This diploma thesis describes hydraulic design of Swirl turbine, dedicated to be used for tidal powerplant and study possibilities of the turbine to work in turbine, reverse turbine, pump and reverse pump regime. From individual regimes, graphical characteristics of created hydraulic design were created and compared, using CFD simulations.

Modern drug development is an astronomically expensive and time consuming undertaking. Because of this, studying the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs in vitro has become an integral step early in the process of drug development, with the goal of preventing costly failures late in the process, and dangerous side effects. Artificial phospholipid bilayers known as droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) have the potential to be used for these pharmacokinetics assays, combining the low cost of cell-free assays with the ability to more closely mimic structures found in life than current cell-free in vitro techniques. Combined with the reproducibility, ease of use, and low reagent consumption found with microfluidic methods, disruptive new low cost techniques for assessing pharmacokinetics in drug development may be possible using DIBs as an artificial cell membrane model. In this work, I establish the potential of DIBs to be used as a pharmacokinetics modelling platform, and advance the use of microfluidic methods for carrying out pharmacokinetics assays in drug discovery. I first developed a new microfluidic platform for the formation of DIBs, which sought to solve some of the shortcomings of current microfluidic methods for DIB formation (Chapter 2). This device is the first that can be used to form DIB networks from dissimilar droplets in parallel, without use of active controls, and with droplet contact gentle enough to enable use of biomimetic lipid mixtures. I examine for the first time the behaviour of phospholipids on microfluidic devices, and characterise the interaction that they have with a common material used to construct microfluidic devices (Chapter 3). Not only has this interaction never been studied before, but my unexpected findings indicate a new area requiring further study in order to advance the adoption of DIBs on microfluidic devices. In collaboration with my colleague Jaime Korner, I use my newly developed microfluidic platform to carry out an on-chip permeation assay for the first time using biomimetic lipid formulations and bespoke compartments modelled after the human intestine. We demonstrate that this on-chip assay has predictive accuracy greater than that of a current widely used cell-free technique (Chapter 4). Finally, I demonstrate that a DIB based microfluidic platform enables, and is critical for, characterising the effect of structural features such as membrane asymmetry on drug permeation. With this, I find measurable, previously unknown effects of membrane asymmetry on the absorption of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, highlighting a possible contributing factor to chemoresistance in some cancers (Chapter 5). I find, and demonstrate throughout the body of this work that microfluidic methods and DIBs can not only provide alternatives to current cell-free in vitro pharmacokinetics assays, but that they can exceed the performance of existing assays, and be used for entirely new ways of examining pharmacokinetics. Through building bespoke artificial cell membranes from the ground up, I hope to demonstrate herein the great potential of these powerful new cell-free methods. / Graduate / 2022-09-12

In this thesis. a three dimensional heat transfer model of heated airflow through the upper human respiratory tract consisting of nasal, oral, trachea, and the first two generations of bronchi is developed using computational fluid dynamics simulation software. Various studies have been carried out in the literature investigating the heat and mass transfer characteristics in the upper human respiratory tract, and the study focuses on assessing the injury taking place in the upper human respiratory tract and identifying acute tissue damage based on level of exposure. The model considered is for the simultaneous oronasal breathing during the inspiration phase with high volumetric flow rate of 90/liters minute and a surrounding air temperature of 100 degrees centigrade. The study of the heat and mass transfer, aerosol deposition and flow characteristics in the upper human respiratory tract using computational fluid mechanics simulation requires access to a two dimensional or three dimensional model for the human respiratory tract. Depicting an exact model is a complex task since it involves the prolonged use of imaging devices on the human body. Hence a three dimensional geometric representation of the human upper respiratory tract is developed consisting of nasal cavity, oral cavity, nasopharynx, pharynx, oropharynx, trachea and first two generations of the bronchi. The respiratory tract is modeled circular in cross-section and varying diameter for various portions as identified in this study. The dimensions are referenced from the literature herein. Based on the dimensions, a simplified model representing the human upper respiratory tract is generated.This model will be useful in studying the flow characteristics and could assist in treatment of injuries to the human respiratory tract as well as help optimize drug delivery mechanism and dosages. Also a methodology is proposed to measure the characteristic dimension of the human nasal and oral cavity at the inlet/outlet points which are classified as internal measurements.

