Computational Fluid Dynamics of a Radial Compressor Operating With Supercritical CO2

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rene Pecnik ◽  
Enrico Rinaldi ◽  
Piero Colonna
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Critical Point ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Compressible Flows ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Maximum Pressure

The merit of using supercritical CO2(scCO2) as the working fluid of a closed Brayton cycle gas turbine is now widely recognized, and the development of this technology is now actively pursued. scCO2 gas turbine power plants are an attractive option for solar, geothermal, and nuclear energy conversion. Among the challenges that must be overcome in order to successfully bring the technology to the market is that the efficiency of the compressor and turbine operating with the supercritical fluid should be increased as much as possible. High efficiency can be reached by means of sophisticated aerodynamic design, which, compared to other overall efficiency improvements, like cycle maximum pressure and temperature increase, or increase of recuperator effectiveness, does not require an increase in equipment cost, but only an additional effort in research and development. This paper reports a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of a high-speed centrifugal compressor operating with CO2 in the thermodynamic region slightly above the vapor–liquid critical point. The investigated geometry is the compressor impeller tested in the Sandia scCO2 compression loop facility. The fluid dynamic simulations are performed with a fully implicit parallel Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes code based on a finite volume formulation on arbitrary polyhedral mesh elements. In order to account for the strongly nonlinear variation of the thermophysical properties of supercritical CO2, the CFD code is coupled with an extensive library for the computation of properties of fluids and mixtures. A specialized look-up table approach and a meshing technique suited for turbomachinery geometries are also among the novelties introduced in the developed methodology. A detailed evaluation of the CFD results highlights the challenges of numerical studies aimed at the simulation of technically relevant compressible flows occurring close to the liquid–vapor critical point. The data of the obtained flow field are used for a comparison with experiments performed at the Sandia scCO2 compression-loop facility.

Computational Fluid Dynamics of a Radial Compressor Operating With Supercritical CO2

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rene Pecnik ◽  
Enrico Rinaldi ◽  
Piero Colonna
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Compressible Flows ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Maximum Pressure

The merit of using supercritical CO2 (scCO2) as the working fluid of a closed Brayton cycle gas turbine is now widely recognized, and the development of this technology is now actively pursued. scCO2 gas turbine power plants are an attractive option for solar, geothermal and nuclear energy conversion. Among the challenges which must be overcome in order to successfully bring the technology to the market, the efficiency of the compressor and turbine operating with the supercritical fluid should be increased as much as possible. High efficiency can be reached by means of sophisticated aerodynamic design, which, compared to other overall efficiency improvements, like cycle maximum pressure and temperature increase, or increase of recuperator effectiveness, does not require an increase in equipment cost, but only an additional effort in research and development. This paper reports a three-dimensional CFD study of a high-speed centrifugal compressor operating with CO2 in the thermodynamic region slightly above the vapor-liquid critical point. The investigated geometry is the compressor impeller tested in the Sandia scCO2 compression loop facility [1]. The fluid dynamic simulations are performed with a fully implicit parallel Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes code based on a finite volume formulation on arbitrary polyhedral mesh elements. The CFD code has been validated on test cases which are relevant for this study, see Ref. [2,3]. In order to account for the strongly nonlinear variation of the thermophysical properties of supercritical CO2, the CFD code is coupled with an extensive library for the computation of properties of fluids and mixtures [4]. Among the available models, the one based on reference equations of state for CO2 [5,6] has been selected, as implemented in one of the sub-libraries [7]. A specialized look-up table approach and a meshing technique suited for turbomachinery geometries are also among the novelties introduced in the developed methodology. A detailed evaluation of the CFD results highlights the challenges of numerical studies aimed at the simulation of technically relevant compressible flows occurring close to the liquid-vapor critical point. The data of the obtained flow field are used for a comparison with experiments performed at the Sandia scCO2 compression-loop facility.

A Comparison Study for Off-Design Performance Prediction of a Supercritical CO2 Compressor With Similitude Analysis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongju Jeong ◽  
Seongmin Son ◽  
Seong kuk Cho ◽  
Seungjoon Baik ◽  
Jeong Ik Lee
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Cycle Performance ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Brayton Cycle ◽  
Power Cycle ◽  
Design Performance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Phase Fluid

