Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Heat and mass transfer analysis'

In water-cooled nuclear reactors, various species are present in the coolant, either in ionic solution, or entrained as very fine particles. Most arise from corrosion of primary circuit surfaces, or from chemicals, such as boric acid, lithium hydroxide, zinc and hydrogen, deliberately added to the coolant. These materials deposit on the surfaces of fuel pins, typically in the upper regions of the core, forming what is generally termed “crud”. This thesis reports a study of the thermal-hydraulic consequences of this deposit. These crud deposits are generally found to contain a large population of through-thickness chimneys, and it is believed that this gives rise to a wick-boiling mechanism of heat transfer. A coupled two-dimensional model of the processes of heat conduction, advection and species diffusion in the crud has been developed. An iterative scheme has been employed to solve the set of coupled equations of each process. The wick boiling process has been found to be an efficient heat transfer mode, taking away about 80% of the heat generated. It has also been found that consideration of heat transfer in the clad can increase the predicted solute concentration in the crud. The effects of some important parameters, such as chimney density, chimney radius, porosity of the crud, crud thickness, clad heat flux and boron concentration in the coolant have been investigated. The fuel thermal performance has been characterized in terms of an effective crud thermal conductivity, and the non-linear dependence this has on parameters such as crud thickness and chimney density had been determined. Lastly, it is observed that plausible pore sizes of the crud, coupled with higher temperatures in the crud, may be such that a film of vapour is generated at the base of the crud. Initial estimates are presented of the cladding temperatures and solute concentration that may be generated as a consequence of this vapour layer.

An investigation of binary fluid heat and mass transfer in ammonia-water absorption was conducted. Experiments were conducted on a horizontal-tube falling-film absorber consisting of four columns of six 9.5 mm (3/8 in) nominal OD, 0.292 m (11.5 in) long tubes, installed in an absorption heat pump. Measurements were recorded at both system and local levels within the absorber for a wide range of operating conditions (nominally, desorber solution outlet concentrations of 5 - 40% for three nominal absorber pressures of 150, 345 and 500 kPa, for solution flow rates of 0.019 - 0.034 kg/s.). Local measurements were supplemented by high-speed, high-resolution visualization of the flow over the tube banks. Using the measurements and observations from videos, heat and mass transfer rates, heat and vapor mass transfer coefficients for each test condition were determined at the component and local levels. For the range of experiments conducted, the overall film heat transfer coefficient varied from 923 to 2857 W/m²-K while the vapor and liquid mass transfer coefficients varied from 0.0026 to 0.25 m/s and from 5.51×10^-6 to 3.31×10^-5 m/s, respectively. Local measurements and insights from the video frames were used to obtain the contributions of falling-film and droplet modes to the total absorption rates. The local heat transfer coefficients varied from 78 to 6116 W/m²-K, while the local vapor and liquid mass transfer coefficients varied from -0.04 to 2.8 m/s and from -3.59×10^-5 (indicating local desorption in some cases) to 8.96×10^-5 m/s, respectively. The heat transfer coefficient was found to increase with solution Reynolds number, while the mass transfer coefficient was found to be primarily determined by the vapor and solution properties. Based on the observed trends, correlations were developed to predict heat and mass transfer coefficients valid for the range of experimental conditions tested. These correlations can be used to design horizontal tube falling-film absorbers for ammonia-water absorption systems.

An optimal thermal environment is regarded as a priority in the medical care of newborn infants (neonatology). Survival of each neonate (newborn infant) depends on the ability to regulate its temperature. Preterm and small neonates often cannot respond to the environmental temperature changes. For this reason, maintenance of neonates bodies within a narrow temperature range is essential for their survival and growth. However, there is one major concern when using radiant warmers, namely the neonates often become severely dehydrated when nursed in these devices. For this reason, the major objective of this thesis is to find a solution to this difficulty. In order to achieve this goal, numerical techniques including Computational Fluid Dynamics and conjugate heat transfer were employed. Mathematical mod- els applied to living organisms can provide a better understanding of the thermal processes occurring i~side a human body, together with their interactions with the surrounding environment. Therefore, in this thesis we focus on developing a model of a neonate under a radiant warmer that incorporates both heat and mass transfer processes in order to provide a better understanding of how a radiative heat source interacts with a neonate. The numerical models were prepared in ANSYS FLUENT and ANSYS CFX commercial softwares. The flow was assumed to be turbulent, and radiation cal- culations were performed as they are a crucial part of this analysis. Moreover, a semi-analytical ray tracking method was developed for the purpose of validating the numerical results. A good general agreement was observed when comparing the ray tracking results with the numerical ones. Next, a heat generation within the newborn was considered, and the numerical data was validated against the analytical calculations, and this comparison showed a good agreement of the results obtained using these two different techniques. Finally, several modifications to the geometry and operation of the radiant warmer are introduced in order to assist with the difficulty of high temperature gradients being obtained on the skin of the newborns nursed under the radiant warmer. It was found that the proposed modifications reduce the large temperature differences on the skin of the newborn. A more uniform temperature field on the skin will result in decreasing the evaporative loss. The proposed modifications in- clude to different approaches. Namely, the first solution, being a high conductivity blanket, can be easily implemented by the staff of the hospital. The second solution introduces modifications to the design of the radiant warmer, and it could be of interest to the producer of the device. Therefore, the main goal of this project, namely to find a solution to newborns becoming dehydrated when nursed under radiant warmers, has been successfully achieved.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Committee Chair: Garimella, Srinivas; Committee Member: Fuller, Tom; Committee Member: Jeter, Sheldon; Committee Member: Lieuwen, Tim; Committee Member: Wepfer, William. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (MTech (Mechanical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011.
Nanofluid, which was first discovered by the Argonne laboratory, is a nanotechnology- based heat transfer fluid. This fluid consists of particles which are suspended inside conventional heat transfer liquid or base fluid. The purpose of this suspension is for enhancing thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer performance of this base fluid. The name nanofluid came about as a result of the nanometer- sized particles of typical length scales 1-100nm which are stably suspended inside of the base fluids. These nanoparticles are of both physical and chemical classes and are also produced by either the physical process or the chemical process. Nanofluid has been discovered to be the best option towards accomplishing the enhancement of heat transfer through fluids in different unlimited conditions as well as reduction in the thermal resistance by heat transfer liquids. Various manufacturing industries and engineering processes such as transportation, electronics, food, medical, textile, oil and gas, chemical, drinks e.t.c, now aim at the use of this heat transfer enhancement fluid. Advantages such organisations can obtain from this fluid includes, reduced capital cost, reduction in size of heat transfer system and improvement of energy efficiencies. This research has been able to solve numerically, using Maple 12 which uses a fourth- fifth order Runge -kutta- Fehlberg algorithm alongside shooting method, a set of nonlinear coupled differential equations together with their boundary conditions, thereby modelling the heat and mass transfer characteristics of the boundary layer flow of the nanofluids. Important properties of these nanofluids which were considered are viscosity, thermal conductivity, density, specific heat and heat transfer coefficients and microstructures (particle shape, volume concentration, particle size, distribution of particle, component properties and matrixparticle interface). Basic fluid dynamics equations such as the continuity equation, linear momentum equation, energy equation and chemical species concentration equations have also been employed.

