Engineering Commons^™

Modeling Thermosyphon And Heat Pipe Performance For Mold Cooling Applications, Dwaipayan Sarkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thermosyphons are enhanced heat transfer devices that can continuously transfer very large amounts of heat rapidly over long distances with small temperature differences. The high heat transfer rate is achieved through simultaneous boiling and condensation of the working fluid and the continuous heat transfer is achieved through recirculation of the working fluid in its liquid and vapor phase. A potentially important application of the thermosyphons has been towards reducing the cycle times of the mold cooling processes which would provide economic incentives to the automotive industry.

Different operational and geometrical parameters such as the input heating power, fill ratio (FR), …

Analyses For Assessing The Centreline Translation, Asymmetrical Wind-Field, And Velocity Fluctuations Of Tornado Vortices, Niall C. Bannigan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Tornadoes present an ever-increasing threat to communities worldwide, especially those with geographic conditions that place them in the path of several tornadoes annually. These conditions are likely to be exacerbated by ongoing trends in the climate. As such, it is necessary to move towards experimental and numerical tornado-like vortex studies that allow for more advanced simulation methods. Novel techniques for tracking and analysing tornado vortices simulated at high spatial and temporal resolution are presented herein. Significant wandering of the tornado's position and large peaks in the velocity field can be captured, demonstrating tangential gusting at more than 1.5 times the …

Characterizing Tkr Biomechanics Using A Novel Muscle-Driven Joint Motion Simulator, Alexandre Galley

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Total knee replacement (TKR) is the end-stage treatment for severe cases of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Despite its success in alleviating pain and restoring mobility to the knee, patient satisfaction rates post-TKR are still lower than other common joint replacement surgeries. Knee kinematics and stability, key determinants of successful TKR, are assessed intraoperatively and tracked post-operatively in in vivo clinical studies. However, the persistently low satisfaction rates suggest that more sophisticated pre-clinical testing methods are needed to better understand the biomechanics of these implants early in their development. During pre-clinical testing of TKR implants, different joint motion simulators are used for …

Performance Recovery Of Scale Reduced Cyclone Particle Separators Using A Rotating Classifier, Mark J. Parker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cyclone particle separators are often used to collect particles that are of value or environmental concern. These devices achieve high Total Collection Efficiency (TCE) with steady pressure drop. Increasing the height of the cyclone improves both TCE and pressure drop. However, due to the height of the cyclone, these devices are often forced to be placed outside, which can lead to decreased performance over time. The research examines the outcome of scale reducing a cyclone. This is achieved by (i) how the scale reduction changes the flow field, (ii) identifying what flow aspects contribute to the reduction in TCE and …

Patterned Heating Induced Propulsion, Saajid A. Aman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explores propulsion effects generated by patterned heating acting on smooth and corrugated surfaces. The model problem assumes that the upper plate moves freely, and the lower plate is stationary, equipped with grooves, and exposed to spatially distributed heating. Our findings identify two distinct propulsion effects: thermal streaming and thermal drift. Thermal streaming occurs when given sufficient heating intensity with net flow in the left or right direction characterized by a pitchfork bifurcation. The efficiency of this technique can be controlled using the wavelength of heating. Thermal drift represents a pattern interaction effect. Its strength depends on the relative …

Non-Circular Hydraulic Jumps Due To Inclined Jets, Ahmed Mohamed Abdelaziz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

When a laminar inclined circular jet impinges on a horizontal surface, it forms a non-circular hydraulic jump governed by a non-axisymmetric flow. In this thesis, we use the boundary-layer and thin-film approaches in the three dimensions to theoretically analyse such flow and the hydraulic jumps produced in such cases. We particularly explore the interplay among inertia, gravity, and the effective inclination angle on the non-axisymmetric flow.

The boundary-layer height is found to show an azimuthal dependence at strong gravity level only; however, the thin film thickness as well as the hydraulic jump profile showed a strong non-axisymmetric behaviour at all …

Numerical Simulation And Scaling Of Thunderstorm Downburst Outflows, Cristiano Andre Rodrigues Kondo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A downburst is a natural phenomenon that occurs during thunderstorms, creating hazards and damage to infrastructure due to the strong winds produced. This research contributes to the current literature by applying the Lundgren et al. scaling parameters (R₀, T₀, V₀) to scale cooling source (CS) downburst simulations. The research also investigates the effects of the environmental lapse rate (ELR) on full-scale downburst outflows and compares the full-cloud model with the subcloud model simulations. The results showed that the scaling parameters preserve the temporal and vertical radial wind speed profile shape, as well as the …

Integrated Modelling Of Wastewater Treatment And Sewer Processes - Interactions Of Fluid Flow, Mass Transfer, And Biochemical Reactions, Ahmed Khalil

