Thesis (MTech (Mechanical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / A membrane distillation crystallization (MDC) experimental setup was designed, constructed and commissioned with rectangular mixing crystallizer tanks. The advantages and disadvantages of a rectangular mixing tank are compared to the traditional cylindrical mixing tank with baffling by means of a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis in Ansys Fluent. The effect of tank configuration and geometry on the hydrodynamic and mixing characteristics for efficient momentum, solid suspension, heat and mass transfer were investigated. The hydrodynamic conditions in a crystallizer-mixing tank determine the quality of fluid mixing essential for optimal crystallization. Forty-five degree pitched blade turbines (PBT) were used to provide the agitation in the stainless steel rectangular jacketed tanks. Clear polycarbonate replicas of the rectangular tanks were manufactured to visually observe the mixing process in the tanks. Silica particles were used to represent the calcium carbonate crystals in the experiment. The data gathered from these experiments showed that the tanks should be operated between 600 to 750 rpm in the CFD simulations to simulate partial to complete suspension. In the numerical simulations a rectangular tank was compared to a cylindrical tank with baffling of the same volume. The partial differential equations solved in the numerical simulation were the conservation of mass (continuity), conservation of momentum and additional turbulence equations. In order to solve the turbulent fluid flow characteristics, the industry standard two-equation model, namely the K-epsilon model was used. This model was refined by the addition of the Wen-Yu drag model, the Simonin turbulent dissipation and the Simonin et al. turbulence interaction models. The RANS based RNG (k-ε), derived from the instantaneous Navier-Stokes equation was selected as the preferred model to analyse the hydrodynamic flow fields in the tanks. The 3D sliding mesh method was used to compute a time accurate solution. The Eulerian-granular multiphase model was used to predict the degree of solids suspension in the tanks. The efficiency of mixing within the tank was measured by the tank’s ability to keep the crystals in suspension and preventing any particle from settling at the bottom for more than 1-2 second(s). The mixing tanks were initially loaded with 5% v/v, which equates to a loaded height of approximately 10 mm. The simulations were done with the use of the volume fraction function to visually observe the cloud height and gauge the homogeneity and distribution of the particulates within the fluid flow fields. The results from the experimental setup were compared to the CFD simulations to qualify the use of CFD simulations for the comparison of the geometrically different tanks. Lastly, the findings from the CFD simulations were used to compare the tanks and determine if the rectangular tank built for the MDC experiment perform satisfactorily to replace a standard cylindrical tank with baffling for this application.

For aerospace and naval applications where low radiated noise levels are a requirement, rotor noise generated by inflow turbulence is of great interest. Inflow turbulence is stretched and distorted as it is ingested into a thrusting rotor which can have a significant impact on the noise source levels. This thesis studies the distortion of subsonic, high Reynolds number turbulent flow, with viscous effects ignored, that occur when a rotor is embedded in a turbulent boundary layer. The analysis is based on Rapid Distortion Theory (RDT), which describes the linear evolution of turbulent eddies as they are stretched by a mean flow distortion. Providing that the gust does not distort the mean flow streamlines the solution for a mean flow with shear is found to be the same as the solution for a mean potential flow with the addition of a potential flow gust. By investigating the inflow distortion of small-scale turbulence for various simple flows and rotor inflows with weak shear, it is shown that RDT can be applied to incompressible shear flows to determine the flow distortion. It is also shown that RDT can be applied to more complex flows modeled by the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Boundary layers are regions where turbulence develops easily. In the case where the flow occurs on a surface showing a certain degree of roughness, turbulence eddies will interact with the roughness elements and will produce an acoustic field. This thesis aims at predicting this type of noise with the help of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of a wall jet using the Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. A frequency spectrum is reconstructed using a representation of the turbulence with uncorrelated sheets of vorticity. Both aerodynamic and acoustic results are compared to experimental measurements of the flow. The CFD simulation of the flow returns consistent results but would benefit from a refinement of the grid. The surface pressure spectrum presents a slope in the high frequencies close to the experimental spectrum. The far field noise spectrum has a 5dB difference to the experiments. / by Jean-Baptiste Blanc. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the flow past an ocean current turbine using a finite volume Navier-Stokes CFD solver. A full 3-D RANS approach in a moving reference frame is used to model the flow. By employing periodic boundary conditions, one-third of the flow-field is analyzed and the output is replicated to other sectors. Following validation of the computation with an experimental study, the flow fields and particle paths for the case of uniform and sheared incoming flows past a generic turbine with various blade pitch angles are evaluated and analyzed. Flow field and wake expansion are visualized. Eddy viscosity effects and its dependence on flow field conditions are investigated. / by Zaqie Reza. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

A common technique to improve the performance of shell and tube heat exchangers (STHE) is by redirecting the flow in the shell side with a series of baffles. A key aspect in this technique is to understand the interaction of the fluid dynamics and heat transfer. Computational fluid dynamics simulations and experiments were performed to analysis the 3-dimensional flow and heat transfer on the shell side of an STHE with and without baffles. Although, it was found that there was a small difference in the average exit temperature between the two cases, the heat transfer coefficient was locally enhanced in the baffled case due to flow structures. The flow in the unbaffled case was highly streamed, while for the baffled case the flow was a highly complex flow with vortex structures formed by the tip of the baffles, the tubes, and the interaction of flow with the shell wall. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Studies of composite multihull structure under wave loads, extreme loads, and blast loads have been conducted using finite element and computational fluid dynamics (CPF) tools. A comprehensive finite element tool for structural analysis of composite multi-hull structures is developed. Two-way fluid structure interaction (FSI) is implemented by coupling finite element analysis (FEA) and CFD. FEA models have been developed using sandwich construction having composite face sheets and a foam core. Fluid domain was modeled using the CFD code, CFX and a wave motion was simulated based on Sea State 5... In addition to hydrodynamic loads, the simulation of composite ship under extreme loads is performed. Stress analysis was performed and dynamic response of the hull was determined in time domain. In the final analysis, an underwater explosion model was developed to study the composite hull resistance to blast load. / by Siyuan Ma. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

A sudden expansion combustor (SUE) is analyzed using computation fluid dynamics (CFD). CO emissions and NOx emissions are computed for various operating conditions of the SUE combustor using a can type and an annular type geometrical configurations. The goal of this thesis is to see if the SUE combustor is a viable alternative to conventional combustors which utilize swirlers. It is found that for the can type combustor the NOx emissions were quite low compared to other combustor types but the CO emissions were fairly high. The annular combustor shows better CO emissions compared to the can type, but the CO emissions are still high compared to other combustors. Emissions can be improved by providing better mixing in the primary combustion zone. The SUE combustor design needs to be further refined in order for it to be a viable alternative to conventional combustors with swirlers. / by Daniel Rodriguez. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

ABE, V.C. Determinação de parâmetros de operação de sistema de distribuição de ar frio pelo piso em ambientes de escritórios. 2007. 132 p. Dissertação (Mestrado) - Departamento de Engenharia de Construção Civil da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2007. Atualmente, um dos principais requisitos para que um ambiente de escritório atenda plenamente às necessidades de uso e ocupação é a flexibilidade, mas com conforto. O sistema de distribuição de ar frio pelo piso (Underfloor Air Distribution System - UFAD) está sendo utilizado nos edifícios de escritórios para garantir a flexibilização integrada do sistema com o mobiliário. Trata-se de um sistema que fornece ar frio proveniente de um plenum, através de difusores localizados nos painéis do piso elevado. Os difusores de ar podem ser ajustados, ou reposicionados pelos próprios usuários dos ambientes, possibilitando o controle das condições térmicas no entorno próximo, de acordo com suas preferências individuais. Embora o sistema de distribuição de ar pelo piso apresente diversas vantagens com relação ao sistema de distribuição de ar convencional, ainda há falta de informações objetivas e diretrizes de projeto padronizadas, havendo a necessidade de realização de mais pesquisas na área. A introdução da Dinâmica dos Fluidos Computacional (Computational Fluid Dynamics - CFD) apresentou uma alternativa para as pesquisas experimentais relacionadas ao estudo do escoamento do ar. Assim, para o desenvolvimento do presente estudo foram utilizados recursos de dinâmica dos fluidos computacional, com o uso do código