Film cooling is used in gas turbine engines to cool turbine components. Cooler air is bled from the compressor, routed internally through turbine vanes and blades, and exits through discrete holes, creating a film of coolant on the parts’ surfaces. Cooling the turbine components protects them from thermal damage and allows the engine to operate at higher combustion temperatures, which increases the engine efficiency. Shaped film cooling holes with diffuser exits have the advantage that they decelerate the coolant flow, enabling the coolant jets to remain attached to the surface at higher coolant flow rates. Furthermore, the expanded exits of the coolant holes provide a wider coolant distribution over the surface. The first part of this dissertation provides data for a new laidback, fan-shaped hole geometry designed at Pennsylvania State University’s Experimental and Computational Convection Laboratory. The shaped hole geometry was tested on flat plate facilities at the University of Texas at Austin and Pennsylvania State University. The objective of testing at two laboratories was to verify the adiabatic effectiveness performance of the shaped hole, with the intent of the data being a standard of comparison for future experimental and computational shaped hole studies. At first, measurements of adiabatic effectiveness did not match between the labs, and it was later found that shaped holes are extremely sensitive to machining, the material they are machined into, and coolant entrance effects. In addition, the adiabatic effectiveness was found to scale with velocity ratio for multiple density ratios and mainstream turbulence intensities. The second part of this dissertation measures heat transfer coefficient augmentation (hf/h0) at density ratios (DR) of 1.0, 1.2, and 1.5 using a uniform heat flux plate and the same shaped hole geometry. In the past, heat transfer coefficient augmentation was generally measured at DR = 1.0 under the assumption that hf/h0 was independent of density ratio. This dissertation is the first study to directly measure the wall and adiabatic wall temperature to calculate heat transfer coefficient augmentation at DR > 1.0. The results showed that the heat transfer coefficient augmentation was low while the jets were attached to the surface and increased when the jets started to separate. At DR = 1.0, hf/h0 was higher for a given blowing ratio than at DR = 1.2 and DR = 1.5. However, when velocity ratios are matched, better correspondence was found at the different density ratios. Surface contours of hf/h0 showed that the heat transfer was initially increased along the centerline of the jet, but was reduced along the centerline at distances farther downstream. The decrease along the centerline may be due to counter-rotating vortices sweeping warm air next to the heat flux plate toward the center of the jet, where they sweep upward and thicken the thermal boundary layer. This warming of the core of the coolant jet over the heated surface was confirmed with thermal field measurements. / text

The use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites as an alternate to steel has proved to be an effective solution to the corrosion problem. However, FRP bars have low axial and transverse stiffness compared to steel bars which results in a lower shear capacity of FRP reinforced concrete (RC) elements compared to steel-RC elements. Flat plate systems are commonly used to take advantages of the absence of beams. They, however, are susceptible to punching shear failure where the column suddenly punches through the slab. An experimental program was conducted to investigate the punching shear behaviour of slab-column edge connections. Nine isolated full-scale slab-column edge connections were constructed and tested to failure. One connection was reinforced with steel flexural reinforcement, six with GFRP flexural reinforcement and two with GFRP flexural and shear reinforcement. The parameters investigated were the flexural reinforcement type and ratio, the moment-to-shear ratio and the shear reinforcement spacing.

Solar assisted single-stage absorption heat pump (AHP) was used to supply energy to a floor-heating system by using the exergy methods. An existing duplex-house,in Ankara, with a heating load of 25.5 kW was analysed. Heating loads of the spaces in the building were calculated and a floor heating panel was modelled for each space leading to the capacity of the AHP before it was designed. Solar energy was delivered to the evaporator and high temperature heat input delivered to the genarator are met by auxiliary units operating with natural gas.The solar energy gained by flat-plate collectors was circulated through AHP.The anaysis performed according to the storage tank temperature reference value if the water temperature leaving the storage tank exceeds a predetermined value it is directly circulated through the floor heating system. Exergue analysis were carried out with Mathcad program. Exergy analysis showed that irreversibility have an impact on absorption system performance.This study indicated which components in the system need to be improved thermally.A design procedure has been applied to a water-lithium-bromide absorption heat pump cycle and an optimisation procedure that consists of determinig the enthalpy, entropy ,exergy, temperature, mass flow rate in each component and coeficient of performance and exergetic coefficient of performance has been performed and tabulated.

