Numerical investigation of flows with condensation in micronozzles

The paper considers the numerical simulation of the flow of argon with account for the condensation process in the micronozzle and behind it. To describe phase transitions, the initial mathematical model of viscous heat-conducting gas flow is supplemented with the equation of formation and growth of condensation nuclei in the flow. The developed mathematical model allows for simulating the process of gas condensation at low pressures and temperatures. It is shown that the condensate mass fraction in the flow is not less than 1% at the pressure and temperature of 5 bar and 200 K, respectively, when argon flows out of a micronozzle to the environment with the pressure of 0.01 Pa. At the nozzle exit, the size of condensed particles reaches 80 angstroms. The obtained results confirm the necessity to take into account the condensation phenomenon in micronozzle flows of inert gases.

Excess free volume and structural properties of inert gas condensation synthesized nanoparticles based CuZr nanoglasses

Nanoglass (NG) as a new structure-tunable material has been investigated using both experiments and computational modeling. Experimentally, inert gas condensation (IGC) is commonly employed to prepare metallic glass (MG) nanoparticles that are consolidated using cold compression to generate an NG. In computational modeling, various methods have been used to generate NGs. However, due to the high computational cost involved, heretofore modeling investigations have not followed the experimental synthesis route. In this work, we use molecular dynamics simulations to generate an NG model by consolidating IGC-prepared Cu64Zr36 nanoparticles following a workflow similar to that of experiments. The resulting structure is compared with those of NGs produced following two alternative procedures previously used: direct generation employing Voronoi tessellation and consolidation of spherical nanoparticles carved from an MG sample. We focus on the characterization of the excess free volume and the Voronoi polyhedral statistics in order to identify and quantify contrasting features of the glass-glass interfaces in the three NG samples prepared using distinct methods. Results indicate that glass-glass interfaces in IGC-based NGs are thicker and display higher structural contrast with their parent MG structure. Nanoparticle-based methods display excess free volume exceeding 4%, in agreement with experiments. IGC-prepared nanoparticles, which display Cu segregation to their surfaces, generate the highest glass-glass interface excess free volume levels and the largest relative interface volume with excess free volume higher than 3%. Voronoi polyhedral analysis indicates a sharp drop in the full icosahedral motif fraction in the glass-glass interfaces in nanoparticle-based NG as compared to their parent MG.

Perbandingan Performa Refrigeran Propana dan Amonia pada Siklus Refrigerasi Dew Point Control Unit (DPCU)

Natural gas, that has been processed and met certain specifications, is sent to consumers through pipeline. Gas condensation within the pipeline should be avoided because it has negative impacts. Hydrocarbon dew point is a measure of the easiness of gas condensation. To meet the hydrocarbon dew point, heavy hydrocarbon should be extracted in dew point control unit (DPCU). The extraction is done by gas cooling in gas chiller followed by separating the liquid formed in low temperature separator (LTS). The gas chiller functions as an evaporator in the DPCU refrigeration cycle. Propane is a common refrigerant in the DPCU. In addition, ammonia is also a potential refrigerant due to its normal boiling point being close to the hydrocarbon dew point. Refrigeration cycle performance depends on evaporator temperature, condensor temperature, and the inherent pressure-enthalpy (PH) characteristic of the selected refrigerant. This study aimed to compare the performance from ammonia and propane against the change of evaporator and condenser temperature. This study was a dry research using Aspen Hysys V11.0 simulation software (academic license). The refrigeration cycle was a simple cycle with fixed variables in the form of evaporator load, saturated liquid at outlet condenser, and saturated vapour at outlet evaporator. This study indicated that at the same evaporator load, evaporator temperature, and condenser temperature, ammonia refrigeration cycle was better than the propane because coefficient of performance (COP) of ammonia was higher than propane. This study also modeled COP changes of propane and ammonia as mathematical equation. Quantitatively, it appeared that COP of propane was more sensitive than ammonia against both evaporator and condenser temperature changes.Keywords: ammonia; condenser; evaporator; propane; refrigeration cycle; simulationA B S T R A KGas alam yang telah diolah dan sesuai spesifikasinya dikirim ke konsumen melalui pipa. Kondensasi gas dalam pipa harus dihindari karena menimbulkan dampak negatif. Titik embun hidrokarbon menjadi ukuran kemudahan proses kondensasi gas. Untuk mencapai titik embun hidrokarbon yang diinginkan, maka hidrokarbon berat harus diekstraksi di dew point control unit (DPCU). Ekstraksi dilakukan dengan cara mendinginkan gas di gas chiller lalu memisahkan cairan yang terbentuk di low temperature separator (LTS). Gas chiller tersebut berfungsi sebagai evaporator pada siklus refrigerasi DPCU. Propana adalah refrigeran yang umum digunakan di DPCU. Selain itu, amonia juga menjadi refrigeran yang potensial karena kedekatan titik didih normalnya terhadap titik embun hidrokarbon yang diinginkan. Performa siklus refrigerasi dipengaruhi oleh temperatur evaporator, temperatur kondensor, dan karakteristik tekanan-entalpi (PH) yang melekat pada refrigeran yang dipilih. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk membandingkan performa siklus refrigerasi propana dan amonia terhadap perubahan temperatur evaporator dan kondensor. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kering yang menggunakan perangkat lunak simulasi Aspen Hysys V11.0 (lisensi akademik). Siklus refrigerasi yang digunakan adalah simple cycle dengan variabel tetap berupa beban evaporator, kondisi cair jenuh outlet kondensor, dan kondisi uap jenuh outlet evaporator. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pada beban evaporator, temperatur evaporator, dan temperatur kondensor yang sama, maka siklus refrigerasi amonia lebih baik dari propana karena COP amonia lebih tinggi dari propana. Penelitian ini juga memodelkan nilai COP propana dan amonia sebagai persamaan matematika. Secara kuantitatif, terlihat bahwa COP amonia lebih stabil dari propana terhadap perubahan temperatur evaporator dan kondensor.Kata kunci: amonia; evaporator; kondensor; propana; siklus refrigerasi; simulasi