In this thesis a numerical study has been undertaken to investigate turbulent flow and heat transfer in a number of flow problems, representing the gas-cooled reactor core flows. The first part of the research consisted of a meticulous assessment of various advanced RANS models of fluid turbulence against experimental and numerical data for buoyancy-modified mixed convection flows, such flows being representative of low-flow-rate flows in the cores of nuclear reactors, both presently-operating Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGRs) and proposed ‘Generation IV’ designs. For this part of the project, an in-house code (‘CONVERT’), a commercial CFD package (‘STAR-CD’) and an industrial code (‘Code_Saturne’) were used to generate results. Wide variations in turbulence model performance were identified. Comparison with the DNS data showed that the Launder-Sharma model best captures the phenomenon of heat transfer impairment that occurs in the ascending flow case; v^2-f formulations also performed well. The k-omega-SST model was found to be in the poorest agreement with the data. Cross-code comparison was also carried out and satisfactory agreement was found between the results.The research described above concerned flow in smooth passages; a second distinct contribution made in this thesis concerned the thermal-hydraulic performance of rib-roughened surfaces, these being representative of the fuel elements employed in the UK fleet of AGRs. All computations in this part of the study were undertaken using STAR-CD. This part of the research took four continuous and four discrete design factors into consideration including the effects of rib profile, rib height-to-channel height ratio, rib width-to-height ratio, rib pitch-to-height ratio, and Reynolds number. For each design factor, the optimum configuration was identified using the ‘efficiency index’. Through comparison with experimental data, the performance of different RANS turbulence models was also assessed. Of the four models, the v^2-f was found to be in the best agreement with the experimental data as, to a somewhat lesser degree were the results of the k-omega-SST model. The k-epsilon and Suga models, however, performed poorly. Structured and unstructured meshes were also compared, where some discrepancies were found, especially in the heat transfer results. The final stage of the study involved a simulation of a simplified 3-dimensional representation of an AGR fuel element using a 30 degree sector configuration. The v^2-f model was employed and comparison was made against the results of a 2D rib-roughened channel in order to assess the validity and relevance of the precursor 2D simulations of rib-roughened channels. It was shown that although a 2D approach is extremely useful and economical for ‘parametric studies’, it does not provide an accurate representation of a 3D fuel element configuration, especially for the velocity and pressure coefficient distributions, where large discrepancies were found between the results of the 2D channel and azimuthal planes of the 3D configuration.

Convection set up in a fluid due to the presence of two components of differing diffusivities is known as double diffusive convection. Double diffusive convection is observed in nature, in oceans, in the formation of certain columnar rock structures and in stellar interiors. The major engineering applications of double diffusive convection are in the fields metallurgy and alloy solidification in casting processes. The two components may be any two substances which affect the density of the fluid, heat and salt being the pair found most commonly in nature. Depending upon the initial stratifications of the two components, double diffusive convection can be set up in either the diffusive mode or the finger mode. In this thesis, the linear stability of a double diffusive system prone to finger instability has been studied in the presence of temporally varying non-linear background profiles of temperature and salinity. The motivation for the present study is to bridge the gap between existing theories, which mainly concentrate on linear background profiles independent of time, on the one hand and experiments and numerical simulations, which have time dependent step-like non-linear background profiles, on the other. The general stability characteristics of a double diffusive system with step-like background profiles have been studied using the standard normal mode method. The background temperature and salinity profiles are assumed to follow the hyperbolic tangent function, since it has a step-like character. The sharpness of the step can be altered by changing a suitable parameter in the hyperbolic tangent function. It is found that changing the degree of non-linearity of the background profile of one of the components keeping the background profile of the other component linear affects the growth rate, Wave number and the form of the disturbances. In general, increasing the degree of nonlinearity of background salinity profile makes the system more unstable and results in a reduction in the vertical extent of the disturbances. On the other hand, increasing the degree of non-linearity of the background temperature profile with the salinity profile kept linear results in a reduction in the growth rate and increase in the wave number. The form of the disturbance may change due to enhanced modal competition between the gravest odd and even modes in this case. The method of normal modes inherently assumes that the background