Numerical and experimental study on the falling film flow characteristics with the effect of co-current gas flow in hydrogen liquefaction process

Liquid hydrogen storage and transportation is an effective method for large-scale transportation and utilization of hydrogen energy. Revealing the flow mechanism of cryogenic working fluid is the key to optimize heat exchanger structure and hydrogen liquefaction process(LH2). The methods of cryogenic visualization experiment, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are conducted to study the falling film flow characteristics with the effect of co-current gas flow in LH2spiral wound heat exchanger.The results show that the flow rate of mixed refrigerant has a great influence on liquid film spreading process, falling film flow pattern and heat transfer performance. The liquid film of LH2mixed refrigerant with column flow pattern can not uniformly and completely cover the tube wall surface. As liquid flow rate increases, the falling film flow pattern evolves into sheet-column flow and sheet flow, and liquid film completely covers the surface of tube wall. With the increase of shear effect of gas-phase mixed refrigerant in the same direction, the liquid film gradually becomes unstable, and the flow pattern eventually evolves into a mist flow.

Film Flow of Nano-Micropolar Fluid with Dissipation Effect

The physical problem of the thin film flow of a micropolar fluid over a dynamic and inclined substrate under the influence of gravitational and thermal forces in the presence of nanoparticles is formulated.Five different types of nanoparticle samples are accounted for in this current study,namely gold Au,silver Ag,molybdenum disulfide MoS_(2),aluminum oxide Al_(2)O_(3),and silicon dioxide SiO_(2).Blood,a micropolar fluid,serves as the common base fluid.An exact closed-form solution for this problem is derived for the first time in the literature.The results are particularly validated against those for the Newtonian fluid and show excellent agreement.It was found that increasing values of the spin boundary condition and micropolarity lead to a reduction in both the thermal and momentum boundary layers.A quantitative decay in the Nusselt number for a micropolar fluid,as compared to a Newtonian one for all the tested nanoparticles,is anticipated.Gold and silver nanoparticles(i)intensify in the flow parameter as the concentration of nanoparticles increases(ii)yield a higher thermal transfer rate,whereas molybdenum disulfide,aluminum oxide,and silicon dioxide exhibit a converse attitude for both Newtonian and micropolar fluids.The reduction in film thickness for fluid comprising gold particles,as compared to the rest of the nanoparticles,is remarkable.

MHD Effect of Liquid Metal Film Flows as Plasma-Facing Components

Stability of liquid metal film flow under gradient magnetic field is investigated. Three dimensional numerical simulations on magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） effect of free surface film flow were carried out, with emphasis on the film thickness variation and its surface stability. Three different MHD phenomena of film flow were observed in the experiment, namely, retardant, rivulet and flat film flow. From our experiment and numerical simulation it can be concluded that flat film flow is a good choice for plasma-facing components （PFCs）

Research on the falling film flow and heat transfer characteristics of FLNG spiral wound heat exchanger under sea conditions

As the key equipment of floating liquefied natural gas(FLNG)process,the performance of spiral wound heat exchanger(SWHE)influences operation costs and reliability of the whole system.The sea conditions destroy the falling film flow state of the refrigeration and then affect the heat transfer performance of FLNG SWHE.In order to design and optimize the SWHE,a cryogenic experimental device of FLNG process and a numerical model of falling film flow have been constructed to study the effects of sea conditions on the falling film flow and heat transfer characteristics of SWHE.The cryogenic experimental results show that the pitching conditions have larger effects on the heat transfer performance than yawing.Under the pitching angle of 7°,the natural gas temperature and gaseous refrigerant temperature increase by 3.22°C and 7.42°C,respectively.The flow rates of refrigerant and feed natural gas have a great impact on the heat transfer performance of SWHE under pitching and compound sloshing conditions.When the tilt angle increases to 9°,the tube structure with outer diameter D=8 mm and pipe spacing S=4 mm is recommended to reduce the drying area of the pipe wall surface.

