Eulerian simulation of subcooled boiling flow in straight and curved annuli

In this study, two types of water flow, turbulent single-phase flow and low-pressure subcooled boiling flow, in straight and curved horizontal annuli are investigated numerically. The control volume technique is used for discretizing governing equations, the SIMPLEC algorithm for pressure-velocity coupling, and the shear stress transport k-ω model for turbulent flow. A three-dimensional two-fluid model is used for the subcooled boiling flow, the results of which are compared with those of the single-phase flow. The available water boiling experiment results at low pressure are used to validate the numerical results and were found to have good agreement. The inner cylinder surface temperature of the curved annulus in almost all angles is less than that of the straight annulus in both single-phase and subcooled boiling flow. The maxmum and minimum temperatures in the curved annulus occur at defferent points compared to straight annulus ones due to effects of the centrifugal force.     

Numerical analysis of flow and pollutant dispersion over 2-d bell shaped hills

The numerical simulations of flow and pollutant particle dispersion are described for twodimensional bell shaped hills with various aspect ratios. The Reynolds-averaged incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with low Reynolds numberk-ɛ turbulent model are used to simulate the flowfield. The gradient diffusion equation is used to solve the pollutant dispersion field. The code was validated by comparison of velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stress, speed-up ratio, and ground level concentration with experimental and numerical data. Good agreement has been achieved and it has been found that the pollutant dispersion pattern and ground level concentration have been strongly influenced by the hill shape and aspect ratio, as well as the location and height of the source.     

Three-dimensional effects of supersonic cavity flow due to the variation of cavity aspect and width ratios

Unlike the steady closed-type supersonic cavity flow, open-type cavity flow is divided into internal and external flows by turbulent shear layer. The cavity flow may cause resonance phenomena due to pressure oscillation, depending on the cavity geometry and the flow conditions. These phenomena may induce noise generation, structural damage, and aerodynamic instability. In this research, the flow characteristics of three-dimensional supersonic cavity flow of Mach number 1.5 were analyzed with the variations of aspect ratio and width ratio. Three-dimensional unsteady compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were used with a turbulence model. For numerical calculations, the 4th-order Runge-Kutta method and the FVS method with van Leer’s flux limiter were applied. The numerical calculations were performed by using a parallel processing program with 16 CPUs. The sound pressure level (SPL) spectra of pressure variations were analyzed at the point of cavity leading edge. The correlation of pressure distribution (CPD) was also analyzed for the propagation of dominant oscillation pressure waves with respect to the reference point of the cavity leading edge. The dominant oscillation frequency was compared with the oscillation modes of Rossiter’s formula. Oscillation Mode 2 appeared as a dominant oscillation frequency regardless of the aspect ratio of cavity in the two-dimensional flow. Oscillation Modes1 and 2 appeared in three-dimensional cavities of small aspect ratios. However, as the aspect or the width ratio increases, only the mode 2 or 3 frequency appeared as a dominant oscillation frequency.     

Numerical investigation on the transient characteristics of sediment-laden two-phase flow in a centrifugal pump

The objective of this work was to determine pressure fluctuation and transient flow characteristics, which aims to provide references to improve noise and vibration performance for the pump design and optimization when delivering sediment-laden flow. The three-dimensional (3D) transient simulations were simulated by SST k-ω turbulence model combined with Homogeneous equilibrium model (HEM). The experimental and numerical data was compared to validate the numerical accuracy. The simulation results predicted that the concentration shows strong effects on the external performance, velocity, pressure, turbulent kinetic energy distribution and peak amplitude of pulsation frequency, which all perform increasing trend with the rise of concentration. Meanwhile, the effect of the diameter size of particles on the flow field was relatively minor, which can also evidently influence the internal flow, but the effect is not simply proportional to the diameter size. The effect of diameter size on silt flow needs to be taken into account associated with the concentration distribution. The dominant frequency of solid-liquid approximately equals 0.8 times that of pure water, and the transient characteristics of sediment-laden flow perform low frequency with high amplitude features.     