Abstract Most of the power plants operating nowadays mainly have adopted a steam Rankine cycle or a gas Brayton cycle. To devise a better power conversion cycle, various approaches were taken by researchers and one of the examples is an S-CO2 (supercritical CO2) power cycle. Over the past decades, the S-CO2 power cycle was invented and studied. Eventually the cycle was successful for attracting attentions from a wide range of applications. Basically, an S-CO2 power cycle is a variation of a gas Brayton cycle. In contrast to the fact that an ordinary Brayton cycle operates with a gas phase fluid, the S-CO2 power cycle operates with a supercritical phase fluid, where temperatures and pressures of working fluid are above the critical point. Many advantages of S-CO2 power cycle are rooted from its novel characteristics. Particularly, a compressor in an S-CO2 power cycle operates near the critical point, where the compressibility is greatly reduced. Since the S-CO2 power cycle greatly benefits from the reduced compression work, an S-CO2 compressor prediction under off-design condition has a huge impact on overall cycle performance. When off-design operations of a power cycle are considered, the compressor performance needs to be specified. One of the approaches for a compressor off-design performance evaluation is to use the correction methods based on similitude analysis. However, there are several approaches for deriving the equivalent conditions but none of the approaches has been thoroughly examined for S-CO2 conditions based on data. The purpose of this paper is comparing these correction models to identify the best fitted approach, in order to predict a compressor off-design operation performance more accurately from limited amount of information. Each correction method was applied to two sets of data, SCEIL experiment data and 1D turbomachinery code off-design prediction code generated data, and evaluated in this paper.

Evaluation for Scalability of a Combined Cycle Using Gas and Bottoming SCO2 Turbines

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonid Moroz ◽  
Petr Pagur ◽  
Oleksii Rudenko ◽  
Maksym Burlaka ◽  
Clement Joly
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Gas Temperature ◽  
Cycle System ◽  
Gas Turbine Exhaust

Bottoming cycles are drawing a real interest in a world where resources are becoming scarcer and the environmental footprint of power plants is becoming more controlled. Reduction of flue gas temperature, power generation boost without burning more fuel and even production of heat for cogeneration applications are very attractive and it becomes necessary to quantify how much can really be extracted from a simple cycle to be converted to a combined configuration. As supercritical CO2 is becoming an emerging working fluid [2, 3, 5, 7 and 8] due not only to the fact that turbomachines are being designed significantly more compact, but also because of the fluid’s high thermal efficiency in cycles, it raises an increased interest in its various applications. Evaluating the option of combined gas and supercritical CO2 cycles for different gas turbine sizes, gas turbine exhaust gas temperatures and configurations of bottoming cycle type becomes an essential step toward creating guidelines for the question, “how much more can I get with what I have?”. Using conceptual design tools for the cycle system generates fast and reliable results to draw this type of conclusion. This paper presents both the qualitative and quantitative advantages of combined cycles for scalability using machines ranging from small to several hundred MW gas turbines to determine which configurations of S-CO2 bottoming cycles are best for pure electricity production.

scholarly journals A Simulation Study on Temperature Uniformity of Photovoltaic Thermal Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Mohd Afzanizam Mohd Rosli ◽  
Irfan Alias Farhan Latif ◽  
Muhammad Zaid Nawam ◽  
Mohd Noor Asril Saadun ◽  
Hasila Jarimi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Thermal Stresses ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Cfd Simulation ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Percentage Error ◽  
Pv Module

The temperature distribution across the photovoltaic (PV) module in most cases is not uniform, leading to regions of hotspots. The cells in these regions perform less efficiently, leading to an overall lower PV module efficiency. They can also be permanently damaged due to high thermal stresses. To enable the high-efficiency operation and a longer lifetime of the PV module, the temperatures must not fluctuate wildly across the PV module. In this study, a custom absorber is designed based on literature to provide a more even temperature distribution across the PV module. This design is two standard sets of spiral absorbers connected. This design is relatively less complicated for this reason and it allows room for adjusting the pipe spacing without much complication. The absorber design is tested via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation using ANSYS Fluent 19.2, and the simulation model is validated by an experimental study with the highest percentage error of 9.44%. The custom and the serpentine absorber utilized in the experiment are simulated under the same operating conditions having water as the working fluid. The custom absorber design is found to have a more uniform temperature distribution on more areas of the PV module as compared to the absorber design utilized in the experiment, which leads to a lower average surface temperature of the PV module. This results in an increase in thermal and electrical efficiency of the PV module by 3.21% and 0.65%, respectively.

