufficiently small, such that the viscous and inertial forces are weak. To derive a new criterion to assess the significance of buoyancy on the flow of small bubbles in horizontal microchannels, we have performed systematic numerical simulations using the free software Basilisk, covering a wide range of Bond, capillary and Reynolds numbers, Bo=0.004−0.4, Ca=10−4−0.5 and Re=0−100, and exploring the bubble-to-channel diameter ratios db/D=0.2−0.9. We demonstrate that the nondimensional group Bo(db/D)2/Ca is effective in assessing the importance of buoyancy in flows with negligible inertial effects. When Bo(db/D)2/Ca<0.1, buoyancy effects are negligible and the bubble travels along the channel axis. When Bo(db/D)2/Ca>10, buoyancy effects dominate and the bubble travels in the vicinity of the upper wall. For intermediate values, bubbles take equilibrium positions between the channel centre and the wall, and the threshold Bo(db/D)2/Ca=1 is effective in predicting whether bubbles will travel closer to the channel centre or to the wall. The capillary number at the denominator describes the lift force generated by the deformation of the bubble due to viscous shear, which acts towards the channel centre thus opposing buoyancy. Inertial forces significantly alter the shape and equilibrium position of the bubble when the Weber number of the flow exceeds unity and Bo/We<1. Under the action of inertia, bubbles of size comparable to the channel diameter become elongated but remain centred. Smaller bubbles migrate towards the channel wall and do not exhibit a preferential near-wall circumferential position.

Statistics of unidirectional wave groups with and without freak waves observed in the Norwegian Sea

The statistical properties of observed wave groups are essential for designing marine structures. However, the characteristics of group energy, length, and profiles remain unclear. This paper analyzes more than 1 million measured ocean unidirectional wave groups in deep water of the Norwegian Sea during a decade. By classifying wave groups into ordinary and extreme categories based on the presence of a freak wave, it is found that both the distributions of the non-dimensional group energy and group duration follow the Generalized extreme value functions. Moreover, the statistics of wave groups are significantly influenced by the spectral width, with wave steepness having negligible effects. The ratio of the average group duration between extreme and ordinary categories varies slightly from 1.4 to 1.8, although the energy of extreme wave groups can reach 3.0–4.5 times than that of ordinary wave groups. Furthermore, unlike the typical shape of a freak wave with a high wave crest or deep wave trough significantly larger than the surrounding waves, consecutive large waves resembling the “three sisters” are quite common in this location. However, NewWave theory generally underestimates the wave amplitudes surrounding a freak wave, leading to the predicted energy of the most likely extreme wave groups being only about 50–80% of the measured values. Finally, a new modified model is proposed to predict the average shapes of extreme wave groups. After testing numerous wave cases, the model accurately captures the mean morphology of extreme wave groups in the Norwegian Sea.

Elucidating the transfer dynamics of high-viscosity silver paste for laser-induced forward transfer of continuous line

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), as an innovative 3D direct-write method, has been increasingly applied for various material printing in many applications. Elucidating the transfer process of paste is crucial to manipulate the printing quality. In this work, the transfer dynamics of high-viscosity silver paste in LIFT of continuous line was systematically investigated based on the cumulative effect from images obtained over hundreds of laser pulses. The influences of process parameters, including the laser energy input (single pulse energy, repetition frequency, and scanning speed) and the thickness of paste film, on the bump height and expansion velocity of bump front were analyzed. With increasing the single pulse energy or repetition frequency, or decreasing the scanning speed or film thickness, the evolution of bump morphology and sputtering varies from just a tiny bump with no sputtering, to a moderate-sized bump with a small amount of sputtering and rebounding, and further to a large bump with intense sputtering and rebounding. A non-dimensional group in terms of Reynolds and Weber numbers was proposed to categorize different evolution regimes and claim the physical mechanism on LIFT of continuous line. When the Reynolds number is greater than 0.01 and the Weber number is greater than 0.1, the inertial effect is sufficient to resist the viscous and capillary effects, inducing the paste to bulge and transfer downwards. A moderate-sized bump with no visibly fragmented sputtering is desirable for the transfer of continuous grid lines. The forming status of grid lines can be predicted according to the behavior of paste transfer, and the predicted grid line state agrees well with the actual state. This can provide process and theoretical references for printing continuous grid lines with LIFT.