Des questions fondamentales concernant les propriétés de diffusion des systèmes biologiques dans des conditions isothermes et non-isothermes restent en suspens en raison de l’absence de techniques expérimentales capables de visualiser et de mesurer les phénomènes de diffusion avec une très bonne précision. Il existe en conséquence un besoin de développer de nouvelles techniques expérimentales permettant d’approfondir notre compréhension des phénomènes de diffusion. La convection naturelle en cavité tridimensionnelle inclinée est elle-aussi très peu étudiée. Cette inclinaison de la cavité peut correspondre à un léger défaut expérimental ou être imposée volontairement. Dans cette thèse, nous étudions les phénomènes de transport de chaleur et de masse en cavité parallélépipédique, nous intéressant particulièrement à la thermodiffusion en situation sans convection et à la convection naturelle en fluide pur (sans thermodiffusion). La diffusion de masse est étudiée à l’aide d’une nouvelle technique optique, tandis que la convection naturelle est tout d’abord étudiée en détails avec une méthode numérique sophistiquée, puis visualisée expérimentalement à l’aide du même système optique que pour les mesures de diffusion. Nous présentons l’interféromètre optique de haute précision développé pour les mesures de diffusion. Cet interféromètre comprend un interféromètre polarisé de Mach–Zehnder, un polariseur tournant, une caméra CCD et un algorithme de traitement d’images original. Nous proposons aussi une méthode pour déterminer le coefficient de diffusion isotherme en fonction de la concentration. Cette méthode, basée sur une analyse inverse couplée à un calcul numérique, permet de déterminer les coefficients de diffusion à partir des profils de concentration transitoires obtenus par le système optique. Mentionnons de plus que c’est la première fois que la thermodiffusion est visualisée dans des solutions aqueuses de protéines. La méthode optique proposée présente trois avantages principaux par rapport aux autres méthodes similaires : (i) un volume d’échantillon réduit, (ii) un temps de mesure court, (iii) une stabilité hydrodynamique améliorée. Toutes ces méthodes ont été validées par des mesures sur des systèmes de référence. La technique optique est d’abord utilisée pour étudier la diffusion isotherme dans des solutions de protéines : (a) dans des solutions binaires diluées, (b) dans des solutions binaires sur un large domaine de concentration, (c) dans des solutions ternaires diluées. Les résultats montrent que (a) le coefficient de diffusion isotherme dans les systèmes dilués décroit avec la masse moléculaire, comme prédit grossièrement par l’équation de Stokes-Einstein ; (b) la protéine BSA a un comportement diffusif de type sphère dure et la protéine lysozyme de type sphère molle ; (c) l’effet de diffusion croisée est négligeable dans les systèmes ternaires dilués. La technique optique est aussi utilisée (d) dans des solutions binaires diluées non-isothermes, révélant que les molécules d’aprotinin (6.5 kDa) et de lysozyme (14.3 kDa) sont, respectivement, thermophiliques et thermo-phobiques, quand elles sont en solutions aqueuses à température ambiante. Enfin, la technique optique est utilisée pour l’étude de la convection de Rayleigh-Bénard en cavité cubique horizontale. Puisque la convection peut aussi être étudiée de façon réaliste en utilisant les équations de Navier-Stokes, une analyse numérique de bifurcation est proposée, permettant une étude approfondie de la convection naturelle dans des cavités tridimensionnelles parallélépipédiques. Pour cela, une méthode de continuation a été développée à partir d’un code aux éléments finis spectraux. La méthode numérique proposée est particulièrement bien adaptée aux études de convection correspondant à des diagrammes de bifurcation complexes. [...]
Fundamental questions concerning the mass diffusion properties of biological systems under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions still remain due to the lack of experimental techniques capable of visualizing and measuring mass diffusion phenomena with a high accuracy. As a consequence, there is a need to develop new experimental techniques that can deepen our understanding of mass diffusion. Moreover, steady natural convection in a tilted three-dimensional rectangular enclosure has not yet been studied. This tilt can be a slight defect of the experimental device or can be imposed on purpose. In this dissertation, heat and mass transfer phenomena in parallelepiped enclosures are studied focusing on convectionless thermodiffusion and on natural convection of pure fluids (without thermodiffusion). Mass diffusion is studied with a novel optical technique, while steady natural convection is first studied in detail with an improved numerical analysis and then with the same optical technique initially developed for diffusion measurements. A construction of a precise optical interferometer to visualize and measure mass diffusion is described. The interferometer comprises a polarizing Mach–Zehnder interferometer, a rotating polariser, a CCD camera, and an original image-processing algorithm. A method to determine the isothermal diffusion coefficient as a function of concentration is proposed. This method uses an inverse analysis coupled with a numerical calculation in order to determine the diffusion coefficients from the transient concentration profiles measured with the optical system. Furthermore, thermodiffusion of protein molecules is visualized for the first time. The proposed method has three main advantages in comparison to similar methods: (i) reduced volume sample, (ii) short measurement time, and (iii) increased hydrodynamic stability of the system. These methods are validated by determining the thermophysical properties of benchmark solutions. The optical technique is first applied to study isothermal diffusion of protein solutions in: (a) dilute binary solutions, (b) binary solutions with a wide concentration range, and (c) dilute ternary solutions. The results show that (a) the isothermal diffusion coefficient in dilute systems decreases with molecular mass, as roughly predicted by the Stokes-Einstein equation; (b) BSA protein has a hard-sphere-like diffusion behaviour and lysozyme protein a soft sphere characteristic; and (c) the cross-term effect between the diffusion species in a dilute ternary system is negligible. The optical technique is then applied to (d) non-isothermal dilute binary solutions, revealing that that the aprotinin (6.5 kDa) and lysozyme (14.3 kDa) molecules are thermophilic and thermophobic, respectively, when using water as solvent at room temperature. Finally, the optical technique is applied to study Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a horizontal cubical cavity. Since natural convection can be studied in more depth by solving the Navier-Stokes equations, a bifurcation analysis is proposed to conduct a thorough study of natural convection in three-dimensional parallelepiped cavities. Here, a continuation method is developed from a three-dimensional spectral finite element code. The proposed numerical method is particularly well suited for the studies involving complex bifurcation diagrams of three-dimensional convection in rectangular parallelepiped cavities. This continuation method allows the calculation of solution branches, the stability analysis of the solutions along these branches, the detection and precise direct calculation of the bifurcation points, and the jump to newly detected stable or unstable branches, all this being managed by a simple continuation algorithm. This can be used to calculate the bifurcation diagrams describing the convection in tilted cavities. [...]

