Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of a Hydrokinetic Turbine Based on Oscillating Hydrofoils

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kinsey ◽  
Guy Dumas

The performance of a new concept of hydrokinetic turbine using oscillating hydrofoils to extract energy from water currents (tidal or gravitational) is investigated using URANS numerical simulations. The numerical predictions are compared with experimental data from a 2 kW prototype, composed of two rectangular oscillating hydrofoils of aspect ratio 7 in a tandem spatial configuration. 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions are found to compare favorably with experimental data especially for the case of a single-hydrofoil turbine. The validity of approximating the actual arc-circle trajectory of each hydrofoil by an idealized vertical plunging motion is also addressed by numerical simulations. Furthermore, a sensitivity study of the turbine’s performance in relation to fluctuating operating conditions is performed by feeding the simulations with the actual time-varying experimentally recorded conditions. It is found that cycle-averaged values, as the power-extraction efficiency, are little sensitive to perturbations in the foil kinematics and upstream velocity.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
C. L. German ◽  
J. T. Podichetty ◽  
A. Muzhingi ◽  
B. Makununika ◽  
J. Smay ◽  
...  

Abstract Open defecation and poor fecal management facilitates the spread of disease. Viscous heating can pasteurize fecal sludge by creating a high shear field in the annular gap between a stationary, cylindrical outer shell and a rotating inner core. As sludge flows axially through the annular gap, thorough mixing and frictional heating eliminate cool spots where microbes may survive. A viscous heater (VH) compares favorably to a conventional heat exchanger, where cool slugs may occur. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to determine the effects of geometry and fluid rheology on VH performance over a range of conditions. A shear-rate and temperature-dependent rheological model was developed from experimental data, using a sludge simulant. CFD of an existing VH used the model to improve the original naïve design by including temperature and shear rate-dependent viscosity. CFD results were compared to experimental data at 132 and 200 L/hr to predict design and operating conditions for 1,000 L/hr. Subsequent experimentation with fecal sludge indicated that the CFD approach was valid for design and operation.


Author(s):  
Riccardo Da Soghe ◽  
Cosimo Bianchini ◽  
Antonio Andreini ◽  
Lorenzo Mazzei ◽  
Giovanni Riccio ◽  
...  

Combustor liner of present gas turbine engines is subjected to high thermal loads as it surrounds high temperature combustion reactants and is hence facing the related radiative load. This generally produces high thermal stress levels on the liner, strongly limiting its life expectations and making it one of the most critical components of the entire engine. The reliable prediction of such thermal loads is hence a crucial aspect to increase the flame tube life span and to ensure safe operations. The present study aims at investigating the aerothermal behavior of a GE Dry Low NOx (DLN1) class flame tube and in particular at evaluating working metal temperatures of the liner in relation to the flow and heat transfer state inside and outside the combustion chamber. Three different operating conditions have been accounted for (i.e., lean–lean partial load, premixed full load, and primary load) to determine the amount of heat transfer from the gas to the liner by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The numerical predictions have been compared to experimental measurements of metal temperature showing a good agreement between CFD and experiments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Umberto Stuppioni ◽  
Alessio Suman ◽  
Michele Pinelli ◽  
Alessandro Blum

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of gaseous cavitation (GC) in lubricating positive-displacement pumps (PDPs). It is important for designers and analysts to predict the dynamic features of air release/dissolution processes which characterize this phenomenon, along with their effects on filling capability and noise-vibration-harshness behavior of the machine. The focus is on the empirical tuning of the commercial homogeneous-flow cavitation model known as dissolved gas model (DGM). Considering an automotive case study of a balanced vane pump (BVP), the effects of air modeling on numerical predictions of discharge flow/pressure ripple and volumetric efficiency have been studied. The tuning time parameters of the model have been correlated to the machine Reynolds number as part of a simplified theoretical background based on dimensional analysis. Considering experimental data at different operating conditions, the tuned model has shown a good capacity in predicting the pressure ripple and the flowrate at the discharge of the pump.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1191-1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nader Pourmahmoud ◽  
Alireza Izadi ◽  
Amir Hassanzadeh ◽  
Ashkan Jahangiramini

In this article computational fluid dynamics analysis of a three-dimensional compressible and turbulent flow has been carried out through a vortex tube. The standard k-? turbulence model is utilized in order to simulate an axisymmetric computational domain. The numerical simulation has focused on the energy separation and flow field patterns of a somewhat nonconventional vortex tube, which is on the basis of creating an external hole at the end of each nozzle. According to the selected nozzles geometry, some of unfavorable phenomena such as shock wave, high pressure regions and appearing of unsymmetrical rotating flow patterns in the vortex chamber would be recovered significantly. In this way the physical parameters of flow field are derived under different both inlet mass flow rates and outlet pressures of nozzles hole (OPH). The results show that increasing OPH value enhanced the cooling capacity of machine in the most of operating conditions.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Tindell ◽  
T. M. Alston ◽  
C. A. Sarro ◽  
G. C. Stegmann ◽  
L. Gray ◽  
...  

