Finite Element computer codes in two and three dimensions were written that solve both laminar and turbulent flow. These codes use the two equation (k and E) turbulence model to evaluate turbulent viscosity. They were tested with 29 different flow problems. The largest two dimensional turbulent problem solved is flow under a sluice gate. A three dimensional vortex flow problem was attempted but was not feasible due to the size of the available computer. The Harwell sparse matrix subroutines of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority were used to solve the set of simultaneous equations. The performance of these subroutines is evaluated. The importance of defining adequate finite element grids and setting proper boundary and initial conditions is discussed.

A turbulence model was developed for computing surface velocity coefficients and discharge under steady, uniform flow conditions for rectangular and compound open-channel cross sections. Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, Reynolds stress equations, and kinetic energy and dissipation equations were applied in the model using the finite-volume method with the SIMPLER algorithm. The models show graphical results of the velocity distributions in the longitudinal bed slope direction, secondary velocities, pressure, turbulence kinetic energy, and kinetic energy dissipation rate across the cross section. Also, the surface velocity coefficients were computed at increments of one-eighth of the base width from the vertical walls to the center of the cross section, and the submergence depth of the floating object from zero to 30 cm, with a 5-cm depth increment. Four different sets of Reynolds stress equations (one set by Boussinesq hypothesis and three sets of algebraic stress model) were used to calculate the results. Only one version of the algebraic stress model was successful in predicting the depression of the maximum streamwise velocity below the water surface. The model was calibrated and verified using laboratory data collected at Utah State University. Calculated discharges from the turbulence model had very good agreement with the laboratory data. The surface velocity coefficients from model results were generally lower than the results from the laboratory data, but higher than the values published by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Standard cross sections of rectangular and compound cross sections were defined to simulate the model results and model sensitivity to parameter changes. The model results were summarized to show the relationship between surface velocity coefficient and channel characteristics compared with the published values by the USBR. For rectangular cross sections, the coefficients from the model are higher than the published USBR values. But the coefficients from the model and USBR are in very close agreement for the tested compound cross sections. The published coefficients by the USBR are a function of only average water depth. However, the model results show that the coefficients are also related to channel size, surface roughness height, float submergence depth, and lateral location of the float object. These factors should be included in the determination of the surface velocity coefficient to improve the discharge estimations from the application of the float method.

Wind resource assessment at California Polytechnic State University shows there is potential for wind power generation on Cal Poly land. A computational fluid dynamics model based on wind data collected from a campus maintained meteorological tower on Escuela Ranch approximately 5 miles northwest of campus suggests there are areas of Cal Poly land with an IEC Class III wind resource at a height of 80 meters above ground. In addition during the daytime when the campus uses the most energy there are large portions of land with annual average daytime wind speeds above 6.9m/s. These areas have been identified by analyzing the wind speed and directional data collected at the meteorological tower and using it to create the boundary conditions and turbulence parameters for the computer model. The model boundary conditions and turbulence parameters have been verified through comparison between data collected at Askervein hill in Scotland during the 1980’s and the results of a simulation of Askervein hill using the same model. Before constructing a wind farm for power generation, additional meteorological towers should be constructed in Poly Canyon to further confirm the wind resource prediction.

No / The results of computational fluid dynamics simulation for convective heat transfer of turbulent flow in a cooled convergent-divergent nozzle are reported. The importance of the heat transfer coefficient is to find the most suitable metals for the nozzle wall as well as its application for producing nano-particles. ansys-icem and ansys-cfx 13.0 are used to mesh and simulate fluid flow in the nozzle, respectively. Effects of grid resolution and different turbulence models on the heat transfer coefficient are investigated. Three turbulence models of k-omega, k-epsilon and shear stress transport are applied to calculate the heat transfer coefficient. Stagnation absolute pressure and temperature are 10.3 bara and 840 K, respectively, the same as those in the experimental work. The heat transfer coefficients obtained from simulation are compared with the available experimental data in literature to find out the best suitable mesh grid and the turbulence model. Under the selected operating conditions, k-epsilon and k-omega models have shown the best agreement with the experimental data with the average error of 6.5% and 10%, respectively, while shear stress transport under predicts the values with 16% error.

No / Nazarbayev University Seed Grant, entitled “Environmental assessment of sediment pollution impact on hydropower plants”.

