This thesis investigates the possibility of using magnetic flow meters to measure the flowrate of molten salts in Seaborg Technologies Compact Molten Salt Reactor (CMSR).There is a need to accurately measure the flow rate in salt circulation systems to ensureproper operation of the entire facility. The requirements and criteria for the operationof a magnetic flow meter are studied, from which a model is constructed in COMSOLMultiphysics. The flow meter characteristics are analysed in COMSOL by performingsteady-state magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations and by doing a sensitivity anal-ysis of the velocity field and the magnetic field strength. The induced electric potentialdifference in the flow meter when the reactor is at a maximum designed thermal power isin the range of 65 mV when using a normal inlet flow profile. The effect of the velocityfield is studied for two velocity profiles, and it indicates that the velocity profile alters theinduced potential difference even though the mass flowrate is the same. The magneticfield strength increases the electric potential difference when it is increasing, which isaccording to theory. The results indicate that magnetic flow meters are a viable optionfor Seaborg’s CMSR. However, further analysis is needed regarding the materials usedto ensure proper operation of the flow meter.

A data acquisition system to control the position of a velocity probe, and to acquire digital voltages as an indication of fluid velocity is presented. This system replaces a similar manually operated traverse system, it relieves the operator of control and acquisition tasks, while providing a more consistent and systematic approach to the acquisition process. The design includes the TRS-80 microcomputer, with external interfacing accomplished using the STD-based bus design. / Master of Science

An instrumentation system for Multicomponent Continuous Flow Kinetic Analysis has been designed and constructed. Evaluation of the system shows that it is useful for performing dilutions, flow injection analysis and continuous flow kinetics with relative standard deviations of less than 10 percent. Modern electronic technology was used to construct a flow controller which was able to regulate the flow of a conducting liquid to ± 0.1 ml/min at flow rates of 2 to 10 ml/min. An inexpensive Light Emitting Diode colorimeter was able to detect KMnO₄ linearly at concentrations of 10 to 600 μm, with better than 1 percent relative standard deviation at the higher concentrations. Several concepts of hardware-software and software-operator interaction were introduced and developed. The multiprogrammed Fourth Programming System provided the instrument with much more capability and ease of use than might have been expected otherwise. The reaction of KMnO₄ with KI was employed as a single component continuous flow test reaction. Rate constants were in good agreement with literature values obtained by stopped flow methods. The ligand exchange reaction between metal-Zincon complexes and CyDTA, using zinc and mercury, demonstrated the feasibility of the instrument for multicomponent continuous flow kinetic analysis. The implementation of suggested instrumental improvements should extend the range of usable reaction rates and improve the accuracy of the determinations. The flowmeter and flow controller are potential alternatives to the relatively expensive pumps used for flow injection analysis. Evaluation of the instrument’s operation in flow injection mode indicates that it is useful as a convenient continuous flow kinetic detector for flow injection analysis and for testing developments in flow injection theory. / Ph. D.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2014 / The current problems of orifice, nozzle and Venturi flow meters are that they are limited to turbulent flow and the permanent pressure drop produced in the pipeline. To improve these inadequacies, converging-diverging (C-D) tubes were manufactured, consisting of symmetrical converging and diverging cones, where the throat is the annular section between the two cones, with various angles and diameter ratios to improve the permanent pressure loss and flow measurement range. The objective of this study was firstly to evaluate the permanent pressure loss, secondly to determine the discharge coefficient values for various C-D tubes and compare them with the existing differential pressure flow meter using Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, and finally to assess the performance of these differential pressure flow meters. The tests were conducted on the multipurpose test rig in the slurry laboratory at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids were used to conduct experiments in five different C-D tube flow meters with diameter ratios (β) of 0.5, 0.6 and 0.7, and with angles of the wall to the axis of the tube (θ) of 15°, 30° and 45°. The results for each test are presented firstly in the form of static pressure at different flow rates. It was observed that the permanent pressure loss decreases with the flow rate and the length of the C-D tube. Secondly, the results are presented in terms of discharge coefficient versus Reynolds number. It was found that the Cd values at 15° drop earlier than at 30° and 45°; when viscous forces become predominant, the Cd increases with increasing beta ratio. The Cd was found to be independent of the Reynolds number for Re>2000 and also a function of angle and beta ratio. Preamble Performance of a symmetrical converging-diverging tube differential pressure flow meter Finally, the error analyses of discharge coefficients were assessed to determine the performance criteria. The standard variation was found to increase when the Reynolds number decreases. The average discharge coefficient values and their uncertainties were determined to select the most promising C-D tube geometry. An average Cd of 0.96, with an uncertainty of ±0.5 % for a range of Reynolds numbers greater than 2,000 was found. The comparison between C-D tubes 0.6(15-15) and classical Venturi flow meters reveals that C-D 0.6(15-15) performs well in turbulent range and shows only a slight inaccuracy in laminar. This thesis provides a simple geometrical differential pressure flow meter with a constant Cd value over a Reynolds number range of 2000 to 150 000.

