Search results for " fluid dynamics"

CFD Modelling of the Demister in the Multi Stage Flash Desalination plant

2011

Abstract Demisters are used to remove entrained brine droplets from flashed off vapor within the flashing stages of the multi stage flash desalination process (MSF). This is necessary to prevent accumulation of brine droplets on the outside surface of the condenser tubes and contamination of the desalinated water. The aim of this work is to design a new demister with lower pressure drop and unaffected separation efficiency which can be later installed in the flashing stages of the MSF plant and causes reduction in the required heat transfer area. In this work the demister performance is predicted as a function of design (wire diameter), and operating parameters (stage temperature). This obj…

Analysis Based Optimization of Human Powered Vehicle Body

2015

The human powered vehicle market is not only a larger market per unit than the automotive market, but it is one in growth. The main product of this market is the classical bicycle, which is familiar around the globe, but mainly in the urban environment. The bicycle, which in this paper will be considered a human powered vehicle, is slowly gaining ground in the field of urban transportation solutions. This paper analyzes the possibility of optimizing the body of a human powered vehicle recumbent tricycle through continuous fluid dynamics. The vehicle is already designed and built, and is fully functional. The body of the vehicle comes as a necessity to give the operator protection from the e…

Classical and quantum vortex leapfrogging in two-dimensional channels

2020

The leapfrogging of coaxial vortex rings is a famous effect which has been noticed since the times of Helmholtz. Recent advances in ultra-cold atomic gases show that the effect can now be studied in quantum fluids. The strong confinement which characterizes these systems motivates the study of leapfrogging of vortices within narrow channels. Using the two-dimensional point vortex model, we show that in the constrained geometry of a two-dimensional channel the dynamics is richer than in an unbounded domain: alongsize the known regimes of standard leapfrogging and the absence of it, we identify new regimes of backward leapfrogging and periodic orbits. Moreover, by solving the Gross-Pitaevskii…

Coupled normal fluid and superfluid profiles of turbulent helium II in channels

2015

We perform fully coupled two--dimensional numerical simulations of plane channel helium II counterflows with vortex--line density typical of experiments. The main features of our approach are the inclusion of the back reaction of the superfluid vortices on the normal fluid and the presence of solid boundaries. Despite the reduced dimensionality, our model is realistic enough to reproduce vortex density distributions across the channel recently calculated in three--dimensions. We focus on the coarse--grained superfluid and normal fluid velocity profiles, recovering the normal fluid profile recently observed employing a technique based on laser--induced fluorescence of metastable helium molec…

Improving the rheometry of rubberized bitumen: experimental and computation fluid dynamics studies

2017

Abstract Multi-phase materials are common in several fields of engineering and rheological measurements are intensively adopted for their development and quality control. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of these materials, accurate measurements can be challenging. This is the case of bitumen-rubber blends used in civil engineering as binders for several applications such as asphalt concrete for road pavements but recently also for roofing membranes. These materials can be considered as heterogeneous blends of fluid and particles with different densities. Due to this nature the two components tends to separate and this phenomenon can be enhanced with inappropriate design and mixing. Thi…

CFD simulation of gas-liquid hydrodynamics in a rectangular air–lift loop reactor

2006

Computational Fluid Dynamics is an increasingly important tool for carrying out realistic simulations of process apparatuses. As a difference from single phase systems, for multi phase systems the development of CFD models is still at its early stages. Moreover, gas-liquid systems are characterised by an additional complexity level, related to the fact that, as a difference with solid-liquid systems, bubble sizes are not known in advance, being rather the result of formation and breakage-coalescence dynamics, and therefore of complex phenomena related to flow dynamics and interfacial effects. In the present work CFD simulations of gas-liquid air-lift reactors are reported. All bubbles are a…

Membrane Distillation efficiency increase by enhanced heat transfer

2009

Fluid-structure interaction and flow redistribution in membrane-bounded channels

2019

The hydrodynamics of electrodialysis and reverse electrodialysis is commonly studied by neglecting membrane deformation caused by transmembrane pressure (TMP). However, large frictional pressure drops and differences in fluid velocity or physical properties in adjacent channels may lead to significant TMP values. In previous works, we conducted one-way coupled structural-CFD simulations at the scale of one periodic unit of a profiled membrane/channel assembly and computed its deformation and frictional characteristics as functions of TMP. In this work, a novel fluid&ndash

A Thermochromic Liquid Crystals Image Analysis technique to investigate temperature polarization in spacer-filled channels for Membrane Distillation

2013

The analysis of flow fields and temperature distributions is of paramount importance in the development and optimization of new spacer-filled channel geometries for Membrane Distillation modules. The literature reports only few studies on the experimental characterization of such channels and, to the authors’ knowledge, none of them presents local information concerning the temperature distribution on the membrane surface. In the present work, a non-intrusive experimental technique named TLC-IA-TP is presented: it is based on the use of Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLCs) and digital Image Analysis (IA) and it is applied here for the first time to the analysis of Temperature Polarization (…

Numerical prediction of flow fields in baffled stirred vessels: A comparison of alternative modelling approaches

1998

Abstract Numerical simulations of the flow field in baffled mixing tanks, based on three alternative methods, are presented and discussed. In the first method, the impeller is not explicitly simulated, and its effects are modelled by imposing suitable, empirically derived, boundary conditions to the external flow. In the second method, the whole vessel volume is divided into two concentric, partially overlapping, regions. In the inner region, containing the impeller, the flow field is simulated in the rotating reference frame of the latter, while in the outer region simulations are conducted in the reference frame of the laboratory. Information is iteratively exchanged between the two regio…