Motion of Active Fluids: Diffusion Dynamics of Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic micro-organisms colonizing all aquatic and terrestrial environments. The motility of such living micro-organisms should make their diffusion distinct from typical Brownian motion. This diffusion can be investigated in terms of global behavior (Fickian or not) and in terms of displacement probabilities, which provide more detail about the motility process. Using cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 as the model micro-organism, we carry out time-lapse video microscopy to track and analyze the bacteria’s trajectories, from which we compute the mean-squared displacement (MSD) and the distribution function of displacement probabilities. We find that the motility of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is intermittent: high-motility “run” phases are separated by low-motility “tumble” phases corresponding to trapped states. However, this intermittent motility leads to a Fickian diffusive behavior, as shown by the evolution of the MSD with time.

The Effect of the Thickness and Angle of the Inlet and Outlet Guide Vane on the Performance of Axial-Flow Pump

An axial-flow pump has a relatively high discharge flow rate and specific speed at a relatively low head and it consists of an inlet guide vane, impeller, and outlet guide vane. The interaction of the flow through the inlet guide vane, impeller, and outlet guide vane of the axial-flow pump has a significant effect on its performance. Of those components, the guide vanes especially can improve the head and efficiency of the pump by transforming the kinetic energy of the rotating flow, which has a tangential velocity component, into pressure energy. Accordingly, the geometric configurations of the guide vanes such as blade thickness and angle are crucial design factors for determining the performance of the axial-flow pump. As the reliability of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been elevated together with the advance in computer technology, numerical analysis using CFD has recently become an alternative to empirical experiment due to its high reliability to measure the flow field. Thus, in this study, 1,200mm axial-flow pump having an inlet guide vane and impeller with 4 blades and an outlet guide vane with 6 blades was numerically investigated. Numerical study was conducted using the commercial CFD code, ANSYS CFX ver. 16.1, in order to elucidate the effect of the thickness and angle of the guide vanes on the performance of 1,200mm axial-flow pump. The stage condition, which averages the fluxes between interfaces and is accordingly appropriate for the evaluation of pump performance, was adopted as the interface condition between the guide vanes and the impeller. The rotational periodicity condition was used in order to enable a simplified geometry to be used since the guide vanes feature multiple identical regions. The shear stress transport (SST) k-ω model, predicting the turbulence within the flow in good agreement, was also employed in the CFD calculation. With regard to the numerical simulation results, the characteristics of the pressure distribution were discussed in detail. The pump performance, which will determine how well an axial-flow pump will work in terms of its efficiency and head, was also discussed in detail, leading to the conclusion on the optimal blade thickness and angle for the improvement of the performance. In addition, the total pressure loss coefficient was considered in order to investigate the loss within the flow paths depending on the thickness and angle variations. The results presented in this study may give guidelines to the numerical analysis of the axial-flow pump and the investigation of the performance for further optimal design of the axial-flow pump.

Aerodynamic Drag Reduction Investigation for a Simplified Road Vehicle Using Plasma Flow Control

The effect of plasma flow control on reducing aerodynamic drag for ground vehicles is investigated. The experiments were carried out for a simplified ground vehicle using single dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) plasma actuators. The plasma actuators were designed to alter the flow structure in the wake region behind the vehicle. The Ahmed body was modified to allow eight different vehicle geometries (with backlight or slant angles of 0° and 35°). Each of these were further modified by rounding the edges with different radii. Flow visualizations such as particle streams and surface oil were used to quantify features of the local flow field. The drag on the models was measured using a force balance as well as by integrating the mean velocity profiles in the model wakes. The results indicated that flow modifications needed to be applied symmetrically (upper to lower and/or side to side). This was demonstrated with the 0° backlight angle (square-back) that had all four side-corners rounded. Plasma actuators were applied to all four of the rounded edges to enhance the ability to direct the flow into the wake. Wake measurements showed that steady actuation at a fixed actuator voltage reduced the drag by an average of 20% at the lower velocities (below 15 m/s) and by 3% at the highest velocity tested (20 m/s). Model constraints prevented increasing the plasma actuator voltage that was needed to maintain the higher drag reduction observed at the lower speeds.

Bio-Inspired Robotic Undulatory Stingray

The purpose of this study was to investigate fin undulation as a form of locomotion. The analysis generated CFD simulations and models that identify characteristics that are known to indicate propulsive forces. A mechanical undulating fin was designed and built to experimentally validate these computational results. Comparing thrust data from the mechanical fin with the CFD results yielded qualitative agreement with various parameters including wave amplitude, wave speed, and wave number. Quantifying these characteristics are necessary towards understanding the mechanics of undulation and will aid in the design and control of underwater undulating robotics.