La climatisation par absorption est un système de production de froid tritherme énergétiquement intéressant. La compression mécanique intervenant au sein des systèmes classiques à compression de vapeur (premier poste de consommation énergétique) est remplacée par une compression dite thermochimique nécessitant un apport de chaleur important. Dans le cas d'une application automobile il est possible de faire fonctionner le système grâce aux pertes thermiques du moteur. La climatisation par absorption est à l'étude au sein du service R&D du fabricant d'automobiles PSA Peugeot Citroën depuis une décennie. L'innovation majeure de PSA concerne l’évaporateur/absorbeur : un nouveau système basé sur le confinement du réfrigérant et de la solution absorbante à l'intérieur de structures capillaires a été breveté. Ce nouveau système a pour but d'éviter le mélange intempestif des fluides. L'analyse expérimentale de cet évaporateur/absorbeur a montré que la puissance frigorifique est limitée par le phénomène d'absorption. Il a été prouvé que l'effet frigorifique produit par le système est égal à un tiers de l'effet maximal qui pourrait théoriquement être réalisé. Un modèle simple de la zone d'absorption est proposé, il fournit une ligne directrice pour améliorer la conception du composant. Une revue de la littérature a montré que les modèles d'absorption sont basés sur des hypothèses dont la fiabilité n'est pas évidente. Aussi, la plupart des auteurs considèrent que les propriétés thermophysiques sont constantes. Cette hypothèse a été étudiée dans le cas simple de l'absorption statique. La modélisation des transferts simultanés de chaleur et de masse au sein de la solution absorbante nécessite de prendre en compte l'augmentation de volume de cette dernière. Les équations régissant les transferts ont été résolues par la méthode des volumes finis, sur un maillage dynamique. Deux procédures pour la déformation du maillage ont été mises en oeuvre et comparées. Les résultats numériques ont été comparés aux résultats expérimentaux obtenus sur un banc développé dans le cadre de ce travail et aux données expérimentales issues de la littérature. Enfin, l'impact des gaz incondensables sur le taux d'absorption a été étudié numériquement et expérimentalement, dans le cas de l'absorption statique. Cette étude a permis de confirmer les phénomènes à l'origine de la diminution du taux d'absorption. Cependant, l'effet de la gravité sur l'impact des gaz incondensables n'a pas pu être clarifié avec certitude
Automotive air conditioning systems are based on the vapour compression cycle that requires mechanical energy for its operation. This mechanical energy is provided by the engine, which engenders year-averaged fuel extra consumptions, and thereby extra pollutant emissions, of the order of 5 %. Absorption cooling technology is of interest as this system could be driven by the engine waste heat.The absorption air conditioning technology has been under the scope of the R&D services of the french manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën for a decade. PSA's major innovation concerns the evaporator/absorber: a new system based on the confinement inside capillary structures of refrigerant and absorbent falling films has been patented. This new layout aims at avoiding unwanted mixing of the fluids. Experimental analysis of this original component has shown that the refrigerating effect is limited by the absorption phenomenon. It was proved that the refrigerating effect produced by the system is equal to one third of the maximal effect that could be achieved. A simple model of the absorption part has been proposed. It provides a guideline to improve the design of the component. A literature review has revealed that the absorption models are based on assumptions whose reliability is not obvious. Especially, most of the authors assume that the thermophysical properties are constant. The impact of this assumption has been clarified in the simple case of pool absorption. Modeling the simultaneous heat and mass transfer that takes place in the liquid absorbent requires to account for the increase of the liquid volume. This was achieved by means of a finite-volume treatment of the governing equations over a dynamic grid. Two procedures for the grid deformation have been implemented and compared. The numerical results have been compared to experimental results obtained on a bench developed on purpose and to experimental data from the literature. Finally, the impact of the non-absorbable gases on the absorption rate has been investigated numerically and experimentally, in the pool absorption case. This study enabled to confirm the phenomena at the origin of the decrease of the absorption rate. However, we could not clarify with certainty the importance of gravity-driven flows in the vapour phase, in the presence of non-absorbable gases

Absorption refrigeration technology, which has the ability to utilize heat directly for cooling purposes, has been one of the most widely used technologies for refrigeration and cooling applications since the early stages of refrigeration technology. Working fluid mixtures employed in the absorption cooling systems are environmental friendly and do not contribute in green house gas emission when compared to vapour compression systems which also use costly mechanical energy input. However, high initial costs and bigger size are some of the main obstacles that impede their wide use in small scale residential buildings and transport sector. In order to overcome these obstacles, design and configuration of the system and its components need to be reinvestigated in order to achieve compact components and reduce the size of the system. Use of membrane contactors in the form of hollow fiber membrane module or plate-and-frame membrane module is one of the alternatives to achieve compact components. Absorber is an important component of the absorption refrigeration system and plays a critical role in the overall performance, size, and capital cost of the system. In this study, numerical analyses are performed to evaluate the performance of a plate-and-frame membrane contactor based absorber employing water/(LiBr + LiI + LiNO3 + LiCl) and water/(LiNO3+KNO3+NaNO3) working fluid mixtures for air cooled absorption cooling systems and multi-stage high temperature heat sources applications, respectively. CFD tool ANSYS/FLUENT 14.0 is used to perform the simulation and investigate in detail the heat and mass transfer mechanisms and the fluid dynamics behaviour at local levels in the channels. Moreover, a MATLAB code is developed to investigate the effect of membrane material characteristics and operating conditions on the absorption performance of the absorber. This study recommends optimum operating and design parameters to effectively utilize the membrane based absorber.

Le développement de solutions de stockage de l'énergie est un défi majeur pour permettre la transition énergétique d'un mix énergétique fortement carboné vers une part plus importante des énergies renouvelables. La nécessité de stocker de l'énergie vient de la dissociation, spatiale et temporelle, entre la source et la demande d'énergie. Stocker de l'énergie répond à deux besoins principaux : disposer d'énergie à l'endroit et au moment où on en a besoin. La consommation de chaleur à basse température (pour le chauffage des logements et des bureaux) représente une part importante de la consommation totale d'énergie (environ 35 % en France en 2010). Le développement de solutions de stockage de chaleur est donc d'une grande importance, d'autant plus avec la montée en puissance des énergies renouvelables. Parmi les technologies de stockage envisageables, le stockage par adsorption semble être le meilleur compromis en termes de densité de stockage et de maintient des performances sur plusieurs cycles de charge-décharge. Cette thèse se focalise donc sur le stockage de chaleur par adsorption, et traite de l'amélioration des performances du stockage et de l'intégration du système au bâtiment. L'approche développée pour répondre à ces questions est numérique. L'influence des propriétés thermophysiques de l'adsorbant et du fluide sur la densité de puissance d'une part, mais aussi sur la densité de stockage et l'autonomie du système, est étudiée. L'analyse des résultats permet de sélectionner les propriétés des matériaux les plus influentes et de mieux comprendre les transferts de chaleur et de masse au sein du réacteur. L'influence des conditions opératoires est aussi mise en avant. Enfin, il est montré que la capacité de stockage est linéairement dépendante du volume de matériau, tandis que la puissance dépend de la surface de section et que l'autonomie dépend de la longueur du lit d'adsorbant. Par ailleurs, le rapport entre l'énergie absorbée (charge) et relâchée (décharge) est d'environ 70 %. Mais pendant la phase de charge, environ 60 % de la chaleur entrant dans le réacteur n'est pas absorbée et est directement relâchée à la sortie. La conversion globale entre l'énergie récupérable et l'énergie fournie n'est donc que de 25 %. Cela montre qu'un système de stockage de chaleur par adsorption ne peut pas être pensé comme un système autonome mais doit être intégré aux autres systèmes de chauffage du bâtiment et aux lois de commande qui les régissent. Utiliser la ressource solaire pour le préchauffage du réacteur est une idée intéressante car elle améliore l’efficacité de la charge et permet une réutilisation de la part récupérée en sortie pour le chauffage direct du bâtiment. La part stockée sous forme sensible peut être récupérée plusieurs heures plus tard. Le système est ainsi transformé en un stockage combiné sensible/adsorption, avec une solution pour du stockage à long terme et pour du stockage à court terme
The development of energy storage solutions is a key challenge to enable the energy transition from fossil resources to renewable energies. The need to store energy actually comes from a dissociation between energy sources and energy demand. Storing energy meets two principal expectations: have energy available where and when it is required. Low temperature heat, for dwellings and offices heating, represents a high share of overall energy consumption (i.e. about 35 %). The development of heat storage solutions is then of great importance for energy management, especially in the context of the growing part of renewable energies. Adsorption heat storage appears to be the best trade off among available storage technologies in terms of heat storage density and performances over several cycles. Then, this PhD thesis focuses on adsorption heat storage and addresses the enhancement of storage performances and system integration. The approach developed to address these issues is numerical. Then, a model of an adsorption heat storage tank is developed, and validated using experimental data. The influence of material thermophysical properties on output power but also on storage density and system autonomy is investigated. This analysis enables a selection of particularly influencing material properties and a better understanding of heat and mass transfers. The influence of operating conditions is also underlined. It shows the importance of inlet humidity on both storage capacity and outlet power and the great influence of discharge flowrate on outlet power. Finally, it is shown heat storage capacity depends on the storage tank volume, while outlet power depends on cross section area and system autonomy on bed length. Besides, the conversion efficiency from absorbed energy (charge) to released energy (discharge) is 70 %. But during the charging process, about 60 % of incoming heat is not absorbed by the material and directly released. The overall conversion efficiency from energy provided to energy released is as low as 25 %. This demonstrates that an adsorption heat storage system cannot be thought of as a self-standing component but must be integrated into the building systems and control strategy. A clever use of heat losses for heating applications (in winter) or inlet fluid preheating (in summer) enhances global performances. Using available solar heat for system preheating is an interesting option since a part is instantly retrieved at the outlet of the storage tank and can be used for direct heating. Another part is stored as sensible heat and can be retrieved a few hours later. At least, it has the advantage of turning the adsorption storage tank into a combined sensible-adsorption storage tank that offers short-term and long-term storage solutions. Then, it may differ avoidable discharges of the sorption potential and increase the overall autonomy (or coverage fraction), in addition to optimizing chances of partial system recharge

