Free Fall Analysis and Simulation Tool (FAST)

The use of turbulence models leads to uncertainties in the computed results because the models are not universal. Therefore, it is essential to validate the CFD program by experimental data. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program with the Re-Normalization Group (RNG) k-ϵ model was used for prediction. Validation was conducted by comparing the flow patterns, vertical profiles of temperature, concentration, velocity, and turbulence intensity between measurement and computation for an individual office, a cubicle office, and a quarter of a classroom. The computed air temperature and velocity agree well with the measured data. The agreement is less satisfactory between the computed and measured temperatures in the lower part of the office. The CFD model used therefore should be able to predict the indoor environments characterized by strong pressure and buoyancy driven flows.

해양에 기름이 유출되면 방제작업의 초기단계에서 기름의 이동 및 확산을 차단하기 위하여 오일 붐을 사용하는 것이 일반적이다. 그러나 오일 붐은 유속, 기름의 밀도와 점성, 수심, 기름의 양, 그리고 붐 흘수의 길이 등과 같은 여러 인자들에 의해 그 포획능력이 영향을 받는다. 본 연구에서는 이들 누유인자가 오일 붐의 포획과정에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지를 체계적으로 파악하기 위하여 컴퓨터 모델링을 수행하였다. 모델링을 위하여 CFD(computational fluid dynamics) 프로그램 중에서 가장 널리 알려진 Fluent를 이용하였으며 기존의 실험자료와 비교함으로써 모델링 결과를 검증하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 방제작업 책임자와 오일 붐 설계자에게 유용한 참고자료가 될 것으로 기대된다. When oil is spilled at sea, the oil boom is commonly used to tackle the movement and spreading of oil in an early stage of oil spill combat. But the retaining capability of oil boom is affected by various factors, such as water velocity, viscosity and density of oil, water depth, oil volume and the length of boom draft. In this study, a computer modelling was peformed to investigate how these factors influence the oil retaining process. The Fluent, most popular one of many CFD(computational fluid dynamics) programs is chosen for modelling and modelling results were verified using the empirical data. It is expected that results of this study will be useful data for oil boom designer and oil spill response commander.

Most occupant accommodation assessments of a new vehicle design currently still utilize human appraisal. That is, human subjects experience the new design physically and provide feedback including a numerical rating or verbatim description. There are two drawbacks with this type of assessment: 1) the outcome is subjective. They are likely affected by other factors such as the vehicle’s appearance or brand and the individual’s own bias; 2) the outcome may not be able to reveal where the issues are nor how to resolve them. The digital manikin technology has been widely used in different areas: starting from movie and video gaming industries, and getting more and more involved in the product life circle of manufacture industries. Human motions are captured, and the digital manikin is utilized to present these motions virtually. This paper introduces a method that uses digital manikins to assist the process of vehicle design. Subjects’ motions interacting with a vehicle, which are related to a new design change, are captured. These motions are used to drive digital manikins that represent their respective subjects in size and body shape. A software system that animates the digital manikin according to the motions and creates swept volumes of selected body segments was created. The collection of the swept volumes of all subjects represents the space that is occupied by the human body during the motion. This space can be used to assess the design changes by indicating the minimum clearance between the swept volume and vehicle components or the interference between the human body with the components. In addition, the space described by the swept volumes provides a guideline or space limit for any future design changes. This method is objective. It not only pin-points the locations that cause discomfort or inconvenience by the new design, but also provides quantitative suggestions on how much improvement is needed for a better design.

Commercially available Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software have been applied in indoor environmental design in recent years, but the prediction accuracy depends on an understanding of fluid dynamics fundamentals, in setting appropriate boundary and numerical conditions. This study aims to provide practical modelling information related to prediction accuracy and problematic areas in CFD applications in air conditioning and ventilation, through a series of benchmark tests and reported the results. Six commercial CFD codes were evaluated while two benchmark test cases were performed on isothermal/non-isothermal flow in 2D and 3D room models. The influence of mesh design, and turbulence models showed that using a standard k-ε model on a coarse mesh could provide sufficiently accurate results for practical purposes, by reducing the relaxation coefficient. Evaluation using different CFD programs on a non-isothermal room airflow showed different performances in predicting temperature distributions. The OpenFOAM code showed the closest matching results between three codes tests.

