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Water jet propulsion is widely used in various military and civilian fields due to its advantages of simple structure and high propulsion efficiency. The process of mooring involves utilizing specially designed equipment to secure a ship at a designated berth. During the process of water jet propulsion, the single propeller operates within a complex and turbulent three-dimensional flow. Hence, studying the coupling between the water jet propeller and the hull is critical to comprehending the characteristics of the device and the distribution of the flow field in detail.

Firstly, we conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based self-propulsion calculations to evaluate the interaction between the hull and the propeller. We subsequently analyzed the propeller's performance and the forces acting on the hull to understand how the presence or absence of the hull influenced the water jet propeller. Finally, we performed calculations and analysis of the cavitation characteristics of the coupling between the hull and the water jet propeller, considering different rotational speeds and water depths at the bottom of the pool.

The study demonstrated that the presence of the hull boundary layer under the hull-propeller coupling condition led to reduced uniformity of propeller inlet flow and lower efficiency of the propulsion pump. However, it also increased the bias toward low-flow conditions. Additionally, increasing the impeller speed led to a gradual increase in the cavitation volume within the water jet propeller, resulting in a gradual decrease in the propeller's performance.

This research provides the technical support required for effective design and operation of water jet propulsion systems. This paper involves studying and analyzing the performance and flow field of the coupling between the hull and propeller under mooring conditions with a specified hull model.

This study aims to investigate the noise-inducing characteristics during the start-up process of a mixed-flow pump and the impact of different start-up schemes on pump noise.

This study conducted numerical simulations on the mixed-flow pump under different start-up schemes and investigated the flow characteristics and noise distribution under these schemes.

The results reveal that the dipole noise is mainly caused by pressure fluctuations, while the quadrupole noise is mainly generated by the generation, development and breakdown of vortices. Additionally, the noise evolution characteristics during the start-up process of the mixed-flow pump can be divided into the initial stage, stable growth stage, impulse stage and stable operation stage.

The findings of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the selection of start-up schemes for mixed-flow pumps, reducing flow noise and improving the operational stability of mixed-flow pumps.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of near-wall treatment approaches, which are crucial parameters in predicting the flow characteristics of open channels, and the influence of different vegetation covers in different layers.

Ansys Fluent, a computational fluid dynamics software, was used to calculate the flow and turbulence characteristics using a three-dimensional, turbulent (k-e realizable), incompressible and steady-flow assumption, along with various near-wall treatment approaches (standard, scalable, non-equilibrium and enhanced) in the vegetated channel. The numerical study was validated concerning an experimental study conducted in the existing literature.

The numerical model successfully predicted experimental results with relative error rates below 10%. It was determined that nonequilibrium wall functions exhibited the highest predictive success in experiment Run 1, standard wall functions in experiment Run 2 and enhanced wall treatments in experiment Run 3. This study has found that plant growth significantly alters open channel flow. In the contact zones, the velocities and the eddy viscosity are low, while in the free zones they are high. On the other hand, the turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence eddy dissipation are maximum at the solid–liquid interface, while they are minimum at free zones.

This is the first study, to the best of the author’s knowledge, concerning the performance of different near-wall treatment approaches on the prediction of vegetation-covered open channel flow characteristics. And this study provides valuable insights to improve the hydraulic performance of open-channel systems.

This study aims to minimize the pressure drop across wavy microchannels using secondary branches without compromising its capacity to transfer the heat. The impact of secondary flows on the pressure drop and heat transfer capabilities at different Reynolds numbers are investigated numerically for different wavy microchannels. Finally, different channels are evaluated using performance evaluation criteria to determine their effectiveness.

To investigate the flow and heat transfer capabilities in wavy microchannels having secondary branches, a 3D conjugate heat transfer model based on finite volume method is used. In conventional wavy microchannel, secondary branches are introduced at crest and trough locations. For the numerical simulation, a single symmetrical channel is used to minimize computational time and resources and the flow within the channels remains single-phase and laminar.

