AllBack2Pave: Towards a sustainable recycling of asphalt in wearing courses

Nowadays, asphalt plant technologies allow producing asphalt mixtures incorporating up to 100% reclaimed asphalt. Unfortunately policies are still behind technology and in order to suggest guidelines for a widespread use for surface courses, road managers feel the need of having a deeper understanding of optimised design strategies, information related to the handling in asphalt plants and on the performance of these mixes. This paper provides the summary of the main results and the details of the main idea behind “AllBack2Pave 2013–2015” a two-years, 500 K€ project funded by the CEDR Transnational Road Research project that evaluated the feasibility of going towards 100% recycling of aspha…

Experimental investigation of two-side heat transfer in spacer-filled channels

Abstract In Membrane Distillation (MD), spacers support the membranes and promote mixing, thus reducing temperature polarization. Their efficient design requires a knowledge of the distribution of the local heat transfer coefficient h and of its dependence on Reynolds number, spacer geometry and flow-spacer relative orientation. In previous work, we applied Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLC) and digital image processing to the measurement of h distributions for different spacer configurations; data were used to validate CFD simulations and select turbulence models. For constructive reasons, the test section allowed only one-side heat transfer, while in most MD configurations (e.g. spiral-w…

A Dynamic Model of Ballasted Rail Track with Bituminous Sub-Ballast Layer

AbstractThe bituminous sub-ballast layer within the ballasted rail track allows some mechanical and environmental advantages. An analytical model of a ballasted rail track with sub-ballast layer has been proposed by considering the rail as viscous-elastic continuous beam discretely supported, at four levels of elasticity.The model was used to compare the mechanical performance of both ballasted track with and without bituminous sub-ballast layer. The results confirmed that the bituminous sub-ballast layer reduces the dynamic forces on the ground and achieves the technical objectives as reduction of ground borne vibrations and increase of the design life of the rail track.

On the Derivation of the Boiling Curve in Spray Cooling from Experimental Temperature-Time Histories

The vibrational phenomena generated by the transit of the railway carriers Finite Element Model (FEM) analysis of the superstructure- ground system by configuration in cuts

L'aumentata domanda di trasporto su ferro in ambito urbano ha posto alcune problematiche di inserimento ambientale; infatti le azionidinamiche generatesi al contatto ruota-rotaia sitrasmettonosotto forma di onde vibrazionali attraverso la sovrastruttuira al terreno e da questo alle strutture circostanti

A validated multi-scale model of a novel electrodialytic acid-base flow battery

Electrical energy storage is crucial for a deeper penetration of intermittent renewable energies, e.g. solar and wind. The Acid/Base Flow Battery (AB-FB) is a novel, sustainable, environmental-friendly storage technology with high energy density1. The process is based on reversible electrodialytic techniques that convert the electrical energy in the chemical energy associated to pH gradients and vice versa. The bipolar membrane electrodialysis process operates in the charge phase, while the bipolar membrane reverse electrodialysis in the discharge phase. The stack consists of repetitive units, called triplets, made up of an anion-exchange membrane, a bipolar membrane, and a cation-exchange …

On the influence of curvature and torsion on turbulence in helically coiled pipes

Turbulent flow and heat transfer in helically coiled pipes at Ret=400 was investigated by DNS using finite volume grids with up to 2.36×10^7 nodes. Two curvatures (0.1 and 0.3) and two torsions (0 and 0.3) were considered. The flow was fully developed hydrodynamically and thermally. The central discretization scheme was adopted for diffusion and advection terms, and the second order backward Euler scheme for time advancement. The grid spacing in wall units was ~3 radially, 7.5 circumferentially and 20 axially. The time step was equal to one viscous wall unit and simulations were typically protracted for 8000 time steps, the last 4000 of which were used to compute statistics. The results sho…

Mass transfer in ducts with transpiring walls

Abstract The problem of mass transfer in ducts with transpiring walls is analysed: the concepts of “solvent” and “solute” fluxes are introduced, all possible sign combinations for these fluxes are considered, and relevant examples from membrane processes such as electrodialysis, reverse osmosis and filtration are identified. Besides the dimensionless numbers commonly defined in studying flow and mass transfer problems, new dimensionless quantities appropriate to transpiration problems are introduced, and their limiting values, associated with “drying”, “desalting” and “saturation” conditions, are identified. A simple model predicting the Sherwood number Sh under all possible flux sign combi…

Fatigue resistance: is it possible having a unique response?