profiles of temperature and salinity are independent of time and hence, it cannot be used for studying the stability of systems with time varying background profiles. A pseudo-similarity method has been used to handle such background profiles. Initial steps of temperature and salinity diffuse according to the error function form, and hence, the case of error function background profiles has been studied in detail. Taking into account the time-dependence of background profiles has been shown to significantly change the wave number and the incipient flux ratio. The dependence of the critical wave number (kc) on the thermal Rayleigh number (RaT ) can be determined analytically and is found to change from kc ~ Ra T1/4 for linear background profiles to kc ~ Ra T1/3 for error function profiles. The region of instability in the Rp (density stability ratio) space is found to increase from 1 ≤ R ρ ≤ r−1 for linear background profiles to 1 ≤ Rρ < r−3/2 for error function background profiles, where T denotes the ratio of the diffusivity of the slower diffusing component to that of the faster diffusing one. A parametric study covering a wide range of parameter values has been carried out to determine the effect of the parameters density stability ratio (Rp), diffusivity ratio (ρ ) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the onset time, critical wavenumber and the incipient flux ratio. The wide range of governing parameters covered here is beyond the scope of experimental and numerical studies. Such a wide range can be covered by theoretical approaches alone. It has been shown that the time of onset of convection determines the thicknesses of the temperature and salinity boundary layers, which in turn determine the width of salt fingers. Finally, the theoretical predictions of salt finger widths have been shown to be in agreement with the results of two dimensional numerical simulations of thermohaline system.

Cooling of electronic components is one of the most important issues concerned in the electronic industry for design of equipment. Maintaining the temperature of an electronic device within its safe operating temperature limits is essential to operate the equipment safely with proper functionality. According to the Arrhenious law of failure rate, for a device with activation energy 0.65eV, every 10°C increase in temperature doubles the failure rate. Recent miniaturisation of components and high device heat dissipation rates lead to high heat fluxes, which cause temperature rise. Hence, there is an increasing need for research to achieve high heat removal rates and optimal design. Several cooling techniques are used for cooling of electronics based on the application and cooling rate requirements. Air-cooling of electronics has a wide range of applications due to its greater reliability, simplicity, easy maintenance, low cost, easy availability of coolant (air), and light weight. Air-cooling is also free from boiling and dripping problems. Air-cooling is used in applications such as avionics, cooling of personal computers, cooling of data centers, and in automobile electronics. In a typical electronic cooling application, cooling fluid is driven by the combination of external pressure forces and buoyancy forces. Based on the relative contribution of these forces towards the total driving force, the cooling techniques can be categorized as forced, natural or mixed convection cooling. However, in many of the electronic cooling situations, such as in the applications with very high heat fluxes, tall Printed Circuits Boards (PCBs) with low forced convection velocity, and in large scale applications such as data centers, the contributions of the buoyancy forces and external pressure forces for the total driving force are comparable, which results in a mixed convection situation. In the present study, mixed convection in vertical channels heated with five heating configurations, which represent typical electronic cooling applications, is studied numerically. The five different heating configurations are channels with flush-mounted continuous heater, flush-mounted strip heaters, flush-mounted square block heaters, protruding rib heaters and protruding square heaters. The first three configurations are categorised as flush-mounted heating configurations and the latter two configurations are categorised as protruded heating configurations. One of the channel walls represents the substrate on which the heaters are mounted and the heat sources represent the heat generating electronic components. Heat transfer under steady state conditions is considered in the study. The study includes laminar as well as turbulent heat transfer. For a systematic study of mixed convection, an analytical or semi-analytical formulation is desirable for a simplified model, as it can highlight the effect of relevant non-dimensional parameters on the heat transfer characteristics of a system. The results of a simplified model can be used for benchmarking the results of practical situations. Hence, before numerically solving the governing equations for mixed convection in channels, mixed convection boundary layer flows over a heated vertical plate is considered for study. Perturbation technique is used to solve the boundary layer equations with non-isothermal boundary conditions. The perturbation analysis is carried out for an arbitrarily variation of wall temperature or heat flux. Subsequently, the results are extended to find heat transfer rates in the cases of power-law variation of temperature