Experimental study on a feasibility of using electromagnetic wave cylindrical cavity sensor to monitor the percentage of water fraction in a two phase system

This study proposed a microwave sensor system to monitor single and two phase flow systems. The microwave sensing technology in this study utilises the resonant frequencies that occur in a cylindrical cavity and monitor the changes in the permittivity of the measured phases to differentiate between the volume fractions of air, water and oil. The sensor system used two port configuration S21 (acted as transmitter and receiver) to detect the fluids inside the pipe. In principle, the strong polarity of water molecules results in higher permittivity in comparison to other materials. A tiny change of water fraction will cause a significant frequency shift. Electromagnetic waves in the range of 5 GHz to 5.7 GHz have been used to analyse a two phase air-water and oil-water stratified flow in a pipeline. The results demonstrated the potential of a microwave sensing technique to be used for the two phase systems monitoring. A significant shift in the frequency and change in the amplitude clearly shows the percentage fraction change of water in the pipe. The temperature study of water also demonstrated the independence of microwave analysis technique to the temperature change. This is accounted to overlapping modes negating the affect. Statistical analysis of the amplitude data for two phase systems shows a linear relationship of the change in water percentage to the amplitude. The electromagnetic wave cavity sensor successfully detected the change in the water fraction inside the pipe between 0-100%. The results show that the technique can be developed further to reduce the anomalies in the existing microwave sensor

Electromagnetic wave sensor for multiphase flow measurement in the oil and gas industry

The product of an oil and gas reservoir consists of a mixture of oil, gas, and water. During the oil extraction, gas and water are produced as by-products as a natural phenomenon, which occurs in the petroleum field. In order to maximize the amount of oil that can be retrieved, water and gas are often injected at various locations into the well. Thus, monitoring and measuring the output of oil, gas and water mixture are crucial requirements. The information not only can be used to optimize both the operation and transportation management but to enhance the quality of production (Al-Hejeri et al., 2009)

Increase in Convective Heat Transfer over A Backward-Facing Step Immersed in A Water-Based Tio2 Nanofluid

Investigation of flow separation and reattachment of 0.2% water-based TiO2 nanofluid in an annular suddenly expanding pipe is presented in this paper. Such flows occur in various engineering and heat transfer applications. A computational fluid dynamics package (FLUENT) is used to study turbulent nanofluid flow in this research. Only a quarter of an annular pipe was investigated and simulated because of its symmetrical geometry. Standard k–ε second-order implicit, pressure based-solver equations are applied. Reynolds numbers between 17,050 and 44,545, step height ratio of 1.82, and a constant heat flux of 49,050 W/m2 were utilized in simulation. The numerical simulation results show that increase in the Reynolds number leads to an increase of the heat transfer coefficient and of the Nusselt number. Moreover, the surface temperature dropped to its lowest value after the expansion and then gradually increased along the pipe. Finally, the chaotic movement and high thermal conductivity of the TiO2 nanoparticles have contributed to the overall heat transfer enhancement of the nanofluid

Numerical Investigation on Using an Electromagnetic Wave Sensor to Detect Water Hardness in Water Cooling System Industry

Numerical study of using novel electromagnetic wave technique to detect water hardness concentration has been presented in this paper. Simulation is powerful and efficient engineering methods which allows for a quick and accurate prediction of various engineering problems. The RF module is used in this research to predict and design electromagnetic wave propagation and resonance effects of a guided wave to detect water hardness concentration in term of frequency domain, eigenfrequency and mode analysis. A cylindrical cavity resonator is simulated and designed in the electric field of fundamental mode (TM010). With the finite volume method, the three-dimensional governing equations were discretized. Boundary conditions for the simulation were the cavity materials as aluminum, two ports which include transmitting and receiving port, and assumption of vacuum inside the cavity. The designed model was success to simulate a fundamental mode and extract S21 transmission signal within 2.1 GHz – 2.8 GHz regions. The signal spectrum under effects of port selection technique and dielectric properties of different water concentration were studied. It is observed that the linear reduction of magnitude in frequency domain when concentration increase. The numerical results were validated closely by the experimental available data. Hence, conclusion of the available COMSOL simulation package is capable of providing acceptable data for microwave research

Retardation of heat exchanger surfaces mineral fouling by water-based diethylenetriamine pentaacetate-treated CNT nanofluids

Mineral scale deposition on heat exchanging surfaces increases the thermal resistance and reduces the operating service life. The effect is usually intensified at higher temperatures due to the inverse temperature solubility characteristics of some minerals in the cooling water. Scale formation build up when dissolved salt crystallize from solution onto the heated surface, forming an adherent deposit. It is very important for heat transfer applications to cope with the fouling problems in industry. In this present study, a set of fouling experiments was conducted to evaluate the mitigation of calcium carbonate scaling by applying DTPA-treated MWCNT-based water nanofluids on heat exchanger surfaces. Investigation of additive DTPA-treated MWCNT-based water nanofluids (benign to the environment) on fouling rate of deposition was performed. 300 mg L−1 of artificially-hardened calcium carbonate solution was prepared as a fouling solution for deposit analysis. Assessment of the deposition of calcium carbonate on the heat exchanger surface with respect to the inhibition of crystal growth was conducted by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results showed that the formation of calcium carbonate crystals can be retarded significantly by adding MWCNT-DTPA additives as inhibition in the solution

