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21 – 30 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 6 November 2020

Alain Fossi, Alain DeChamplain, Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh and Jeffrey Bergthorson

This study aims to deal with the large eddy simulation (LES) of an ignition sequence and the resulting steady combustion in a swirl-stabilized liquid-fueled combustor. Particular…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to deal with the large eddy simulation (LES) of an ignition sequence and the resulting steady combustion in a swirl-stabilized liquid-fueled combustor. Particular attention is paid to the ease of handling the numerical tool, the accuracy of the results and the reasonable computational cost involved. The primary aim of the study is to appraise the ability of the newly developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology to retrieve the spark-based flame kernel initiation, its propagation until the full ignition of the combustion chamber, the flame stabilization and the combustion processes governing the steady combustion regime.

Design/methodology/approach

The CFD model consists of an LES-based spray module coupled to a subgrid-scale ignition model to capture the flame kernel initiation and the early stage of the flame kernel growth, and a combustion model based on the mixture fraction-progress variable formulation in the line of the flamelet generated manifold (FGM) method to retrieve the subsequent flame propagation and combustion properties. The LES-spray module is based on an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach and includes a fully two-way coupling at each time step to account for the interactions between the liquid and the gaseous phases. The Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE) model is used for the flow field while the eddy diffusivity model is used for the scalar fluxes. The fuel is liquid kerosene, injected in the form of a polydisperse spray of droplets. The spray dynamics are tracked using the Lagrangian procedure, and the phase transition of droplets is calculated using a non-equilibrium evaporation model. The oxidation mechanism of the Jet A-1 surrogate is described through a reduced reaction mechanism derived from a detailed mechanism using a species sensitivity method.

Findings

By comparing the numerical results with a set of published data for a swirl-stabilized spray flame, the proposed CFD methodology is found capable of capturing the whole spark-based ignition sequence in a liquid-fueled combustion chamber and the main flame characteristics in the steady combustion regime with reasonable computing costs.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed CFD methodology simulates the whole ignition sequence, namely, the flame kernel initiation, its propagation to fully ignite the combustion chamber, and the global flame stabilization. Due to the lack of experimental ignition data on this liquid-fueled configuration, the ability of the proposed CFD methodology to accurately predict ignition timing was not quantitatively assessed. It would, therefore, be interesting to apply this CFD methodology to other configurations that have experimental ignition data, to quantitatively assess its ability to predict the ignition timing and the flame characteristics during the ignition sequence. Such further investigations will not only provide further validation of the proposed methodology but also will potentially identify its shortfalls for better improvement.

Practical implications

This CFD methodology is developed by customizing a commercial CFD code widely used in the industry. It is, therefore, directly applicable to practical configurations, and provides not only a relatively straightforward approach to predict an ignition sequence in liquid-fueled combustion chambers but also a robust way to predict the flame characteristics in the steady combustion regime as significant improvements are noticed on the prediction of slow species.

Originality/value

The incorporation of the subgrid ignition model paired with a combustion model based on tabulated chemistry allows reducing computational costs involved in the simulation of the ignition phase. The incorporation of the FGM-based tabulated chemistry provides a drastic reduction of computing resources with reasonable accuracy. The CFD methodology is developed using the platform of a commercial CFD code widely used in the industry for relatively straightforward applicability.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 31 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2019

Ali H. Abdulkarim, Ali Ates, Kemal Altinisik and Eyüb Canli

This study aims to introduce a metal porous burner design. Literature is surveyed in a comprehensive manner to relate the current design with ongoing research. A demonstrative…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to introduce a metal porous burner design. Literature is surveyed in a comprehensive manner to relate the current design with ongoing research. A demonstrative computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is presented with projected flow conditions by means of a common commercial CFD code and turbulence model to show the flow-related features of the proposed burner. The porous metal burner has a novel design, and it is not commercially available.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the field experience about porous burners, a metal, cylindrical, two-staged, homogenous porous burner was designed. Literature was surveyed to lay out research aspects for the porous burners and porous media. Three dimensional solid computer model of the burner was created. The flow domain was extracted from the solid model to use in CFD analysis. A commercial computational fluid dynamics code was utilized to analyze the flow domain. Projected flow conditions for the burner were applied to the CFD code. Results were evaluated in terms of homogenous flow distribution at the outer surface and flow mixing. Quantitative results are gathered and are presented in the present report by means of contour maps.