Investigation of Natural Helium Circulation Inside Dual Channels Prismatic Modular Reactor

Natural helium circulation inside a dual-channel prismatic modular reactor was numerically investigated to comprehend the passive safety features using the new RHYS/ASYST VER4 package. The natural circulation was studied at Depressurized Cooldown (DC) at heat fluxes of 860–2293 W/m2 with a pressure of 413.7 kPa and Pressurized Cooldown (PC) at pressures of 413.47–689.12 kPa with a flux of 1720 W/m2. A reversal of the heat transfer near the riser exit was seen, combined with a decrease in helium and riser wall temperatures due to the end effect. The pressure has an inverse effect on the heat transfer, where the temperature decreases by 19 % as the pressure increases from 413.47 to 689.12 kPa. The heat transfer was studied under the DC and PC. Both entrance and end effects are introduced with the heat transfer coefficient. Also, the nondimensional groups (Nu, Gr, Pr, and Ra) were discussed.

Flexural–torsional buckling with enforced axis of twist and related problems

The classical lateral–torsional instability of a cantilever beam with continuous elastic lateral restraint and a transverse point-load applied at the free end is discussed here through the lens of asymptotic simplifications. One of our main goals is to provide analytical approximations for the critical buckling load, as well as its dependence on various key non-dimensional groups. The first part of this study is concerned with a scenario in which a doubly symmetric beam is constrained to rotate about a fixed axis situated at an arbitrary height above the shear centroidal axis. The second part examines a beam that features a continuous elastic lateral restraint spanning its entire length. Assuming that the stiffness of the constraint, κ (say), is finite, the buckling equations in the second case are described by a system of two coupled fourth-order differential equations in the lateral displacement and the angle of twist. We show that as κ → ∞ , the problem discussed in the first part provides an outer solution for the aforementioned system; the relevant boundary conditions for the next-to-leading-order outer approximation are also derived using matched asymptotics. Our theoretical findings are confirmed by comparisons with direct numerical simulations of the full buckling problem.

Influence of the thermophysical properties of working liquids on heat transfer performance during flow boiling in microchannels

A thorough understanding of the governing interfacial interactions during flow boiling in a microchannel would provide important insights into the underlying physics of fluid dynamics and heat transfer mechanisms. In this study, flow-boiling experiments were performed in a single rectangular microchannel with hydraulic diameter of 0.18 mm. Three working fluids (water, ethanol, and HFE7100) with significantly different thermo-physical properties were tested under an inlet subcooling of 25 °C, mass flux of 50–330 kg·m−2·s−1, and effective heat fluxes up to 400 kW·m−2. Non-dimensional groups were used to quantify the relative effects of the forces governing the liquid–vapor interface. The bubble dynamics, flow pattern transition, heat transfer, and pressure drop were compared for the three different working fluids, and a mechanistic explanation of the flow boiling performance was proposed based on a force scaling analysis. Meanwhile, through investigating the influence of dimensionless parameters on heat transfer coefficient, a new basic heat transfer correlation that applies to a wide range of working fluids was developed, with 92.5 % of data points falling within ± 30 % error bands and with a mean absolute error of 14.7 %. HFE7100 exhibited the minimum increase in pressure drop with heat flux owing to its smallest liquid-to-vapor density ratio, low viscosity, and lowest interfacial tension effect. This study lays the foundation for the development of more reliable theoretical correlations and provides important insights into optimal design principles.

A closed-form criterion to identify high-mobility flowslides

This paper derives a closed-form criterion to assess the risk of flowslide runout in loose frictional soil. The derivations rely on a recently proposed framework to simulate pre- and post-failure motion in infinite slopes. An analytical solution of the coupled differential equations capturing flowslide hydromechanics is obtained by specifying them for a perfectly plastic constitutive law. This result enables a comprehensive examination of the factors that control whether the landslide motion, once triggered, autonomously comes to rest (self-regulating behaviour with low mobility) or continues to propagate (self-feeding behaviour with high mobility). It is found that the time history of motion is regulated by non-dimensional property groups reflecting the timescale of excess pore pressure dissipation and the inertial properties of the liquefied zone, which are in turn governed by material (e.g. hydraulic conductivity, dilation coefficient, elastic moduli) and slope properties (e.g. thickness, inclination). The solution is used to build charts identifying the critical ranges of soil properties and triggering factors that differentiate between high-mobility and low-mobility flowslides. Most importantly, it is shown that the fate of flowslide motions is predicted by a critical ratio expressed in terms of excess pore pressure and flow velocity, here defined as the factor of mobility, FM, with values above 1 indicating a self-feeding runout.

