Thermal Resistance and Pressure Drop Minimization for a Micro-gap Heat Sink with Internal Micro-fins by Parametric Optimization of Operating Conditions

In recent years, researchers are investigating several potential applications of two-phase flow in micro-gap heat sinks; electronic cooling is one of them. Further, internal micro-fins are used to enhance the heat transfer rate. However, the pressure drop penalty due to small gap height and fin surfaces is a major concern. Hence, minimization of thermal resistance and pressure drop is required. In this paper, effects of operating conditions, e.g., wall heat flux, pumping power, and inlet void fraction, on total thermal resistance and pressure drop in a micro-gap heat sink with internal micro-fins of rectangular and triangular profiles have been investigated by numerical analysis for the R-134a coolant. Furthermore, optimization of these parameters has been carried out by response surface methodology. Simulation results show that rectangular micro-fins show superior performance compared to triangular fins in reducing thermal resistance. Finally, for an optimum condition (7.1202×10-5 W pumping power, 1.2×107 Wm-2 heat flux, and 0.03 inlet void fraction), thermal resistance and pressure drop are reduced by 56.3% and 87.2%, respectively.

CFD Simulation of the Airflow Distribution Inside Cube-Grow

Cube-Grow was developed by MARDI to promote urban agriculture to the urban population. The product enables urban people to grow their vegetables with limited space. The initial test run of the system shows that the plant growth inside the structure was below expectation. The problem arises due to a lack of airflow or improper ventilation inside the structure. Optimum ventilation or airflow is crucial for plant growth as it enhances evapotranspiration at the leaf area to promote optimum plant growth. Therefore, this study aims to increase the airflow inside the Cube-Grow and find the best location for the air hole. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was used in this study the analyse the effect of adding an air hole to the airflow characteristic inside the Cube-Grow. CFD also was used to select the best location to place the air hole. 3 option of air hole location was analysed and the results were compared with the existing design. The initial CFD simulation results were compared with the actual measurement data before it was used for further analysis. The result shows that adding an air hole increases overall airflow inside the Cube-Grow. Option 3 was chosen as the best location for the air hole as it produces a uniform and higher airflow inside the Cube-Grow. The study proved that CFD was able to be used to optimize the design of Cube-Grow before the actual prototype was built.

Computational Analysis of the Rotating Cylinder Embedment onto Flat Plate

The Magnus effect and its evolution have greatly affected the aerospace industry over the past century to date. Nevertheless, cylinder embedment onto a flat plate offers a new discovery that is yet to be investigated, specifically whether the concept could enhance the aerodynamic properties of the flat plate following the Magnus effect momentum injection. Over the past decade, the use of a rotating cylinder on an aerofoil has existed from past researches studies where the embedment has significantly increased in its aerodynamic performance better than the one without Magnus application. However, it would be hard to achieve experimental-wise as an accurate measurement and fabrication would be needed to have the same resulting effects. Here, most of the researchers would not focus deeply on the placement of the cylinder as this may increase their fabrication and testing complications. Therefore, the current study delineates the use of flat plate as the foundation design to encounter the arise matter by reducing its complication yet easy to manufacture experimentally. In this work, the model output was evaluated by using ANSYS WORKBENCH 2019 software to simulate two-dimensional flow analysis for the rotational velocities of 500 RPM and 1000 RPM, respectively. This was done for different Reynolds numbers ranging from 4.56E+05 to 2.74E+06 which implicitly implied with free stream velocities varying from 5 m/s to 30 m/s for different angles of attack between 0 to 20 degrees. Prior to developing the best model embedment, the mesh independency test was validated with an error of less than 1%. The study resulted in a remarkable trend that was noticeably up to 32% (500 RPM) and 76% (1000 RPM) better in compared to the one without momentum injection. Similarly, the high recovery led to a tremendously lower of 51% (500 RPM) and 99% (1000 RPM), respectively. In sum, these findings generated a stall angle delay of up to 26% (500 RPM) and 78% (1000 RPM) accordingly.