Numerical analysis of turbulent flow over a backward-facing step using reynolds stress closure model

Reynolds stress turbulence models are adopted and applied for calculating turbulent flow over a backward-facing step. For the diffusion term in the transport equations for the Reynolds stresses, two gradient-type models are employed and compared. In addition, investigations on the modified ∈ equations are carried out. The results of the computations are compared with the extant experimental data. As a consequence, it is concluded that the Reynolds stress models predict the flow field better than the standardk-∈ model in the recirculating region. However, after the reattachment the return to the ordinary turbulent boundary layer is shown to be too slow to predict the flow field irrespective of turbulence models.     

Numerical simulation of the transient cavitating turbulent flows around the Clark-Y hydrofoil using modified partially averaged Navier-Stokes method

This paper presents the implementation and assessment of a modified Partially averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) turbulence model which can successfully predict the transient cavitating turbulent flows. The proposed model treats the standard k-ε model as the parent model, and its main distinctive features are to (1) formulate the unresolved-to-total kinetic energy ratio (f _k ) based on the local grid size as well as turbulence length scale, and (2) vary the f _k -field both in space and time. Numerical simulation used the modified PANS model for the sheet/cloud cavitating flows around a three-dimensional Clark-Y hydrofoil. The available experimental data and calculations of the standard k-ε model, the f _k = 0.8 PANS model, the f _k = 0.5 PANS model are also provided for comparisons. The results show that the modified PANS model accurately captures the transient cavitation features as observed in experiments, namely, the attached sheet cavity grows in the flow direction until to a maximum length and then it breaks into a highly turbulent cloud cavity with three-dimensional structures in nature. Time-averaged drag/lift coefficients together with the streamwise velocity profiles predicted by the proposed model are in good agreement with the experimental data, and improvements are shown when compared with results of the standard k-ε model, the f _k = 0.8 PANS model and the f _k = 0.5 PANS model. Overall, the modified PANS model shows its encouraging capability of predicting the transient cavitating turbulent flows.

     

Numerical study of fluid flow and convective heat transfer characteristics in a twisted elliptic tube

We investigated the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a Twisted elliptic tube (TET). The effects of geometry parameters such as the aspect ratio and number of rotations in the TET were analyzed comparatively using three-dimensional (3-D) numerical simulation. We also solved numerically the conservation equations of continuity, momentum, and energy in the TET. Fully developed flow in the TET was modeled using the realizable k-ε turbulence model and steady incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. The simulation was performed for Reynolds numbers of 100, 1000 and 10000. The pressure drop and the heat transfer of the TET were assessed in terms of the Darcy friction factor and Colburn j-factor, and overall performance was evaluated using the area and volume goodness factors.

     

Analysis of two dimensional and three dimensional supersonic turbulence flow around tandem cavities

The supersonic flows around tandem cavities were investigated by two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical simulations using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation with thek-ω turbulence model. The flow around a cavity is characterized as unsteady flow because of the formation and dissipation of vortices due to the interaction between the freestream shear layer and cavity internal flow, the generation of shock and expansion waves, and the acoustic effect transmitted from wake flow to upstream. The upwind TVD scheme based on the flux vector split with van Leer’s limiter was used as the numerical method. Numerical calculations were performed by the parallel processing with time discretizations carried out by the 4th-order Runge-Kutta method. The aspect ratios of cavities are 3 for the first cavity and 1 for the second cavity. The ratio of cavity interval to depth is 1. The ratio of cavity width to depth is 1 in the case of three dimensional flow. The Mach number and the Reynolds number were 1.5 and 4.5 × 10⁵, respectively. The characteristics of the dominant frequency between twodimensional and three-dimensional flows were compared, and the characteristics of the second cavity flow due to the first cavity flow was analyzed. Both two dimensional and three dimensional flow oscillations were in the ‘shear layer mode’, which is based on the feedback mechanism of Rossiter’s formula. However, three dimensional flow was much less turbulent than two dimensional flow, depending on whether it could inflow and outflow laterally. The dominant frequencies of the two dimensional flow and three dimensional flows coincided with Rossiter’s 2nd mode frequency. The another dominant frequency of the three dimensional flow corresponded to Rossiter’s 1st mode frequency.     

