Fluids — Open Access Journal

The present studies deliver the computational investigations of a 10 MW turbine with a diameter of 205.8 m developed within the framework of the AVATAR (Advanced Aerodynamic Tools for Large Rotors) project. The simulations were carried out using two methods with different fidelity levels, namely the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and blade element and momentum (BEM) approaches. For this purpose, a new BEM code namely B-GO was developed employing several correction terms and three different polar and spatial interpolation options. Several flow conditions were considered in the simulations, ranging from the design condition to the off-design condition where massive flow separation takes place, challenging the validity of the BEM approach. An excellent agreement is obtained between the BEM computations and the 3D CFD results for all blade regions, even when massive flow separation occurs on the blade inboard area. The results demonstrate that the selection of the polar data can influence the accuracy of the BEM results significantly, where the 3D polar datasets extracted from the CFD simulations are considered the best. The BEM prediction depends on the interpolation order and the blade segment discretization. Full article

A diagnostic method is presented for analysing the large-scale behaviour of the Met Office Unified Model, which is a comprehensive atmospheric model used for weather and climate prediction. Outside the boundary layer, on scales larger than the radius of deformation, semi-geostrophic theory will give an accurate approximation to the model evolution. In particular, the ageostrophic circulation required to maintain geostrophic and hydrostatic balance against prescribed forcing and a rate of change of the geostrophic pressure can be calculated. In the tropics, the balance condition degenerates to the weak temperature gradient approximation. Within the boundary layer, the semi-geotriptic approximation has to be used because friction and rotation are equally important. Assuming the calculated pressure tendency and ageotriptic circulation match the observed model behaviour, the influence of the large-scale state and the nature of the forcing on the model response can be deduced in a straightforward way. The capabilities of the diagnostic are illustrated by comparing predictions of the ageotriptic circulation from the theory and the model. It is then used to show that the effects of latent heat release can be included by modifying the static stability, and to show the effect of an idealised tropical heat source on the subtropical jet. Finally, the response of the ageotriptic flow to boundary layer heating in the tropics is demonstrated. These illustrations show that the model behaviour on large scales conforms with theoretical expectations, so that the results of the diagnostic can be used to aid the development of further improvements to the model, in particular investigating systematic errors and understanding the large-scale atmospheric response to forcing. Full article

The fluid dynamics of a natural aortic valve are complicated due to the highly pulsatile flow conditions, the compliant wall boundaries, and the sophisticated geometry of the aortic root. In the present study, a pulsatile flow simulator was constructed and utilized to investigate the turbulent characteristics and structural deformation of an intact silicone aortic root model under different flow inputs. Particle image velocimetry and high-frequency pressure sensors were combined to gather the pulsatile flow field information. The results demonstrated the distributions and the variations of the jet flow structures at different phases of a cardiac cycle. High turbulence kinetic energy was observed after the peak systole phase when the flow started to decelerate. Deformations of the aortic root upstream and downstream of the valve leaflets under normal boundary conditions were summarized and found to be comparable to results from clinical studies. The cardiac output plays an important role in determining the strength of hemodynamic and structural responses. A reduction in cardiac outputs resulted in a lower post-systole turbulence, smaller circumferential deformation, a smaller geometric orifice area, and a shortened valve-opening period. Full article

Geologic carbon storage will most likely be feasible only if carbon dioxide (CO₂) is utilized for improved oil recovery (IOR). The majority of carbonate reservoirs that bear hydrocarbons are fractured. Thus, the geomechanical response of the reservoir and caprock to IOR operations is controlled by pre-existing fractures. However, given the complexity of including fractures in numerical models, they are usually neglected and incorporated into an equivalent porous media. In this paper, we perform fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical numerical simulations of fluid injection and production into a naturally fractured carbonate reservoir. Simulation results show that fluid pressure propagates through the fractures much faster than the reservoir matrix as a result of their permeability contrast. Nevertheless, pressure diffusion propagates through the matrix blocks within days, reaching equilibrium with the fluid pressure in the fractures. In contrast, the cooling front remains within the fractures because it advances much faster by advection through the fractures than by conduction towards the matrix blocks. Moreover, the total stresses change proportionally to pressure changes and inversely proportional to temperature changes, with the maximum change occurring in the longitudinal direction of the fracture and the minimum in the direction normal to it. We find that shear failure is more likely to occur in the fractures and reservoir matrix that undergo cooling than in the region that is only affected by pressure changes. We also find that stability changes in the caprock are small and its integrity is maintained. We conclude that explicitly including fractures into numerical models permits identifying fracture instability that may be otherwise neglected. Full article

