In this work, numerical and experimental methods are used to characterise the effects of convective transport in an anode-supported tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). To that end, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to compare a full transport model to one that assumes convection is negligible. Between these two approaches, the variations of mass, temperature, and electrochemical performance are compared. Preliminary findings show that convection serves to reduce the penetration of hydrogen into the anode, and becomes more important as the thickness of the anode increases. The importance of the permeability of SOFC electrodes on the characterization of convection is also investigated. Experiments performed on Ni-YSZ anodes reveal that permeability is a function of the cell operating conditions, and increases with increasing Knudsen number. An empirical Klinkenberg relation is validated and proposed to more accurately represent the permeability of electrodes in a CFD model. This is a departure from an assumption of constant permeability that is often seen in the literature. It is found that a varying permeability has significant effects on pressure variation in the cell, although according to the electrochemical model developed in this work, variation in permeability is only found to have minor effects on the predicted performance. Furthermore, it is revealed that an electrochemical model which makes the simplifying assumption of constant overpotential is in error when predicting current and temperature variation. In this work, this is found to predict an unrealistic spatial variation of the current. It is suggested that this approach be abandoned for the solution of a transport equation for potential which couples the anodic and cathodic currents. This will lead to a more realistic prediction of temperature and performance. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-11-04 13:54:35.743

In the last decade, shale reservoirs emerged as one of the fast growing hydrocarbon resources in the world unlocking vast reserves and reshaping the landscape of the oil and gas global market. Gas-condensate reservoirs represent an important part of these resources. The key feature of these reservoirs is the condensate banking which reduces significantly the well deliverability when the condensate forms in the reservoir below the dew point pressure. Although the condensate banking is a well-known problem in conventional reservoirs, the very low permeability of shale matrix and unavailability of proven pressure maintenance techniques make it more challenging in shale reservoirs. The nanoscale range of the pore size in the shale matrix affects the gas flow which deviates from laminar Darcy flow to Knudsen flow resulting in enhanced gas permeability. Furthermore, the phase behaviour of gas-condensate fluids is affected by the high capillary pressure in the matrix causing higher condensate saturation than in bulk conditions. A good understanding and an accurate evaluation of how the condensate builds up in the reservoir and how it affects the gas flow is very important to manage successfully the development of these high-cost hydrocarbon resources. This work investigates the gas Knudsen flow under condensate saturation effect and phase behaviour deviation under capillary pressure of gas-condensate fluids in shale matrix with pore size distribution; and evaluates their effect on well productivity. Supplementary MATLAB codes are provided elsewhere on OpenAIR: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2145.

abstract: Conventional fluid dynamics models such as the Navier-Stokes equations are derived for prediction of fluid motion at or near equilibrium, classic examples being the motion of fluids for which inter-molecular collisions are dominant. Flows at equilibrium permit simplifications such as the introduction of viscosity and also lead to solutions that are single-valued. However, many other regimes of interest include "fluids"' far from equilibrium; for example, rarefied gases or particle-laden flows in which the dispersed phase can be comprised of granular solids, droplets, or bubbles. Particle motion in these flows is not typically dominated by collisions and may exhibit significant memory effects; therefore, is often poorly described using continuum, field-based (Eulerian) approaches. Non-equilibrium flows generally lack a straightforward counterpart to viscosity and their multi-valued solutions cannot be represented by most Eulerian methods. This strongly motivates different strategies to address current shortcomings and the novel approach adopted in this work is based on the Conditional Quadrature Method of Moments (CQMOM). In CQMOM, moment equations are derived from the Boltzmann equation using a quadrature approximation of the velocity probability density function (PDF). CQMOM circumvents the drawbacks of current methods and leads to multivariate and multidimensional solutions in an Eulerian frame of reference. In the present work, the discretized PDF is resolved using an adaptive two-point quadrature in three-dimensional velocity space. The method is applied to computation of a series of non-equilibrium flows, ranging from simple two-dimensional test cases to fully-turbulent three-dimensional wall-bounded particle-laden flows. The primary contribution of the present effort is on development, application, and assessment of CQMOM for predicting the key features of dilute particle-laden flows. Statistical descriptors such as mean concentration and mean velocity are in good agreement with previous results, for both collision-less and collisional flows at varying particle Stokes numbers. Turbulent statistics and measures of local accumulation agree less favorably with prior results and identify areas for improvement in the modeling strategy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2015

