Parametric Investigations of the Induced Shear Stress by a Laser-Generated Bubble

The present paper focuses on the simulation of the growth and collapse of a bubble in the vicinity of a wall. Both liquid and gas phases are assumed compressible, and their interaction is handled with the volume-of-fluid method. The main interest is to quantify the influence of the induced shear stress and pressure pulse in the vicinity of the wall for a variety of bubble sizes and bubble–wall distances. The results are validated against prior experimental results, such as the measurements of the bubble size, induced pressure field, and shear stress on the wall. The simulation predictions indicate that the wall in the vicinity of the bubble is subjected both to high shear stresses and large pressure pulses because of the growth and collapse of the bubble. In fact, pressure levels of 100 bar or more and shear stresses up to 25 kPa have been found at localized spots on the wall surface, at the region around the bubble. Moreover, the simulations are capable of providing additional insight to the experimental investigation, as the inherent limitations of the latter are avoided. The present work may be considered as a preliminary investigation in optimizing bubble energy and wall generation distance for ultrasound cleaning applications

New System for the Acceleration of the Airflow in Wind Turbines

Background: This patent is based on the wind industry technology called Diffuser Augmented Wind Turbines (DAWTs). This technology consists of a horizontal axis wind turbine, which is housed inside a duct with diverging section in the direction of the free air stream. In this paper, a review of preceding patents related to this technology is carried out. Objective: This paper presents an innovative patent to improve the performance of horizontal axis wind turbines. In particular, this system is aimed at improving the performance of those turbines that otherwise might not be installed due to the low wind resource existing at certain locations. Methods: The most innovative elements of this patent are: (1) the semi-spherical grooves, which are mechanized on the surface of the two diffusers in order to guarantee a more energetic boundary layer; (2) the coaxial diffuser, which is located downwind following the first diffuser in order to increase the suction effect on the air mass close to the inlet; (3) the coaxial rings located around the first diffuser outlet, which are used to deflect the external airflow toward the turbine wake; and (4), the selforientating system to orientate the system by the prevailing wind direction. Results: An application of the patent for increasing the power generated by a horizontal axis wind turbine with three blades is presented. The patent is designed and its performance is evaluated by using a Computational Fluid Dynamics code. The numerical results show that this system rises the airflow going through the rotor of the turbine. Conclusion: The patented device is an original contribution aimed at enabling a more profitable installation of wind turbines in places where the wind resource is insufficient because of the wind shear caused both by the proximity of the earth and the obstacles on the earth surface.This work was supported by the OASIS Research Project that was cofinanced by CDTI (Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry) and developed with the Spanish companies: Iridium, OHL Concesiones, Abertis, Sice, Indra, Dragados, OHL, Geocisa, GMV, Asfaltos Augusta, Hidrofersa, Eipsa, PyG, CPS, AEC and Torre de Comares Arquitectos S.L and 16 research centres. The authors also acknowledge the partial funding with FEDER funds under the Research Project FC-15-GRUPIN14-004. Finally, we also thank Swanson Analysis Inc. for the use of ANSYS University Research programs as well as the Workbench simulation environment

A numerical study of partitioned fluid-structure interaction applied to a cantilever in incompressible turbulent flow

This study presents an approach for partitioned fluid-structure interaction (FSI) applied to large structural deformations, where an incompressible turbulent solver is combined with a structural solver. The implementation is based upon two different open-source libraries by using MPI as a parallel communication protocol, the packages and OpenFOAM. FSI is achieved through a strongly-coupled scheme. The solver has been validated against cases with a submerged cantilever in a channel flow to which experiments, numerical calculations and theoretical solutions are available. The verification of the procedure is performed by using a solid-solid interaction (SSI) study. The solver has proven to be robust and has the same parallel efficiency as the fluid and the solid solver stand-alone

Implementation of a pressure based incompressible flow solver in su2 for wind turbine applications

Wind turbine aerodynamics can be broadly classified in the high Reynolds number and low Mach number regime. Flows in this regime are generally incompressible and have large regions where they can be considered as inviscid. Thus, a great number of tools have been developed with incompressible and inviscid flow assumptions. However, as wind turbines designs become more complicated and more efficient, higher fidelity and more accurate tools like CFD are necessary. In this paper, a new open source pressure based incompressible RANS solver for wind turbine applications is introduced. The new solver is implemented within the open source multiphysics CFD suite SU2. A second order finite volume method is used for the space discretization and Euler implicit and explicit schemes for the time integration. Two turbulence models-the k − ω mean shear stress model (SST) and the Spalart-Allamaras model, are available. A verification and validation study is carried out on the solver based on a number of standard problems and finally an investigation into the effect of a vortex generator on turbulent boundary layer is presented