Findings

There aren’t any flow sourced anomalies in the flow domain which would cause an inefficient combustion for the application. An accumulation of gas is evident around the top flange of the burner leading to higher static pressure. Generally, very low pressure drop throughout the proposed burner geometry is found which is regarded as an advantage for burners. About 0.63 Pa static pressure increase is realized on the flange surface due to the accumulation of the gas. The passage between inner and outer volumes has a high impact on the total pressure and leads to about 0.5 Pa pressure drop. About 0.03 J/kg turbulent kinetic energy can be viewed as the highest amount. Together with the increase in total enthalpy, total amount of energy drawn from the flow is 0.05 J/kg. More than half of it spent through turbulence and remaining is dissipated as heat. Outflow from burner surface can be regarded homogenous though the top part has slightly higher outflow. This can be changed by gradually increasing pore sizes toward inlet direction.

Research limitations/implications

Combustion via a porous medium is a complex phenomenon since it involves multiple phases, combustion chemistry, complex pore geometries and fast transient responses. Therefore, experimentation is used mostly. To do a precise computational analysis, strong computational power, parallelizing, elaborate solid modeling, very fine meshes and small time steps and multiple models are required.

Practical implications

Findings in the present work imply that a homogenous gas outflow can be attained through the burner surfaces while very small pressure drop occurs leading to less pumping power requirement which is regarded as an advantage. Flow mixing is realizable since turbulent kinetic energy is distinguished at the interface surface between inner and outer volumes. The porous metal matrix burner offers fluid mixing and therefore better combustion efficiency. The proposed dimensions are found appropriate for real-world application.

Originality/value

Conducted analysis is for a novel burner design. There are opportunities both for scientific and commercial fields.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2022

Dongfeng Li, Zhengzhong Wang, Andrea Da Ronch and Gang Chen

This paper aims to develop an efficient evaluation method to more intuitively and effectively investigate the influence of the wing fuel mass variations because of fuel burn on…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop an efficient evaluation method to more intuitively and effectively investigate the influence of the wing fuel mass variations because of fuel burn on transonic aeroelasticity.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed efficient aeroelastic evaluation method is developed by extending the standard computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based proper orthogonal decomposition (POD)/reduced order model (ROM).

Findings

The results of this paper show that the proposed aeroelastic efficient evaluation method can accurately and efficiently predict the aeroelastic response and flutter boundary when the wing fuel mass vary because of fuel burn. It also shows that the wing fuel mass variations have a significant effect on transonic aeroelasticity; the flutter speed increases as the wing fuel mass decreases. Without rebuilding an expensive, time-consuming CFD-based POD/ROM for each wing fuel mass variation, the computational cost of the proposed method is reduced obviously. It also shows that the computational efficiency improvement grows linearly with the number of model cases.

Practical implications

The paper presents a potentially powerful tool to more intuitively and effectively investigate the influence of the wing fuel mass variation on transonic aeroelasticity, and the results form a theoretical and methodological basis for further research.

Originality/value

The proposed evaluation method makes it a reality to apply the efficient standard CFD-based POD/ROM to investigate the influence of the wing fuel mass variation because of fuel burn on transonic aeroelasticity. The proposed efficient aeroelastic evaluation method, therefore, is ideally suited to deal with the investigation of the influence of wing fuel mass variations on transonic aeroelasticity and may have the potential to reduce the overall cost of aircraft design.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 94 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 December 2021

Mingming Ge, Xin-Lei Zhang, Kaleb Brookshire and Olivier Coutier-Delgosha

The openings on aircraft structures can be modeled from an aerodynamical point of view as lid-driven cavities (LDC). This paper aims to show the primary verification and…

Abstract

Purpose

The openings on aircraft structures can be modeled from an aerodynamical point of view as lid-driven cavities (LDC). This paper aims to show the primary verification and validation (V&V) process in computational fluid dynamics (CFD, and to investigate the influences of numerical settings on the efficiency and accuracy for solving the LDC problem.

Design/methodology/approach

To dig into the details of CFD approaches, this paper outlines the design, implementation, V&V and results of an efficient explicit algorithm. The parametric study is performed thoroughly focusing on various iteration methods, grid density discretization terms and Reynolds number effects.

Findings

This study parameterized the numerical implementation which provides empirical insights into how computational accuracy and efficiency are affected by changing numerical settings. At a low Reynolds number (not over 1,000), the time-derivative preconditioning is necessary, and k = 0.1 can be the optimal value to guarantee the efficiency, as well as the stability. A larger artificial viscosity (c = 1/16) would relieve the calculating oscillation issue but proportionally increase the discretization error. Furthermore, the iteration method and the mesh quality are two key factors that affect the convergence efficiency, thus need to be selected “wisely”.