and heat flux, as special cases. It is always required to design a cooling system to remove maximum possible amount of heat, keeping the device temperature within its safe operating limits. Hence, optimization of heat transfer in boundary layers is attempted, whose results can be used as guidelines to achieve optimal heat transfer in practical situations of channels with continuous as well as discrete heating. Similarity analysis is used for the optimization of heat distribution in boundary layer flows. In the similarity analysis, in the search of optimal heat transfer from the plate, the boundary layer equations are solved for various power-law heat flux variations and the appropriate power-law variation of optimal heat transfer is found. Similarly, the heat flux variation for optimal heat transfer is found for the cases of natural and forced convection, as they are the limiting cases of mixed convection. In the numerical part of the study, the generalised three-dimensional governing equations for the five heating configurations considered for the study are solved numerically with appropriate boundary conditions. Separation of natural, forced and mixed convection regimes is carried out in all the heating configurations using a criterion based on individual contributions of pressure force and buoyancy force towards the total driving force for the fluid movement. Heat transfer characteristics are studied in laminar as well as turbulent regimes in terms of parameters such as Grashof number, Reynolds number, Nusselt number, maximum temperature of heaters, pressure drop across the channel, and so on. The influence of conjugate effects on the heat transfer characteristics is studied by varying the substrate thermal conductivity. A systematic comparison of various effects such as the effect of discrete heating in plain channels, effect of discrete heating in channels with heated ribs, and the effect of three-dimensional protrusions on heat transfer, is achieved. The parameters in the individual configurations, which affect heat transfer, are explored for better cooling solutions. Optimal heat distribution among the heaters to minimise the temperature of the hottest heater for a given total amount of heat generation in the channel is found for all the channel configurations, which are heated either continuously or discretely. In the process of finding the optimal heat distribution among heaters, guidelines are taken from the optimal heat distribution in boundary layer flows. Compared to usual optimization approaches such as genetic algorithm, the present physics based optimisation procedure requires fewer runs to arrive at the optimal distribution. The fluid flow characteristics in all the three configurations with flush-mounted heaters are found to be similar. However, heat transfer characteristics in channels with flush-mounted square heaters differ from those in the other two flush-mounted channel configurations. Hot spots with higher temperatures are found at heater locations in channels with flush-mounted square heaters. The effect of substrate follows the same trend in all the flush-mounted configurations. At lower thermal conductivities, the maximum temperature decreases sharply with increasing thermal conductivity. However, at higher conductivities, the influence reduces. In all the flush-mounted configurations, heat transfer will not be influenced by substrate thermal conductivity increment at conductivities more than 150 times the fluid thermal conductivity. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in channels with protruded heaters differ significantly from those in channels with flush-mounted heaters. The protrusions in the channels interact with the fluid flow and make it different from that of smooth channels. In turn, the protrusions affect heat transfer characteristics in the channels. The influence of the protrusions on the heat transfer and locations of hot spots in the domain is examined. Effect of thermal conductivity in channels with protruded square heaters is similar to that in channels with flush-mounted heaters. However, conductivity in channels with protruded rib heaters affects the heat transfer in a wider range of conductivities than in the other heating configurations. Unlike in the other configurations, at low thermal conductivities, maximum temperature does not drop sharply with increase of conductivity. In channels with protruded square heaters, staggering arrangement of heaters results in higher heat transfer rates than those with in-line heater arrangement. In all the configurations, pressure drop is found to be independent of Grashof number in the range of heat dissipation rates considered in the study. Heat transfer rates in turbulent region are much higher than the heat transfer rates in laminar regime. However, the pressure drops encountered are also high in the turbulent regime. Turbulent heat transfer results in a more uniform temperature distribution in channels. The cooling performances of the individual configurations are compared. For a given pressure drop the cooling performances decreases in the order of flush-mounted strip heating, protruded square heating, flush-mounted square heating, protruded rib heating. For a given inlet fluid flow rate, the cooling performances decreases in the order of protruded rib heating, protruded square heating, flush-mounted square heating, flush-mounted strip heating. However, for a given inlet fluid flow rate, the pressure drop increases in the order of increasing cooling performance.

