Flow regime transitions in flow blurring injection through a CFD parametric study

Computational analysis of gas–liquid flow in an idealised CANDU reactor header under conditions that are relevant to small-break loss-of-coolant and loss-of-flow accidents

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for air/water-vapor and water-liquid two-phase flow mixing with condensation in a vertical inverted U-tube is presented in this paper. This study is to investigate the flow behaviors and underlying some physical mechanisms encountered in air/water-vapor and water-liquid mixing flow when condensation is considered. Water-liquid flows upward-downward through the inverted U-tube while the air/water-vapor mixture is extracted from a side-tube just after the flow oriented downward. The CFD simulation is carried out for a side air/water-vapor mixture volume fraction (αm) of 0.2–0.7, water-vapor mass fraction (Xv) of 0.1–0.5 in the side air/water-vapor mixture and water-liquid mass flowrate (mw) of 2,4,6, and 8 kg/s. The present results reveal that, at lower air mass flow rate, no significant effect of Xv on the generated static pressure at the inverted U-tube higher part. However, by increasing the air mass flow rates, ma ≥ 0.001 at mw = 2 kg/s, and ma ≥ 0.00125 at mw = 4 kg/s, we can infer that the lowest static pressure can be attained at Xv = 0.1. This may be attributed to the increased vapor and air mass flow rates from the side tube which results in shifting the condensation from the tube highest part due to air accumulation. This leads to increasing the flow pressure and decelerating the water-liquid flow. Raising mw from 2 to 4 kg/s at the same vapor mass ratio results in a lower static pressure due to more condensation of water vapor. The turbulent intensity and kinetic energy starts to drop approximately at ma = 0.002 kg/s, and αm = 0.55–0.76 at mw = 2 kg/s for all Xv values but no noticeable change at mw = 4 kg/s occurs. These findings estimate the operational values of air and water mass flow rates for stable air entrainment from the side-tube. Increasing the air and vapor mass ratio over these values may block the evacuation process and fails the system continuance. Likewise more air entrainment from the side-tube will decelerate the water flow through the inverted U-tube and hence the flow velocity will decrease thereafter. Moreover, this study reveals that the inverted U-tube is able to generate a vacuum pressure down to 55.104 kPa for the present model when vapor condensation is considered. This generated low-pressure helps to vent an engineering system from the non-condensable gases and water vapor that fail its function if these are accumulated with time. Moreover, the water-liquid mass flow rate in the inverted U-tube can be used to sustain the required operating pressure for this system and extract the non-condensable gases with a less energy consuming system. The present CFD model provides a good physical understanding of the flow behavior for air/water-vapor and water-liquid flow for possible future application in the steam power plant.

Modeling of an efficient airblast atomizer for liquid jet into a supersonic crossflow

Mass transfer in annular liquid jets in the presence of liquid flow rate fluctuations

Thermal analysis and optimization of indirect flat evaporative coolers

We study a high-viscosity two-phase flow through an analysis of the corresponding pressure signals. In particular, we investigate the flow of a glycerin–air mixture moving through a horizontal pipeline with a U-section installed midway along the pipe. Different combinations of liquid and air mass flow rates are experimentally tested. Then, we examine the moments of the statistical distributions obtained from the resulting pressure time series, in order to highlight the significant dynamical traits of the flow. Finally, we propose a novel correlation with two dimensionless parameters: the Euler number and a mass-flow-rate ratio to predict the pressure gradient in high-viscosity two-phase flow. Distinctive variations of the pressure gradients are observed in each section of the pipeline, which suggest that the local flow dynamics must not be disregarded in favor of global considerations.