A great deal of work has been conducted on in-tube condensation in horizontal and vertical smooth tubes. The available literature points to mechanisms governing two-phase condensation heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops, which are directly linked to the local flow pattern for both horizontal and inclined configurations. However, the work has been limited to flow pattern observations, heat transfer, pressure drops and void fractions for both horizontal and inclined tubes at high mass fluxes. No work has been conducted on the analysis of the observed flow patterns and the effect of temperature difference between the average wall temperature and average saturation temperature for different inclination angles at mass fluxes of 100 kg/m2.s and below. The purpose of this study is to carry out a qualitative analysis of flow patterns, and show the effect of temperature difference on the heat transfer coefficient for inclination angles from +90° (upward flow) to -90° (downward flow) at mass fluxes below 100 kg/m2.s. An experimental set-up provided the measurements for the two-phase condensation of R-143a in a smooth tube with an inside diameter of 8.38 mm and a length of 1.5 m. The mass fluxes were 25 kg/m2.s to 100 kg/m2.s, the saturation temperature was 40 °C and the mean qualities were 0.1 to 0.9. A high-speed camera was used to visually analyse and determine the flow patterns for both the inlet and the outlet of the test section. Through the results, eight flow patterns were observed: stratified-wavy, stratified, wavy, wavy-churn, intermittent, churn, annular and wavy-annular. The maximum heat transfer was observed for downward flow between inclination angles of -15° and -30°. The Thome-Hajal flow pattern map correctly predicted horizontal flow patterns, but failed to predict most of the inclined flow patterns. Various flow pattern transitions were identified and proposed for all the investigated inclination angles in this study. Finally, the heat transfer coefficient was found to be dependent on quality, mass flux, temperature difference and inclination angle.
Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering
MSc
Unrestricted

Research is performed to assess the potential of surface moisture evaporative cooling from composite plates as a means of reducing the external temperature of military aircraft. To assess the feasibility of evaporative cooling for this application, a simplified theoretical model of the phenomenon is formulated. The model consists of a flat composite plate at an initial uniform temperature, T0. The plate also possesses an initial moisture (molecular water) content, M0. The plate is oriented vertically and at t=0 s, one surface is exposed to a free stream of air at an elevated temperature. The other surface is exposed to stagnant air at the same temperature as the plate’s initial temperature. The equations associated with energy and mass transport for the model are developed from the conservation laws per the continuum mechanics hypothesis. Constitutive equations and assumptions are introduced to express the two nonlinear partial differential equations in terms of the temperature, T, and the partial density of molecular water, ρw. These equations are approximated using a weak form Galerkin finite element formulation and the α–family of time approximation. An algorithm and accompanying computer program written in the Matlab programming language are presented for solving the nonlinear algebraic equations at successive time steps. The Matlab program is used to generate results for plates possessing a variety of initial moisture concentrations, M0, and diffusion coefficients, D. Surface temperature profiles, over time, of moisture bearing specimens are compared with the temperature profiles of dry composite plates. It is evident from the results that M0 and D affect the surface temperature of a moist plate. Surface temperature profiles are shown to decrease with increasing M0 and/or D. In particular, dry and moist specimens are shown to differ in final temperatures by as much as 30°C over a 900 s interval when M0 = 30% and D is on the order of 10–8m2/s (T0 = 25°C, h = 60 W/m2°C, T∞ = 90°C).

In this thesis, a coupled heat and mass transfer and drying stress failure model was developed to predict vacuum and conventional drying behaviour of Australian hardwoods. The method was based on extensive measurement of key model parameters that were used as input data for the Multiphysics and finite element analysis models and then validated against semi-industrial drying trials. The research outcomes provide the Australian hardwood industry with a tool that can be used to reduce current drying time, costs and waste due to drying degradation.

In about 30 years of experiments and development, impulse drying is now considered as a well known technology and a good candidate in the constant effort to save energy in the paper industry. The drying section is indeed the most expensive section in the process of paper production. However, this potential technology has a major disadvantage, stopping its implementation in the industry. Paper, which is a porous material with a variable compressibility, experienced a sudden release of energy at the nip opening during impulse drying. Under these conditions of high intensity process (both in temperature and pressure), the fiber mat has a tendency to delaminate. This web disruption is a critical issue against impulse drying. This thesis comes up with a new approach to the problem. These last years, the technology itself has been addressed in this issue and many improvements have been reached in terms of energy release (heat transfer control, material coating ). The novel idea is then to investigate the inner structure of the paper once it has been coated with starch to a large extent (up to 10 or 20% of the relative basis weight). Starch is known for its large use in industry, but also its capability to expand under high temperature. Hence, both relative strength and bulking effects are investigated in this thesis, using numerous experiments with variable temperatures and pressures, along with ultrasonic testing and image analysis. We have the opportunity to appreciate the phenomenon of heat transfer and mass transport in the coated medium, while reaching promising results in terms of strength and bulk. These are finally investigated using scanning electron microscopy as a first step toward a pore expansion model for starch imbued handsheets.

The investigations presented in the thesis are theoretical studies of magnetohydrodynamic flows, heat and mass transfer in Newtonian/non-Newtonian cooling liquids, due to horizontal/vertical stretching sheet. The theoretical studies include the effect of magnetic field, uniform and non-uniform heat source/sink (flow and temperature dependent heat source/sink) effects. The considered problems include flow of viscous fluids in the presence of applied magnetic field and electric field with first order chemical reactions. The viscous incompressible Newtonian fluid flow in porous medium with Darcy-Forchheimmer model, electrically conducting fluid and nanofluid is studied. We introduce innovative techniques for finding solutions of highly nonlinear coupled boundary value problems such as Runge-Kutta method, Perturbation method and Differential Transform Method (DTM).   Chapter 1-2 gives a brief introduction. Chapter 3 focuses on Lie group analysis of MHD flow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet. The effects of viscous dissipation, uniform heat source/sink and MHD on heat transfer are addressed. In Chapter 4-6 we examined the laminar flow, thermocapillary flow of a nanoliquid thin film over an unsteady stretching sheet in presence of MHD and thermal Radiation in different situations. An effective medium theory (EMT) based model is used for the thermal conductivity of the nanoliquid.  Metal and metal oxide nanoparticles are considered in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) - water base liquid. In Chapter 7-9 we analyzed, heat and mass transfer in MHD, mixed convection, viscoelastic fluid flow, non-Darcian flow due to stretching sheet in presence of viscous dissipation, non-uniform heat source/sink and porous media have been investigated in different situations.  MHD and viscous dissipation have a significant influence on controlling of the dynamics.    In Chapter 10 the linear stability of Maxwell fluid-nanofluid flow in a saturated porous layer is examined theoretically when the walls of the porous layers are subjected to time-periodic temperature modulations. A modified Darcy-Maxwell model is used to describe the fluid motion, and the nanofluid model used includes the effects of the Brownian motion. The thermal conductivity and viscosity are considered to be dependent on the nanoparticle volume fraction. In Chapter 11 we studied MHD flow in a vertical double passage channel taking into account the presence of the first order chemical reactions. The governing equations are solved by using a regular perturbation technique valid for small values of the Brinkman number and a DTM valid for all values of the Brinkman number.

