Computational fluid dynamic applications

The rapid advancement of computational capability including speed and memory size has prompted the wide use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes to simulate complex flow systems. CFD simulations are used to study the operating problems encountered in system, to evaluate the impacts of operation/design parameters on the performance of a system, and to investigate novel design concepts. CFD codes are generally developed based on the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy that govern the characteristics of a flow. The governing equations are simplified and discretized for a selected computational grid system. Numerical methods are selected to simplify and calculate approximate flow properties. For turbulent, reacting, and multiphase flow systems the complex processes relating to these aspects of the flow, i.e., turbulent diffusion, combustion kinetics, interfacial drag and heat and mass transfer, etc., are described in mathematical models, based on a combination of fundamental physics and empirical data, that are incorporated into the code. CFD simulation has been applied to a large variety of practical and industrial scale flow systems

A new model for gas/solid pipe flow

A new model of particle turbulent dispersion in vertical gas/solid pipe flow is presented in this paper. The essence of the model is to pay more attention to the active and discrete behavior of particles in the dispersion process in non-homogeneous turbulent vertical pipe flows using two-fluid approaches. In the new model, a non-gradient type of diffusion term is included in the expression of radial particle dispersion flux; the transport equation for particle turbulent kinetic energy (PTKE) is developed and solved for its distribution; the effect of intra-particle collision is considered for the generation and dissipation of PTKE; turbulence modulation due to particle presence is taken into account. Preliminary numerical results based on this new model are also presented in this paper

Perspectives of Portuguese People with Physical Disabilities Regarding Their Sexual Health: A Focus Group Study

The World Health Organization has considered sexual health as a major dimension of global health and a sexual right. However, the sexual health of people with physical disabilities is still poorly addressed by health and social care professionals, and it is very stigmatized by society. This study aimed to assess the perspectives of Portuguese people living with physical disabilities regarding issues affecting their sexual health. Nine women and 17 men with different physical disabilities participated in the study. Participants were recruited from a professional rehabilitation facility located in the North of Portugal and were assigned to four groups in one-hour sessions. Three main categories emerged from the content analysis: (1) meanings and beliefs regarding sexuality; (2) experiences of sexuality; (3) necessary changes. Despite the positive social changes towards sexuality, participants expressed that their sexual rights are still unfulfilled, as they live in a context that perpetuates their dependency. They pointed out low self-esteem, prejudice and social isolation, poor architectural accessibility and scarcity of financial support as some of the barriers to their lives and their sexual health. Finally, participants identified the main needs regarding their sexual health, such as: access to specialized information; training for health professionals. This study gives voice to people with physical disabilities and sheds light into both individual and contextual factors affecting their sexual health. Of utmost importance, this study draws attention to the need for reinforcing sexuality of people with disabilities in the social agenda and brings implications for future research and practice.This study was supported by a Grant attributed to the first author by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/112168/2015)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gardens of happiness: Sir William Temple, temperance and China

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordSir William Temple, an English statesman and humanist, wrote “Upon the Gardens of Epicurus” in 1685, taking a neo-epicurean approach to happiness and temperance. In accord with Pierre Gassendi’s epicureanism, “happiness” is characterised as freedom from disturbance and pain in mind and body, whereas “temperance” means following nature (Providence and one’s physiopsychological constitution). For Temple, cultivating fruit trees in his garden was analogous to the threefold cultivation of temperance as a virtue in the humoral body (as food), the mind (as freedom from the passions), and the bodyeconomic (as circulating goods) in order to attain happiness. A regimen that was supposed to cure the malaise of Restoration amidst a crisis of unbridled passions, this threefold cultivation of temperance underlines Temple’s reception of China and Confucianism wherein happiness and temperance are highlighted. Thus Temple’s “gardens of happiness” represent not only a reinterpretation of classical ideas, but also his dialogue with China.European CommissionLeverhulme Trus

