Heat transfer applied to rapid prototyping by metal deposition in successive layers using 3D welding

Este trabalho apresenta um estudo dos fenômenos de transferência de calor no processo de prototipagem rápida por deposição de metal em camadas sucessivas utilizando soldagem a arco, também chamada de soldagem 3D (3D Welding). O objetivo é desenvolver um modelo simplificado e compreender o processo de transferência de calor e suas relações com os parâmetros de soldagem, de modo a se possibilitar um controle dos ciclos térmicos a que estará sujeito o material depositado. Desenvolveu-se um modelo físico-matemático para a transferência de calor durante o processo de soldagem, o qual é resolvido numericamente pelo método das diferenças finitas, permitindo a simulação de situações típicas desse tipo de processo de fabricação. O modelo numérico desenvolvido foi validado por meio da simulação de casos específicos para os quais se conhecem soluções analíticas. A partir das equações do modelo, definiram-se parâmetros adimensionais, dentre os quais pode-se citar o grupo adimensional π1, relacionado principalmente à velocidade de soldagem. Realizaram-se alguns experimentos numéricos observando a influência desse grupo nas temperaturas máximas, médias e nas amplitudes dos ciclos térmicos que a peça está sujeita.This work presents a study on the heat transfer phenomena that occur during the process of Rapid Prototyping by layered arc welding metal deposition, also called, 3D Welding. The main goal is to understand the heat transfer process and its relations with the welding parameters, in order to enable a control of the thermal cycles that the deposited material shall be subjected to. A numerical model is developed using the finite difference method to analyze the heat transfer, in order to allow the simulation of certain situations. The numerical model was validated by means of simulating specific cases for which analytical solutions are available. From the theoretical model equations, some dimensionless numbers were defined, among which the so called π1 number, mainly related to the welding speed. Some numerical experiments were carried out in order to allow the observation of its influence on the average and peak temperatures and also on the amplitudes of the thermal cycles which the part is subject to

On the design of propeller hydrokinetic turbines: the effect of the number of blades

A design study of propeller hydrokinetic turbines is explored in the present paper, where the optimized blade geometry is determined by the classical Glauert theory applicable to the design of axial flow turbines (hydrokinetic and wind turbines). The aim of the present study is to evaluate the optimized geometry for propeller hydrokinetic turbines, observing the effect of the number of blades in the runner design. The performance of runners with different number of blades is evaluated in a specific low-rotational-speed operating conditions, using blade element momentum theory (BEMT) simulations, confirmed by measurements in wind tunnel experiments for small-scale turbine models. The optimum design values of the power coefficient, in the operating tip speed ratio, for two-, three- and four-blade runners are pointed out, defining the best configuration for a propeller 10 kW hydrokinetic machine

COMPARACAO DE METODOLOGIAS CFD DE SIMULACAO DE TURBINAS HIDROCINETICAS

The recent advances in technologies turned able that a computer provides a numerical simulation of fluid flows, well known as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. It means that the physical laws that govern the fluid behavior is in a “virtual” environment, where we can visualise the whole prototype system, such as a turbine, and how it works with great levels of realism. For many reasons, such as turbulence level and computational resource available, it is often impossible to describe the entire system with its all details. Consequently,we simplify the problem as much as possible to achieve the solution. In this sense, the aim of this work is to assess two different methodologies of CFD simulations of a 3 blade hydrokinetic turbine: full rotor and just one blade with symmetry simplification. As a result of it, the simulation of one blade rotor showed similar values of torque and pressure coefficient with the full rotor case.Thereby, this simplification presented the same level of results with a third of mesh

Numerical Study of Wake Characteristics in a Horizontal-Axis Hydrokinetic Turbine

Over the years most studies on wake characteristics have been devoted to wind turbines, while few works are related to hydrokinetic turbines. Among studies applied to rivers, depth and width are important parameters for a suitable design. In this work, a numerical study of the wake in a horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbine is performed, where the main objective is an investigation on the wake structure, which can be a constraining factor in rivers. The present paper uses the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) flow simulation technique, in which the Shear-Stress Transport (SST) turbulent model is considered, in order to simulate a free hydrokinetic runner in a typical river flow. The NREL-PHASE VI wind turbine was used to validate the numerical approach. Simulations for a 3-bladed axial hydrokinetic turbine with 10 m diameter were carried out, depicting the expanded helical behavior of the wake. The axial velocity, in this case, is fully recovered at 12 diameters downstream in the wake. The results are compared with others available in the literature and also a study of the turbulence kinetic energy and mean axial velocity is presented so as to assess the influence of proximity of river surface from rotor in the wake geometry. Hence, even for a single turbine facility it is still necessary to consider the propagation of the wake over the spatial domain