P.E. Dijk, A.M.C. Janse, J.A.M. Kuipers and W.P.M. van Swaaij
The average residence time of liquid flowing over the surface of a rotating cone was determined numerically. The development and propagation of the free surface flow was simulated…
Abstract
The average residence time of liquid flowing over the surface of a rotating cone was determined numerically. The development and propagation of the free surface flow was simulated using the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The numerical simulations were validated using laboratory experiments using soy‐oil as a model liquid, and approximate analytical solutions of the simplified governing equations. The numerical simulations revealed the importance of the cone rotation frequencies and the minor influence of the cone angles on the residence times. Higher liquid throughputs produced smaller residence times. As expected, an increasing cone size results in proportionally higher residence times. Furthermore, it was established that even for small cones with a characteristic diameter of, e.g. less than 1m, relatively high (∼1 kg/s) throughputs of liquid are possible. It appears that the combination of the decreasing layer thickness and the increasing size of the numerical grid cells with increasing radial cone coordinate hampers the numerical simulation of this system.
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Van Luc Nguyen, Tomohiro Degawa and Tomomi Uchiyama
This study aims to provide discussions of the numerical method and the bubbly flow characteristics of an annular bubble plume.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide discussions of the numerical method and the bubbly flow characteristics of an annular bubble plume.
Design/methodology/approach
The bubbles, released from the annulus located at the bottom of the domain, rise owing to buoyant force. These released bubbles have diameters of 0.15–0.25 mm and satisfy the bubble flow rate of 4.1 mm3/s. The evolution of the three-dimensional annular bubble plume is numerically simulated using the semi-Lagrangian–Lagrangian (semi-L–L) approach. The approach is composed of a vortex-in-cell method for the liquid phase and a Lagrangian description of the gas phase.
Findings
First, a new phenomenon of fluid dynamics was discovered. The bubbly flow enters a transition state with the meandering motion of the bubble plume after the early stable stage. A vortex structure in the form of vortex rings is formed because of the inhomogeneous bubble distribution and the fluid-surface effects. The vortex structure of the flow deforms as three-dimensionality appears in the flow before the flow fully develops. Second, the superior abilities of the semi-L–L approach to analyze the vortex structure of the flow and supply physical details of bubble dynamics were demonstrated in this investigation.
Originality/value
The semi-L–L approach is applied to the simulation of the gas–liquid two-phase flows.
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The purpose of this paper is to show how particle scale simulation of industrial particle flows using DEM (discrete element method) offers the opportunity for better understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how particle scale simulation of industrial particle flows using DEM (discrete element method) offers the opportunity for better understanding of the flow dynamics leading to improvements in equipment design and operation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the breadth of industrial applications that are now possible with a series of case studies.
Findings
The paper finds that the inclusion of cohesion, coupling to other physics such fluids, and its use in bubbly and reacting flows are becoming increasingly viable. Challenges remain in developing models that balance the depth of the physics with the computational expense that is affordable and in the development of measurement and characterization processes to provide this expanding array of input data required. Steadily increasing computer power has seen model sizes grow from thousands of particles to many millions over the last decade, which steadily increases the range of applications that can be modelled and the complexity of the physics that can be well represented.
Originality/value
The paper shows how better understanding of the flow dynamics leading to improvements in equipment design and operation can potentially lead to large increases in equipment and process efficiency, throughput and/or product quality. Industrial applications can be characterised as large, involving complex particulate behaviour in typically complex geometries. The critical importance of particle shape on the behaviour of granular systems is demonstrated. Shape needs to be adequately represented in order to obtain quantitative predictive accuracy for these systems.
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C.J. Visser, A.G. Malan and J.P. Meyer
The purpose of this paper is to focus on modeling buoyancy driven viscous flow and heat transfer through saturated packed pebble‐beds via a set of homogeneous volume‐averaged…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on modeling buoyancy driven viscous flow and heat transfer through saturated packed pebble‐beds via a set of homogeneous volume‐averaged conservation equations in which local thermal disequilibrium is accounted for.
Design/methodology/approach
The local thermal disequilibrium accounted for refers to the solid and liquid phases differing in temperature in a volume‐averaged sense, which is modeled by describing each phase with its own governing equation. The partial differential equations are discretized and solved via a vertex‐centered edge‐based dual‐mesh finite volume algorithm. A compact stencil is used for viscous terms, as this offers improved accuracy compared to the standard finite volume formulation. A locally preconditioned artificial compressibility solution strategy is employed to deal with pressure incompressibility, whilst stabilisation is achieved via a scalar‐valued artificial dissipation scheme.
Findings
The developed technology is demonstrated via the solution of natural convective flow inside a heated porous axisymmetric cavity. Predicted results were in general within 10 per cent of experimental measurements.
Originality/value
This is the first instance in which both artificial compressibility and artificial dissipation is employed to model flow through saturated porous materials.
