This document focuses on the procedure and results of creating a thermohydraulic model of the secondary cooling system of the SAFARI-1 research reactor at the Pelindaba facility of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) to the west of Pretoria, South Africa. The secondary cooling system is an open recirculating cooling system that comprises an array of parallel-coupled heat exchangers between the primary systems and the main heat sink system, which consists of multiple counterflow-induced draught cooling towers. The original construction of the reactor was a turnkey installation, with no theoretical/technical support or verifiability. The design baseline is therefore not available and it is necessary to reverse-engineer a system that could be modelled and characterised. For the nuclear operator, it is essential to be able to make predictions and systematically implement modifications to improve system performance, such as to understand and modify the control system. Another objective is to identify the critical performance areas of the thermohydraulic system or to determine whether the cooling capacity of the secondary system meets the optimum original design characteristics. The approach was to perform a comprehensive one-dimensional modelling of all the available physical components, which was followed by using existing performance data to verify the accuracy and validity of the developed model. Where performance data is not available, separate analysis through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling is performed to generate the required inputs. The results yielded a model that is accurate within 10%. This is acceptable when compared to the variation within the supplied data, generated and assumed alternatives, and when considering the compounding effect of the large amount of interdependent components, each with their own characteristics and associated performance uncertainties. The model pointed to potential problems within the current system, which comprised either an obstruction in a certain component or faulty measuring equipment. Furthermore, it was found that the current spray nozzles in the cooling towers are underutilised. It should be possible to use the current cooling tower arrangement to support a similar second reactor, although slight modifications would be required to ensure that the current system is not operated beyond its current limits. The interdependent nature of two parallel systems and the variability of the conditions that currently exist would require a similar analysis as the current model to determine the viability of using the existing cooling towers for an additional reactor. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

Yes / Reverse osmosis (RO) has found extensive applications in industry as an efficient separation process in comparison with thermal process. In this study, a one-dimensional distributed model based on a wastewater treatment spiral-wound RO system is developed to simulate the transport phenomena of solute and water through the membrane and describe the variation of operating parameters along the x-axis of membrane. The distributed model is tested against experimental data available in the literature derived from a chlorophenol rejection system implemented on a pilot-scale cross-flow RO filtration system with an individual spiral-wound membrane at different operating conditions. The proposed model is then used to carry out an optimisation study using a genetic algorithm (GA). The GA is developed to solve a formulated optimisation problem involving two objective functions of RO wastewater system performance. The model code is written in MATLAB, and the optimisation problem is solved using an optimisation platform written in C++. The objective function is to maximize the solute rejection at different cases of feed concentration and minimize the operating pressure to improve economic aspects. The operating feed flow rate, pressure and temperature are considered as decision variables. The optimisation problem is subjected to a number of upper and lower limits of decision variables, as recommended by the module’s manufacturer, and the constraint of the pressure loss along the membrane length to be within the allowable value. The algorithm developed has yielded a low optimisation execution time and resulted in improved unit performance based on a set of optimal operating conditions.

Yes / N-nitrosamine in wastewater treatment processes can contribute to several public health impacts including human carcinogens even at very low concentration. In this work, spiral-wound reverse osmosis (SWRO) process is used to remove N-nitrosamine compounds from wastewater. Effects of operating parameters of the SWRO process on the removal of N-nitrosamine, total water recovery, and specific energy consumption for a SWRO configurations are evaluated via simulation and optimisation. For this purpose, the one-dimensional distributed model developed earlier by the authors is modified by including different mass transfer coefficient correlation, temperature dependent water and solute permeability correlations and energy equations. The model is first validated by estimating a new set of model parameters using eight set of experimental data from the literature and is then used to simulate the process with and without energy recovery device to facilitate deeper insight of the effect of operating conditions on the process performance. The model is then embedded within an optimisation framework and optimisation problems to maximise N-nitrosamine rejections and to minimise specific energy consumption are formulated and solved while the operating conditions are optimized simultaneously.

There is a constant struggle to increase the efficiency in gas turbines, where one method is to have a higher inlet temperature to the turbine. Often, this results in temperatures higher than the critical temperature of the materials, which makes cooling of the components an important part of the turbine. The cooling air is tapped from the compressor, and has hence required work while being compressed, but since it is removed from the thermodynamic cycle it will not provide any work in the turbine stages. Therefore, it is important to understand the losses in the cooling system to be able to use the smallest amount of cooling air possible, while still cool sufficiently to not decrease the turbine’s lifetime. The pressure losses in the cooling and secondary air systems are due to either friction or minor losses; contractions, expansions and bends. The losses can be described by a discharge coefficient, ; a rate of how close the actual mass flow is to the ideal mass flow, or a pressure loss coefficient, ; a rate of the pressure drop. In the cooling and secondary air systems there are orifices and cooling geometries. These can have different geometrical properties depending on application, and thereby have different heat transfer performances and causing a higher or lower pressure drop. At Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB, SIT AB, a one-dimensional in-house program named C3D is used for thermal calculations and calculations of flow properties of internal cooling flow networks. The program uses hydraulic networks consisting of nodes and branches to simulate the flow inside the components. Correlations used for describing pressure losses have been collected and divided depending on their valid ranges, with the aim to make pressure loss calculations easier. A MATLAB code have been developed, which, depending on input parameters, separates the correlations and returns a plot with the correlations that can be used. In order to make the code as useful as possible, a few assumptions were made; curve fitting of correlations which were only available as plots and interpolation to get larger valid ranges for some cases. These assumptions will influence the results, but the code will still be able to give an indication of which correlation to use, and hence, the objective is fulfilled. Simulations in one dimension are commonly used, since it is less time consuming than three-dimensional modelling. Therefore, with focus on the pressure losses, a one-dimensional model of a blade in the in-house program C3D has been evaluated using a three-dimensional model in the CFD program Ansys CFX. Also, two new models were created in C3D; both with geometrical properties and pressure loss coefficients adjusted to the CFX model, but the first model is using the same hydraulic network as in the evaluated, reference, model while the second is using a new network, built according to the streamlines in CFX. The resulting mass flows in the C3D models were compared to the mass flows in the CFX model, which ended in the conclusion that it is hard for the one-dimensional models to understand the complex, three-dimensional flow situations, even when adjusting them to the CFX model. Anyhow, the adjustments made the model somewhat closer to the three-dimensional case, and hence CFX should be used in an earlier stage when developing C3D models.

