Heat Dissipation by Streams of Bifurcated Tubes

There is a need for solutions to provide sufficient cooling from power devices, which produce large amounts of heat. This paper focuses on the influence of design of bifurcated fluid streams to dissipate heat. In this study, a single Y-tubes, a double Y-tubes, and an X-tubes designs are studied numerically under space constraints. For a comprehensive and in-depth performance analysis, both heat dissipation and hydraulic performances are analyzed. The distributions of velocity and temperature in the fluid streams is simulated, also the flow resistances and dissipated heat are calculated. Based on the results obtained, a thermo-hydraulic performance factor is introduced for the designs under study. In addition, the accumulation of undesired substances on the wall surface (fouling) that may influence the heat exchanging capability is studied.

A Study on the Flow Resistance of Fluids Flowing in the Engine Oil-Cooler Chosen

Oil-coolers are necessary components in high performance diesel engines. The heat removed by the cooler is a component in the total heat rejection via the engine coolant. Oil-cooler absorbs the heat rejected during the piston cooling and engine rubbing friction power loss. During flows of both coolant and engine oil via the oil-cooler, some flow resistances occur. The aim of the study is to determine values of the flow resistance coefficient for oil going through the cooler at various temperatures. The test stand was developed to determine time needed to empty tanks from liquids flowing through oil-cooler. The flow model was elaborated to study the mentioned flow resistance coefficient with respect to changing liquid temperature. The 20 °C increase in liquid temperature resulted in a flow resistance coefficient decrease of 30% for coolant and of the much more for engine oil. It was found that better results would be achieved with flows forced by means of pumps instead of using gravitational forces on the test stand.

Data-Driven Reduced-Order Modeling of Convective Heat Transfer in Porous Media

This work presents a data-driven Reduced-Order Model (ROM) for parametric convective heat transfer problems in porous media. The intrusive Proper Orthogonal Decomposition aided Reduced-Basis (POD-RB) technique is employed to reduce the porous medium formulation of the incompressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with heat transfer. Instead of resolving the exact flow configuration with high fidelity, the porous medium formulation solves a homogenized flow in which the fluid-structure interactions are captured via volumetric flow resistances with nonlinear, semi-empirical friction correlations. A supremizer approach is implemented for the stabilization of the reduced fluid dynamics equations. The reduced nonlinear flow resistances are treated using the Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM), while the turbulent eddy viscosity and diffusivity are approximated by adopting a Radial Basis Function (RBF) interpolation-based approach. The proposed method is tested using a 2D numerical model of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR), which involves the simulation of both clean and porous medium regions in the same domain. For the steady-state example, five model parameters are considered to be uncertain: the magnitude of the pumping force, the external coolant temperature, the heat transfer coefficient, the thermal expansion coefficient, and the Prandtl number. For transient scenarios, on the other hand, the coastdown-time of the pump is the only uncertain parameter. The results indicate that the POD-RB-ROMs are suitable for the reduction of similar problems. The relative L2 errors are below 3.34% for every field of interest for all cases analyzed, while the speedup factors vary between 54 (transient) and 40,000 (steady-state).

Towards Estimation of Seasonal Water Dynamics of Winter Wheat from Ground-Based L-Band Radiometry