Effects of Real Gas Model Accuracy and Operating Conditions on Supercritical CO2 Compressor Performance and Flow Field

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Ameli ◽  
Ali Afzalifar ◽  
Teemu Turunen-Saaresti ◽  
Jari Backman
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Critical Point ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Look Up Table ◽  
Compressor Performance ◽  
The Look

Rankine and Brayton cycles are common energy conversion cycles and constitute the basis of a significant proportion of global electricity production. Even a seemingly marginal improvement in the efficiency of these cycles can considerably decrease the annual use of primary energy sources and bring a significant gain in power plant output. Recently, supercritical Brayton cycles using CO2 as the working fluid have attracted much attention, chiefly due to their high efficiency. As with conventional cycles, improving the compressor performance in supercritical cycles is major route to increasing the efficiency of the whole process. This paper numerically investigates the flow field and performance of a supercritical CO2 centrifugal compressor. A thermodynamic look-up table is coupled with the flow solver, and the look-up table is systematically refined to take into account the large variation of thermodynamic properties in the vicinity of the critical point. Effects of different boundary and operating conditions are also discussed. It is shown that the compressor performance is highly sensitive to the look-up table resolution as well as the operating and boundary conditions near the critical point. Additionally, a method to overcome the difficulties of simulation close to the critical point is explained.

Effect of Impurities on Compressor and Cooler in Supercritical CO2 Cycles

2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ladislav Vesely ◽  
K. R. V. Manikantachari ◽  
Subith Vasu ◽  
Jayanta Kapat ◽  
Vaclav Dostal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Compressor Inlet ◽  
Almost All

With the increasing demand for electric power, the development of new power generation technologies is gaining increased attention. The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) cycle is one such technology, which has relatively high efficiency, compactness, and potentially could provide complete carbon capture. The S-CO2 cycle technology is adaptable for almost all of the existing heat sources such as solar, geothermal, fossil, nuclear power plants, and waste heat recovery systems. However, it is known that optimal combinations of operating conditions, equipment, working fluid, and cycle layout determine the maximum achievable efficiency of a cycle. Within an S-CO2 cycle, the compression device is of critical importance as it is operating near the critical point of CO2. However, near the critical point, the thermo-physical properties of CO2 are highly sensitive to changes of pressure and temperature. Therefore, the conditions of CO2 at the compressor inlet are critical in the design of such cycles. Also, the impurity species diluted within the S-CO2 will cause deviation from an ideal S-CO2 cycle as these impurities will change the thermodynamic properties of the working fluid. Accordingly, the current work examines the effects of different impurity compositions, considering binary mixtures of CO2 and He, CO, O2, N2, H2, CH4, or H2S on various S-CO2 cycle components. The second part of the study focuses on the calculation of the basic cycles and component efficiencies. The results of this study will provide guidance and define the optimal composition of mixtures for compressors and coolers.

A Supercritical CO2 Gas Turbine Power Cycle for Next-Generation Nuclear Reactors

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaclav Dostal ◽  
Michael J. Driscoll ◽  
Pavel Hejzlar ◽  
Neil E. Todreas
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Ideal Gas ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Brayton Cycle ◽  
Pinch Point ◽  
Good Efficiency

Although proposed more than 35 years ago, the use of supercritical CO2 as the working fluid in a closed circuit Brayton cycle has so far not been implemented in practice. Industrial experience in several other relevant applications has improved prospects, and its good efficiency at modest temperatures (e.g., ∼45% at 550°C) make this cycle attractive for a variety of advanced nuclear reactor concepts. The version described here is for a gas-cooled, modular fast reactor. In the proposed gas-cooled fast breeder reactor design of present interest, CO2 is also especially attractive because it allows the use of metal fuel and core structures. The principal advantage of a supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle is its reduced compression work compared to an ideal gas such as helium: about 15% of gross power turbine output vs. 40% or so. This also permits the simplification of use of a single compressor stage without intercooling. The requisite high pressure (∼20 MPa) also has the benefit of more compact heat exchangers and turbines. Finally, CO2 requires significantly fewer turbine stages than He, its principal competitor for nuclear gas turbine service. One disadvantage of CO2 in a direct cycle application is the production of N-16, which will require turbine plant shielding (albeit much less than in a BWR). The cycle efficiency is also very sensitive to recuperator effectiveness and compressor inlet temperature. It was found necessary to split the recuperator into separate high- and low-temperature components, and to employ intermediate recompression, to avoid having a pinch-point in the cold end of the recuperator. Over the past several decades developments have taken place that make the acceptance of supercritical CO2 systems more likely: supercritical CO2 pipelines are in use in the western US in oil-recovery operations; 14 advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) are employed in the UK at CO2 temperatures up to 650°C; and utilities now have experience with Rankine cycle power plants at pressures as high as 25 MPa. Furthermore, CO2 is the subject of R&D as the working fluid in schemes to sequester CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and for refrigeration service as a replacement for CFCs.

