Turbomachinery computational fluid dynamics: asymptotes and paradigm shifts

Author(s):  
W.N Dawes

This paper reviews the development of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) specifically for turbomachinery simulations and with a particular focus on application to problems with complex geometry. The review is structured by considering this development as a series of paradigm shifts, followed by asymptotes. The original S1–S2 blade–blade-throughflow model is briefly described, followed by the development of two-dimensional then three-dimensional blade–blade analysis. This in turn evolved from inviscid to viscous analysis and then from steady to unsteady flow simulations. This development trajectory led over a surprisingly small number of years to an accepted approach—a ‘CFD orthodoxy’. A very important current area of intense interest and activity in turbomachinery simulation is in accounting for real geometry effects, not just in the secondary air and turbine cooling systems but also associated with the primary path. The requirements here are threefold: capturing and representing these geometries in a computer model; making rapid design changes to these complex geometries; and managing the very large associated computational models on PC clusters. Accordingly, the challenges in the application of the current CFD orthodoxy to complex geometries are described in some detail. The main aim of this paper is to argue that the current CFD orthodoxy is on a new asymptote and is not in fact suited for application to complex geometries and that a paradigm shift must be sought. In particular, the new paradigm must be geometry centric and inherently parallel without serial bottlenecks. The main contribution of this paper is to describe such a potential paradigm shift, inspired by the animation industry, based on a fundamental shift in perspective from explicit to implicit geometry and then illustrate this with a number of applications to turbomachinery.

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2431
Author(s):  
Rocio Fernández-Parra ◽  
Pascaline Pey ◽  
Carol Reinero ◽  
Mauro Malvè

Pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDI) with or without spacers are commonly used for the treatment of feline inflammatory airway disease. During traditional airways treatments, a substantial amount of drugs are wasted upstream of their target. To study the efficiency of commonly used devices in the transport of inhaled salbutamol, different computational models based on two healthy adult client-owned cats were developed. Computed tomographic images from one cat were used to generate a three-dimensional geometry, and two masks (spherical and conical shapes) and two spacers (10 and 20 cm) completed the models. A second cat was used to generate a second model having an endotracheal tube (ETT) with and without the same spacers. Airflow, droplet spray transport, and deposition were simulated and studied using computational fluid dynamics techniques. Four regions were evaluated: device, upper airways, primary bronchi, and downstream lower airways/parenchyma (“lung”). Regardless of the model, most salbutamol is deposited in devices and/or upper airways. In general, particles reaching the lung varied between 5.8 and 25.8%. Compared with the first model, pMDI application through the ETT with or without a spacer had significantly higher percentages of particles reaching the lung (p = 0.006).


1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 163-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia R. Stovin ◽  
Adrian J. Saul

Research was undertaken in order to identify possible methodologies for the prediction of sedimentation in storage chambers based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The Fluent CFD software was used to establish a numerical model of the flow field, on which further analysis was undertaken. Sedimentation was estimated from the simulated flow fields by two different methods. The first approach used the simulation to predict the bed shear stress distribution, with deposition being assumed for areas where the bed shear stress fell below a critical value (τcd). The value of τcd had previously been determined in the laboratory. Efficiency was then calculated as a function of the proportion of the chamber bed for which deposition had been predicted. The second method used the particle tracking facility in Fluent and efficiency was calculated from the proportion of particles that remained within the chamber. The results from the two techniques for efficiency are compared to data collected in a laboratory chamber. Three further simulations were then undertaken in order to investigate the influence of length to breadth ratio on chamber performance. The methodology presented here could be applied to complex geometries and full scale installations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassam Nasarullah Chaudhry ◽  
John Kaiser Calautit ◽  
Ben Richard Hughes

The effect of wind distribution on the architectural domain of the Bahrain Trade Centre was numerically analysed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Using the numerical data, the power generation potential of the building-integrated wind turbines was determined in response to the prevailing wind direction. The three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations along with the momentum and continuity equations were solved for obtaining the velocity and pressure field. Simulating a reference wind speed of 6 m/s, the findings from the study quantified an estimate power generation of 6.4 kW indicating a capacity factor of 2.9% for the benchmark model. At the windward side of the building, it was observed that the layers of turbulence intensified in inverse proportion to the height of the building with an average value of 0.45 J/kg. The air velocity was found to gradually increase in direct proportion to the elevation with the turbine located at higher altitude receiving maximum exposure to incoming wind. This work highlighted the potential of using advanced computational fluid dynamics in order to factor wind into the design of any architectural environment.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengbo Yang ◽  
Xinyu Xue ◽  
Chen Cai ◽  
Zhu Sun ◽  
Qingqing Zhou