The vegetation optical depth (VOD) parameter contains information on plant water content and biomass, and can be estimated alongside soil moisture from currently operating satellite radiometer missions, such as SMOS (ESA) and SMAP (NASA). The estimation of water fluxes, such as plant water uptake (PWU) and transpiration rate (TR), from these Earth system parameters (VOD, soil moisture) requires assessing potential (suction tension) gradients of water and flow resistances in the soil, the vegetation and the atmosphere, yet it remains an elusive challenge especially on global scale. Here, we used a field-scale experiment to test mechanistic models for the estimation of seasonal water fluxes (PWU and TR) of a winter wheat stand including measurements of soil moisture, VOD, and relative air humidity (RH) under a controlled environment. We utilized microwave L-band observations from a tower-based radiometer to estimate VOD of a wheat stand during the 2017 growing season at the Selhausen laboratory in Germany. From VOD, we first extracted the gravimetric moisture of vegetation and then determined subsequently the relative water content (RWC) and the vegetation water potential (VWP) of the wheat field. Although the relative water content could directly be estimated from VOD, our results indicate this may be problematic for the phenological phases, when rapid biomass and plant structure development take place in the wheat canopy. The water uptake from the soil to the wheat plants was estimated from the difference between the soil and vegetation potentials divided by flow resistance from soil into wheat plants. The transpiration rate from the wheat plants into the atmosphere was obtained from the difference between the vegetation and atmosphere potentials divided by flow resistances from plants to the atmosphere. For this, the required soil matric potential (SMP), the vapor pressure deficit and the flow resistances were obtained from on-site observations of soil, plant and atmosphere and simple mechanistic models. This pathfinder study shows that the L-band microwave radiation contains valuable information on vegetation water status that enables the estimation of water dynamics (up to fluxes) from the soil via wheat plants into the atmosphere, when combined with additional information of soil and atmosphere water content. Still, assumptions when estimating the vegetation water potential from relative water content as well as when estimating the water flow resistances between soil, wheat plants and atmosphere had to be made. Moreover, validation of water flux estimates for assessing their absolute accuracy could not be performed due to a lack of in situ PWU and TR measurements. Nonetheless, our estimates of water status, potentials and fluxes show the expected temporal dynamics and intercompare reasonably well in absolute terms, providing confidence in further developing the proposed approach. Our findings support that passive microwave remote sensing techniques allow for the estimation of vegetation water dynamics next to traditionally measured stand-scale or plot-scale techniques. This might shed light on the potential capabilities of monitoring water dynamics in the soil-plant-atmosphere system using wide-area, remote sensing-based Earth observation data.

Power and Efficiency Optimization for Open Combined Regenerative Brayton and Inverse Brayton Cycles with Regeneration before the Inverse Cycle

A theoretical model of an open combined cycle is researched in this paper. In this combined cycle, an inverse Brayton cycle is introduced into regenerative Brayton cycle by resorting to finite-time thermodynamics. The constraints of flow pressure drop and plant size are taken into account. Thirteen kinds of flow resistances in the cycle are calculated. On the one hand, four isentropic efficiencies are used to evaluate the friction losses in the blades and vanes. On the other hand, nine kinds of flow resistances are caused by the cross-section variances of flowing channels, which exist at the entrance of top cycle compressor (TCC), the entrance and exit of regenerator, the entrance and exit of combustion chamber, the exit of top cycle turbine, the exit of bottom cycle turbine, the entrance of heat exchanger, as well as the entrance of bottom cycle compressor (BCC). To analyze the thermodynamic indexes of power output, efficiency along with other coefficients, the analytical formulae of these indexes related to thirteen kinds of pressure drop losses are yielded. The thermodynamic performances are optimized by varying the cycle parameters. The numerical results reveal that the power output presents a maximal value when the air flow rate and entrance pressure of BCC change. In addition, the power output gets its double maximal value when the pressure ratio of TCC further changes. In the premise of constant flow rate of working fuel and invariant power plant size, the thermodynamic indexes can be optimized further when the flow areas of the components change. The effect of regenerator on thermal efficiency is further analyzed in detail. It is reported that better thermal efficiency can be procured by introducing the regenerator into the combined cycle in contrast with the counterpart without the regenerator as the cycle parameters change in the critical ranges.

Analysis of Air Permeability of Insulated Masonry Walls

Recently, the construction of external ventilated walls has become popular for public and office buildings. These blocks are used without internal rendering because of their good interior surface, stable dimensions and various filling of masonry joints, which provide an attractive architectural appearance. However, problems with the airtightness of such walls often occur. Currently, there are no standard methods to predict the airtightness of such wall. In practice, samples of particular walls are produced, and their air permeability is measured at laboratories. For the broader use of the results of laboratory air permeability measurements, a methodology has been developed to predict the air permeability of block masonry walls using experimentally determined air flow resistances of the individual layers. The masonry from various blocks were used for the research; mineral wool boards of various air permeability were used for thermal insulation and the wind protection layer. After measuring the air resistance of the samples, the air flow resistances of walls of different construction were calculated. This study compared the calculated and measured air permeability values of different wall masonry samples and evaluated the suitability of created calculation method for prediction of the airtightness of insulated block masonry wall.

