Sharif Digital Repository

Microvalve is one of the most important components in microfluidic systems and micropumps. In this paper, threedimensional incompressible flow through a Tesla-type microvalve is simulated using FLUENT computational fluid dynamic package. The flow is laminar and SIMPLE algorithm is used. The second-order upwind method is implemented for discretizing convective terms. The diodicity mechanism is investigated in detail for three different microvalves. Effect of several series Tesla-type microvalves on diodicity is also studied. The numerical analyses reveal that the mechanism of diodicity occurs at the T-junction and side channel. If inlet and outlet channels are eliminated, diodicity can be... 

One main challenge in numerical treatment of incompressible fluid flow problems is to suppress the decoupling of pressure and velocity fields. The challenge has prompted research toward suggesting and implementing various coupling strategies. In this work, a novel strategy which suitably couples pressure and velocity in a collocated grid arrangement is presented. The current strategy develops a unique cell-face velocity expression which provides infinite cell-face velocity magnitudes in the algorithm. A smoothing factor is incorporated in the cell-face velocity expression in order to produce a wide range of velocity magnitudes. The smoothing factor provides a smooth transition from an unreal... 

The solution for bulk fluid motion of a bidirectional coaxial vortex for application in vortex engine has been derived. The vortex engine is a novel combustion chamber in which swirl motion of reactants are used to maintain the chamber walls cool. The flow field has been considered both analytically and numerically. The model is based on incompressible, steady, axisymmetric, and non-reactive flow conditions. The governing PDEs are reduced to a system of nonlinear ODEs and then, by a coordinate transformation, their singularity has been relaxed. Solution domain has been decomposed into the inner viscous and outer inviscid regions, then, the velocity and pressure fields are obtained... 

In this work, an efficient bi-implicit strategy is suitably developed within the context of a finite volume element approach in order to solve turbulent reactive flow governing equations. Based on the essence of control-volume-based finite-element methods, the formulation retains the geometrical flexibility of the pure finite element methods while derives the discrete algebraic governing equations through using the conservation balance applied to discrete control volumes distributed all over the solution domain. The physical influence upwinding scheme is used to approximate the advection fluxes at all cell faces. While respecting the physics of flow, this scheme also provides the necessary... 

Flow around a 2D circular cylinder with attached swinging thin splitter plates is numerically investigated. The ratio of the plates’ length to the cylinder diameter is 1 ([Formula presented]=1) where L is the Plates’ length and D is the cylinder diameter. The plates are attached at ±55 degrees (trigonometric angle) downstream and are forced to oscillate at different ratios of the natural vortex shedding frequencies with magnitudes of FR=0.75,1,1.25,1.5 and 2. The oscillation amplitude “α” as the other main variable ranges from 10 to 18 degrees. Two-dimensional simulations are carried out at the Reynolds number 100, and then extended to higher Reynolds number of 200. The results show that in... 

An existing hydroelastic model is extended for a flat plate subjected to a compression force with spiral spring boundary conditions during water entry. Both vertical and oblique impacts of the plate into calm water are investigated. A longitudinal strip of the plate is analyzed by fully coupling hydrodynamic pressure with elastic responses. Hydrodynamic pressure is determined by potential flow theory and plate deflections are expressed in terms of dry normal modes. The plate deflections are validated through comparison with available asymptotic models, semi-analytical and experimental results. The effect of compression force on the plate deflection is investigated at the midpoint considering... 

This study concentrates on the improvement in the performance of PEM fuel cells through optimization of the channel dimensions and patterns in the velocity and pressure fields in bipolar plates. For design and optimization purposes, a 2D numerical simulation of the flow distribution based on the Nervier-Stokes equations using individual computer code has been done. The outcome of the numerical simulations showed excellent agreement with the experimental results in previous works. Finally numerical simulation has been conducted to investigate the advantages of conventional patterns with inspiration from leaf flow pattern. It was found that both velocity and pressure fields are very uniform in... 

Numerical simulation of floating or submerged body motions is presented based on a Volume of Fluid (VoF)-fractional step coupling. Solving a scalar transport equation for volume fraction of two phases results in a single continuum with a fluid property jump at the interface. In addition, velocity and pressure fields are coupled using the fractional step method. Based on integration of stresses over a body, acting forces and moments are calculated. Using the strategy of non-orthogonal body-attached mesh and calculation of motions in each time step result in time history of hydrodynamic motions. To verify the accuracy of the numerical procedure in simulation of two-phase flow, sloshing and dam... 

Stay and guide vanes (distributor) are essential parts of a turbine. They are used to control the flow rate and to appropriately transfer the flow momentum to the runner. In this work, flow through the distributor is analyzed. For various Boundary Conditions (BC) and different configurations, threedimensional flows in the distributor of a Francis turbine are evaluated and compared with each other. The numerical simulations were carried out using Fluent software and the results were validated with a GAMM Francis turbine, where the geometry and detailed best efficiency measurements were publically available. In these simulations, the flow was assumed to be steady and the effect of turbulence... 

In this research, the fluid and thermal characteristics of a rectangular turbulent jet flow is studied numerically. The results of three-dimensional jet issued from a rectangular nozzle are presented. A numerical method employing control volume approach with collocated grid arrangement was employed. Velocity and pressure fields are coupled with SIMPLEC algorithm. The turbulent stresses are approximated using k-ε model with two different inlet conditions. The velocity and temperature fields are presented and the rates of their decay at the jet centerline are noted. The velocity vectors of the main flow and the secondary flow are illustrated. Also, effect of aspect ratio on mixing in... 