Un modelo de simulación presenta muchas ventajas en el campo del desarrollo de motores de combustión interna alternativos. Su utilidad es doble. Por un lado, para entender la naturaleza de los fenómenos físicos que suceden en el interior del motor, y por otro, con el fin de optimizar el diseño de los sistemas que integran el mismo. El principal objetivo de esta tesis es desarrollar un modelo de un motor de dos tiempos de 125 cc de altas prestaciones para caracterizar la fluidodinámica interna en los sistemas de admisión, cilindro y escape. Para la construcción del modelo unidimensional del motor es imprescindible conocer información experimental. Por tanto, se han caracterizado de forma experimental los elementos que forman el motor. Por una parte, se ha usado un banco de impulsos para la caracterización dinámica. Por otra parte, se ha empleado un banco de flujo para caracterizar las pérdidas de presión en los elementos. Además, en banco motor, se ha analizado el proceso de combustión, con el objetivo de determinar la ley de liberación de calor. En relación a las tareas de modelado, se ha usado un modelo de diagnóstico para caracterizar del proceso de combustión, experimentando 37 condiciones de operación modificando el régimen de giro, el avance del encendido y usando cinco sistemas de escape. Asimismo, con el fin de poder reproducir el fenómeno de propagación de ondas en el interior del sistema de escape se ha propuesto un modelo de transmisión de calor ya que los modelos convencionales usados en motores de 4T no proporcionan resultados precisos al no contemplar los fenómenos físicos que suceden en el proceso de escape espontáneo de un motor de 2T de estas características. Para ello, se ha caracterizado experimentalmente el fenómeno de propagación de ondas en el interior del sistema de escape midiendo con diversos transductores de presión a lo largo de: un escape de diámetro constante y recto, y varios sistemas de escape derivados del original del motor. El primero se usó para proceder al necesario ajuste de las constantes del modelo mientras que los segundos para realizar la validación del mismo. Para el desarrollo del modelo de transmisión de calor se han contemplado las fluctuaciones de la velocidad instantánea del fluido y la disipación de la turbulencia con una longitud de entrada. Una vez es construido el modelo unidimensional del motor con capacidad de reproducir los complejos fenómenos ondulatorios que existen en el interior de los sistemas de admisión, cilindro y escape, es necesario desarrollar correlaciones para los parámetros que definen la función de Wiebe, usada como ley de liberación de calor en el cilindro. Se ha correlacionado la variación de estos parámetros (en particular, la duración de la combustión y el parámetro de forma) con variables de funcionamiento del motor: régimen de giro y avance del encendido, y variables que se calculan en el modelo: fracción de residuales y densidad de la carga. De esta forma se dispone de un modelo predictivo de las prestaciones del motor si se conoce una correlación para las pérdidas mecánicas, que también ha sido obtenida. El uso del modelo de transmisión de calor propuesto en este trabajo reproduce con precisión la fase y amplitud de la presión de escape con valores inferiores al 1% al comparar el coeficiente de admisión medido y modelado. Las diferencias pueden alcanzar el 7% si se emplean otros modelos encontrados en la literatura. Por otra parte, los resultados obtenidos al usar las correlaciones para la combustión se traducen en: diferencias inferiores al 1.5% entre potencia medida y modelada para todas las condiciones de funcionamiento del motor si el proceso de combustión presenta un coeficiente de variación en la presión del cilindro inferior al 2.5%. Cuando el coeficiente de variación aumenta, debido a la dispersión cíclica, las diferencias entre potencia medida y modelada pueden alcanzar el 4%. Palabras clave: Motores de Combustión Interna Alternativos, Motor de Dos Tiempos, Altas Prestaciones, Instalaciones Experimentales y Medición, Modelado Unidimensional, Modelo de Acción de Ondas, Proceso de Combustión, Transmisión de Calor. / Jiménez Macedo, VD. (2013). Contribución al modelado unidimensional en motores de dos tiempos de altas prestaciones [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/30773 / TESIS