A pressurized vortex tube is used to generate streamwise vortices in a wind tunnel and the resulting flow behavior is analyzed. The apparatus is intended to verify computational data from the AFRL by offering a method of conducting real-world counterpart experiments. The apparatus design process and other considered approaches are discussed. The vortex tube is operated at pressures of 20, 30 and 40 psi while the wind tunnel is operated at 3, 5, 10 and 20% capacity. Flow measurements are performed using particle image velocimetry to observe vortices and freestream interactions from which velocity and vorticity data is comparatively analyzed. Results indicate that vortex velocity greater than freestream flow velocity is a primary factor in maintaining vortex structures further downstream, while increased supply pressure and reduced freestream velocity also reduce vortex dissipation rate. A brief analysis of the vortex interaction with a downstream airfoil is presented to support future work.

A floating photovoltaic (FPV) system is a structure of solar cells placed on water, where the solar cells are mounted on floating modules that have to be anchored. To know the size of the anchoring equipment, the forces on the FPV need to be determined. The main force affecting the FPV is the wind force. The force from the wind is directly correlated with the drag coefficient, hence we need to determine the drag coefficient to understand the system. The goal of this thesis is to first find the difference in the drag coefficient between two configurations of FPVs and for a second case with a floater added in front of both setups. To determine the difference in drag coefficient, between the two cases, the wind flow over the FPVs were studied by simulations using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and calculating the drag coefficient for each case. The simulations showed that the difference in drag coefficient in the cases without a floater had the biggest difference between the first FPVs where the difference was a factor of two. For the cases with the floater, the simulations gave a similar result for the two configurations, leading to a smaller difference between the two configurations. We conclude that if a system without a floater is built, the configurations of the FPVs are important, while if the floater is added in front of the FPV there is less importance in the configurations of the FPVs.

The engineering problem of airfoil design has been of great theoretical interest for almost a century and has led to hundreds of papers written and dozens of methods developed over the years. This interest stems from the practical implications of airfoil design. Airfoil selection significantly influences the application's aerodynamic performance. Tailoring an airfoil profile to its specific application can have great performance advantages. This includes considerations of the lift and drag characteristics, pitching moment, volume for fuel and structure, maximum lift coefficient, stall characteristics, as well as off-design performance. A common way to think about airfoil design is optimization, the process of taking an airfoil and modifying it to improve its performance. The classic design goal is to minimize drag subject to required lift and thickness values to meet aerodynamic and structural constraints. This is typically an expensive operation depending on the selected optimization technique because several flow solutions are often required in order to obtain an updated airfoil profile. The optimizer requires gradients of the design space for a gradient-based optimizer, fitness values of the members of the population for a genetic algorithm, etc. An alternative approach is to specify some desired performance and find the airfoil profile that achieves this performance. This is known as inverse airfoil design. Inverse design is more computationally efficient than direct optimization because changes in the geometry can be related to the required change in performance, thus requiring fewer flow solutions to obtain an updated profile. The desired performance for an inverse design method is specified as a pressure or velocity distribution over the airfoil at given flight conditions. The improved efficiency of inverse design comes at a cost. Designing a target pressure distribution is no trivial matter and has severe implications on the end performance. There is also no guarantee a specified pressure or velocity distribution can be achieved. However, if an obtainable pressure or velocity distribution can be created that reflects design goals and meets design constraints, inverse design becomes an attractive option over direct optimization. Many of the available inverse design methods are only valid for incompressible flow. Of those that are valid for compressible flow, many require modifications to the method if shocks are present in the flow. The convergence of the methods are also greatly slowed by the presence of shocks. This paper discusses a series of novel inverse design methods that do not depend on the freestream Mach number. They can be applied to design cases with and without shocks while not requiring modifications to the methods. Shocks also do not have a significant impact on the convergence of the methods. Airfoils are represented with parametric equations from the CST method to control shape changes and relate them to the required changes in the pressure or velocity distribution. To display the power of the methods, design cases are presented in the subsonic and transonic regimes. A circulation control design case is also presented using one of the methods to further show the robustness of the method.

