Contribution to the wastewater toxicity determination

Za određivanje toksičnosti otpadnih voda u našem laboratoriju uveli smo Offhausovu metodu. Upotrebljavamo Warburgov aparat i manometrijsku tehniku rada, odnosno Sapromat i volumetrijsku tehniku rada. Obje su aparature jako skupe i nisu dostupne svim industrijskim vodnim laboratorijama. Zbog toga smo pokušavali uvesti metodu prema Borovičkovoj i Zahrádku koja se koristi jednostavnim aparatima. Rezultati uspoređivanja pokazuju da je metoda prema Borovičkovoj i Zahrádku za određivanje toksičnosti odnosno inhibicijskih efekata otpadnih voda nesigurna pa je zbog toga ne preporučujemo.The Offhaus method for the wastewater toxicity determination was introduced in our laboratory. The determination can be carried out by Warburg apparatus and manometric technique of work or Sapromat and volumetric technique of work. Both apparatuses are rather expensive and therefore not easily available to all the industrial water laboratories. On that account we tried to introduce the method of Borovickova and Zahrádka which requires a simple equipment. Unfortunately the comparative results show that the method of Borovickova and Zahrádka of the waste water toxicity determination is unreliable and therefore cannot be recommended

Cloud cavitation vortex shedding inside an injector nozzle

The development and collapse of cloud cavitation and its link to surface erosion within a transparent test single-orifice nozzle operating with a closed Diesel fuel hydraulic circuit, has been characterized using high-speed imaging. Data have been obtained for a range of cavitation and Reynolds numbers under fixed lift positions. Post processing of a large number of images acquired with short exposure time (1 μs) allowed the elucidation of the distinct flow phenomena associated with the highly transient two-phase flow. At the inlet of the flow orifice, the vapour cloud was found to occupy the largest part of the nozzle hole cross-section. Coherent vortical structures of a hairpin shape have been detected to onset at the closure region of this vapour cloud and shed downstream in a fully transient manner. The effect of the operating parameters on the temporal and spatial characteristics with regards to the emergence and collapse of the hairpin vortices has been quantified. It has been established that the cavitation-vortex shedding was taking place in a periodical manner, characterized by a Strouhal number

Perturbation Finite Element Method for Efficient Copper Losses Calculation in Switched Reluctance Machines

Copper losses dissipated in the windings of electric machines are the sum of classical ohmic dc losses and additional ac eddy current losses. In fact, the level of eddy current losses is strongly correlated with the manner of disposition of coil conductors in machine slots. Then, to improve the efficiency in electric machines, the selection of an optimal winding configuration becomes substantial. Since eddy current losses derive from the strong electromagnetic coupling between current density and time-dependent magnetic field, which cannot be solved easily, numerical analyses, such as particularly the one using the finite element (FE) method, are often used. As for the FE modeling, it can employ moving band technique to perform the rotor motion and Newton-Raphson iterations to deal with the nonlinear behavior of magnetic circuits. It leads then to a substantial computational time that hinders any process of conception or optimization of winding geometries. To overcome this issue, a 2-D FE model reduction based on the perturbation method is proposed. It starts from one approximate FE solution of a simplified complete machine modeling to find fast but accurate solutions in slots subdomains when any variation of geometrical or physical data occurs. It allows adapting nonconforming meshes and provides clear advantages in repetitive analyses when we search the optimized winding configuration for a given number of turns. © 1965-2012 IEEE

A Finite Element Subproblem Method for Position Change Conductor Systems

Abstract Analyses of magnetic circuits with position changes of both massive and stranded conductors are performed via a finite element subproblem method. A complete problem is split into subproblems associated with each conductor and the magnetic regions. Each complete solution is then expressed as the sum of subproblem solutions supported by different meshes. The subproblem procedure simplifies both meshing and solving processes, with no need of remeshing, and accurately quantifies the effect of the position changes of conductors on both local fields, e.g. skin and proximity effects, and global quantities, e.g. inductances and forces. Applications covering parameterized analyses on conductor positions to moving conductor systems benefit from the developed approach

