This study was conducted to determine the effects of compression on pressure drops in non-metallic flexible duct. Duct sizes of 12”, 14” and 16” diameters were tested at a five different compression ratios (maximum stretch, 4%, 15%, 30% and 45%) following the draw through methodology in ASHRAE Standard 120 -1999 – Methods of Testing to Determine Flow Resistance of Air Ducts and Fittings. With the pressure drop data gathered, equations were developed to approximate the pressure loss at a given air flow rate for a given duct size. The data gathered showed general agreement with previous studies showing an increase in compression ratio leads to an increase in static pressure loss through the duct. It was determined that pressure losses for compression ratios greater than 4% were over four times greater than maximum stretched flexible duct of corresponding duct size. The increased static pressure losses can lead to decreased performance in HVAC systems. The findings of this study add to the existing ASHRAE and industry data for flexible duct with varying compression ratios.

The current study is part of a long term experimental project devoted to investigating single-phase flow pressure drop and heat transfer, flow boiling pressure drop and heat transfer, flow boiling instability and flow visualization of de-ionized water flow in microchannels. The experimental facility was first designed and constructed by S. Gedupudi (2009) and in the present study; the experimental facility was upgraded by changing the piping and pre-heaters so as to accommodate the objectives of the research. These objectives include (i) modifying the test rig, to be used for conducting experiments in microchannels in single and two-phase flow boiling heat transfer, pressure drop and visualization, (ii) redesign metallic single microchannels using copper as the material. The purpose of the redesign is to provide microchannels with strong heaters, high insulation performance and with test sections easy to dismantle and reassemble, (iii) obtaining the effect of hydraulic diameter on single-phase flow, flow pattern, heat transfer and pressure drop, (iv) studying the effects of heat flux, mass flux,and vapour quality on flow pattern, flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop, (v)comparing experimental results with existing correlations. However, the main focus in this present study is to investigate the effects of hydraulic diameter, heat flux, mass flux and vapour quality on flow pattern, flow boiling heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. In addressing (iii) many possible reasons exist for the discrepancies between published results and conventional theory and for the scatter of data in published flow boiling heat transfer results: 1. Accuracy in measuring the dimensions of the test section, namely the width, depth and length and in the tested variables of temperature, pressure, heat flux and mass flux. 2. Variations in hydraulic diameter and geometry between different studies. 3. Differences in working fluids. 4. Effects of hydrodynamic and thermal flow development 5. Inner surface characteristics of the channels. Three different hydraulic diameters of copper microchannels were investigated: 0.438mm, 0.561 mm and 0.635 mm. For single-phase flow the experimental conditions included mass fluxes ranging from 278 – 5163 kg/m2 s, heat fluxes from 0 - 537 kW/m², and inlet temperatures of 30, 60 and 90°C. In the flow boiling experiments the conditions comprised of an inlet pressure of 125 kPa (abs), inlet temperature of 98°C (inlet sub-cooling of 7 K), mass fluxes ranging from 200 to 1100 kg/m²s, heat fluxes ranging from 0 to 793 kW/m² and qualities up to 0.41. All measurements were recorded after the system attained steady states. The single-phase fluid flow results showed that no deviation of friction factors was found from the three different hydraulic diameters. The effect of fluid temperature on friction factor was insignificant and the friction factors themselves were in reasonable agreement with developing flow theory. The typical flow patterns observed in all three test sections were bubbly, slug/confined churn and annular, however, based on the observation performed near the outlet, the bubbly flow was not detected. The effects of mass flow and hydraulic diameter on flow pattern for the three test sections investigated in the range of experimental conditions were not clear. The single-phase heat transfer results demonstrated that smaller test sections result in higher heat transfer coefficients. However, for heat transfer trends presented in the form of Nusselt number versus Reynolds number, the effect of hydraulic diameter was insignificant.The flow boiling experiments gave similar heat transfer results; they exhibited that the smaller hydraulic diameter channels resulted in higher heat transfer coefficients. The nucleate boiling mechanism was found for all three test sections, evidenced by the significant effect of heat flux on the local heat transfer coefficient. Moreover, the heat flux had a clear effect on average heat transfer coefficient for the 0.561 mm and 0.635mm test sections, whilst for the 0.438 mm test section, there was no discernible effect. At the same heat flux, increases in mass flux caused heat transfer coefficients to decrease. This could be due to the decrease of pressure inside the test section. When a higher mass flux was tested, the inlet pressure increased, and in reducing the inlet pressure to the original value, a decrease in system pressure resulted. Consequently, the outlet pressure and local pressure became lower. Existing flow pattern maps, flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop correlations were compared with the experimental results obtained for all three test sections. The comparison showed that the flow pattern map proposed by Sobierska et al. (2006) was the most successful in predicting the experimental data. The local heat transfer coefficient data were compared with existing published correlations. The correlations of Yu et al. (2002), Qu and Mudawar (2003) and Li and Wu (2010) are found to predict the current local heat transfer coefficient better than other correlations tested. Pressure drop results showed that as the heat flux and mass flux were increased, the two-phase pressure drop increased too. These were due to the increase in bubble generations and the inertia momentum effect. As the channel was reduced, the twophase pressure drop increased because the pressure drop related inversely with the channel hydraulic diameter. The pressure and pressure drop fluctuations were indentified in this project, however, the maximum pressure fluctuation was found in the 0.438 mm channel whilst the minimum fluctuation was attained in the 0.561 mm channel. This indicated that the effect of decreasing in hydraulic diameter on pressure and pressure drop fluctuations is not clear and needs to be investigated further. The two-phase pressure drop data were compared with selected correlations. The Mishima and Hibiki (1996)’s correlation was found to predict the current two-phase pressure drop better than the other correlations examined in this study.

No description available.

To design a cyclone abatement system for particulate control, it is necessary to accurately estimate cyclone performance. In this cyclone study, new theoretical methods for computing travel distance, numbers of turns and cyclone pressure drop have been developed. The flow pattern and cyclone dimensions determine the travel distance in a cyclone. The number of turns was calculated based on this travel distance. The new theoretical analysis of cyclone pressure drop was tested against measured data at different inlet velocities and gave excellent agreement. The results show that cyclone pressure drop varies with the inlet velocity, but not with cyclone diameter. Particle motion in the cyclone outer vortex was analyzed to establish a force balance differential equation. Barth??s "static particle" theory, particle (with diameter of d50) collection probability is 50% when the forces acting on it are balanced, combined with the force balance equation was applied in the theoretical analyses for the models of cyclone cut-point and collection probability distribution in the cyclone outer vortex. Cyclone cut-points for different dusts were traced from measured cyclone overall collection efficiencies and the theoretical model for calculating cyclone overall efficiency. The cut-point correction models (K) for 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones were developed through regression fit from traced and theoretical cut-points. The regression results indicate that cut-points are more sensitive to mass median diameter (MMD) than to geometric standard deviation (GSD) of PSD. The theoretical overall efficiency model developed in this research can be used for cyclone total efficiency calculation with the corrected d50 and PSD. 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones were tested at Amarillo, Texas (an altitude of 1128 m / 3700 ft), to evaluate the effect of air density on cyclone performance. Two sets of inlet design velocities determined by the different air densities were used for the tests. Experimental results indicate that optimal cyclone design velocities, which are 16 m/s (3200 ft/min) for 1D3D cyclones and 15 m/s (3000 ft/min) for 2D2D cyclones, should be determined based on standard air density. It is important to consider the air density effect on cyclone performance in the design of cyclone abatement systems.

To design a cyclone abatement system for particulate control, it is necessary to accurately estimate cyclone performance. In this cyclone study, new theoretical methods for computing travel distance, numbers of turns and cyclone pressure drop have been developed. The flow pattern and cyclone dimensions determine the travel distance in a cyclone. The number of turns was calculated based on this travel distance. The new theoretical analysis of cyclone pressure drop was tested against measured data at different inlet velocities and gave excellent agreement. The results show that cyclone pressure drop varies with the inlet velocity, but not with cyclone diameter. Particle motion in the cyclone outer vortex was analyzed to establish a force balance differential equation. Barth??s "static particle" theory, particle (with diameter of d50) collection probability is 50% when the forces acting on it are balanced, combined with the force balance equation was applied in the theoretical analyses for the models of cyclone cut-point and collection probability distribution in the cyclone outer vortex. Cyclone cut-points for different dusts were traced from measured cyclone overall collection efficiencies and the theoretical model for calculating cyclone overall efficiency. The cut-point correction models (K) for 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones were developed through regression fit from traced and theoretical cut-points. The regression results indicate that cut-points are more sensitive to mass median diameter (MMD) than to geometric standard deviation (GSD) of PSD. The theoretical overall efficiency model developed in this research can be used for cyclone total efficiency calculation with the corrected d50 and PSD. 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones were tested at Amarillo, Texas (an altitude of 1128 m / 3700 ft), to evaluate the effect of air density on cyclone performance. Two sets of inlet design velocities determined by the different air densities were used for the tests. Experimental results indicate that optimal cyclone design velocities, which are 16 m/s (3200 ft/min) for 1D3D cyclones and 15 m/s (3000 ft/min) for 2D2D cyclones, should be determined based on standard air density. It is important to consider the air density effect on cyclone performance in the design of cyclone abatement systems.

In this study, cell performance tests and measurements of the pressure drop in the anode flow channels of a micro methanol fuel cell (£gDMFC) were conducted. The effect of different operating parameters on £gDMFC performance was experimentally investigated for serpentine flow-field configuration. Experiments were conducted through a serious experiments with different operating conditions of temperature (40¡B60¡B70¡B80oC)¡Bmethanol concentration (0.5¡B1¡B1.5¡B2 M)¡Bchannel width (0.5¡B0.6¡B0.7¡B0.8¡B1¡B1.5¡B2 mm) and flow rate (10-20 sccm). Experimental results are presented in the form of polarization VI curves and PI curves under above operating conditions. The experimental results show that the pressure drop decrease with increasing current density. It has also shown that the pressure drop always increased with the methanol solution flow rates. The relationship between pressure drop and CO2 bubbles production rate would change with the current density increase. Finally, an optimal channel size of 700 £gm for the present £gDMFC could be obtained.

No description available.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was used to predict the gas-solid hydrodynamics of fluidized beds. An Eulerian-Eulerian multi-fluid model and granular kinetic theory were used to simulate fluidization and to capture the complex physics associated therewith. The commercial code ANSYS FLUENT was used to study two-dimensional single solids phase glass bead and walnut shell fluidized beds. Current modeling codes only allow for modeling of spherical, uniform-density particles. Owing to the fact that biomass material, such as walnut shell, is abnormally shaped and has non-uniform density, a study was conducted to find the best modeling approach to accurately predict pressure drop, minimum fluidization velocity, and void fraction in the bed. Furthermore, experiments have revealed that all of the bed mass does not completely fluidize due to agglomeration of material between jets in the distributor plate. It was shown that the best modeling approach to capture the physics of the biomass bed was by correcting the amount of mass present in the bed in order to match how much material truly fluidizes experimentally, whereby the initial bed height of the system is altered. The approach was referred to as the SIM approach. A flow regime identification study was also performed on a glass bead fluidized bed to show the distinction between bubbling, slugging, and turbulent flow regimes by examining void fraction contours and bubble dynamics, as well as by comparison of simulated data with an established trend of standard deviation of pressure versus inlet gas velocity. Modeling was carried out with and without turbulence modeling (k-ϵ), to show the effect of turbulence modeling on two-dimensional simulations. / Master of Science

We have studied gas flow and particle deposition in a realistic three-dimensional model of the bronchial tree, extending from the trachea to the segmental bronchi (7th airway generation for the most distal ones) using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The model is based on the morphometrical data of Horsfield et al. [J. Appl. Physiol., 31: 207-217, 1971] and on bronchoscopic and CT images, which give the spatial 3D-orientation of the curved ducts. It incorporates realistic angles of successive branching planes. Steady inspiratory flow varying between 50cm³/s and 500cm³/s was simulated as well as deposition of spherical aerosol particles (1 to 7 m diameter, 1g/cm³ density). Flow simulations indicated non-fully developed flows in the branches because of their relative short lengths. Velocity flow profiles in the segmental bronchi, taken one diameter downstream the bifurcation, were distorted compared with the flow in a simple curved tube, and wide patterns of secondary flow fields were observed. Both were due to the asymmetrical 3D configuration of the bifurcating network. Viscous pressure drop in the model was compared with results obtained by Pedley et al. [Respir Physiol, 9: 387-405, 1970], which are shown to be a good first approximation. Particle deposition increased with particle size and was minimal for approximately 200cm³/s inspiratory flow but it was highly heterogeneous for branches of the same generation.

A careful review of the literature showed that there is a serious lack of information (experimental or analytical) on the pressure losses during two-phase flow in combining tee junctions. Pipe networks in industrial applications involve combining and dividing junctions and knowledge of the pressure losses at these junctions is essential for analysis of the flow distribution in the network. To this end, the pressure losses of air-water mixtures passing through a horizontal, combining tee junction with a 37.8 mm diameter were experimentally studied with annular, wavy, and slug flow regimes in the outlet. The test matrix independently varied the outlet flow rates, the outlet mixture qualities, the gas distribution between the inlets, and the liquid distribution between the inlets. All experiments were conducted at room temperature and a nominal absolute pressure at the centre of the junction of 150 kPa. The pressure distribution in all three legs of the tee was determined using up to 49 pressure taps distributed among the three sides and monitored using pressure transducers to produce accurate measurements of the pressure losses. Time-averaged pressure measurements with annular and wavy flows are reported, while pressure measurements with slug flows were not repeatable. A new model and empirical coefficients is presented that allows accurate prediction of pressure losses for flows with either an annular or wavy outlet. Time-varying pressure measurements are presented and analyzed using probability density functions. Different distributions were found for differential measurements depending on whether or not slugging was present in the system. The probability density functions for cases with annular or wavy flow in the outlet followed Gaussian distributions, while cases with slug flow had skewed distributions. Time-varying pressure signals showed a time lag between slug events based on pressure tap locations. A visual study with slug flow present in the system showed upstream travelling waves induced in a stratified inlet when slug flow was present in the other, which led to unexpected slugging under certain flow conditions. / October 2016