The content of Chapter 1 is an author produced version of a paper published in Physics of Fluids. The final publication is available at AIP via http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3691262. The content of Chapters 2 and 4 is an author produced version of papers published in Journal of Statistical Physics. The final publications are available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10955-012-0512-z and http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10955-015-1364-0, respectively. / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19682号 / 工博第4137号 / 新制||工||1638(附属図書館) / 32718 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科機械理工学専攻 / (主査)教授 青木 一生, 教授 髙田 滋, 教授 稲室 隆二 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19686号 / 工博第4141号 / 新制||工||1639(附属図書館) / 32722 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科航空宇宙工学専攻 / (主査)教授 稲室 隆二, 教授 青木 一生講師杉元 宏 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

The purpose of this project was to study Svenska Aerogel AB’s product Quartzene®, and develop its capacity as a thermal insulator. Quartzene® is a silica based mesoporous material developed by Svenska Aerogel AB, with properties similar to aerogels produced by the sol-gel process. In this report, the correlation between pore structure and thermal conductivity in the material has been studied using techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy, focused ion beam, finite element simulations and transient plane source. Its properties are interesting because of the expanding market of insulated vacuum panels; in which Svenska Aerogel AB wish to expand to. It was found that the pore sizes of M21-BU increased after compression, and the pore sizes of M4-0-2 decreased. The pore sizes of M21-BU became so large that the Knudsen effect is no longer of interest, and that could explain the different behaviors in thermal conductivity.

Till följd av stigande temperaturer smälter isen i Arktis. Farleder öppnas för transporter och de naturtillgångar som legat skyddade av isen blir tillgängliga för utvinning. Stormakterna USA, Ryssland och Kina intresserar sig för regionen och dynamiken mellan dem påverkar den säkerhetspolitiska situationen däri. I Euro-Arktis upplever Norge sedan 2009 en alltmer utmanande säkerhetspolitisk situation, från att ha varit i en ohotad situation till ett ökat hot från Ryssland. De allianser och bilaterala samarbeten Norges säkerhet har vilat på är inte längre tillräckliga. Som småstat är Norges säkerhetspolitik, trots ett primärt intresse av närområdet, beroende av hur stormakter agerar. Småstater och specifikt Norge är, i jämförelse med stormakterna, relativt outforskade. I denna teorikonsumerande fallstudie undersöks utifrån ett realistiskt perspektiv hur stormakterna USA, Ryssland och Kinas maktkamp påverkar Norges säkerhetspolitiska val. Studien avhandlar perioden 2009 till 2019. Studiens resultat visar att rivaliteten mellan USA och Ryssland, samt USA och Kina har ökat under tidsperioden, vilket påverkar den säkerhetspolitiska dynamiken i Norges närområde. Vidare har Natos och USA:s splittrade fokus inneburit att Norge tvingats söka säkerhet genom att stärka sin militära förmåga och samarbeta närmre med framför allt Sverige och Finland. Slutligen visar studien att småstater noggrant behöver välja sin säkerhetsstrategi då stora allianser och stormakter inte alltid har samma prioriteringar som småstater.

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Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 on tall multiwalled carbon nanotube forests shows concentration variation with the depth in the form of discrete steps. While ALD is capable of extremely conformal deposition in high aspect ratio structures, decreasing penetration depth has been observed over multiple thermal ALD cycles on 1.3 mm tall multiwalled carbon nanotube forests. SEM imaging with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy elemental analysis shows steps of decreasing intensity corresponding to decreasing concentrations of Al2O3. A study of these steps suggests that they are produced by a combination of diffusion limited delivery of precursors with increasing precursor adsorption site density as discrete nuclei grow during the ALD process. This conceptual model has been applied to modify literature models for ALD penetration on high aspect ratio structures, allowing several parameters to be extracted from the experimental data. The Knudsen diffusion constant for trimethylaluminum (TMA) in these carbon nanotube forests has been found to be 0.3 cm2s-1. From the profile of the Al2O3 concentration at the steps, the sticking coefficient of TMA on Al2O3 was found to be 0.003.

Heterogeneous reactions between mineral dust aerosols and gas phase volatile organic compounds have the potential to impact important atmospheric chemical processes. However, little is known about the uptake and reactivity of volatile organic compounds on particulates found in the environment. A Knudsen cell was designed and constructed for providing precise measurement of reaction probabilities within these systems. The instrument was validated through a series of experiments. After validating the Knudsen cell against several key benchmarks, the instrument was used to measure the uptake coefficient for ethanol on particulate silicon dioxide. The uptake coefficient of ethanol on silicon dioxide, a common compound in mineral dust aerosols, was determined to be 7 x 10-7. Therefore, uptake of ethanol on silicon dioxide would be competitive with the loss of other volatile organic compounds on silicon dioxide, which show similar rates of uptake. The Knudsen cell was validated and measured the uptake of ethanol on silicon dioxide, and future work with the Knudsen cell will study the uptake of chemical warfare agent simulants on metal oxides. / Master of Science