During hypersonic atmospheric entry, spacecraft are exposed to enormous aerodynamic heat. To prevent the payload from overheating, charring ablative materials are favored to be applied as the heat shield at the exposing surface of the vehicle. Accurate modeling not only prevents mission failures, but also helps reduce cost. Existing models were mostly limited to one-dimensional and discrepancies were shown against measured experiments and flight-data. To help improve the models and analyze the charring ablation problems, a multidimensional material response module is developed, based on a finite volume method framework. The developed computer program is verified through a series of test-cases, and through code-to-code comparisons with a validated code. Several novel models are proposed, including a three-dimensional pyrolysis gas transport model and an orthotropic material model. The effects of these models are numerically studied and demonstrated to be significant.

Advancements in the networking and routing industry have created higher power electronic systems which dissipate large amounts of heat while cooling technology for these electronic systems has remained relatively unchanged. This report illustrates the development and testing of a hybrid liquid-air cooling system prototype implemented on Cisco’s 7609s router. Water was the working fluid through cold plates removing heat from line card components. The water was cooled by a compact liquid-air heat exchanger and circulated by two pumps. The testing results show that junction temperatures were maintained well below the 105°C limit for ambient conditions around 30°C at sea level. The estimated junction temperatures for Cisco’s standard ambient conditions of 50°C at 6,000 feet and 40°C at 10,000 feet were 104°C and 96°C respectively. Adjustments to the test data for Cisco’s two standard ambient conditions with expected device characteristics suggested the hybrid liquid-air cooling design could meet the projected heat load.

A nanofluid is a new heat transfer fluid produced by mixing a base fluid and solid nano sized particles. This fluid has great potential in heat transfer applications, because of its increased thermal conductivity and even increased Nusselt number due to higher thermal conductivity, Brownian motion of nanoparticles, and other various effects on heat transfer phenomenon. In this work, the first aim is to predict convective heat transfer of nanofluids. A numerical code is created and run to obtain results in a pipe with two different boundary conditions, constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux. The results for laminar flow for thermally developing region in a pipe are obtained for Al2O3/water nanofluid with different volumetric fraction and particle sizes with local temperature dependent conductivity approach. Various effects that influence nanofluid heat transfer enhancement are investigated. As a result, a better heat transfer performance is obtained for all cases, compared to pure water. The important parameters that have impact on nanofluid heat transfer are particle diameter of the nanoparticles, nanoparticle volumetric fraction, Peclet number, and viscous dissipation. Next, a heat transfer performance evaluation methodology is proposed considering increased pumping power of nanofluids. Two different criteria are selected for two boundary conditions at constant pumping power. These are heat transfer rate ratio of the nanofluid and the base fluid for constant wall temperature boundary condition and difference between wall temperature of the pipe at the exit and inlet mean temperature of the fluid ratio for constant wall heat flux case. Three important parameters that influence the heat transfer performance of nanofluids are extracted from a parametric study. Lastly, optimum particle size and volumetric fraction values are obtained depending on Graetz number, Nusselt number, heat transfer fluid temperature, and nanofluid type.

A nanofluid is a new heat transfer fluid produced by mixing a base fluid and solid nano sized particles. This fluid has great potential in heat transfer applications, because of its increased thermal conductivity and even increased Nusselt number due to higher thermal conductivity, Brownian motion of nanoparticles, and other various effects on heat transfer phenomenon. In this work, the first aim is to predict convective heat transfer of nanofluids. A numerical code is created and run to obtain results in a pipe with two different boundary conditions, constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux. The results for laminar flow for thermally developing region in a pipe are obtained for Al2O3/water nanofluid with different volumetric fraction and particle sizes with local temperature dependent conductivity approach. Various effects that influence nanofluid heat transfer enhancement are investigated. As a result, a better heat transfer performance is obtained for all cases, compared to pure water. The important parameters that have impact on nanofluid heat transfer are particle diameter of the nanoparticles, nanoparticle volumetric fraction, Peclet number, and viscous dissipation. Next, a heat transfer performance evaluation methodology is proposed considering increased pumping power of nanofluids. Two different criteria are selected for two boundary conditions at constant pumping power. These are heat transfer rate ratio of the nanofluid and the base fluid for constant wall temperature boundary condition and difference between wall temperature of the pipe at the exit and inlet mean temperature of the fluid ratio for constant wall heat flux case. Three important parameters that influence the heat transfer performance of nanofluids are extracted from a parametric study. Lastly, optimum particle size and volumetric fraction values are obtained depending on Graetz number, Nusselt number, heat transfer fluid temperature, and nanofluid type.

