Numerical investigation of grooves effects on the thermal performance of helically grooved shell and coil tube heat exchanger

Heat exchangers are integral parts of important industrial units such as petrochemicals, medicine and power plants. Due to the importance of systems energy consumption, different modifications have been applied on heat exchangers in terms of size and structure. In this study, a novel heat exchanger with helically grooved annulus shell and helically coiled tube was investigated by numerical simulation. Helically grooves with the same pitch of the helical coil tube and different depth are created on the inner and outer wall of annulus shell to improve the thermal performance of heat exchanger. In the first section, thermal performance of the shell and coil heat exchanger with the helical grooves on its outer shell wall was compared with same but without helical grooves. At the second section, helically grooves created on both outer and inner wall of the annulus shell with different groove depths. The results showed that the heat exchanger with grooves on both inner and outer shell wall has better thermal performance up to 20% compared to the heat exchanger with grooves on only outer shell wall. The highest thermal performance achieves at lower flow rates and higher groove depths whereas the pressure drop did not increase significantly.     

牛顿流体圆管紊流流动及顶替规律研究

本文应用紊流力学中圆管紊动微分方程式及普朗特关于总应力沿管径不变的假设,再考虑普朗特的混合长度理论,经过严密的数学推导,得到了一个新的圆管轴向紊流时均流速分布公式。这些公式由于保留了粘滞应力项,因而理论上比普朗特的圆管紊流公式更为合理。最后,基于上述分析,导出了牛顿流体圆管紊流顶替速度分布公式及界面位置计算公式。     

Systematic mesh development for 3D CFD simulation of fixed beds: Single sphere study

To develop and validate meshes for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of transport in fixed beds, a single particle is often used as a test case. We present results for drag coefficient (C_D) and heat transfer Nusselt number (Nu) for flow past a sphere, focusing on high flow rates typical of industrial steam reformers (400 < Re < 20,000). Over this range, good predictions of C_D were obtained using large eddy simulation (LES) to capture vortex shedding and wake dynamics, with a mesh refined downstream from the sphere. The small time-steps and high cell count required make this too expensive for fixed beds. Nu can be accurately calculated using a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method with shear-stress transport (SST) k-ω closure provided the mesh at the particle surface is fine enough and covers most of the boundary layer. Single sphere simulations of heat transfer are more useful for fixed bed mesh development than drag coefficient calculations.     

Large scale and environmentally friendly preparation of micro-submicron spherical silica and their surface effect in resin materials

Amorphous micro-submicron spherical silica powders with different particle sizes and surface properties were prepared by turbulent flow cycle method and characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MASS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size distribution (PSD), specific surface area (SSA) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of particle size and surface property of different spherical silica on the fluidity of resin materials were conducted. The result showed that the spherical silica with the characterization of D₅₀ = 2.5 μm and the ratio of experimental specific surface area and calculated specific surface area is 2.38, played a better role in the flow ability of epoxy materials. So it may be a better choice for the preparation of epoxy materials used in IC packaging area and other high-tech fields.     

A theoretical model for droplet breakup in turbulent dispersions

A theoretical model for the prediction of droplet breakup rate and daughter size distribution in turbulent dispersions has been developed. It considers the breakup contributed by a novel breakup criterion based on surface energy density increase, the droplet surface oscillation from previous collision and the eddies larger than original droplets. The breakup rate and daughter size distribution predicted by this model show a good agreement with the experimental data reported recently.     

Reduction of Empiricism through Flow Visualization and Computational Fluid Dynamics

In chemical process industry, a variety of equipment is used for carrying out different unit operations and unit processes. The design procedures for this equipment have been largely empirical due to the complexity of fluid mechanics. In view of this, a stepwise procedure has been suggested based on experimental fluid dynamics (EFD) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). One application of EFD and CFD is presented for the prediction of the heat transfer coefficient in the single‐phase turbulent pipe flow. The present capabilities of CFD for the design of different process equipment have been outlined.     

弯管内三维湍流场的实验研究

采用激光多普勒测速仪(简称LDV)对U型弯管流场进行了测量,得到切向速度与轴向速度的分布。进而证明了流体在弯管内流动受弯管壁的限制,被强制沿弯管作适体的圆周运动而产生惯性离心力,表现出压力不均匀分布流体的速度。轴向速度的存在也证明了在U型弯管湍流流场中,存在着较为强烈的二次流。     

渐变水头下流态的实验探讨

本文通过试验证明,水在圆管流动中存在着层流和紊流两种流动状态,不仅在稳定水头下能观测到,在渐变水头下也能观测到,从而使观测流体流动的试验设备得到了简化和改进。     

CFD study of non-premixed swirling burners: Effect of turbulence models

This research investigates a numerical simulation of swirling turbulent non-premixed combustion. The effects on the combustion characteristics are examined with three turbulence models: namely as the Reynolds stress model, spectral turbulence analysis and Re-Normalization Group. In addition, the P-1 and discrete ordinate (DO) models are used to simulate the radiative heat transfer in this model. The governing equations associated with the required boundary conditions are solved using the numerical model. The accuracy of this model is validated with the published experimental data and the comparison elucidates that there is a reasonable agreement between the obtained values from this model and the corresponding experimental quantities. Among different models proposed in this research, the Reynolds stress model with the Probability Density Function (PDF) approach is more accurate (nearly up to 50%) than other turbulent models for a swirling flow field. Regarding the effect of radiative heat transfer model, it is observed that the discrete ordinate model is more precise than the P-1 model in anticipating the experimental behavior. This model is able to simulate the subcritical nature of the isothermal flow as well as the size and shape of the internal recirculation induced by the swirl due to combustion.     

Experiments on the thermal stratification in the branch of NPP

The thermal stratification phenomena, frequently occurring in the component of nuclear power plant system such as pressurizer surge line, steam generator inlet nozzle, safety injection system (SIS), and chemical and volume control system (CVCS), can cause through-wall cracks, thermal fatigue, unexpected piping displacement and dislocation, and pipe support damage. The phenomenon is one of the unaccounted load in the design stage. However, the load have been found to be serious as nuclear power plant operation experience accumulates. In particular, the thermal stratification by the turbulent penetration or valve leak in the SIS and SCS pipe line can lead these safety systems to failure by the thermal fatigue. Therefore in this study an l/lO scaledowned experimental rig had been designed and installed. And a series of experimental works had been executed to measure the temperature distribution (thermal stratification) in these systems by the turbulent penetration, valve leak, and heat transfer through valve. The results provide very valuable informations such as turbulent penetration depth, the possibility of thermal stratification by the heat transfer through valve, etc. Also the results are expected to be useful to understand the thermal stratification in these systems, establish the thermal stratification criteria and validate the calculation results by CFD Codes such as Fluent, Phenix, CFX.