Particle-jet interactions in an MHD second stage combustor

An Argonne two-phase combustion flow computer code is used to simulate reacting flows to aid in the development of an advanced combustor for magnetohydrodynamic power generation. The combustion code is a general hydrodynamics computer code for two-phase, two- dimensional, steady state, turbulent, and reacting flows, based on mass, momentum, and energy conservation laws for multiple gas species and particles. The combustion code includes turbulence, integral combustion, and particle evaporation submodels. A recently developed integral combustion submodel makes calculations more efficient and more stable while still preserving the major physical effects of the complex combustion processes. The combustor under investigation is a magnetohydrodynamic second stage combustor in which opposed jets of oxidizer are injected into a confined cross-stream of hot coal gas flow following a first stage swirl combustor. The simulation is intended to enhance the understanding the of seed particle evaporation in the combustor and evaluate the effects of combustor operating conditions on seed particle evaporation and vapor dispersion, which directly affect overall magnetohydrodynamic power generation. Computation results show that oxidizer jet angle and particle size may greatly affect particle evaporation and vapor dispersion. At a jet angle about 130 degrees, particle evaporation rate is the highest because of the highest average gas temperature. As particle size increases beyond 10 microns in diameter, the effects of particle size on wall deposition rate, evaporation delay, and downstream seed vapor dispersion become more pronounced. 16 refs., 10 figs

Multiphase Integral Reacting Flow Computer Code (ICOMFLO): User's Suide

A copyrighted computational fluid dynamics computer code, ICOMFLO, has been developed for the simulation of multiphase reacting flows. The code solves conservation equations for gaseous species and droplets (or solid particles) of various sizes. General conservation laws, expressed by elliptic type partial differential equations, are used in conjunction with rate equations governing the mass, momentum, enthalpy, species, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation. Associated phenomenological submodels of the code include integral combustion, two parameter turbulence, particle evaporation, and interfacial submodels. A newly developed integral combustion submodel replacing an Arrhenius type differential reaction submodel has been implemented to improve numerical convergence and enhance numerical stability. A two parameter turbulence submodel is modified for both gas and solid phases. An evaporation submodel treats not only droplet evaporation but size dispersion. Interfacial submodels use correlations to model interfacial momentum and energy transfer. The ICOMFLO code solves the governing equations in three steps. First, a staggered grid system is constructed in the flow domain. The staggered grid system defines gas velocity components on the surfaces of a control volume, while the other flow properties are defined at the volume center. A blocked cell technique is used to handle complex geometry. Then, the partial differential equations are integrated over each control volume and transformed into discrete difference equations. Finally, the difference equations are solved iteratively by using a modified SIMPLER algorithm. The results of the solution include gas flow properties (pressure, temperature, density, species concentration, velocity, and turbulence parameters) and particle flow properties (number density, temperature, velocity, and void fraction). The code has been used in many engineering applications, such as coal-fired combustors, air-breathing propulsion engines, and internal combustion engines

Flow Simulation of the Component Development Integration Facility Magnetohydrodynamic Power Train System

This report covers application of Argonne National Laboratory`s (ANL`s) computer codes to simulation and analysis of components of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) power train system at the Component Development and Integration Facility (CDIF). Major components of the system include a 50-MWt coal-fired, two-stage combustor and an MHD channel. The combustor, designed and built by TRW, includes a deswirl section between the first and the second-stage combustor and a converging nozzle following the second-stage combustor, which connects to the MHD channel. ANL used computer codes to simulate and analyze flow characteristics in various components of the MHD system. The first-stage swirl combustor was deemed a mature technology and, therefore, was not included in the computer simulation. Several versions of the ICOMFLO computer code were used for the deswirl section and second-stage combustor. The MGMHD code, upgraded with a slag current leakage submodel, was used for the MHD channel. Whenever possible data from the test facilities were used to aid in calibrating parameters in the computer code, to validate the computer code, or to set base-case operating conditions for computations with the computer code. Extensive sensitivity and parametric studies were done on cold-flow mixing in the second-stage combustor, reacting flow in the second-stage combustor and converging nozzle, and particle-laden flow in the deswirl zone of the first-stage combustor, the second-stage combustor, and the converging nozzle. These simulations with subsequent analysis were able to show clearly in flow patterns and various computable measures of performance a number of sensitive and problematical areas in the design of the power train. The simulations of upstream components also provided inlet parameter profiles for simulation of the MHD power generating channel. 86 figs., 18 tabs