Solid-fluid thermal interactions during unsteady flow in porous media play an important role in the regenerators of pulse tube cryocoolers. Pore-level thermal processes in porous media under unsteady flow conditions are poorly understood. The objective of this investigation is to study the pore-level thermal phenomena during pulsating flow through a generic, two-dimensional porous medium by numerical analysis. Furthermore, an examination of the effects of flow pulsations on the thermal dispersion and heat transfer coefficient that are encountered in the standard, volume-average energy equations for porous media are carried out. The investigated porous media are periodic arrays of square cylinders. Detailed numerical data for the porosity range of 0.64 to 0.84, with flow Reynold's numbers from 0-1000 are obtained. Based on these numerical data, the instantaneous as well as cycle-average thermal dispersion and heat transfer coefficients, to be used in the standard unsteady volume-average energy conservation equations for flow in porous media, are derived. Also, the adequacy of current applied cycle-average correlations for heat transfer coefficients and the inclusion of the thermal dispersion in the definition of an effective fluid thermal conductivity are investigated.

High Rayleigh number(Ra) turbulent free convection has many unresolved issues related to the phenomenology behind the flux scaling, the presence of a mean wind and its effects, exponential probability distribution functions, the Prandtl number dependence and the nature of near wall structures. Few studies have been conducted in the high Prandtl number regime and the understanding of near wall coherent structures is inadequate for $Ra > 10^9$. The present thesis deals with the results of investigations conducted on high Rayleigh number turbulent free convection in the high Schmidt number(Sc) regime, focusing on the role of near wall coherent structures. We use a new method of driving the convection using concentration difference of NaCl across a horizontal membrane between two tanks to achieve high Ra utilising the low molecular diffusivity of NaCl. The near wall structures are visualised by planar laser induced fluorescence. Flux is estimated from transient measurement of concentration in the top tank by a conductivity probe. Experiments are conducted in tanks of $15\times15\times 23$cm (aspect ratio,AR = 0.65) and $10\times10\times 23$cm (AR = 0.435). Two membranes of 0.45$\mu$ and 35$\mu$ mean pore size were used. For the fine membrane (and for the coarse membrane at low driving potentials), the transport across the partition becomes diffusion dominated, while the transport above and below the partition becomes similar to unsteady non penetrative turbulent free convection above flat horizontal surfaces (Figure~\ref{fig:schem}(A)). In this type of convection, the flux scaled as $q\sim \Delta C_w ^{4/3}$,where $\Delta C_w$ is the near wall concentration difference, similar to that in Rayleigh - B\'nard convection . Hence, we are able to study turbulent free convection over horizontal surfaces in the Rayleigh Number range of $\sim 10^- 10 ^$ at Schmidt number of 602, focusing on the nature and role of near wall coherent structures. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing clear images of near wall structures in high Rayleigh Number - high Schmidt number turbulent free convection. We observe a weak flow across the membrane in the case of the coarser membrane at higher driving potentials (Figure \ref(B)). The effect of this through flow on the flux and the near wall structures is also investigated. In both the types of convection the near wall structure shows patterns formed by sheet plumes, the common properties of these patterns are also investigated. The major outcomes in the above three areas of the thesis can be summarised as follows \subsection* \label \subsubsection* \label The non-dimensional flux was similar to that reported by Goldstein\cite at Sc of 2750. Visualisations show that the near wall coherent structures are line plumes. Depending on the Rayleigh number and the Aspect ratio, different types of large scale flow cells which are driven by plume columns are observed. Multiple large scale flow cells are observed for AR = 0.65 and a single large scale flow for AR= 0.435. The large scale flow create a near wall mean shear, which is seen to vary across the cross section. The orientation of the large scale flow is seen to change at a time scale much larger than the time scale of one large scale circulation The near wall structures show interaction of the large scale flow with the line plumes. The plumes are initiated as points and then gets elongated along the mean shear direction in areas of larger mean shear. In areas of low mean shear, the plumes are initiated as points but gets elongated in directions decided by the flow induced by the adjacent plumes. The effect of near wall mean shear is to align the plumes and reduce their lateral movement and merging. The