Influence of Inclination Angle on Intermittent Two Phase Flows

Intermittent gas and liquid two-phase flow was generated in a 6 m × 67 mm diameter pipe mounted rotatable frame (vertical up to −20°). Air and a 5 mPa s silicone oil at atmospheric pressure were studied. Gas superficial velocities between 0.17 and 2.9 m/s and liquid superficial velocities between 0.023 and 0.47 m/s were employed. These runs were repeated at 7 angles making a total of 420 runs. Cross sectional void fraction time series were measured over 60 seconds for each run using a Wire Mesh Sensor and a twin plane Electrical Capacitance Tomography. The void fraction time series data were analysed in order to extract average void fraction, structure velocities and structure frequencies. Results are presented to illustrate the effect of the angle as well as the phase superficial velocities affect the intermittent flows behaviour. Existing correlations suggested to predict average void fraction and gas structures velocity and frequency in slug flow have been compared with new experimental results for any intermittent flow including: slug, cap bubble and churn. Good agreements have been seen for the gas structure velocity and mean void fraction. On the other hand, no correlation was found to predict the gas structure frequency, especially in vertical and inclined pipes.

A Turbulent Boundary Layer Flow Over an Open Shallow Cavity

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to study the flow structure and turbulence, upstream, over, and downstream a shallow open cavity. Three sets of PIV measurements, corresponding to a turbulent incoming boundary layer and a cavity length-to-depth ratio of four, are reported. The cavity depth based Reynolds numbers were 21,000; 42,000; and 54,000. The selected flow configuration and well characterized inflow conditions allow for straightforward assessment of turbulence models and numerical schemes. All mean flow field measurements display a large flow recirculation region, spanning most of the cavity and a smaller, counter-rotating, secondary vortex, immediately downstream of the cavity leading edge. The Galilean decomposed instantaneous velocity vector fields, clearly demonstrate two distinct modes of interaction between the free shear and the cavity trailing edge. The first corresponds to a cascade of vortical structures emanating from the tip of the leading edge of the cavity that grow in size as they travel downstream and directly interact with the trailing edge, i.e., impinging vortices. The second represents vortices that travel above the trailing edge of the cavity, i.e., non-impinging vortices. In the case of impinging vortices, a strong, large scale region of recirculation forms inside the cavity and carries the flow disturbances, arising from the impingement of vortices on the trailing edge of the cavity, upstream in a manner that interacts with and influences the flow as it separates from the cavity leading edge.

Enhancement of Turbulent Shear Stress and Mass Transfer in Wall Turbulence Accompanied With Wall Blowing

Spatial distribution of velocity and mass concentration fluctuation in turbulent channel flow with wall blowing were simultaneously measured by PIV/PLIF. The recorded pictures were analyzed to clarify the turbulent momentum and mass transfer from statistical view point and from spatial evolution of coherent eddy structure. Experimental result revealed that the Reynold shear stress and turbulent intensity are enhanced as the blowing rate increasing. On the other hand, structural parameters based on local turbulence such as turbulent Schmidt number and a degree of turbulent anisotropy is not affected by wall blowing. In comparison without wall blowing, we found that the turbulent eddy structure locates apart from the wall. Besides, energy spectrum and swirling strength is also enhanced by wall blowing. It is associated with increase of resistance by wall blowing. Generally in wall turbulence, fluctuation motions are restricted by the presence of solid wall. But for the blowing from the wall relaxes this restriction and Reynolds shear stress is enhanced, which leads to enhancement of turbulent mass flux. Moreover, from results of spatial distribution of instantaneous fields, wall-blowing helps development of hairpin vortexes. It is concluded that development of hairpins leads to enhancement of turbulent mass transfer.

Spectral Analysis and Discussion on the Velocity Fluctuation in Drag Reducing Channel Flow by Surfactant Additives

It is known as the Toms effect that the wall friction coefficient is reduced by adding a small amount of polymer or surfactant into a water flow. In the drag-reducing flow, it is expected that a time scale of turbulent velocity fluctuation is changed by relaxation time due to viscoelasticity. In the present study, experimental analysis of the turbulent velocity fluctuation was performed with temporal characteristics in surfactant solution flow. The velocity fluctuations were measured by using a two-component laser Doppler velocimeter system on turbulent channel flow. And then, we performed statistical operation on those data and examined the time scale. From spectra analysis, it was found that very low frequency velocity fluctuations existed near the wall region in the surfactant solution flow. It was also revealed that the strong anisotropy occurred not only with the intensity but also with frequency distribution in turbulent velocity fluctuations. Moreover, the turbulence contributes nothing to the Reynolds shear stress and behaves as a wave motion. It was concluded that the turbulent eddies and viscoelasticity were two factors contributing to turbulent generation in the viscoelastic turbulent flow, with each factor having its own time scale.

Numerical Investigations on Intake Tube Design of Micro Kaplan Hydro-Turbine System

In this context, a numerical study was conducted to predict the performance of a small axial Kaplan hydro-turbine of 30 cm diameter that can be manufactured and installed vertically on a low head water level of less than 3 m. As a CFD simulation scheme, Large Eddy Simulation was selected to solve for the variables of turbulent flow due to its high fidelity performance for capturing time-variable turbulence wakes and eddies. Turbine intake tube dimensioning was primarily studied as an affecting element to maximize energy extraction with the set of initial design parameters. The intake tube was tested at six angles (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 degrees) and four lengths (50, 60, 75, 90 cm). The simulations were performed on a pre-determined water height, one diffuser design, and one set of stator-rotor having a rotational speed of 750 rpm. Maximizing the efficiency of a system with less material cost was the primary goal of the comparative study. After that, bellmouth profile was adopted to find out its influence on the system performance. Outcomes have proven the merit of higher slope per side length in enhancing output power with an average of 2.7 percent by full expansion from minimum to the maximum angle. Moreover, a corresponding marginal efficiency raise was observed by increasing intake slope, while it was found that the system acts poorly with longer intake tubes as both power and efficiency go down. Bellmouth profiles, based on the guidelines of the best straight design, significantly improved system output to reach 81 percent efficiency.

Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) Measurement of Abrasive Microparticle Impact Speed and Angle in Both Air-Sand and Slurry Erosion Testers

Solid particle laden flows are very common in many industries including oil and gas and mining. Repetitive impacts of the solid particles entrained in fluid flow can cause erosion damage in industrial equipment. Among the numerous factors which are known to affect the solid particle erosion rate, the particle impact speed and angle are the most important. It is widely accepted that the erosion rate of material is dependent on the particle speed by a power law Vn, where typically n = 2–3. Therefore, accurate measurements of abrasive particle impact speed and angle are very important in solid particle erosion modeling. In this study, utilizing a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system, particle impact conditions were measured in a direct impinging jet geometry. The measurements were conducted with two different test rigs, for both air-sand and liquid-sand flows. In air-sand testing, two types of solid particles, glass beads and sharp sand particles, were used. The measurements in air-sand tests were carried out using particles with various sizes (75, 150, and 500 μm). Also, submerged testing measurements were performed with 300 μm sand particles. In the test conditions, the Stokes number was relatively high (St = 3000 for air/sand flow, St = 27 for water/sand flow), and abrasive particles were not closely following the fluid streamlines. Therefore, a Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) technique was employed to measure the particle impact speed and its angle with the target surface very near the impact. Furthermore, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed, and the CFD results were compared with the experimental data. It was found that the CFD results are in very good agreement with experimental data.

Modeling Separation and Cavitation Behind a Blunt Body

Cavitation flow behind a blunt body is modeled using a physics-based numerical model of cavitation initiation and transition to larger cavities. The calculations initiate from the dynamics of nuclei, then tracks the dispersed bubble phase with a two-phase viscous model. This solver includes a level set method to model coalescence of the nuclei into large cavities and to track the dynamics of the resulting free surfaces. A transition scheme enables collection of the bubbles into a large cavity and also enables breakup of a large cavity into a bubble cloud. Using this model, simulations are conducted for different flow velocities and corresponding cavitation regimes. When the velocity is relatively small (i.e., large cavitation number), flow separation behind the body results in the shedding of vortices, which capture nuclei in their cores to form elongated vortical cavities. As the flow velocity increases (or as the ambient pressure decreases) the flow evolves into a separated flow with a large cavity behind the body. A reentrant jet may form and move upstream into the cavity towards the body. This jet periodically shears off portions of the cavity volume, resulting in large amounts of bubble clouds. These results are in good qualitative agreements with experimental observations.

Experimental Study of the Operation Conditions of Stability on a Gamma Stirling Engine

Considering Stirling engines modern applications and cogeneration recovery energy from industrial process, the power of a Stirling prime mover is to be provided at a speed of rotation adapted to the operation of the receiver system (usually a generator) to exploit the performance of this machine under the conditions of its use (ie lowering of the rotational speed and torque transmitted rise or, more rarely, elevated speed and lowering the torque transmitted). Knowing that the hot air engine cannot change speed quickly and in order to have a well designed system, it is important to study the unsteady state conditions. In this work we present an experimental stability analysis of an irreversible heat engine working at different conditions. The experimental study aims at analyzing the effect of working parameters disruption on the stability of the Gamma Stirling engine. Parameters involved in this experimental study are the load pressure of the motor and the load applied to the Stirling engine. The influence of engine operating parameters on its torque and rotational speed is investigated. The time required by a gamma type Stirling engine to stabilize operation after disruption is estimated. Results show that after a small disruption, speed and temperature evolutions decays exponentially to the steady state determined by a relaxation time. It is assumed that the decrease of the applied power load to the engine or the increase of the load pressure leads to a speed up. And that the increase of the applied power load to the engine or the decrease of the load pressure leads to a speed down.

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Single Phase Jet Interactions

Impinging liquid jets have many applications ranging from manufacturing processes to jet propulsion systems. In thermal applications, they are often used in atomization processes to cool the surfaces in extreme heat and mass transfer processes. In the present work, 2-D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements have been performed to study the interaction of multiple vertical liquid jets in single-phase flow. A perforated Perspex plate with seven symmetrically placed holes was used to make the liquid jets of degassed tap water. From the PIV measurements, a wide range of liquid jet velocities were investigated, and hydrodynamic parameters such as the instantaneous velocity fields, axial (z) and radial (r) mean and RMS liquid velocities, vorticity, and in-plane Reynolds stresses have been derived. Transient 3-D CFD simulations have also been performed and compared with the experimental data. Good agreement has been found between the experimental and CFD simulations. Further, Reichardt’s hypothesis (1943) has also been examined to better understand the onset of instability for the single-phase multi jet flow.

Experimental Study on the Drag-Reducing Characteristics in Two-Oscillating Grid Turbulence With Polymer Additives

In this paper, we carried out the experimental study to investigate the polymer effect on two-oscillating grid turbulence based on Particle Image Velocimetry. We chose five different concentrations (25, 50, 100, 150 and 200ppm) of polymer solution flow and the Newtonian fluid flow for comparison at three different grid oscillating frequencies (5, 7.5 and 10Hz). The results showed that comparison with the Newtonian fluid case, the turbulent kinetic energy is much smaller in polymer solution cases. A natural definition for drag reduction rate was proposed based on turbulent kinetic energy. It showed that the maximum drag reduction reaches around 80% and the drag-reducing effect increases as the concentration increases. Finally, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was used to extract coherent structures in grid turbulence.