The findings indicate that the suggested secondary channels notably improve heat transfer and decrease pressure drop within the channels. At lower flow rates, the secondary channels demonstrate superior performance in terms of heat transfer. However, the performance declines as the flow rate increased. With the same amplitude and wavelength, the introduction of secondary channels reduces the pressure drop compared with conventional wavy channels. Due to the presence of secondary channels, the flow splits from the main channel, and part of the core flow gets diverted into the secondary channel as the flow takes the path of minimum resistance. Due to this flow split, the core velocity is reduced. An increase in flow area helps in reducing pressure drop.

Many complex and intricate microchannels are proposed by the researchers to augment heat dissipation. There are challenges in the fabrication of microchannels, such as surface finish and achieving the required dimensions. However, due to the recent developments in metal additive manufacturing and microfabrication techniques, the complex shapes proposed in this paper are feasible to fabricate.

Wavy channels are widely used in heat transfer and micro-fluidics applications. The proposed wavy microchannels with secondary channels are different when compared to conventional wavy channels and can be used practically to solve thermal challenges. They help achieve a lower pressure drop in wavy microchannels without compromising heat transfer performance.

The paper seeks to perform a detailed numerical study of flow over a generic fan‐wing airfoil and also attempts to modify the geometry for the improvement of the aerodynamic performance.

Advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique has been employed for evaluation of the aerodynamic performance (e.g. lift/drag ratio) of a model problem. Numerical investigation starts with sensitivity studies to minimize domain size influence and grid dependency, followed by time‐accurate transient calculations. A preliminary re‐design exercise has been performed by analyzing the results of a current design.

CFD predicted lift force agrees fairly well with the measurement data with about 6.55 per cent error, while drag force compares less favourably with about 12.59 per cent error. Both errors are generally acceptable for an engineering application of complex flow problems. Several key flow features observed previously by experiment have also been re‐produced by simulation, notably the eccentric vortex motions in the blade interior and the stream “jet” flow outside the blades near the exit. With the modified geometry, there is a considerable lift/drag ratio improvement of about 29.42 per cent. The possible reasons for such a significant improvement have been discussed.

As it is the first step towards the detailed flow analysis of this type of model, a simpler blade shape rather than “real” one has been used.

The paper provides a very useful source of information and could be used as guidance for further industry practice of unmanned aerial vehicles design.

This paper is valuable for both academic researchers and industry engineers, especially those working in the area of high‐lift wing design. The works presented are original.

This paper aims to discuss flow pattern transition (FPT) as an important factor in multiple-phase flow measurements. Several methods have been proposed to control FPT, but those methods fail to address the many issues in complex flow conditions that can affect flow patterns.

In this paper, a non-intrusive sensor instrumentation is applied to extract measurable data under different flow conditions. Using these data, a simple theoretical–mathematical method along with an orthogonal design is applied to FPT optimization. Orthogonal experiments are designed and carried out according to theoretical guidelines. Three selected process parameters – phase fraction, gas pressure in the initial independent process and liquid speed – are optimized for FPT results to produce a minimum FPT time.

The following results are obtained: the phase fraction in the initial independent process can lead to significant reductions in FPT time, gas pressure plays an important role and liquid speed has no apparent effect on FPT results. Under optimized conditions, FPT time can be shortened to 0.3-0.6 times by controlling the above three parameters compared with normal conditions.

The proposed method is simple, rapid and efficient for evaluating an FPT process and lays the foundation for further FPT applications.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a three-dimensional flow field model of the Invar alloy laser–metal inert gas (laser–MIG) hybrid welding process to investigate the influence of different heat sources between different layers and to analyze the flow field based on the two different heat source models for the multilayer welding.

The Invar steel plates with 19.5 mm thickness are welded into three layers’ seam using the hybrid laser–MIG welding technology. The flow field based on different heat source models is studied and then used to investigate the influence of different heat sources in different layers during the laser–MIG hybrid welding process. The simulation results of flow field using two different heat source models are compared with experiments.

