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In underwater wireless optical communications (UWOC), the obstruction of light propagation by air bubbles is one of the main factors which causes light power to fluctuate at the receiver. In this thesis, we construct a statistical model for the received power in the presence of air bubbles. First, we postulate some random variables based on some real experiments, such as the size of a bubble, the generation of each bubble, and the horizontal and vertical movements of a bubble. Second, we mathematically express the amount of obstructed power which the shade of each bubble causes over the beam area and sum them all up to get the total obstructed power. In order to use the method of moments, we find the expectation, the second and/or the third moments of the total obstructed power. Lastly, we use these two or three moments of it to find suitable distributions that match the simulation data, which are the Weibull distribution and Generalized gamma distribution respectively. With these distributions, we construct the statistical model of the received power. Furthermore, we show that those distributions fit well to the simulation data.

An emerging trend in the building services industry is the installation of passive deaerators on the flow line of domestic wet central heating systems. To date, no data and theoretical models predicting the two-phase flow characteristics in domestic wet central heating systems are available in the open literature. This gap in literature has prevented essential design improvements to passive deaerators thus impeding the efficiency enhancement of such devices. Hence, the current study is aimed at assisting designers of deaeration devices by providing fundamental data and model correlations with respect to the two-phase flow characteristics typical in a wet domestic central heating system. For this purpose an experimental research project was adopted and several studies were carried out, including; (1) a comprehensive review to understand the background of the phenomena, (2) the design and construction of an experimental test rig to conduct the necessary investigations into the phenomenon of two-phase flow in domestic wet central heating systems, (3) the development of a reliable image capture and analysis technique, (4) the completion of a number of experiments to investigate typical bubble sizes, volumetric void fractions, bubble distributions and nucleation and dissolution rates and (5) the correlation of the data gathered as part of the present study with existing bubble size, nucleation and dissolution prediction models. This research has, for the first time, provided an in depth analysis into two-phase flow characteristics in wet domestic central heating systems through the use of a high speed camera and image analysis techniques. The two-phase phenomenon finds its origins in high dissolved gas concentrations present in the water flowing through the closed loop system, thus resulting in super saturation conditions at the primary heat exchange wall conditions. Bubble sizes at the boiler flow line were found to be dependent on the bulk fluid velocity, heat flux and pressure, with a measured mean diameter in the range of 0.13 mm to 0.39 mm. The Winterton (1972a) force balance model for bubble size prediction was in reasonable agreement with the experimental results. This model was further improved through the correlation of our data with the inclusion of dimensionless groups. Bubble nucleation rates have been calculated in the range of 0.3 to 4 bubbles / cm2 s with total system bubble production rates measured in the range of 784 to 6920 bubbles per second. Bubble nucleation rates have been calculated through the consideration of the heat exchanger surface under super saturation conditions. A correlation for the model by Hepworth et al. (2003) for nonclassical heterogeneous nucleation is proposed based on the experimental data gathered during the present study. Experimental results have shown dissolution rates for the bubble size ratio in the range of 0.4 to 12 % per second with system conditions. A modification of the model developed by Epstein and Plesset (1950) for stationary bubble dissolution is proposed with the inclusion of the Sherwood number to capture the effects of turbulent diffusion. The volumetric void fraction distribution in vertical pipes was found to be quasi-homogenous across the pipe section while being strongly dependent on gravitational and turbulence effects in horizontal pipe bubbly flow. A CFD simulation predicted the volumetric void fraction distribution with reasonable accuracy.

The effect of additives on friction loss in upward turbulent flow was investigated in this experimental study. Additives such as air bubbles, frother and polymer were added to water flow to study their influence on the friction factor. In order to perform this research an experimental set-up was designed and developed. The test sections of the set-up consisted of three vertical pipes of different diameters. The set-up was equipped with three pressure transducers, a magnetic flowmeter, gas spargers and a gas rotameter. The first phase of the experimental program involved calibration of the various devices and pipelines test-sections. The single-phase pressure loss data obtained from the pipelines exhibited good agreement with the standard equations. The second phase of the experimental program dealt with the effect of air bubbles and additives (frother and polymer) on drag reduction in turbulent flows. The experimental results showed that bubbles in the range of 1 mm-3 mm increased the wall shear stress. Therefore, no drag-reduction effect was observed. On the contrary, a significant increase in friction factor was observed at low Reynolds numbers as a result of larger bubble sizes and lower turbulence intensities. The friction factor at low Reynolds numbers could be decreased by decreasing the bubble size by addition of frother to the flow system. The combination of polymer and air bubbles showed a drag reduction of up to 60%. It is also evident from the experiment results that the addition of polymer to bubbly flow system leads to fully homogeneous mixture.

