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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Computational Sodium Heat Pipe Simulation In Three Dimensions For Transient Nuclear Reactor Analysis With Variable Surface Heat Flux, Valerie Jean Lawdensky
Computational Sodium Heat Pipe Simulation In Three Dimensions For Transient Nuclear Reactor Analysis With Variable Surface Heat Flux, Valerie Jean Lawdensky
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
Heat pipes are used to transfer heat through phase change in a liquid/vapor contained in a metal tube. They are passive devices that require no pumps to circulate the fluid and can transfer heat far more efficiently than a solid copper rod of the same diameter. They are commonly used in laptop computers where copper heat pipes filled with water take heat away from the CPU and transfer the heat to air through a heat exchanger. Heat pipes were also used in the Kilopower nuclear reactor where higher temperatures required sodium as the working fluid with stainless steel tubes. Computer …
Fixed Bottom Wind Turbine Wave-Wake Interaction, Ondrej Fercak
Fixed Bottom Wind Turbine Wave-Wake Interaction, Ondrej Fercak
Dissertations and Theses
The interest and benefits of offshore wind energy has also brought along legitimate design challenges for engineers. Most notably, the complex interaction between wind and turbine is further complicated by the addition of dynamic ocean waves. This dynamic coupling between wind, wave, and turbine is not fully understood. Even small improvements in wind turbine performance are welcome, so characterizing a fundamental dynamic in offshore energy is necessary to optimize design. Experimentation and simulation have been used to characterize inflow and turbine wakes and separately, wind-wave interactions. But only simulations have just begun to look at the wind, wave, and turbine …
Bicycle Wheel Aerodynamics Predictions Using Cfd: Efficiency Using Blade Element Method, Drew Vigne
Bicycle Wheel Aerodynamics Predictions Using Cfd: Efficiency Using Blade Element Method, Drew Vigne
Honors Undergraduate Theses
The cycling industry has long relied on expensive wind tunnel testing when designing aerodynamic products, particularly in the context of wheels which account for 10 to 15 percent of a cyclist's total aerodynamic drag. With the recent advent of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the industry now has an economical tool to supplement the wheel design process; however, the complex nature of rotating spoked wheels requires high resolution meshes to model at acceptable fidelity. This research investigates an alternative CFD method that lowers the computational cost of modeling aerodynamic bicycle wheels by modeling spokes using Blade Element Method (BEM). Two CFD …
Dynamic Effects Of Inertial Particles On The Wake Recovery Of A Model Wind Turbine, Sarah E. Smith
Dynamic Effects Of Inertial Particles On The Wake Recovery Of A Model Wind Turbine, Sarah E. Smith
Dissertations and Theses
Impacting particles such as rain, dust, and other debris can have devastating structural effects on wind turbines, but little is known about the interaction of such debris within turbine wakes. This study aims to characterize behavior of inertial particles within the turbulent wake of a wind turbine and relative effects on wake recovery. Here a model wind turbine is subjected to varied two-phase inflow conditions, with wind as the carrier fluid (Reλ = 49 - 88) and polydisperse water droplets (26 to 45µm in diameter) at varied concentrations (Φv=0.24 x 10-5 - 1.3 …
Characterization Of Inertial Particles In The Turbulent Wake Of A Porous Disk, Kristin Nichole Travis
Characterization Of Inertial Particles In The Turbulent Wake Of A Porous Disk, Kristin Nichole Travis
Dissertations and Theses
This study presents the findings of a wind tunnel experiment investigating the behaviour of micrometric inertial particles in the turbulent wake of a stationary porous disk. Various concentrations [Φv ∈ (2.95 x 10-6 - 1.22 x 10-5)] of polydisperse water droplets (diameter 13-41 µm) are compared to sub-inertial tracer particles. Hot-wire anemometry, phase Doppler interferometry and particle image velocimetry were implemented in the near and far wake regions to study the complex dynamics of the particles. Turbulence statistics and particle size distributions are presented and used to explore the particle wake interaction.