The cavitating venturi is using to provide constant mass flow rate of liquid which is passing through a passage, independent of downstream pressure changes. A cavitating venturi is a converging-diverging nozzle with a suitable throat area for passing flow. The flow rate is a function of the upstream pressure, the throat area, the density and saturated pressure of the liquid. An experimental setup with the capability of supplying constant water flow rate, upstream pressure and temperature was designed and manufactured. Three cavitating venturies were designed and built to investigate the effect of cavitating venturi size on its mass flow rate and capability of performance venturi in wide ranges of flow rates. Three different sets of experiments were conducted to ensure the performance of the venturi to keep constant mass flow rate independent of downstream pressure. In the experiments, under different downstream and upstream pressure conditions, the mass flow rates were examined. The results show that if the ratio of downstream pressure to upstream pressure is less than 0.8, the mass flow rate is constant and independent of the downstream pressure. Whenever pressure ratio exceeds from 0.8, the venturi acts like an orifice.

Passive flow control in liquid-propellant rocket engines with cavitating venturi

This study describes the results on the performance of one vehicle air conditioning system. The coefficient of performance, evaporator cooling capacity, compressor power consumption, total mass flow rate, vapor mass flow rate, liquid mass flow rate and oil in circulation, pressures and temperatures of refrigerant at every component (inlets and outlets) are measured and analyzed with the variation of the outside temperatures at the evaporator and condenser, the speed of the compressor, refrigerant charge and oil charge. The systematical experimental results obtained from this real-size test system depict the relations between the above parameters in a vehicle air conditioning system, which constitute a useful source for vehicle air conditioning systems design and analysis. The vapor quality (two-phase flow) measurements realized in this work provide an extremely important tool for diagnosing the system performances.

Mass flow rate measurements in gas–liquid flows by means of a venturi or orifice plate coupled to a void fraction sensor

Effect of Liquid Level and Mass Flow Rate on Subcooling of Vertical Refrigeration Receiver Having a Large Aspect Ratio

Pressure drop modeling and performance optimization of a humidification–dehumidification desalination system

Experimental investigation and model improvement on the atomization performance of single-hole Y-jet nozzle with high liquid flow rate

Force-driven liquid argon flows both in nanoscale periodic domains and in gold nano-channels are simulated using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics to investigate the scale and wall force field effects. We examined variations in liquid density, viscosity, velocity profile, slip length, shear stress and mass flow rate in different sized periodic domains and nano-channels at a fixed thermodynamic state. In the absence of walls, liquid argon obeys Newton’s law of viscosity with the desired absolute viscosity in domains as small as 4 molecular diameters in height. Results prove that deviations from continuum solution are solely due to wall effects. Simulations in nano-channels with heights varying from 3.26 to 36 nm exhibit parabolic velocity profiles with constant slip length modeled by Navier-type slip boundary condition. Both channel averaged density and “apparent viscosity” decrease with reduced channel height, which has competing effects in determination of the mass flow rate. Density layering and wall force field induce deviations from Newton’s law of viscosity in the near-wall region, while constant “apparent viscosity” with the deformation rate from a parabolic velocity profile successfully predicts shear stress in the bulk flow region.

The medical community has lately shown increased interest in drug administration via the internal surfaces of the lung. Administration of medication to the lungs is typically performed using either an aerosol or a spray, that is inhaled by the patient. Spray droplet size distribution is a primary determinant of whether medication will deposit effectively within the lungs. Spray liquid flow rates will determine required treatment time. Examination of three typical atomizer (nebulizer) designs used to generate inhalation sprays is presented. The separate stages in the design of these nebulizers include entrainment (jet pump), atomization, and conveyance stages. Mass flow rate of liquid in the sprays delivered from all examined designs was at least two orders of magnitude less than the mass flow rates of liquid pumped through the atomization stages. This indicated that liquid typically circulated through the atomization stages many times before being completely administered. Visualization was performed on the atomization stages showing less than ideal mechanisms for break up. Final outlet droplet cumulative number distributions obtained via Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) demonstrate that approximately 80% of the droplets generated by each design are within the range of sizes generally considered desirable for inhaled administration. (1–5 μm).