L’écoulement de refroidissement, qui pénètre par les entrées d’air sous le capot des véhicules automobiles,est étudié à partir de trois approches complémentaires : les approches théorique, expérimentale et numérique. Ces trois approches s’appuient sur une maquette simplifiée à culot droit basée sur le corps de Ahmed et équipée d’un compartiment moteur. Les mesures expérimentales montrent que placer la sortie du compartiment moteur au culot de la maquette est plus favorable à une faible traînée de refroidissement qu’une sortie placée au niveau du soubassement. La contribution de la traînée de refroidissement dans la traînée totale peut ainsi varier de 2% à 24%. Les simulations numériques donnent elles accès au débit de refroidissement. Pour les configurations étudiées, les sorties au culot sont là encore les plus favorables puisqu’elles fournissent les débits les plus importants à travers le milieu poreux modélisant un échangeur aérothermique. Par ailleurs, la mise en place d’étanchéités de part et d’autre de l’échangeur améliore significativement le débit de refroidissement où une augmentation d’environ 45% est obtenue. La mise en place d’un modèle analytique permet de relier la traînée et le débit de refroidissement à partir d’une analogie entre les circuits électriques et les écoulements fluides. Il est alors possible de prévoir le sens d’évolution du débit de refroidissement, donc de la performance des échangeurs aérothermiques, à partir d’une modification géométrique interne au compartiment moteur. / The cooling airflow, which flows through the underhood of motor vehicles from the inlet sections, is studied by means of three complementary approaches: the theoretical, experimental and numerical approaches. The three approaches use a simplified geometry with a blunt rear end, based on the Ahmed body, and equipped with an engine compartment. The experimental measurements show that locating the outlet section of the engine compartment at the base of the geometry favors low cooling drag values compared to an outlet section located in the underbody. The variation of the cooling drag contribution in the total drag is between2% and 24%, as a function of the location of the outlet. As for the numerical simulations, they provide the cooling flow rates. For the studied configurations, rear end outlets are again the most favorable since they provide the highest flow rates through the porous media that simulates a heat exchanger. Besides, the implementation of sealing above and below the porous media significantly increases the cooling flow rate by45%. An analytical model, based on the analogy between electrical circuits and fluid flows, connects the aerodynamic drag with the cooling flow rate. It is then possible to predict the evolution trend of the cooling flow rate, hence the heat exchangers efficiency, from a geometrical modification inside the engine compartment.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the usage of the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for real-time prediction of indoor air flows inside a data center module. Thermal prediction is useful in data centers for evaluating the placement of heat-generating equipment and air conditioning. To perform the simulation a program called RAFSINE was used, written by Nicholas Delbosc at the University of Leeds, which implemented LBM on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) using NVIDIA CUDA. The program used the LBM model called Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) on a 3D lattice and had the capability of executing thermal simulations in real-time or faster than real-time. This fast rate of execution means a future application for this simulation could be as a predictive input for automated air conditioning control systems, or for fast generation of training data sets for automatic fault detection systems using machine learning. In order to use the LBM CFD program even from hardware not equipped with NVIDIA GPUs it was deployed on a remote networked server accessed through Virtual Network Computing (VNC). Since RAFSINE featured interactive OpenGL based 3D visualization of thermal evolution, accessing it through VNC required use of the VirtualGL toolkit which allowed fast streaming of visualization data over the network. A simulation model was developed describing the geometry, temperatures and air flows of an experimental data center module at RISE SICS North in Luleå, Sweden, based on measurements and equipment specifications. It was then validated by comparing it with temperatures recorded from sensors mounted in the data center. The thermal prediction was found to be accurate on a room-level within ±1° C when measured as the average temperature of the air returning to the cooling units, with a maximum error of ±2° C on an individual basis. Accuracy at the front of the server racks varied depending on the height above the floor, with the lowest points having an average accuracy of ±1° C, while the middle and topmost points had an accuracy of ±2° C and ±4° C respectively. While the model had a higher error rate than the ±0.5° C accuracy of the experimental measurements, further improvements could allow it to be used as a testing ground for air conditioning control or automatic fault detection systems.

This thesis studies airflow patterns in the face area of a typical room-and-pillar mining area, using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. This research is designed to develop a scientific understanding of airflow distribution in room-and-pillar mining areas that is fundamental to developing engineering controls. The overall goal of the study is to develop improved engineering controls to minimize dust exposure of mine workers in the face area. Dust exposure can be a health hazard in underground coal mining industry based on historical data of coal workers' pneumoconiosis among underground mine workers. Current regulatory dust exposure standards of 1.5 mg/m3, averaged over an 8-hour period, have been recently revised with approval of new MSHA standards in April of 2014. Mining companies are currently seeking new technologies in order to comply with the new dust standards. Since mining geometries are complex and do not lend themselves to closed-form analytical solutions, CFD numerical modeling approach was used to develop an understanding of airflow distribution in the face areas. Since previous studies had focused on some cuts in mining heights of less than 2.4 m (8-ft), this study was performed for high mining areas of 4.2 m (14-ft). Such mining heights are very common in longwall mine development areas, particularly in the State of Illinois. The primary goal was to identify major differences in airflow between the two mining heights and how they affect development of engineering controls for minimizing dust exposure. Simulations were done using ANSYS software such as DesignModeler for modeling and meshing and FLUENT for calculations. Recirculation (RC) and low air velocity (LAV) zones were located for straight deep cut, straight deepest cut, cross-cut right, cross-cut right mine through, left turn cross-cut, and left turn cross-cut mine through for low mining height (LMH) and high mining height (HMH) with varying air quantity at the end of the line curtain (ELC). Air at the ELC was adjusted to achieve a ratio of 0.85, 1.00 and 1.15 over the wet scrubber fan (WSF) discharge capacity. Results show that the air velocity in HMH case is much lower than for the LMH. In addition, the location of RC and LAV zones differ based on mining height and air quantity at the ELC. Furthermore, lower air quantity at the ELC causes the air exhausted by the WSF to recirculate back to the face area in order to satisfy the WSF requirement. Recommendations to deal with these differences are formulated.

