A Viscous Velocity Potential/Stream Function

The motion of fluids presents interesting phenomena including flow separation, wakes, turbulence etc. The physics of these are enshrined in the continuity equation and the NSE. Therefore, their studies are important in mathematics and physics. They also have engineering applications. These studies can either be carried out experimentally, numerically, or theoretically. Theoretical studies using classical potential theory (CPT) have some gaps when compared to experiments. The present publication is part of a series introducing refined potential (RPT) that bridges these gaps. It leverages experimental observations, physical deductions and the match between CPT and experimentally observed flows in the theoretical development. It analytically imitates the numerical source/vortex panel method to describe how wall bounded eddies in a three-dimensional cylinder crossflow are linked to the detached wake eddies. Unlike discrete and arbitrary vortices/sources on the cylinder surface whose strengths are numerically determined in the panel method, the vortices/sources/sinks in RPT are mutually concentric and continuously distributed on the cylinder surface. Their strengths are analytically determined from CPT using physical deductions starting from Reynolds number dependence. This study results in the incompressible Kwasu function which is a Eulerian velocity potential/stream function that captures vorticity, boundary layer, shed wake vortices, three-dimensional effects, and turbulence. This Eulerian Kwasu function also theorizes streaklines. The Lagrangian form of the function is further exploited to obtain flow pathlines.

Energy Efficient, Highly Precise Cascade Dryness Control for Fibrous Tape by Induction-Based Surface Heating of a Rotating Steel Cylinder with Moving Inductors

Drying various materials constitutes an essential component of several industrial processes, e.g., paper production. Typically, rotating cylinders heated internally by water steam are used for drying tape-shaped material in paper-making machines. Such an approach remains very energy-consuming, while the whole process is expensive and in conflict with the global policy of reducing energy consumption in heavy industry. One promising alternative method of drying fibrous tapes is the induction heating of drying cylinders. In this paper, we propose a drying system based on a set of inductors (electromagnetic field sources) that generate energy in the mantle of the cylinder and dry the running tape. By enabling the movement of the inductors, the system provides a high level of flexibility in terms of reacting to the varying humidity of the tape. Additionally, imaging the temperature field on the cylinder surface provides a supplementary source of information, enabling the temperature profile to be controlled. Two types of humidity control systems, a one-loop feedback control and a cascade control, were designed and analyzed. Simulation analysis and experimental verification performed using a semi-industrial setup proves that using the proposed cascade control ensures more than 30% faster response of the whole dryness control system.

On the behavior of nonlinear hydrodynamic coefficients of a submerged cylinder beneath the water surface

This study aims at numerically exploring the behavior of flow fields and nonlinear hydrodynamic coefficients of a horizontal cylinder beneath the free surface flow considering the effects of nonlinear surface waves and various cylinder shapes. The computational model is based on two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes solvers along with the treatment of the free surface flow using the volume of fluid method. The effect of the turbulent flow is also considered by using the shear stress transport turbulence model. The simulation result of a benchmark case study of the submerged cylinder is first validated with available experiment data, where a mesh convergence analysis is also performed. Afterward, the flow fields and hydrodynamic force coefficients around the cylinder surface are analyzed, and the influences of various cylinder shapes and Reynolds numbers on the hydrodynamic coefficients are investigated. A state diagram representing the hydrodynamic behavior including stable and unstable stages is finally proposed; this is an important criterion for the practice design of submerged civil structures under the free surface flow.

Al2O3/WS2 Surface Layers Produced on the Basis of Aluminum Alloys for Applications in Oil-Free Kinematic Systems