MHD Stability Analysis and Flow Controls of Liquid Metal Free Surface Film Flows as Fusion Reactor PFCs

Numerical and experimental investigation results on the magnetohydrodynamics（MHD） film flows along flat and curved bottom surfaces are summarized in this study. A simplified modeling has been developed to study the liquid metal MHD film state, which has been validated by the existing experimental results. Numerical results on how the inlet velocity（V）, the chute width（W） and the inlet film thickness（d0） affect the MHD film flow state are obtained. MHD stability analysis results are also provided in this study. The results show that strong magnetic fields make the stable V decrease several times compared to the case with no magnetic field,especially small radial magnetic fields（Bn） will have a significant impact on the MHD film flow state. Based on the above numerical and MHD stability analysis results flow control methods are proposed for flat and curved MHD film flows. For curved film flow we firstly proposed a new multi-layers MHD film flow system with a solid metal mesh to get the stable MHD film flows along the curved bottom surface. Experiments on flat and curved MHD film flows are also carried out and some firstly observed results are achieved.

On study of horizontal thin film flow of Sisko fluid due to surface tension gradient

The present paper is concerned with the steady thin film flow of the Sisko fluid on a horizontal moving plate, where the surface tension gradient is a driving mechanism. The analytic solution for the resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equation is obtained by the Adomian decomposition method （ADM）. The physical quantities are derived including the pressure profile, the velocity profile, the maximum residue time, the stationary points, the volume flow rate, the average film velocity, the uniform film thickness, the shear stress, the surface tension profile~ and the vorticity vector. It is found that the velocity of the Sisko fluid film decreases when the fluid behavior index and the Sisko fluid parameter increase, whereas it increases with an increase in the inverse capillary number. An increase in the inverse capillary number results in an increase in the surface tension which in turn results in an increase in the surface tension gradient on the Sisko fluid film. The locations of the stationary points are shifted towards the moving plate with the increase in the inverse capillary number, and vice versa locations for the stationary points are found with the increasing Sisko fluid parameter. Furthermore, shear thinning and shear thickening characteristics of the Sisko fluid are discussed. A comparison is made between the Sisko fluid film and the Newtonian fluid film.

Wavy Film Flow Along Periodic Wall Under Monochromatic-Frequency Flowrate Perturbation

Surface wave dynamics of falling film on the surface of periodic rectangular wall under monochromatic-frequency flowrate forcing disturbances is studied via numerical simulation. Waveforms formed on the periodic rectangular wall are different from those on the flat plate. At low frequency, the perturbation introduced at the inlet first undergoes a steady flow region and then develops into solitary waves. When the frequency becomes higher, solitary waves disappear. Film deformations in the steady flow region and characteristics of solitary waves are studied as the film travels down. There are circulations at the depression of periodic wall which are dependent on the local film characteristics and geometry of the corrugation. Moreover, the flow rate and geometry of the corrugations can also affect the evolvement of the monochromatic perturbation.

Residence time distribution of high viscosity fluids falling film flow down outside of industrial-scale vertical wavy wall: Experimental investigation and CFD prediction

The flow behavior of gravity-driven falling film of non-conductive high viscosity polymer fluids on an industrial-scale vertical wavy wall was investigated in terms of film thickness and residence time distribution by numerical simulation and experiment.Falling film flow of high viscosity fluids was found to be steady on a vertical wavy wall in the presence of the large film thickness.The comparison between numerical simulation and experiment for the film thickness both in crest and trough of wavy wall showed good agreement.The simulation results of average residence time of falling film flow with different viscous fluids were also consistent with the experimental results.This work provides the initial insights of how to evaluate and optimize the falling film flow system of polymer fluid.

Simulation of Unsteady Water Film Flow on Pelton Bucket

In order to simulate the complicated unsteady flow in Pelton bucket, it is necessary to apply the animated cartoon approach. In this paper, a free jet and the inner surface of a bucket is described by boundary fitted grid (BFG) with non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates. The water flow is discretized in space and time for CFD (computational fluid dynamics). The moving grids of water film are successfully projected onto the bucket’s inner surface by a projection algorithm. The visualization result of the jet landing on bucket’s surface and the unsteady flow in the rotating buckets in 3D verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An accurate model for the thin film flow

This paper deals with the linear stability of a liquid film flowing down an inclined plane. The Navier-Stokes equations were reduced into four evolution equations that describe the development of the film depth, the flow rate, the free surface velocity, and the wall shear stress, using the Karman-Polhausen boundary layer integral method. Thus, we were able to determine the stability threshold and approach well the critical wave number for long waves. The obtained results were found to be in good agreement with the experiments of Liu et al.