FLUENT. O objetivo do presente trabalho é apresentar uma estratégia para a determinação dos parâmetros de operação de sistemas de distribuição de ar pelo piso aplicados a ambientes de escritórios. A estratégia baseiase no estabelecimento de inter-relações entre os principais parâmetros que definem o escoamento do ar em ambientes com o sistema de distribuição de ar pelo piso: a vazão de ar insuflado, a temperatura do ar insuflado e a diferença de pressão entre o plenum pressurizado e o interior do ambiente. O emprego da estratégia possibilita que o projetista identifique as diversas combinações entre os parâmetros de operação que resultem numa mesma condição desejada, permitindo assim a escolha da opção mais satisfatória. / ABE, V.C. Determination of operation parameters of rooms with underfloor air distribution system. 2007. 132 p. Dissertation (Master Course) - Departamento de Engenharia de Construção Civil da Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2007. Nowadays, one of the main requirements of an office room to fully attend the use and occupation needs is the flexibility, but with comfort. The underfloor air distribution system is being used in the office buildings to guarantee the integrated flexibility of the system with the furniture layout. The system supplies cooled air to the room from a pressurized plenum, passing through air diffusers located in the raised floor panels. The air diffusers can be adjusted or relocated by the room users themselves, making possible the control of the thermal conditions in their surroundings, according to their individual preferences. Though the underfloor air distribution system presents a lot of advantages with regard to conventional overhead distribution systems, there is still a lack of objective information and standardized guidelines, and the necessity of accomplishment of more researches about the subject. The introduction of Computational Fluid Dynamics presented an alternative for the experimental tests related to the study of airflow in rooms. Thus, for the development of the present study a CFD tool was used, the code FLUENT. The purpose of the present work is to develop a strategy for the determination of the operation parameters of an underfloor air distribution system applied to office rooms. The strategy is based on the establishment of interrelations between the main parameters that define the airflow in rooms with the underfloor air distribution system: the input volume flux, the input air temperature and the pressure difference between underfloor plenum and the room. The use of this strategy enables the designer to identify several combinations of the operation parameters that result in one desired condition, allowing the choice of the most satisfactory option.

Inspired by the pectoral flippers of the humpback whale, the use of spanwise waviness in wings has been considered in the literature as a possible way of delaying the stall, and possibly also reducing the drag coefficient, allowing for improved aerodynamic characteristics. In order to provide a better understanding of this flow control mechanism, the present work investigates numerically the effect of the waviness on the flow around infinite wings with a NACA0012 profile. The study consists of direct numerical simulations employing the spectral/hp method, which is available through the nektar++ library. Considering the high computational cost of the simulations performed, several improvements were introduced to the method, making it more efficient and allowing higher Reynolds numbers to be analysed. These improvements to the method include a coordinate transformation technique to treat the waviness, changes to the parallelism strategy, and an adaptive polynomial order refinement procedure. Initially, simulations were performed for a very low value of the Reynolds number Re = 1, 000, allowing the three-dimensional flow structures to be observed in de- tail. In this case, the results show that the waviness leads to a decrease in the lift-to-drag ratio, accompanied by a strong reduction in the fluctuations of the lift force. The reduction in the lift-to-drag ratio is the combined effect of lower drag and lift forces, and is associated with a regime where the flow remains attached behind the peaks of the leading edge while there are distinct regions of flow separation behind the troughs. Then, simulations with Re = 10, 000 were considered. For high angles of attack, the results for this case are similar to the lower Re, with the waviness leading to separation behind the troughs and reducing both the lift and the drag. However, for a lower angle of attack the waviness leads to a large increase in the lift coefficient. This was observed to be related to the fact that flow around the straight wing is laminar in this case, with the waviness inducing transition to a turbulent state. Finally, the case Re = 50, 000 was considered, with the results showing a good agreement with experiments presented in the literature. / Inspirado na nadadeira peitoral da baleia jubarte, o uso de ondulações ao longo da envergadura de asas tem sido considerado na literatura como uma possível maneira de atrasar o estol, e possivelmente também reduzir o arrasto, levando a melhores características