The article presents the results of an aluminum oxide layer doped with monolayer 2H tungsten disulphide (Al2O3/WS2) for applications in oil-free kinematic systems. The results concern the test carried out on the pneumatic actuator operational test stand, which is the actual pneumatic system with electromagnetic control. The cylinders of actuators are made of Ø 40 mm aluminum tube of EN-AW-6063 aluminum alloy which is used in the manufacture of commercial air cylinder actuators. The inner surfaces of the cylinder surfaces were covered with an Al2O3/WS2 oxide layer obtained by anodic oxidation in a three-component electrolyte and in the same electrolyte with the addition of tungsten disulfide 2H-WS2. The layers of Al2O3 and Al2O3/WS2 obtained on the inner surface of the pneumatic actuators were combined with a piston ring made of polytetrafluoroethylene with carbon (T5W) material and piston seals made of polyurethane (PU). The cooperation occurred in the conditions of technically dry friction. After the test was carried out, the scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analysis of the surface of the cylinder bearing surfaces and piston seals of the pneumatic cylinders was performed. The analysis revealed the formation of a sliding film on the cylinder surface modified with tungsten disulfide, as well as on the surface of wiper seals. Based on the SEM/EDSM tests, it was also found that the modification of the Al2O3 layer with tungsten disulfide contributed to the formation of a sliding film with the presence of WS2 lubricant, which translated into smooth cylinder operation during 180 h of actuator operation. The cylinder with the unmodified layer showed irregular operation after approximately 70 h thereof.

Development of Nusselt number correlation in natural convection over the walls of a blast furnace: A CFD approach

Blast furnaces are large and costly devices, and contribute enormous wealth to world economy. A tiny improvement of furnace performance can translate to huge saving not only in cost of operation but also in air pollution. It presents a numerical solution of the continuity, momentum, and energy equations for a fluid domain surrounding the outer cylindrical surface of a vertical cylinder with the specific longitudinal section using ANSYS FLUENT 18. The main parameters of this study are the dimensionless ratio of cylinder length to the maximum diameter varying between 3.24 and 5.4, the Rayleigh number ranging between 104 and 107, and the cylinder surface temperature ([Formula: see text]) varying between 375 K and 600 K, the ambient temperature being taken as 300 K. These parameters have been varied during the simulation to determine their influence on the free convection characteristics. The study clearly shows that the computed Nusselt number increases with increase of Rayleigh number and surface temperature, the increment being minimal for high values of length to the maximum diameter. It is also observed from the simulation that the rate of heat transfer goes down with increase of length to the maximum diameter. The results present local heat transfer and skin friction coefficients over the outer cylindrical surface of the blast furnace of chosen dimensions. The thermal plume and the velocity vector field around the furnace are displayed. An empirical Nusselt number to Rayleigh number relationship has been proposed for the blast furnace of any size within range of Rayleigh numbers covered in this study. This formula derived is correct within ±5%, and is expected to be very useful to field engineers.

Surface Roughness Effects on Flows Past Two Circular Cylinders in Tandem Arrangement at Co-Shedding Regime

This paper contributes by investigating surface roughness effects on temporal history of aerodynamic loads and vortex shedding frequency of two circular cylinders in tandem arrangement. The pair of cylinders is immovable; of equal outer diameter, D; and its geometry is defined by the dimensionless center-to-center pitch ratio, L/D. Thus, a distance of L/D = 4.5 is chosen to characterize the co-shedding regime, where the two shear layers of opposite signals, originated from each cylinder surface, interact generating counter-rotating vortical structures. A subcritical Reynolds number of Re = 6.5 × 104 is chosen for the test cases, which allows some comparisons with experimental results without roughness effects available in the literature. Two relative roughness heights are adopted, nominally ε/D = 0.001 and 0.007, aiming to capture the sensitivity of the applied numerical approach. Recent numerical results published in the literature have reported that the present two-dimensional model of surface roughness effects is able to capture both drag reduction and full cessation of vortex shedding for an immovable cylinder near a moving ground. That roughness model was successfully blended with a Lagrangian vortex method using sub-grid turbulence modeling. Overall, the effects of relative roughness heights on flows past two cylinders reveal changing of behavior of the vorticity dynamics, in which drag reduction, intermittence of vortex shedding, and wake destruction are identified under certain roughness effects. This kind of study is very useful for engineering conservative designs. The work is also motivated by scarcity of results previous discussing flows past cylinders in cross flow with surface roughness effects.