Simulation of free surface flow over the streamlined weirs

The streamlined weirs are a special type of weirs, designed on the basis of airfoil theory. Because of their particular design, they have some merits compared to the other types of weirs, such as; high discharge coefficient, more stability of overflow and less fluctuations of water free surface. In the present study, a numerical simulation performed using an open source software namely, OpenFOAM, to give details about the flow structure over, up- and downstream of these weirs. Also, an experimentation setup was devised to evaluate the numerical results and determine the best numerical model. Analyzing the results of different turbulence models including; standard k-ε, realizable k-ε, RNG k-ε, k-ω SST, and Reynolds stress LRR, indicated that all the aforementioned models accurately estimate the flow field and hydraulic parameters. However, the k-ω SST model gives more accurate results, very close to the experimental data especially for the Reynolds stresses. Accordingly, the k-ω SST turbulence model was chosen as the best turbulence model for analyzing the flow over the streamlined weirs. Numerical results for different relative eccentricities show that, by increasing the relative eccentricity, the flow velocity over the crest of the weirs increases and accordingly the pressure in such section decreases. For a constant flow discharge upstream of different types of the streamlined weirs, the lowest bed pressure and the most probable potential of cavitation belongs to a circular-crested weir (a streamlined weir with a relative eccentricity of unity). Furthermore, the greatest bed shear stresses and the compressive forces occur downstream of the circular-crested weir. Thus, downstream of a circular-crested weir is responsible for larger potential of bed erosion. This is partly due to the formation of shock waves, reduction of the flow depth, and enhancement of the flow velocity downstream of a circular-crested weir. Moreover, the lowest bed shear stresses were observed upstream of the circular-crested weir. Therefore, upstream of a circular-crested weir shows the greatest potential of sedimentation. Finally, applying the streamlined weirs with an appropriate curvature, diminishes the unfavorable flow conditions, as observed for the circular-crested weir, being the safer and economic hydraulic structures.     

Numerical investigation of the aerodynamic performance affected by spiral inlet and outlet in a positive displacement blower

The flow in the positive displacement blower is very complex.The existing two-dimensional numerical simulation cannot provide the detailed flow information,especially flow characteristics along the axial direction,which is unfavorable to improve the performance of positive displacement blower.To investigate the effects of spiral inlet and outlet on the aerodynamic performance of positive displacement blower,three-dimensional unsteady flow characteristics in a three-lobe positive displacement blower with and without the spiral inlet and outlet are simulated by solving Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-ε turbulent model.In the numerical simulation,the dynamic mesh technique and overset mesh updating method are used.The computational results are compared with the experimental measurements on the variation of flow rate with the outlet pressure to verify the validity of the numerical method presented.The results show that the mass flow rate with the change of pressure is slightly affected by the application of spiral inlet and outlet,but the internal flow state is largely affected.In the exhaust region,the fluctuations of pressure,velocity and temperature as well as the average values of velocity are significantly reduced.This illustrates that the spiral outlet can effectively suppress the fluctuations of pressure,thus reducing reflux shock and energy dissipation.In the intake area,the average value of pressure,velocity and temperature are slightly declined,but the fluctuations of them are significantly reduced,indicating that the spiral inlet plays the role in making the flow more stable.The numerical results obtained reveal the three-dimensional flow characteristics of the positive displacement blower with spiral inlet and outlet,and provide useful reference to improve performance and empirical correction in the noise-reduction design of the positive displacement blowers.     

Large eddy simulation of turbulent premixed combustion flows over backward facing step

Large eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent premixed combustion flows over backward facing step has been performed using a dynamic sub-grid G-equation flamelet model. A flamelet model for the premixed flame is combined with a dynamic sub-grid combustion model for the filtered propagation of flame speed. The objective of this study is to investigate the validity of the dynamic sub-grid G-equation model in a complex turbulent premixed combustion flow. For the purpose of validating the LES combustion model, the LES of isothermal and reacting shear layer formed at a backward facing step is carried out. The calculated results are compared with the experimental results, and a good agreement is obtained.     

Spatial resolution effects on unsteady turbulent flow computations for the rectangular cylinders byκ-ε turbulence models

In predicting unsteady turbulent flows around a square cylinder usingκ-ε turbulence models, choice of right turbulence models was found to be critical. If a proper care is taken to choose a convection scheme and near-wall resolution, the conventional turbulence models may predict an unsteady turbulent flow at low Reynolds numbers with reasonable accuracy. A systematic computation is carried out to identify the effects of the aspect ratio of a rectangular cylinder and of the flow Reynold number on the spatial resolution requirement. It is found in general that the grid resolution requirement is more stringent for a cylinder with a smaller aspect ratio. By investigating high Reynolds number computations, the grid refinement in terms of viscous wall units is found unimportant in accurately predicting the unsteady aerodynamic forces on the cylinder. Instead, resolution of shear layers formed at the forward separation corners is found to be more critical.     

