Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-12-04Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:50:44Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 minussi_rb_me_ilha.pdf: 1918415 bytes, checksum: 5176f1d27a7b361288abf94e48919e04 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Denominam-se problemas tipo rompimento de barreira os fenômenos nos quais um fluido é liberado de maneira abrupta. Quando o fluido apresenta natureza hiperconcentrada, a relação entre a tensão de cisalhamento e a taxa de deformação pode se tornar não-linear, passando a apresentar reologia não-Newtoniana. Problemas deste tipo podem ser encontrados em muitos fenômenos tanto na natureza quanto em processos industriais. O estudo de tal problema é, geralmente, conduzido usando simplificações, como a aproximação de águas rasas e a separação do escoamento em regimes dominantemente inerciais ou viscosos. O presente trabalho é composto de duas partes, uma experimental e outra, numérica. No campo experimental, duas soluções controladas são usadas: soluções aquosas de açúcar e de Carbopol 940, esta última com várias concentrações volumétricas. O aparato experimental consiste em um canal retangular de acrílico, contendo uma comporta, a montante da qual, o fluido é retido e, pela ruptura (levantamento da comporta), começa a escoar. O escoamento é estudado através de técnicas avançadas de filmagem. No campo numérico, são realizadas simulações usando o programa CFX, no qual é usado um método de rastreamento de interface, o VOF e sem o emprego das simplificações citadas. Os resultados experimentais são comparados com os numéricos e com resultados da literatura que usam tais simplificações. Na comparação a aproximação de águas rasas, apesar de descrever bem a forma da interface, se distancia dos valores reais da posição da frente de onda. / The dam break problem describes a phenomenon in which there is an abrupt release of fluid. When the fluid is hiperconcentrated, the relation between the shear stress and the strain rate can become non-linear, and so present a non-Newtonian rheology. The non-Newtonian dam break problem may be found in many phenomena in nature and industrial process. The study of such a problem is, generally, conducted using simplified hypothesis such as the shallow water approximation and the separation of the flow in inertial and viscous dominated regimes. The present work is composed of two parts, one experimental and other, numerical. In the experimental field, two controlled solutions were used: water solutions of sugar and of Carbopol 940, the last one with a wide range of volume concentrations. These fluids have, respectively, Newtonian and non-Newtonian rheologies. The experimental setup consists of an acrylic rectangular channel, which has a dam and upstream of that the fluid is retained and, by the rupture, it begins to flow. The flow is studied by using advanced filming techniques. In the numerical field, simulations are conducted using the CFX software, which uses an interface tracking method, the VOF, and without the shallow water approximation and the division of the flow. So the experimental, numerical and literature results, that uses such simplifications, are compared and it is showed that the shallow water approximation, however describes very well the shape of the surface, is not accurate in calculate the wave front position.

The scope of the present thesis is the development of a Computational Fluid Dynamics model to describe the multiphase flow inside a structured packing absorber for postcombustion carbon capture. The work focuses mainly on two flow characteristics: the interface tracking and the reactive mass transfer between the gas and the liquid. The interface tracking brings the possibility of studying the liquid maldistribution phenomenon, which strongly affects the mass transfer performance. The development of a user-defined function to account for the reactive mass transfer between phases constitutes the second major concept considered in this thesis. Numerical models found in the literature are divided into three scales due to the current computational capacity: small-, meso- and large-scale. Small-scale has usually dealt with interface tracking in 2D computational domains. Meso-scale has usually been considered to assess the dry pressure drop performance of the packing (considering only the gas phase). Large-scale studies the liquid distribution over the whole column assuming that the structured packing behaves as a porous medium. This thesis focuses on small- and meso-scale. The novelty of this work lies in expanding the capabilities of the aforementioned scales. At small-scale, the interfacial tracking is implemented in a 3D domain, instead of 2D. The user-defined function that describes the reactive mass transfer of CO2 into the aqueous MEA solution is also included to assess the influence of the liquid maldistribution on the mass transfer performance. At the meso-scale, the Volume of Fluid method for interface tracking is included (instead of only the gas phase) to describe flow characteristics such as the liquid hold-up, the interfacial area and the mass transfer. At the theoretical level, this model presents the particularity of including both a mass and a momentum source term in the conservation equations. A comprehensive mathematical development shows the influence of the mass source terms on the momentum equation.