The flow field simulations results show that using the Gaussian rotating body heat source model to simulate the temperature field is more consistent with the experiment of the hybrid laser–MIG welding where its flow field between different layers better reflects the characteristics of the hybrid laser–MIG welding.

The findings will be useful in the study of a variety of thick-plate laser–MIG hybrid welding process fluid flows.

Owing to the technology growth, especially in Microsystems technology and Nanotechnology, new products will provide new ways to sense variables that are crucial for product improvement and system reliability. A big concern of the scientific community is the measurement of low level flow measurements, especially for the biomedical and/or systems on a chip approaches.Design/methodology/approach – A new flow meter concept design consists of a surface micromachined sensor having an optical high reflective mirror made of gold, which is attached to unique cantilever designs that bend due to the drag force of mass flow. The bending of the cantilevers produces the mirror to approach/depart from an optical fiber end‐tip. The reflective light to fiber is modulated using a Fabry‐Perot interferometry technique to determine the mirror separation to the fiber, which corresponds to the mass flow.Findings – The new concept design shows a big potential approach to measure low flow measurements for air, gas and liquids of low viscosity. The results of this concept, through finite element analysis, show that the material used to build the sensor, makes them excellent candidates for fabrication. The stresses of the materials and allowable (readable) bending are among the tolerances of such materials/construction‐design. The sensor is not affected by electromagnetic interference and does not require electrical currents to sense, i.e. it is perfectly suited for biomedical and low mass‐flow sensing such as lab‐on‐chip applications.Originality/value – Among all approaches to sense low flow measurements, most of them need either “big” turbine approaches (dimensions over 1 cm diameter), or the need of an electrical approach needed in the end measurement sensor. This work proposes a non‐electrical approach.

The purpose of this paper is to study experimentally enhancement of heat transfer in a tube with axial swirling‐flow promoters. The geometric features of flow geometry to improve heat transfer can be selected in order to yield the maximum opposite reduction in heat exchange flow irreversibility by using exergy‐destruction method. The paper seeks to illustrate the use of neural network approach to analyze heat transfer enhancement data for further study in the scope of the experimental program.

For this purpose, 402 experimental measurements are collected. About 225 of those are used as training data for neural networks, the rest is used for testing. Then, these testing results of artificial neural network (ANN) and experimental data are compared. A formula for presenting exergy loses in a tubular heat exchanger is derived first and then the thermodynamic optimum instead of economic optimum is found by minimizing the exergy losses in the system.

Results from all configurations studied show that the heat transfer rate of the heated increases when the swirling‐flow promoter is inserted. From the heat transfer improvement number defined, it is observed that about 100 percent increase in heat transfer rate and five times increase in the pressure drop can be achieved under the condition of constant flow for the single promoter which has three blades, its blade angle is 30° and its location is in the middle of the tube length.

The back‐propagation (BP) algorithm was selected as the neural network algorithm, which uses the generalized delta learning rule. The training time of BP algorithm is considerably long. However, the testing of our neural network is real‐time.

The experimental setup is established to collect the experimental data. It consists of an entrance region, test region (heat exchanger and steam generator), and, flow measurement and control. Also, a software program of neural networks trained BP is written by using Pascal high‐level languages.

An alternative and new approach is proposed in the paper to find optimum flow geometry for a pipe flow with an axial swirling‐flow promoter inserts. It is too difficult to predict the response of a complex physical system that cannot be easily modeled mathematically. The result thus obtained compare well with experimental results, but the computational effort of the ANN and time required in the analysis is much faster as compared. These results show that the ANN can be used efficiently for prediction.

Scaled Flow Testing has been developed as a practical method to characterise the flow and thickness properties of epoxy B‐stage prepreg. This technique evolved from an analytical model of lamination flow based on parallel plate plastometer concepts modified to account for glass fabric effects. Scaled Flow Testing is designed to measure flow comparable to actual MLB lamination flow, thus it provides beneficial B‐stage theology, encapsulating, and pressed thickness data.