Computational Fluid Dynamics 2020

This book presents a collection of works published in a recent Special Issue (SI) entitled “Computational Fluid Dynamics”. These works address the development and validation of existent numerical solvers for fluid flow problems and their related applications. They present complex nonlinear, non-Newtonian fluid flow problems that are (in some cases) coupled with heat transfer, phase change, nanofluidic, and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) phenomena. The applications are wide and range from aerodynamic drag and pressure waves to geometrical blade modification on aerodynamics characteristics of high-pressure gas turbines, hydromagnetic flow arising in porous regions, optimal design of isothermal sloshing vessels to evaluation of (hybrid) nanofluid properties, their control using MHD, and their effect on different modes of heat transfer. Recent advances in numerical, theoretical, and experimental methodologies, as well as new physics, new methodological developments, and their limitations are presented within the current book. Among others, in the presented works, special attention is paid to validating and improving the accuracy of the presented methodologies. This book brings together a collection of inter/multidisciplinary works on many engineering applications in a coherent manner

Recent Trends in Coatings and Thin Film–Modeling and Application

Over the past four decades, there has been increased attention given to the research of fluid mechanics due to its wide application in industry and phycology. Major advances in the modeling of key topics such Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids and thin film flows have been made and finally published in the Special Issue of coatings. This is an attempt to edit the Special Issue into a book. Although this book is not a formal textbook, it will definitely be useful for university teachers, research students, industrial researchers and in overcoming the difficulties occurring in the said topic, while dealing with the nonlinear governing equations. For such types of equations, it is often more difficult to find an analytical solution or even a numerical one. This book has successfully handled this challenging job with the latest techniques. In addition, the findings of the simulation are logically realistic and meet the standard of sufficient scientific value

Structural, Magnetic, Dielectric, Electrical, Optical and Thermal Properties of Nanocrystalline Materials: Synthesis, Characterization and Application

This book is a collection of the research articles and review article, published in special issue "Structural, Magnetic, Dielectric, Electrical, Optical and Thermal Properties of Nanocrystalline Materials: Synthesis, Characterization and Application"

Current Perspective on the Study of Liquid-Fluid Interfaces: From Fundamentals to Innovative Applications

Fluid interfaces are promising candidates for confining different types of materials - e.g., polymers, surfactants, colloids, and even small molecules - and for designing new functional materials with reduced dimensionality. The development of such materials requires a deepening of the Physico-chemical bases underlying the formation of layers at fluid interfaces, as well as on the characterization of their structures and properties. This is of particular importance because the constraints associated with the assembly of materials at the interface lead to the emergence of equilibrium and dynamics features in the interfacial systems, which are far from those conventionally found in the traditional materials. This Special Issue is devoted to studies on fundamental and applied aspects of fluid interfaces, trying to provide a comprehensive perspective on the current status of the research field

Non-Newtonian Microfluidics

Microfluidics has seen a remarkable growth over recent decades, with its extensive applications in engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, etc. Many of these real applications of microfluidics involve the handling of complex fluids, such as whole blood, protein solutions, and polymeric solutions, which exhibit non-Newtonian characteristics—specifically viscoelasticity. The elasticity of the non-Newtonian fluids induces intriguing phenomena, such as elastic instability and turbulence, even at extremely low Reynolds numbers. This is the consequence of the nonlinear nature of the rheological constitutive equations. The nonlinear characteristic of non-Newtonian fluids can dramatically change the flow dynamics, and is useful to enhance mixing at the microscale. Electrokinetics in the context of non-Newtonian fluids are also of significant importance, with their potential applications in micromixing enhancement and bio-particles manipulation and separation. In this Special Issue, we welcomed research papers, and review articles related to the applications, fundamentals, design, and the underlying mechanisms of non-Newtonian microfluidics, including discussions, analytical papers, and numerical and/or experimental analyses

Investigation into stability and thermal-fluid behaviour of hybrid nanofluids as heat transfer fluids