Practical implications

The study shows how numerical implementation can enhance an accurate and efficient solution. This workflow can be used to determine the best parameter settings whenever CFD researchers applying this LDC problem as a complementary design tool for testing newly developed solvers.

Originality/value

The studied LDC problem is representative of CFD analysis in real aircraft structures. These numerical simulations provide a cost-effective and convenient tool to understand the parameter sensitivity, solution receptivity and physics of the CFD process.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 94 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2019

Ganesh Narayanan, Milan Joshi, Prasun Dutta and Kanak Kalita

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique is the most commonly used numerical approach to simulate fluid flow behaviour. Owing to its computationally, cost-intensive nature CFD

146

Abstract

Purpose

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique is the most commonly used numerical approach to simulate fluid flow behaviour. Owing to its computationally, cost-intensive nature CFD models may not be easily and quickly deployable. In this regard, this study aims to present a support vector machine (SVM)-based metamodelling approach that can be easily trained and quickly deployed for carrying out large-scale studies.

Design/methodology/approach

Radial basis function and ε^*-insensitive loss function are used as kernel function and loss function, respectively. To prevent overfitting of the model, five-fold cross-validation root mean squared error is used while training the SVM metamodel. Rather than blindly using any SVM tuning parameters, a particle swarm optimisation (PSO) is used to fine-tune them. The developed SVM metamodel is tested using various error metrics on disjoint test data.

Findings

Using the SVM metamodel, a parametric study is conducted to understand the effect of various factors influencing the behaviour of the turbulent fluid flow in the pipe bend with CFD simulation data set. Based on the parametric study carried out, it is seen that the diametric position has the most effect on dimensionless axial velocity, whereas Reynolds number has the least effect.

Originality/value

This paper provides an effective PSO-tuned SVM metamodelling approach, which may be used as a significant cost-saving approach to quickly and accurately estimate fluid flow characteristics that, in general, require the use of expensive CFD models.

Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Victor Huayamave, Andres Ceballos, Carolina Barriento, Hubert Seigneur, Stephen Barkaszi, Eduardo Divo and Alain Kassab

Wind loading calculations are currently performed according to the ASCE 7 standard. Values in this standard were estimated from simplified models that do not necessarily take into…

Abstract

Purpose

Wind loading calculations are currently performed according to the ASCE 7 standard. Values in this standard were estimated from simplified models that do not necessarily take into account relevant flow characteristics. Thus, the standard does not have provisions to handle the majority of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems. Accurate solutions for this problem can be produced using a full-fledged three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Unfortunately, CFD requires enormous computation times, and its use would be unsuitable for this application which requires real-time solutions. To this end, a real-time response framework based on the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

A real-time response framework based on the POD method was used. This framework used beforehand and off-line CFD solutions from an extensive data set developed using a predefined design space. Solutions were organized to form the basis snapshots of a POD matrix. The interpolation network using a radial-basis function (RBF) was used to predict the solution from the POD method given a set of values of the design variables. The results presented assume varying design variables for wind speed and direction on typical PV roof installations.

Findings

The trained POD–RBF interpolation network was tested and validated by performing the fast-algebraic interpolation to obtain the pressure distribution on the PV system surface and they were compared to actual grid-converged fully turbulent 3D CFD solutions at the specified values of the design variables. The POD network was validated and proved that large-scale CFD problems can be parametrized and simplified by using this framework.

Originality/value

The solar power industry, engineering design firms and the society as a whole could realize significant savings with the availability of a real-time in situ wind-load calculator that can prove essential for plug-and-play installation of PV systems. Additionally, this technology allows for automated parametric design optimization to arrive at the best fit for a set of given operating conditions. All these tasks are currently prohibited because of the massive computational resources and time required to address large-scale CFD analysis problems, all made possible by a simple but robust technology that can yield massive savings for the solar industry.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2022

Shiang-Wuu Perng, Horng Wen Wu, Nugroho Putra Kelana, Yi-Ling Guo and Chen-Jui Yang

The purpose of this paper, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) work, is to promote turbulent thermal convection in a heated circular tube using a passive scheme of a slotted…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) work, is to promote turbulent thermal convection in a heated circular tube using a passive scheme of a slotted twisted sheet.

Design/methodology/approach

The inventive design uses square-cut and conjugate triangular perforations to diversify the twisted tape for better thermal convection. The current novel passive scheme methodology is accomplished by carving the same square cuts and slitting various sizes of equilateral triangle perforations (side length varies between 8 and 16 mm). The re-normalisation group turbulence model and the semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equation method examine the turbulent thermal convection aspects of all simulations at different Reynolds numbers (6,000, 10,000 and 14,000).

