scholarly journals CFD Investigation of Spacer-Filled Channels for Membrane Distillation

Membranes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Mariagiorgia La Cerva ◽  
Andrea Cipollina ◽  
Michele Ciofalo ◽  
Mohammed Albeirutty ◽  
Nedim Turkmen ◽  
...  

The membrane distillation (MD) process for water desalination is affected by temperature polarization, which reduces the driving force and the efficiency of the process. To counteract this phenomenon, spacer-filled channels are used, which enhance mixing and heat transfer but also cause higher pressure drops. Therefore, in the design of MD modules, the choice of the spacer is crucial for process efficiency. In the present work, different overlapped spacers are investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and results are compared with experiments carried out with thermochromic liquid crystals (TLC). Results are reported for different flow attack angles and for Reynolds numbers (Re) ranging from ~200 to ~800. A good qualitative agreement between simulations and experiments can be observed for the areal distribution of the normalized heat transfer coefficient. Trends of the average heat transfer coefficient are reported as functions of Re for the geometries investigated, thus providing the basis for CFD-based correlations to be used in higher-scale process models.

1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Baughn ◽  
H. Iacovides ◽  
D. C. Jackson ◽  
B. E. Launder

The paper reports extensive connective heat transfer data for turbulent flow of air around a U-bend with a ratio of bend radius:pipe diameter of 3.375:1. Experiments cover Reynolds numbers from 2 × 104 to 1.1 × 105. Measurements of local heat transfer coefficient are made at six stations and at five circumferential positions at each station. At Re = 6 × 104 a detailed mapping of the temperature field within the air is made at the same stations. The experiment duplicates the flow configuration for which Azzola and Humphrey [3] have recently reported laser-Doppler measurements of the mean and turbulent velocity field. The measurements show a strong augmentation of heat transfer coefficient on the outside of the bend and relatively low levels on the inside associated with the combined effects of secondary flow and the amplification/suppression of turbulent mixing by streamline curvature. The peak level of Nu occurs halfway around the bend at which position the heat transfer coefficient on the outside is about three times that on the inside. Another feature of interest is that a strongly nonuniform Nu persists six diameters downstream of the bend even though secondary flow and streamline curvature are negligible there. At the entry to the bend there are signs of partial laminarization on the inside of the bend, an effect that is more pronounced at lower Reynolds numbers.


Author(s):  
Jatuporn Kaew-On ◽  
Somchai Wongwises

The evaporation heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of R-410A and R-134a flowing through a horizontal-aluminium rectangular multiport mini-channel having a hydraulic diameter of 3.48 mm are experimentally investigated. The test runs are done at refrigerant mass fluxes ranging between 200 and 400 kg/m2s. The heat fluxes are between 5 and 14.25 kW/m2, and refrigerant saturation temperatures are between 10 and 30 °C. The effects of the refrigerant vapour quality, mass flux, saturation temperature and imposed heat flux on the measured heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are investigated. The experimental data show that in the same conditions, the heat transfer coefficients of R-410A are about 20–50% higher than those of R-134a, whereas the pressure drops of R-410A are around 50–100% lower than those of R-134a. The new correlations for the evaporation heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of R-410A and R-134a in a multiport mini-channel are proposed for practical applications.


Author(s):  
Puxuan Li ◽  
Steve J. Eckels

Accurate measurements of heat transfer and pressure drop play important roles in thermal designs in a variety of pipes and ducts. In this study, the convective heat transfer coefficient was measured with a semi-local surface average based on Newton’s Law of cooling. Flow and heat transfer data for different Reynolds numbers were collected and compared in a duct with smooth walls. Pressure drop was measured with a pressure transducer from OMEGA Engineering Inc. The experimental results were compared with numerical estimations generated in ANSYS Fluent. Fluent contains the broad physical modeling capabilities needed to model heat transfer and pressure drop in the duct. Thermal conduction and convection in the three-dimensional (3D) duct are simulated together. Special cares for selecting the viscosity models and the near-wall treatments are discussed. The goal of the paper is to find appropriate numerical models for simulating heat conduction, heat convection and pressure drop in the duct with different Reynolds numbers. The relationship between the heat transfer coefficient and Reynolds numbers is discussed. Heat flux and inlet temperature measured in the experiment are applied to the boundary conditions. The study provides the unique opportunity to verify the accuracy of numerical models on heat transfer and pressure drop in ANSYS Fluent.