No description available.

yes / A two dimensional (2D) RNG k-ε sediment model including the effects of secondary currents is developed to simulate sediment transport and bed deformation in rivers with continuous bends. Nonuniform suspended and bedload sediment transports and variation of effective bed material size distribution are included in the model. A semi-coupled scheme for sediment model is proposed, which can be used for simulating both the long- and short-term sediment transport whenever riverbed changes. The model is applied to simulate the flow and sediment transport in the Shapotou reservoir in the upper reach of the Yellow River which is a typical natural river reach with continuous bends. River bed deformations caused by suspended and bedload sediment transport are investigated. Good agreement between the numerically simulated results and the field measurements is obtained, indicating that the model is capable of simulating the sediment transport and predicting the bed deformation of rivers having continuous bends with reasonable accuracy. / the Major Research Plan Project, National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.: 91230111 and 51279071); National Key BasicResearch Development Program of China (973 Program, Grant No.: 2010CB429002);Project of Science and Technology of Colleges in Ningxia, China (Grant No.:NGY2012097)

The primary purpose of this thesis is to quantify the effects of RANS turbulence modeling on the resolution of free shear vortical flows. The simulation of aerodynamic wing-tip vortices is used as a test bed. The primary configuration is flow over an isolated finite wing with aspect ratio, , and Reynolds number, . Tip-vortex velocity profiles, vortex core and wake turbulence levels, and Reynolds stresses are compared with wind tunnel measurements. Three turbulence models for RANS closure are tested: the Lumley, Reece, and Rodi full Reynolds stress transport model and the Sparlart-Allmaras model with and without a proposed modification. The main finding is that simulations with the full Reynolds stress transport model show remarkable mean flow agreement in the vortex and wake due to the proper prediction of a laminar vortex core. Simulations with the Spalart-Allmaras model did not indicate a laminar core and predicted over-diffusion of the tip-vortex. Secondary investigations in this work include the study of wall boundary layer treatment and simulating the wake-age of an isolated rotorcraft in hover using a steady-state RANS solver. By comparing skin friction plots over the NACA 0012 airfoil, it is shown that wall functions are most effective in the trailing edge half of the airfoil, while high velocity gradient and curvature of the leading edge make them more vulnerable to discrepancies. The rotorcraft simulation uses the modified Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and shows proper, qualitative, resolution of the interaction between the vortex sheet and the tip vortex. / Master of Science

A numerical study of turbulent combustion systems was pursued to examine different computational modeling techniques, namely computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and chemical reactor network (CRN) methods. Both methods have been studied and analyzed as individual techniques as well as a coupled approach to pursue better understandings of the mechanisms and interactions between turbulent flow and mixing, ignition behavior and pollutant formation. A thorough analysis and comparison of both turbulence models and chemistry representation methods was executed and simulations were compared and validated with experimental works. An extensive study of turbulence modeling methods, and the optimization of modeling techniques including turbulence intensity and computational domain size have been conducted. The final CFD model has demonstrated good predictive performance for different turbulent bluff-body flames. The NOx formation and the effects of fuel mixtures indicated that the addition of hydrogen to the fuel and non-flammable diluents like CO2 and H2O contribute to the reduction of NOx. The second part of the study focused on developing chemical models and methods that include the detailed gaseous reaction mechanism of GRI-Mech 3.0 but cost less computational time. A new chemical reactor network has been created based on the CFD results of combustion characteristics and flow fields. The proposed CRN has been validated with the temperature and species emission for different bluff-body flames and has shown the capability of being applied to general bluff-body systems. Specifically, the rate of production of NOx and the sensitivity analysis based on the CRN results helped to summarize the reduced reaction mechanism, which not only provided a promising method to generate representative reactions from hundreds of species and reactions in gaseous mechanism but also presented valuable information of the combustion mechanisms and NOx formation. Finally, the proposed reduced reaction mechanism from the sensitivity analysis was applied to the CFD simulations, which created a fully coupled process between CFD and CRN, and the results from the reduced reaction mechanism have shown good predictions compared with the probability density function method. / Ph. D.

Solar energy is incident on the earth's surface in both short-wave and long-wave parts of the spectrum. The short-wave part of the spectrum is of special interest to oceanographers since the vertical distribution of temperature in the top layer of the ocean is mostly determined by the vertical attenuation of short-wave radiation. There are numerous studies regarding the temperature evolution as a function of time (see Chapter 2 for details). The diurnal and seasonal variation of the heat content (and hence temperature) of the ocean is explored in this thesis. The basis for such heat budget simulation lies in the fact that the heat budget is the primary driver of ocean currents (maybe secondary to wind effects) and these circulation features affect the biological and chemical effects of that region. The vertical attenuation of light (classified to be in the 300-700 nm range) in the top layer of the ocean has been parameterized by several authors. Simpson and Dickey (1981) in their paper have listed the various attenuation schemes in use till then. This includes a single-exponential form, a bimodal exponential form, and a spectral decomposition into nine spectral bands, each with their specific exponential functions with depth. The effects of vertical light attenuation have been investigated by integrating the light models into a 1D and a 3D turbulence closure model. The main part of the thesis is the inclusion of a bottom effect in the shallow waters. Bottom serves two purposes, it reflects some light based on its albedo and it radiates the rest of the light as heat. 1-D simulation including bottom effects clearly indicates the effect of light on the temperature profile and also the corresponding effect on salinity profiles. An extension of the study includes a 3D simulation of the heat budget and the associated circulation and hydrodynamics. Intense heating due to the bottom leads to the formation of hyper-saline waters that percolate down to depths of 50 m in the summer. Such plumes have been simulated by using a 3D numerical ocean model and it is consistent with observations from the Bahamas banks.