time scale for the merger of the near wall line plumes is an order smaller than the time scale of the one large scale circulation. With increase in Rayleigh number, plumes become more closely and regularly spaced. We propose that the near wall boundary layers in high Rayleigh number turbulent free convection are laminar natural convection boundary layers. The above proposition is verified by a near wall model, similar to the one proposed by \cite{tjfm}, based on the similarity solutions of laminar natural convection boundary layer equations as Pr$\rightarrow\infty$. The model prediction of the non dimensional mean plume spacing $Ra_\lambda^~=~\lambda /Z_w~=~91.7$ - where $Ra_\lambda$ is the Rayleigh number based on the plume spacing $\lambda$, and $Z_w$ is a near wall length scale for turbulent free convection - matches the experimental measurements. Therefore, higher driving potentials, resulting in higher flux, give rise to lower mean plume spacing so that $\lambda \Delta C_w^$ or $\lambda q^$ is a constant for a given fluid. We also show that the laminar boundary layer assumption is consistent with the flux scaling obtained from integral relations. Integral equations for the Nusselt number(Nu) from the scalar variance equations for unsteady non penetrative convection are derived. Estimating the boundary layer dissipation using laminar natural convection boundary layers and using the mean plume spacing relation, we obtain $Nu\sim Ra^$ when the boundary layer scalar dissipation is only considered. The contribution of bulk dissipation is found to be a small perturbation on the dominant 1/3 scaling, the effect of which is to reduce the effective scaling exponent. In the appendix to the thesis, continuing the above line of reasoning, we conduct an exploratory re-analysis (for $Pr\sim 1$) of the Grossman and Lohse's\cite scaling theory for turbulent Rayleigh - B\'enard convection. We replace the Blasius boundary layer assumption of the theory with a pair of externally forced laminar natural convection boundary layers per plume. Integral equations of the externally forced laminar natural convection boundary layer show that the mixed convection boundary layer thickness is decided by a $5^{th}$ order algebraic equation, which asymptotes to the laminar natural convection boundary layer for zero mean wind and to Blasius boundary layer at large mean winds. \subsubsection*{Effect of wall normal flow on flux and near wall structures} \label{sec:effect-wall-normal} For experiments with the coarser($35\mu$) membrane, we observe three regimes viz. the strong through flow regime (Figure~\ref{fig:schem}(b)), the diffusion regime (Figure \ref{fig:schem}(a)), and a transition regime between the above two regimes that we term as the weak through flow regime. At higher driving potentials, only half the area above the coarser membrane is covered by plumes, with the other half having plumes below the membrane. A wall normal through flow driven by impingement of the large scale flow is inferred to be the cause of this (Figure \ref{fig:schem}(b)). In this strong through flow regime, only a single large scale flow circulation cell oriented along the diagonal or parallel to the walls is detected. The plume structure is more dendritic than the no through flow case. The flux scales as $\Delta C_w^n$, with $7/3\leq n\leq 3$ and is about four times that observed with the fine membrane. The phenomenology of a flow across the membrane driven by the impingement of the large scale flow of strength $W_*$, the Deardorff velocity scale, explains the cubic scaling. We find the surprising result that the non-dimensional flux is smaller than that in the no through flow case for similar parameters. The mean plume spacings in the strong through flow regime are larger and show a different Rayleigh number dependence vis-a-vis the no through flow case. Using integral analysis, an expression for the boundary layer thickness is derived for high Schmidt number laminar natural convection boundary layer with a normal velocity at the wall. (Also, solutions to the integral equations are obtained for the $Sc\sim 1$ case, which are given as an Appendix.) Assuming the gravitational stability condition to hold true, we show that the plume spacing in the high Schmidt number strong through flow regime is proportional to $\sqrt{Z_w\,Z{_{v_i}}}$, where $Z{_{v_i}}$ is a length scale from the through flow velocity. This inference is fairly supported by the plume spacing measurements At lower driving potentials corresponding to the transition regime, the whole membrane surface is seen to be covered by plumes and the flux scaled as $\Delta C_w^{4/3}$. The non-dimensional flux is about the same as in turbulent free convection over flat surfaces if $\frac{1}{2}\Delta C $ is assumed to occur on one side of the membrane. This is expected to occur in the area averaged sense with different parts of the membrane having predominance of diffusion or through flow dominant transport. At very low driving potentials