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Numerical modelling of wastewater management systems is crucial for investigating alternative designs and developing strategies for operation and control that improve the performance of the treatment stage (such as improving the aeration systems in activated sludge systems). Modelling can also help operators to mitigate common problems that arise from unwanted biochemical conversions in the sewer networks (such as the production of sulfide and methane). Therefore, this work focuses on two major areas related to modelling wastewater management systems. First, it seeks to develop more accurate models for aeration systems in activated sludge reactors. Second, it seeks to study the mathematical …

Experimental Simulation Of A Density-Driven Downburst Translating Within A Turbulent Boundary Layer, Shivani Ashitkumar Jariwala

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Downburst outflows emerging from thunderstorm producing clouds are contained within the atmosphere where the outflow interacts with the preexisting atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). This novel study employs a realistic approach for experimental simulation of downbursts by translating the downburst source within a scaled ABL within a hydraulic flume system that produces open channel flow. The density-driven model approach is used, involving an iris operated cylinder release mechanism translating inside the ABL generated over a restrictive fetch using passive turbulence generating devices at model scales of 1:5500 and 1:10,000. The velocity vector fields across a vertical plane revealed asymmetrical outflows generated …

Experimental Modelling Of Downburst And Downburst Line Outflows, Kyle Graat

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The outflow velocity vector fields of simulated stationary thunderstorm downbursts and downburst lines were resolved in two plane orientations, vertical and horizontal, using a dense fluid release system and Particle Image Velocimetry. Single event releases were scaled to show agreement with past studies based on radial velocity magnitude and location and radial and vertical front propagation. The vortex trajectory of a single event using the vortex aspect ratio supported density's role in the outflow after the time and location of the maximum radial velocity. The interaction between two release events varied temporally and spatially and showed that the interaction region's …

The Effect Of Free-Stream Turbulence On Turbulent Boundary Layers And Convective Heat Transfer From Flat Plates, Ivian Carolina Alfaia De Magalhaes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present work investigates the effect of free-stream turbulence (FST) on turbulent boundary layers and forced convective heat transfer from flat plates. High resolution, 2-D and 3-D, steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques were performed to analyze the influence of different free-stream conditions, such as turbulence intensity (TI), integral length scale (L_u) and free-stream velocity (U_o) on local and total skin friction and convective heat transfer coefficients (CHTC), as well as on turbulent boundary layer parameters (boundary layer thickness and momentum thickness). The present study shows that …

The Study Of Bubble Growth Hydrodynamics In The Supersaturated Liquids, Raj Kumar Nayak Maloth

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bubble formation and dissolution have a wide range of industrial applications, from the production of beverages to foam manufacturing processes. The rate at which the bubble expands, or contracts has a significant effect on these processes. In the current work, the hydrodynamics of an isolated bubble expanding due to mass transfer in a pool of supersaturated gas-liquid solution is investigated. The complete scalar transportation equation (advection-diffusion) is solved numerically and it has been observed that the present model predicted an accurate bubble growth when compared with existing approximated models and experiments. The effect of gas-liquid solution parameters such as inertia, …

Experimental Investigation Of Flow And Thermal Behavior In Channels With Pcm-Filled Thermal Energy Storage Columns For Potential Application In Photobioreactors, Kira Toxopeus

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Microalgae has been identified as a potential source for the production of biofuels and other bio-products. The growth of microalgae is sensitive to the temperature variations inside the photobioreactor. The present research investigated an innovative approach to thermally regulate photobioreactors by introducing passive thermal energy storage using phase change material (PCM). The research was specifically focused on a novel design to integrate thermal storage in the reactor channel in the form of offset columns containing PCM. Two column shapes were considered: circular and square. The first part of the study was focused on characterizing the influence of offset column shapes …

An Experimental Study On The Impact Of Pressure Drop In The Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube, Mark Parker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A vortex tube converts a single stream of compressed gas into two outlet streams; one heated, and the other cooled. This phenomenon, referred to as energy separation, is not fully understood, thereby requires further experimentation and analysis. CFD can provide insight, however, such simulations require a complete set of information of the geometric, operational, and performance parameters of particular vortex tube experiments.

An experiment is developed to provide complete information for CFD simulations. The vortex tube under consideration is established by considering reported data from past studies and selecting parameters that yield significant energy separation. An experimental apparatus is developed …

Pneumatic Hyperelastic Robotic End-Effector For Grasping Soft Curved Organic Objects, Alexandre Galley

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Pneumatically-driven soft robotic grippers can elastically deform to grasp delicate, curved organic objects with minimal surface damage. However, common actuators have complex geometries and are fabricated with ultra-soft hyperelastic elastomers not originally intended for scientific applications. The complexity of the actuator geometry and extreme nonlinearity of their material’s stress-strain behaviour make it difficult to predict the actuator’s deformation prior to experimentation. In this work, a compact soft pneumatic gripper made with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is developed for grasping delicate organic objects, analyzed through computational modelling and experimentally validated. COMSOL Multiphysics is used to simulate the impact of geometrical parameters on the …

