An Ultra-Fast TSP on a CNT Heating Layer for Unsteady Temperature and Heat Flux Measurements in Subsonic Flows

In this paper, the authors demonstrate the application of a modified Ru(phen)-based temperature-sensitive paint which was originally developed for the evaluation of unsteady aero-thermodynamic phenomena in high Mach number but short duration experiments. In the present work, the modified TSP with a temperature sensitivity of up to −5.6%/K was applied in a low Mach number long-duration test case in a low-pressure environment. For the demonstration of the paint’s performance, a flat plate with a mounted cylinder was set up in the High-Speed Cascade Wind Tunnel (HGK). The test case was designed to generate vortex shedding frequencies up to 4300 Hz which were sampled using a high-speed camera at 40 kHz frame rate to resolve unsteady surface temperature fields for potential heat-transfer estimations. The experiments were carried out at reduced ambient pressure of p∞ = 13.8 kPa for three inflow Mach numbers being Ma∞=[0.3;0.5;0.7]. In order to enable the resolution of very low temperature fluctuations down to the noise floor of 10−5 K with high spatial and temporal resolution, the flat plate model was equipped with a sprayable carbon nanotube (CNT) heating layer. This constellation, together with the thermal sensors incorporated in the model, allowed for the calculation of a quasi-heat-transfer coefficient from the surface temperature fields. Besides the results of the experiments, the paper highlights the properties of the modified TSP as well as the methodology.

Semiconductor metal oxide sensor for hydrogen sulphide operating under non-stationary temperature conditions

The aim of the work was to create a selective gas sensor for hydrogen sulphide. As a result of adding ammonia to the zinc acetate solution, centrifuging the obtained zinc hydroxide and subsequent calcination, a polydisperse zinc oxide powder with a grain size of 5–50 nm was obtained. The material was characterized using X-ray phase analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Subsequently, silver nitrate and terpeniol were added to the zinc oxide nanopowder to form a paste. The gas-sensitive material was obtained by applying the resulting paste on a special dielectric substrate and subsequent calcination, as a result of which the terpeniol burned out, and the silver nitrate turned into an oxide (the mass fraction of the silver was 3%). A non-stationary temperature mode for the operation of the sensor was selected, in which, after rapidheating of the sensor to 450 °C (2 seconds), slow (13 seconds) cooling to 100 °C occurred. Each subsequent heating-cooling cycle with a total period of 15 seconds began immediately after the end of the previous cycle. The use of an unsteady temperature mode in combination with the selection of the composition of the gas-sensitive layer made it possible to obtain a response of 200 for a hydrogen sulphide concentration of 1 ppm. Along with an increase in sensitivity, a significant increase in selectivity was also observed. The cross-sensitivity for the determination of hydrogen sulphide and other reducing gases (CO, NH3, H2) was more than three orders of magnitude. Thus, this sensor can be used to detect hydrogen sulphide even in the presence of interfering components. The use of highly selective sensors in the tasks of qualitative andquantitative analysis can significantly simplify the calibration in comparison with “electronic nose” devices. Devices based on highly selective sensors do not require the use of mathematical methods for processing multidimensional data arrays.

Modelling the Temperature State of Bodies with Internal Heat Sources

This article presents the results of the development of a numerical - analytical method for solving the problem of thermal conductivity in a plate fuel element. An unsteady temperature field inside a fuel element is investigated for a given spatial distribution of heat sources. The heat release rate is given by the quadratic function of the coordinate. Modeling the temperature state of bodies with internal heat sources allows you to study the operation of equipment in transient modes, control heating/cooling modes of elements, determine temperature stresses, etc. It is shown in the work that regardless of the power of internal sources of heat, the temperature state is stabilized at a temperature level that depends on the Pomerantsev number.

The Simultaneous Analysis of Droplets’ Impacts and Heat Transfer during Water Spray Cooling Using a Transparent Heater

This paper demonstrates the advantages and prospects of transparent design of the heating surface for the simultaneous study of the hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of spray cooling. It was shown that the high-speed recording from the reverse side of such heater allows to identify individual droplets before their impact on the forming liquid film, which makes it possible to measure their sizes with high spatial resolution. In addition, such format enables one to estimate the number of droplets falling onto the impact surface and to study the features of the interface evolution during the droplets’ impacts. In particular, the experiments showed various possible scenarios for this interaction, such as the formation of small-scale capillary waves during impacts of small droplets, as well as the appearance of “craters” and splashing crowns in the case of large ones. Moreover, the unsteady temperature field during spray cooling in regimes without boiling was investigated using high-speed infrared thermography. Based on the obtained data, the intensity of heat transfer during spray cooling for various liquid flow rates and heat fluxes was analyzed. It was shown that, for the studied regimes, the heat transfer coefficient weakly depends on the heat flux density and is primarily determined by the flow rate. In addition, the comparison of the processes of spray cooling and nucleate boiling was made, and an analogy was shown in the mechanisms that determine their intensity of heat transfer.

Internal Resonance of Hyperelastic Thin-Walled Cylindrical Shells under Harmonic Axial Excitation and Time-Varying Temperature Field

In this paper, the internal resonance characteristics of hyperelastic cylindrical shells under the time-varying temperature field are investigated for the first time, and the evolution of the isolated bubble is carried out. Through the analysis of the influences of temperature on material parameters, the hyperelastic strain energy density function in the unsteady temperature field is presented. The governing equations describing the axisymmetric nonlinear vibration are derived from the nonlinear thin shell theory and the variational principle. With the harmonic balance method and the arc length method, the steady state solutions of shells are obtained, and their stabilities are determined. The influences of the discrete mode number, structural and temperature parameters on the nonlinear behaviors are examined. The role of the parameter variation in evolution behaviors of isolated bubble responses is revealed under the condition of 3:1 internal resonance. The results manifest that both structural and temperature parameters can affect the resonance range of the response curve, and the perturbed temperature has a more significant effect on the stable region of the solution.