The effect of additives on friction loss in upward turbulent flow was investigated in this experimental study. Additives such as air bubbles, frother and polymer were added to water flow to study their influence on the friction factor. In order to perform this research an experimental set-up was designed and developed. The test sections of the set-up consisted of three vertical pipes of different diameters. The set-up was equipped with three pressure transducers, a magnetic flowmeter, gas spargers and a gas rotameter. The first phase of the experimental program involved calibration of the various devices and pipelines test-sections. The single-phase pressure loss data obtained from the pipelines exhibited good agreement with the standard equations. The second phase of the experimental program dealt with the effect of air bubbles and additives (frother and polymer) on drag reduction in turbulent flows. The experimental results showed that bubbles in the range of 1 mm-3 mm increased the wall shear stress. Therefore, no drag-reduction effect was observed. On the contrary, a significant increase in friction factor was observed at low Reynolds numbers as a result of larger bubble sizes and lower turbulence intensities. The friction factor at low Reynolds numbers could be decreased by decreasing the bubble size by addition of frother to the flow system. The combination of polymer and air bubbles showed a drag reduction of up to 60%. It is also evident from the experiment results that the addition of polymer to bubbly flow system leads to fully homogeneous mixture.

[pt] O presente estudo se refere ao campo de partículas deformáveis, em particular às bolhas de ar em líquidos de diferentes propriedades físicas. Estudando a passagem de bolhas de ar em interfaces líquido-líquido, constatou-se que as bolhas formadas na água e passando para os líquidos superiores (de densidade inferior), são envolvidas por uma película de água de espessura não uniforma, para diâmetros equivalentes na faixa de 2,5 a 5,7mm. Os fluidos superiores possuem viscosidade cinemática na faixa 1,2 e 55,0 cs e tensão interfacial com a água entre 13,0 e 32,0 din/cm. A influência dessa película no comportamento das bolhas de ar é acentuada quanto a: forma, pulsação de forma, trajetória, velocidade terminal. Constatou-se que a espessura média dessa película aumenta com o diâmetro equivalente e varia com as propriedades físicas dos fluídos superiores. Particular importância da película se nota quando o fluido superior tem pequena viscosidade cinemática: as bolhas de forma irregular são arredondadas pela película, de maneira que, para as bolhas maiores, apesar do peso da película a velocidade é maior em comparação com a de uma bolha sem película. Com o aumento da dimensão das bolhas, um diâmetro é atingido, para o qual há o rompimento da película com o consequente desprendimento da água em forma de gota; esse diâmetro parece variar pouco com as propriedades dos fluidos superiores. O campo de pesquisa do presente estudo apresenta inúmeras sugestões, e algumas estão sendo estudadas presentemente. / [en] The present study refers to the case of deformable particles, in particular to air bubbles in liquids of different physical properties. On studying the passage of air bubbles through liquid-liquid interfaces, it was verified that bubbles, formed in water and rising in the upper liquid (low density), were surrounded by non-uniform water film when the bubbles had na equivalent diameter between 2,5 and 5,7mm. The kinematic viscosity of the upper liquids ranged from 1,2 to 55,0 centistokes, and the interfacial tension from 13,0 to 32,0 din/cm. The presence of that film affects the form, trajectory and terminal velocity of the air bubbles. It was verified that the average film thickness increases with the equivalent bubble diameter and changes with the physical properties of the upper liquids. Interesting phenomena were noted when the upper liquid viscosity was low – the film caused the irregular air bubbles to be changed to a spherical form, in such a way that the larger bubbles, depite film weight, had a greater terminal velocity than non filmed bubbles. As the bubble dimension was increased, a limit was found, at which the water film broke, and a drop was formed. The critical diameter seems not to be affected by the properties of the upper liquids. Research in this Field presents several possibilities, which are now under study.

When designing modern engines it is important to construct a cooling system that cools the engine structure efficiently. Within the cooling system there is always a certain amount of air which can accumulate and form air pockets in critical areas, such as the water jacket, which can lead to wall degradation. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method in STAR-CCM+ from CD-adapco, was derived at Volvo Cars in order to study the accumulation of air bubbles in the water jacket. The method was derived by investigating and evaluating already existing methods. The method initially considered as the best suited was the Eulerian-Eulerian approach. The method was validated against three simpler geometries where experimental data was available. The Eulerian-Eulerian approach treats both phases, liquid and gas, as continuous phases. The idea with the method is to solve the Navier-Stokes equation, the continuity equation and the energy equation for both phases using the Eulerian approach, therefore called Eulerian-Eulerian. The interaction between the two phases was important to model properly which was done by including several interaction models within STAR-CCM+. By tuning different coefficients, which were investigated by a thorough parameter study, the method resembled the experimental data in a satisfying way. The best suited mesh for these simpler geometries was a directed mesh. However, the mesh in the water jacket was automatically generated by STAR-CCM+ and the simpler cases were therefore validated with an automated mesh as well. To capture the experimental data the convection scheme for volume fraction had to be of second order when simulating with automated mesh. This resulted in convergence issues when implementing the method on the water jacket. Instead first order convection scheme, which did not present as satisfying results as second order, had to be implemented. Simulations of the water jacket were performed with two different velocities, that were 10 m/s and 19 m/s, and different flow split ratios for the three outlets. Air with volume fraction 0.1 was injected at the inlet during the first 0.5 s followed by 0.5-1.1 s of further simulation without injecting air. Increased velocity resulted in increased flow through of gas, whereas no big difference could be seen between the different outlet flow split ratios. At two different zones lower pressure was found which resulted in gas holdup. To be able to validate the results from the water jacket, experiments would be necessary to perform in order to provide experimental data for comparison. Velocity profiles from the derived two-phase method resemble the velocity profiles from the one-phase simulation from Volvo, which indicated that the two-phase method did not affect the solution in a remarkable way. Granted that the zones of lower pressure and gas holdup normally coincides, the pressure field from the one-phase simulation could be directly studied, which would lower the computational costs significantly.