Effects Of Grooves On Drag In Laminar Channel Flow, Yanbei Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis presents the analysis of the effects of three-dimensional grooves on the flow responses in laminar channel flows. The wall topographies were expressed using the two-dimensional Fourier expansions. A spectrally accurate algorithm based on the Immersed Boundary Conditions (IBC) was used to determine the solution for the field equations and extract information about the velocity and pressure fields. The effects of grooves on the pressure losses were assessed by determining the additional pressure gradient required to maintain the same flow rate through the grooved channel as through the reference smooth channel. Effects of groove wave numbers, groove amplitudes, the …

Dynamics Of The Phase Coupling For Flow, Heat And Mass Transfer In Conjugate Fluid/Porous Domains, Mahmoud Mohamed Mostafa Elhalwagy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Porous media prevail in industry e.g. heat transfer equipment, drying, food storage and several other applications. Integrated in engineering, they form conjugate Fluid/Porous domains. Physical modelling requires characterizing the microscale heat and mass (moisture) transfer interstitially within porous media and their macroscale counterparts across regional interfaces. Characterizing turbulence and its effects on phase coupling is often needed too. The modeling literature survey shows phase coupling assumptions depending on empiricism, phase equilibrium and lack of generality. Modeling of the dynamic variations for the modes of phase exchanges, i.e. heat, mass and heat accompanying mass exchanges, on both scales and generic turbulent …

Numerical And Experimental Investigation On The Elastic Properties Of Discontinuous Fiber Reinforced Composites, Xiaotian Yi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Discontinuous fiber reinforced composites (DFRC) through injection molding have been widely used in the industrial fields due to their relatively high mechanical performance and low cost. This work is directed towards developing an accurate and efficient numerical simulation package to predict the elastic properties of the injection molded DFRC for fulfilling their potential applications and reducing the expensive experimental costs.

By combining the micromechanics modeling and finite element (FE) analysis, the elastic properties of the DFRC with the aligned fibers are firstly predicted to establish a database for developing semi-empirical formulation through data fitting. Then the elastic properties of DFRC …

A Numerical Investigation Of Human Cough Jet Development And Droplet Dispersion, Ran Bi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As part of the Western Cold and Flu aerosol (WeCoF) studies, the present study provides Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling of human cough flow. The cough flow is characterized in two different aspects, the flow field and the droplets. In the study of the flow field of coughing, various dynamic characteristics, including the velocity variation, streamwise penetration and power spectral density, are examined. CFD simulations using two different approaches, the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) and the large eddy simulation (LES), are performed for comparison purposes. The numerical results are validated by the experimental data obtained from the measurements by …

Fabrication Of 3d Conjugated Polymer Structures Via Vat Polymerization Additive Manufacturing, Andrew T. Cullen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Conjugated polymers are a class of electromechanically active materials that can produce motion in response to an electric potential. This motion can be harnessed to perform mechanical work, and therefore these materials are particularly well suited for use as sensors and actuators in microelectromechanical systems. Conventional methods to fabricate conjugated polymer actuators result in planar morphologies that limit fabricated devices to simplistic linear or bending actuation modes. To overcome this limitation, this work develops a conjugated polymer formulation and associated additive manufacturing method capable of realizing three-dimensional conductive polymer structures. A light-based additive manufacturing technique known as vat polymerization is …

A Numerical Tool For Predicting The Spatial Decay Of Freestream Turbulence., Dwaipayan Sarkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present numerical work is an attempt towards modelling of freely decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence with its application in experimental modelling of the effect of incident turbulence on flow around 2D and 3D bluff-bodies. Both steady, Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and unsteady, Large Eddy Simulation (LES), 3-D numerical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques have been employed to characterise the inviscid decay of large-scale turbulence in terms of the characteristic r.m.s turbulent velocity fluctuations ( ) and the local integral length scale (L_u). The large-scale turbulent properties extracted from the current numerical simulations are inter-related and are shown …

Experimental Simulation Of Density-Driven Thunderstorm Downbursts, Roghayyeh Babaei Koli

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Evaporative cooling of the precipitation within the thunderstorm cloud results in the formation of a mass of cold and dense air which moves toward the ground and after impingement turns into strong radial winds near the surface. In this study, an experimental approach was taken to investigate the downbursts. The two-fluid model was used, and the various features of the experimental setup of previous researchers were modified to incorporate the specifications of natural downbursts. First, two new release cylinders were manufactured and their capabilities in producing repeatable and symmetric outflows were examined. Then, the effects of cylinder wall design, density …

Free-Surface Wall-Jet Flow At Moderate Reynolds Number As Applied To Slot And Blade Coating, Mohammad Tanvir Hossain