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Lucilla Coelho de Almeida, Joao Americo Aguirre Oliveira Junior and Jian Su
This paper aims to present a novel approach for computing particle temperatures in simulations coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a novel approach for computing particle temperatures in simulations coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) to predict flow and heat transfer in fluidized beds of thermally thick spherical particles.
Design/methodology/approach
An improved lumped formulation based on Hermite-type approximations for integrals to relate surface temperature to average temperature and surface heat flux is used to overcome the limitations of classical lumped models. The model is validated through comparisons with analytical solutions for a convectively cooled sphere and experimental data for a fixed particle bed. The coupled CFD-DEM model is then applied to simulate a Geldart D bubbling fluidized bed, comparing the results to those obtained using the classical lumped model.
Findings
The validation cases demonstrate that ignoring internal thermal resistance can significantly impact the temperature in cases where the Biot number is greater than 0.1. The results for the fixed bed case clearly demonstrate that the proposed method yields significantly improved outcomes compared to the classical model. The fluidized bed results show that surface temperature can deviate considerably from the average temperature, underscoring the importance of accurately accounting for surface temperature in convective heat transfer predictions and surface processes.
Originality/value
The proposed approach offers a physically more consistent simulation without imposing a significant increase in computational cost. The improved lumped formulation can be easily and inexpensively integrated into a typical DEM solver workflow to predict heat transfer for spherical particles, with important implications for various industrial applications.
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Samaneh Karami, Ataallah Soltani Goharrizi, Bahador Abolpour and Samira Darijani
The purpose of this paper is to present a computational fluid dynamic simulation for the investigation of the particles segregation phenomenon in the gas–solid fluidized beds.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a computational fluid dynamic simulation for the investigation of the particles segregation phenomenon in the gas–solid fluidized beds.
Design/methodology/approach
These particles have the same size and different densities. The k–ε model and multiphase particle-in-cell method have been utilized for modeling the turbulent fluid flow and solid particles behaviors, respectively. The coupled equations of the velocity and pressure have been solved by using a combination of SIMPLE and PISO algorithms. After validating the simulation, different mixing indices, with different calculation bases, have been investigated, and it has been found that the Lacey mixing index, which was defined based on statistical concepts, is suitable to investigate the segregation/mixing phenomena of this bed in different conditions. Finally, the effects of parameters such as velocity, particle density ratio, jetsam concentration, and initial arrangement on the segregation/mixing behaviors of the bed have been studied.
Findings
The results show that the increase in the superficial gas velocity decreases the mixing index to a minimum value and then increases this index in the beds with mixed initial condition, unlike the beds with separated initial condition. Moreover, an increase in the particle density ratio increases the minimum fluidization velocity of the bed, and also the amount of segregation, and increase in the jetsam concentration increases the value of the mixing index.
Originality/value
A computational fluid dynamics simulation has been presented for the particles segregation phenomenon in the gas–solid fluidized beds.
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Cesar Martin Venier, Andrés Reyes Urrutia, Juan Pablo Capossio, Jan Baeyens and Germán Mazza
The purpose of this study is to assess the performance of ANSYS Fluent® and OpenFOAM®, at their current state of development, to study the relevant bubbling fluidized bed (BFB…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess the performance of ANSYS Fluent® and OpenFOAM®, at their current state of development, to study the relevant bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) characteristics with Geldart A, B and D particles.
Design/methodology/approach
For typical Geldart B and D particles, both a three-dimensional cylindrical and a pseudo-two-dimensional arrangement were used to measure the bed pressure drop and solids volume fraction, the latter by digital image analysis techniques. For a typical Geldart A particle, specifically to examine bubbling and slugging phenomena, a 2 m high three-dimensional cylindrical arrangement of small internal diameter was used. The hydrodynamics of the experimentally investigated BFB cases were also simulated for identical geometries and operating conditions using OpenFOAM® v6.0 and ANSYS Fluent® v19.2 at identical mesh and numerical setups.
Findings
The comparison between experimental and simulated results showed that both ANSYS Fluent® and OpenFOAM® provide a fair qualitative prediction of the bubble sizes and solids fraction for freely-bubbling Geldart B and D particles. For Geldart A particles, operated in a slugging mode, the qualitative predictions are again quite fair, but numerical values of relevant slug characteristics (length, velocity and frequency) slightly favor the use of OpenFOAM®, despite some deviations of predicted slug velocities.
Originality/value
A useful comparison of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software performance for different fluidized regimes is presented. The results are discussed and recommendations are formulated for the selection of the CFD software and models involved.
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R. Ravindran, Satyajit Roy and E. Momoniat
The purpose of this paper is to study the steady mixed convection flow over a vertical cone in the presence of surface mass transfer when the axis of the cone is inline with the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the steady mixed convection flow over a vertical cone in the presence of surface mass transfer when the axis of the cone is inline with the flow.
Design/methodology/approach
In this case, the numerical difficulties to obtain the non‐similar solution are overcome by applying an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique.