[Formulae and special characters can only be approximated here. Please see the pdf version of the Abstract for an accurate reproduction.] Since the damping functions employed by most of the low-Reynolds-number models are related to the non-dimensional distance y+[ special character ??? near-wall non-dimensional distance in y direction], which is based on local wall shear stress, these models become invalid for separated flows, because the wall shear stress is zero at the reattachment point. In addition, the pressure-velocity correlation term is neglected in most of these models, although this term is shown in this thesis to be important in the near-wall region for simple flows and large pressure gradient flows. In this thesis, two main efforts are made to improve the k ??? [special character - dissipation rate] model. First, based on Myong and Kasagi???s (1990) low-Reynolds-number model (hereafter referred to as MK model), a more general damping function [special character - turbulent viscosity damping function in LRN turbulent model] is postulated which only depends on the Reynolds numbers [formula ??? near-wall turbulence Reynolds number]. Second, a form for the pressure-velocity correlation term is postulated based on the Poisson equation for pressure fluctuations. This modified model predicts the turbulent flow over a flat plate very well. It is found that the inclusion of the pressure-velocity correlation term leads to significant improvement of the prediction of near-wall turbulence kinetic energy. When the model is applied to turbulent flow over a backward-facing step, it produces better predictions than the traditional k ??? [special character - dissipation rate] model, FLUENT???s two-layer model and the MK model. Again, the pressure-velocity correlation term improves the turbulence kinetic energy prediction in the separated region over that of other models investigated here. The studies of numerical methods concerning computational domain size and grid spacing reveal that a very large domain size is required for accurate flat plate flow computation. They also show that a fine grid distribution in the near-wall region upstream of the step is necessary for acceptable flow prediction accuracy in the downstream separated region.

The Large Eddy Simulation approach is employed to predict the flow physics and heat transfer characteristics of a film-cooling problem that is formed from the interaction of a coolant jet with a hot mainstream flow. The film-cooling technique is used to protect turbine blades from thermal failure, allowing the gas inlet temperature to be increased beyond the failure temperature of the turbine blade material in order to enhance the efficiency of gas turbine engines. A coolant fluid is injected into the hot mainstream through several rows of injection holes placed on the surface of a gas turbine blade in order to form a protective coolant film layer on the blade surface. However, due to the complex, unsteady and three-dimensional interactions between the coolant and the hot gases, it is difficult to achieve the desired cooling performance. Understanding of this complex flow and heat transfer process will be helpful in designing more efficiently cooled rotor blades. A comprehensive numerical investigation of a rotating film-cooling performance under different conditions is conducted in this thesis, including film-cooling on a flat surface and film-cooling on a rotating gas turbine blade. The flow-governing equations are discretised based on the finite-volumes method and then solved iteratively using the well-known SIMPLE and PISO algorithms. An in-house FORTRAN code has been developed to investigate the flat plate film-cooling configuration, while the gas turbine blade geometry has been simulated using the STAR-CCM+ CFD commercial code. The first goal of the present thesis is to investigate the physics of the flow and heat transfer, which occurs during film-cooling from a standard film hole configuration. Film-cooling performance is analysed by looking at the distribution of flow and thermal fields downstream of the film holes. The predicted mean velocity profiles and spanwise-averaged film-cooling effectiveness are compared with experimental data in order to validate the reliability of the LES technique. Comparison of adiabatic film-cooling effectiveness with experiments shows excellent agreement for the local and spanwise-averaged film-cooling effectiveness, confirming the correct prediction of the film-cooling behaviour. The film coverage and film-cooling effectiveness distributions are presented along with discussions of the influence of blowing ratio and rotation number. Overall, it was found that both rotation number and blowing ratio play significant roles in determining the film-cooling effectiveness distributions. The second goal is to investigate the impact of innovative anti-vortex holes on the film-cooling performance. The anti-vortex hole design counteracts the detrimental kidney vorticity associated with the main hole, allowing coolant to remain attached to the blade surface. Thus, the new design significantly improves the film-cooling performance compared to the standard hole arrangement, particularly at high blowing ratios. The anti-vortex hole technique is unique in that it requires only readily machinable round holes, unlike shaped film-cooling holes and other advanced concepts. The effects of blowing ratio and the positions of the anti-vortex side holes on the physics of the hot mainstream-coolant interaction in a film-cooled turbine blade are also investigated. The results also indicate that the side holes of the anti-vortex design promote the interaction between the vortical structures; therefore, the film coverage contours reveal an improvement in the lateral spreading of the coolant jet.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Bill Zhang / In structural engineering, it can be challenging to incorporate a sustainable design without sacrificing structural integrity. However, flat plate voided slabs are an interesting alternative to standard flat plate concrete slab systems due to the reduction in concrete and the recycled plastic void formers that are located inside the slab. This research is necessary because an increased use of voided slabs in concrete structures would help fight climate change by reducing the CO₂ emissions caused from cement production. This report will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of implementing plastic void formers into solid flat plate slabs and examine a parametric study comparing voided flat plate slabs to solid flat plate slabs. The design of the voided slabs follows the CRSI Design Guide for Voided Concrete Slabs while also referencing the ACI 318-14 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete. Three different slabs for typical square bay sizes of 25 feet, 30 feet, and 35 feet are designed to compare the effectiveness of voided slabs to traditional solid slabs.