Porosity Effect of the Silver Catalyst in Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster

In monopropellant system, hydrogen peroxide is used with catalyst to create an exothermic reaction. Catalyst made of silver among the popular choice for this application. Since the catalyst used is in porous state, the effect of its porosity in the hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster performances is yet unknown. The porosity changes depending on factors including catalyst pact compaction pressure, bed dimension, and type of catalyst used. As researches on this topic is relatively small, the optimum porosity value is usually left out. The performance of the thruster indicated by the pressure drop across the catalyst bed. Porosity of the catalyst bed adds additional momentum sink to the momentum equation that contributes to the pressure gradient which lead to pressure loss inside thruster. The effect of porosity influences the performance and precision of the thruster. Study of the pressure drop by the catalyst bed requires a lengthy period and expensive experiments, however, numerical simulation by mean of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be an alternative. In this paper, 90 wt% hydrogen peroxide solution with silver catalyst is studied in order to investigate the influence of porosity to the performances of the thruster, and to find the optimum porosity of the thruster. Species transport model is applied in the single-phase reaction simulation using the EDM for turbulence-chemistry interaction. Through this study, the effect of porosity towards the thruster performances represented in term of pressure drop, exit velocity, bed temperature, and thrust, and porosity of 0.4 found to be as an optimal value.

The Influences of Oxygen Concentration and External Heating on Carbon Nanotube Growth in Diffusion Flame

Tight control of the carbon nanotube (CNT) synthesis process in flames remains a challenge due to the highly non-uniform gradient of flame thermochemical properties. The present study aims to establish a baseline model for flame-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (FECVD) synthesis of CNT and to analyze the CNT growth region at varying flame and furnace conditions. The numerical model comprises a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation that is coupled with the CNT growth rate model to simulate the flow field within the furnace and the CNT growth respectively. Validation of the flame shape, flame length, and temperature profile are carried with a reasonable comparison to experimental measurements. A parametric study on the effects of furnace heating capacity and oxidizer concentration is conducted. The results of the CNT growth rate model reveal that there is a positive correlation between the heater power and CNT length. Supplying a higher concentration oxidizer at a fixed furnace power is predicted to result in further improvement in CNT length and high yield region. Flame structure analysis showed that with the heater turned on at 750 W (corresponding to heat flux of 21,713W/m2), the growth region expands twofold when oxygen concentration is increased from 19% to 24%. However, the growth region shrinks when the oxygen concentration is further increased to 27% which indicates depletion of carbon source for CNT growth due to excess oxygen. The finding of this research could guide and optimize the experiment of the flame-assisted CNT production in the future.

Aerodynamic Pressure Mapping Technique from CFD to FEM Model of N219 Winglet

Due to relatively complex geometry of N219 winglets, CFD simulations have to be conducted to predict the aerodynamic load by the structure in some critical flight conditions. Since the aerodynamic CFD model is not the same as the finite element model of the structure, there is a need to accurately transform the load data between the two models. This paper discusses a simple alternative technique to map pressure distribution from the mesh or face zone of a CFD simulation to an FEM model using a Matlab based in-house code program. The technique focuses on how an FEM shell element has same pressure value with its nearest CFD element. Although the cumulative forces sometimes give different result, the pressure distribution is highly accurate, moreover when the FEM model has smoother elements. Validation has been conducted by comparing with other pressure mapping technique of a commercial software Patran. The results show a good agreement where the present technique provide a more accurate result especially for the critical biggest load among the cumulative forces in the three-dimensional direction. The proposed technique is currently suitable to evaluate loading characteristics of semi monocoque structures. A further treatment of the technique for other types of structure is currently under development.

A CFD Analysis of Decommissioned Oil Platforms Jackets on the Brazilian Coast

Every facility reaches the last phase in its life cycle, which is decommissioning. Since the last decade, this subject has been gaining importance in Brazil’s offshore oil and gas companies. For jacket type rigs, one of the methods widely applied after idling the production is the conversion of these structures into artificial reefs (ARs). There are several critical aspects for choosing the best strategy for cutting and sinking a platform jacket, ensuring the success of an AR from a biological point of view. One of them is the influence of marine currents and their fluid-structure interaction which, by maximizing local upwelling and back vortex effects, favours the growth of aggregated flora and fauna. This study consists in the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques for studying the marine flow around a disassembled and sunk jacket in the seabed for the purpose of converting it into an artificial reef. An FVM (Finite Volume Method) from a commercial software (most recent version of ANSYS FLUENT®) is applied with the upwind scheme. A k-ε turbulence model on steady state is chosen. Field data about Brazilian coastal currents are collected and analysed from the amount of information available on a Brazilian Navy's meteoceanographic program. Next, different combinations of cutting and sinking a jacket are studied, always keeping a minimum 55m free water column. The objective is to verify where the formation of local upwelling regions - that is, where the vertical velocity component reaches values equal or greater than 10% of the magnitude of the free flow velocity - is more significant, without decreasing back eddy formation. It is observed that the dismemberment of the jacket with the positioning of its parts in an increasing height sequence in the direction of the prevailing current is favourable to generate local upwelling while tipping the structure at 90° to the prevailing current results in the most voluminous back eddy region.