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods are applied to the analysis of a low-pressure turbine exhaust hood at a typical steam power generating station. A Navier-Stokes solver, capable of modeling all the viscous terms, in a Reynolds-averaged formulation, was used. The work had two major goals. The first was to develop a comprehensive understanding of the complex three-dimensional flow fields that exist in the exhaust hood at representative operating conditions. The second was to evaluate the relative benefits of a flow guide modification to optimize performance at a selected operating condition. Also, the influence of simulated turbine discharge characteristics, relative to uniform hood entrance conditions, was evaluated. The calculations show several interesting and possibly unique results. They support use of an integrated approach to the design of turbine exhaust stage blading and hood geometry for optimum efficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ballesteros ◽  
Nicolás Ratkovich ◽  
Eduardo Pereyra

Abstract Low liquid loading flow occurs very commonly in the transport of any kind of wet gas, such as in the oil and gas, the food, and the pharmaceutical industries. However, most studies that analyze this type of flow do not cover actual industry fluids and operating conditions. This study focused then on modeling this type of flow in medium-sized (6-in [DN 150] and 10-in [DN 250]) pipes, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. When comparing with experimental data from the University of Tulsa, the differences observed between experimental and CFD data for the liquid holdup and the pressure drop seemed to fall within acceptable error, around 20%. Additionally, different pipe sections from a Colombian gas pipeline were simulated with a natural gas-condensate mixture to analyze the effect of pipe inclination and operation variables on liquid holdup, in real industry conditions. It was noticed that downward pipe inclinations favored smooth stratified flow and decreased liquid holdup in an almost linear fashion, while upward inclinations generated unsteady wavy flows, or even a possible annular flow, and increased liquid holdup and liquid entrainment into the gas phase.


The power in the wind is well known to be proportional to the cubic power of the wind velocity approaching a wind turbine. This means that even small amount of its acceleration gives large increase in the power output. Brimmed diffuser shrouds for small wind turbines are being used to accelerate the wind velocity in small wind regimes. The objective of the Paper is to analyze the flow characteristics of brimmed diffuser shroud and to optimize the physical dimensions. CFD analyses are carried out by varying its physical dimensions with the aim of achieving augmented velocity. The effect of flow parameters with the presence of diffuser is analyzed by comparing it with bare wind turbine. The physical dimensions of brimmed diffusers are the parameters considered in this study. The study has been carried with proposed splitted diffuser design. The power yield of the turbine for shifting speeds is gotten and analyzed.The CFD tool CFX would be used to anlayse the flow field around the diffuser. Performance of wind turbine under various operating conditions is generally obtained through an experimental testing and could be cost prohibitive. In this case the computational fluid dynamics analysis provides better results. The capability of using computational fluid dynamics is a test to determine its viability for determining its performance parameters


Author(s):  
O. B. Fawehinmi ◽  
P. H. Gaskell ◽  
P. K. Jimack ◽  
N Kapur ◽  
H. M. Thompson

This article presents a complementary experimental and computational investigation of the effect of viscosity and flowrate on the dynamics of drop formation in the dripping mode. In contrast to previous studies, numerical simulations are performed with two popular commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) packages, CFX and FLOW-3D, both of which employ the volume of fluid (VOF) method. Comparison with previously published experimental and computational data and new experimental results reported here highlight the capabilities and limitations of the aforementioned packages.


Author(s):  
S. A. Abdelfattah ◽  
M. T. Schobeiri

This paper describes experimental and numerical investigations of a three-stage high pressure research turbine which incorporates fully 3-D bowed blades at various operating conditions. Experimental data were obtained using interstage aerodynamic measurements at three measurement stations, namely, downstream of the first rotor row, the second stator row and the second rotor row. Measurements were conducted through the use of five-hole probes traversed in both circumferential and radial directions to create a measurement window. Aerodynamics measurements were carried out within a rotational speed range of 1800 to 2800 RPM. Numerical simulation of the aforementioned turbine was performed through the use of a commercial computational fluid dynamics code. A detailed mesh of the three-stages was created and used to simulate the corresponding operating conditions and a comparison was made between experimentally and numerically determined aerodynamics and turbine performance.


Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Alberto Fernández ◽  
Cintia Casado ◽  
David Alique ◽  
José Antonio Calles ◽  
Javier Marugán

This work focused on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of H2/N2 separation in a membrane permeator module containing a supported dense Pd-based membrane that was prepared using electroless pore-plating (ELP-PP). An easy-to-implement model was developed based on a source–sink pair formulation of the species transport and continuity equations. The model also included the Darcy–Forcheimer formulation for modeling the porous stainless steel (PSS) membrane support and Sieverts’ law for computing the H2 permeation flow through the dense palladium film. Two different reactor configurations were studied, which involved varying the hydrogen flow permeation direction (in–out or out–in). A wide range of experimental data was simulated by considering the impact of the operating conditions on the H2 separation, such as the feed pressure and the H2 concentration in the inlet stream. Simulations of the membrane permeator device showed an excellent agreement between the predicted and experimental data (measured as permeate and retentate flows and H2 separation). Molar fraction profiles inside the permeator device for both configurations showed that concentration polarization near the membrane surface was not a limit for the hydrogen permeation but could be useful information for membrane reactor design, as it showed the optimal length of the reactor.


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