Scaling laws for near-wall flows of thixo-elasto-viscoplastic fluids in a millifluidic channel

Thixo-elasto-viscoplastic (TEVP) fluids are very complex fluids. In addition to elasticity and viscoplasticity, they exhibit thixotropy, i.e., time-dependent rheology due to breakdown and recovery of internal structures at different length- and timescales. General and consistent methods for a priori flow prediction of TEVP fluids based on rheological characteristics are yet to be developed. We report a combined study of the rheology and flow of 18 samples of different TEVP fluids (three yogurts and three concentrations of Laponite and Carbopol, respectively, in water in both the unstirred and a stirred state). The rheology is determined both with standard protocols and with an ex situ protocol aiming at reproducing the shear history of the fluid in the flow. Micrometer resolution flow measurements in a millimeter scale rectangular duct are performed with Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography (D-OCT). As expected, the results show the existence of a plug flow region for samples with sufficiently high yield stress. At low flow rates, the plug extends almost all the way to the wall and the extent of the plug decreases not only with increased flow rate but also with increased thixotropy. The ex situ rheology protocol enables estimation of the shear rate and shear stress close to the wall, making it possible to identify two scaling laws that relates four different non-dimensional groups quantifying the key properties wall-shear stress and slip velocity. The scaling laws are suggested as an ansatz for a priori prediction of the near-wall flow of TEVP fluids based on shear flow-curves obtained with a rheometer.

A comparison between the FENE-P and sPTT constitutive models in large-amplitude oscillatory shear

The finitely extensible nonlinear elastic with Peterlin closure (FENE-P) and simplified Phan-Thien–Tanner (sPTT) viscoelastic models are used widely for modelling of complex fluids. Although they are derived from distinct micro-structural theories, these models can become mathematically identical in steady and homogeneous flows with a particular choice of the values of the model parameters. However, even with this choice of parameter values, the model responses are known to differ from each other in transient flows. In this work, we investigate the responses of the FENE-P and sPTT constitutive models in large-amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS). In steady shear, the shear stress scales with the non-dimensional group $Wi/(aL)$ ( $Wi\,\sqrt {\epsilon }$ ) for the FENE-P (sPTT) model, where $Wi$ is the Weissenberg number, $L^2$ is the limit of extensibility in the FENE-P model ( $a$ being $L^2/(L^2-3)$ ), and $\epsilon$ is the extensibility parameter in the sPTT model. Our numerical and analytical results show that in LAOS, the FENE-P model shows this universality only for large values of $L^2$ , whereas the sPTT model shows it for all values of $\epsilon$ . In the strongly nonlinear region, there is a drastic difference between the responses of the two models, with the FENE-P model exhibiting strong shear stress overshoots that manifest as self-intersecting secondary loops in the viscous Lissajous curves. We quantify the nonlinearity exhibited by each constitutive model using the sequence of physical processes framework. Despite the high degree of nonlinearity exhibited by the FENE-P model, we also show using fully nonlinear one-dimensional simulations that it does not shear band in LAOS within the range of conditions studied.

Heat transfer and pressure drops during high heat flux flow boiling of low-GWP refrigerants in 200 μm-wide multi-microchannels

Thermal management of electronics is continuously challenged by increasing heat fluxes to be dissipated at minimum power consumption. This study investigated the pressure drops and the heat transfer coefficient of two low-GWP refrigerants, R1234yf and R1234ze(E), during flow boiling at high heat fluxes. The test geometry comprised 25 parallel microchannels, 200 μm wide, 1200 μm deep and 1 cm long, nominally. Inlet orifices were used to stabilize the flow. A parametric analysis involving the mass flux and heat flux was conducted for nominal saturation temperatures of 30.5C∘ and 40.5C∘, resulting in a maximum confinement number NConf of 2.16 for R1234yf and 2.52 for R1234ze(E). As the applied heat flux was increased from low to near-critical values, the two-phase heat transfer transitioned from a heat-flux-dominated mode to a convection-dominated one. The flow finally approached dryout, which led to the critical heat flux upon further heating. The experimental results were analysed through a regression with relevant non-dimensional groups, in particular the confinement number, NConf, the equivalent wall Biot number, Bi, the boiling number, Bo, the convection number, Co, and the Weber number, We. It was shown that Bo and Bi had a major influence in the heat-flux-dominated region, while Co and NConf determined the performance in the convective region, mainly due to the establishment of an intermittent annular flow. The total channel pressure drops were evaluated through the experimental measurement of the pressure drops in the inlet-outlet manifold, and the orifices. Due to the short channel length and the high heat fluxes, the pressure drops were dominated by the momentum change contribution, which accounted for at least 60% of the total pressure drops in the lowest case. The flow-wise heat transfer coefficients and the channel pressure drops were compared with the predictions of existing correlations, showing generally a fair agreement.