In order to develop high efficiency fans and blowers the design methods are being improved continuously. The same is valid for the modern CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) programs, which are used in the design process in order to validate the designs. However, at the end of the development process measurements at test rigs are needed in order to verify the final design. CFD is substituting to some extend EFD (Experimental Fluid Dynamics), but still EFD is the final way to evaluate a design. Usually the universities and the industry have some test rig where measurements are done. These test rigs in general are unique and built according to a corresponding standard. However, these standards, as for example the German DIN 24 163 [1] or the European DIN EN ISO 5801 [2] prescribe only the main proportions of such test rigs while several important features are not described in detail. In particular the aerodynamic theory behind the standard is very often omitted. For example, the measurement of the pressure characteristic of a fan is performed at a pressure tab at the test chamber wall and not at the fan itself. How to assure that the pressure measured at the wall tab corresponds to the fan pressure? In this work the relevant theory behind the design of test rigs was worked out in detail for the relevant test rig features where the standards do not explain the fluid mechanical aspects. On this basis pressure and suction side test rigs were designed and completely simulated with a commercial CFD program, Ansys CFX. The goal was to develop compact test rigs according to the European DIN EN ISO 5801 [2] standard. It is shown in this work how the size of the test chamber influences the measuring results. Furthermore an in detail CFD study of a series of flow measurement devices, as inlet and Venturi nozzles, was performed. In such a way it was possible to show the influence of the dimensions of these devices on the accuracy of the measurements. Finally two test rigs were built, one for suction side and the other one for pressure side measurements. Compared to other test rigs in this category in use in the industry in Germany it was possible to reduce the size of these test rigs by a factor of about two complying with the measurement uncertainty of the DIN EN ISO 5801 standard.

Simultaneous heat and mass transfer are investigated in a falling film outside grooved and smooth tubes. A numerical analysis of the helically trapezoidal-grooved and reference smooth tube was performed in the computational fluid dynamics program “Ansys Fluent 14.” The three-dimensional model drawings in the x, y, and z coordinates are used, and the effects of the falling film outside the helically grooved tube on the surface temperature and surface heat transfer coefficient are determined. The average surface temperature, heat transfer coefficient, and Nu values are determined experimentally for a constant heat flux. An uncertainty analysis and Nu correlation for the grooved tube are also provided in this study. The Reynolds number varied between 50 and 350 for the falling film and between 1500 and 3500 for air. Using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for the reference smooth tube, the experimental results are validated within 2–12% difference. The experimental results are also within 6–13% of the grooved tubes.

The engine tests aimed to produce comparable data for fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, and thermal efficiency. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program FLUENT was used to simulate the combustion parameters of a direct injection diesel engine. In-cylinder turbulence is controlled using the RNG k-model. The model's conclusions are validated when the projected p-curve is compared to the observed p-curve. The thermal efficiency of the 50E50B blend (50% ethanol, 50% biofuel) is higher than the other blends as well as diesel. Diesel has lower brake thermal efficiency among the other fuel blends used. The 10E90B mix (10% ethanol, 90% biofuel) has a lower brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) than other blends but is slightly higher than diesel. The temperature of the exhaust gas rises for all mixtures as the brake power is increased. CO emissions from 50E50B are lower than diesel at low loads but slightly greater at heavy loads. According to the emission graphs, the 50E50B blend produces less HC than diesel. NOx emission rises with increasing load in the exhaust parameter for all mixes. A 50E50B biofuel-ethanol combination achieves the highest brake thermal efficiency, 33.59%. The BSFC for diesel is 0.254 kg/kW-hr at maximum load, while the BSFC for the 10E90B mix is 0.269 kg/kW-hr, higher than diesel. In comparison to diesel, BSFC has increased by 5.90%.

Validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools for the development of a helium-cooled divertor

In order to predict the velocity and attitude of a sailing yacht travelling in a given wind speed and wind angle, the hydrodynamic problem and the aerodynamic problem need most of the time to be decoupled. Two matrices are built to characterize the hydrodynamic and the aerodynamic behavior separately. Then a Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) interpolates the matrices and finds the equilibrium between the forces acting on the hull and appendages on one side, and the forces acting on the sails on the other side. This gives the velocity and attitude of the yacht depending on the wind speed and wind angle. Two main approaches are currently used to build the hydrodynamic matrix. The first method is to build a reduced or a virtual model with the proper hull shape and test it in a towing tank or a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program. This approach can lead to a very precise estimation of the matrix for a given hull shape, but it is time consuming and gives no indication on other possible hull shapes. The second method is to build and test various hull shapes and use this database to build analytical formulas describing the evolution of the hydrodynamic forces depending on the speed and attitude, but also on the hull shape, via several “shape parameters”. During the early stage of design, numerous hulls are to be evaluated, and it is very valuable to understand the influence of the design parameters on hydrodynamic efficiency of the hull. Therefore, the second method should be much more efficient at this stage of the design process. The most used regressions have been provided by J.A. Keuning et al., based on the Delft Systematic Yacht Hull Series, [1], [2]. This work began in 1971; the sailing yacht hull shapes have changed a lot since then. The aim of the present work is to enhance these regressions, by using new shapes in the database and by adding new “shape parameters” to describe the hulls. A powerful loop driven by the commercial software ModeFrontier has been developed in order to build a database by means of CFD. Systematic morphing of the hull shapes, parallel computing, automatic meshing and automatic post-treatment will provide a large database in a relatively short time. The aim of the ongoing work is to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of the prediction of yacht hull performance during the early stages of the design process. The study will focus on flat water, steady predictions. The following results concern exclusively bare hulls, the interaction between the hull and its appendages will be treated separately.

The Planar Inlet Design and Analysis Process (PINDAP) is a collection of software tools that allow the efficient aerodynamic design and analysis of planar (two -dimensional and axisymmetric) inlets. The aerodynamic analysis is performed using the Wind -US computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program. A major ele ment in PINDAP is a Fortran 90 code named PINDAP that can establish the parametric design of the inlet and efficiently model the geometry and generate the grid for CFD analysis with design changes to those parameters. The use of PINDAP is demonstrated for subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic inlets.

The physical characteristics of water sprays profoundly influence the efficacy with which fires are extinguished. One of the most important physical characteristics of water sprays is the median diameter of the water droplets. However, this parameter is difficult to measure without resorting to the use of specialised equipment. Furthermore, the distribution of the size of water droplets and their initial velocity are profoundly sensitive to the pressure at the nozzle head. This paper presents a simple technique to determine the median droplet size of a water spray produced by a nozzle. The method required only two experiments to determine the mass flux distribution generated by a nozzle operating at two known pressures. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program was then used to estimate the median diameter of the water spray under these conditions. The median droplets generated when the nozzle was operating under a different pressure can be calculated using an established empirical relationship. The approach advocated in this paper is supported by invoking Whewell’s principle of consilience of inductions. This was achieved by observing that the CFD software accurately predicts the mass flux distribution when the new pressure and estimated median diameter of the droplets were used as inputs. This provides independent evidence that the proposed approach has some merit. The findings of this research may contribute to establish a technique in calculating the median diameter of droplets when direct measurement of droplet diameter is not available.

DigBody®: A new 3D modeling tool for nasal virtual surgery

A three-dimensional large-eddy-simulation computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program, developed for studying the transport of smoke during a fire in an enclosure, is applied to four flow problems relevant to nonfire situations. This evaluation is relevant to the use of the program for indoor air quality modeling as well as its use in modeling the early phases of smoldering fires. The program uses finite-difference techniques to solve the Navier-Stokes equations, with an approach emphasizing high spatial resolution and efficient flow-solving techniques. Subgrid scale effects are addressed with the Smagorinsky model. The flow problems include simple geometries, with forced, natural, and mixed convection flows as well as a realistic test room with a displacement ventilation system and tracer gas release. Grid effects and computing time are investigated. Results are compared with the experimental data, and issues important to defining the problems in CFD are highlighted. In general the program predicts the experimental data reasonably well, with very fast computing times. However, care must be taken in defining convection from heated surfaces, and adequate grid resolution is needed to model the dispersion of a tracer gas in the enclosure.

Usual uncertainties in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results include numerical errors, modeling errors, program bugs, mistakes in input parameters and boundary conditions. The errors can be assessed using itemized results from the CFD program together with its documentation. Each uncertainty can be assessed by evaluating the variables against each other, parameter responsiveness examinations and testing for simplified items. The role is made easier if the program is as transparent as possible. This means that the user can see the values of all the pertinent variables and mediatory results for the whole computational domain. Together with an extensive collection of documents of the computer program that includes all the formulas used, the user can be able to find the causes of suspect results, including an estimation of possible bugs. An important tool in the testing of a CFD program is using simplified cases, generally channels with uniform one-dimensional flow.

This work describes the methodology used to develop a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model for the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride (SiN/sub x/) for an N/sub 2/SiH/sub 4/-NH/sub 3/ process. The model has been developed for the Applied Materials Precision 5000 single-wafer reactor, and has the reaction chamber geometry, thermal characteristics, and reactant delivery system incorporated into it. A one-dimensional simulator was used to investigate the initial reaction mechanisms. An experimental design was carried out using physically-based transformations in order to provide model calibration data. The reaction rates were then optimized using the experimental data and the one-dimensional simulator in conjunction with a nonlinear optimizer. A two-dimensional model has been developed using FLUENT, a commercially available computational fluid dynamics program. A simplified plasma modeling technique has been developed which permits the incorporation of electron-initiated reactions generated by the radio-frequency (RF) plasma. This model provides the capability to predict the film composition and deposition rates across the substrate surface. A comparison to the nominal point experimental data has been performed and is reported as well. >