Heat transfer analysis of two-dimensional, incompressible, constant property, hydrodynamically developed, thermally developing, single phase laminar flow in microtubes and microchannels between parallel plates with negligible axial conduction is performed for constant wall temperature and constant wall heat flux thermal boundary conditions for slip flow regime. Fully developed velocity profile is determined analytically, and energy equation is solved by using finite difference method for both of the geometries. The rarefaction effect which is important for flow in low pressures or flow in microchannels is imposed to the boundary conditions of the momentum and energy equations. The viscous dissipation term which is important for high speed flows or flows in long pipelines is included in the energy equation. The effects of rarefaction and viscous heating on temperature profile and local Nusselt number are discussed. The results of the numerical method are verified with the well-known analytical results of the flow in macrochannels (i.e. Kn =0, Br =0) and with the available analytical results of flow in microchannels for simplified cases. The results show significant deviations from the flow in macrochannels.

Modern gas turbine engines run at extremely high temperatures which require the high pressure turbine blades to be extensively cooled in order to reach life requirements. This must be done using the minimum amount of coolant in order to reduce the negative impacts on the cycle efficiency. In the design process the cooling configuration and stress distribution must be carefully considered before verification of the design is conducted. Improvements to all three of these blade design areas are presented in this thesis which investigates internal cooling systems in the form of ribbed, radial passages and leading edge impingement systems. The effect of rotation on the heat transfer distribution in ribbed radial passages is investigated. An engine representative triple-pass serpentine passage, typical of a gas turbine mid-chord HP blade passage, is simulated using common industrial RANS CFD methodology with the results compared to those from the RHTR, a rotating experimental facility. The simulations are found to perform well under stationary conditions with the rotational cases proving more challenging. Further study and simulations of radial passages are undertaken in order to understand the salient flow and heat transfer features found, namely the inlet velocity profile and rib orientation relative to the mainstream flow. A consistent rib direction gives improved heat transfer characteristics whilst careful design of inlet conditions could give an optimised heat transfer distribution. The effect of rotation on the heat transfer distribution in leading edge impingement systems is investigated. As for the radial passages, RANS CFD simulations are compared and validated against experimental data from a rotating heat transfer rig. The simulations provide accurate average heat transfer levels under stationary and rotating conditions. The full target surface heat transfer in an engine realistic leading edge impingement system is investigated. Experimental data is compared to RANS CFD simulations. Experimental results are in line with previous studies and the simulations provide reasonable heat transfer predictions. A new method of combined thermal and mechanical analysis is presented and validated for a leading edge impingement system. Conjugate CFD simulations are used to provide a metal temperature distribution for a mechanical analysis. The effect of changes to the geometry and temperature profile on stress levels are studied and methods to improve blade stress levels are presented. The thermal FEA model is used to quantify the effect of HTC alterations on different surfaces within a leading edge impingement system, in terms of both temperature and stress distributions. These are then used to provide improved target HTC distributions in order to increase blade life. A new method using Gaussian process regression for thermal matching is presented and validated for a leading edge impingement case. A simplified model is matched to a full conjugate CFD solution to test the method's quality and reliability. It is then applied to two real engine blades and matched to data from thermal paint tests. The matches obtained are very close, well within experimental accuracy levels, and offer consistency and speed improvements over current methodologies.

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The significant increase in energy requirements across the world, provides several opportunities for innovative methods to be developed to facilitate the storage and utilization of energy. The major energy demand is in the form of electrical energy for domestic as well as industrial sectors, a large part of which are the heating and cooling requirements. Appropriate utilization of thermal energy storage can effectively aid in reducing the electrical demand by storage and release of this thermal energy during peak hours. Thermal Energy Storage using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) is an attractive method of energy storage, with a wide variety of potential applications. Several configurations have been tested by researchers to develop energy storage devices with PCMs. The cycling of melting and solidification of PCMs results in storage and release of heat at a relatively small temperature difference. Design and deployment of these storage systems have certain challenges and considerations associated to them for instance, when used in buildings, PCMs should be non-toxic, non-corrosive, and others. In this thesis, we aim to provide models for designing Latent Thermal Energy Storage (LTES) devices with PCMs, based on their operating conditions, thermophysical properties of materials, and geometric parameters. The models are developed considering fluid dynamics and heat transfer involved in melting and solidification of PCMs. Parameters like inlet temperature and velocity, and volume of storage container are varied to determine the time taken for melting or solidification. For sizing and predicting performance of the storage devices we aim at presenting an analytical correlation, with time taken for melting as the variable defining the ‘charging/discharging time’ of storage device. Along with this, a transient model is developed to predict amount of PCM melted/solidified, along with rate of latent energy storage in defined time period intervals.