Author(s):  
David Gomez-Ramirez ◽  
Deepu Dilip ◽  
Bharath Viswanath Ravi ◽  
Samruddhi Deshpande ◽  
Jaideep Pandit ◽  
...  

Increasing pressure to reduce pollutant emissions such as NOx and CO, while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of gas turbines, has led to the development of modern gas turbine combustors operating at lean equivalence ratios and high compression ratios. These modern combustors use a large portion of the compressor air in the combustion process and hence efficient use of cooling air is critical. Backside impingement cooling is one alternative for advanced cooling in gas turbine combustors. The dome of the combustor is a primary example where backside impingement cooling is extensively used. The dome directly interacts with the flame and hence represents a limiting factor for combustor durability. The present paper studies two aspects of dome cooling: the impingement heat transfer on the dome heat shield of an annular combustor and the effect of the outflow from the spent air on the liner heat transfer. A transient measurement technique using Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLCs) was used to characterize the convective heat transfer coefficient on the backside of an industrial heat shield design provided by Solar Turbines, Inc. for Reynolds numbers (with respect to the hole diameter) of ∼ 1500 and ∼ 2500. Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) calculations using the k-ω SST turbulence model were found to be in good agreement with the experiment. A standard heat transfer correlation for impingement hole arrays overestimated the mean heat transfer coefficient compared to the experiment and computations, however this could be explained by low biases in the results. Steady state IR measurements were performed to study the effects that the spent air from the heat shield impingement cooling had on the liner convective heat transfer. Measurements were taken for three Reynolds numbers (with respect to the hydraulic diameter of the combustor annulus) including 50000, 90000, and 130000. A downstream shift in the flow features was observed due to the secondary flow introduced by the outflow, as well as a significant increase in the convective heat transfer close to the dome wall.


2014 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Mayo ◽  
Tony Arts ◽  
Ahmed El-Habib ◽  
Benjamin Parres

The convective heat transfer distribution in a rib-roughened rotating internal cooling channel was measured for different rotation and Reynolds numbers, representative of engine operating conditions. The test section consisted of a channel of aspect ratio equal to 0.9 with one wall equipped with eight ribs perpendicular to the main flow direction. The pitch to rib height ratio was 10 and the rib blockage was 10%. The test rig was designed to provide a uniform heat flux boundary condition over the ribbed wall, minimizing the heat transfer losses and allowing temperature measurements at significant rotation rates. Steady-state liquid crystal thermography (LCT) was employed to quantify a detailed 2D distribution of the wall temperature, allowing the determination of the convective heat transfer coefficient along the area between the sixth and eighth rib. The channel and all the required instrumentation were mounted on a large rotating disk, providing the same spatial resolution and measurement accuracy as in a stationary rig. The assembly was able to rotate both in clockwise and counterclockwise directions, so that the investigated wall was acting either as leading or trailing side, respectively. The tested Reynolds number values (based on the hydraulic diameter of the channel) were 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, and 40,000. The maximum rotation number values were ranging between 0.12 (Re = 40,000) and 0.30 (Re = 15,000). Turbulence profiles and secondary flows modified by rotation have shown their impact not only on the average value of the heat transfer coefficient but also on its distribution. On the trailing side, the heat transfer distribution flattens as the rotation number increases, while its averaged value increases due to the turbulence enhancement and secondary flows induced by the rotation. On the leading side, the secondary flows counteract the turbulence reduction and the overall heat transfer coefficient exhibits a limited decrease. In the latter case, the secondary flows are responsible for high heat transfer gradients on the investigated area.