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This work deals with the design and realization of the workplace for the measurement of ventilation parameters of fans, electric machines and other elements. The thesis contains an extensive research part regarding the air-conditioning issues. In the work was designed a channel for measurement, electronics, sensorics, control algorithm and user application. The workplace was completed and tested.

The work deals with development and assembly of ultrasonic airflow measurement module for measurement of air flowing around photovoltaic panel. This system allows quantification of photovoltaic panel air cooling. The work contains development of sine wave generator, bridge amplifier and receiver with passive band pass filter, amplifier and comparator. It also deals with digital part realization. This digital part is formed by Renesas 78K0R microcontroller on demo board. The last part of this work contains testing of the whole system in aerodynamic tunnel and on photovoltaic panel installation.

The thesis deals with issues of noise ventilation outlets in a passenger car. There is a description of the noise reduction in the acoustic background, optimizing experimental measurement methodology and familiarization with measuring equipment. The next step includes measuring of individual outlet options, results post-processing and comparison of tested alternatives. Based on these results the best variants are chosen and measures for decreasing noise in the ventilation outlets are proposed.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effects of inhaled corticosteroid drugs (ICs) on the voice due to their frequent use in treating an increasing prevalence of asthma disorders. As part of a larger five-year study, the focus of this thesis is specifically on whether 8 weeks of in vivo exposure to ICs will cause changes in the sustained subglottal pressure, sustained airflow, and visual-perceptual ratings of edema and erythema in excised rabbit larynges. Researchers administered either ICs or a control nebulized isotonic saline solution to 22 rabbits in vivo, sacrificed them, and harvested their larynges for benchtop research. While ensuring proper tissue preservation, researchers then finely dissected the larynges to expose the true vocal folds and run phonation trials. Dependent variables included continuous acoustic signals (Hz), subglottal pressure (cm H2O), and airflow (L/min) data for 15 phonation trials per rabbit larynx. Researchers also collected still image photographs at this time and subsequently normalized them for use in the visual-perceptual portion of this thesis. For visual-perceptual ratings, raters used a 0-3 equal appearing interval scale to rate aspects of edema and erythema on left and right vocal fold and arytenoid tissues. Results indicate that, when compared to control larynges exposed to nebulized isotonic saline, experimental larynges treated with ICs require significantly higher subglottal pressure to maintain phonation, p < .05. Mean sustained phonation for experimental larynges is 11.24 cm H2O compared to 8.92 cm H2O for that of control larynges. Phonation trials for experimental larynges have significantly higher sustained airflow with a mean of 0.09 L/min compared to 0.07 L/min for that of control larynges, p < .05. Surprisingly, experimental larynges have higher average fundamental frequencies with less variability (mean: 519 Hz, standard deviation: 66 Hz) than that of control larynges (mean: 446 Hz, standard deviation: 130 Hz). On visual-perceptual ratings, experimental larynges have significantly higher severity ratings on all eight items rated, p < .0001 - p = .0305. Based on these results, it is concluded that ICs cause significant damage to rabbit vocal folds, as evidenced by higher sustained pressure, higher airflow, and higher severity ratings for experimental versus control larynges. The dependent variables in this thesis are novel in benchtop model research and demonstrate a unique perspective on this research question. Thus, this thesis informs future phonation, benchtop, and visual-perceptual research.

One of approaches in treatment of respiratory system diseases is the use of drug particles suspended in air in the form of aerosol. It is a fast and non-invasive method for the delivery of medicine into tracheobronchial tree or bloodstream. Although the method of the medication dosage by means of inhalers or nebulizers is well known, the effectiveness of that approach is still an actual issue. A significant amount of drugs delivered with the use of the medication dosage never reaches its primary destination and the drugs deposit in antecendent areas of respiratory tract where their presence is not required. This thesis deals with a problem of the passage of monodisperse homogenous aerosol with micron-size particles through the upper parts of the respiratory tract. This work was created with the use of numerical simulations carried out by means of the finite volume method in the commercial code based on computational fluid dynamics. Turbulence was modelled using the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations with the two-equation eddy viscosity k-omega SST model. The main output of the thesis is the analysis of airflow in two respiratory regimes. Stationary and cyclic cases of the flow behaviour were considered and the validation of simulated results with experiments performed on similar geometries was carried out. Furthermore, the review of simplified lung models and their geometries was made and the acquired results were used for the calculation of air distribution in the respiratory tract. The last part of the thesis deals with the calculation of particle deposition and with the analysis of the results.