Compositional data analysis (CoDA) as a tool to evaluate a new low-cost settling-based PM₁₀ sampling head in a desert dust source region

This paper presents a new sampling head design and the method used to evaluate it. The elemental composition of aerosols collected by two different sampling devices in a semi-arid region of Tunisia is compared by means of compositional perturbation vectors and biplots. This set of underused mathematical tools belongs to a family of statistics created specifically to deal with compositional data. The two sampling devices operate at a flow rate in the range of 1 m3 h−1, with a cut-off diameter of 10 µm. The first device is a low-cost laboratory-made system, where the largest particles are removed by gravitational settling in a vertical tube. This new system will be compared to the second device, a brand-new standard commercial PM10 sampling head, where size segregation is achieved by particle impaction on a metal surface. A total of 44 elements (including rare earth elements, REEs, together with Al, As, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, S, Sc, Se, Sr, Ti, Tl, U, V, Zn, and Zr) were analysed in 16 paired samples, collected during a 2-week field campaign in Tunisian dry lands, close to source areas, with high levels of large particles. The contrasting meteorological conditions encountered during the field campaign allowed a broad range of aerosol compositions to be collected, with very different aerosol mass concentrations. The compositional data analysis (CoDA) tools show that no compositional differences were observed between samples collected simultaneously by the two devices. The mass concentration of the particles collected was estimated through chemical analysis. Results for the two sampling devices were very similar to those obtained from an online aerosol weighing system, TEOM (tapered element oscillating microbalance), installed next to them. These results suggest that the commercial PM10 impactor head can therefore be replaced by the decanter, without any measurable bias, for the determination of chemical composition and for further assessment of PM10 concentrations in source regions.

Study on Convective Heat Transfer of Supercritical Nitrogen in a Vertical Tube for Liquid Air Energy Storage

The convective heat transfer behavior of supercritical nitrogen (S-N2) has played a significant role in optimizing the design of recently emerging cryogenic cold storage and recovery systems. However, studies on S-N2 heat transfer have been relatively scarce, not to mention that there is a legitimate urge for a robust numerical model to accurately predict and explain S-N2 heat transfer under various working conditions. In this paper, both experimental and numerical studies were conducted for convective heat transfer of S-N2 in a small vertical tube. The results demonstrated that the standard k-ε model performed better for predicting the key heat transfer characteristics of S-N2 than the SST k-ω model. The effects of heat flux and inlet pressure on the heat transfer characteristics under a large mass flux were evaluated. The variation mechanisms of local heat transfer performance were revealed by illustrating radial profiles of thermophysical properties and turbulent parameters of N2. It was found that the local performance variation along the flow direction was mainly determined by the radial profile of specific heat while the variation of the best local performance with the ratio of heat flux to mass flux was mainly determined by the radial profile of turbulent viscosity.

Flow and Heat Transfer of Supercritical Co2 in a Vertical Tube Under Ocean Rolling Motion

In order to explore the fluid flow and heat transfer features of supercritical fluids used in Brayton cycle for waste-heat utilization of marine gas turbines, the effects of ocean rolling motion on thermo-fluidic characteristics of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) in a circular tube are computationally investigated based on a verified turbulence model. It can be found that at a given rolling period, compared to that under static condition, the time-averaged heat transfer capacity is improved by 7.9%, but the onset of the heat transfer recovery is delayed so that the range of the heat transfer deterioration becomes widened. Under the action of the inertial forces, the heat exchange between cooler/denser and warmer/lighter fluids is enhanced, a secondary circulation formed at t/tc = 0.325 and the maximum improvement of section-averaged heat transfer coefficient is 71% at this time. For various periods, the variation trend of time-averaged heat transfer coefficient for SCO2 shows a parabolic, which is distinguishing from conventional fluids. A polarization phenomenon for instantaneous thermal performance can be observed under severe rolling. With rise of the layout height, the time-average heat transfer performance of tube increases monotonously, and the maximum increment is 10.64% in study range.