The purpose of this work was to develop three simulation models of tumble dryers: heat pump tumble dryer, air vented tumble dryer and condenser tumble dryer. In interests of competitiveness, manufactures of tumble dryers are seeking to reduce both their electricity consumption and the drying time. Nowadays, this challenge has led to use innovative work methodologies, especially in case of complex and non-linear dynamic systems as the drying process, where the development of a model plays a crucial role. The heat pump tumble dryer system is divided into three parts: heat pump module, drum and air circuit. A model, for each of the previous components, was developed. The first part of this dissertation tries to develop a dynamic model of a vapor compression cycle system, and hence of the heat pump module, using a first-principles modeling framework. The mass and energy conservation principles were used to draw up the equation set, whereas collected experimental data was used to validate each component. The modeling of the heat exchanger is based on the moving-boundary scheme, the capillary tube was modeled through an analytical correlation found in literature and the dynamic behaviour of the compressor was considered. The characteristic of the aeraulic circuit of the heat pump tumble dryer was investigated using performance tests that allowed to characterize its aeraulic resistances as well as the characteristic curve of the process fan. A significant part of the work was focused on the analysis of the physical phenomena that take place inside the dryer drum due to the interaction between the air stream and the moistened laundry load. The features of this component determine the mass and energy flow through the complete unit. The analysis of experimental tests led to develop a correlation that gives the overall heat transfer coefficient between air and laundry load. The overall mass transfer is deduced invoking the heat and mass transfer analogy based on the Lewis number. An original model of the system laundry-content of water is presented. This model was validated through a series of drying tests. The models of the heat pump, the air circuit and the drum were joined together to develop the entire model of the heat pump tumble dryer. The model predictions were compared with experimental data, and the result showed that the energy consumption is adequately predicted with maximum deviation of ± 10% if the drying time is properly predicted. Further some case studies are presented where the capabilities in prediction of the model, in cases where model's parameters were strongly varied, were checked. The second dryer analyzed and modeled is the air vented tumble dryer that operates with an open-configuration. The modeling effort on this dryer platform was focused on the understanding of the fluid-dynamic aspects that govern its behaviour. Two sources of leakage, where the air can enter into the process circuit, were detected. These sources heavily affect the performances. The whole experimental aeraulic characterization of the air process circuit is presented together with the pressure drop correlation of each component. These correlations allowed to develop a simulation model where also the heat transfer dynamics concerning the heating element and the evaporation process were considered. Simulation results are in excellent agreement with experimental data. The third dryer analyzed and modeled is the condenser tumble dryer. This kind of tumble dryer can be viewed as an extension of the air vented tumble dryer where the air leaving the drum is recirculated back. Before crossing the heater, the air stream is cooled and dehumidified by an air-to-air heat exchanger with cross flow arrangement. In order to develop the whole system a heat exchanger model was developed. The model is based on a 2D discretization of the metallic plate whose properties are considered as lumped. Furthermore, the model is able to catch both mass and energy phenomena. Also for this device the aeraulic circuit was first analyzed experimentally and then modeled for the purpose of predicting the process mass flow rate along the drying cycle. The model capabilities were checked by testing the model throughout the drying cycle and the results are presented. The different arrangement of the drum flange seems to reduce the active portion of the mass flow rate involved in heat and mass transfer exchanges with the laundry load. This leads a longer drying time compared with those derived by the relations developed for the heat pump and air vented tumble dryer that predict the mass and energy transfer between air and laundry.
Lo scopo di questo lavoro è stato lo sviluppo di tre modelli numerici adatti alla simulazione dinamica di asciugatrici domestiche. In particolare modo è stata analizzata l’asciugabiancheria a pompa di calore, l’asciugabiancheria ad aria ventilata ed infine l’asciugabiancheria a condensa. Oggigiorno i produttori di asciugabiancheria, per ragioni di competitività, si stanno sfidando sul mercato con prodotti sempre più efficienti: ridotto consumo energetico e ridotta durata del ciclo. Questa sfida ha condotto all’uso di metodologie di lavoro innovative come il "model-based-design" adatto all’analisi di sistemi complessi e non lineari come è il ciclo di asciugatura. In questo approccio riveste un ruolo fondamentale lo sviluppo di un modello matematico che spieghi il funzionamento del sistema. L’asciugatrice a pompa di calore è costituita da tre componenti principali: modulo pompa di calore, cesto e circuito aeraulico. Per ognuno di essi è stato sviluppato un modello. La prima parte di questo lavoro è stata dedicata allo sviluppo di un modello dinamico del ciclo a compressione di vapore usando un approccio di primo principio in cui i principi di conservazione della massa e dell’energia vengono applicati per sviluppare le equazioni che ne descrivono il comportamento. Gli scambiatori di calore sono stati modellizzati attraverso l’approccio a frontiera mobile noto in letteratura con il nome: "moving-boundary". Per la stima della portata di refrigerante elaborata dal tubo capillare è stata impiegata una relazione analitica disponibile in letteratura, coerente con i valori sperimentali. Infine il comportamento dinamico del compressore manifestatosi durante alcune fasi del ciclo di asciugatura, è stato considerato sviluppando un modello a due capacità termiche. Le caratteristiche del circuito aeraulico della pompa di calore sono state soggette prima ad analisi sperimentali, permettendo la derivazione delle correlazioni in grado di stimare le perdite di carico lato aria di processo, e successivamente alla loro modellizzazione utilizzando l’analogia elettrica. Una significativa parte del lavoro è stata concentrata sull’analisi del processo di evaporazione a cui è soggetta l’acqua contenuta nei panni. L’analisi sperimentale condotta ha permesso di sviluppare la correlazione che spiega come varia la trasmittanza media aria-panni durante il ciclo di asciugatura, inoltre sfruttando l’analogia di scambio di calore e di massa, basata sul numero di Lewis, è stato determinato il coefficiente medio di scambio di massa. Il sistema acqua-panni è stato modellizzato con un approccio originale che prevede di dividerlo in due zone: una zona secca ed una zona bagnata, l’estensione della zona bagnata è funzione del grado di asciugatura. La correlazione che spiega come varia l’estensione di tale zona è stata ricavata dai dati sperimentali. Il modello è stato validato e mostra una accuratezza del 5% nella predizione del tempo di asciugatura. I tre sotto-modelli sviluppati sono stati collegati tra di loro in modo da sviluppare il modello complessivo dell’asciugabiancheria a pompa di calore. L’attendibilità del modello è stata verificata prima con confronti sperimentali e successivamente con più casi studio che hanno evidenziato, qualora il tempo ciclo fosse predetto, delle deviazioni di circa il 10% sulla stima del consumo energetico del compressore. La seconda piattaforma di asciugabiancheria che è stata analizzata è il modello ad aria ventilata. Questo tipo di elettrodomestico opera con una configurazione di ciclo aperta in cui l’aria uscente dal cesto viene espulsa in ambiente. Lo sforzo modellistico è stato concentrato nella comprensione dei fenomeni fluidodinamici che ne regolano il funzionamento. Due tipi di sorgenti di perdita sono stati messi in luce, in questi punti, l’aria può entrare nel sistema. L’effetto della portata non riscaldata influenza notevolmente le prestazioni dell’asciugabiancheria. L’intera caratterizzazione sperimentale del circuito aeraulico ha permesso di dedurre delle correlazioni che stimano le perdite di carico attraverso i vari componenti. Ciò ha permesso la derivazione di un modello aeraulico, che accompagnato dalla descrizione dinamica dell’elemento riscaldante, ha permesso lo sviluppo del modello complessivo della macchina. Il modello è stato validato sperimentalmente ed il confronto tra risultati sperimentali e numerici ha indicato che esso è in grado di predire eccellentemente le prestazioni della macchina nel ciclo di aciugatura. La terza piattaforma di asciugabiancheria che è stata analizzata è il tipo a condensa. Esso può essere visto come un’estensione del modello ad aria ventilata in cui il flusso d’aria proveniente del cesto viene ricircolato ma prima di passare attraverso l’elemento riscaldante il flusso d’aria transita in uno scambiatore compatto ad aria dove viene raffreddato e deumidificato. Pertanto lo sforzo modellistico si è concentrato non solo nello sviluppo del consueto modello aeraulico derivato dai dati sperimentali ma anche nello sviluppo di un modello bidimensionale dello scambiatore di calore. La piastra metallica dello scambiatore di calore è strata discretizzata bidimensionalmente. Il modello è in grado di cogliere fenomeni sia di scambio sensibile che di trasporto di massa. Le capacità di predizione del modello sono state testate confrontando i risultati su un intero ciclo di asciugatura. La diversa configurazione della flangia, che immette l’aria all’interno del cesto, riduce la porzione attiva di portata d’aria a contatto con i panni.