SQUEEZE FILM FLOW WITH NONLINEAR BOUNDARY SLIP

A nonlinear boundary slip model consisting of an initial slip length and a critical shear rate was used to study the nonlinear boundary slip of squeeze fluid film confined between two approaching spheres. It is found that the initial slip length controls the slip behavior at small shear rate, but the critical shear rate controls the boundary slip at high shear rate. The boundary slip at the squeeze fluid film of spherical surfaces is a strongly nonlinear function of the radius coordinate. At the center or far from the center of the squeeze film, the slip length equals the initial slip length due to the small shear rate. However, in the high shear rate regime the slip length increases very much. The hydrodynamic force of the spherical squeeze film decreases with increasing the initial slip length and decreasing the critical shear rate. The effect of initial slip length on the hydrodynamic force seems less than that of the critical shear rate. When the critical shear rate is very small the hydrodynamic force increases very slowly with a decrease in minimum film thickness. The theoretical predictions agree well with the experiment measurements.

Application of He’s Variational Iterative Method for Solving Thin Film Flow Problem Arising in Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics

In this paper, He’s variational iteration method is successfully employed to solve a nonlinear boundary value problem arising in the study of thin film flow of a third grade fluid down an inclined plane. For comparison, the same problem is solved by the Adomian decomposition method. The results show that the difference between the two solutions is negligible. The conclusion is that this technique may be considered an alternative and efficient method for finding approximate solutions of both linear and nonlinear boundary value problems. Furthermore, the variational iteration method has an advantage over the decomposition method in that it solves the nonlinear problems without using the Adomian polynomials.

Thin-film flow technology in controlling the organization of materials and their properties Special Collection:Distinguished Australian Researchers

Centrifugal and shear forces are produced when solids or liquids rotate.Rotary systems and devices that use these forces,such as dynamic thin-film flow technology,are evolving continuously,improve material structure-property relationships at the nanoscale,representing a rapidly thriving and expanding field of research high with green chemistry metrics,consolidated at the inception of science.The vortex fluidic device(VFD)provides many advantages over conventional batch processing,with fluidic waves causing high shear and producing large surface areas for micro-mixing as well as rapid mass and heat transfer,enabling reactions beyond diffusion control.Combining these abilities allows for a green and innovative approach to altering materials for various research and industry applications by controlling small-scale flows and regulating molecular and macromolecular chemical reactivity,self-organization phenomena,and the synthesis of novel materials.This review highlights the aptitude of the VFD as clean technology,with an increase in efficiency for a diversity of top-down,bottom-up,and novel material transformations which benefit from effective vortex-based processing to control material structure-property relationships.

Effects of variable fluid properties on the thin film flow of Ostwald-de Waele fluid over a stretching surface

We investigate, in this paper, the effects of thermo-physical properties on the flow and heat transfer in a thin film of a power-law liquid over a horizontal stretching surface in the presence of a viscous dissipation. The fluid properties, namely the fluid viscosity and the fluid thermal conductivity, are assumed to vary with temperature. Using a similarity transformation, the governing partial differential equations with a time dependent boundary are converted into coupled non-linear Ordinary Differential Equations （ODEs） with variable coefficients. Numerical solutions of the coupled ODEs are obtained by a finite difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Results for the velocity and temperature distributions are presented graphically for different values of the pertinent parameters. The effects of unsteady parameter on the skin friction, the wall temperature gradient and the film thickness are presented and analyzed for zero and non-zero values of the temperature-dependent thermo-physical properties. The results obtained reveal many interesting features that warrant further study on the non-Newtonian thin film fluid flow phenomena, especially the shear-thinning phenomena.

Study of Turbulent Flow of Film Cooling Holes with Lateral Expanded Exits

Hot wire measurements and flow visualization are presented for studying the turbulent flow field over a flat gas turbine film cooling blade with lateral expanded holes. Three mass flux ratios of jet to free stream, M = 0.5, 0.89, 1.5, are tested. The streamwise velocity, the turbulent intensities and the Reynolds shear stress are measured. The effect of the lateral expanded holes on the improvement of the turbulent flow field for film cooling of gas turbines can be analyzed from the measured spatial di...