In recent years, multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become more and more important in the field of plant protection in China. Multirotor unmanned plant protection UAVs have been widely used in vast plains, hills, mountains, and other regions, and become an integral part of China’s agricultural mechanization and modernization. The easy takeoff and landing performances of UAVs are urgently required for timely and effective spraying, especially in dispersed plots and hilly mountains. However, the unclearness of wind field distribution leads to more serious droplet drift problems. The drift and distribution of droplets, which depend on airflow distribution characteristics of UAVs and the droplet size of the nozzle, are directly related to the control effect of pesticide and crop growth in different growth periods. This paper proposes an approach to research the influence of the downwash and windward airflow on the motion distribution of droplet group for the SLK-5 six-rotor plant protection UAV. At first, based on the Navier-Stokes (N-S) equation and SST k–ε turbulence model, the three-dimensional wind field numerical model is established for a six-rotor plant protection UAV under 3 kg load condition. Droplet discrete phase is added to N-S equation, the momentum and energy equations are also corrected for continuous phase to establish a two-phase flow model, and a three-dimensional two-phase flow model is finally established for the six-rotor plant protection UAV. By comparing with the experiment, this paper verifies the feasibility and accuracy of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method in the calculation of wind field and spraying two-phase flow field. Analyses are carried out through the combination of computational fluid dynamics and radial basis neural network, and this paper, finally, discusses the influence of windward airflow and droplet size on the movement of droplet groups.


Author(s):  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Giovanni Ferrara ◽  
David Marten ◽  
George Pechlivanoglou ◽  
...  

Due to the rapid progress in high-performance computing and the availability of increasingly large computational resources, Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) now offers a cost-effective, versatile and accurate means to improve the understanding of the unsteady aerodynamics of Darrieus wind turbines and deliver more efficient designs. In particular, the possibility of determining a fully resolved flow field past the blades by means of CFD offers the opportunity to both further understand the physics underlying the turbine fluid dynamics and to use this knowledge to validate lower-order models, which can have a wider diffusion in the wind energy sector, particularly for industrial use, in the light of their lower computational burden. In this context, highly spatially and temporally refined time-dependent three-dimensional Navier-Stokes simulations were carried out using more than 16,000 processor cores per simulation on an IBM BG/Q cluster in order to investigate thoroughly the three-dimensional unsteady aerodynamics of a single blade in Darrieus-like motion. Particular attention was payed to tip losses, dynamic stall, and blade/wake interaction. CFD results are compared with those obtained with an open-source code based on the Lifting Line Free Vortex Wake Model (LLFVW). At present, this approach is the most refined method among the “lower-fidelity” models and, as the wake is explicitly resolved in contrast to BEM-based methods, LLFVW analyses provide three-dimensional flow solutions. Extended comparisons between the two approaches are presented and a critical analysis is carried out to identify the benefits and drawbacks of the two approaches.


Author(s):  
Francesco Balduzzi ◽  
David Marten ◽  
Alessandro Bianchini ◽  
Jernej Drofelnik ◽  
Lorenzo Ferrari ◽  
...  

Due to the rapid progress in high-performance computing and the availability of increasingly large computational resources, Navier–Stokes (NS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) now offers a cost-effective, versatile, and accurate means to improve the understanding of the unsteady aerodynamics of Darrieus wind turbines and deliver more efficient designs. In particular, the possibility of determining a fully resolved flow field past the blades by means of CFD offers the opportunity to both further understand the physics underlying the turbine fluid dynamics and to use this knowledge to validate lower-order models, which can have a wider diffusion in the wind energy sector, particularly for industrial use, in the light of their lower computational burden. In this context, highly spatially and temporally refined time-dependent three-dimensional (3D) NS simulations were carried out using more than 16,000 processor cores per simulation on an IBM BG/Q cluster in order to investigate thoroughly the 3D unsteady aerodynamics of a single blade in Darrieus-like motion. Particular attention was paid to tip losses, dynamic stall, and blade/wake interaction. CFD results are compared with those obtained with an open-source code based on the lifting line free vortex wake model (LLFVW). At present, this approach is the most refined method among the “lower-fidelity” models, and as the wake is explicitly resolved in contrast to blade element momentum (BEM)-based methods, LLFVW analyses provide 3D flow solutions. Extended comparisons between the two approaches are presented and a critical analysis is carried out to identify the benefits and drawbacks of the two approaches.


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