Worldwide demand for energy is increasing rapidly, partly driven by dramatic economic growth in developing countries. This growth has sparked concerns over the finite availability of fossil fuels and the impact of their combustion on climate change. Consequently, many recent research efforts have been devoted to the development of renewable fuels and sustainable energy systems. Interest in liquid biofuels, such as ethanol, has been particularly high because these fuels fit into the conventional infrastructure for the transportation sector. Ethanol is a renewable fuel produced through the anaerobic fermentation of sugars obtained from biomass. However, the relatively high energy demand of its production process is a major factor limiting the usefulness of ethanol as a fuel. Due to the dilute nature of the fermentation product stream and the presence of the ethanol-water azeotrope, the separation processes currently used to recover anhydrous ethanol are particularly inefficient. In fact, the ethanol separation processes account for a large fraction of the total process energy demand. In the conventional ethanol separation process, ethanol is recovered using several distillation steps combined with a dehydration process. In this dissertation, a new hybrid pervaporation-distillation system, named Membrane Dephlegmation, was proposed and investigated for use in ethanol recovery. In this process, countercurrent vapour-liquid contacting is carried out on the surface of a pervaporation membrane, leading to a combination of distillation and pervaporation effects. It was intended that this new process would lead to improved economics and energy efficiency for the entire ethanol production process. The Membrane Dephlegmation process was investigated using both numerical and experimental techniques. Multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to study vapour-liquid contacting behaviour in narrow channels and to estimate heat and mass transfer rates. Results from the CFD studies were incorporated into a simplified design model and the Membrane Dephlegmation process was studied numerically. The results indicated that the Membrane Dephlegmation process was more efficient than simple distillation and that the ethanol-water azeotrope could be broken. Subsequently, a pilot-scale experimental system was constructed using commercially available, hydrophilic NaA zeolite membranes. Results obtained from the experimental system confirmed the accuracy of the simulations.

This master’s thesis deals with analytical and numerical description of surface gravity waves. Wave theories and their influence on water particle movement is described in the theoretical part of the thesis. Water particle moves in the same direction as wave propagation and this phenomenon is called Stokes drift. It has a significant influence on sediment transport and floating particle movement at water free surface. The experimental part consists of wave profile monitoring and water particle tracking in a wave flume with wave generator and beach model. The experimental results are compared with numerical simulation performed in the ANSYS Fluent software. Finally, the wave profiles obtained from simulation are compared with experimental wave profiles extracted by digital image processing.

CFD is today a big part of the design process in hydraulic engineering and is more economical and time efficient than traditional scale models. But, there are still issues concerning the agreement with scale models in large and complex geometries. In this degree project a high head, five channeled, slotted flip bucket spillway system is analyzed with the CFD software FLUENT and compared with existing scale model results. The sought hydraulic parameters in each channel were the discharge capacity, the pressure distribution and the throw distance from the flip buckets. The discharge capacity and pressure distribution was practically equal for all five channels and only the throw distance from Channel 1 deviated from the others. The agreement with data from the scale model is quite low. The biggest error sources behind the bad agreement may depend on the lack of computational power which led to bad choice of cell size, model delimitations and simplifications. CFD models can easily be built up by people without experience in hydraulics which can lead to fatal errors when building up the model and interpreting results. Hence, long experience in CFD or verification of the numerical results with several different hydraulic parameters is the only way to guarantee qualitative results from CFD modeling.

Due to the high-speed flow in a chute spillway, cavitation damages often occur. This undesired phenomenon threatens the safety of the structure. For the purpose of eliminating the damages, an aerator is often installed in the spillway. To understand its characteristics, physical model tests are a popular method. To complement the model tests, computation fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to study aerator flows. To represent the two-phase flows, multiphase models should be employed. This thesis examines two of them, namely, the Volume-Of-Fluid model (VOF) and Two-Fluid model. Based on the background of the Bergeforsen dam, the aerator flow is modelled by means of the VOF model. The simulated spillway discharge capacity is in accordance with the experimental data. Compared with the results, empirical formulas fail to evaluate the air supply capacity of aerator as it is wider than the conventional width. A hypothetical vent modification is proposed. For the original and proposed layouts, the study illustrates the difference in the air-flow conditions. The results show that a larger vent area is, for a large-width aerator, preferable in the middle of the chute. To study the flip bucket-shaped aerators in the Gallejaur dam, physical model tests and prototype observations are conducted. The results lead to contradicting conclusions in terms of jet breakup and air entrainment. A CFD model is, as an option, employed to explain the reason of the discrepancy. The numerical results coincide with the prototype observations. The jet breakup and air entrainment are evaluated from air cavity profiles; the air-pressure drops are small in the cavity. The discrepancy is due to overestimation of the surface-tension effect in the physical model tests. Based on the experimental data of an aerator rig at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, the Two-Fluid model is used to predict air concentration distributions in the aerated flow. The model includes relevant forces governing the motion of bubbles and considers the effects of air bubble size. The numerical results are conformable to the experiments in the air cavity zone. Downstream of the cavity, the air concentration near the chute bottom is higher, which is presumably caused by the fact that the interfacial forces in the Two-Fluid model are underestimated. / <p>QC 20170224</p>