The relationship between the Reynolds number (Re) and discharge coefficients (C) was investigated through differential pressure flow meters. The focus of the study was directed toward very small Reynolds numbers commonly associated with pipeline transportation of viscous fluids. There is currently a relatively small amount of research that has been performed in this area for the Venturi, standard orifice plate, V-cone, and wedge flow meters. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program FLUENT© was used to perform the research, while GAMBIT© was used as the preprocessing tool for the flow meter models created. Heavy oil and water were used separately as the two flowing fluids to obtain a wide range of Reynolds numbers with high precision. Multiple models were used with varying characteristics, such as pipe size and meter geometry, to obtain a better understanding of the C vs. Re relationship. All of the simulated numerical models were compared to physical data to determine the accuracy of the models. The study indicates that the various discharge coefficients decrease rapidly as the Reynolds number approaches 1 for each of the flow meters; however, the Reynolds number range in which the discharge coefficients were constant varied with meter design. The standard orifice plate does not follow the general trend in the discharge coefficient curve that the other flow meters do; instead as the Re decreases, the C value increases to a maximum before sharply dropping off. Several graphs demonstrating the varying relationships and outcomes are presented. The primary focus of this research was to obtain further understanding of discharge coefficient performance versus Reynolds number for differential producing flow meters at very small Reynolds numbers.

The work presented in this dissertation was aimed at understanding biology's application of soft materials to enhance sensing abilities and initiate innovative bio-inspired material-based approaches for flow (fluidic and air) sensors and photo-thermal sensors. A key aim is to help strengthen this niche of functional materials science referred to, here, as bio-inspired materials in sensing roles. The work aspires to traverse the boundaries of the subject in order to provide a strong foundation for future scientific explorations of the subject. The studies presented here, include studies of flow sensing in fish and implementing a bio-mimetic approach to microfabricated flow sensors. The work also includes studies of material based signal filtering in spiders, as well as, bio-inspired photo-thermal transduction mechanisms. The capabilities of the methodology are demonstrated with successful engineering studies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:08:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Felipe Carvalho da Silva.pdf: 4181457 bytes, checksum: 8aef395272a667525a72d34c5ffb865f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-07-25 / With recent discoveries by the oil industry related to the reserves in Brazilian pre-salt, flow measurement technology is being re-evaluated in view of the large CO2 concentrations found in these reserves. A technology that has accuracy levels similar to those obtained with flow meters currently used and also measures independent characteristics to the composition and thermodynamic properties of gases is optical flow measurement velocimetry (OFM). The present work is related to experimental study, comparison of the speed readings from Pitot tube flow meters and optical velocimetry. This experimental study consists of qualifying and quantifying the velocity profiles among the possible configurations of flow in the wind tunnel, proposing methodology using flow conditioners and damping of the readings obtained with the Pitot tube, and analysis of readings taken with the optical sensor to evaluate the device installation effects in the results. The results indicate that transit-time optical flow meters for medium to high speed levels, could provide readcohesive flow even in a misalignment of up to ± 5 °, although it appears in the installation manual of the manufacturer guarantees of results meter when a misalignment of at most up to ±2º. Regarding the optical sensor intrusive effect in the readings simultaneous with the Pitot tube, it is perceived, in general, from approximately Re> 2,05x105, the intrusive effect of this influence is suppressed by other effects. Finally, for a proper flow study through Pitometry in order to make the comparison with the optical flow metering and achieve satisfactory results with the Pitot tube, the use of specific devices of flow conditioning and damping of the measured values had to be made / Com as recentes descobertas da indústria petrolífera brasileira, relacionadas às reservas no pré-sal, a tecnologia de medição de vazão está sendo reavaliada, tendo em vista as grandes concentrações de CO2 encontradas nessas reservas. A tecnologia de medição de vazão por velocimetria óptica (OFM) possui níveis de precisão semelhantes aos obtidos com os medidores de vazão utilizados atualmente. Essa tecnologia possui as características de independência com relação à composição química e às propriedades termodinâmicas dos gases. O presente trabalho se dedica ao estudo experimental de comparação das leituras de velocidade entre tubo de Pitot e medidor de vazão por velocimetria óptica. Para isso foi efetuada qualificação e quantificação dos perfis de velocidades em escoamento no túnel de vento, propondo metodologia de uso de retificadores de fluxo e amortecimento das leituras obtidas com o tubo de Pitot, e análises de leituras realizadas com o sensor óptico visando avaliar os efeitos de instalação do dispositivo nos resultados obtidos. Os resultados indicam que medidores de vazão ópticos por tempo de trânsito, para níveis médios e altos de velocidade, podem fornecer a leitura esperada da vazão mesmo estando num desalinhamento de ±5º, apesar de constar no manual de instalação do fabricante garantia destes resultados do medidor quando num desalinhamento de, no máximo, até ±2º. Com relação ao efeito intrusivo do sensor óptico nas leituras simultâneas com o tubo de Pitot, percebe-se, em geral, que a partir de aproximadamente Re> 2,05x105, o efeito intrusivo desta influência foi suprimido por outros efeitos. Por fim, para uma devida caracterização do escoamento por meio de pitometria, a fim de efetuar a comparação com a medição Laser, e alcançar satisfatórios resultados com o tubo de Pitot, foi necessário fazer uso de dispositivos específicos como retificadores de fluxo e de amortecimento (damping) dos valores medidos