Le lit fluidisé a d'excellentes propriétés, comme milieu de chauffage, quant à l'homogénéité de sa température et aux valeurs du coefficient de transfert thermique. Pour des conditions de chauffage bien définies, le coefficient d'échange thermique lit fluidise-pièce immergée dépend de la vitesse de fluidisation, de la taille des particules du lit et des dimensions des pièces à chauffer. Le transfert de matière entre le lit fluidisé et des surfaces immergées a été étudié dans le cas de traitements thermochimiques de nitruration. Les paramètres dynamiques du lit et la composition du mélange de nitruration (ammoniac et azote) influencent la cinétique de diffusion de l'azote en surface des pièces et la morphologie de la couche nitrurée. La nitruration en lit fluidisé est comparée à la nitruration de type classique en gaz, à la nitruration en plasma et à la nitruration en bains de sels.

La torréfaction est l'un des procédés de prétraitement thermochimique de la biomasse lignocellulosique qui permet de faciliter le stockage et le transport du matériau, mais aussi d'augmenter la densité énergétique du produit. Néanmoins, le substrat torréfié étant plus réactif, il est plus sujet à des mécanismes exothermiques spontanés pouvant entraîner un auto-échauffement de la matière. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, cette problématique a été étudiée pour le cas du bois torréfié. En effet, il a été question de comprendre les phénomènes responsables de l'auto-échauffement d'un lit de biomasse ventilé par un gaz oxydant à basse température. Pour ce faire, des scenarii d'auto-échauffement de plaquettes de bois torréfié ont été créés sous une atmosphère oxydante. Des expérimentations ont été conduites à l'échelle pilote dans un réacteur à lit fixe de 12 L. Au cours de ces essais, nous avons démontré que l'auto-échauffement est intensifié lorsque le débit du gaz oxydant est faible et sous une fraction d'oxygène élevée. Par ailleurs, la chaleur produite au cours de l'auto-échauffement du lit de bois a été estimée sur la base d'un bilan de chaleur et des données thermiques. Des paramètres cinétiques apparents et une chaleur de réaction associés à l'auto-échauffement ont été déduits. D'autre part, dans le but d'appréhender les phénomènes exothermiques caractérisant l'auto-échauffement, des essais d'oxydation à basse température sont réalisés à petite échelle (en ATG/ATD). Des modèles cinétiques ont ensuite été mis en œuvre pour distinguer et quantifier les mécanismes repérés expérimentalement. Ces deux approches ont permis de mettre en avant trois principaux mécanismes intervenant lors de l'oxydation à basse température : l'adsorption chimique de l'oxygène sur le réactif, la décomposition des complexes oxygénés formés à l'adsorption et une réaction d'oxydation directe. Dans une approche plus orientée vers des problématiques à l'échelle industrielle de l'auto-échauffement, un modèle numérique couplant cinétique chimique et transferts de matière et de chaleur a été conçu, à l'échelle du lit de particules. Ce modèle a permis de prédire de façon raisonnable la thermique du lit de bois torréfié à fort débit de ventilation. Il a été ensuite extrapolé à l'échelle industrielle pour simuler le comportement thermique d'un silo de stockage subissant un auto-échauffement
Torrefaction is one of the thermo-chemical pretreatment processes of lignocellulosic biomass that facilitates both the storage and transport of the material and increases the energy value of the product. However, as the torrefied substrate is more reactive, it is more prone to spontaneous exothermic mechanisms that can lead to self-heating of the material. This issue is not well investigated in the case of torrefied wood since its industrial application is mainly in the test phase. For this reason, this topic is further studied throughout this thesis. Indeed, the aim was to understand the phenomena responsible for the self-heating of a bed of biomass ventilated with oxidizing gas at low temperature. To do this, self-heating scenarios of torrefied wood chips were created under an oxidizing atmosphere. Pilot-scale experiments were conducted in a 12 L fixed-bed reactor. During these tests, we demonstrated that self-heating is intensified when the oxidizing gas flow rate is low and under a high oxygen fraction. In addition, the heat produced during the self-heating of the wooden bed was estimated on the basis of a heat balance and thermal data. Then, the source term was correlated to the oxygen fraction and temperature in a simplified model. The apparent kinetic parameters and heat of reaction associated with self-heating were derived from this. On the other hand, in order to understand the exothermic phenomena characterizing self-heating, low temperature oxidation tests are carried out on a small scale (ATG/ATD). On the basis of these analyses, kinetic models were developed to distinguish and quantify the mechanisms identified experimentally. These two approaches have made it possible to highlight three main mechanisms involved in low-temperature oxidation: chemical adsorption of oxygen on the reagent, decomposition of the oxygen complexes formed during adsorption and a direct oxidation reaction. In a more problem-oriented approach to industrial-scale self-heating, a numerical model coupling chemical kinetics and mass and heat transfers was designed at the scale of the particle bed. This model provided a reasonable prediction of the thermal performance of the torrefied wood bed under high ventilation flow. It was then extrapolated to an industrial scale to simulate the thermal behaviour of a storage silo undergoing self-heating