Secondary flow of an elasto-visco-plastic fluid in an eccentric annulus

In this paper we study the flow an elasto-visco-plastic fluid whose deviatoric stress is made up by a “seemingly” visco-plastic part (regularized Bingham fluid) and a viscoelastic part (Rivlin–Ericksen fluid) in a “slightly” eccentric annulus. The flow is driven by an applied horizontal pressure gradient and by the motion of the inner cylinder. Using the eccentricity as perturbation parameter we show that secondary flows appear at the first order approximation. We investigate the various flow patterns depending on the different non-dimensional groups appearing in the governing equations. In particular we observe the occurrence of rotating and counter-rotating vortices depending on the material and geometrical parameters of the system.

An experimental study of the events that follow a drop hitting a small surface

The events that follow a drop hitting a solid surface depend not only on the drop's initial conditions and drop properties but also, in a significant way, on the target-to-drop area ratio. For an impaction surface with a limited-size area, the events are unique and are significantly different from those occurring when the drop hits an infinite flat surface.In this study, we present a wide range of new visual observations focusing on the events that follow a drop hitting a dry solid surface of different small sizes. In particular, our interest is in the deposition, receding breakup, and prompt splash phases. We analyze the results while using non-dimensional groups, graphically depict the various events on a map, and define the borders between them. In addition, we offer a group of criteria that differentiate between events for a wide range of target-to-drop ratio, and Reynolds, and Webber numbers.

Instabilities in tidal turbine wakes

We report on the observation of vortex instabilities in the wake of a tidal turbine undergoing harmonic unsteady axial inflow (e.g. due to surface waves). The work was carried out using unsteady RANS (URANS) modelling using the open-source CFD software OpenFOAM, using the `pimpleDyMFoam' solver. The PIMPLE algorithm used in the URANS solver is a combination of the PISO (Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operator) and SIMPLE (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations) algorithms. URANS simulations usually have a limitation on the time step set by the Courant number (C = u (delta t)/(delta x), where delta x is the minimum cell length and u the local velocity. In the PISO algorithm, C&lt;1 is usually required. However, the PIMPLE algorithm allows stable transient simulations at C&gt;&gt;1 by applying under-relaxation to each time-step until a convergence criterion is met, before allowing the time-step to complete with no applied relaxation factors. The turbulence model used was komega-SST, which has been used extensively in tidal turbine modelling.&#x0D; As with a wind turbine, the response of a tidal turbine to unsteady flow is heavily influenced by the behaviour of the helical wake that returns in close proximity to the turbine blades times per revolution ( – number of blades). Unsteady inflow causes the blades to shed vorticity into the wake, which in turn leads to a spatial variation in wake vortex strength, such that the vorticity of adjacent returning wake segments can differ, and thus there is a spatially varying velocity deficit in the wake. This spatial variation in velocity deficit triggers instability in the blade tip vortices, the emergence of which we demonstrate is governed by the non-dimensional group relating the blade passing frequency to the gust frequency. If the ratio between these two frequencies is an integer, the wake is stable. If not, the tip vortices exhibit various forms of instability. If the wake is unstable, adjacent wake segments will eventually coalesce as they move downstream, such that the wake consists of larger regions of vorticity with lower spatial frequency, compared to the wake immediately behind the turbine. There is also some indication that these unstable, coalesced wakes persist further downstream, compared with stable wakes. This has implications for wind and tidal farm design, where interaction of a row of turbines with the wakes of upstream turbines is an important consideration.

Machine-learning based multi-objective optimization of helically coiled tube flocculators for water treatment

The limitations of water resources and their importance for human life necessitates special attention to water purification processes. Here, the flocculation process, in which unstable particles aggregate, have been considered. In particular, we focused on helically coiled tube flocculators (HCTFs), which have certain advantages over conventional hydraulic flocculators. The simulation of the flocculation process in HCFTs has been done using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to study the effect of different geometrical and hydrodynamic variables on the performance of HCTFs. Small variations of velocity gradient, Gˆp95, and particle’s residence time, MI, are considered as the performance parameters. CFD results show that the design variables can change the performance parameters up to 60% and 40%, respectively. Using CFD for the training of machine-learning regression models, multi-objective optimization of HCTFs is performed. Our results show that a helical pipe with the diameter of 8.35 mm, curvature radius of 42.5 mm, helical pitch of 62.1 mm, and flow rate of 1.08 L min−1 provides the best performance among the range of input variables, where both performance parameters are minimum. Moreover, it was shown that the optimum results can be generalized to other scales with less than 2% difference in outputs by using equal non-dimensional groups.