This thesis presents a procedure to optimise the shape of a coaxial transducer ultrasonic flow meter. The technique uses separate numerical simulations of the fluid flow and the ultrasound propagation within a meter duct. A new flow meter geometry has been developed, having a significantly improved (smooth and monotonic) calibration curve. In this work the complex fluid flow field and its influence on the propagation of ultrasound in a cylindrical flow meter duct is investigated. A geometric acoustics (ray tracing) propagation model is applied to a flow field calculated by a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) package. The simulation results are compared to measured calibration curves for a variety of meter geometries having varying lengths and duct diameters. The modelling shows reasonable agreement to the calibration characteristics for several meter geometries over a Reynolds number range of 100...100000 (based on bulk velocity and meter duct diameter). Various CFD simulations are validated against flow visualisation measurements, Laser Doppler Velocimetry measurements or published results. The thesis includes software to calculate the acoustic ray propagation and also to calculate the optimal shape for the annular gap around the transducer housings in order to achieve desired flow acceleration. A dimensionless number is proposed to characterise the mean deflection of an acoustic beam due to interaction with a fluid flow profile (or acoustic velocity gradient). For flow in a cylindrical duct, the 'acoustic beam deflection number' is defined as M g* (L/D)^2, where: M is the Mach Number of the bulk velocity; g* is the average non-dimensionalised velocity gradient insonified by the acoustic beam (g* is a function of transducer diameter - typically g* = 0.5...4.5); L is the transducer separation; and D is the duct diameter. Large values of this number indicate considerable beam deflection that may lead to undesirable wall reflections and diffraction effects. For a single path coaxial transducer ultrasonic flow meter, there are practical limits to the length of a flow meter and to the maximum size of a transducer for a given duct diameter. The 'acoustic beam deflection number' characterises the effect of these parameters.

[Truncated abstract] The hydrodynamic forces on a marine pipeline and the local scour around it are the most serious and important issues in designing and maintaining pipelines. This thesis explores the vortex shedding phenomena for the flow over smooth surface and rough surface isolated cylinders. This thesis also explores the two-dimensional and three-dimensional scour process beneath offshore pipelines numerically. A series of numerical models are proposed in this dissertation for the prediction of flow characteristics and the time development of local scour around pipelines. All the models presented in this thesis are deliberately developed based on novel lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), because in recent years it has been considered as a serious alternative to standard computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as it is ideally suited to massively parallel computations. The lattice Boltzmann method is described in details to reveal how it recovers the Navier- Stokes equations. Various grid refinement schemes available in literature are discussed and a slightly modified new scheme is proposed to remove oscillatory solutions at high velocity change regime. The proposed scheme is then validated against bench mark tests for low Reynolds number flow. A turbulent model based on LBM is developed in order to predict the vortex shedding flow around an isolated square smooth surface cylinder. The various local and global flow parameters and structure of vortices are validated against experimental and numerical data available in literature. The model is then extended to investigate the vortex shedding flow over an isolated rough surface cylinder as it has an engineering significance in the design process of pipelines. The model is employed to investigate the influence of pipe roughness on various local and global parameters of flow. ... Significant part of this thesis is aimed at modelling flow and local scour around pipelines employing LBM and cellular automata (CA) methods. The erosion mechanism of the CA method available in literature for sand particles is improved by defining the threshold of sediment entrainment on bed in a similar manner to that employed in the traditional scour models. The predicted scour profiles for various incoming flow conditions are found to compare well with the experimental results reported in the literature. The existence of lee wake erosion due to continuous generation of vortex shedding in the lee of the pipelines is revealed. The time development of the maximum scour depth below the pipe is also found to be in good agreement with the experimental measurements reported in literature Finally, a three-dimensional flow and scour model is developed in order to explore the scour process beneath pipelines. It is revealed that the three-dimensionality effects are more pronounced near the span shoulder. On the other hand, there exists a two-dimensional scour regime in the vicinity of the middle section of the suspended pipe. It is found that the propagation speed of the scour hole in the sapnwise direction remains almost constant at all stages of scour process.

