Current research shows that pulse combustion impingement drying is an improvement over the steady impingement drying currently in commercial use. Pulse combustion impingement has higher heat transfer rates and a lower impact on the environment. Commercialization of pulse impingement drying is the goal of the Pulsed Air Drying group at IPST. To that end the objective of this project is to develop a system that will allow researchers to measure heat transfer rates at the impingement surface from the impinging air. A water cooled impingement plate with temperature and heat flux measuring capabilities was developed which accurately measures and records the desired information. The impingement plate was tested and its results were verified by comparison with previous literature. Finally a preliminary comparison between steady and pulse combustion impingement was carried out. The study shows pulsed combustion impingement to be superior to steady impingement.

This research investigation examines the thermal behaviour of single and arrays of fluid jets impinging at heated surfaces, and formulates enhancement schemes for the jet impingement heat transfer processes for high-intensity cooling applications. The proposed techniques are numerically modelled and analysed over a wide parametric range to identify flow characteristics leading to thermal enhancement and optimum performance. The first scheme applies to a single fluid jet and incorporates a protruding object at the impingement surface to improve heat transfer. In this, a conical protrusion of high thermal conductivity is attached to the heated surface directly beneath the jet. Three different aspect ratios of 0.5, 1 and 2 are investigated for the protrusion while the inclusion of a fillet at the base of the cone is also studied. Jet Reynolds numbers between 100 and 30,000 are modelled. The observed thermal performance is compared with a reference case having no surface attachment. With this arrangement, the heat transfer rate typically varies between 10 and 40 percent above the reference case although depending on certain parametric combinations, the heat transfer may increase above or decrease below the reference performance. The highest indicated increase in heat transfer is about 90 percent while 15 percent below is the lowest. Careful selection of cone surface profile creates potential for further thermal enhancement. / The second scheme applies to a single fluid jet and incorporates a recess in the impingement surface to improve heat transfer. In this, a cylindrical cavity is introduced to the surface beneath the jet into which the fluid jet impinges. The effects of the cavity on heat transfer are examined for a number of different cavity diameters, cavity depths and jet discharge heights wherein a surface without a cavity is taken as the reference surface. Cavity diameters of 2, 3 and 4 times the jet diameter are investigated at cavity depths between zero and 4 times the jet diameter. Jet discharge heights range between 2 jet diameters above the reference surface to 2 jet diameters below the reference surface. The jet Reynolds number is varied between 100 and 30,000. With this enhancement technique, increases in heat transfer rates of up to 45 percent are observed when compared to the reference performance. The thermal performance of fluid jet arrays is examined by altering square or hexagonal array configurations to identify flow characteristics leading to optimal heat transfer rates. For this, the jet to jet spacing is varied between 1.5 and 7 times the jet diameter while the jet to surface height is varied between 2 and 6 times the jet diameter. Jet Reynolds numbers between 100 and 30,000 are investigated. For each configuration, a critical jet-to-jet spacing is identified below which the heat transfer is observed to reduce significantly. Correlations for the expected heat transfer for a square or hexagonal array are presented in terms of the jet to jet spacing, jet height and jet Reynolds number.

As a result of the intense air-water interaction in the spray nozzle, air-mist spray is one of the most promising technologies for attaining high heat transfer. CFD simulations and multivariable linear regression were used in the first part of this study to analyze the air-mist spray produced by a flat-fan atomizer and to predict the heat transfer coefficient using the casting operating conditions such as air pressure, water flow rate, cast speed and standoff distance. For the air-mist spray cooling simulation, a four-step simulation method was utilized to capture the turbulent flow and mixing of the two fluids in the nozzle, as well as the generation, transport, and heat transfer of droplets. Analysis of the casting parameters showed that an increase in air pressure results in efficient atomization, increases the kinetic energy of the droplets and produces smaller droplet size thus, the cooling of the slab increases significantly. Also, a decrease in water flow rate, standoff distance and casting speed would result in more efficient cooling of the steel slab. The second part of the study investigated the solidification of steel in the secondary cooling region. Caster geometry and casting parameters were studied to evaluate their impact on the solidification of steel. The parameters studied include roll gap, roll diameter, casting speed and superheat. It was found that a smaller ratio of roll gap to roll diameter is more efficient for adequate solidification of steel without any defect. Casting speed was found to have a significant effect on the solidification of steel while superheat was found to be insignificant in the secondary zone solidification. The result from the air-mist spray cooling was integrated into the solidification model to investigate the solidification of steel in the entire caster and predict the surface temperature, shell growth and metallurgical length. To replicate real casting process, temperature dependent material properties of the steel were evaluated using a thermodynamic software, JMatPro. The air-mist spray model was majorly investigated using ANSYS Fluent 2020R1 CFD tool while the solidification of steel was studied using STARCCM+ CFD software. Using the findings from this study, continuous casting processes and optimization can be improved.