corresponding to the diffusion regime, the diffusion corrected non dimensional flux match the turbulent free convection values, implying a similar phenomena as in the fine membrane. \subsubsection*{Universal probability distribution of near wall structures} \label{sec:univ-prob-distr} We discover that the probability distribution function of the plume spacings show a standard log normal distribution, invariant of the presence or the absence of wall normal through flow and at all the Rayleigh numbers and aspect ratios investigated. These plume structures showed the same underlying multifractal spectrum of singularities in all these cases. As the multifractal curve indirectly represents the processes by which these structures are formed, we conclude that the plume structures are created by a common generating mechanism involving nucleation at points, growth along lines and then merging, influenced by the external mean shear. Inferring from the thermodynamic analogy of multifractal analysis, we hypothesise that the near wall plume structure in turbulent free convection might be formed so that the entropy of the structure is maximised within the given constraints.

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This work presents the development of a novel and non-invasive method that measures fluid flow rate and temperature in pipes. While current non-invasive flow meters are able to measure pipe flow rate, they cannot simultaneously measure the internal temperature of the fluid flow, which limits their widespread application. Moreover, devices that are able to determine flow temperature are primarily intrusive and require constant maintenance, which can shut down operation, resulting in downtime and economic loss. Consequently, non-invasive flow rate and temperature measurement systems are becoming increasingly attractive for a variety of operations, including for use in leak detection, energy metering, energy optimization, and oil and gas production, to name a few. In this work, a new solution method and parameter estimation scheme are developed and deployed to non-invasively determine fluid flow rate and temperature in a pipe. This new method is utilized in conjunction with a sensor-based apparatus--"namely, the Combined Heat Flux and Temperature Sensor (CHFT+), which employs simultaneous heat flux and temperature measurements for non-invasive thermal interrogation (NITI). In this work, the CHFT+ sensor embodiment is referred to as the British Thermal Unit (BTU) Meter. The fluid's flow rate and temperature are determined by estimating the fluid's convection heat transfer coefficient and the sensor-pipe thermal contact resistance. The new solution method and parameter estimation scheme were validated using both simulated and experimental data. The experimental data was validated for accuracy using a commercially available FR1118P10 Inline Flowmeter by Sotera Systems (Fort Wayne, IN) and a ThermaGate sensor by ThermaSENSE Corp. (Roanoke, VA). This study's experimental results displayed excellent agreement with values estimated from the aforementioned methods. Once tested in conjunction with the non-invasive BTU Meter, the proposed solution and parameter estimation scheme displayed an excellent level of validity and reliability in the results. Given the proposed BTU Meter's non-invasive design and experimental results, the developed solution and parameter estimation scheme shows promise for use in a variety of different residential, commercial, and industrial applications. / MS / This work documents the development of a novel and non-invasive method that measures fluid flow rate and temperature in pipes. While current non-invasive flow meters are able to measure pipe flow rate, they cannot simultaneously measure the internal temperature of the fluid flow, which limits their widespread application. Moreover, devices that are able to determine flow temperature are primarily intrusive and require constant maintenance, which can shut down operation, resulting in downtime and economic loss. Consequently, non-invasive flow rate and temperature measurement systems are becoming increasingly attractive for a variety of operations, including for use in leak detection, energy metering, energy optimization, and oil and gas production, to name a few. This paper presents a new method that utilizes a non-invasive British Thermal Unit (BTU) Meter based on Combined Heat Flux and Temperature Sensor (CHFT+) technology to determine fluid flow rate and temperature in pipes. The non-invasive BTU Meter uses thermal interrogation to determine different flow parameters, which are used to determine the fluid flow rate and temperature inside a pipe. The method was tested and validated for accuracy and reliability through simulations and experiments. Given the proposed BTU Meter’s noninvasive design and excellent experimental results, the developed novel sensing method shows promise for use in a variety of different residential, commercial, and industrial applications.