<p>To improve the control of a steel casting process ABB has developed an Electro Magnetic Brake (EMBR). This product is designed to improve steel quality, i.e. reduce non-metallic inclusions and blisters as well as risk of surface cracks. There is a demand of increasing the steel quality and in order to optimize the steel casting, simulations and experiments play an important role in achieving this. An advanced CFD simulation model has been created to carry out this task.</p><p>The validation of the simulation model is performed on a water model that has been built for this purpose. This water model also makes experiments possible. One step to the simulation model is to measure the velocity and motion pattern of the seeding particles and the air bubbles in the water model to see if it corresponds to the simulation results. </p><p>Since the water is transparent, seeding particles have been added to the liquid in order to observe the motion of the water. They have the same density as water. Hence the particles will follow the flow accurately. The motions of the air bubbles that are added into the water model need also to be observed since they influence the flow pattern.</p><p>An algorithm - ”Transparent motions” - is thoroughly inspected and implemented. ”Transparent motions” was originally designed to post process x-ray images. However in this thesis, it is investigated whether the algorithm might be applicable to the water model and the image sequences containing seeding particles and air bubbles that are going to be used for motion estimation.</p><p>The result show satisfying results for image sequences of particles only, however with a camera with a faster sampling interval, these results would improve. For image sequences with both bubbles and particles no results have been achieved. </p>

To improve the control of a steel casting process ABB has developed an Electro Magnetic Brake (EMBR). This product is designed to improve steel quality, i.e. reduce non-metallic inclusions and blisters as well as risk of surface cracks. There is a demand of increasing the steel quality and in order to optimize the steel casting, simulations and experiments play an important role in achieving this. An advanced CFD simulation model has been created to carry out this task. The validation of the simulation model is performed on a water model that has been built for this purpose. This water model also makes experiments possible. One step to the simulation model is to measure the velocity and motion pattern of the seeding particles and the air bubbles in the water model to see if it corresponds to the simulation results. Since the water is transparent, seeding particles have been added to the liquid in order to observe the motion of the water. They have the same density as water. Hence the particles will follow the flow accurately. The motions of the air bubbles that are added into the water model need also to be observed since they influence the flow pattern. An algorithm - ”Transparent motions” - is thoroughly inspected and implemented. ”Transparent motions” was originally designed to post process x-ray images. However in this thesis, it is investigated whether the algorithm might be applicable to the water model and the image sequences containing seeding particles and air bubbles that are going to be used for motion estimation. The result show satisfying results for image sequences of particles only, however with a camera with a faster sampling interval, these results would improve. For image sequences with both bubbles and particles no results have been achieved.

The advance in computational fluid dynamics in recent years has provided the opportunity for many fluid dynamic problems to be analyzed numerically. One such problem concerns the modeling of plunging water into a still water body, often encountered in pump stations. Air bubbles introduced into the system by the plunging jet can be a significant problem, especially when consumed into operating pumps. The classical approach to investigate the hydrodynamics of plunging jet in pump stations is by physical model studies. This approach is time consuming, tedious and costly. The availability of computational power today, along with appropriate numerical techniques, allows such phenomenon to be studied in a greater level of detail and more cost efficient. Despite the advantages of numerical studies, little attention has been devoted to solve the plunging jet and air transport problem numerically. In this current work, a 3-dimensional finite volume, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code is developed to simulate these flow conditions. For turbulent flow, the large scale quantities were numerically resolved while the dynamic sub-grid scale model is used to model the small scale energy dissipations. The code also has the capability to handle free surface deformation, an important aspect in simulating the impact section of an impinging jet. Modeling of the air entrainment is performed numerically utilizing the information obtained from the hydrodynamics. Migration of air bubbles is modeled using the scalar transport equation, modified to account for the buoyancy of the bubbles. Instead of the typical Lagrangian schemes, which track individual air bubbles, air bubble dynamics are modeled in the form of concentrations. Modeling air bubbles in this manner is computational efficient and simpler to implement. For the air entrainment simulations, standard numerical boundaries conditions and empirical entrainment equations are used to provide the necessary boundary conditions. The developed model is compared with the literature, producing satisfactory results, suggesting that the code has an excellent potential of extending its application to practical industry practices.