Thesis (PhD (Mechanics))--University of Pretoria, 2021.The need to improve the poor thermal conductivity of conventional fluids to produce adequate heat transfer fluid cannot be over-emphasized, knowing fully well that heat transfer is key in any engineering process line. Hence, the birth of nanofluids, which is the formulation of a composite of suspended nanoparticles in a basefluid. Nanofluids have found wide applications ranging from heat exchangers, electronic cooling, automotive industry, medical, military, solar energy, manufacturing industry, to mention but a few. But the limitations of nanofluids led to the entrance of a new working fluid named binary nanofluid and ternary nanofluid. This study experimented with the trio influence of temperature (T), percent weight ratios (PWRs), nanoparticles size (NS) on the thermophysical behaviour of MgO–ZnO/Deionised water binary nanofluids (BNFs). 20 nm nano-size of ZnO nanoparticles were hybridised with MgO nanoparticles of nano-sizes 20 nm and 100 nm, and dispersed in deionised water to prepare 0.1 vol% binary nanofluids for percent weight ratios of MgO:ZnO (20:80, 40:60, 60:40 and 80:20). The viscosity (μ), electrical conductivity (σ), pH, and thermal conductivity (κ) of the binary nanofluids were experimentally evaluated for temperature 20 to 50 °C. Morphology was checked, and stability was monitored. The impact of temperature, PWRs, and nano-size on the pH, μ, σ, and κ of the binary nanofluid were ordered as PWR >NS >T, NS> PWR>T, T>NS >PWR, and T >NS >PWR, respectively. Using the obtained experimental dataset, correlations were proposed for the thermal property of each binary nanofluid as a function of temperature. Also, investigating the trio impact of PWR, temperature and � on the thermophysical characteristics of MgO-ZnO/DIW BNFs, to help close up the scarce literature gap. 20 nm nanoparticle sizes of MgO and ZnO were hybridized together and dissolved in deionized water to formulate 0.1 vol% and 0.05 vol.% binary nanofluids (NFs) for PWR of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20 (MgO:ZnO). The κ for all BNFs was enhanced under the impact of rising temperature, with maximum κ enhancement of 5.60% and 22.07% relative to the deionised water (DIW) achieved for 0.05 vol% and 0.10 vol%, separately. The σ was enhanced slightly under the influence of increasing temperature, with maximum enhancement of 21.82% and 30.91% achieved for 0.050 vol% and 0.10 vol%, respectively. In addition, viscosity under temperature increase exhibited a decreasing pattern for all nanohybrids and basefluid. Furthermore, to better harness the benefit of the BNFs for thermal application, thermoelectrical conductivity (TEC) was evaluated with BNFs of 0.05 vol% observed to have higher TEC values than 0.10 vol% BNFs. The BNFs were found suitable as thermal fluids. A novel manner of furthering thermo-convection behaviour of thermal applications is the use of BNFs as heat transfer fluids. This study experimented the natural convection behaviour of MgO-ZnO NPs suspended in basefluid for � = 0.050 vol.% and 0.10 vol% at percent weight ratios of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20 (MgO:ZnO) inside a square enclosure. Factors like Rayleigh number, Nusselt number (Nuav), coefficient of convective heat transfer (hav), and heat transfer rate (Qav) for various temperatures (20°C to 50°C) were examined. PWRs and temperature gradient of BNPs inside the binary nanofluids was observed to augment Nuav, hav, and Qav. Also, highest improvement of 72.60% (Nuav), 76.01% (hav), and 72.20% (Qav) was achieved. Employing BNFs in square enclosure yielded fine improvement for natural convection behaviour. Artificial intelligence (AI) methods, like artificial neural network (ANN) and surface fitting method were deployed to model the thermal conductivity of BNFs. For the ANN model, a learning algorithm was developed to determine the optimum neuron number. The ANN having 19 neurons in the inner layer got the optimized performance. A surface fitting method was also used on the experimental data, and the generated surface shows the behaviour of the BNFs. The outcome affirmed that the designed ANN model is best for predicting the thermal conductivity of MgO-ZnO/DIW binary nanofluids for different temperatures, nanoparticle sizes, PWRs and volume concentration over the surface fitting method.University of Pretoria Postgraduate Bursary for Doctoral Students.Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Abuja, Nigeria.Mechanical and Aeronautical EngineeringPhD (Mechanics)Unrestricte