scholarly journals Preliminary CFD Assessment of an Experimental Test Facility Operating with Heavy Liquid Metals

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Lizzoli ◽  
Walter Borreani ◽  
Francesco Devia ◽  
Guglielmo Lomonaco ◽  
Mariano Tarantino

The CFD analysis of a Venturi nozzle operating in LBE (key component of the CIRCE facility, owned by ENEA) is presented in this paper. CIRCE is a facility developed to investigate in detail the fluid-dynamic behavior of ADS and/or LFR reactor plants. The initial CFD simulations have been developed hand in hand with the comparison with experimental data: the test results were used to confirm the reliability of the CFD model, which, in turn, was used to improve the interpretation of the experimental data. The Venturi nozzle is modeled with a 3D CFD code (STAR-CCM+). Later on, the CFD model has been used to assess the performance of the component in conditions different from the ones tested in CIRCE: the performance of the Venturi is presented, in terms of pressure drops, for various operating conditions. Finally, the CFD analysis has been focused on the evaluation of the effects of the injection of an inert gas in the flow of the liquid coolant on the performance of the Venturi nozzle.

2011 ◽  
Vol 201-203 ◽  
pp. 618-621
Author(s):  
Jin Feng Wang ◽  
Jing Xie ◽  
Le Ren Tao ◽  
Yong Hong Wang ◽  
Xin Yu Yang

The 2D axisymmetric, real gas model was developed to calculate the ejector in the ejector cooling system. The calculation of the real gas model occupies more computer resources, but its result can be more authentic. The CFD model was validated with available experimental data. Predictions at the operating conditions in the ejector cooling system were discussed. The aim of the prediction is to obtain the ejector performance in the non-design condition and variable operating condition. There is an optimum evaporator condition te=20°C (Pe=0.65bar) with the giving geometry parameters. In the calculation range, when te increase, the entrainment ratio would increase, and the system mechanical COP would also increase. In the paper, the cause of the result was analyzed using the CFD technique. The ejector entrainment ratio was affected by the operation condition and the ejector structure in the same time.


Author(s):  
Carlo Cravero ◽  
Mario La Rocca ◽  
Andrea Ottonello

The use of twin scroll volutes in radial turbine for turbocharging applications has several advantages over single passage volute related to the engine matching and to the overall compactness. Twin scroll volutes are of increasing interest in power unit development but the open scientific literature on their performance and modelling is still quite limited. In the present work the performance of a twin scroll volute for a turbocharger radial turbine are investigated in some detail in a wide range of operating conditions at both full and partial admission. A CFD model for the volute have been developed and preliminary validated against experimental data available for the radial turbine. Then the numerical model has been used to generate the database of solutions that have been investigated and used to extract the performance. Different parameters and indices are introduced to describe the volute aerodynamic performance in the wide range of operating conditions chosen. The above parameters can be used for volute development or matching with a given rotor or efficiently implemented in automatic design optimization strategies.


Author(s):  
Kumud Ajmani ◽  
Hukam C. Mongia ◽  
Phil Lee

An effort was undertaken to perform CFD analysis of fluid flow in Lean-Direct Injection (LDI) combustors with axial swirl-venturi elements for next-generation LDI-2 design. The National Combustion Code (NCC) developed at NASA Glenn Research Center was used to perform reacting flow computations on an LDI-2 combustor configuration with thirteen injector elements arranged in four fuel stages. Reacting computations were performed with a consistent approach for mesh-optimization, liquid spray modeling and kinetics modeling. Computational predictions of Emissions Index (EINOx) and combustor exit temperature were compared with two sets of experimental data at medium and high-power operating conditions, for two different pressure-drop conditions in the combustor. The NCC simulations predicted the combustor exit temperature to within 1–2% of experimental data. The accuracy of the EINOx predictions from the NCC simulations was within 10% to 30% of experimental data.