Most major sports today use a dedicated ball or projectile with specific shape, size, and surface geometry, except for soccer. Over the history of the sport, the surface geometry and design stayed relatively unchanged, sewn together using 32 pentagonal and hexagonal panels. However, recent innovations in panel designs differ substantially from the traditional 32 panel ball. The effects these new designs have on the aerodynamic characteristics of the ball have remained largely unknown, even with the influx of experimental research completed in the past decade. Experimental studies have been broad in scope, analyzing an entire ball in wind tunnels or full flow paths in trajectory analyses. Computational efforts have been too assumptive in flow conditions, such as a fully turbulent flow field, which has not yielded accurate representations of the flow phenomenon. This study investigates the aerodynamic effects of the seam on a two-dimensional representation of a non-rotating soccer ball using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). By applying a transitional solver to the narrowed scope of a two-dimensional flow domain, with a single seam in cross-flow, the effects of the seam on the boundary layer and overall transient flow structure can be more accurately modeled. Data analysis suggests the seam produces a local effect on skin friction, however, that effect does not materialize into a premature boundary layer transition or delayed separation point, as predicted by literature. A detailed flow visualization is consistent with this result, displaying expected symmetric vortex shedding similar to a smooth cylinder, but not fully capturing the effects of the seam, reinforcing the need for expanding computational research efforts in this field.

The master´s thesis deals with the numerical modeling of flow in the emergency spillways of small dams. It is solved the flow rate capacity of a weir and of spillway called „duckbill-type“. Sharp crested weirs and long crested weirs are modeled using numerical simulations in ANSYS. Hydraulically complex spillway called „duckbill-type“ was modeled in the Flow-3D. The results of the discharge coefficients are compared with data in the hydraulic literature.

This diploma thesis describes design of blade geometry of swirl turbines with different blade row density for given parameters Q11 = 1,9 [m3s-1], n11 = 170 [min-1], H=2,5 m, and =0,8. Goal is to found out differences between designs with high count of runner blades and design with fewer blades. Comparison of computed characteristics of three, seven and nine bladed runners is given.

The project was aimed at describing the mixing phenomena relevant for both safety analysis, particularly in steam line break and boron dilution scenarios, and mixing phenomena of interest for economical operation and the structural integrity. Measurement data from a set of mixing experiments, gained by using advanced measurement techniques with enhanced resolution in time and space help to improve the basic understanding of turbulent mixing and to provide data for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code validation. Slug mixing tests simulating the start-up of the first main circulation pump are performed with two 1:5 scaled facilities: The Rossendorf coolant mixing model ROCOM and the VATTENFALL test facility, modelling a German Konvoi type and a Westinghouse type three-loop PWR, respectively. Additional data on slug mixing in a VVER-1000 type reactor gained at a 1:5 scaled metal mock-up at EDO Gidropress are provided. Experimental results on mixing of fluids with density differences obtained at ROCOM and the FORTUM PTS test facility are made available. Concerning mixing phenomena of interest for operational issues and thermal fatigue, flow distribution data available from commissioning tests (Sizewell-B for PWRs, Loviisa and Paks for VVERs) are used together with the data from the ROCOM facility as a basis for the flow distribution studies. The test matrix on flow distribution and steady state mixing performed at ROCOM comprises experiments with various combinations of running pumps and various mass flow rates in the working loops. Computational fluid dynamics calculations are accomplished for selected experiments with two different CFD codes (CFX-5, FLUENT). Best practice guidelines (BPG) are applied in all CFD work when choosing computational grid, time step, turbulence models, modelling of internal geometry, boundary conditions, numerical schemes and convergence criteria. The BPG contain a set of systematic procedures for quantifying and reducing numerical errors. The knowledge of these numerical errors is a prerequisite for the proper judgement of model errors. The strategy of code validation based on the BPG and a matrix of CFD code validation calculations have been elaborated. Besides of the benchmark cases, additional experiments were calculated by new partners and observers, joining the project later. Based on the "best practice solutions", conclusions on the applicability of CFD for turbulent mixing problems in PWR were drawn and recommendations on CFD modelling were given. The high importance of proper grid generation was outlined. In general, second order discretization schemes should be used to minimise numerical diffusion. First order schemes can provide physically wrong results. With optimised "production meshes" reasonable results were obtained, but due to the complex geometry of the flow domains, no fully grid independent solutions were achieved. Therefore, with respect to turbulence models, no final conclusions can be given. However, first order turbulence models like K-e or SST K-w are suitable for momentum driven slug mixing. For buoyancy driven mixing (PTS scenarios), Reynolds stress models provide better results.