Viscoelastic rate-type fluid models involving the stress and frame-indifferent time derivatives of second order, like those in Burgers’ model, are used to describe the complicated response of fluid like materials that are endowed with a complex microstructure that allows them to possess two different relaxation mechanisms as well as other non-Newtonian characteristics. Such models are used in geomechanics, biomechanics, chemical engineering and material sciences. We show how to develop such rate-type fluid models that include the classical Burgers’ model as well as variants of Burgers’ model, using a thermodynamic approach based on constitutive assumptions for two scalar quantities (namely, how the material stores energy and how the energy is dissipated) and appealing to the concept of natural configuration associated with the placement of the body that evolves as the body deforms. Full article

The test lecture rooms on Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) Ghent Technology Campus (Belgium) are a demonstration case of Annex 62: Ventilative Cooling of the International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Communities programme (IEA EBC). The building is cooled by natural night ventilation and indirect evaporative cooling (IEC). Thermal comfort and the performances of ventilative cooling are evaluated. Long-term measurements of internal temperatures, occupancy, opening of windows and IEC were carried out in the cooling season of 2017. The airflow rates through the windows in cross- and single-sided ventilation mode were measured by both tracer gas concentration decay and air velocity measurements. In addition, the air flow pattern is visualized by measuring air temperatures in the room. The results show that good thermal summer comfort was measured except during heat waves and/or periods with high occupancy. Both nighttime ventilation and IEC operate very well. IEC can lower the supply temperature by day significantly compared to the outdoor temperature. The Air Changes Rates (ACR) of the night ventilation greatly depends on wind direction and velocity. The air temperature profile showed that the air is cooled down in the whole lecture but more in the upper zone. The extensive data monitoring system was important to detect malfunctions and to optimize the whole building performance. Full article

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of inlet temperature (T_in) and flowrate ($\dot{m}$) on thermal efficiency $\left({\eta }_{th}\right)$ of flat plate collectors (FPC). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was employed to simulate a FPC and the results were validated with experimental data from literature. The FPC was examined for high and low level flowrates and for inlet temperatures which varied from 298 to 373 K. Thermal efficiency of 93% and 65% was achieved at 298 K and 370 K inlet temperature’s respectively. A maximum temperature increase of 62 K in the inlet temperature was achieved at a flowrate of 5 × 10⁻⁴ kg/s inside the riser pipe. T_in and $\dot{m}$ were optimised in order to achieve the minimum required feed temperature for a 10 kW absorption chiller. Full article

Geologic carbon storage is considered as a requisite to effectively mitigate climate change, so large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) are expected to be injected in sedimentary saline formations. CO₂ injection leads to the creation of acidic solution when it dissolves into the resident brine, which can react with reservoir rock, especially carbonates. We numerically investigated the behavior of reservoir-caprock system where CO₂ injection-induced changes in the hydraulic and geomechanical properties of Apulian limestone were measured in the laboratory. We found that porosity of the limestone slightly decreases after CO₂ treatment, which lead to a permeability reduction by a factor of two. In the treated specimens, calcite dissolution was observed at the inlet, but carbonate precipitation occurred at the outlet, which was closed during the reaction time of three days. Additionally, the relative permeability curves were modified after CO₂–rock interaction, especially the one for water, which evolved from a quadratic to a quasi-linear function of the water saturation degree. Geomechanically, the limestone became softer and it was weakened after being altered by CO₂. Simulation results showed that the property changes occurring within the CO₂ plume caused a stress redistribution because CO₂ treated limestone became softer and tended to deform more in response to pressure buildup than the pristine rock. The reduction in strength induced by geochemical reactions may eventually cause shear failure within the CO₂ plume affected rock. This combination of laboratory experiments with numerical simulations leads to a better understanding of the implications of coupled chemo-mechanical interactions in geologic carbon storage. Full article

Combustion will play a major part in fulfilling the world’s energy demand in the next 20 years. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the fundamentals of the flame–wall interaction (FWI), which takes place in internal combustion engines or gas turbines. The FWI can increase heat losses, increase pollutant formations and lowers efficiencies. In this work, a Large Eddy Simulation combined with a tabulated chemistry approach is used to investigate the transient near wall behavior of a turbulent premixed stoichiometric methane flame. This sidewall quenching configuration is based on an experimental burner with non-homogeneous turbulence and an actively cooled wall. The burner was used in a previous study for validation purposes. The transient behavior of the movement of the flame tip is analyzed by categorizing it into three different scenarios: an upstream, a downstream and a jump-like upstream movement. The distributions of the wall heat flux, the quenching distance or the detachment of the maximum heat flux and the quenching point are strongly dependent on this movement. The highest heat fluxes appear mostly at the jump-like movement because the flame behaves locally like a head-on quenching flame. Full article