Small and Full-Scale Modeling for the Application of Wall Solar Chimneys

A solar chimney is a natural ventilation technique that has a potential to save energy consumption as well as to maintain the air quality in the building. However, studies of buildings are often challenging due to their large sizes. The objective of the current study was to determine relationships between small- and full-scale solar chimney system models. In the current work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was utilized to model different building sizes with a solar chimney system, where the computational model was validated with the experimental study of Mathur et al. The window, which controls entrainment of ambient air, was also studied to determine the effects of window position. Correlations for average velocity ratio and non-dimensional temperature were consistent regardless of window position. Buckingham pi theorem was employed to further non-dimensionalize the important variables. Regression analysis was conducted to develop a mathematical model to predict a relationship among all of the variables, where the model agreed well with simulation results with an error of 2.33%. The study demonstrated that the flow and thermal conditions in larger buildings can be predicted from the small-scale model.

Coupled 3-D CFD-DDPM Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Swirling Gas-Particle Flow Within Cyclone Suspension Preheater of Cement Kilns

The paper presents a three-dimensional (3-D), time-dependent Euler-Lagrange multiphase approach for high-fidelity numerical simulation of strongly swirling, turbulent, heavy dust-laden flows within large-sized cyclone separators, as components of the state-of-art suspension preheaters (SPH) of cement kilns. The case study evaluates the predictive performance of the coupled hybrid 3-D computational fluid dynamics–dense discrete phase model (CFD-DDPM) approach implemented into the commercial general purpose code ANSYS-Fluent R16.2, when applied to industrial cyclone collectors used to separate particles from gaseous streams. The gas (flue gases) flow is addressed numerically by using the traditional CFD methods to solve finite volume unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (FV-URANS) equations. The multiphase turbulence is modeled by using an option of Reynolds stress model (RSM), namely dispersed turbulence model. The motion of the discrete (granular) phase is captured by DDPM methodology. The twin cyclones of SPH top-most stage have been analyzed extensively both for the overall pressure drop and global collection efficiency, and for the very complex multiphase flow patterns established inside this equipment. The numerical simulation results have been verified and partially validated against an available set of typical industrial measurements collected during a heat and mass balance (H&MB) of the cement kiln.

Interface Tracking Simulation of Phase-Change Phenomena: Boiling and Condensation Verification

Interface tracking simulation (ITS) is one of the promising approaches to describe heat transfer of boiling phenomena and their underlying mechanisms. Better understanding and modeling of this process will benefit various engineering systems. In modern nuclear reactors, study on nucleate boiling phenomena is very important for the prediction of the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) phenomena. The presented research will implement and verify the capability of evaporation process modeling by the massively parallel research code, PHASTA. The comparison of the numerical results and the analytical results demonstrates that the overall behavior of the simulation compares well with the analytical solution. A second simulation of the single bubble growth with non-uniform temperature distribution demonstrates both condensation and evaporation modeling. In the third simulation flow boiling capabilities were preliminary tested with laminar flow demonstration case. These results will be applied to a larger scale, multi-bubble simulations and help modeling of nucleate boiling phenomena.

Numerical Study of the Flow Structure and Transport in a Two-Dimensional Channel With Oscillating Periodic Cavities and a Bounding Top Wall

The dynamics of the flow in a two-dimensional channel with an arrangement of periodic cavities in an oscillating lower bounding wall and a confining top wall is studied numerically in this paper. The open-source CFD code, OpenFOAM v.2.2.2, based on the Finite Volume method is used to solve the problem. The flow dynamics is studied with respect to variations in the location of the confining top wall (non-dimensionalized with the Stokes layer thickness z/δ), cavity-size-based Reynolds Number (Red) and the ratio of the Stokes Layer Thickness to the Cavity Size (δ/d). This is an extension of work done for a previous paper [20]. The evolution and transport of vortex structures in the vicinity of the are presented over the oscillation cycle time by means of instantaneous streamline plots. The effect of the location of the confining top wall on the flow structure is presented in some detail by comparison of the evolution of the streamlines to a case where the top wall is absent. The transfer of fluid mass in and out of the cavity is shown to be strongly dependent on the Red and the z/δ (for the same Red, smaller the z/δ, lower is the mass transfer efficiency).

CFD Simulation of a Supersonic Steam Ejector for Refrigeration Application

Supersonic steam ejectors are widely used in many industrial applications, for example for refrigeration and desalination. The experimental evaluation of the flow field inside the ejector is relatively difficult and costly due to the occurrence of shock after the velocity of the steam reaches over the sonic level in the ejector. In this paper, numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the detailed flow field inside a supersonic steam (water vapor being the working fluid) ejector. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) flow solver ANSYS-Fluent and the mesh generation software ANSYS-ICEM are used to predict the steam performance during the mixing inside the ejector by employing two turbulence models, the k-ω SST and the k-ε realizable models. The computed results are validated against the experimental data. The effects of operating conditions on the efficiency of the ejector such as the primary fluid pressure and condenser pressure are studied to obtain a better understanding of the mixing process and entrainment. Velocity contours, pressure plots and shock region analyses provide a good understanding for optimization of the ejector performance, in particular how to increase the entrainment ratio.