Author(s):  
James L Spedding ◽  
Mark Ho ◽  
Weijian Lu

Abstract The Open Pool Australian Light-water (OPAL) reactor Cold Neutron Source (CNS) is a 20 L liquid deuterium thermosiphon system which has performed consistently but will require replacement in the future. The CNS deuterium exploits neutronic heating to passively drive the thermosiphon loop and is cryogenically cooled by forced convective helium flow via a heat exchanger. In this study, a detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the complete thermosiphon system was developed for simulation. Unlike previous studies, the simulation employed a novel polyhedral mesh technique. Results demonstrated that the polyhedral technique reduced simulation computational requirements and convergence time by an order of magnitude while predicting thermosiphon performance to within 1% accuracy when compared with prototype experiments. The simulation model was extrapolated to OPAL operating conditions and confirmed the versatility of the CFD model as an engineering design and preventative maintenance tool. Finally, simulations were performed on a proposed second-generation CNS design that increases the CNS moderator deuterium volume by 5 L, and results confirmed that the geometry maintains the thermosiphon deuterium in the liquid state and satisfies the CNS design criteria.


Author(s):  
Giorgio Altare ◽  
Massimo Rundo

The paper presents an extensive analysis of the influence on the suction capacity of the main geometric parameters of gerotor lubricating pumps. The study was carried out using a CFD model developed with the commercial software PumpLinx®. The model of a reference gerotor unit was validated experimentally in terms of delivered flow rate in different operating conditions, in open and closed circuit configuration. In the former case different geometries of the inlet pipe were tested. In the latter the influence of the suction pressure at constant speed was analysed. After the model validation, several geometric features were changed to assess their influence on the volumetric efficiency in conditions of incomplete filling, such as the thickness and the diameter of the gears, the position of the inlet pipe with respect to the rotors (radial, axial and tangential), the shape of the port plate.


2016 ◽  
Vol 120 (1232) ◽  
pp. 1509-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Lütke ◽  
J. Nuhn ◽  
Y. Govers ◽  
M. Schmidt

ABSTRACTThe aerodynamic and structural design of a pitching blade tip with a double-swept planform is presented. The authors demonstrate how high-fidelity finite element (FE) and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations are successfully used in the design phase. Eigenfrequencies, deformation, and stress distributions are evaluated by means of a three-dimensional (3D) FE model. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are compared to experimental data for a light dynamic stall case atMa= 0.5,Re= 1.2 × 106. The results show a very good agreement as long as the flow stays attached. Tendencies for the span-wise location of separation are captured. As soon as separation sets in, discrepancies between experimental and numerical data are observed. The experimental data show that for light dynamic stall cases atMa= 0.5, a factor of safety ofFoS= 2.0 is sufficient if the presented simulation methods are used.


Author(s):  
Stefano Tiribuzi

The ENEL Produzione Research Centre of Pisa is deeply involved in the study of flame instabilities which could arise in particular operating conditions in the gas turbine equipped with Dry Low NOx (DLN) lean premixed combustors. An atmospheric pressure test facility, named TAO (Turbogas ad Accesso Ottico), is presently used to test, under scaled conditions, the onset of self-sustained thermoacoustic instabilities during the operation of a typical DLN burner. To support this activity, Computation Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analyses are carried out by means of KIEN, an in-house Reynold Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) code, for simulating 3D instationary reactive flows. A 3D geometrical model, extending from the air plenum upstream the burner up to the end of the long exhaust tube, is adopted. The great extension of the calculation domain, coupled with the long real time required for the spontaneous onset of oscillations, could became computationally very onerous for Large Eddy Simulation (LES) codes, which require a strong control on the cell maximum size throughout the entire domain, while it can be acceptable for an instationary RANS code, which could use a coarser grid. This allows the simulation of long real transients with overnight runs. Starting from uniform no-motion conditions, the same fluctuating behaviour, detected during TAO experiments, spontaneously onsets in the numerical simulations too. The experimental and numerical frequencies are nearly the same and the amplitude of the pressure oscillations is very close. Supported by the congruence with experimental available data, computed results are utilized to get a more detailed description of the evolution of many thermofluiddynamics quantities during these instabilities. A wide sample of information that can be derived directly from the output of the instationary RANS code or by postprocessing of its results is provided.