Findings

The analyses of simulations exhibit that the placement of a twisted tape with triangle perforations and equidistant square cuts can effectually promote thermal convection in a circular tube. A larger-sized triangle perforation can increase the thermal convection enhancement and thermal performance factor, but an enlarged perforation may decrease the thermal convection enhancement and thermal performance factor. As a result, compared with the smooth circular tube, the circular tube with the slotted twisted sheet slit by a 10 mm equilateral triangle brings about the maximum improvement ratio of the mean Nusselt number of about 2.8 at Re = 6,000. Under weighing the friction through the circular tube, the tube with the slotted twisted sheet slit by a 10 mm equilateral triangle gains the best thermal performance factor of about 1.36 at Re = 6,000.

Research limitations/implications

The working fluid is water and its physical features are assumed to be constant. In addition, the fluid is considered a steady flow in this CFD work.

Practical implications

These CFD predictions will benefit the development of heat exchanger tubes equipped with a slotted twisted sheet to acquire preferable thermal convection enhancement.

Social implications

Higher thermal performance achieved by placing a slotted twisted tape in a heated tube will benefit society in lower energy consumption, machinery maintenance costs and impact on the environment.

Originality/value

This study combined triangle perforations and square cuts on the twisted sheet. This combination can induce the fluid flow across the sheet to disturb the swirling flow and then promote the fluid mixing to increase thermal convection. Therefore, this modified tape can be a profitable passive device for designing a heat exchanger.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2024

Jiahao Lu, Ran Tao, Di Zhu and Ruofu Xiao

This study focuses on the CFD numerical simulation and analysis of the vortex stacking problem at the top of the impeller of a high-speed fuel pump, mainly using LCS and entropy…

Abstract

Purpose

This study focuses on the CFD numerical simulation and analysis of the vortex stacking problem at the top of the impeller of a high-speed fuel pump, mainly using LCS and entropy production theory to visualize the vortex at the top of the impeller as well as quantitatively analyzing the energy loss caused by the vortex at the top of the impeller. By combining the two methods, the two are well verified with each other that the stacking problem of the vortex at the top of the impeller and the location of the energy loss caused by the vortex are consistent with the vortex location. Such a method can reveal the problem of vortex buildup at the top of the lobe well, and provide a novel guidance idea for improving the performance of high-speed fuel pumps.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on CFD numerical simulation and analysis, this study mainly uses LCS and entropy production theory to visualize the top vortex of the impeller. Through the combination of the two methods, the accumulation problem of the top vortex of the impeller and the location of the energy loss caused by the vortex can be well revealed.

Findings

(1) The CFD numerical simulation analysis of the high-speed fuel pump is carried out, and the test is conducted to verify the numerical simulation results. The inlet and outlet pressure difference? P is used as the validation index, and the error analysis shows that the error between numerical simulation and test results is within 10%, which meets our requirements. Therefore, we carry out the next analysis with the help of CFD numerical simulation. By analyzing the full working condition simulation, its inlet and outlet differential pressure? P and efficiency? Are evaluated. It is found that its differential pressure decreases with the flow rate and its efficiency reaches its maximum at Qv = 9.87 L/s with a maximum efficiency of 78.32%. (2) We used the LCS in the analysis of vortices at the top of the impeller blades of a high-speed fuel pump. One of the metrics used to describe the LCS in fluid dynamics is the FTLE. The high FTLE region represents the region with the highest and fastest particle trajectory stretching velocity in the fluid flow. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the FTLE field on the different height surfaces of the impeller on 25% Plane, 50% Plane, and 75% Plane, respectively. And a quarter turn of the rotor rotation was analyzed as a cycle divided into 8 moments. It is found that on 25% Plane, the vortex at the top of the lobe is not obvious, but there are high FTLE values on the shroud surface. On 50% Plane, the lobe top vortex is relatively obvious and the number of vortices is three. The vortex pattern remains stable with the rotating motion of the rotor. At 75% Plane, the lobe top vortex is more visible and its number of vortices increases to about 5 and the vortex morphology is relatively stable. The FTLE ridges visualize the vortex profile. This is a good guide for fluid dynamics analysis. (3) At the same time, we use the entropy production theory to quantitatively analyze the energy loss, and define the entropy production rate Ep. Through the entropy production analysis of the impeller shroud surface and the suction surface of the pressure surface of the blades at eight moments, we find that the areas of high energy loss are mainly concentrated in the leading and trailing edges of the blades as well as in the shroud surface close to the leading edge of the blades, and the value of the entropy production rate is up to 106 W/m3/K. The areas of high energy loss in the leading edge of the blades as well as the trailing edge show a curved arc, and the energy loss is decreasing as it moves away from the shroud surface and closer to the hub surface. The high energy loss areas at the leading and trailing edges of the blades are curved, and the energy loss decreases as they move away from the shroud surface and closer to the hub surface. The energy loss at the pressure surface of the blade is relatively small, about 5 × 105 W/m3/K, which is mainly concentrated near the leading edge of the blade near the shroud surface and the trailing edge of the blade near the hub surface. Such energy loss corresponds to the vortex LCS at the top of the impeller, and the two mirror each other.

