scholarly journals Numerical simulation of flow in trapezoidal labyrinth-channels of drip irrigation

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-153
Author(s):  
Hamza Ouarriche ◽  
Bouhali El ◽  
Firdaouss Bouisfi ◽  
Mohamed Chaoui ◽  
Mohamed Hannaoui

The clogging of emitters has been considered as one of the most troublesome problems inhibiting the extension of drip irrigation. This paper investigates the flow field of water and behaviour of suspended particles in the trapezoidal labyrinth-channel. Computational Fluid Dynamics methods has been executed on liquid-solid two-phase flow in labyrinth-channel emitters. RNG k-e turbulence model was used to evaluate four types of emitters that have the same characteristics and differ in the elbow width S. This study has shown that as the value of S increases, the maximum velocity in the labyrinth-channel decreases and the number of vortices increases. However, emitter with a high S value are more subtle to clogging. In addition, it was also observed that smaller diameter particles behave best when they pass through the channel and follow the streamline flow. As the particle diameters become larger, the particles tend to leave the mean stream and enter the vortex zones under the force of inertia. So, more suspended particles trapped in the vortex area , more the chances of emitter clogging increase. All of these furthermore confirm that vortex and low speed regions were the main causes leading to emitter clogging.

Author(s):  
Ikpe E. Aniekan ◽  
Owunna Ikechukwu ◽  
Satope Paul

Four different riser pipe exit configurations were modelled and the flow across them analysed using STAR CCM+ CFD codes. The analysis was limited to exit configurations because of the length to diameter ratio of riser pipes and the limitations of CFD codes available. Two phase flow analysis of the flow through each of the exit configurations was attempted. The various parameters required for detailed study of the flow were computed. The maximum velocity within the pipe in a two phase flow were determined to 3.42 m/s for an 8 (eight) inch riser pipe. After thorough analysis of the two phase flow regime in each of the individual exit configurations, the third and the fourth exit configurations were seen to have flow properties that ensures easy flow within the production system as well as ensure lower computational cost. Convergence (Iterations), total pressure, static pressure, velocity and pressure drop were used as criteria matrix for selecting ideal riser exit geometry, and the third exit geometry was adjudged the ideal exit geometry of all the geometries. The flow in the third riser exit configuration was modelled as a two phase flow. From the results of the two phase flow analysis, it was concluded that the third riser configuration be used in industrial applications to ensure free flow of crude oil and gas from the oil well during oil production.


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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2534-2544 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Ratkovich ◽  
T. R. Bentzen

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have been used successfully in biological wastewater treatment to solve the perennial problem of effective solids–liquid separation. A common problem with MBR systems is clogging of the modules and fouling of the membrane, resulting in frequent cleaning and replacement, which makes the system less appealing for full-scale applications. It has been widely demonstrated that the filtration performances in MBRs can be greatly improved with a two-phase flow (sludge–air) or higher liquid cross-flow velocities. However, the optimization process of these systems is complex and requires knowledge of the membrane fouling, hydrodynamics and biokinetics. Modern tools such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to diagnose and understand the two-phase flow in an MBR. Four cases of different MBR configurations are presented in this work, using CFD as a tool to develop and optimize these systems.


Author(s):  
Hideo Ide ◽  
Kentaro Satonaka ◽  
Tohru Fukano

Experiments were performed to obtain, analyze and clarify the mean void fraction, the mean liquid holdup, and the liquid slug velocity and the air-water two-phase flow patterns in horizontal rectangular microchannels, with the dimensions equal to 1.0 mm width × 0.1 mm depth, and 1.0 mm width × 0.2 mm depth, respectively. The flow patterns such as bubble flow, slug flow and annular flow were observed. The microchannel data showed similar data patterns compared to those in minichannels with the width of 1∼10mm and the depth of 1mm which we had previously reported on. However, in a 1.0 × 0.1 mm microchannel, the mean holdup and the base film thickness in annular flow showed larger values because the effects of liquid viscosity and surface tension on the holdup and void fraction dominate. The remarkable flow characteristics of rivulet flow and the flow with a partial dry out of the channel inner wall were observed in slug flow and annular flow patterns in the microchannel of 0.1 mm depth.


2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lorenzini ◽  
Yogendra K. Joshi

The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of boiling phenomena has remained a challenge due to numerical limitations for accurately simulating the two-phase flow and phase-change processes. In the present investigation, a CFD approach for such analysis is described using a three-dimensional (3D) volume of fluid (VOF) model coupled with a phase-change model accounting for the interfacial mass and energy transfer. This type of modeling allows the transient analysis of flow boiling mechanisms, while providing the ability to visualize in detail temperature, phase, and pressure distributions for microscale applications with affordable computational resources. Results for a plain microchannel are validated against benchmark correlations for heat transfer (HT) coefficients and pressure drop as a function of the heat flux and mass flux. Furthermore, the model is used for the assessment of two-phase cooling in microelectronics under a realistic scenario with nonuniform heat fluxes at localized regions of a silicon microchannel, relevant to the cooling layer of 3D integrated circuit (IC) architectures. Results indicate the strong effect of two-phase flow regime evolution and vapor accumulation on HT. The effects of reduced saturation pressure, subcooling, and flow arrangement are explored in order to provide insight about the underlying physics and cooling performance.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masuo Kaji ◽  
Toru Sawai ◽  
Yosuke Kagi ◽  
Tadanobu Ueda

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