Application of X-ray micro-computed tomography on high-speed cavitating diesel fuel flows

The flow inside a purpose built enlarged single-orifice nozzle replica is quantified using time-averaged X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and high-speed shadowgraphy. Results have been obtained at Reynolds and cavitation numbers similar to those of real-size injectors. Good agreement for the cavitation extent inside the orifice is found between the micro-CT and the corresponding temporal mean 2D cavitation image, as captured by the high-speed camera. However, the internal 3D structure of the developing cavitation cloud reveals a hollow vapour cloud ring formed at the hole entrance and extending only at the lower part of the hole due to the asymmetric flow entry. Moreover, the cavitation volume fraction exhibits a significant gradient along the orifice volume. The cavitation number and the needle valve lift seem to be the most influential operating parameters, while the Reynolds number seems to have only small effect for the range of values tested. Overall, the study demonstrates that use of micro-CT can be a reliable tool for cavitation in nozzle orifices operating under nominal steady-state conditions

Multiphase phenomena in Diesel fuel injection systems

Fuel Injection Equipment (FIE) are an integral component of modern Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), since they play a crucial role in the fuel atomization process and in the formation of a fuel/air combustible mixture, consequently affecting efficiency and pollutant formation. Advancements and improvements of FIE systems are determined by the complexity of the physical mechanisms taking place; the spatial scales are in the order of millimetres, flow may become locally highly supersonic, leading to very small temporal scales of microseconds or less. The operation of these devices is highly unsteady, involving moving geometries such as needle valves. Additionally, extreme pressure changes imply that many assumptions of traditional fluid mechanics, such as incompressibility, are no longer valid. Furthermore, the description of the fuel properties becomes an issue, since fuel databases are scarce or limited to pure components, whereas actual fuels are commonly hydrocarbon mixtures. Last but not least, complicated phenomena such as phase change or transition from subcritical to transcritical/supercritical state of matter further pose complications in the understanding of the operation of these devices

Evaluation of Cavitation Erosion Behavior of Commercial Steel Grades Used in the Design of Fluid Machinery

The erosion response under cavitation of different steel grades was assessed by studying the erosion rate, the volume removal, the roughness evolution, and the accumulated strain energy. A 20 kHz ltrasonic transducer with a probe diameter of 5 mm and peak-to-peak amplitude of 50 lm was deployed in distilled water to induce damage on the surface of commercial chromium and carbon steel samples. After a relatively short incubation period, cavitation induced the formation of pits, cracks, and craters whose features strongly depended on the hardness and composition of the tested steel. AISI 52100 chromium steel showed the best performance and is, therefore, a promising design candidate for replacing the existing fluid machinery materials that operate within potential cavitating environments

Treatment of persistent organic pollutants in wastewater using hydrodynamic cavitation in synergy with advanced oxidation process

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are very tenacious wastewater contaminants. The consequences of their existence have been acknowledged for negatively affecting the ecosystem with specific impact upon endocrine disruption and hormonal diseases in humans. Their recalcitrance and circumvention of nearly all the known wastewater treatment procedures are also well documented. The reported successes of POPs treatment using various advanced technologies are not without setbacks such as low degradation efficiency, generation of toxic intermediates, massive sludge production, and high energy expenditure and operational cost. However, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have recently recorded successes in the treatment of POPs in wastewater. AOPs are technologies which involve the generation of OH radicals for the purpose of oxidising recalcitrant organic contaminants to their inert end products. This review provides information on the existence of POPs and their effects on humans. Besides, the merits and demerits of various advanced treatment technologies as well as the synergistic efficiency of combined AOPs in the treatment of wastewater containing POPs was reported. A concise review of recently published studies on successful treatment of POPs in wastewater using hydrodynamic cavitation technology in combination with other advanced oxidation processes is presented with the highlight of direction for future research focus