Findings
Numerical results are reported here to display the effects of Prandtl number, buoyancy and mass transfer (injection and suction) parameters at different stream‐wise locations on velocity and temperature profiles, and on skin friction and heat transfer coefficients.
Research limitations/implications
Thermo‐physical properties of the fluid in the flow model are assumed to be constant except the density variations causing a body force term in the momentum equation. The Boussinesq approximation is invoked for the fluid properties to relate the density changes to temperature changes and to couple in this way the temperature field to the flow field.
Practical implications
Convective heat transfer over a stationary cone is important for the thermal design of various types of industrial equipments such as heat exchangers, conisters for nuclear waste disposal, nuclear reactor cooling systems and geothermal reservoirs, etc.
Originality/value
The combined effects of thermal diffusion and surface mass transfer on a vertical cone has been studied.
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A.M.C. Janse, P.E. Dijk and J.A.M. Kuipers
The volume of fluid (VOF) method is a numerical technique to track the developing free surfaces of liquids in motion. This method can, for example, be applied to compute the…
Abstract
The volume of fluid (VOF) method is a numerical technique to track the developing free surfaces of liquids in motion. This method can, for example, be applied to compute the liquid flow patterns in a rotating cone reactor. For this application a spherical coordinate system is most suited. The novel derivation of the extended VOF algorithms for this class of applications is presented here. Some practical limitations of this method, that are inherent in the geometry of the described system, are discussed.
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Foad Sojoodi Farimani, Matthijn de Rooij, Edsko Hekman and Sarthak Misra
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising alternative to the conventional production methods (i.e., machining), providing the developers with great geometrical and topological…
Abstract
Purpose
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising alternative to the conventional production methods (i.e., machining), providing the developers with great geometrical and topological freedom during the design and immediate prototyping customizability. However, frictional characteristics of the AM surfaces are yet to be fully explored, making the control and manufacturing of precise assembly manufactured mechanisms (i.e., robots) challenging. The purpose of this paper is to understand the tribological behavior of fused deposition modeling (FDM) manufactured surfaces and test the accuracy of existing mathematical models such as Amontons–Coulomb, Tabor–Bowden, and variations of Hertz Contact model against empirical data.
Design/methodology/approach
Conventional frictional models Amontons–Coulomb and Tabor–Bowden are developed for the parabolic surface topography of FDM surfaces using variations of Hertz contact models. Experiments are implemented to measure the friction between two flat FDM surfaces at different speeds, normal forces, and surface configuration, including the relative direction of printing stripes and sliding direction and the surface area. The global maximum measured force is considered as static friction, and the average of the local maxima during the stick-slip phase is assumed as kinematic friction. Spectral analysis has been used to inspect the relationship between the chaos of vertical wobbling versus sliding speed.
Findings
It is observed that the friction between the two FDM planes is linearly proportional to the normal force. However, in contrast to the viscous frictional model (i.e., Stribeck), the friction reduces asymptotically at higher speeds, which can be attributed to the transition from harmonic to normal chaotic vibrations. The phase shift is investigated through spectral analysis; dominant frequencies are presented at different pulling speeds, normal forces, and surface areas. It is hypothesized that higher speeds lead to smaller dwell-time, reducing creep and adhesive friction consequently. Furthermore, no monotonic relationship between surface area and friction force is observed.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the high number of experimental parameters, the research is implemented for a limited range of surface areas, which should be expanded in future research. Furthermore, the pulling position of the jaws is different from the sliding distance of the surfaces due to the compliance involved in the contact and the pulling cable. This issue could be alleviated using a non-contact position measurement method such as LASER or image processing. Another major issue of the experiments is the planar orientation of the pulling object with respect to the sliding direction and occasional swinging in the tangential plane.
Practical implications
Given the results of this study, one can predict the frictional behavior of FDM manufactured surfaces at different normal forces, sliding speeds, and surface configurations. This will help to have better predictive and model-based control algorithms for fully AM manufactured mechanisms and optimization of the assembly manufactured systems. By adjusting the clearances and printing direction, one can reduce or moderate the frictional forces to minimize stick-slip or optimize energy efficiency in FDM manufactured joints. Knowing the harmonic to chaotic phase shift at higher sliding speeds, one can apply certain speed control algorithms to sustain optimal mechanical performance.
Originality/value
In this study, theoretical tribological models are developed for the specific topography of the FDM manufactured surfaces. Experiments have been implemented for an extensive range of boundary conditions, including normal force, sliding speed, and contact configuration. Frictional behavior between flat square FDM surfaces is studied and measured using a Zwick tensile machine. Spectral analysis, auto-correlation, and other methods have been developed to study the oscillations during the stick-slip phase, finding local maxima (kinematic friction) and dominant periodicity of the friction force versus sliding distance. Precise static and kinematic frictional coefficients are provided for different contact configurations and sliding directions.