HYDRODYNAMIC FEATURES OF SUSPENSIONS AND EMULSIONS FLOWS.

This scientific article is devoted to the problems associated with the flow of suspensions and emulsions and some simplifications of the real picture of the flow of a polydisperse medium are made. It is also stipulated that differential equations characterizing the motion of suspensions and emulsions should take into account the fundamental discontinuity of the medium and the physicochemical processes of heat and mass transfer occurring in it. Taking into account all these factors, a general equation for multiphase systems is proposed with certain simplifications that do not change. The behavior of particles in two-phase systems, their concentration, collision and coagulation are considered. As a result, it was concluded that there is a multifactorial interaction and mutual influence of both phases in a dispersed flow. A differential equation of motion of a single i-th spherical particle in suspension was proposed, and an equation describing the drag force of a solid spherical particles. Equations of conservation of mass and momentum are presented for one-dimensional laminar motion of two incompressible phases in a gravity field with the same pressure in the phases. Having studied the parameters of the flow of fine particles in a turbulent gas flow, some assumptions were made. It was found that the pulsating motion of particles, performed by them during one period of gas pulsations, can be represented as a change in the pulsating gas velocity in time. The parameter of entrainment of particles by a pulsating medium is an important characteristic in determining the transport coefficients in a turbulent flow. It is concluded that the presence of various kinds of particles in the liquid complicates the problem of solving hydromechanical problems in turbulent and laminar flow, and the assumptions given in the work facilitate the study of this problem.

Pulsation suppression in a reciprocating compressor piping system using a two-tank element

Gas pulsations excited by reciprocating compressors could introduce severe vibrations and noise in piping systems. When pulsating gas flows through the reducers, the changes in flow characteristics, such as velocity and damping coefficient, will affect the pressure pulsations. To circumvent these constraints, a two-tank element is introduced to control the gas pulsation that is still strong in the piping system with a surge tank. Installing another surge tank to form a two-tank element is more flexible and costs lower than replacing the original surge tank with a larger one. In this work, a theoretical model based on the wave theory was proposed to study the transferring mechanism of gas pulsations in the pipeline with the two-tank element. By considering the damping coefficient and the Mach number, the distributions of the pressure pulsations were predicted by the theoretical model and agreed with the three-dimensional fluid dynamics transient analysis. Three experiments were conducted to prove that the suppression capability of the two-tank element is as good as that of a single-tank element (surge tank) with the same surge volume. The volume optimization of the two-tank element is implemented by selecting the best allocations of the two tanks’ volumes to achieve larger reductions of pressure pulsations. Assuming that the total surge volume is constant, we found that the smaller the volume of the front tank (near the cylinder) is, the lower the pulsation levels are. The optimized result proves that in some conditions the two-tank element could control pulsations better than the single-tank element with the same surge volume.

Pulsation Energy in the Suction Manifold of a Reciprocating Compressor as a Measure for Parameter Sensitivity

Gas pulsations in a compressor suction manifold radiate noise and reduce the efficiency of the compressor. The objective of this paper is to identify and quantify the effects of modeling assumptions and uncertainties in input parameters on the pulsation model output predictions and to estimate the sensitivity of the model to changes in the input design parameters. A unique method of sensitivity analysis is presented that uses the total pulsation energy in the suction manifold of a compressor as a measure of gas pulsations. This method is used to determine the sensitivity of the gas pulsations in the suction manifold to input design parameters. First, the gas pulsations in the suction manifold are calculated using linear acoustic theory. Second, the effects of varying several different design parameters of the suction manifold on gas pulsations are analyzed, and the three most important parameters are selected. Next, energy due to gas pulsations in the suction manifold due to these design parameter variations is calculated. Suction manifold radius was identified as the most critical parameter, followed by width and depth. The optimized values of manifold radius resulted in an overall reduction of up to 24% in the gas pulsation energy compared to the pulsation energy at the nominal design parameter values in the suction manifold.

The influence of port shape on gas pulsations in a screw compressor discharge chamber

Gas pulsations in suction and discharge chambers are a significant source of noise in screw compressors. This paper shows how such effects in the discharge chamber are influenced both by the compressor operating conditions and its geometric characteristics. An area function is identified for the discharge port as an important parameter influencing the gas pulsations and it is shown how their amplitude can be reduced by optimization of the port shape.

Numerical and Experimental Studies of Gas Pulsations in the Suction Manifold of a Multicylinder Automotive Compressor

This study predicts gas pulsations in the suction manifold of a multicylinder automotive air-conditioning compressor using a comprehensive simulation model of a reciprocating compressor. On the basis of the first law of thermodynamics and a simplified fourth-order Bernoulli-Euler linear differential beam equation for suction valves, the pressure in a cylinder and resultant pressure pulsation in the suction manifold are predicted. The mass flow rate through the valve is estimated assuming one-dimensional compressible flow through an orifice. All of the equations are then solved together in a sequence to obtain the pressure in the cylinder, valve response, and the mass flow rate. A complicated suction manifold geometry is modeled as a simplified cylindrical annular cavity to study gas pulsations in a multicylinder compressor, but the discharge process has not been considered in this study. Using the calculated mass flow rate, pressure pulsations in a simplified cylindrical annular cavity with an area change to consider “mode splitting” are predicted based on the characteristic cylinder method. It is shown that the simulation code can be a useful tool for predicting gas pulsations in the suction manifold of a multicylinder automotive compressor.