Originality/value

This study focuses on the CFD numerical simulation and analysis of the vortex stacking problem at the top of the impeller of a high-speed fuel pump, mainly using LCS and entropy production theory to visualize the vortex at the top of the impeller as well as quantitatively analyzing the energy loss caused by the vortex at the top of the impeller. By combining the two methods, the two are well verified with each other that the stacking problem of the vortex at the top of the impeller and the location of the energy loss caused by the vortex are consistent with the vortex location. Such a method can reveal the problem of vortex buildup at the top of the lobe well, and provide a novel guidance idea for improving the performance of high-speed fuel pumps.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Riccardo Amirante, Luciano Andrea Catalano and Paolo Tamburrano

The purpose of this paper is to present a full 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the flow field through hydraulic directional proportional valves, in order to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a full 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the flow field through hydraulic directional proportional valves, in order to accurately predict the flow forces acting on the spool and to overcome the limitations of two-dimensional (2D) and simplified three-dimensional (3D) models.

Design/methodology/approach

A full 3D CAD representation is proposed as a general approach to reproduce the geometry of an existing valve in full detail; then, unstructured computational grids, which identify peculiar positions of the spool travel, are generated by means of the mesh generation tool Gambit. The computational grids are imported into the commercial CFD code Fluent, where the flow equations are solved assuming that the flow is steady and incompressible. To validate the proposed computational procedure, the predicted flow rates and flow forces are compared with the corresponding experimental data.

Findings

The superposition between numerical and experimental curves demonstrates that the proposed full 3D numerical analysis is more effective than the simplified 3D flow model that was previously proposed by the same authors.

Practical implications

The presented full 3D fluid dynamic analysis can be employed for the fluid-dynamic design optimization of the sliding spool and, more generally, of the internal profiles of the valve, with the objective of reducing the flow forces and thus the required control force.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a new computational strategy that is capable of recognizing all 3D geometrical details of a hydraulic directional proportional valve and that provides a significant improvement with respect to 2D and partially 3D approaches.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 May 2014

Morteza Khoshvaght Aliabadi, Faramarz Hormozi and Elham Hosseini Rad

The main purpose of this paper is the generation of the heat transfer and pressure drop correlations by considering three working fluids, namely air, water, and ethylene glycol…

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is the generation of the heat transfer and pressure drop correlations by considering three working fluids, namely air, water, and ethylene glycol, for the wavy plate-fin heat exchangers (PFHEs).

Design/methodology/approach

In order to present the general correlations, various models with different geometrical parameters should be tested. Because of the problems, such as difficult, long time, and costly fabrication of the wavy fins in experimental tests, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations can be a useful method for the generation of the heat transfer and pressure drop correlations with eliminating the experimental problems. Hence, the effective design parameters of the wavy plate-fin, including fin pitch, fin height, wave length, fin thickness, wave amplitude, and fin length, and also their levels were recognized from the literature. The Taguchi method was applied to formulate the CFD simulation work.

Findings

The simulation results were compared and validated with an available experimental data. The mean deviations of the Colburn factor, j, and Fanning friction factor, f, values between the simulation results and the experimental data were 3.74 and 9.07 percent, respectively. The presented air correlations and experimental data were in a good agreement, so that approximately 95 percent of the experimental data were correlated within ±12 percent. The j factor values varied for the different working fluids, while the f factor values did not sensibly change.

Practical implications

The presented correlations can be used to estimate the thermal-hydraulic characteristics and to design of the compact PFHE with the wavy channels.

Originality/value

This manuscript presents the new correlations for the compact PFHEs with the way channels by considering all the geometrical parameters and the working fluids with the different Prandtl numbers, 0.7, 7, and 150.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 24 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

21 – 30 of over 1000