In this work, an efficient bi-implicit strategy is suitably developed within the context of a hybrid finite volume element method to solve axisymmetric turbulent reactive flow in a model gas turbine combustor. Based on the essence of a control-volume-based finite-element method, the formulation benefits from the geometrical flexibility of the finite element methods while the discrete algebraic governing equations are derived through applying the conservation laws to discrete cells distributed in the solution domain. To enhance the efficiency of method, we extend the physical influence upwinding scheme to cylindrical coordinates. This extension helps to improve the advection flux... 

Rock formations are always under in situ stresses due to overburden or tectonic stresses. Drilling a well will lead to stress redistribution around the well. Understanding such a stress redistribution, and adopting a proper failure criterion, play a vital role in predicting any potential wellbore failure. However, most of the published analytical models are based on assumptions that do not satisfy the boundary conditions during production, that is, when the well pressure is less than the pore pressure. This paper is aimed at the modeling of the stress regime around the wellbore through combining the poroelastic model with proper boundary conditions under different flow regimes. As a result,... 

Two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations of an external compression supersonic ramped inlet are presented for a free stream Mach number of 2. A comparison made between numerical results and experimental data showed that multi-block structured gird using standard k - " turbulence model gives acceptable results. The shape of present inlet diffuser was transformed gradually into a circular one to encompass the Aerodynamic Interface Plane (AIP). It was observed that the 3D simulation predicted a more accurate static pressure distribution during the length of supersonic inlet and total pressure distribution at the AIP in comparison with the 2D one. Further, a better... 

High speed planing hulls have complex hydrodynamic behaviors. The trim angle and drafts are very sensitive to speed and location of the center of gravity. Therefore, motion simulation for such vessels needs a strong coupling between rigid body motions and hydrodynamic analysis. In addition, free surface should be predicted with good accuracy for each time step. In this paper, velocity and pressure fields are coupled by use of the fractional step method. On the basis of integration of the two-phase viscous flow induced stresses over the hull, acting loads (forces and moments) are calculated. With the strategy of boundary-fitted body-attached mesh and calculation of 6-DoF motions in each time... 

In this research the fluid and thermal characteristics of a rectangular turbulent jet flow is studied numerically. The results of three dimensional jet issued from a rectangular nozzle are presented. A numerical method employing control volume approach with collocated grid arrangement was employed. Velocity and pressure fields are coupled with SIMPLEC algorithm. The turbulent stresses are approximated using k-e model with two different inlet conditions. The velocity and temperature fields are presented and the rates of their decay at jet centerline are noted. The velocity vectors of a main flow and secondary flow are illustrated. Also effect of aspect ratio on mixing in rectangular cross... 

In this work, the conservation forms of the reacting ow governing equations are treated mainly using a cell-centered finite-volume approach with a collocated storage of all trans- port variables. However, the finite volume formulations are suitably incorporated with the finite element expressions. As an innovation, a physical influence upwinding scheme is suitably extended to the cylindrical coordinate system to approximate the convective terms of the governing conservation laws at the cell faces. This treatment firstly respects the physics of flow and secondly provides the necessary coupling of velocity and pressure fields in this frame. The numerical solution of laminar, buoyant difiusion... 

In the present study, the fluid characteristics of triangular turbulent jet flow are considered experimentally and numericafly. The results of spatially developed three- dimensional jet, issued from an equilateral triangular nozzle are presented. The jet is discharged to both bounded and unbounded domains. Because of the wind tunnel set up restrictions, the experimental study has done just for the bounded domain. The hot-wire anemometry is used for experimental study. A numerical method employing control volume approach with collocated grid arrangement which couples the velocity and pressure fields with SIMPLEC algorithm is introduced to discrete the governing equations of fluid flow. The... 

The hydro-acoustic analysis of submerged propellers is an important issue in marine industries, which is examined to reduce the vibrations and noise level of vessels alongside reducing fuel consumption and improving hydrodynamic efficiency. B-series propellers are common propellers whose hydrodynamic and acoustic investigation through applying suitable rake, and skew angle can offer proper results to designers for enhancing the hydrodynamic performance and reducing noise. In this study, a model of the five-bladed B-series propeller with the normal skew angle is chosen. The effects of geometric parameters, including the rake angle, skew angle, geometric pitch ratio, and the number of blades... 

Do all the clayey soils have the same behavior in terms of the generation and dissipation of excess pore water pressure during the piezocone penetration process? To find the answer, a coupled numerical simulation of CPTu in clays based on finite element analysis is presented in this paper. In this regard, the numerical modeling is verified by some laboratory tests on the samples with known initial conditions and stress states as well as field measurements of piezocone testing. Generation of excess pore water pressure during the penetration process is then investigated at different locations around the cone. This study encompasses piezocone penetration in both normally consolidated and... 

During the low salinity waterflooding (LSWF) of a viscous asphaltic oil reservoir, fluid-fluid interactions have a large influence on the fluid flow, pore-scale events, and thus oil recovery efficiency and behavior. In-situ water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion formation is a consequence of crude oil and brine interfacial activities. Despite the published studies, the pore-scale mechanisms of W/O emulsion formation and the role of injected brine salinity, injection rate, and pore-scale heterogeneity on emulsion formation and stability requires a deeper understanding. To address these, a series of static and dynamic micro-scale experiments were performed. The salinity dependent oil-brine interactions...