Effect of gravity on the spreading of a droplet deposited by liquid needle deposition technique

This study represents an experimental investigation, complemented with a mathematical model, to decipher the effect of gravity on the spreading dynamics of a water droplet. For the theoretical discussion, an overall energy balance approach is adopted to explain the droplet spreading under both microgravity (μg) and terrestrial gravity condition. Besides explaining the mechanism of the droplet spreading under microgravity condition achieved during the parabolic flight, a technique with a detailed experimental set-up has also been developed for the successful deposition of droplet. A rational understanding is formulated through experimental investigation and theoretical analysis, which allows us to distinguish the transient variation of the spreading of a droplet, between microgravity and terrestrial gravity condition. The spreading of the droplet is predicted by the non-linear overall energy balance equation, which accounts for the operating parameters in the form of non-dimensional groups like Reynolds number ({{{rm{Re}}}}), Weber number (We) and Bond number (Bo). To distinctly identify the difference in the drop spreading at terrestrial and microgravity conditions, the Bo with transient gravitational field obtained through the on-board accelerometer is considered. The obtained theoretical results are further corroborated by experimental results which are obtained from the parabolic flight.

Design and evaluation of co-currently illuminated two-phase bubbly flow photochemical reactors

Current two-phase flow photochemical reactors are lacking energy efficiency required for industrial applicability. As an alternative, co-currently illuminated bubbly flow photochemical reactors are proposed. These have the advantage of running at higher absorbance values, thereby wasting less photons, improving cost efficiency, and decreasing gas holdup by separating gas and liquid residence time in the reactor. A mathematical model was used in the study in combination with photosensitized reactions, which yielded three coupled differential equations and four non-dimensional groups governing the reactor performance. A parameter study yielded an optimal operating point at a quantum photon balance (ϕtotρ) of 1, an absorbance (AS) of at least 1, a chemical quenching parameter (κA) of less than 0.1, and a sensitizer stability ratio (ϕS/fS) of less than 1. Optimal absorbance was determined via the use of a ray tracing study, yielding a theoretical optimal absorbance of 1.75 using 7 µM of rose bengal. The modelling results are experimentally validated, and the model was shown to be suitable across a wide range of operating conditions. Optimal absorbance was experimentally evaluated to match the modelling results, higher absorbance values lead to more local absorbance, throttling reactor performance. With high reagent concentrations, the reaction was found to be liquid side mass transfer limited. Guidelines are presented to design this novel type of reactor and ways to improve the reactor performance in scaled up versions. The reactor was compared against the current state-of-the-art reactors, yielding an improvement PSTY by 4.5 times and an increased reagent/sensitizer ratio by 100 times, both drastically decreasing operational cost of the reactor.

Impact of Temperature Ratio on Overall Cooling Performance: Low-Order-Model-Based Analysis of Experiment Design

Abstract This paper describes low-order-model-based analysis of the design of an experiment to be used for parametric studies of adiabatic film and overall cooling effectiveness for fully cooled systems (internal and film) under wide ranges of mainstream-to-coolant temperature ratio variation, in the range 0.50 &amp;lt; T0m/T0c &amp;lt; 2.30. The purpose is to improve understanding of—and validation of—the scaling process from typical rig conditions to engine conditions. We are primarily interested in the variation in overall effectiveness when the controlling non-dimensional groups change in a natural co-dependent way with changes in temperature ratio: that is, the practical situation of interest to engine designers. We distinguish this from the situation in which individual non-dimensional groups are varied in isolation: a situation that we believe is essentially impossible to meaningfully approximate in practice, despite a body of literature purporting to do the same. Design and commissioning data from a new high temperature (600 K) test facility is presented, with detailed uncertainty analysis. We show (using a low-order model) that a typical nozzle guide vane which at engine conditions (TR = 2.00) would have overall cooling effectiveness of 0.450, would be expected to have overall effectiveness of 0.418 at typical rig conditions (TR = 1.20). That is, typical scaling from engine-to-rig result is −7.1% and typical scaling from rig-to-engine is +7.7%. This result is important for first order estimation of overall cooling performance at engine conditions.