Buildings in USA consume close to 40% of overall energy used and fenestration products (e.g. windows, doors, glazed-wall etc.) are the largest components of energy loss from buildings. Accurate evaluation of thermal performances of fenestration systems is critical in predicting the overall building energy use, and improving the product performance. Typically, two-dimensional (2-D) heat transfer analysis is used to evaluate their thermal performance as the 3-D analysis is highly complex process requiring significantly more time, effort, and cost compared to 2-D analysis. Another method of evaluation e.g. physical test in a hotbox is not possible for each product as they are too expensive. Heat transfer in fenestration products is a 3-D process and their effects on overall heat transfer need to be investigated. This thesis investigated 3-D heat transfer effects in fenestration systems in comparison to the 2-D results. No significant work has been done previously in terms of 3-D modeling of windows, which included all the three forms of heat transfer e.g. conduction, convection and radiation. Detailed 2-D and 3-D results were obtained for broad range of fenestration products in the market with a range of frame materials, spacers, insulated glass units (IGU), and sizes. All 2-D results were obtained with Therm5/Window5 (e.g. currently standard method of evaluating thermal performance) and GAMBIT/FLUENT while all 3-D results were obtained with GAMBIT/FLUENT. All the three modes of heat transfer mechanism were incorporated in the heat transfer modeling. The study showed that the overall 3-D heat transfer effects are relatively small (less than 3%) for present day framing and glazing systems. Though at individual component level (e.g. sill, head, Jamb) 3-D effects were quite significant (~10%) but they are cancelled by their opposite sign of variation when overall fenestration system effect is calculated. These 3-D heat transfer effects are higher for low conducting or more energy efficient glazing and framing systems and for smaller size products. The spacer systems did not have much impact on the 3-D effects on heat transfer. As the market transforms towards more insulating and higher performance fenestration products, 3-D effects on heat transfer would be an important factor to consider which it may require correlations to be applied to 2-D models, or may necessitate the development of dedicated 3-D fenestration heat transfer computer programs.

Thermally developing, electro-osmotically generated flow has been analyzed for a circular microtube under imposed constant wall temperature (CWT) and constant wall heat flux (CHF) boundary conditions. Established by a voltage potential gradient along the length of the microtube, the hydrodynamics of such a flow dictate either a slug flow velocity profile (under conditions of large tube radius-to-Debye length ratio, a/lambda_d) or a family of electro-osmotic flow (EOF) velocity profiles that depend on a/lambda_d. The imposed voltage gradient results in Joule heating in the fluid with an associated volumetric source of energy. For this scenario coupled with a slug flow velocity profile, the analytical solution for the fluid temperature development has been determined for both thermal boundary conditions. The local Nusselt number for the CHF boundary condition is shown to reduce to the classical slug flow thermal development for imposed constant wall heat flux, and is independent of Joule heating source magnitude. For the CWT boundary condition, a local minimum in the streamwise variation in local Nusselt number for moderate positive dimensionless inlet temperature is predicted. For negative dimensionless inlet temperature, which arises if the fluid entrance temperature is below the tube wall temperature, the fluid is initially heated, then cooled, resulting in a singularity in the local Nusselt number at the axial location of the heating/cooling transition. The thermal development length is considerably larger than for traditional pressure-driven flow heat transfer, and is a function of the magnitudes of Peclet number and dimensionless inlet temperature. For the EOF velocity profile scenario, numerical techniques were used to predict the fluid temperature development for both wall boundary conditions by utilizing a finite control volume approach. In addition to Joule heating as an energy source, viscous dissipation is also considered. The results predict that for decreasing a/lambda_d, the local Nusselt number decreases for all axial positions and the thermal development shortens for both wall boundary conditions. Viscous dissipation has significant effect only at intermediate values of a/lambda_d. Results predict local Nusselt numbers to increase for a CWT boundary condition and to decrease for an imposed constant wall heat flux with increasing viscous dissipation.