Author(s):  
M. E. Taslim ◽  
A. Rahman ◽  
S. D. Spring

Liquid crystals are used in this experimental investigation to measure the heat transfer coefficient in a spanwise rotating channel with two opposite rib-roughened walls. The ribs (also called turbulence promoters or turbulators) are configured in a staggered arrangement with an angle of attack to the mainstream flow, α, of 90° for all cases. Results are presented for three values of turbulator blockage ratio, e/Dh (0.1333, 0.25, 0.333) and for a range of Reynolds numbers from 15,000 to 50,000 while the test section is rotated at different speeds to give Rotational Reynolds numbers between 450 and 1800. The Rossby number range is 10 to 100 (Rotation number of 0.1 to 0.01). The effect of turbulator blockage ratios on heat transfer enhancement is also investigated. Comparisons are made between the results of geometrically identical stationary and rotating passages of otherwise similar operating conditions. The results indicate that a significant enhancement in heat transfer is achieved in both the stationary and rotating cases, when the surfaces are roughened with turbulators. For the rotating case, a maximum increase over that of the stationary case of about 45% in the heat transfer coefficient is seen for a blockage ratio of 0.133 on the trailing surface in the direction of rotation and the minimum is a decrease of about 6% for a blockage ratio of 0.333 on the leading surface, for the range of rotation numbers tested. The technique of using liquid crystals to determine heat transfer coefficients in this investigation proved to be an effective and accurate method especially for nonstationary test sections.


Author(s):  
Sam Ghazi-Hesami ◽  
Dylan Wise ◽  
Keith Taylor ◽  
Étienne Robert ◽  
Peter Ireland

Abstract An experimental and numerical study of the convective heat transfer enhancement provided by two rib families (W and Broken W) is presented, covering Reynolds numbers (Re) between 300,000 to 900,000 in a straight channel with a rectangular cross section (AR=1.29). These high Reynolds numbers were selected for the current study since most data in the available literature typically pertain to investigations at lower Reynolds numbers. The objective of this study is to assess the local heat transfer coefficient (HTC) enhancement (compared with a smooth channel) and the overall thermal performance, taking into account the effect of increased roughness on the friction factor, of a group of W shaped turbulators over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, the effects of increasing the rib spacing on the thermal performance of the Broken W configuration are presented and discussed. The numerical results are compared against heat transfer measurements obtained using the Transient Liquid Crystal (TLC) method. The research shows that for the Broken W turbulators, increasing the Reynolds number is associated with an overall decrease of the thermal performance while the thermal performance of the W configuration is relatively insensitive to Reynolds number. Nevertheless, the Broken W configuration delivers higher thermal performance and heat transfer compared with the W configuration for the range of Re investigated. The Broken W configuration with a pitch spacing of 10 times the rib height was shown to provide the optimal thermal performance in the configurations investigated here.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Baybuzenko

Abstract The power generation industry is targeting heavy duty gas turbine to increase power and efficiency. Hot gas temperature and massflow are continuously being increased. It brings new challenges for the design of cooling systems for turbine blades and vanes. Up to date most of studies of heat transfer in internal cooling channels were in the range of Reynolds numbers below 80,000 for cooling air flow, for example, experimental series done by J. Chin Han et al. since 1985. Actually the range of Reynolds numbers is increased with the increase of total massflow. Extrapolation of available data is not reliable while local distribution of heat transfer coefficients becomes critical in terms of thermal stresses. Only few recent studies deal with the range of Reynolds number above 80,000, for example, in 2009 J. Chin et. al showed results for 45° angled ribs provided only area averaged values for heat transfer coefficient over one pitch and in 2003 R. Bunker showed local distribution for 45° angled ribs only. Within current study the experimental measurements of local heat transfer and friction in ribbed cooling channel were performed for Reynolds numbers in range of 100,000 – 180,000, what fits the parameters of modern and perspective heavy duty gas turbines. Using thermochromic liquid crystal technology the following rib configurations were tested: angled 45°, 60°, 90° and chevron 45°, 60°; pitch to height ratio of 10; rib turbulator height-to-channel hydraulic diameter ratio of 0.083. Maximum averaged heat transfer value was provided by 60° angled ribs. Comparison of local distribution of heat transfer coefficients for considered configurations was performed. Minimum non-uniformness of heat transfer coefficient was provided by chevron ribs, having maximum friction factor. Conjugated thermal-hydraulic analysis for cooled vane for heavy duty gas turbine was performed in order to quantify the effect of local heat transfer coefficient distribution in ribbed cooling channel. Metal temperature calculation was performed for two cases of air side thermal boundary condition application for wall surface between rib-turbulators: averaged value of heat transfer coefficient and detailed local distribution. Comparison of calculated metal temperature for 2 cases shows that usage of locally distributed air side heat transfer coefficient is important and should increase the accuracy of temperature prediction by 50°C. Consideration of local distribution of heat transfer coefficient is important for cooling design of modern heavy duty gas turbine in order to provide acceptable thermal gradients and consequently reach lifetime targets.


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