Magnetohydrodynamic Effects in Mixed Convection Copper-Water Nano Fluid Flow at Lower Stagnation Point on a Sliced Sphere

The study of simulation and applications of mathematics in fluid dynamics continues to grow along with the development of computer science and technology. One of them is Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) which is closely related to its implementation in engineering and industry. And given the importance of magnetic fluid flow has attracted researchers to study and explore its benefits and uses in the industrial field, especially in convective flow and heat transfer processes. This paper therefore considers mathematical modeling on mixed convection MHD viscous fluid flow on the lower stagnation point of a magnetic sliced sphere. The study began with transforming the governing equations which are in dimensional partial differential equations to non-dimensional ordinary differential equations by using the similarity variable. The resulting similarity equations are then solved by the Keller-Box scheme. The characteristics and effects of the Prandtl number, the sliced angle, the magnetic parameter, and the mixed convection parameter are analyzed and discussed. The results depicted that the uniform magnetic field produced by Lorentz force and slicing on the sphere act as determining factors for the trend of nano fluid movement and controlling the cooling rate of the sphere surface. In addition, the viscosity depends on the copper particle volume fraction.

Study Reduction of Resistance on The Flat Hull Ship of The Semi-Trimaran Model: Hull Vane Vs Stern Foil

Flat hull ships is appraised for its superiority due to the manufacturing simplicity and lower investment costs, yet the ship has its own weakness for it requires a greater resistance. As a matter of fact, a significant reduction on the resistance can be done with foil installation but it is necessary to study the optimal position of the foil installation. This study is aimed at revealing the effectiveness of the Hull Vane and Stern Foil installation in reducing the resistance experienced by the flat hull ship of the semi-trimaran model. The research was conducted by comparing the resistance experienced by the flat hull ship of the semi-trimaran model without foil, Hull vane and Stern foil installations. In addition, the disclosure of resistance experienced by each ship model was carried out by using CFD simulation. The simulation results revealed that the installation of the Hull vane and Stern foil was able to reduce the resistance experienced by the flat hull ship of the semi-trimaran model. The largest reduction occurred in Froude number 1.1, where the Hull vane installation was able to reduce resistance by 12.44% and on the ship model with Stern foil installation the resistance reduction was 5.25%. Based on the results of this CFD simulation, it can be concluded that the Hull Vane installation is more optimal in reducing resistance on the flat hull ship of the semi-trimaran model.

Thermal Comfort Analysis for Overhead and Underfloor Air Distribution Systems

Underfloor and overhead air distributions are two types of Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system in which both differs in term of channelling the supplied air into a space. Underfloor air distribution (UFAD) system channels the supplied air from the underfloor plenum and goes to the return vent at the ceiling. On the other hand, the overhead air distribution (OHAD) system utilizes the ceiling-to-ceiling air pathway approach. In this study, A developed HVAC model was proposed. Ansys Fluent program was used to numerically investigate the best thermal comfort of the proposed model in terms of occupant satisfaction by referring to ASHRAE Standard. Two scenarios were designed and adopted in the computational investigation which is OHAD and UFAD. Three heat-generating parameters were involved which are a room lamp, personal computer and occupant. The attained computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation results were validated. Generally, the attained CFD results showed that the UFAD system could perform better compare to the OHAD system even though the OHAD system could have some benefits. Specifically, the UFAD system provided the best thermal performance whereas the OHAD system was found to be less efficient in providing thermal comfort to the occupant and consumed a greater amount of energy because it was required to cool down the whole room instead of being cooled partly. The CFD results confirmed that the UFAD system was capable of maintaining the room temperature at 26°C at a height below 2.0 m compared to 1.2 m of the OHAD system. In conclusion, the UFAD system could provide better indoor air quality, and it could have superior performance for the tropic weather regions such as Malaysia compared to that of the OHAD system. Besides, using the UFAD system could be represented a preventive action that could be proposed to solve the mould growth inside any occupied room.