Effects of Real Gas Model Accuracy and Operating Conditions on Supercritical CO2 Compressor Performance and Flow Field

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Ameli ◽  
Ali Afzalifar ◽  
Teemu Turunen-Saaresti ◽  
Jari Backman
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Critical Point ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Look Up Table ◽  
Compressor Performance ◽  
The Look

Rankine and Brayton cycles are common energy conversion cycles and constitute the basis of a significant proportion of global electricity production. Even a seemingly marginal improvement in the efficiency of these cycles can considerably decrease the annual use of primary energy sources and bring a significant gain in power plant output. Recently, supercritical Brayton cycles using CO2 as the working fluid have attracted much attention, chiefly due to their high efficiency. As with conventional cycles, improving the compressor performance in supercritical cycles is major route to increasing the efficiency of the whole process. This paper numerically investigates the flow field and performance of a supercritical CO2 centrifugal compressor. A thermodynamic look-up table is coupled with the flow solver and the look-up table is systematically refined to take into account the large variation of thermodynamic properties in the vicinity of the critical point. Effects of different boundary and operating conditions are also discussed. It is shown that the compressor performance is highly sensitive to the look-up table resolution as well as the operating and boundary conditions near the critical point. Additionally, a method to overcome the difficulties of simulation close to the critical point is explained.

Effect of Mixtures on Compressor and Cooler in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ladislav Vesely ◽  
K. R. V. Manikantachari ◽  
Subith Vasu ◽  
Jayanta Kapat ◽  
Vaclav Dostal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Supercritical Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Critical Point ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Supercritical Carbon

With the increasing demand for electric power, the development of new power generation technologies is gaining increased attention. The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) cycle is one such technology, which has relatively high efficiency, compactness, and potentially could provide complete carbon capture. The S-CO2 cycle technology is adaptable for almost all of the existing heat sources such as solar, geothermal, fossil, nuclear power plants, and waste heat recovery systems. However, it is known that, optimal combinations of: operating conditions, equipment, working fluid, and cycle layout determine the maximum achievable efficiency of a cycle. Within an S-CO2 cycle the compression device is of critical importance as it is operating near the critical point of CO2. However, near the critical point, the thermo-physical properties of CO2 are highly sensitive to changes of pressure and temperature. Therefore, the conditions of CO2 at the compressor inlet are critical in the design of such cycles. Also, the impurity species diluted within the S-CO2 will cause deviation from an ideal S-CO2 cycle as these impurities will change the thermodynamic properties of the working fluid. Accordingly the current work examines the effects of different impurity compositions, considering binary mixtures of CO2 and: He, CO, O2, N2, H2, CH4, or H2S; on various S-CO2 cycle components. The second part of the study focuses on the calculation of the basic cycles and component efficiencies. The results of this study will provide guidance and defines the optimal composition of mixtures for compressors and coolers.

Effect of Operating Conditions on the Elasto-Hydrodynamic Performance of Foil Thrust Bearings for Supercritical CO2 Cycles

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kan Qin ◽  
Ingo H. Jahn ◽  
Peter A. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Inertia Force ◽  
Fluid Structure ◽  
Thrust Bearings ◽  
Foil Bearings

In order to efficiently utilize the abundant solar resources in Australia, the supercritical CO2 cycle is proposed as an alternative to conventional steam power cycles due to high thermal efficiency and compact system layout. To mature the technology readiness of the supercritical CO2 cycle, each part, including turbine, compressor, seals and bearings, needs to be evaluated and possibly re-designed under consideration of the high density working fluid. One key technology is the foil thrust bearing, which is an enabler for high speed operation and oil-free systems. Bearings are at the core of the turbomachinery system and have a significant influence on the performance of the whole system. In this paper, a quasi three-dimensional fluid-structure model, using computational fluid dynamics for the fluid phase is presented to study the elasto-hydrodynamic performance of foil thrust bearings. For the simulation of the gas flows within the thin gap, the computational fluid dynamics solver Eilmer is extended and a new solver is developed to simulate the bump and top foil within foil thrust bearings. These two solvers are linked using a coupling algorithm that maps pressure and deflection at the fluid structure interface. Results are presented for ambient CO2 conditions varying between 0.1 to 4.0MPa and 300 to 400K. It is found that the centrifugal inertia force can play a significant impact on the performance of foil thrust bearings with the highly dense CO2 and that the centrifugal inertia forces create unusual radial velocity profiles. In the ramp region of the foil thrust bearings, they generate an additional inflow close to the rotor inner edge, resulting in a higher peak pressure. Contrary in the flat region, the inertia force creates a rapid mass loss through the bearing outer edge, which reduces pressure in this region. This different flow field alters bearing performance compared to conventional air foil bearings. In addition, the effect of turbulence in load capacity and bearing torque is investigated. This study provides new insight into the flow physics within foil bearings operating with dense gases and for the selection of optimal operating condition to suit foil thrust bearings in supercritical CO2 cycles.

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