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In order for wind-farm operators to deal with challenges regarding their fleet management, it is useful for them to estimate their units’ performance for different conditions. To perform such estimations, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) may be used. This project focuses on the development of a CFD model for the aerodynamic analysis of wind turbine rotors, depending on their surface roughness. The work has been carried out in collaboration with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Vattenfall AB R&D department. The open-source software OpenFOAM has been used to develop the desired model. A rigid body incompressible steady state, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations, k – ω SST CFD case has been set up. The NREL 5-MW rotor geometry has been used and the effect of four different surface roughness height values {1mm, 0.5mm, 100 μm, 30 μm} on its aerodynamic performance has been investigated for an incoming wind velocity of 10m/s. The referred roughness height values have been applied on the whole rotor surface. A 120° wedge type computational domain of unstructured mesh has been developed for the present simulations. The results indicate that a roughness-height increase leads to earlier flow separation over the blade suction side and increases the turbulent area of the boundary layer. That leads to a decrease for the extracted Torque and the Thrust force on the wind turbine rotor. Moreover, it is concluded that the rotor aerodynamic performance is more sensitive to low roughness heights rather than to high ones.

<p>A non-contact on-site surface roughness measurement method was investigated in experimental and simulation approaches. The resolution of the vertical surface roughness was obtained at 20 nm by using self-interference theory. Various surface roughness measurement techniques, such as mechanical stylus, AFM and Michelson interferometer, were employed for different roughness samples. The novelty of this study was to measure the surface roughness on a rotating sample. For each sample with different step height, corresponding intensity distribution data was obtained and analyzed. The fringe visibility ratio resulted in a curve that is related to the step height, which represents the roughness. The results from simulations for all samples were compared with experimental data. Good agreements were obtained for the studied conditions.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

A computer program based on the discrete-element method has been developed to compute friction factors and Nusselt Numbers for fully-developed turbulent flows with randomly-rough surfaces. Formulations of the discrete-element model for fully-developed turbulent flows inside circular pipes and between infinite parallel plates with the necessary adaptations for randomly-rough surfaces are provided. Utilizing the output of a three-dimensional profilometer, proper description of the randomly-rough surface is necessary for use within the discrete-element model. Proper description of the randomly-rough surface is achieved by the McClain (2002) method of characterization. Predictions from the discrete-element model computer program are compared with the classical, laminar and turbulent, smooth-wall results. In addition to the smooth-wall evaluations, predictions are compared with experimental results for turbulent internal flows with deterministic surface roughness. Predictions from the model demonstrated excellent agreement in all cases. Friction factor and Nusselt Number predictions for fully-developed flows over randomly-rough surfaces are also presented. With the friction factor and Nusselt Number data, velocity profiles for flows over randomly-rough, deterministically-rough and smooth surfaces are provided for comparison.

