Development of a Computational Model for Investigation of and Oscillating Water Column Device with a Savonius Turbine

The present work aims to develop a computational model investigating turbulent flows in a problem that simulates an oscillating water column device (OWC) considering a Savonius turbine in the air duct region. Incompressible, two-dimensional, unsteady, and turbulent flows were considered for three different configurations: (1) free turbine inserted in a long and large channel for verification/validation of the model, (2) an enclosure domain that mimics an OWC device with a constant velocity at its inlet, and (3) the same domain as that in Case 2 with sinusoidal velocity imposed at the inlet. A dynamic rotational mesh in the turbine region was imposed. Time-averaged equations of the conservation of mass and balance of momentum with the k–ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) model for turbulence closure were solved with the finite volume method. The developed model led to promising results, predicting similar time–spatial-averaged power coefficients (CP¯) as those obtained in the literature for different magnitudes of the tip speed ratio (0.75 ≤ λ ≤ 2.00). The simulation of the enclosure domain increased CP¯ for all studied values of λ in comparison with a free turbine (Case 1). The imposition of sinusoidal velocity (Case 3) led to a similar performance as that obtained for constant velocity (Case 2).

Minimum altitude variation orbits. Analysis of characteristics and stability

The article discusses the regularities of satellite motion in almost circular orbits under the influence of the second zonal harmonic of the geopotential. The aim of the research is to determine the parameters of orbits with a minimum change in radius and to study the properties of these orbits. It is shown that the problem of determining the parameters of orbits with a minimum change in radius is of theoretical and practical interest. These orbits are the closest to Keplerian circular orbits. The practical interest in such orbits is determined by the possibility of using them for scientific research and Earth observation systems. Based on the analysis of the literature, it was concluded that the solution of the problem under consideration is not complete by now: the algorithm for determining the parameters of the orbits are not well founded and unnecessarily complicated; there is no analytical analysis of the stability of the orbits of the minimum change in radius. The efficiency of application of the previously developed theory of describing the motion of satellites in almost circular orbits for determining the parameters of orbits with a minimum change in radius is shown. For this purpose, the solutions of the first approximation of the motion of satellites in almost circular orbits under the influence of the second zonal harmonic of the geopotential have been improved. These solutions make it easy to determine the parameters of the orbits of the minimum change in radius. The averaged equations of the second approximation of the influence of the second zonal harmonic on the satellite motion are constructed and, on their basis, the stability of the orbits with a minimum change in radius is proved. It is shown that the second approximation in small parameters completely describes the main regularities of the long-period satellite motion under the influence of the second zonal harmonic of the geopotential. With the help of numerical studies, the instability of orbits with a minimum change in radius is shown with allowance for the effect of higher order harmonics of the geopotential. Analysis of the area of possible application of orbits with a minimum change in radius showed that such orbits can be of practical importance for very low and ultra low orbits, where the control action on the satellite movement is carried out at least once every two days.

TURBULENCE MODELS APPLIED TO CLASSICAL FLUID MECHANICS AND HEAT TRANSFER PROBLEMS - THE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF THE OPEN SOURCE CFD PACKAGE OPENFOAM

Topics related to the modeling of turbulent flow feature significant relevance in several areas, especially in engineering, since the vast majority of flows present in the design of devices and systems are characterized to be turbulent. A vastly applied tool for the analysis of such flows is the use of numerical simulations based on turbulence models. Thus, this work aims to evaluate the performance of several turbulence models when applied to classic problems of fluid mechanics and heat transfer, already extensively validated by empirical procedures. The OpenFOAM open source software was used, being highly suitable for obtaining numerical solutions to problems of fluid mechanics involving complex geometries. The problems for the evaluation of turbulence models selected were: two-dimensional cavity, Pitz-Daily, air flow over an airfoil, air flow over the Ahmed blunt body and the problem of natural convection between parallel plates. The solution to such problems was achieved by utilizing several Reynolds Averaged Equations (RANS) turbulence models, namely: k-ε, k-ω, Lam-Bremhorst k-ε, k-ω SST, Lien-Leschziner k-ε, Spalart-Allmaras, Launder-Sharma k-ε, renormalization group (RNG) k-ε. The results obtained were compared to those found in the literature which were empirically obtained, thus allowing the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the turbulence modeling applied in each problem.

A Finite Difference Algorithm Applied to the Averaged Equations of the Heat Conduction Issue in Biperiodic Composites—Robin Boundary Conditions

This note deals with the heat conduction issue in biperiodic composites made of two different materials. To consider such a nonuniform structure, the equations describing the behavior of the composite under thermal (Robin) boundary conditions were averaged by using tolerance modelling. In this note, the process of creating an algorithm that uses the finite difference method to deal with averaged model equations is shown. This algorithm can be used to solve these equations and find out the temperature field distribution of a biperiodic composite.

