CFD Simulation of a Supersonic Steam Ejector for Refrigeration Application

Author(s):  
Liju Su ◽  
Ramesh K. Agarwal

Supersonic steam ejectors are widely used in many industrial applications, for example for refrigeration and desalination. The experimental evaluation of the flow field inside the ejector is relatively difficult and costly due to the occurrence of shock after the velocity of the steam reaches over the sonic level in the ejector. In this paper, numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the detailed flow field inside a supersonic steam (water vapor being the working fluid) ejector. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) flow solver ANSYS-Fluent and the mesh generation software ANSYS-ICEM are used to predict the steam performance during the mixing inside the ejector by employing two turbulence models, the k-ω SST and the k-ε realizable models. The computed results are validated against the experimental data. The effects of operating conditions on the efficiency of the ejector such as the primary fluid pressure and condenser pressure are studied to obtain a better understanding of the mixing process and entrainment. Velocity contours, pressure plots and shock region analyses provide a good understanding for optimization of the ejector performance, in particular how to increase the entrainment ratio.

Author(s):  
Liju Su ◽  
Ramesh K. Agarwal ◽  
Subhodeep Banerjee

Supersonic steam ejectors are widely used in many industrial applications, for example for refrigeration and desalination. The experimental evaluation of the flow field inside the ejector is relatively difficult and costly due to the occurrence of shock after the velocity of the steam reaches over the sonic level in the ejector. In this paper, numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the detailed flow field inside a supersonic steam (water vapor being the working fluid) ejector. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) flow solver ANSYS-Fluent and the mesh generation software ANSYS-ICEM are used to predict the steam performance during the mixing inside the ejector by employing two turbulence models, the k-ω SST and the k-ε realizable models. The computed results are validated against the experimental data. The effects of operating conditions on the efficiency of the ejector such as the primary fluid pressure and condenser pressure are studied to obtain a better understanding of the mixing process and entrainment. Velocity contours, pressure plots and shock region analyses provide a good understanding for optimization of the ejector performance, in particular how to increase the entrainment ratio.


Author(s):  
Haijun Li ◽  
Shengqiang Shen

Two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations were solved to obtain local distributions of pressure, temperature and Mach number of the complex flow field in a steam ejector. From the computational results, we obtain that there is a critical discharging pressure for given motive pressure and suction pressure. The effects of motive fluid pressure, motive fluid overheat, suction fluid pressure and discharge fluid pressure on the entrainment ratio and critical discharging pressure were concluded in detail. Analysis was also done to comprehend the reason of shocks emerging, their positions, and their effects on ejector performance. Phase transition phenomenon occurred in the ejector when using steam as working fluid was obtained through calculating the percent of saturated water in the mixture. The effect of the ejector’s geometrical structure on its performance is further studied and high COP of the ejector is gained by optimizing its structure.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasser Shelil

Abstract. The aerodynamic characteristics of DTU-LN221 airfoil is studied. ANSYS Fluent is used to simulate the airfoil performance with seven different turbulence models. The simulation results for the airfoil with different turbulence models are compared with the wind tunnel experimental data performed under the same operating conditions. It is found that there is a good agreement between the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predicted aerodynamic force coefficients with wind tunnel experimental data especially with angle of attack between −5° to 10°. RSM is chosen to investigate the flow field structure and the surface pressure coefficients under different angle of attack between −5° to 10°. Also the effect of changing air temperature, velocity and turbulence intensity on lift and drag coefficients/forces are examined. The results show that it is recommended to operate the wind turbines airfoil at low air temperature and high velocity to enhance the performance of the wind turbines.


Author(s):  
V. A. Karkoulias ◽  
P. E. Marazioti ◽  
D. P. Georgiou ◽  
E. A. Maraziotis

This paper investigates how the structure of the flow field and the vertical distribution of the pollutant concentration near the wall facades of street canyons are affected by the presence of some elements such as street level galleries. Numerical results are presented for various gallery geometries in combination with facade roughness elements (balconies) for a canyon of an aspect ratio equal to h/w=2.33. The results were obtained by a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation employing the ANSYS-FLUENT suite that incorporated the k-e turbulent (RNG) model. The simulation generated several flow structures inside the canyon (mainly vortices), whose characteristic properties (e.g. number, strength and size) are discussed in terms of the effect of the galleries on the flow field structure and the roughness generated by the building façade balconies. The results indicate a significant influence on both the flow field structure and the mass concentration distribution of the polluting particles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 850 (1) ◽  
pp. 012026
Author(s):  
J Kevin Joseph ◽  
R Jeyanthinathan ◽  
R Harish

Abstract A Tesla turbine is a bladeless turbine in which fluid flows in the direction of the centripetal path. It uses fluid properties such as Boundary layer & adhesion of fluid on a series of discs keyed to a shaft. The initial cost and maintenance cost of the Tesla turbine is very low. Our project’s main motive is to improve the performance of a Tesla turbine by changing various parameters such as disc diameter and disc rotating speed through the CFD simulation software using water as a working fluid. The CAD model is designed using Ansys design modeler, meshing is performed using Ansys meshing and post processing is carried out in Ansys fluent. The numerical simulations were carried out using Ansys Fluent which is based on the finite volume method and the changes that occurred in the pressure and velocities are investigated. The parametric study is performed by varying the turbine disc speed. By performing CFD simulations, total pressure contour and velocity magnitude contours are plotted and it is found that pressure and velocity are maximum when the clearance between disc and turbine casing is lesser and at higher turbine disc speeds. The power output of the Tesla turbine is also plotted for various rpm where higher rpm gives maximum power output. The results from the present study would be useful in designing an efficient Tesla turbine with improved performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 01006
Author(s):  
Yiquan Guo ◽  
Junying Zhang

In this paper, a collision model between atomized droplets of agglomeration solution and particles is established. On this basis, the effects of flue gas temperature, atomized droplet diameter and other factors on the particle agglomeration process are studied. In addition, the evaporation model of agglomeration solution in the flue of a power plant is established for the coal-fired unit of power plant. Through CFD software, the variation of flow field velocity, temperature and pressure in the flue is simulated to determine whether the chemical agglomeration technology has negative impact on the actual operating conditions of the power plant. The simulation results show that the velocity and pressure of the flow field in the flue have no obvious change after the agglomerating agent is injected. Besides, the temperature drop of about 7°C. The droplets evaporate completely at a distance of 7-8 m after spraying. The evaporation time of droplets is within 1.6 s.