Author(s):  
Scott A. Drennan ◽  
Gaurav Kumar ◽  
Erlendur Steinthorsson ◽  
Adel Mansour

A key objective of NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) research program is to develop advanced technologies that enable 75% reduction of LTO NOx emissions of N+2 aviation gas turbine engines relative to the CAEP 6 standard. To meet this objective, a new advanced multi-point fuel injector was proposed and tested under the NASA ERA program. The new injector, called the three-zone injector, or 3ZI, uses fifteen spray cups arranged in three zones. Swirling air flows into each cup and fuel is introduced via pressure swirl atomizers within the cup. Multiple design parameters impact the performance of the injector, such as the location of the atomizer within the spray cup, the spray angle and cup-to-cup spacing. To fully understand the benefits and trade-offs of various injector design parameters and to optimize the performance of the injector, detailed CFD simulations are an essential tool. Furthermore, the CFD methodology must allow easy changes in design parameters and guarantee consistent and comparable accuracy from one design iteration to the next. This paper investigates the use of LES in reacting and non-reacting flows and compares against the NOx experimental data for the multi-point atomization strategy of the injector. The CFD simulations employ an automatically generated Cartesian cut-cell meshing approach with mesh refinement applied near complex geometry and spray regions. Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) is used to refine mesh in regions of high gradients in velocity and temperature. The CFD simulations use boundary and operating conditions based on experimental data for air flow and spray atomization obtained from LDV and PDPA characterizations of the spray respectively. The results are extended to reacting flow using a detailed reaction mechanism and predictions of NOx emissions are compared to experimental data. Overall NOx predictions were consistently less than experimental values. However, the NOx prediction trends showed excellent agreement with experimental data across the wide range of equivalence ratios investigated.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Stergiannis ◽  
Jeroen van Beeck ◽  
Mark C. Runacres

Abstract. The development of large-scale wind energy projects has created the demand for increasingly accurate and efficient models that limit a project's uncertainties and risk. Wake effects are of great importance and are relevant for the optimization of wind farms. Despite a growing body of research, there are still many open questions and challenges to overcome. In computational modelling, there are always numerous input parameters such as material properties, geometry, boundary conditions, initial conditions, turbulence modelling etc. whose estimation is difficult and their values are often inaccurate or uncertain. Due to the lack of information of several sources, e.g., uncertainties present in operating conditions as well as in the mathematical modelling, the computational output is also uncertain. It is therefore very important to validate the mathematical models with experiments performed in controlled conditions. In the present paper, the single wake characteristics of a Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine Rotor (HAWT) and their spatial evolution are investigated with different Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling approaches and compared to experimental measurements. The steady state 3-D Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations are solved in the open-source platform OpenFOAM, using different turbulence closure schemes. For the full-rotor CFD simulations, the Multiple Reference Frames (MRF) approach was used to model the rotation of the blades. For the simplified cases, an actuator disk model was used with the experimentally measured thrust (CT) and power (CP) coefficient values. The performance of each modelling approach is compared with experimental wind tunnel wake measurements from the 4th blind test organized by NOWITECH and NORCOWE in 2015. Numerical results are compared with experimental data along three horizontal lines downstream, covering all the wake regions. Wake predictions are shown to be very sensitive to the choice of the RANS turbulence model. For most cases, the ADM under-predicts the velocity deficit, except for the case of RNG k-ε which showed a superb performance in the mid and far wake. The full wind turbine rotor simulations showed good agreement to the experimental data, mainly in the near wake, amplifying the differences between the simplified models.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Hurrell ◽  
Jerzy T. Sawicki

Abstract High speed rotorcraft transmissions are subject to load-independent power losses consisting of drag loss and pumping loss. Tightly conforming shrouds enclosing the transmission gears are often incorporated to reduce the drag component of the total load-independent losses. However, tightly conforming axial shrouds can result in an increase in the pumping loss component. Quantifying the pumping loss of shrouded gear transmissions has been the subject of many studies. This study presents a new approach for estimating pumping loss based on the concept of swept volume and examines the applicability of the approach to various shroud configurations. The drag loss and pumping loss of a shrouded spur gear pair has been determined through testing using the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) Gear Windage Test Facility. The results from this testing have been compared to theoretical results using the formulations presented in this study. In addition, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis has been conducted for the various shroud configurations tested at NASA GRC. The results from the CFD analysis confirm the theoretical and empirical results and provide insight into the applicability of the swept volume approach for estimating pumping power loss of shrouded gear transmissions.


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