Characterization of surface cratering and particle deformation during high speed microparticle impact events

Simple-to-use damage models are important in predicting the outcome of high speed particle impacts for high speed vehicles traveling in particle laden flows. Such models largely hinge upon experimental data from well-characterized single-impact events. In this study we developed and applied an experimental system to systematically examine surface cratering and particle deposition driven by high speed micrometer particle impacts onto Aluminum 6061-T6 substrates and Inconel 718 substrates. Monodisperse ferrous sulfate particles 1.8 and 6.2 micrometer in diameter were accelerated using a converging-diverging nozzle to achieve varying impact velocities in the range of 0.29–0.84 km s-1 as measured by laser Doppler velocimetry. Post-mortem surface characterization was carried out using a combination of atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. For the aluminum samples, we then utilize traditional non-dimensional groups to develop scaling relationships between crater size, particle size, velocity and incident angle. Measurement results are found to agree with data from previous studies at higher impact velocities, but notably with a sharper slope between dimensionless crater size and dimensionless impact energy, indicative of a non-negligible amount of particle elastic rebound influencing the outcome of the impact process. In addition, in contrast to crater formation observed on aluminum, equivalent impacts onto Inconel 718 led to no discernible crater formation and instead adhesion and deformation of the impacting particles.

Optimal plant water use strategies explain soil moisture variability

Plant responses to water stress influence water and carbon cycles and can lead to feedbacks on climate yet characterizing these responses at ecosystem levels remains uncertain. Quantifying ecosystem-level water use strategies is complex due to challenges of upscaling plant traits and disentangling confounding environmental factors, ultimately limiting our ability to understand and anticipate global change in ecosystem dynamics and ecohydrological fluxes. We reduce the dimensionality of this problem and quantify plant water use strategies by combining plant traits with soil and climate variables into parameter groups that synthesize key eco-physiological tradeoffs. Using a parsimonious soil water balance framework, we explore variations in plant water uptake capacity, water stress responses, and water use performance via these non-dimensional parameter groups. The group characterizing the synchronization of plant water transport and atmospheric water demand emerges as the primary axis of variation in water use strategies and interacts with the group representing plant hydraulic risk tolerance, especially in arid conditions when plant water transport is limiting. Next, we show that specific plant water use strategies maximize plant water uptake (leading to carbon gain benefits) weighted by risks of water stress (leading to higher costs of water use). A model-data comparison demonstrates that these ecohydrologically optimal parameter groups capture observed soil moisture variability in 40 ecosystems and beyond aridity, rainfall frequency is an important environmental control for plant water use strategies. The emerging parsimonious link between ecohydrological performance and non-dimensional parameters provides a tractable representation of plant water use strategies, relevant to parameterize global models while accounting for ecological and evolutionary constraints on the water cycle.

Separation of volatile organic contaminants from water using a direct-contact dehumidifier: An experimental study and modeling

A packed-bed, direct-contact dehumidifier (PB-DCD) has been developed to selectively condense water from a gaseous mixture of organic contaminants. In this process, hot air is humidified by mixing with wastewater vapor in a static mixer and is dehumidified by subcooled fresh water passing through the PB-DCD in a counter-current configuration. The goal of this study is to understand the relationship between various operating parameters and how they affect separation of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) from the gaseous mixture with the purpose of expanding the investigation to other contaminants in the future. The process has been successfully used to separate IPA from wastewater. Different parameters including the concentration of IPA in water, feed temperature, air-to-vapor ratio, and cooling-water-to-vapor mass ratio, as well as residence time were examined to determine their influence on contaminant separation and clean water recovery rate. The Buckingham Pi theorem was applied to reduce the number of studying variables by generating non-dimensional groups. Experiments were performed to determine the relationship between the non-dimensional parameters and model mass transfer in the system. Mass transfer coefficients for multicomponent gaseous mixture condensation in a packed-bed direct contact condenser column are calculated and a modified correlation of mass transfer is developed. The parameters of the mass transfer model are obtained from operating conditions of the PB-DCD, stream conditions and thermodynamic properties. A modified Sherwood correlation is developed to predict IPA separation from a gaseous mixture consisting of air, water, and IPA. The modified Sherwood correlation is applied to successfully predict the Sherwood number with a mean absolute error equal to 6.6 %. According to the experimental results, the maximum IPA separation achieved was 76.3 %, which corresponds to a water recovery rate of 58.7 %.