PIV measurements in a turbulent wall jet over a backward-facing step in a three-dimensional,non-confined channel

A study of a turbulent wall jet over a backward-facing step is especially of interest because it shows a rich phenomenon flow and a mechanism to alter the flow characteristics downstream of the step. However, studies on this flow configuration are rare. In this paper, we considered this flow configuration in a non-confined channel as the specific engineering applications of electrical rotating machines and alternator that can be found in modern wind generators of the power production industry and automobile engines. The turbulent wall jet over a backward-facing step in a non-confined wind tunnel had the jet Reynolds number of 24,100 and the step Reynolds number of 11,900. Particle image velocity (PIV) and stereoscopic PIV measurements were performed along the central plane and several cross-stream planes. Numerical simulation of the test configuration was conducted by solving the three-dimensional Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with the second-order closure Reynolds stress model (RSM). The mean flow fields and second-order statistical moments from the RSM simulation were compared to results that were obtained through the PIV and stereo-PIV experiments. The mean reattachment length obtained from the current configuration was much shorter than those from the backward-facing step in the plane channel. The stereo-PIV measurements in the cross-stream planes revealed a high three-dimensionality of the flow, a high population of streamwise vortice in the upper region, near the side walls and the corners formed by the side walls and the bottom wall. The obtained results also confirmed the presence of the wall-jet formation on the bottom wall.     

矩形进料体高宽比对旋流器流场和分离性能影响的数值模拟

横截面为矩形的进料体比圆形的分离性能更好,但是一直没有找出矩形进料体合适的高宽比.本文采用数值分析法研究了矩形进料体的高宽比对直径为75 mm旋流器分离性能的影响,将数值结果与Hsieh经典试验结果进行了对比,发现两者有良好的一致性,验证了该方法的有效性.探究了进料体不同高宽比下的压力场、速度场、湍流场和分离效率.结果...     

Numerical simulation of turbulent flow of hydraulic oil through 90° circular-sectional bend

Oil flow through pipe bends is found in many engineering applications. However, up to now, the studies of oil flow field in the pipe bend appear to be relatively sparse, although the oil flow field and the associated losses of pipe bend are very important in practice. In this paper, the relationships between the turbulent flow of hydraulic oil in a bend and the Reynolds number Re and the curvature ratio ? are studied by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A particular emphasis is put on hydraulic oil, which differs from air or water, flowing through 90° circular-sectional bend, with the purpose of determining the turbulent flow characteristics as well as losses. Three turbulence models, namely, RNG k-? model, realizable k-? model, and Reynolds stress model (RSM), are used respectively. The simulation results in the form of contour and vector plots for all the three turbulence models for pipe bends having curvature ratio of ??0.5, and the detailed pressure fields and total pressure losses for different Re and ? for RSM are presented. The RSM can predict the stronger secondary flow in the bend better than other models. As Re increases, the pressure gradient changes rapidly, and the pressure magnitude increases at inner and outer wall of the bend. When ? decreases, two transition points or transition zones of pressure gradient arise at inner wall, meanwhile, the transition point moves towards the inlet at outer wall of the bend. Owing to secondary flow, the total pressure loss factor k increases as the bend tightens, on the contrary, as Re increases, factor k decreases due to higher velocity heads, and the rapid change of pressure gradient on the surface of the bend leads to increasing of friction and separation effects, and magnified swirl intensity of secondary flow. A new mathematical model is proposed for predicting pressure loss in terms of Re and ? in order to provide support to the one-dimensional simulation software. The proposed research provides reference for the analysis of oil flow with higher Re in the large bends.     

Effect of the Gurney flap on a NACA 23012 airfoil

A numerical investigation was performed to determine the effect of the Gurney flap on a NACA 23012 airfoil. A Navier-Stokes code, RAMPANT, was used to calculate the flow field about the airfoil. Fully-turbulent results were obtained using the standardk-ε two-equation turbulence model. The numerical solutions showed that the Gurney flap increased both lift and drag. These results suggested that the Gurney flap served to increase the effective camber of the airfoil. The Gurney flap provided a significant increase in the lift-to-drag ratio relatively at low angle of attack and for high lift coefficient. It turned out that 0.6% chord size of flap was the best. The numerical results exhibited detailed flow structures at the trailing edge and provided a possible explanation for the increased aerodynamic performance.     