Neste trabalho, foi estudado o desempenho de um sistema constituído de torres de resfriamento e a sua integração em uma planta industrial de hidrogenação de butadieno. Caracterizou-se o desempenho das torres de resfriamento com base em um modelo fenomenológico, cujos parâmetros foram obtidos a partir da medição de variáveis operacionais reais. O processo de hidrogenação foi configurado em um simulador de processos, sendo o caso base estabelecido nas condições de projeto. Elaborou-se um módulo específico referente às torres de resfriamento, que foi integrado ao processo configurado no simulador. Em seguida, analisaram-se as interações das condições operacionais da torre de resfriamento no desempenho do processo industrial.
In the present work, the performance of a system composed of a cooling tower integrated in butadiene hydrogenation plant was studied. An experimental investigation was made to characterize the cooling towers based on a phenomenological model and in real process conditions. The hydrogenation process was configured on a process simulator and design specifications were considered as base case. A cooling tower module was developed and integrated to the process simulator. The interaction of the cooling tower system and the plant operation was investigated.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
This work presents a 3D computational/mathematical model to solve the heat diffusion equation with phase change, considering addition of material and complex geometry. The finite volume method was used and the computational code was implemented in C++, using Borland compiler. Experimental tests were carried out for validation of the model in question. It was used a material whose thermal properties, varying with temperature, are well known: the stainless steel AISI 304. In addition, an inverse technique based on Golden Section was implemented to estimate the heat flux supplied to the sample. Experimental temperatures were measured using thermocouples type J - in a total of 07 (seven) - all connected to the metal sheet and the Agilent 34970A datalogger. The metal had a \"V\" Groove of 45°. In this location was conducted the deposition of material on only one welding pass and the dimensions (width and height) were measured after welding. The thermal model was validated from comparisons between measured and calculated temperatures. The results were consistent and validated the computational/mathematical model proposed. An innovation presented in this work consists in the calculation and visualization of the dimensions of the welding pool during welding. The complex geometry obtained proves that more studies are needed and new models must be designed to clarify and explain the formation of welding pool during welding of metal sheet.
Desenvolve-se, neste trabalho, um modelo matemático/computacional 3D (tridimensional) de difusão de calor com mudança de fase, acréscimo de material e geometria complexa. O método de volumes finitos foi implementado em linguagem C, utilizando o compilador Borland. Foram realizados testes experimentais para a validação do modelo em questão. Usou-se um material cujas propriedades térmicas, variando com a temperatura, são bem conhecidas: o aço inox AISI 304. Além do modelo direto já citado, foi implementada uma técnica inversa para o cálculo do fluxo de calor. Utilizou-se neste caso a amplamente conhecida Seção Áurea: técnica que exige uma simplificação, fluxo de calor constante ao longo do tempo de soldagem. As temperaturas na chapa foram medidas utilizando termopares do tipo J - em um total de 07 (sete) - todos ligados ao datalogger Agilent 34970A. As medições foram feitas do lado oposto à tocha de soldagem. A chapa metálica possuía um chanfro em V de 45º. Neste local foi realizada a deposição de material (reforço) em somente um passe de soldagem. As dimensões da geometria do reforço (largura e altura) foram medidas depois da realização da soldagem. Em relação aos resultados, além da comparação entre as temperaturas medidas e calculadas, foi também determinada a eficiência térmica da soldagem. Os resultados foram consistentes e validaram o modelo matemático/computacional proposto. Uma inovação apresentada neste trabalho consiste no cálculo e visualização gráfica tridimensional da poça de fusão ao longo do tempo. A complexa geometria obtida comprova que mais estudos se fazem necessários e que novos modelos devem ser concebidos para esclarecer e explicar a formação da poça de fusão durante a soldagem de chapas metálicas.
Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

Combustion is by far the most commonly used technology for energy conversion. The analysis of entropy generation and exergy loss is normally used to optimize thermal energy technologies such as gas turbines. The loss of exergy in the combustor is the largest of all component losses in gas turbine systems. The exergy efficiency of gas turbine combustors is typically 20-30%. In recent years the focus on reduction of climate gas and pollutant emissions from combustion has been a driving factor for research on combustion efficiency. The emphasis on fuel economy and pollution reduction from combustion motivates a study of the exergy efficiency of a combustion process. A bulk exergy analysis of the combustor does not take into account the complexity of the combustion process. The spatial dimensions of the flame must be accounted for in order gain detailed information about the entropy generation. This motivates a study of the local entropy production in a flame and quantifying the mechanisms that reduce the exergetic efficiency. The entropy production in combustion is also believed to have an effect on the stability of the flame. As most combustors operate with turbulent flow the emphasis of this report is on turbulent combustion.The source of exergy destruction or irreversibility in combustion is generally attributed to four different mechanisms: chemical reaction, internal heat transfer, mass diffusion of species, and viscous dissipation. The irreversibilities from the first three sources have been computed for a turbulent hydrogen H2 jet diffusion flame using prescribed probability density functions and data from experiments. The contribution of each source of exergy destruction is locally quantifed in the flame. Two different modeling assumptions are made, one based on a fast chemistry assumption and the other based on curve fitted relations from experimental data. The second law efficiency of the flame was found to be 98.7% when assuming fast chemistry, and 76.0% when curve fits from experimental data where used.The contribution from viscous dissipation has in previous studies been found to be negligible, and in order to simplify the modeling of the turbulent flow its contribution to the total entropy production has not been studied in this report.

A novel experimental technique had been used to investigate the simultaneous transfer of heat and moisture in a simulated building cavity by natural convection. This technique employed two porous plastic plates as the two cavity walls and this arrangement allowed the imposition of a simultaneous moisture gradient on top of a temperature gradient and vice-versa. Both aiding and opposing-flow conditions were investigated for the vertical and horizontal cavity configuration. The aspect-ratio of the experimental cavity used was 7.0 and the fluid investigated was air. The experimental results were correlated in the form of Nusselt and/or Sherwood number versus an appropriately defined Rayleigh number which depended on the type of gradient causing the flow. The Nusselt and Sherwood numbers were found to agree well with the theoretical values of this work obtained from numerical calculation using a finite-difference technique. The temperature, concentration, stream-function and velocity fields from the numerical calculation also augmented the experimental results. As no previous results on the rate of moisture-transfer and s interaction with the rate of heat-transfer in an actual building cavity were available, the results of this work addresses this gap in the literature. Under the conditions investigated, which corresponded to the actual temperature and moisture gradients in a typical building cavity in New Zealand, the simultaneous temperature gradient had increased significantly the rate of moisture transfer while the presence of the simultaneous moisture gradient had not increased significantly the rate of heat transfer.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2007.
Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy degree in Engineering." Bibliography: leaves 65-74.

L’utilisation des matériaux à faibles impacts environnementaux devient essentielle dans le secteur du bâtiment à cause de sa forte consommation d’énergie et de ressources naturelles. Cette thèse porte sur les isolants bio-sourcés et spécialement les laines de chanvres possédant des propriétés thermiques et hydriques intéressantes. La laine de chanvre, étant composée essentiellement de fibres végétales, constitue un matériau fibreux anisotrope et fortement poreux, et possède à l’échelle microscopique une structure complexe et aléatoire. D’où l’intérêt de décrire précisément la morphologie de ce type de laine et de caractériser sa structure par analyse d’images tomographiques à rayons X et des images MEB. Puis nous avons mis en place un modèle macroscopique couplé de transfert de chaleur et de masse, permettant de comprendre le comportement thermohydrique de ces laines en utilisant la méthode de changement d’échelle par prise de moyenne. Pour prendre en compte la complexité géométrique de la microstructure nous avons eu recours à un double changement d’échelle
The use of low environmental impact materials becomes essential in the construction industry due to its high consumption of energy and natural resources. In this thesis it was focused on the bio-based and especially wool hemp insulation with interesting thermal and water properties. Hemp wool, being composed substantially of plant fibers, is an anisotropic, fibrous and highly porous material. At the microscopic level it possesses a complex and random structure, hence the interest of an accurate description to the morphology of this type of wool and to characterize its structure analysis by X-ray tomographic images and SEM images. Then a macroscopic model of coupled heat transfer and mass transport is set up to understand the behavior of these wools using the scaling method average gain. To take into account the geometric complexity of the microstructure a double change of scale was used

Numerical solutions of mathematical modelizations of heat and mass transfer in cubical and cylindrical reactors of solar adsorption refrigeration systems are studied. For the resolution of the equations describing the coupling between heat and mass transfer, Bubnov-Galerkin method is used. An exact solution for time dependent heat transfer in cylindrical multilayered annulus is presented. Separation of variables method has been used to investigate the temperature behavior. An analytical double series relation is proposed as a solution for the temperature distribution, and Fourier coefficients in each layer are obtained by solving some set of equations related to thermal boundary conditions at inside and outside of the cylinder.