The emergence of metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) over the last two decades has opened venues to mitigate the challenges associated with stochastic open-cell metal foams manufactured through the traditional foaming process. Regular lattices with user-defined unit cell topologies have been reported to exhibit better mechanical properties in comparison to metal foams which extend their applicability to multifunctional heat exchangers subjected to both thermal and mechanical loads. The current study aims at investigating the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of promising novel unit cell topologies realizable through AM technologies. Experimental investigation was conducted on four different topologies, viz (a) Octet, (b) Face-diagonal (FD) cube, (c) Tetrakaidecahedron, and (d) Cube, printed in single-cell thick sandwich type configuration in 420 stainless steel via Binder Jetting technology at same intended porosity. The effective thermal conductivity of the samples was found to be strongly dependent on the lattice porosity, however, no significant dependence on the unit-cell topology was demonstrated. Face-diagonal cube lattice exhibited the highest heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop, and consequently provided the lowest thermal-hydraulic performance. A procedure to incorporate the manufacturing-induced random roughness effects in the samples during numerical modelling is introduced. The numerical simulations were conducted on samples exhibiting the roughness profiles having statistically same mean roughness as the additively manufactured coupons and the results were compared to that obtained from the intended smooth-profiled CAD models that were fed into the printing machines. The analysis showed that inclusion of roughness effects in computational models can significantly improve the thermal performance predictions. Through this study, we demonstrate that additively manufactured ordered lattices exhibit superior thermal transport characteristics and future developmental efforts would require extensive experimentations to characterize their thermal and flow performance as well as local surface quality and AM-induced defect recognition. Experimental findings would also need to be supported by computational efforts where configurations which closely mimic the real AM parts could be modeled. A combined experimental-numerical framework is recommended for advancements in metal additive manufacturing-enabled enhanced heat transfer concepts.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has the ability to fabricate components of high geometric complexity that are difficult or near impossible to be produced by traditional manufacturing technologies. Selective laser melting (SLM) is a commonly used AM technology for metallic fabrications. SLM offers the opportunities to customize the characteristics of the as-build part produced, by adjusting the laser settings. However, high strength aluminum (Al) alloys presents an obstacle for SLM production due to the low alloying content, which increases the alloys’ probabilities to form cracks due to thermal stress induced by the SLM build process. The current study focuses on the study of surface roughness and dimensional accuracy of SLM fabrication of Al6061 and AlSi10Mg. Using design of experiment (DOE), wide ranges SLM process parameters were experimented with, and their individual effect along with their interactive effects on the fabricated parts’ quality were evaluated. The quality characteristics studied are: microstructures, microhardness, tensile strength (ultimate tensile strength, and yield strength), density, surface roughness, and dimensional accuracy. Regression models were created for each quality characteristics, and the combination of density, surface roughness, and dimensional accuracy results was used to create processing window for SLM that ensures the production of high-quality parts. The work aims to not only be used as-is, to help with the selection of SLM process parameters for Al6061 and AlSi10Mg that will reduce the post- processing time, but also to set a foundation for future development for numerical models that could better predict and describe the relations between SLM process parameters and the part’s fundamental qualities. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Heat transfer technologies based on boiling refer to applications like heat pumps, waste heat recovery systems, power plants and electronic components cooling. The widespread use of boiling as the heat transfer mode is due to high heat transfer coefficients associated with the phase change from liquid to vapor. Boiling heat transfer coefficients can be further enhanced by modifying the texture or chemical composition of the interface at which boiling occurs. The objective of this research is to fabricate textured surfaces with electrical discharge machining (EDM) and investigate the enhancement in pool boiling heat transfer, concerning machining and surface characterization parameters. It is complemented by a qualitative analysis of bubble dynamics with high-speed imaging, to provide insights into the differences in boiling performance associated with the changes in surface topography. Sink electrical discharge machined surfaces demonstrated ten times higher heat transfer coefficient compared to a polished surface during these studies. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This work presents a new acoustical method for remote measurement of the surface characteristics of the dynamic air-water interface in turbulent free-surface flows. The technique uses the reflection of a monochromatic ultrasonic wave by the dynamically rough air-water interface to measure the water surface position. It is found that with careful selection of the acoustical components and their configuration, the phase of the reflected signal responds to the local fluctuations in the fluid interface at the point of specular acoustic reflection. In order for the method to be applicable, three criteria must be satisfied: (1) the dominant wavelength of the surface under investigation must be greater than the first Fresnel zone corresponding to the wavelength and component geometry of the acoustical system; (2) the mean magnitude of the instantaneous local surface gradient must not exceed 0.025; and (3) the root-mean-square wave height must be greater than 1% of the acoustic wavelength. Under these conditions the mean error of the system is within 5% (and usually within 1%) of the acoustic wavelength, and is generally within 10% of the wave amplitude for turbulence generated waves, and 3% of the amplitude for gravity waves. This error may be reduced by optimising the acoustic wavelength for the surface of interest. For turbulent depth limited flows, the surface waves fall well within the criteria, and the absolute errors are independent of wave height, so for larger wave heights, the relative error can be considerably lower. The technique provides a robust system for monitoring the dynamics of free surface flows, which is non-invasive, low cost, and low power. The method has been tested on laboratory flows but should be applicable to remote sensing of free surface properties on a local scale in field environments where invasive techniques are difficult to implement such as might be found in coastal, river and wastewater environments.

Yes / The ever-increasing demand for high-processing electronic systems has unequivocally called for improved microprocessor performance. However, increasing microprocessor performance requires increasing power and on-chip power density, both of which are associated with increased heat dissipation. Electronic cooling using fins have been identified as a reliable cooling approach. However, an investigation into the thermal behaviour of fin would help in the design of miniaturized, effective heatsinks for reliable microprocessor cooling. The aim of this paper is to investigates the simultaneous effects of surface roughness, porosity and magnetic field on the performance of a porous micro-fin under a convective-radiative heat transfer mechanism. The developed thermal model considers variable thermal properties according to linear, exponential and power laws, and are solved using Chebychev spectral collocation method. Parametric studies are carried using the numerical solutions to establish the influences of porosity, surface roughness, and magnetic field on the microfin thermal behaviour. Following the results of the simulation, it is established that the thermal efficiency of the micro-fin is significantly affected by the porosity, magnetic field, geometric ratio, nonlinear thermal conductivity parameter, thermogeometric parameter and the surface roughness of the micro-fin. However, the performance of the micro-fin decreases when it operates only in a convective environment. In addition, we establish that the fin efficiency ratio which is the ratio of the efficiency of the rough fin to the efficiency of the smooth fin is found to be greater than unity when the rough and smooth fins of equal geometrical, physical, thermal and material properties are subjected to the same operating condition. The investigation establishes that improved thermal management of electronic systems would be achieved using rough surface fins with porosity under the influences of the magnetic field. / Supported in part by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund of Federal Government of Nigeria, and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement H2020-MSCA-ITN- 2016SECRET-722424.

No / Nickel alloys including Inconel 718 are considered as challenging materials for machining. Laser beam machining could be a promising choice to deal with such materials for simple to complex machining features. The machining accuracy is mainly dependent on the rate of material removal per laser scan. Because of the involvement of many laser parameters and complexity of the machining mechanism it is not always simple to achieve machining with desired accuracy. Actual machining depth extremely varies from very low to aggressively high values with reference to the designed depth. Thus, a research is needed to be carried out to control the process parameters to get actual material removal rate (MRRact) equals to the theoretical material removal rate (MRRth) with minimum surface roughness (SR) of the machined surfaces. In this study, five important laser parameters have been used to investigate their effects on MRR and SR. Statistical analysis are performed to identify the significant parameters with their strength of effects. Mathematical models have been developed and validated to predict the machining responses. Optimal set of laser parameters have also been proposed and confirmed to achieve the actual MRR close to the designed MRR (MRR% = 100.1%) with minimum surface roughness (Ra = 2.67 µm). / The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding this work through research group number RG-1440-026.