scholarly journals Optimization of a Cyclone Using Multiphase Flow Computational Fluid Dynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Weber ◽  
William Fullmer ◽  
Aytekin Gel ◽  
Jordan Musser

Abstract The U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL) 50 kWth chemical looping reactor (CLR) has an underperforming cyclone, which was designed using empirical correlations. To improve the performance of this cyclone using computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based modeling simulations, four critical design parameters including the vortex tube radius and length, barrel radius, and the inlet width and height were optimized. NETL's open source multiphase flow with interphase exchange (MFiX) CFD code has been used to model a series of cyclones by systematically varying the geometric design parameters. To perform the optimization process, the surrogate modeling and sensitivity analysis followed by the optimization capability in nodeworks was used. The basic methodology for the process is to employ a statistical design of experiments (DOE) method to generate sampling simulations that fill the design space. Corresponding CFD models are then created, executed, and postprocessed. A response surface is created to characterize the relationship between input parameters and the quantities of interest (QoI). Finally, the CFD-surrogate is used by an optimization method to find the optimal design condition based on the objective and constraints prescribed. The resulting optimal cyclone has a larger diameter and longer vortex tube, a larger diameter barrel, and a taller and narrower solids inlet. The improved design has a predicted pressure drop 11 times lower than the original design while reducing the mass loss by a factor of 2.3.

Author(s):  
Justin Weber ◽  
William Fullmer ◽  
Aytekin Gel ◽  
Jordan Musser

Abstract The US Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) 50 kWth chemical looping reactor has an underperforming cyclone, designed using empirical correlations. To improve the performance of this cyclone, the vortex tube radius and length, barrel radius, and the inlet width and height are optimized using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). For this work, NETL’s open source Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchange (MFiX) CFD code has been used to model a series of cyclones with varying geometric differences. To perform the optimization process, the surrogate modeling and analysis toolset inside Nodeworks was used. The basic methodology for the process is to use a design of experiments method (optimal Latin Hypercube) to generate samples that fill the design space. CFD models are then created, executed, and post-processed. A response surface (Gaussian process model) is created to characterize the relationship between input parameters and the Quantities of interest (QoI). Finally, the CFD-surrogate is used by an optimization method (differential evolution) to find the optimal design condition. The resulting optimal cyclone has a larger diameter and longer vortex tube, a larger diameter barrel, and a taller and narrower solids inlet. The improved design has a predicted pressure drop 11-times lower than the original design while reducing the mass loss by a factor of 2.3.


Author(s):  
John Fernandes ◽  
Saeed Ghalambor ◽  
Akhil Docca ◽  
Chris Aldham ◽  
Dereje Agonafer ◽  
...  

The objective of the study is to improve on performance of the current liquid cooling solution for a Multi-Chip Module (MCM) through design of a chip-scale cold plate with quick and accurate thermal analysis. This can be achieved through application of Flow Network Modeling (FNM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in an interactive manner. Thermal analysis of the baseline cold plate design is performed using CFD to determine initial improvement in performance as compared to the original solution, in terms of thermal resistance and pumping power. Fluid flow through the solution is modeled using FNM and verified with results from the CFD analysis. In addition, CFD is employed to generate flow impedance curves of non-standard components within the cold plate, which are used as input for the Hardy Cross method in FNM. Using the verified flow network model, design parameters of different components in the cold plate are modified to promote uniform flow distribution to each active region in the chip-scale solution. Analysis of the resultant design using CFD determines additional improvement in performance over the original solution, if available. Thus, through complementary application of FNM and CFD, a robust cold plate can be designed without requiring expensive fabrication of prototypes and with minimal computational time and resources.


Author(s):  
Sunita Kruger ◽  
Leon Pretorius

In this paper, the use of computational fluid dynamics is evaluated as a design tool to investigate the indoor climate of a confined greenhouse. The finite volume method using polyhedral cells is used to solve the governing mass, momentum and energy equations. Natural convection in a cavity corresponding to a mono-span venlo-type greenhouse is numerically investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics. The CFD model is designed so as to simulate the climate above a plant canopy in an actual multi-span greenhouse heated by solar radiation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of various design parameters such as pitch angle and roof asymmetry and on the velocity and temperature patterns inside a confined single span greenhouse heated from below. In the study reported in this paper a two-dimensional CFD model was generated for the mono-span venlo-type greenhouse, and a mesh sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the mesh independence of the solution. Similar two-dimensional flow patterns were observed in the obtained CFD results as the experimental results reported by Lamrani et al [2]. The CFD model was then modified and used to explore the effect of roof pitch angle and roof asymmetry at floor level on the development of the flow and temperature patterns inside the cavity for various Rayleigh numbers. Results are presented in the form of vector and contour plots. It was found that considerable temperature and velocity gradients were observed in the centre of the greenhouse for each case in the first 40mm above the ground, as well as in the last 24mm close to the roof. Results also indicated that the Rayleigh number did not have a significant impact on the flow and temperature patterns inside the greenhouse, although roof angle and asymmetry did. The current results demonstrate the importance of CFD as a design tool in the case of greenhouse design.