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The flow of a two-dimensional steady wall jet observed in the slot and blade coating processes has been examined theoretically near the channel exit. The Newtonian free surface jet emerges from a channel and deposits onto an infinite moving wall with an adverse or favorable pressure gradient applied inside the channel. The Reynolds number considered is within the moderate range, and fully developed Couette-Poisueille flow conditions are assumed to prevail far upstream inside the channel. The effects of inertia and pressure gradient on the velocity, the shape of the free surface, and the stress are emphasized. It is found that …

The Development And Numerical Modelling Of A Representative Elemental Volume For Packed Sand, Ashraf Thabet

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The motivation of this thesis is the development of simple microscopic-scale model (representative elemental volume; REV) that can be used to conduct flow and heat transfer simulations from which closure coefficients can be established for the volume-averaged transport equations for porous media (packed bed). The thesis provides a brief introduction to the computational technique adopted for the geometric generation of the REV (YADE), followed by a parametric study undertaken to reveal the minimum number of particles inside the REV that are required to mimic the appropriate physics. Additional analysis was conducted with the goal of determining the influence of deviation …

Numerical Simulations Of Two-Phase Flows In The Liquid Solid Circulating Fluidized Bed, Hao Luo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed (LSCFB) has many potential applications in biochemical and petroleum industries, as well as in wastewater treatments, given its higher contact efficiency and being able to accommodate two reactions under one system. With extensive experimental results becoming available, there is clearly a need for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to expand our understandings of LSCFBs and to predict the hydrodynamic behaviors of the two-phase flows within LSCFB.

In this research, the Eulerian-Eulerian two-phase model combined with the kinetic theory for the granular phase is applied to simulate the two-phase flows in LSCFBs. The key factors affecting …

Experimental Measurements Of Far Field Cough Airflows Produced By Healthy And Influenza- Infected Human Subjects, Ahmed Faraj Alarbi Mohamed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present work details an experimental study of the cough airflow fields produced by subjects infected with influenza and when they are convalescent, together with data from healthy cohorts. The PIV and HWA measurements were taken far downstream at 1 m from the source within a cough chamber, along with droplet sampling at two different locations and nasal swabs from the sick subjects. The measured data over different seasons were used to evaluate and compare the results from sick, convalescent and healthy subjects. Although a total of 8 sick participants from winter 2014 and 2017 yielded positive nasal swab analysis, …

Fabrication Of Large Mechanically Flexible Multi-Layered Pdms Optical Devices, Robert S. Green

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mechanically flexible large area polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) optical devices are fabricated using soft-lithography techniques based on replica moulding. These non-rigid optical devices can be designed as sheets to act as either light concentrators (collectors) or diffusers (illuminators) based on the position and geometry of micro-optical structures (MOSs) embedded within the sheet or imprinted on its surface. The active surface area of the device can range from less than a sq. cm to several sq. m. The performance of the large area optical device is a function of the location and geometry of micro-optical structures, thickness and shape of the flexible waveguide, …

Parametric Design, Modeling, And Optical Evaluation Of Retroreflective Prismatic Structures, Sama Hussein

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Retroreflectors (RR) are defined as passive optical structures that redirect incident light to its originating source. Specific types of retroreflectors called inverted cubes (ICs) function through total internal reflection (TIR) and are used in various applications such as measurement tools, traffic signs and automotive rear and side lighting. This thesis aims to model, analyze, fabricate and study a novel type of IC retroreflectors called right triangular prism (RTP). A parametric approach is used to model existing IC geometries from a generic unit cube and is then implemented to model the novel RTP geometry. Those elements are then tested by optical …

The Effect Of Mesh-Type Bubble Breakers On Two-Phase Vertical Co-Flow, Alan Kalbfleisch

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is proposed that mesh-type bubble breakers can be used in two-phase gas-liquid vertical cocurrent pipe flow to enhance the heat and mass transfer rates. Two experimental studies were performed to investigate the effect of mesh-type bubble breakers with varying geometries on two-phase flow behaviour. The first used highspeed imaging to measure bubble size and observe the resulting flow regime for two-phase vertical co-flow consisting of air and water. A Froude number correlation that can be used to predict the bubble size generated by mesh-type bubble breakers is proposed. Flow regime maps for two-phase flow in the presence of bubble …

Thermal Modeling For Light Armored Vehicle, Marc-André H. Brooks

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Light Armored vehicles are required to operate in a variety of extremely hot and arid climates. As such, these vehicles are often subject to large heat gains due to environmental factors. The current systems employed for vehicle cooling do not always perform to the levels that are required, mainly due to the lack of a good estimate of the cooling load. A thermal analog circuit was created which separated each of the heat sources into its own module. Using material properties provided by General Dynamics Land Systems as well as information from acquired from CFD studies and ASHRAE, the values …