Sharif Digital Repository

This paper considers the modeling and control of a tubular fixed bed reactor with recycle stream for dimethyl ether (DME) production. For simulation purposes, a pseudo homogeneous model has been developed. By reactor simulation under steady state condition, effects of parameters such as feed rate, pressure and shell temperature are investigated. Using the steady state model, an optimizer that maximizes the reactor yield has been developed. For cooling the reactor, a steam drum that uses heat of reactions to produce steam was coupled with the reactor. Through dynamic simulation, system open loop response was obtained and two control loops were considered for controlling the reactor... 

Our purpose is to model the multilayer laser solid freeform fabrication (LSFF) process for the material properties of low carbon steel 1015 for workpiece and cobalt alloy stellite 21 with 1.5 wt.% nano CeO2 as the powder particles. In this paper, transient heat transfer and mass transfer equations in laser solid freeform fabrication process are solved by Finite Element Method (FEM). In this approach, the geometry of the deposited material, temperature and thermal stress fields across the process area are predicted. For each layer the clad height is computed and computations are done by the use of MATLAB and COMSOL software  

The objective of the present work is to analyze the performance of the regenerator of pulse tube refrigerators. Hydrodynamic and thermal behavior of the regenerator is investigated in this respect. To consider the system performance, a system of conservation equations including two energy equations for the regenerator as a porous media is employed. The present model considers one dimensional periodic unsteady compressible flow in the regenerator. The conservation equations are transformed by implementing the volumetric average scheme. Method of harmonic approximation is employed to derive an analytical solution. To explore the system performance, net energy flow and entropy generation... 

Magnetic convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional square cavity induced by magnetic field gradient is investigated numerically using a semi-implicit finite volume method. The side walls of the cavity are heated with different temperatures, the top and bottom walls are isolated, and a permanent magnet is located near the bottom wall. Thermal buoyancy-induced flow is neglected due to the nongravity condition on the plane of the cavity. Conditions for the different values of non-dimensional variables in a variety of ferrofluid properties and magnetic field parameters are studied. Based on this numerical analysis, a general correlation for the overall Nusselt number on the side walls is... 

In this study, effect of desiccant wheel, heat exchanger and cooling coil will be evaluated on decreasing the wet bulb temperature of entering air to cooling tower and decreasing the outlet cold water temperature. For this purpose, change effect of desiccant wheel parameters will be investigated on wet bulb temperature of outlet air from heat exchanger. After that, optimum parameters and minimum wet bulb temperature will be selected. Then, outlet cold water temperature will be achieved for various cooling coil surface temperature with definition of by pass factor and also by using optimum desiccant wheel parameters and entrance air wet bulb temperature to tower related to cooling coil... 

In this study, the crystallisation of nano hydroxyapatite (HA) films on stainless steel 316L was studied. The film was prepared by sol-gel technique. The process was started with preparation of an HA sol. After aging of the sol at room temperature, a stainless steel 316L substrate was dip coated and then was heat treated from 350 to 450°C at different periods of time in air. The crystallisation behaviour and the transformation-temperature-time diagram of HA films were achieved and analysed using the avrami equation. The results showed that the crystallisation of HA began at 250°C and was increased up to 450°C. The obtained HA film showed a nanostructure character with a suitable crystalinity... 

Dual-phase (DP) steels with different martensite contents were produced by subjecting a low carbon steel to various heat treatment cycles. In order to investigate the effect of dynamic strain aging (DSA) on mechanical properties, tensile specimens were deformed 3% at 300 °C. Room temperature tensile tests of specimens which deformed at 300 °C showed that both yield and ultimate tensile strengths increased, while total elongation decreased. The fatigue limit increased after pre-strain in the DSA temperature range. The effects of martensite volume fraction on mechanical properties were discussed  

We have investigated the zero-and finite-temperature behaviors of the anisotropic antiferromagnetic Heisenberg XXZ spin-1/2 chain in the presence of a transverse magnetic field (h). The attention is concentrated on an interval of magnetic field between the factorizing field (hf) and the critical one (hc). The model presents a spin-flop phase for 0 < h < hf with an energy scale which is defined by the long range antiferromagnetic order while it undergoes an entanglement phase transition at h = hf. The entanglement estimators clearly show that the entanglement is lost exactly at h = hf, which justifies different quantum correlations on both sides of the factorizing field. As a consequence of... 

In the present research work the 2024 aluminum alloy was reinforced with SiC particles via powder metallurgy method. The effect of heat treatment conditions on artificial aging kinetics was investigated. The solution treatment of the composite sample and the unreinforced alloy was carried out at 495 °C for 1, 2 and 3 h followed by aging at 191 °C for various aging times between 1 and 10 h. The existence of SiC particles led to increasing the peak hardness of the alloy. The peak hardness of the composite sample took place at shorter times than that of the unreinforced alloy for the samples solution treated for 2 and 3 h, but took place at longer times for the samples solution treated for 1 h.... 

The development of cheaper electrocatalysts for fuel cells is an important research area. This work proposes a new, simpler and low-cost approach to develop nanostructured silver electrocatalysts by using natural cellulose as a template. Silver was deposited by reduction of Ag complexes on the surface of cellulose fibers, followed by heat removal of the template to create self-standing nanostructured silver fibers (NSSFs). X-Ray diffraction (XRD) showed fcc silver phase and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the surface was partially oxidized. The morphology of the fibers consisted of 50 nm nanoparticles as the building blocks, and they possessed a specific surface area... 