A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo a construção de microssensores amperométricos e potenciométricos para mensuração de oxigênio dissolvido (OD), gás sulfídrico (\'H IND.2\'S\'), íons amônio (\'NH IND.4\'POT.+\'), nitrato (\'NO IND.3\'POT.-\'), nitrito (\'NO IND.2\'POT.-\') e hidrogeniônicos (\'H POT.+\') em biofilmes aplicados a nitrificação de água residuária. Os biofilmes analisados por meio do uso dos microssensores construídos foram desenvolvidos sobre superfícies suportes de reatores de bancada do tipo célula de fluxo, as quais foram operadas sob diferentes condições operacionais em cinco experimentos distintos. Substrato sintético com concentrações de nitrogênio total Kjeldahl (NTK) de 40 ± 10 mg/L e demanda química de oxigênio (DQO) de 95 ± 5 mg/L foi utilizado para alimentação das células de fluxo no decorrer de todos os experimentos. Lodo aeróbio proveniente de reator de lodos ativados da Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto das Flores localizada em Rio Claro-SP foi usado como inóculo das células de fluxo. Análises físico-químicas de pH, alcalinidade, DQO, NTK, \'NO IND.3\'POT.-\', \'NO IND.2\'POT.-\' do afluente e do efluente das células de fluxo operadas foram realizadas para o monitoramento das condições de operação das mesmas. Concomitantemente às últimas, a obtenção de perfis de concentrações de oxigênio dissolvido, pH, íons nitrato e amônio foi realizada nos biofilmes formados sobre as superfícies inertes nas células. Os microssensores de OD se mostraram eficientes na mensuração de oxigênio dissolvido no interior de filmes biológicos que continham zonas aeróbias, anóxicas e anaeróbias. Os microeletrodos de pH e de íons amônio permitiram a verificação das variações de pH e das concentrações de \'NH IND.4\'POT.+\' (sentido meio líquido-biofilme) que se deram nas células de fluxo operadas. Os microssensores de íons nitrato construídos não apresentaram seletividade aos seus analitos (\'NO IND.3\'POT.-\') e foi constatado que os mesmos detectavam concentrações de íons nitrato e nitrito no meio, portanto esses passaram a ser denominados de microssensores para detecção de íons \'NO IND.X\'POT.-\'. A construção dos microeletrodos destinados a mensuração de íons nitrito não foi passível de realização visto que a membrana íon seletiva que seria aplicada nos mesmos não se encontrou disponível no mercado. Os microeletrodos de \'H IND.2\'S\' foram calibrados e, mediante as suas curvas de calibração verificou-se que os mesmos foram eficientes na medição da concentração do gás dissolvido em água, entretanto esses microssensores não foram empregados em biofilmes. / The goal of the current research was the construction of amperometric and potentiometric microsensors to measure dissolved oxygen (DO), hydrogen sulfide (\'H IND.2\'S\'), nitrite, nitrate, ammonium and pH in biofilms applied at wastewater treatment. The biofilms that were analyzed with the constructed microsensors were grown at the surface of flat-plate reactors, which were operated in five distinct experiments under different operational conditions. The growth media that had total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TNK) of 40 ± 10 mg/L and carbon oxygen demand (COD) of 90 ± 5 mg/L was used as feed of the flatplate reactors during the experiments. The reactors were inoculated with sludge originating from activated sludge reactor located in Rio Claro (SP). Alkalinity, pH, COD, \'NO IND.3\'POT.-\', \'NO IND.2\'POT.-\' analyses of the affluent and effluent of the reactors were carried out for the accompaniment of the operational conditions of the flat-plate reactors. Concomitantly to the last ones, microprofiles of DO, pH, nitrate and ammonium were obtained in the biofilms. The DO microsensors constructed showed a good performance when they were applied to measure oxygen concentrations in the microenvironments in biofilms. Ammonium and pH microelectrodes allowed the verification of the variations of pH and ammonium concentrations in the direction from the bulk liquid to the biofilm that occurred at the flatplate reactors. The nitrate microsensor has not presented selectivity for its primary ions (\'NO IND.3\'POT.-\') and it was evidenced that the same one detected the concentration of nitrate and nitrite (\'NO IND.X\'POT.-\'). The nitrite microsensor could not be constructed since the membrane that would be used was not available in the market. The \'H IND.2\'S\' microelectrodes had shown efficiency in measuring aqueous solutions with different concentrations of dissolved \'H IND.2\'S\'; however these devices were not applied in biofilms.