Wave energy technology is currently growing and gaining popularity. With around 100 separate technologies researched globally in over 25 countries wave energy are believed to soon be able to compete with other renewable sources such as wind energy. One of the new technologies is WaveTube; a wave energy converter currently under development and in need of technical verification. The basic idea of WaveTube is a partially submerged container with an enclosed fresh water volume. The kinetic energy of the ocean waves are transferred onto the floating container, creating an inner flow in the structure and electricity is generated as the fresh water flows through turbines. Previous small-scale model tests have confirmed the basic idea of WaveTube and an inherent continuation is visualizing and evaluating the inner flow using Computational Fluid Dynamics. A simplified 2D simulation where the WaveTube structure is subject to a pure sinusoidal, rotational motion was believed to be able to give useful information about the inner flow field. However, this Master Thesis project shows that a simulation using ANSYS Fluent of this case is not a successful approach. With inner moving parts a so called dynamic mesh was required, which updates the mesh as the boundaries move. In order for this method to be successful the mesh needs to be of high quality. However, for the complex geometry that WaveTube is no mesh was found to meet the requirements and the calculations using the Volume of Fluid method were not able to proceed.

Defrosting in the refrigeration industry is used to remove the frost layer accumulated on the evaporators after a period of running time. It is one way to improve the energy efficiency of refrigeration systems. There are many studies about the defrosting process but none of them use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The purpose of this thesis is (1) to develop a defrost model using the commercial CFD solver FLUENT to simulate numerically the melting of frost coupled with the heat and mass transfer taking place during defrosting, and (2) to investigate the thermal response of the evaporator and the defrost time for different hot gas temperatures and frost densities. A 3D geometry of a finned tube evaporator is developed and meshed using Gambit 2.4.6, while numerical computations were conducted using FLUENT 12.1. The solidification and melting model is used to simulate the melting of frost and the Volume of Fluid (VOF) model is used to render the surface between the frost and melted frost during defrosting. A user-defined-function in C programming language was written to model the frost evaporation and sublimation taking place on the free surface between frost and air. The model was run under different hot gas temperatures and frost densities and the results were analyzed to show the effects of these parameters on defrosting time, input energy and stored energy in the metal mass of the evaporator. The analyses demonstrate that an optimal hot gas temperature can be identified so that the defrosting process takes place at the shortest possible melting time and with the lowest possible input energy.

This project deals with the CFD modelling of a free surface flow. The aim is to develop and validate a fast and accurate numerical model for stratified two-phase flows. Volume of Fluid (VOF) multiphase model is employed. The purpose is to use the developed numerical model for the design of an element within a compact nuclear reactor.Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are conducted. Two free surface test cases are simulated to verify and ensure robustness of the model: a dam break and a vertical cylindrical obstacle set in a channel. From there, an optimization is performed in order to find the best compromise between accuracy and rapidity with the solver. The proper set of parameter models is found by carrying out extensive sensitivity studies and compare the solutions with available measurements.The obtained numerical results show a reasonable good agreement with the experimental data for the dam-break. Significant time savings are achieved thanks to the implemented optimization process while maintaining accuracy. The optimized model is then applied to the second test case and comparisons with experimental measurements are carried out. The same physical behavior of the flow as in experiments is captured with the simulations. The differences found between the simulation data and experiments are partly due to the difficulty to monitor experimentally with a high accuracy the highly non uniform regions within the flow.

During intense rain events a stormwater system can fill rapidly and undergo a transition from open channel flow to pressurized flow. This transition can create large discrete pockets of trapped air in the system. These pockets are pressurized in the horizontal reaches of the system and then are released through vertical vents. In extreme cases, the transition and release of air pockets can create a geyser feature. The current models are inadequate for simulating mixed flows with complicated air-water interactions, such as geysers. Additionally, the simulation of air escaping in the vertical dropshaft is greatly simplified, or completely ignored, in the existing models. In this work a two-phase numerical model solving the Navier-Stokes equations is developed to investigate the key factors that form geysers. A projection method is used to solve the Navier-Stokes Equation. An advanced two-phase flow model, Volume of Fluid (VOF), is implemented in the Navier-Stokes solver to capture and advance the interface. This model has been validated with standard two-phase flow test problems that involve significant interface topology changes, air entrainment and violent free surface motion. The results demonstrate the capability of handling complicated two-phase interactions. The numerical results are compared with experimental data and theoretical solutions. The comparisons consistently show satisfactory performance of the model. The model is applied to a real stormwater system and accurately simulates the pressurization process in a horizontal channel. The two-phase model is applied to simulate air pockets rising and release motion in a vertical riser. The numerical model demonstrates the dominant factors that contribute to geyser formation, including air pocket size, pressurization of main pipe and surcharged state in the vertical riser. It captures the key dynamics of two-phase flow in the vertical riser, consistent with experimental results, suggesting that the code has an excellent potential of extending its use to practical applications.