Os impactos causados por precipitações em áreas urbanas indicam a necessidade da abordagem de medidas para gerenciamento da drenagem urbana, de modo a evitar prejuízos originados dos escoamentos superficiais, como as inundações. A drenagem urbana brasileira é considerada defasada, visto que o conceito da canalização prevalece sobre a reservação e a infiltração, priorizando o rápido escoamento ao invés do descarte controlado dos volumes reservados. A cidade de Curitiba-PR conta com o Decreto Municipal Número 176/2007, responsável pelos critérios para implantação dos mecanismos de contenção de cheias. Porém, as diretrizes de projeto estabelecidas não garantem eficiência mínima para os reservatórios de contenção, visto que a mesma pode variar em função da sua área de base, lâmina de água e diâmetro do orifício regulador de vazão. Nesta pesquisa é proposto um método de dimensionamento, estabelecendo critérios que relacionam as áreas impermeabilizadas dos lotes aos parâmetros de dimensionamento dos reservatórios, garantindo a função desta medida de controle. Considerando que os reservatórios devem proporcionar à dada área impermeabilizada retornar à sua condição de pré-urbanização em termos de vazões de contribuição, estima-se o valor necessário para a redução de vazão de pico em 70,24%, obtido da relação entre os coeficientes de escoamento superficial em ambas as condições de impermeabilização. A partir de simulações de propagação de vazão com o Método de Pulz em áreas impermeabilizadas genéricas em intervalos constantes adotados para o estudo, são obtidos gráficos das características geométricas dos reservatórios em função da vazão de contribuição que cada área genérica recebe. A partir da análise comportamental dos mesmos são propostas equações de dimensionamento para os parâmetros de volume, área de base, altura da lâmina de água e diâmetro do orifício regulador de vazão, relacionando-os às áreas impermeabilizadas presentes, de modo que seja garantida a eficiência mínima necessária. Ao comparar os resultados obtidos com o previsto na legislação municipal, além da possibilidade de melhoria na eficiência dos reservatórios com a utilização de outros parâmetros de dimensionamento, há condição de redução de 24,14% do volume em relação ao cálculo atual. / The impacts caused by rainfall in urban areas indicate the need to approach measures for managing urban drainage, in order to avoid losses arising from runoff, such as floods. Brazilian urban drainage is considered outdated, because the concept of channeling is more used than the reservation and infiltration, prioritizing fast flowing instead of controlled disposal of reserved volumes. The city of CuritibaPR has a Municipal Decree Number 176/2007, responsible for the criteria for implementation of flood containment mechanisms. However, the established design guidelines do not guarantee minimum performance for flood detention tanks, since it may vary depending on their base area, water depth and flow regulator’s orifice diameter. In this research is proposed a sizing method, establishing criteria that relate waterproofed areas of the lots to the tank design parameters, ensuring the function of this control measure. Considering that tanks must provide the given waterproofed area return to its condition before urbanization in contributing flows, determine the value of the required peak flow reduction in 70,24%, obtained from the relation between the coefficients of runoff in both waterproofing conditions. From flow propagation simulations with Pulz Method in generic waterproofed areas at constant intervals adopted for the research, graphs of the geometric characteristics of the reservoirs are obtained as a function of the contribution flow that each generic area receives. From the behavioral analysis, sizing equations are proposed for the parameters of volume, base area, water depth and flow regulator’s orifice diameter, relating them to the present waterproofed areas and ensuring the required efficiency. When comparing the results obtained with the provisions of municipal legislation, in addition to the possibility of improving the efficiency of the reservoirs using other sizing parameters, it points to the possibility of reducing the calculated volume of 24,14% in relation to the current calculation.