aerodinâmicas. Com o objetivo de obter um melhor entendimento desse mecanismo de controle do escoamento, o presente trabalho investiga numericamente o efeito de ondulações no escoamento ao redor de asas infinitas com o perfil NACA0012. O estudo consiste de simulações diretas do escoamento usando o método espectral/hp, que está disponível através da biblioteca nektar++. Considerando o alto custo computacional das simulações realizadas, diversas melhorias foram introduzidas no método, tornando-o mais eficiente e permitindo que números de Reynolds mais elevados fossem analisados. Essas melhorias ao método incluem uma técnica de mudança de coordenadas para tratar a ondulação, mudanças na estratégia de paralelismo e um procedimento de refinamento usando ordem polinomial variável. Inicialmente, simulações foram realizadas para um número de Reynolds muito baixo Re = 1, 000, o que permitiu observar as estruturas tridimensionais do escoamento em detalhe. Nesse caso, os resultados mostram que a ondulação leva a uma diminuição da razão sustentação-arrasto, combinada com uma forte redução das flutuações da força de sustentação. A redução da razão sustentação-arrasto é consequência de uma combinação de arrasto e sustentação mais baixos e está associada a um regime no qual o escoamento permanece colado atrás dos picos do bordo de ataque, enquanto que regiões distintas de escoamento separado estão presentes atrás dos vales. Em seguida, simulações com Re = 10, 000 foram consideradas. Para ângulos de ataque elevados, os resultados neste caso são similares àqueles com Re mais baixo, com a ondulação levando a separação atrás dos vales e provocando reduções na sustentação e no arrasto. No entanto, para um ângulo de ataque mais baixo a ondulação leva a um grande aumento na força de sustentação. Foi observado que isso está relacionado ao fato de que o escoamento ao redor da asa lisa é laminar neste caso, com a ondulação induzindo a transição para um estado turbulento. Finalmente, o caso Re = 50, 000 foi considerado, com os resultados apresentando uma boa concordância com experimentos apresentados na literatura.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo desenvolver ferramenta computacional para simulação e análise do fenômeno de penetração e cravação de estacas torpedos em solo marítimo. A abordagem será baseada no método Moving Particle Semi-Implicit (MPS). Por se tratar de um método de partícula, sem malha, o mesmo apresenta grande flexibilidade na modelagem de problemas de interação fluido-sólido com fragmentação ou junção de superfície livre e grandes deslocamentos ou deformações dos sólidos, fenômenos esses presentes no impacto e cravação da estaca no solo marítimo. Para isso, dois desafios foram elencados: a modelagem dos solos como fluidos não-newtonianos e a determinação da força de arrasto viscosa na superfície de sólidos. A modelagem do fluido não-newtoniano foi feita considerando os modelos de Power Law, Bingham e Herschel-Bulkley. O cálculo da força de arrasto viscosa foi avaliado determinando-se o gradiente da velocidade do fluido na direção normal à parede com base na regressão polinomial. Por simplicidade, foi considerada a hipótese de que a variação da velocidade na direção tangencial da parede é muito menor se comparada a variação da mesma na direção do vetor normal. O método implementado, assim como o escoamento de fluidos não-newtonianos, foi validado por meio de comparação entre o resultado obtido de simulações com geometrias pré-definidas e as respostas analíticas para tais casos. Como exemplo de aplicação da ferramenta computacional desenvolvida, um caso simplificado de cravação das estacas torpedos foi simulado avaliando-se o seu deslocamento dentro do solo e os esforços cisalhantes a ela submetidas. / This work aims to develop computational tools to simulate and analysis the torpedo anchor penetration in marine soil. The approach will be based on the Moving Particle Semi-Implicit (MPS) method. Because it is a meshless method, it is extremely flexible to model fluid-solid interaction with fragmentation or junction of free surface and large displacements or deformations of solids, phenomena presented at the torpedo anchor impact. Two challenges were listed: the modeling of soils as non-Newtonian fluids and the determination of the viscous drag on the solids surface. The modeling of non-Newtonian fluid was done based on the Power Law, Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley models. The calculation of the viscous drag was evaluated by determining the velocity gradient in the normal direction of the wall based on polynomial regression considering the fluid particles near the solid wall. In this work, for sake of simplicity, the hypothesis that the velocity variation in the tangential direction of the wall is much smaller compared to its variation in the normal direction is adopted. The proposed technique, as well as the flow of non-Newtonian fluids, were validated comparing the results obtained in flow simulations with predefined geometries with the expected analytical responses. As an example of the application of the computational tools developed, a simplified case of torpedo penetration was simulated by evaluating its displacement and the shear stresses submitted to it.