Development of air tightness prediction method of masonry walls

Recently, the construction of external walls of various blocks, which are externally insulated with mineral wool thermal insulation layer, with ventilated air gap and external finishing (ventilated wall structures) is becoming popular for public and office buildings. These blocks are used without internal rendering because they have a good interior surface, stable dimensions, and various filling of masonry joints provide an attractive architectural appearance. This reduces the cost and duration of construction work, however, problems with airtightness of such walls often occur. The air can penetrate through blocks or their joints, and the thermal insulation and wind protection layer does not usually provide the required air tightness of the wall. Currently, there are no standard methods to predict the air tightness of such wall, in practice, samples of particular walls are produced and their air permeability is measured at the laboratories. This is a costly job, which is only suitable for a combination of particular building materials. For the broader use of results of laboratory air permeability measurements, a methodology has been developed to predict the air permeability of block masonry walls using experimentally determined air flow resistances of the individual layers. The masonry from blocks, made of ceramic, expanded clay and aerated concrete with various joints, were used for the research; mineral wool boards of various air permeability were used for thermal insulation and wind protection layer. After measuring the air resistance of masonry units, thermal insulation and wind protection boards, the air flow resistances of the walls of different construction were calculated. The comparison of calculated and measured air permeability of wall samples showed that in cases where the nature of air movement (laminar to turbulent) through a single material remains similar with the nature of air movement through the product incorporated in the structure, the calculation and measurement data differ no more than 12-15%. In structures with building products with very different air permeability properties, especially at high thicknesses of air permeable thermal insulation products, air movement parameters change occurs and calculated and measured results have larger differences.

Optimized Tree-Type Cylindrical-Shaped Nanoporous Filtering Membranes with 3 or 5 Branch Pores in Each Pore Tree

Background: It is necessary to investigate the performances of the optimized tree-type cylindrical-shaped nanoporous filtering membranes with 3 or 5 branch pores in each pore tree. Objective: To explore the design method for and the performances of the liquid-particle and liquidliquid separations of the optimized tree-type cylindrical-shaped nanoporous filtering membranes with 3 or 5 branch pores in each pore tree. Methods: The analysis was made for the flow resistance of the studied membrane based on the nanoscale flow equation. The optimum ratios of the radius of the trunk pore to the radius of the branch pore were typically calculated for yielding the lowest flow resistance of this membrane. The capability of the liquid-liquid separation of this membrane was investigated by exploring the flow resistances of this membrane for different liquids. Results: The optimum ratios of the radius of the trunk pore to the radius of the branch pore were typically calculated for the maximum fluxes of these membranes for different passing liquid-pore wall interactions. They can be used for the design of the studied membranes for liquid-particle or liquid-liquid separations. The flow resistances of the studied membranes in the optimum condition for different liquids were also calculated, and the capability of the liquid-liquid separation of the membranes is evidenced. Conclusion: The obtained results can be used for the design of the studied membranes for achieving their optimum operating condition, by taking the ratio of the radius of the trunk pore to the radius of the branch pore as optimum. The studied membranes also have good capabilities of liquid-liquid separations if the mixed liquids have greatly different interactions with the pore wall and the radius of the branch pore is below 3nm or less.

Development of an adaptive bypass element for passive entrainment flow control in dry powder inhalers

The release of drug from dry powder inhalers is strongly dependent on the patient's inhalation profile. To maximise the effect of the treatment, it is necessary to optimise dry powder inhalers to achieve drug delivery that (A) is independent of the inhalation manoeuvre and (B) is targeted to the correct site in the lung. The purpose of this study is to develop a dry powder inhaler with an adaptive bypass element that achieves desired drug delivery behaviour. Computational and experimental methods are used. First, the effect of a generic variable bypass element on entrainment behaviour is modelled. This is done by modelling a dry powder inhaler as a network of flow. Second, the behaviour of a potential variable bypass element, a flap valve, is studied both computationally and experimentally. Third, the flow resistances are optimised to achieve consistent and desired entrainment behaviour for patients with very different inhalation manoeuvres. A simulated dry powder inhaler device design was found that achieves an approximately constant entrainment flow rate of 12 L/min when total flow rates larger than 20 L/min are applied. The developed dry powder inhaler is predicted to accurately deliver drug for patients with highly different inhalation manoeuvres.