Simulation of heat transfer to separation Air flow in a concentric pipe

Flow separations occur in various engineering applications. Computational simulation by using standard k-ε turbulence model was performed to investigate numerically the characteristic of backward-facing step flow in a concentric configuration. This research is focused on the variation of Reynolds number, heat flux and step height in a fully developed turbulent air flow. The design consists of entrance tube, inner and outer tubes at the test section. The inner tube is placed along the entrance tube at the test section with an outer tube to form annular conduit. The entrance tube diameter was varied to create step height, s of 18.5 mm. The Reynolds number was set between 17050 and 44545 and heat flux was set between 719 W/m2 and 2098 W/m2 respectively. It is observed that the higher Reynolds number with step flow contribute to the enhancement of heat transfer. The reattachment point for q=719 W/m2 is observed at 0.542 m, which is the minimum surface temperature. The experimental data shows slightly lower distribution of surface temperature compared to simulation data. As for the same case in experimental result, the minimum surface temperature is obtained at 0.55 m. The difference between numerical and experimental result is 0.008 m. Finally, it can be inferred that utilizing the computational fluid dynamic package software, agreeable results could be obtained for the present research. Keywords: Numerical Simulation; Heat Transfer; Turbulent Flow; Computational Fluid Dynamics; Backward Facing Ste

On the monotone stability approach to BSDEs with jumps: Extensions, concrete criteria and examples

We show a concise extension of the monotone stability approach to backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs) that are jointly driven by a Brownian motion and a random measure for jumps, which could be of infinite activity with a non-deterministic and time inhomogeneous compensator. The BSDE generator function can be non convex and needs not to satisfy global Lipschitz conditions in the jump integrand. We contribute concrete criteria, that are easy to verify, for results on existence and uniqueness of bounded solutions to BSDEs with jumps, and on comparison and a-priori $L^{\infty}$-bounds. Several examples and counter examples are discussed to shed light on the scope and applicability of different assumptions, and we provide an overview of major applications in finance and optimal control.Comment: 28 pages. Added DOI https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-22285-7_1 for final publication, corrected typo (missing gamma) in example 4.1

Calcium carbonate fouling on double-pipe heat exchanger with different heat exchanging surfaces

An experimental setup of double pipe heat exchanger fouling test rig was built to investigate the mineral scale deposition on different heat exchanger pipe surfaces. Progressive fouling deposition on different material surfaces under the similar solution conditions were observed and analyzed. Measurable data on the progressive build-up of scale deposits, deposition rate, as well as the composition and crystal morphology of the deposits were studied after each experimental run by analyzing the deposited scale on the test pipes. In this research the artificial calcium carbonate deposit on different material surfaces is considered as it is one of the major constituents of the most scales found in heat exchanging equipment. Fouling on different smooth test pipes were investigated in the centrally located larger concentric pipe heat exchanger. Uniform flow condition near the pipe surface was maintained by constant flow rate throughout the system. The calcium carbonate deposition rates on five different metal surfaces (Stainless steel 316, brass, copper, aluminium and carbon steel) were investigated. The results illustrated an upward trend for fouling rate with time on the tested specimens. The deposition on the surfaces showed a linear growth with the enhancement of thermal conductivity of the metals. However, deposition on carbon steel metal surfaces did not follow the typical linear trend of thermal conductivity over deposition as its surface was altered by corrosion effects. In addition, temperature, velocity, and concentration effects on fouling deposition were investigated on the SS316 metal surface. It is noted that the fouling deposition increases with the increase of temperature and concentration due to enhanced deposition potential whereas reduces due to the increase of velocity which enhances shear stress. © 2017 Elsevier B.V

Molecular Interactions of Prodiginines with the BH3 Domain of Anti-Apoptotic Bcl-2 Family Members

Prodigiosin and obatoclax, members of the prodiginines family, are small molecules with anti-cancer properties that are currently under preclinical and clinical trials. The molecular target(s) of these agents, however, is an open question. Combining experimental and computational techniques we find that prodigiosin binds to the BH3 domain in some BCL-2 protein families, which play an important role in the apoptotic programmed cell death. In particular, our results indicate a large affinity of prodigiosin for MCL-1, an anti-apoptotic member of the BCL-2 family. In melanoma cells, we demonstrate that prodigiosin activates the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by disrupting MCL-1/BAK complexes. Computer simulations with the PELE software allow the description of the induced fit process, obtaining a detailed atomic view of the molecular interactions. These results provide new data to understand the mechanism of action of these molecules, and assist in the development of more specific inhibitors of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 proteins.Spanish government and the European Union (FIS-PI10/00338) and from the ERC-2009-Adg 25027-PELE European project