Effect of concentric and eccentric porous layer on forced convection heat transfer and fluid flow around a solid cylinder

In this paper, heat transfer and fluid flow around a solid cylinder wrapped with a porous layer in the channel were studied numerically by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The homogeneous concentric and eccentric porous medium round a rigid, solid cylinder are supposed at local thermal equilibrium. The transport phenomena within the porous layer, volume averaged equations were employed, however the conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy were applied in the channel. This current numerical analysis, the effects of eccentricity ( ), the variable diameter of porous layer (d=0.07,0.08,0.09), permeability, as well as the different Reynolds number and Darcy number on the heat transfer parameters and fluid flow was investigated. The main purpose of this study is analyzed and compared the heat flux of concentric and eccentric porous layer in Reynolds number range of 1 to 40 and Darcy numbers of to . It is found that with the decline of Darcy number, the vortex length is increased behind the solid cylinder surface. In addition, the heat flux rate of the cylinder is raised with the increase of Reynolds number. Finally, The results have demonstrated that with raising Reynolds and Darcy numbers, the increase of the average Nusselt numbers in the eccentric porous layer is higher than the concentric porous layer.

Controllable Bistable Smart Composite Structures Driven by Liquid Crystal Elastomer

In this article, we proposed a new way to achieve monostable and bistable characteristics of composite layers based on liquid crystal elastomer (LCE). A smart trilayer composite structure is fabricated using LCE and acrylic elastomer, which can have several morphologies. It keeps flat at room temperature and can deform into a monostable saddle or bistable cylinder surface in response to simple temperature changes. The reversible deformation can be controlled through two parameters including geometrical size and actuation strain. The LCE can be programmed to generate different actuation strains by different formulas during synthesis or different mechanical stretches during UV radiation. The deformed morphology for different sample sizes and actuation strain is calculated using Finite element simulation. By comparison with the experimental results, we confirm that the phenomena can be captured through numerical simulations. Furthermore, to have a quantitative understanding, we use numerical simulation to calculate the deformation of the composite structure by tuning these two parameters and give a morphological portrait illustrating the relationship between the deformed shape and control parameters.

Asymptotic analysis of initial flow around an impulsively started circular cylinder using a Brinkman penalization method

The initial flow past an impulsively started translating circular cylinder is asymptotically analysed using a Brinkman penalization method on the Navier–Stokes equations. The asymptotic solution obtained shows that the tangential and normal slip velocities on the cylinder surface are of the order of $1/\sqrt {\lambda }$ and $1/\lambda$ , respectively, within the second approximation of the present asymptotic analysis, where $\lambda$ is the penalization parameter. This result agrees with the estimation of Carbou & Fabrie (Adv. Diff. Equ., vol. 8, 2003, pp. 1453–1480). Based on the asymptotic solution, the influence of the penalization parameter $\lambda$ is discussed on the drag coefficient that is calculated using the adopted three formulae. It can then be found that the drag coefficient calculated from the integration of the penalization term exhibits a half-value of the results of Bar-Lev & Yang (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 72, 1975, pp. 625–647) as $\lambda \to \infty$ .

Turbulent Flow Around Rectangular Cylinders with Different Streamwise Aspect Ratios

Turbulent flows around a square cylinder and a rectangular cylinder with a streamwise aspect ratio of 5 in a uniform flow were investigated using time-resolved particle image velocimetry. The Reynolds number based on the cylinder height and oncoming flow velocity was 16200. Similarities and differences in the flow dynamics over the cylinders and in the near wake region were examined in terms of the mean flow, Reynolds stresses and triple velocity correlations. The budget of turbulent kinetic energy as well as temporal and spectral analyses were also performed. The results show that the primary, secondary and wake vortexes are smaller for the square cylinder compared to the large aspect ratio cylinder. There are regions of elevated Reynolds stresses and triple velocity correlations along the mean separating streamlines, and the magnitudes of these statistics are an order of magnitude higher over the square cylinder compared to the large aspect ratio cylinder. The topology of the triple velocity correlations shows low-speed ejection and high-speed sweep events, respectively, transporting instantaneous Reynolds normal stresses away from the mean separating streamline into the free-stream and toward the cylinder surface, regardless of aspect ratio. Near the leading and trailing edges of both cylinders, regions of negative turbulence production are observed and the dominant components contributing to this occurrence are discussed. Temporal autocorrelation coefficients of the streamwise and vertical velocity fluctuations show a periodic trend, with a periodicity that is directly linked to the Kármán shedding frequency and its second harmonic.