Singularity Analysis of Composite Laminated Piezoelectric Rectangular Plate Structure with 1 : 2 Internal Resonance

This study investigates the dynamical behavior of the composite laminated piezoelectric rectangular plate with 1 : 2 internal resonance near the singularity using the extended singularity theory method. Based on the previous four-dimensional averaged equations of polar coordinates where the partial derivative terms are not equal to zero, the universal unfolding with codimension 3 of the proposed system is given. The main material parameters that affect the dynamic behavior of the laminated piezoelectric rectangular composite plate near the singularity under transverse excitation are revealed by the transition set of universal unfolding with codimension 3. In addition, the plots of the transition set in three bifurcation parameters space are discussed. These numerical results can show that the stability near the singularity of the proposed system is better when period ratio is less than zero.

Homogenised model for the electrical current distribution within a submerged arc furnace for silicon production

Silicon is produced in submerged arc furnaces which are heated by electric currents passing through the furnace. It is important to understand the distribution of heating within the furnace in order to accurately model the silicon production process, yet many existing studies neglect aspects of this current flow. In the present paper, we formulate a model that couples the electrical current to thermal, material flow and chemical processes in the furnace. We then exploit disparate timescales to homogenise the model over the timescale of the alternating current, deriving averaged equations for the slow evolution of the system. Our numerical simulations predict a minimum applied current that is required in order to obtain steady-state solutions of the homogenised model and show that for high enough applied currents, two spatially heterogeneous steady-state solutions exist, with distinct crater sizes. We show that the system evolves to the steady state with a larger crater radius and explain this behaviour in terms of the overall power balance typically found within a furnace. We find that the industrial practice of stoking furnaces increases the overall rate of material consumption in the furnace, thereby improving the efficiency of silicon production.

Averaging theory for fractional differential equations

The theory of averaging is a classical component of applied mathematics and has been applied to solve some engineering problems, such as in the filed of control engineering. In this paper, we develop a theory of averaging on both finite and infinite time intervals for fractional non-autonomous differential equations. The closeness of the solutions of fractional no-autonomous differential equations and the averaged equations has been proved. The main results of the paper are applied to the switched capacitor voltage inverter modeling problem which is described by the fractional differential equations.

A beam–ring circular truss antenna restrained by means of the negative speed feedback procedure

The present article contemplates the nonlinear powerful exhibitions of affecting dynamic vibration controller over a beam–ring structure for demonstrating the circular truss antenna exposed to mixed excitations. The dynamic controller comprises the included negative speed input added to the framework’s idea. By using the statue, Hamilton, the nonlinear fractional differential administering conditions of movement and the limit conditions have inferred for the shaft ring structure. Through Galerkin’s method, the nonlinear partial differential equations referred to overseeing the movement of the shaft ring structure have diminished to a coupled normal differential equations extending the nonlinearities square terms. Multiple time scales have helped in acquiring (getting) the four-dimensional averaged equations for measuring the primary and 1:2 internal resonances. This article’s controlled assessment is useful for controlling the nonlinear vibrations of the considered framework. Likewise, the controller dispenses with the framework’s oscillations in a brief time frame. The demonstrations of the numerous coefficients and the framework directed at the examined resonance case have been determined. Using MATLAB 7.0 programs has aided in completing the simulation results. At last, the numerical outcomes displayed an admirable concurrence with the methodical ones. A comparison with recently available articles has also indicated good results through using the presented controller.

Estimation of the Yarkovsky effect on the example of the asteroid 1685 Toro (1948 OA)

On the example of 1685 Toro, secular drifts of orbital elements and the displacement from the unperturbed position were obtained using the analytical solution of the averaged equations of motion of the asteroid in the central gravitational field and additional perturbing acceleration, inversely proportional to the square of the distance to the Sun, in the frame of reference associated with the radius vector. The components of this acceleration are calculated based on the thermophysical characteristics of 1685 Toro within the framework of the Yarkovsky acceleration linear model for spherical asteroids.

Two-frequency parametric excitation and combination resonance of a nanocomposite laminated piezoelectric trapezoidal plate in subsonic airflow

In this study, an analytical approach is presented to analyze the bifurcations and nonlinear dynamics of a cantilevered piezoelectric nanocomposite trapezoidal actuator subjected to two-frequency parametric excitations in the presence of subsonic airflow. The assumption of uniformly distributed single-walled carbon nanotubes along the thickness is taken into the consideration. The governing equations are built by the von-Karman nonlinear strain-displacement relations to consider the geometrical nonlinearity and the linear potential flow theory. The present study focuses on a specific resonance case deals with the occurrence of simultaneous resonances in the principal parametric resonance of the first mode and combination of the parametric resonance of the difference type involving two modes. The multiple scales method is employed to obtain the four nonlinear averaged equations which are solved by using the Runge-Kutta method. Moreover, the frequency-response curves, bifurcation diagrams, time history responses, and phase portrait are obtained to find the nonlinear dynamic responses of the plate. The effects of the amplitude of piezoelectric excitation, piezoelectric detuning parameter, and aerodynamic pressure are also studied. The results indicate that, the chaotic, quasi-periodic and periodic motions of the plate exist under certain conditions and the variation of controlling parameters can change the form of motions of the nanocomposite piezoelectric trapezoidal thin plate.