Author(s):  
Chang H. Oh ◽  
Eung S. Kim

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is performing research and development that focuses on key phenomena important during potential scenarios that may occur in very high temperature reactors (VHTRs). Phenomena identification and ranking studies to date have ranked an air ingress event, following on the heels of a VHTR depressurization, as important with regard to core safety. Consequently, the development of advanced air-ingress-related models and verification and validation data are a very high priority. Following a loss of coolant and system depressurization incident, air will enter the core of the High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor through the break, possibly causing oxidation of the core and reflector graphite structure. Simple core and plant models indicate that, under certain circumstances, the oxidation may proceed at an elevated rate with additional heat generated from the oxidation reaction itself. Under postulated conditions of fluid flow and temperature, excessive degradation of lower plenum graphite can lead to a loss of structural support. Excessive oxidation of core graphite can also lead to a release of fission products into the confinement, which could be detrimental to reactor safety. Computational fluid dynamics models developed in this study will improve our understanding of this phenomenon. This paper presents two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) results for the quantitative assessment of the air ingress phenomena. A portion of the results from density-driven stratified flow in the inlet pipe will be compared with the experimental results.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcin Sosnowski

The possibility of implementing the innovative multi-disc sorption bed combined with the heat exchanger into the adsorption cooling technology is investigated experimentally and numerically in the paper. The developed in-house sorption model incorporated into the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code was applied within the analysis. The research allowed to define the design parameters of the proposed type of the sorption bed and correlate them with basic factors influencing the performance of the sorption bed and its dimensions. The designed multi-disc sorption bed is characterized by great scalability and allows to significantly expand the potential installation sites of the adsorption chillers.


Author(s):  
Cori Watson ◽  
Houston Wood

Helical groove seals are non-contacting annular seals used in pumping machinery to increase the efficiency and, in the case of the balance drum, to manage the axial force on the thrust bearing. Prior work has shown that optimization of helical groove seals can reduce the leakage by two thirds given a desired pressure differential or, conversely, can significantly increase the pressure differential across the helical groove seal given a flow rate. This study evaluates the dependency of the optimal helical groove seal design on the inlet preswirl, which is the ratio of the inlet circumferential velocity to the rotor surface speed. To accomplish this goal, second stage optimization from the previously optimized helical groove seal with grooves on the stator and water as the working fluid were conducted at a series of preswirls ranging from −1 to 1. Optimization is performed using ANSYS CFX, a commercial computational fluid dynamics software and mesh independence is confirmed for the baseline case. For each preswirl case, design of experiments for the design parameters of groove width, groove depth, groove spacing, and number of grooves was performed using a Kennard-Stone Algorithm. The optimized solution is interpolated from the simulations run by using multi-factor quadratic regression from the 30 simulations in each optimization and the interpolated solution is simulated for comparison. In addition to evaluating the optimized solution’s dependency on preswirl, the viability of using swirl breaks or swirl promoting inlet passages to improve the overall efficiency of the seal is discussed. Finally, the power loss performance is evaluated for each of the seal designs simulated so that potential trade-offs can be evaluated. Overall, the results show that increasing preswirl can increase the efficiency of the helical groove seal both by improving power loss and by improving leakage.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Paul Kone ◽  
Xinyu Zhang ◽  
Yuying Yan ◽  
Guilin Hu ◽  
Goodarz Ahmadi

A review of published three-dimensional, computational fluid dynamics models for proton exchange membrane fuel cells that accounts for multiphase flow is presented. The models can be categorized as models for transport phenomena, geometry or operating condition effects, and thermal effects. The influences of heat and water management on the fuel cell performance have been repeatedly addressed, and these still remain two central issues in proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology. The strengths and weaknesses of the models, the modelling assumptions, and the model validation are discussed. The salient numerical features of the models are examined, and an overview of the most commonly used computational fluid dynamic codes for the numerical modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is given. Comprehensive three-dimensional multiphase flow computational fluid dynamic models accounting for the major transport phenomena inside a complete cell have been developed. However, it has been noted that more research is required to develop models that include among other things, the detailed composition and structure of the catalyst layers, the effects of water droplets movement in the gas flow channels, the consideration of phase change in both the anode and the cathode sides of the fuel cell, and dissolved water transport.


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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 378 ◽  
pp. 69-73
Author(s):  
Chen Fang Cai ◽  
Yong Ming Qin ◽  
Jiang Hao Wu

The effect of Belly-flap on aerodynamic performance of BWB civil aircraft are investigated in take-off and landing by computational fluid dynamics. And the overload of BWB with Belly-flap also is calculated in the same flight condition. Six parameters are discussed as design parameters of the Belly flap. It is shown that the proper combination of design parameters of Belly-flap can increase the maximum of lift and reduce the angle of attack and nose down moment to improve the flight safety in take-off and landing. When the aircraft with Belly-flap encounters the gust, the maximum overload is very close to 2.5 which are requested by FAR. It is suggested the optimized design of Belly-flap should be done if the Belly-flap is applied in BWB civil aircraft.


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