The mechanical characterisation of the asphalt concrete in terms of both the fatigue resistance and the stiffness modulus is necessary to use any design method of the flexible road pavements. Different kinds of test are usually used in experimental work such as bending tests, uniaxial tests, etc., but sometimes they do not give the same answer. In this paper mechanical characterization was carried out by means of fatigue tests undertaken with two most used testing machines for asphalt material: two point bending (2PB) test at IFSTTAR in Nantes (France) and four point bending (4PB) test at University of Palermo, in Palermo (Italy). Different strain controlled tests were undertaken for the sa…

Process modelling of a novel acid-base flow battery based on bipolar-membranes

The storage of electrical energy is crucial for a deeper penetration of renewable energies with intermittent nature, e.g. solar and wind energy. The Acid/Base Flow Battery (AB-FB) is a novel, sustainable, environmental-friendly storage technology with high energy density of the electrolyte solutions. The process is based on reversible electrodialytic techniques with bipolar membranes, which convert the electrical energy in the chemical energy associated to pH gradients and vice versa. The charge phase is a bipolar membrane electrodialysis process, while the discharge phase is a bipolar membrane reverse electrodialysis process. The stack consists of several repetitive units, called triplets,…

Mechanical characterization of dry asphalt rubber concrete for base layers by means of the four bending points tests

The mechanical characterisation of the asphalt concrete in terms of both the fatigue resistance and the stiffness modulus is necessary to use any design method of the flexible road pavements. Even more the determination of these mechanical properties is necessary if the asphalt concrete investigated is an innovative material as a dry asphalt rubber concrete DARC (i.e. a bituminous mixture with rubber via dry process). Such material is less known and investigated than the asphalt rubber concrete via wet process, even if its application implies peculiar economical and environmental advantages such as no specialized equipment or significant plant modifications and large quantity of recycled wa…

Coupling CFD with a one-dimensional model to predict the performance of reverse electrodialysis stacks

Abstract Different computer-based simulation models, able to predict the performance of Reverse ElectroDialysis (RED) systems, are currently used to investigate the potentials of alternative designs, to orient experimental activities and to design/optimize prototypes. The simulation approach described here combines a one-dimensional modelling of a RED stack with a fully three-dimensional finite volume modelling of the electrolyte channels, either planar or equipped with different spacers or profiled membranes. An advanced three-dimensional code was used to provide correlations for the friction coefficient (based on 3-D solutions of the continuity and Navier-Stokes equations) and the Sherwoo…

Coupling CFD simulation with a simplified process model for reverse electrodialysis units

Salinity gradient between two solutions is a renewable source of energy. Among the technologies able to exploit the salinity gradient, reverse electrodialysis (RED) is an electrochemical process for electrical power generation through direct conversion. Ion exchange membranes, piled alternately and separated by net spacers or membrane profiles, are the key elements of a RED stack. A multiplex phenomenology occurs in RED units; Ohmic and non-Ohmic (due to concentration changes) voltage losses and pressure drop are the main issues, and the membrane/channel configuration is crucial for the stack performance. In this framework, mathematical modelling can be a powerful tool for predictive purpos…

Influence of the boundary conditions on heat and mass transfer in spacer-filled channels

The purpose of this study is to discuss some problems which arise in heat or mass transfer in complex channels, with special reference to the spacer-filled channels adopted in membrane processes. Among the issues addressed are the consistent definition of local and mean heat or mass transfer coefficients; the influence of the wall boundary conditions; the influence of one-side versus two-side heat/mass transfer. Most of the results discussed were obtained by finite volume CFD simulations concerning heat transfer in Membrane Distillation or mass transfer in Electrodialysis and Reverse Electrodialysis, but many of the conclusions apply also to different processes involving geometrically compl…

Mass transfer in channels in the presence of wall transpiration

Mass transfer to or from transpiring walls is studied. Examples from different fields of engineering, notably involving membrane processes, are illustrated, and analogies or differences with respect to heat transfer problems are discussed. With special reference to plane channel flow, suitable dimensionless parameters are introduced, and the dependence of the Sherwood number upon these parameters is computed by a number of approaches of different complexity, from two-dimensional CFD to simple algebraic correlations.