This paper presents a free code for calculating 1D hydraulic transients in liquid-filled piping. The transient of focus is the Water Hammer phenomenon which may arise due to e.g., sudden valve closure, pump start/stop etc. The method of solution of the system of partial differential equations given by the continuity and momentum balance is the Method of Characteristics (MOC). Various friction models ranging from steady-state and quasi steady-state to unsteady friction models including Convolution Based models (CB) as well as an Instantaneous Acceleration Based (IAB) model are implemented. Furthermore, two different models for modelling cavitation/column separation are implemented. Column separation may occur during low pressure pulses if the pressure decreases below the vapour pressure of the fluid. The code implementing the various models are compared to experiments from the literature. All experiments consist of an upstream reservoir, a straight pipe and a downstream valve. Full article

The stability properties of a vortex lens are studied in the quasi geostrophic (QG) framework using the generalized stability theory. Optimal perturbations are obtained using a tangent linear QG model and its adjoint. Their fine-scale spatial structures are studied in details. Growth rates of optimal perturbations are shown to be extremely sensitive to the time interval of optimization: The most unstable perturbations are found for time intervals of about 3 days, while the growth rates continuously decrease towards the most unstable normal mode, which is reached after about 170 days. The horizontal structure of the optimal perturbations consists of an intense counter-shear spiralling. It is also extremely sensitive to time interval: for short time intervals, the optimal perturbations are made of a broad spectrum of high azimuthal wave numbers. As the time interval increases, only low azimuthal wave numbers are found. The vertical structures of optimal perturbations exhibit strong layering associated with high vertical wave numbers whatever the time interval. However, the latter parameter plays an important role in the width of the vertical spectrum of the perturbation: short time interval perturbations have a narrow vertical spectrum while long time interval perturbations show a broad range of vertical scales. Optimal perturbations were set as initial perturbations of the vortex lens in a fully non linear QG model. It appears that for short time intervals, the perturbations decay after an initial transient growth, while for longer time intervals, the optimal perturbation keeps on growing, quickly leading to a non-linear regime or exciting lower azimuthal modes, consistent with normal mode instability. Very long time intervals simply behave like the most unstable normal mode. The possible impact of optimal perturbations on layering is also discussed. Full article

The dynamics of a spherical particle in an asymmetric serpentine is studied by finite element method (FEM) simulations in a physically unconstrained system. The two-way coupled time dependent solutions illustrate the path of the particle along a curve where a secondary flow (Dean flow) has developed. The simulated conditions were adjusted to match those of an experiment for which particles were focused under inertial focusing conditions in a microfluidic device. The obtained rotational modes inferred the influence of the local flow around the particle. We propose a new approach to find the decoupled secondary flow contribution employing a quasi-Stokes flow. Full article

This article deals with the stability problem that arises in the modeling of the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide. It provides a more detailed description of the alternative approach to tackling the stability problem put forth by Vo and Hadji (Physics of Fluids, 2017, 29, 127101) and Wanstall and Hadji (Journal of Engineering Mathematics, 2018, 108, 53–71), and it extends two-dimensional analysis to the three-dimensional case. This new approach, which is based on a step-function base profile, is contrasted with the usual time-evolving base state. While both provide only estimates for the instability threshold values, the step-function base profile approach has one great advantage in the sense that the problem at hand can be viewed as a stationary Rayleigh–Bénard problem, the model of which is physically sound and the stability of which is not only well-defined but can be analyzed by a variety of existing analytical methods using only paper and pencil. Full article