Effect of turbulent boundary layer on the surface pressure around trench cavities

This paper presents a parametric study on steady incompressible flow past cavities. Numerical calculations were performed around two- and three-dimensional trench cavities. Numerical and experimental results were compared to understand the fluid dynamics mechanism of vortex generation and diffusion in shear and mixing layers around cavities. Using the commercial computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT, the standard k-? and k-ω shear stress transport (SST) models were applied to solve the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation of turbulent wind flow. The calculations were performed using a Reynolds number of 1.6 × 10⁴ based on the free-stream velocity U∞ and the length of the cavity L. Computational meshes were carefully designed to be dense on the cavity surface and to be coarse in far-field to obtain an appropriate solution for the RANS equation for cavity flow because these measures result in decreased computational cost and more rapid convergence. The standard k-? model produces an almost similar distribution regardless of whether the grid is two- or three-dimensional, whereas the k-ω SST model has different values of velocity, surface pressure, and Reynolds stress. The three-dimensional grid shows better prediction of surface pressure around the cavity compared with the two-dimensional grid.     

内置扭带换热管三维流动与传热数值模拟

对自转扭带换热管内流体的运动进行了分析,根据流体在自转扭带管内的切向运动特点,提出将自转扭带等效虚拟于静止扭带的思路。建立内置螺旋扭带换热管流体流动的三维物理模型,采用大型CFD软件FLUENT6.0中的RNG k-ε模型对内置扭带换热管内的流动与传热进行了数值模拟,得到了内置扭带换热管流体流动的速度、压力、湍流强度场分布规律及传热特性。比较了静止、旋转及旋转等效虚拟静止扭带换热管的传热和阻力降特性,分析了不同螺距对强化传热和阻力降的影响。速度场的模拟值与激光测速仪试验值进行了比较,二者吻合较好。     

Effect of innovative circular shroud fences on a centrifugal fan for augmented performance - A numerical analysis

This paper presents the influence of circular front and back shroud fences on the performance of a backward swept centrifugal fan impeller handling air. The analysis is carried out to determine the main characteristics of the fan i.e. the variation of head and theoretical efficiency for various flow coefficients. The circular fence size is optimized parametrically by varying its diameter and the location on the shroud surface. The effect of the shroud fences on the flow field was analyzed for the fences placed on both front and back shroud surfaces of the impeller separately. The numerical simulation is carried out using an appropriate k - ε turbulence model. The relative flow inside the impeller passages is modeled using the standard sliding mesh technique. The numerical results for the base model (i.e. without the fence) are validated against experimental results obtained from the test rig built specially for validation study and are found to have good agreement. It is found from the analysis that the average percentage increase in head coefficient is significant and is about 2 % higher as compared to the base model for the optimized geometrical configuration of diameter ratio and radial fence location as determined in the study. The optimized geometrical configuration also yields a higher theoretical efficiency of about 2.3 % corroborating the improvement in head coefficient with respect to the base model. Hence the efficacy of optimally placed circular fence on the performance of centrifugal fan is established in this numerical study.     

Laboratory measurement and numerical simulation of flow and turbulence in a meandering-like flume with spurs

The paper reported herein presents the laboratory measurement of near-bed flow and turbulence induced by non-submerged spurs protruding from the bank of a meandering-like laboratory flume with smooth rigid bed. The flow property was measured using a 3D acoustic doppler velocimeter for various combinations and locations of spurs in order to assess their effect on mean flow field. Likewise, turbulent characteristics were computed from the measured data for one of the experimental cases. Furthermore, a 2D numerical model was developed for the simulation of mean flow property, turbulent intensities as well as vorticity field using cubic-interpolated pseudoparticle (CIP) numerical technique. The simulated down-stream and cross-stream mean flow property as well as turbulent intensities in shear layer was found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. The numerical simulation of vortices, generated from the tip of the spur, was seen to be reliable. In addition, the migration of small vortices was visualized in the experimental flume using a simple technique.