Computational Analysis of Mixing Guide Vane Effects on Performance of the Supersonic Ejector-Diffuser System

The flow field in the ejector-diffuser system and its optimal operation condition are hardly complicated due to the complicated turbulent mixing, compressibility effects and even flow unsteadiness which are generated inside the ejector- diffuser system. This paper aims at the improvement in ejector-diffuser system by focusing attention on entrainment ratio and pressure recovery. Several mixing guide vanes were installed at the inlet of the secondary stream for the purpose of the performance improvement of the ejector system. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method based on Fluent has been applied to simulate the supersonic flows and shock waves inside the ejector. A finite volume scheme and density-based solver with coupled scheme were applied in the computational process. Standard k-ω turbulent model, implicit formulations were used considering the accuracy and stability. Previous experimental results showed that more flow vortexes were generated and more vertical flow was introduced into the stream under a mixing guide vane influence. Besides these effects on the secondary stream, the mixing guide vane effects on the shock system of the primary stream were also investigated in this paper. Optimal analysis results of the mixing guide vane effects were also carried out in detail in terms of the positions, lengths and numbers to achieve the best operation condition. The comparison of ejector performance with and without the mixing guide vane was obtained. The ejector-diffuser system performance is discussed in terms of the entrainment ratio, pressure recovery as well as total pressure loss.

Analysis of choked two-phase flows of gas and particle in a C-D nozzle

Particle-gas two-phase flows show significantly different behaviors compared to single gas flow through a convergent-divergent nozzle. Non-equilibrium effects, thermal and velocity lag results to the inefficiency of nozzle performance. In the present studies, theoretical analysis and numerical simulations were carried out to investigate particle-gas flows in a C-D nozzle. Homogeneous equilibrium model that no lag in velocity and temperature occurs between particles and gas phase was used to derive mass flow rate and sound speed of multiphase flows. Two-phase flows are regarded as isentropic flows that isentropic relations can be used for homogeneous equilibrium model. Discrete phase model （DPM） where interaction with continuous phase and discrete random walk model were considered was used to calculate particle- gas flows. Particle mass loadings were varied to investigate their effects on choking phenomena of particle-gas flows. Mass flow rate and sound speed of mixture flows were theoretically calculated by homogeneous equilibrium model and compared with numerical results. Shock wave structure and particle number density were also obtained to be different at different particle mass loading and operating pressure conditions.

A Computational Study of the Gas-Solid Suspension Flow through a Supersonic Nozzle

The present study focuses on numerical simulation of the gas-solid suspension flow in a supersonic nozzle. The Euler- Lagrange approach using a Discrete Phase Model (DPM) has been used to solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equa- tions. A fully implicit finite volume scheme has been employed to discretize the governing equations. Based upon the present CFD results, the particle loading effect on gas-solid suspension flow was investigated. The results show that the presence of particles has a big influence on the gas phase behavior. The structure of shock train, the separation point, and the vortex of the backflow are all related to particle loading. As the particle loading increases the flow characteris- tics behave differently such as 1) the strength of shock train decreases, 2) the separation point moves toward the nozzle exit, 3) the number and strength of vortex increase, 4) the strength of first shock also increases while the other pseudo shocks decreases. The change of gas flow behavior in turn affects the particle distribution. The particles are concen- trated at the shear layers separated from the upper wall surface.

Flow Fields with Vortex in a Small Semi-open Axial Fan

In order to clarify the effect of tip clearance （TC） size on fan performance and the flow field at rotor outlet in a small semi-open axial fan, the experimental investigation was carried out. The tip diameter of test fan rotor was 180mm and test TC sizes were lmm （TC=1mm） and 4mm （TC=4mm）. Fan characteristics tests were carried out for two cases of TC size and three-dimensional velocity fields at rotor outlet were measured using a single slant hot-wire probe at four flow-rate conditions. As a result, it was found that the pressure - flow-rate characteristics curves for two cases showed almost the same tendency. However, the ensemble averaged velocity profiles along radial measurement stations of TC-4mm largely changed compared with that of TC=1mm in cases of small flow-rate condition. From the phase-locked averaging results, it was also found that the vortex existed in the rotor outlet flow field of high flow-rate condition for each TC case. Compared with the vortices for TC=1mm and TC=4mm, the vortex for TC=4mm was stronger than that for TC=1mm.

Flow Fields with Tip Leakage Vortex in a Small Axial Cooling Fan

In order to improve the fan characteristics, especially efficiency and noise level of a small axial cooling fan with a large tip clearance, the internal flow measurements with tip leakage vortex were carried out at fan rotor outlet us- ing an I-type hot-wire probe. The probe was set toward two directions, parallel and normal to the meridional plane of test fan, and the two directional velocity components were measured. From the result of fan test it was found that the test fan didn＇t have the unstable characteristic with a positive gradient on its pressure - flow-rate curve. From the results of velocity measurement it was observed that the tip leakage vortex exited at maximum efficiency flow-rate and large flow-rate conditions. However, at small flow-rate conditions the tip leakage vortex was not observed and it was found that the flow field were enlarged toward radial outwards