The pitching kinematics of an experimental hovering flapping wing setup are optimized by means of a genetic algorithm. The pitching kinematics of the setup are parameterized with seven degrees of freedom to allow for complex non-linear and non-harmonic pitching motions. Two optimization objectives are considered. The first objective is maximum stroke average efficiency, and the second objective is maximum stroke average lift. The solutions for both optimization scenarios converge within less than 30 generations based on the evaluation of their fitness. The pitching kinematics of the best individual of the initial and final population closely resemble each other for both optimization scenarios, but the optimal kinematics differ substantially between the two scenarios. The most efficient pitching motion is smoother and closer to a sinusoidal pitching motion, whereas the highest lift-generating pitching motion has sharper edges and is closer to a trapezoidal motion. In both solutions, the rotation or pitching motion is advanced with respect to the sinusoidal stroke motion. Velocity field measurements at selected phases during the flapping motions highlight why the obtained solutions are optimal for the two different optimization objectives. The most efficient pitching motion is characterized by a nearly constant and relatively low effective angle of attack at the start of the half stroke, which supports the formation of a leading edge vortex close to the airfoil surface, which remains bound for most of the half stroke. The highest lift-generating pitching motion has a larger effective angle of attack, which leads to the generation of a stronger leading edge vortex and higher lift coefficient than in the efficiency optimized scenario. Full article

Density-driven convective mixing in porous media can be influenced by the spatial heterogeneity of the medium. Previous studies using two-dimensional models have shown that while the initial flow regimes are sensitive to local permeability variation, the later steady flux regime (where the dissolution flux is relatively constant) can be approximated with an equivalent anisotropic porous media, suggesting that it is the average properties of the porous media that affect this regime. This work extends the previous results for two-dimensional porous media to consider convection in three-dimensional porous media. Through the use of massively parallel numerical simulations, we verify that the steady dissolution rate in the models of heterogeneity considered also scales as $\sqrt{k_v{k}_h}$ in three dimensions, where $k_v$ and $k_h$ are the vertical and horizontal permeabilities, respectively, providing further evidence that convective mixing in heterogeneous models can be approximated with equivalent anisotropic models. Full article

Inertial Microfluidics offer a high throughput, label-free, easy to design, and cost-effective solutions, and are a promising technique based on hydrodynamic forces (passive techniques) instead of external ones, which can be employed in the lab-on-a-chip and micro-total-analysis-systems for the focusing, manipulation, and separation of microparticles in chemical and biomedical applications. The current study focuses on the focusing behavior of the microparticles in an asymmetric curvilinear microchannel with curvature angle of 280°. For this purpose, the focusing behavior of the microparticles with three different diameters, representing cells with different sizes in the microchannel, was experimentally studied at flow rates from 400 to 2700 µL/min. In this regard, the width and position of the focusing band are carefully recorded for all of the particles in all of the flow rates. Moreover, the distance between the binary combinations of the microparticles is reported for each flow rate, along with the Reynolds number corresponding to the largest distances. Furthermore, the results of this study are compared with those of the microchannel with the same curvature angle but having a symmetric geometry. The microchannel proposed in this study can be used or further modified for cell separation applications. Full article

(1) The study’s objective is to assess sinus hemodynamics differences between stenotic native bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and native tricuspid aortic valve (TrAV) sinuses in order to assess sinus flow shear and vorticity dynamics in these common pathological states of the aortic valve. (2) Representative patient-specific aortic roots with BAV and TrAV were selected, segmented, and 3D printed. The flow dynamics within the sinus were assessed in-vitro using particle image velocimetry in a left heart simulator at physiological pressure and flow conditions. Hemodynamic data calculations, vortex tracking, shear stress probability density functions and sinus washout calculations based on Lagrangian particle tracking were performed. (3) (a) At peak systole, velocity and vorticity in BAV reach 0.67 ± 0.02 m/s and 374 ± 5 s⁻¹ versus 0.49 ± 0.03 m/s and 293 ± 3 s⁻¹ in TrAV; (b) Aortic sinus vortex is slower to form but conserved in BAV sinus; (c) BAV shear stresses exceed those of TrAV (1.05 Pa versus 0.8 Pa); (d) Complete TrAV washout was achieved after 1.5 cycles while it was not for BAV. (4) In conclusion, sinus hemodynamics dependence on the different native aortic valve types and sinus morphologies was clearly highlighted in this study. Full article

In this paper, a simple shear flow of a dense suspension is studied. We propose a new constitutive relationship based on the second grade fluid model for the suspension, capable of exhibiting non-linear effects, where the normal stress coefficients are assumed to depend on the volume fraction of the particles and the shear viscosity depends on the shear rate and the volume fraction. After non-dimensionalizing the equations, we perform a parametric study looking at the effects of the normal stress coefficients and the variable viscosity. The numerical results show that for a certain range of parameters, the particles tend to form a region of high and uniform volume fraction, near the lower half of the flow. Full article