Influences of nitrogen flow rate on the structures and properties of Ti and N co-doped diamond-like carbon films deposited by arc ion plating

In this paper, Ti-C-N nanocomposite films are deposited under different nitrogen flow rates by pulsed bias arc ion plating using Ti and graphite targets in the Ar/N2 mixture gas. The surface morphologies, compositions, microstructures, and mechanical properties of the Ti-C-N films are investigated systematically by field emission scanning electron mi- croscopy （FE-SEM）, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, grazing incident x-ray diffraction （GIXRD）, Raman spectra, and nano-indentation. The results show that the nanocrystalline Ti（C,N） phase precipitates in the film from GIXRD and XPS analysis, and Raman spectra prove the presence of diamond-like carbon, indicating the formation of nanocomposite film with microstructures comprising nanocrystalline Ti（C,N） phase embedded into a diamond-like matrix. The nitrogen flow rate has a significant effect on the composition, structure, and properties of the film. The nano-hardness and elastic modulus first increase and then decrease as nitrogen flow rate increases, reaching a maximum of 34.3 GPa and 383.2 GPa, at a nitrogen flow rate of 90 sccm, respectively.

Field synergy analysis of different flow patterns in falling-film dehumidification system with horizontal pipes

Effects of the flow pattern of intertubular liquid film on mass and heat transfer synergies in a falling-film dehumidification system with horizontal pipes are studied.A flow model of the dehumidifying solution between horizontal pipes is established using Fluent software,the rule of transitions of the flow pattern between pipes is studied,critical Reynolds numbers of flow pattern transitions are obtained,and the accuracy of the model is verified by experiments.The mass transfer synergy angle and heat transfer synergy angle are respectively used as evaluation criteria for the mass transfer synergy and heat transfer synergy,and distribution laws of the synergy angles for droplet,droplet columnar and curtain flow patterns are obtained.Simulation results show that the mass transfer synergy angles corresponding to droplet,droplet columnar and curtain flow patterns all rise to a plateau with time.The mean mass-transfer synergy angle is 98°for the droplet flow pattern,higher than 96.5°for the droplet columnar flow pattern and 95°for the curtain flow pattern.The results show that the mass transfer synergy of the droplet flow pattern is better than that of the droplet columnar flow pattern and that of the curtain flow pattern.

Instantaneous and time-averaged flow structures around a blunt double-cone with or without supersonic film cooling visualized via nano-tracer planar laser scattering

In a Mach 3.8 wind tunnel, both instantaneous and time-averaged flow structures of different scales around a blunt double-cone with or without supersonic film cooling were visualized via nano-tracer planar laser scattering （NPLS）, which has a high spatiotemporal resolution. Three experimental cases with different injection mass flux rates were carried out. Many typical flow structures were clearly shown, such as shock waves, expansion fans, shear layers, mixing layers, and turbulent boundary layers. The analysis of two NPLS images with an interval of 5 us revealed the temporal evolution characteristics of flow structures. With matched pressures, the laminar length of the mixing layer was longer than that in the case with a larger mass flux rate, but the full covered region was shorter. Structures like K-H （Kelvin-Helmholtz） vortices were clearly seen in both flows. Without injection, the flow was similar to the supersonic flow over a backward- facing step, and the structures were relatively simpler, and there was a longer laminar region. Large scale structures such as hairpin vortices were visualized. In addition, the results were compared in part with the schlieren images captured by others under similar conditions.

FLOWING FILM JIGGING FUNCTION IN THE NEW″IFFC″PROCESS FOR SEPARATING MINERALS OF ULTRAFINE SIZES

The concept of the flowing film jigging was first applied to the flowing film concentration area.The flowingfilm jigging function is an important element of the new process,in jection-flowing film centrifugation(IFFC),for separating and recovering minerals of ultrafine sizes.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF FLOW FIELDS IN THE VICINITY OF A FILM COOLING HOLE EXIT

For the first time, an important ingested flow phenomenon was discovered inexperiments at the film cooling hole exit. The trends of 3-D flow fie1ds and the fullnessfactor, Ci, were discussed in detail over a wide range of now parameters and the geometryof fan-shaped holes at this exit plane. It has been confirmed that the main reason of creat-ing longitudinal bound vortices is not the flow iri the hole but the mixing of mainstreamand jet at its exit.