Domed roofs have been used in Iran and many other countries to cover large buildings such as mosques, shrines, churches, schools, etc. However their favorable thermal performance made them to be employed in other buildings such as bazaars, or market places, in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the air pressure distribution over domed roofs, employing a numerical method. In this investigation, a three-dimensional model and a laminar inlet air flow were considered. The k-ε RNG method was employed for the turbulent flow simulation method. Simulation was run under three conditions of windows and a hole on top of the dome being open, or closed. The results were compared with the... 

The role of initiators with different reactivities on the process cycle of nonisothermal resin transfer molding (RTM) was examined using the numerical simulation. A new process model was developed based on flow, heat and mass transfer equations combined with an appropriate mechanistic kinetics model which elucidates the functions of the initiators in the system. The process cycle of RTM with both single initiator and dual-initiator (combination of two initiators) was analyzed. The numerical simulations revealed that the single initiator with high reactivity reduces the cycle time, but there is a risk of incomplete mold filling and nonuniform temperature distribution. For dual-initiator... 

The effect of electrostatic interactions on vibrational frequencies and thermodynamic properties of CO adsorbate on the Ni(111) surface is calculated by taking the first and second nearest-neighbour interactions into account. In order to obtain reasonable results, the cluster model of various surface adsorption sites with CO adsorbate is partially optimized, using Density Functional Theory and also the MP2 method for the hcp site. Comparison between DFT and MP2 results shows that DFT results are more reliable for this system. The stretching and bending frequencies of CO adsorbate are calculated using both Partial Hessian Analysis and Cluster-Adsorbate Coupling methods. Stretching and bending... 

In the present work, we used direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process to fabricate Al-SiC composite parts directly from a three-dimensional CAD model. Al-7Si-0.3Mg powders were blended with various amounts of SiC particles (5, 10, 15, 20 vol%) at two different sizes (7 and 17 μm) and subjected to direct laser sintering using a 200 W continuous wave CO2 laser beam at various scan rates. The densification and microstructural features of the laser-sintered parts were studied. It is shown that the highest density is obtained for the Al alloy-5% SiC (7 μm) composite powder. The melt stability is also found to be improved in the presence of SiC particles. The microstructure of the... 

In this paper, design and prototyping of two-speed capacitor-run single-phase axial-flux induction motor (AFIM) for direct-drive applications is presented. The proposed structure has single stator-single rotor configuration with high magnetic pull between the stator and rotor, which may compel rotor to lock. Although the most efficient method to overcome this problem is using a second rotor or stator in the mirror with the first one, it is not applicable in low-cost applications. So, in this paper, two new and fast construction techniques are proposed to fabricate an AFIM with extra low air-gap length and minimum cost. Beside design and optimization process, a thermal equivalent circuit... 

Aluminum 6xxx and 7xxx series are among the most commonly used alloys in industrial applications whereas their joining and welding using conventional fusion-based weld processes are very difficult. In this paper, friction stir welding process of dissimilar AA6061-T6 and AA-7277-T6 aluminum plates was investigated. The effects of tool travers and rotational speeds and the type of material located in the advanced side (AS) or retreating side (RS) of weldment were studied experimentally on the mechanical and metallurgical characteristics of the joint. Macro- and microstructure pictures of weld region were used to evaluate the quality of the weld and defect detections. Tensile strength tests and... 

Finding leakage in valves is important to troubleshoot performance of internal combustion engines. Leakage can lead to a reduction in engine power and an increase in emissions. The main objective of the present study is to investigate relationship between valve leakage and the acoustic emission generated from the steady flow in the cylinder head of the internal combustion engine. The test rig is the cylinder head for a spark-ignited engine. The test rig simulates the valve leakage due to valve clearance. The valve clearance fault was artificially simulated by a very small lift in valve. The acoustic emission method was used to measure acoustic emission signals generated by valve flow.... 

Feeding a laboratory furnace with the gaseous kerosene, the resulting two-phase turbulent flame is simulated to study the effects of injecting soot nano-particles into the inflow air on the emissions of smoke aerosol, CO, and CO2species pollutants, and the resulting radiation heat transfer. We use our past experiences in aerosol modeling of soot nano/micro particles in turbulent nonpremixed flames burning simple hydrocarbon fuels and extend them to study the effects of injecting gaseous kerosene on the aforementioned parameters. To model the evolutionary process of soot nanoparticle formation, i.e., the nucleation, coagulation, surface growth, and oxidation, we employ a two-equation soot... 

In this paper, the effects of a baffle plate on flame deflection and its throttling are investigated numerically in a combustor consuming jet propellant JP. We study the plate effects on the resulting soot volume fraction, soot particles diameter, mass fractions of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and benzene (C6H6). We use a two-equation turbulence model, a PAH-inception two-equation soot model imposing oxidation due to OH agents, a detailed chemical kinetic consisting of 121 species and 2613 elementary reactions, and the flamelet combustion model to perform the current study. We also take into account the turbulence-chemistry interaction using the presumed-shape probability... 

This study mainly aims to investigate the effect of reformer gas (RG) addition on the performance of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines using a multi zone model. The developed model is validated using a wide range of experimental data of a cooperative fuel research engine. Blended fuels of isooctane and n-heptane, known as primary reference fuels, with different octane numbers are used as the main engine fuel. A semi detailed chemical-kinetic mechanism containing 101 species and 594 reactions is used to simulate the combustion of blended fuels. The study is performed with different percentages of RG (0–30%). The results show that RG reduces the rate of some H abstraction...