As lajes lisas podem oferecer diversas vantagens quando comparadas ao sistema de lajes, vigas e pilares, sendo, em muitos casos, mais econômicas. O uso da protensão pode oferecer outras vantagens, tais como um melhor controle da fissuração e dos deslocamentos transversais da laje. Como a punção é um dos pontos fracos das lajes lisas protendidas, face à grande esbeltez destas lajes, apresentam-se resultados experimentais de ligações laje-pilar interno, com carregamento concêntrico, com e sem armadura de punção (conectores tipo-pino), com e sem protensão por pós-tração (cabos não aderentes). Os principais aspectos analisados foram as influências da armadura de punção e da protensão na resistência da ligação laje-pilar. Fez-se também uma análise envolvendo a previsão da resistência da ligação, dada por algumas normas e códigos. Observa-se que, de um modo aproximado, a armadura de punção eleva significativamente a resistência do modelo à punção, seja ele de concreto armado ou protendido. Observa-se ainda que, embora diminuindo a taxa de armadura dos modelos de concreto armado, para que se introduzissem as cordoalhas de protensão, os valores experimentais obtidos mostram que a presença da protensão aumentou a resistência da ligação. De um modo geral, a melhor norma que reflete o comportamento da ligação lajepilar é a Revisão da NB-1 (2000). Com relação aos modelos protendidos, o ACI poderia ter tido um bom desempenho, caso não houvesse uma restrição tão rígida com relação ao uso de armaduras de punção / The use of flat plates may offer some economical and aesthetic benefits when compared with other structural systems. The use of post-tensioned slabs may offer other advantages, as a better crack and deflection control and a thinner slab for the same span and load conditions. This work presents some experimental results and conclusions about the punching shear failure, as it is a critical problem for flat plate structures, post-tensioned or not. The main aspects analyzed are the influence of the shear reinforcement (studs) and of the post-tensioning with unbonded tendons on a slab – internal column connection strength. A comparison between experimental results and those given by some standards is presented. This comparison aims to verify if the codes accurately predict the punching shear strength of the connection. It can be noted that, in an specific comparison, the studs enhance the punching shear strength of the slab-column connection. In spite of the use of less flexural reinforcement in the post-tensioned models, the punching shear strength of the connection had a higher value when compared with the reinforced ones. This fact is due to the presence of the prestressed strands

Flat plate heat pipes are very efficient passive two-phase heat transport devices. Their high e'ciency and low mass are desirable in the aerospace and electronics industries. The highly competitive nature of the thermal management industry results in little awareness of the capabilities of at plate heat pipes, which has resulted in only a few applications of the technology. In the year 2000 a research and development project sponsored by Space Dynamics Laboratory was launched to investigate building carbon-based at heat pipes. The at conguration is desireable to incorporate many components onto one thermal management system. Development led to the adoption of the term "Channel Panel" because of the orthogonal grid of channels used as the capillary structure. Work to date has veried the utility and basic function of this technology but has not resulted in a standard method for the design and fabrication of channel panels. This study investigates and evaluates currently available and relevent models useful for the design of channel panels, investigates issues with fabrication, and makes suggestions for future development. Shallow pool boiling is shown to be an appropriate model for the critical heat ux of boiling in at plate heat pipes and provides a means for estimating the convective heat transfer coe'cient. Previous work by Neal Hubbard is modied and shown to accurately couple the geometry and operating limits of a channel panel. Experiments verify the analytical predictions of these models. Issues in the fabrication of channel panels are reported as well as standard procedures for cleaning and lling. The nal result is a standard method for the initial design phase of channel panel at plate heat pipes.

No description available.