Author(s):  
Yahya Dogu ◽  
Mahmut F. Aksit ◽  
Mehmet Demiroglu ◽  
Osman Saim Dinc

The industrial applications of brush seals have been increasing due to their superior sealing performance. Advances in the understanding of seal behavior have been pushing the design limits to higher-pressure load, temperature, surface speed, and rotor excursion levels. The highest sealing performance can be achieved when the bristle pack maintains contact with the rotor surface. However, due to many design and operational constraints, most seals operate with some clearance. This operating clearance cannot be avoided due to rotor runouts, transient operating conditions, or excessive bristle wear. In some applications, a minimum initial clearance is required to ensure a certain amount of flow rate for component cooling or purge flow. Typically, brush seal failure occurs in the form of degraded sealing performance due to increasing seal clearance. The seal performance is mainly characterized by the flow field in close vicinity of the bristle pack, through the seal-rotor clearance, and within the bristle pack. This work investigates the flow field for a brush seal operating with some bristle-rotor clearance. A nonlinear form of the momentum transport equation for a porous medium of the bristle pack has been solved by employing the computational fluid dynamics analysis. The results are compared with prior experimental data. The flow field for the clearance seal is observed to have different characteristics compared to that for the contact seal. Outlined as well are the flow features influencing the bristle dynamics.


1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bein ◽  
A. Shavit ◽  
A. Solan

The flow between a rotating disk and a stationary disk, with nonaxisymmetric boundary conditions is studied. A flow field of this type exists in the narrow gap between the rotor and side plates of a rotary vane compressor. Fluid is admitted into the gap in the center of the disk for the purpose of sealing against leakage due to the nonaxisymmetric pressure distribution externally imposed on the disk circumference. The flow is solved analytically by a perturbation technique. Flow maps and pressure maps are obtained for various operating conditions. The effectiveness of the fluid seal is evaluated for these conditions by calculating the flow rates that pass through the gap. The flow field is simulated on a test apparatus and experimental verification is given to the analytical results. The results obtained indicate the possibility of appreciably reducing the leakage through the gap by a proper selection of the fluid pressure and the disk geometry.


Author(s):  
Charles Farbos de Luzan ◽  
Yuri Perelstein ◽  
Ephraim Gutmark ◽  
Thomas Frosell ◽  
Frederic Felten

A coaxial piping system (CPS) that involves a transition from a smaller annulus into a larger annulus is investigated to evaluate the generation of vortices and recirculation zones around the transition area. These areas are of interest for industrial applications where erosion within the piping system is a concern. The focus of this work is to evaluate the capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using commercial Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models to predict the regions and intensity of vortices and recirculation zones. A trusted grid is developed and used to compare turbulence models. The commercial CFD solver Fluent (Ansys Inc., USA) is used to solve the flow governing equations for different CFD numerical formulations, namely the one equation Spalart-Allmaras model, and steady-state RANS with different turbulence models (standard k-epsilon, k-epsilon realizable, k-epsilon RNG, standard k-omega, k-omega SST, and transition SST) [1]. CFD results are compared to time-averaged particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The PIV provides 3D flow field measurements in the outer annulus of the piping system. Velocities in regions of interest were used to compare each model to the PIV results. An RMS comparison of the numerical results to the measured values is used as a quantitative evaluation of each turbulence model being considered. The results provide a useable CFD model for evaluation of the flow field of this flow field and highlights areas of uncertainty in the CFD results.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana C. Ferreira ◽  
Senhorinha F. C. F. Teixeira ◽  
Ricardo F. Oliveira ◽  
José C. Teixeira

Abstract An alpha-Stirling configuration was modelled using a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD), using ANSYS® software. A Stirling engine is an externally heated engine which has the advantage of working with several heat sources with high efficiencies. The working gas flows between compression and expansion spaces by alternate crossing of, a low-temperature heat exchanger (cooler), a regenerator and a high-temperature heat exchanger (heater). Two pistons positioned at a phase angle of 90 degrees were designed and the heater and cooler were placed on the top of the pistons. The motion of the boundary conditions with displacement was defined through a User Defined Function (UDF) routine, providing the motion for the expansion and compression piston, respectively. In order to define the temperature differential between the engine hot and the cold sources, the walls of the heater and cooler were defined as constant temperatures, whereas the remaining are adiabatic. The objective is to study the thermal behavior of the working fluid considering the piston motion between the hot and cold sources and investigate the effect of operating conditions on engine performance. The influence of regenerator matrix porosity, hot and cold temperatures on the engine performance was investigated through predicting the PV diagram of the engine. The CFD simulation of the thermal engine’s performance provided a Stirling engine with 760W of power output. It was verified that the Stirling engine can be optimized when the best design parameters combination are applied, mostly the regenerator porosity and cylinders volume, which variation directly affect the power output.


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