Experimental validation of a quasi-transient coupling approach for the modeling of heat transfer in autoclave processing

Structural aerospace composite parts are commonly cured through autoclave processing. To optimize the autoclave process, manufacturing process simulations have been increasingly used to investigate the thermal behavior of the cure assembly. Performing such a simulation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled with finite element method (FEM) model can be used to deal with the conjugate heat transfer problem between the airflow and solid regions inside the autoclave. A transient CFD simulation requires intensive computing resources. To avoid a long computing time, a quasi-transient coupling approach is adopted to allow a significant acceleration of the simulation process. This approach has been validated for a simple geometry in a previous study. This paper provides an experimental and numerical study on heat transfer in a medium-sized autoclave for a more complicated loading condition and a composite structure, a curved shell with three stringers, that mocks the fuselage structure of an aircraft. Two lumped mass calorimeters are used for the measurement of the heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) during the predefined curing cycle. Owing to some uncertainty in the inlet flow velocity, a correction parameter and calibration method are proposed to reduce the numerical error. The simulation results are compared to the experimental results, which consist of thermal measurements and temperature distributions of the composite shell, to validate the simulation model. This study shows the capability and potential of the quasi-transient coupling approach for the modeling of heat transfer in autoclave processing with reduced computational cost and high correlation between the experimental and numerical results.

A quasi-transient coupling approach to the modeling of conjugate heat transfer in the autoclave

Structural aerospace composite parts are generally cured in an autoclave. To achieve a homogeneous curing, computational fluid dynamics simulations have been increasingly used in thermal optimization. However, a transient computational fluid dynamics simulation of autoclave processing is resource intensive. This article outlines the concept of a quasi-transient coupling strategy to deal with the conjugate heat transfer problem inside an autoclave. In this approach, a computational fluid dynamics model is coupled with a finite element method (FEM) model through incorporating an empirical-based analytic equation, which describes the dependence of the heat transfer coefficient on pressure and temperature, into the computational fluid dynamics computations. This approach bridges the temporal disparities between the fluid and the solid, thus minimizing the global computing time. To validate this method, two simulation cases have been studied. In both cases, two different coupling computations are compared, namely a full-transient simulation as the reference computation and the introduced quasi-transient simulation. First, the quasi-transient coupling approach is implemented by performing the transient heat transfer analysis on a flat plate. The results indicate that this approach can predict accurate transient temperature fields, and the computational effort is reduced by up to 87%. Subsequently, this method is used in a real autoclave and validated by known experimental data. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results, with a mean temperature error lower than 1.9°C. This indicates the capability and efficiency of this approach in solving a conjugate heat transfer problem for autoclave processing.

Experimental and numerical study of the pre-tilted journal bearing

Hydrodynamic journal bearings are key components for supporting the rotating shafts in high-speed machinery. The shaft misalignment due to the heavy load, the thermal effects, and the manufacturing errors may introduce problems during running such as rub-impact. So the journal bearing with a pre-tilted angle has been introduced in this paper to solve the problem. The pre-tilted journal bearing is allowed to be adjusted to the proper attitude angle according to the tilt of the shaft under working condition. Thus ensuring the symmetric pressure distribution of the bearing and avoiding the rub-impact. A test rig has been designed and built to validate the working effect of the pre-tilted journal bearing. A design method for the pre-tilted journal bearing has also been introduced in this paper. In this method, a transient coupling model is adopted to precisely calculate the attitude angle of the bearing and a special dynamic mesh method is used to guarantee the mesh quality with arbitrary motion of the journal.

Transient CFD Co-Simulation of a 3D Compressor Model in its 1D System Environment

Rotary compressors such as screw compressors, roots blowers, and turbo compressors are used in industry to compress process gases, or as vacuum or backing pumps to evacuate vessels. Gas is sucked in at low-pressure side, transported and compressed by size-changing chambers (PD machines) or energy transmission from rotor to fluid (turbo machinery), and released at high-pressure side. In expanders or turbines, flow direction is from high to low pressure side to gain energy from pressurized gases. The 3D CFD simulation of such compressors/expanders is complex and time-consuming due to its transient nature and fine meshes to ensure a proper representation of radial and axial gaps in the range of some microns with machine dimensions up to meters. Due to this complexity, 3D CFD simulation should focus on the component, i.e. the compressor, and the attached overall system with vessels, valves, pipes, and consumers should be simulated in a 1D network or system simulation. Due to oscillations in the gas flow and interaction with the connected system a transient coupling is necessary. In this paper we show a 3D CFD simulation of a screw compressor using ANSYS CFX in a co-simulation with the 1D Flownex simulation environment of a network modelling the pressurized gas distribution. Whereas the 3D solver works on meshes with up to several million nodes in parallel on HPC systems, the 1D solver typically works serially on several thousand nodes that discretize the flow direction. The transient coupling is based on the exchange of variables at the boundaries of each simulation for every time step allowing for detailed analysis. The impact of the acoustic propagation of pressure fluctuations and the pulsating fluid flow provided by the compressor on the distribution system, and in return the effects of the system response on the compressor are evaluated. Furthermore transient scenarios such as start-up procedures or component failure will be shown.

Steady Conjugate Heat Transfer Method for High Temperature Gradient in Turbomachinery Applications

The high-pressure (HP) turbine and compressor blades are subjected to severe aero-thermal loads either caused by high inlet temperature resulting from the combustion chamber or by the shock wave at the blade surface. In this paper, a partitioned conjugate heat transfer (CHT) approach is used to assess 3D cases with high temperature gradient. On one hand, the high temperature resulting from the combustion chamber generates high azimuthal and radial non uniformities on the nozzle guide vane (NGV), known as hot streak. Since the engine efficiency is directly related to the turbine inlet temperature, manufacturers are seeking to improve thermal barrier coatings (TBC) to allow higher temperature. On the other hand, compressor rotor blades are also subjected to high thermal loads caused by the shock waves. Since the shock wave substantially contributes to the heat transfer, an accurate prediction of the wall temperature is thus required in order to properly estimate the rotor efficiency. However, the thermal load gradient caused by the hot streak, the use of thermal barrier coating or the shock wave have an impact on the overall computation stability. This paper assess the stability for a Dirichlet-Robin interface condition. Indeed an optimal relaxation parameter value is given for the Robin condition to provide a stable CHT computation. The impact on stability of the transient coupling time-step, the coupling frequency and the thermal conductivity is also assessed and the new transient coupling time-step defined allows to correctly stabilize the coupled simulation.