The majority of modern cereal baking ovens are tunnel ovens with multiple zones, each of which is individually controlled. A baking profile is set by the oven operator, which describes the target temperatures and air velocities in each of the zones along the length of the oven. There may be up to ten zones in modern tunnel ovens; it is thus a complex procedure to generate an optimum profile. A computer numerical model was developed to model the baking process and to make predictions of the biscuit temperature, heat flux and moisture content through the bake.

The thermal and structural performance of building elements can be significantly impaired by the presence of excess moisture. At present, designers have available only simplistic steady-state techniques to predict such effects, for example that presented by Glaser in 1959. These simple models recognise moisture transport in vapour form only and do not allow information on material moisture content to be obtained directly. They are also based on the assumption that the material transport properties are independent of the prevailing environmental conditions, whereas they are in fact complex functions of parameters such as relative humidity. This research has been carried out to develop a set of model equations which account for both liquid and vapour transfer through porous structures, and which enable material moisture content profiles to be produced. The equations generated in this work are transient and enable the effects of moisture and thermal capacity to be considered. An experimental investigation has also been carried out to produce a methodology which can be used to obtain the required material properties. These equations and material properties have been combined with realistic boundary conditions to produce a finite difference model which enables simple wall structures to be analysed in terms of temperature, vapour pressure, relative humidity, moisture content and moisture flow rate. The use of this FORTRAN 77 computer code is illustrated by application to traditional and timber-framed wall constructions. The results illustrate the applicability and flexibility of such an approach and confirm the importance of its further development in the future.

Desiccant-enhanced air conditioning equipment has exhibited both the capability to improve humidity control and the potential to save energy costs by lowering the latent energy requirement of the supply air stream. The resulting increasing popularity of desiccant-enhanced air conditioning systems has sparked new interest in the search for a better, more efficient desiccant material. The ultimate goal of this research was to develop a material that, when applied to an existing air-to-air heat exchanger, would achieve the necessary heat and mass transfer in a single process, thus transforming a sensible heat exchanger into a total enthalpy exchanger. This study focuses on the development and determination of appropriate polymeric desiccant materials for use in different heat and mass transfer applications. Various candidate materials were initially studied. It was decided that polyvinyl alcohol best met the pre-determined selection criteria. After the focus material was chosen, numerical models representing two heat and mass transfer applications were created. One-dimensional numerical models were developed for the performance studies of a rotary wheel total enthalpy exchanger. A two-dimensional numerical model was developed for the performance studies of a fixed plate total enthalpy exchanger as well. Material characterization tests were performed to collect material property information required by the numerical models. Sensible, latent, and total efficiencies gathered from both the rotary wheel total enthalpy exchanger and the fixed plate total enthalpy exchanger models indicate potential uses for some candidate polyvinyl alcohol materials.
Master of Science

The fundamental and quantitative study of heat and mass transfer processes in wood plays an important role for understanding many important production processes, such as wood drying and hot-pressing. It will help us improve the existing products and production techniques and develop new manufacturing technology. The most difficult aspect of the study is the complicated interactions of heat and mass transfer mechanisms. Extensive characterization of these physical processes using a strictly experimental approach is extremely difficult because of the excessively large number of variables that must be considered. However, mathematical modeling and numerical techniques serve as a powerful tool to help us understand the complicated physical processes. The goal of this research is to model the simultaneous heat and mass transfer in wood. The specific objectives of this research are: 1) develop a computer simulation program, implementing an existing one-dimensional mathematical drying model, using a finite difference approach, to numerically evaluate the mathematical model. 2) study sensitivity of the heat and mass transfer model to determine the effects of wood physical properties and environmental conditions on the drying processes.
Master of Science

In this thesis, the mechanisms of solids transportation, heat and mass transfer within rotary dryers were first examined. Some experimental data obtained in pilot-scale and industrial rotary dryers were used to investigate the influences of moisture content of solids and gas temperature on solids transportation, typically on solids mean residence time distribution, and on heat and mass transfer to estimate the volumetric heat and mass transfer coefficients. One pilot-scale rotary dryer with direct contact between the gas and the solids with co-current flow has been designed, constructed and tested in our laboratory. It mainly consists of four parts: an electric fan, an electric heater, a solids feeding system and a rotary cylinder. Numerous experiments were performed to investigate the dynamic characteristics of solids transportation in this pilot-scale rotary dryer. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This manuscript has been realized in the frame of SELENE experiment research activities. SELENE is the ac-ronym of Self-rewetting fluids for ENErgy management and consists of a space project aiming to investigate heat and mass transfer phenomena in mono-groove configuration with self-rewetting fluids (SRFs). Self-rewetting fluids are mixture showing an anomalous trend of surface tension with temperature, an inversion of the surface tension slope after certain temperature. As consequence, when the minimum in surface ten-sion is crossed, surface tension gradient at the meniscus interface pulls the liquid towards the warmest region, preventing hot spots. This mechanism is completely spontaneous and has an interesting potential when applied to heat transfer applications as heat pipes (HPs). In HPs heat is removed by the liquid at the warmest region (the evaporator) and transported at the coldest zone (the condenser) by phase change; here, heat is removed by the pipe and dissipated outside through a radiator. To operate correctly, liquid is supplied to the evaporator by capillarity and the liquid vapour is allowed to flow back to condenser from a dedicated pipe region where liquid is not allowed. Vapour condensation releases at the condenser the heat to be dissipated. When SRFs are replacing working fluid in HP applications and temperatures are higher than the characteristic minimum in surface tension, capillary force is assisted by inverse Marangoni flow at the vapour-liquid interface.Since heat pipe performances are related to liquid supplied at the evaporator, in order to compare SRFs and not SRFs working fluids, it is needed to split the contribution of Marangoni and capillary force in the liquid flow. Marangoni effect is related to surface tension gradient that, in a mixture as SRF, is dependent on temperature and local composition at the liquid interface. For all these reasons, SELENE is designed to be the link between scientific research on HPs and heat transfer applications using SRFs. SELENE consists of a mono-groove with trapezoidal section that can be considered as a “clump” of an Inner Grooved Heat Pipe (IGHP) and, in order to split capillary and Marangoni contribution, it is integrated dedicated tools providing the required data in terms of concentration and liquid meniscus shape. Experimental data are used to build a simplified thermo-soluto-fluido dynamic model describing the thermo-mechanic mechanisms between the liquid bulk and the vapour flow. In the manuscript here presented it has been carried on a technology development of the required diag-nostics for the SELENE space project. The diagnostics have been designed to work in microgravity condi-tions even if they are tested on ground. As concentration diagnostic, in the text are proposed several tech-niques and more interest is spent on the adaptation of I-VED (In vivo Embolic Detection) technology meas-uring fluid AC impedance to retrieve composition information; the technology is not yet mature to be inte-grated in SELENE but it presents interesting features to be investigated in microgravity conditions. As me-niscus reconstruction technique it is proposed a new and innovative technology developed in the frame of the presented thesis and it consists of a non-intrusive optical technique aiming to retrieve liquid meniscus shape (and so curvature) from a single visualization window mounted at the top of the SELENE breadboard.An analytical approach aiming to retrieve a simplified mathematical model of the transfer mechanisms is also provided in the text. The analytical analysis clearly shows the relations between the experimental measured data and the velocity profiles in the liquid and vapour regions. In addition, since in SELENE exper-iment the heat conduction across the groove itself is not negligible, in the text it is provided a semi-empirical thermal model based on the Multi Lumped Model (MLM) theory and able to retrieve local heat exchanged information along the pipe length. The model is used to compare experiments with different working fluids at different operational regimes.
Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished