The flow of polymer solutions in the high Elasticity number, El, regime in complex geometries may lead to strong viscoelastic behaviour and eventually become unstable as the Weissenberg number, Wi, is increased beyond a critical level. So far, the success of numerical simulations in predicting the highly non-linear behaviour of polymer solutions in complex flows has been limited. In this thesis, selected constitutive models are evaluated under the high El flow regime in the cross-slot and contraction benchmark flows using a numerical technique based on the finite volume method. The numerical technique is implemented within the OpenFOAM framework and thoroughly validated in the benchmark flow. A modification to the FENE dumbbell model based on the non-affine deformation of polymer solutions is proposed, which enabled the prediction of some non-linear material functions and also enhanced numerical stability, allowing a higher Wi to be attained. Asymmetric flow instability in the cross-slot flow has been studied. Time-dependent stability diagrams were constructed based on Wi and the strain, ε, both of which govern the stretching of a polymer chain. In the contraction flow, elastic instability is simulated for the first time in this geometry. Substantial time-dependent asymmetric flow patterns were predicted as seen in experiments. The effect of the contraction ratio is investigated through a stability diagram. Three-dimensional finite element simulations were also carried out to study the effect of the aspect ratio in the contraction flow of a Phan-Thien-Tanner fluid. The simulations suggest that a lip vortex mechanism is a signature for the onset of strong viscoelastic behaviour.

The presented diploma thesis focuses on flow-induced vibrations of a tube. The main aim and benefit is the analysis of tube stiffness in contact with the other one and the following use of obtained values and characteristics in CFD simulations. The work can be divided into three parts. The first part is about the current state of knowledge of flow-induced vibrations. It introduces the basic mechanisms of vibration and methods for their suppression. The second part deals with the determination of stiffness of defined geometry tube including the collision with the other tube. The final part demonstrates and evaluates the application of obtained characteristics in CFD simulations.

The aim of the dissertation thesis is the control of the tube bundle on the cyclic fatigue caused by the flow past tube bundle. Fatigue due to flow is caused by flow-induced vibrations. Examined vibrations are caused by the mutual interaction of two phases (solid and liquid). The present work is focused mainly on the interaction of tube bundles with fluid. The current level of knowledge in this field allows to predict mainly static respectively quazi-static loading. These predictions are based on methods of comparing key vibration variables such as frequencies, amplitudes or speeds (see TEMA [1]). In this way, it is possible to determine quickly and relatively precisely the occurrence of a vibrational phenomenon, but it is not possible to quantitatively assess the effect of these vibrations on the damage of to the tube beam and to predict its lifespan, which would require the determination of the temperature field and the distribution of forces from the fluid on the beam. The aim of the work is to evaluate the-state-of-the-art, to perform a numerical simulation of the flow of fluids in the area of shell side under the inlet nozzle. Current methods of numerical analyses very well solve this problem, but at the expense of computing time, devices and expensive licences. The benefit of this work is the use of user-defined function (UDF) as a method for simulating interaction with fluid and structure in ANSYS Fluent software. This work places great emphasis on using the current state of knowledge for verifying and validation. Verifying and validation of results include, for example, experimentally measured Reynolds and Strouhal numbers, the drag coefficients and for example magnitude of pressure coefficient around the tube. At the same time, it uses the finite element method as a tool for the stress-strain calculation of a key part on tube such as a pipe-tube joint. Another benefit of this work is the extension of the graphical design of heat exchanger according to Poddar and Polley by vibration damages control according to the method described in TEMA [1]. In this section, the author points out the enormous influence of flow velocity on both the tube side and the shell side for design of the heat exchanger to ensure faultless operation. As an etalon of damage, the author chose a heat exchanger designated 104 from the Heat Exchanger Tube Vibration Data Bank [3]. With this heat exchanger, vibrational damage has been proven to be due to cutting of the tubes over the baffles. The last part outlines the possibilities and limits of further work.