Experimental and Numerical Study for Improved Understanding of Mixed-Convection Type of Flows in Turbine Casing Cavities During Shut-Down Regimes

Due to increase in the power generation from renewable sources, steam and gas turbines will be required to adapt for more flexible operations with frequent start-ups and shut-downs to provide load levelling capacity. During shut-down regimes, mixed convection takes place with natural convection dominance depending on the operating conditions in turbine cavities. Buoyant flows inside the turbine that are responsible for non-uniform cooling leading to thermal stresses and compromise clearances directly limits the operational flexibility. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools are required to predict the flow field during these regimes since direct measurements are extremely difficult to conduct due to the harsh operating conditions. Natural convection with the presence of cross-flow -mixed convection has not been extensively studied to provide detailed measurements. Since the literature lacks of research on such flows with real engine representative operating conditions for CFD validation, the confidence in numerical predictions is rather inadequate. This paper presents a novel experimental facility that has been designed and commissioned to perform very accurate unsteady temperature and flow field measurements in a simplified turbine casing geometry. The facility is capable of reproducing a wide range of Richardson, Grashof and Reynolds numbers which are representative of engine realistic operating conditions. In addition, high fidelity, wall resolved LES with dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid scale model has been performed. The flow field as well as heat transfer characteristics have been accurately captured with LES. Lastly, inadequacy of RANS for mixed type of flows has been highlighted.

The influence of non-stationarity and interphase curvature on the growth dynamics of spherical crystals in a metastable liquid

This manuscript is concerned with the theory of nucleation and evolution of a polydisperse ensemble of crystals in metastable liquids during the intermediate stage of a phase transformation process. A generalized growth rate of individual crystals is obtained with allowance for the effects of their non-stationary evolution in unsteady temperature (solute concentration) field and the phase transition temperature shift appearing due to the particle curvature (the Gibbs–Thomson effect) and atomic kinetics. A complete system of balance and kinetic equations determining the transient behaviour of the metastability degree and the particle-radius distribution function is analytically solved in a parametric form. The coefficient of mutual Brownian diffusion in the Fokker–Planck equation is considered in a generalized form defined by an Einstein relation. It is shown that the effects under consideration substantially change the desupercooling/desupersaturation dynamics and the transient behaviour of the particle-size distribution function. The asymptotic state of the distribution function (its ‘tail’), which determines the relaxation dynamics of the concluding (Ostwald ripening) stage of a phase transformation process, is derived. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Transport phenomena in complex systems (part 1)’.

Experimental and Numerical Study for Improved Understanding of Mixed-Convection Type of Flows in Turbine Casing Cavities During Shut-Down Regimes

Due to increase in the power generation from renewable sources, steam and gas turbines will be required to adapt for more flexible operations with frequent start-ups and shut-downs to provide load levelling capacity. During shut-down regimes, mixed convection takes place with natural convection dominance depending on the operating conditions in turbine cavities. Buoyant flows inside the turbine that are responsible for non-uniform cooling leading to thermal stresses and compromise clearances directly limits the operational flexibility. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools are required to predict the flow field during these regimes since direct measurements are extremely difficult to conduct due to the harsh operating conditions. Natural convection with the presence of cross-flow -mixed convection has not been extensively studied to provide detailed measurements. Since the literature lacks of research on such flows with real engine representative operating conditions for CFD validation, the confidence in numerical predictions is rather inadequate. This paper presents a novel experimental facility that has been designed and commissioned to perform very accurate unsteady temperature and flow field measurements in a simplified turbine casing geometry. The facility is capable of reproducing a wide range of Richardson, Grashof and Reynolds numbers which are representative of engine realistic operating conditions. In addition, high fidelity, wall resolved LES with dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid scale model has been performed. The flow field as well as heat transfer characteristics have been accurately captured with LES. Lastly, inadequacy of RANS for mixed type of flows has been highlighted.

Steady and Unsteady Temperature Measurements in the Wake of a Linear Cascade with Heated Airfoils

Understanding basic aerodynamic and thermodynamic processes in engine components is critical to achieving higher efficiencies and lower fuel consumption in aircraft engines. To aid in this process, a linear compressor cascade was investigated in the high-speed cascade wind tunnel of the Institute of Jet Propulsion to quantify the influence of heat transfer on the temperature distribution in the wake and, finally, the profile loss. For this purpose, a patented five-hole probe with an integrated thermocouple was developed and applied for steady measurements. Additionally, a hot-wire measurement set-up was implemented to receive temperature fluctuations via the constant current mode as well as velocity fluctuations via the constant temperature mode. A novel method for a two-way temperature and velocity correction for the two types of hot-wire measurement is presented. Good agreement between the measurement data of the five-hole probe and averaged data from hot-wire anemometry was found. The temperature distribution indicates the occurrence of energy separation which in some cases is overlain with the effects of heat transfer. In addition, the analysis of unsteady fluctuations of temperature and velocity give more detailed information about the vortex shedding in the wake, including the size of the vortices. Finally, this is the first discussion of energy separation at a compressor cascade combined with overlain effects of heat transfer on the blade surface.