Vibrations of Slender Structures Caused by Vortices

Slender cylindrical structures such as overhead transmission lines, skyscrapers, chimneys, risers, and pipelines can experience flow induced vibration (FIV). The vortex vibrations are a type of FIV; they arise because of oscillating forces caused by flow separation and the detachment of vortices. The paper presents a brief overview of experimental research on vortex induced vibration - VIV of short, rigid cylinders elastically supported (with a small aspect ratio). This overview summarizes the basic results of the vortex vibration (VIV) which have been performed in the last five decades. These studies were mainly related to determining the influence of selected parameters - mass, damping and Reynolds number on the cylinder response, either in one direction only or simultaneously in the flow direction and transverse to the flow direction, and with the search for a map of vortex images in the trace (vortex wake pattern map).

Unsteady cavities near the hydrofoil with a small aspect ratio

Using digital processing of high-speed visualization data on a cavitation flow near NACA hydrofoil with critically low aspect ratio, the frequencies of the formation and separation of cavities in the flow are identified. It is shown that in the case of development of cloud cavitation the main dimensionless frequency varies within 0.4, which corresponds to the type of internal instability. The Strouhal number corresponds to the frequency of attached cavity occurrence and varies in range from 0.6 to 0.8. The Strouhal numbers calculated in third mode exceed 1. This mode corresponds to the forming of very small cavities near the leading edge of hydrofoil.

The Thermal Charging Performance of Finned Conical Thermal Storage System Filled with Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Material

A latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) unit can store a notable amount of heat in a compact volume. However, the charging time could be tediously long due to weak heat transfer. Thus, an improvement of heat transfer and a reduction in charging time is an essential task. The present research aims to improve the thermal charging of a conical shell-tube LHTES unit by optimizing the shell-shape and fin-inclination angle in the presence of nanoadditives. The governing equations for the natural convection heat transfer and phase change heat transfer are written as partial differential equations. The finite element method is applied to solve the equations numerically. The Taguchi optimization approach is then invoked to optimize the fin-inclination angle, shell aspect ratio, and the type and volume fraction of nanoparticles. The results showed that the shell-aspect ratio and fin inclination angle are the most important design parameters influencing the charging time. The charging time could be changed by 40% by variation of design parameters. Interestingly a conical shell with a small radius at the bottom and a large radius at the top (small aspect ratio) is the best shell design. However, a too-small aspect ratio could entrap the liquid-PCM between fins and increase the charging time. An optimum volume fraction of 4% is found for nanoparticle concentration.

Investigation on the Thermal Condition of a Traditional Cold-Lane in Summer in Subtropical Humid Climate Region of China

A Chinese traditional narrow street, named Cold-Lane, can create a microclimatic zone that provides pedestrian thermal comfort under hot and humid climate conditions. This phenomenon was observed through experimental measurement during the summer of 2016. The heat transfer rate over the pedestrian body surface was calculated to reveal why pedestrians experience a cool sensation, and computational flow dynamics (CFD) simulation was carried out to study the influence of the street aspect ratio on the shading effect. It was found that the perception of thermal comfort can be attributed mainly to the radiation between the relatively cool surrounding walls and the human body, and the wind velocity has little effect on sensible heat dissipation. The cool horizontal and vertical surfaces in the street canyon are mainly due to the shading effect as a result of the small aspect ratio, which is a typical characteristic of the traditional Chinese street. The shading effect of the high walls on both sides creates the cooling effect of this narrow street.