The problem of laminar and turbulent conjugate mixed convection flow and heat transfer in shallow enclosures with a series of block-like heat generating components is studied numerically for a Reynolds number range of zero (pure natural convection) to typically 106, Grashof number range of zero (pure forced convection) to 1015 and various block-to-fluid thermal conductivity ratios, with air as the working medium. The shallow enclosure has modules consisting of heat generating elements, air admission and exhaust slots. Two problems are considered. In the first problem, the enclosure has free boundaries between the modules and in the second problem, there are partitioning walls between the different modules. The flow and temperature distributions are taken to be two-dimensional. Regions with the same velocity and temperature distributions can be identified assuming repeated placement of the blocks and fluid entry and exit openings at regular distances, neglecting end wall effects. One half of such rectangular region is chosen as the computational domain taking into account the symmetry about the vertical centreline. On the basis of the assumption that mixed convection flow is a superposition of forced convection flow with finite pressure drop and a natural convection flow with negligible pressure drop, the individual flow components are delineated. The Reynolds number is based on forced convection velocity, which can be determined in practice from the fan characteristics. This is believed to be more meaningful unlike the frequently used total velocity based Reynolds number, which does not vanish even in pure natural convection and which makes the fan selection difficult. Present analysis uses three models of turbulence, namely, standard k-ε (referred to as Model-1), low Reynolds number k-ε (referred to as Model-2) and an SGS kinetic energy based one equation model (referred to as Model-3). Results are obtained for aiding and opposing mixed convection, considering also the pure natural and pure forced convection limiting cases. The results show that higher Reynolds numbers tend to create a recirculation region of increasing strength at the core region and that the ranges of Reynolds number beyond which the effect of buoyancy becomes insignificant are identified. For instance, in laminar aiding mixed convection, the buoyancy effects become insignificant beyond a Reynolds number of 500. Results are presented for a number of quantities of interest such as the flow and temperature distributions, local and average Nusselt numbers and the maximum dimensionless temperature in the block. Correlations are constructed from the computed results for the maximum dimensionless temperature, pressure drop across the enclosure and the Nusselt numbers.

This master´s thesis deals with an air cooled condenser. The specific attention is focused on the condenser in the Brno´s waste-to-energy plant SAKO. The general process of calculation of the heat transfer coefficient is introduced, which is the base for the calculation of the condenser´s output. This process is later used for the calculation of a specific condenser. A considerable part of the thesis is concentrated on the analysis of behavior of the condenser of SAKO in various conditions from the theoretical point of view and then also in terms of real operation using provided operational data.

This diploma thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and practical. In its first, theoretical part, deals with the theory of fluid and gas flow, heat transfer and diversification of sensors for flow measurement working on the electrical principle. It also deals with thermodynamic principle, which can be used for measuring very small flow and low-temperature ceramics that is used to implement microcanals for sensing very low flows. The practical part of the thesis deals with the very simulation of the entire structure in the program “COMSOL Multiphysics” - both in 2D and 3D views. Then there is shown the implementation and measurement of the flow sensor in a low-temperature ceramics, working on a thermodynamic principle.