Study on the Thermal Performances of a New Type of Fabricated Thermally Insulating Decorative Wall Material

This study proposes three possible keel-surface layer combinations to implement a new type of thermally insulating decorative wall system.A set of 8 samples has been studied.In particular,through theoretical calculations,simulations,and experimental verification,the influence of different types of connecting structures on the overall thermal performance of the wall system has been determined.It has been found that a proper combination of these elements can meet existing energy-saving standards and effectively reduce the energy loss caused by thermal bridges due to the installation of steel keels at the edges of integrated wall panels.

Spray Effect on the Thermal Performances of a Dry Cooling Tower

Pre-cooling the inlet air of a dry cooling tower by means of a spray can improve the tower performance during periods of high temperature.To study the spray effect on the thermal performance of natural draft dry cooling towers(NDDCTs),in this study 3-D numerical simulations of such a process have been conducted using Fluent 16.2(a two-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach).The considered NDDCT is 120 m high and only half system is simulated due to its structural symmetry.Three different spray strategies have been investigated at a typical crosswind speed of 4 m/s,which is the most frequent wind speed.The results have shown that:(1)The three implemented spray strategies can improve the thermal performance of the studied NDDCT with a vary-ing degree of success.In one case,the heat rejection rate can be increased by 35.2%,and the tower outlet water temperature can be decreased by 2.1℃ when compared with the no spray case;(2)To improve the thermal per-formance of the NDDCT using a small amount of water,the design of the spray pre-cooling system must include more nozzles on the windward and fewer or even no nozzles on the leeward sides of the NDDCT.

Effects of swirl and hot streak on thermal performances of a high-pressure turbine

Advanced civil aero-engines tend to adopt lean burn combustors to meet emission requirements.The exit of a lean burn combustor experiences highly non-uniformities in both temperature(Hot Streak,HS)and flow(swirl).This paper presents a numerical investigation on the behaviors of a High-Pressure(HP)turbine under a combined effect of swirl and hot streak.The investigation was conducted on a GE-E3 HP turbine with unsteady numerical simulations,which considered the realistic clocking position of the HP Nozzle Guide Vane(NGV)relative to the combustor.The influences of swirl orientations on the HS migration and thermal performances on the blade surface were examined.Results indicate that,inside the NGV passage,the swirl’s induced incidence angle effect dominates the HS radial migration.The transversal movement of HS follows the cross flow and thus makes itself approach the Suction Side(SS)and keep away from the Pressure Side(PS)as passing through the NGV,so that HS near the SS is more influenced by the incidence angle effect than that near the PS.As for the heat transfer,swirl affects the Heat Transfer Coefficient(HTC)on the NGV’s PS and SS mainly through the incidence angle effect.Different from the NGV,the inlet swirl and HS have limited effect on the HTC on the rotor blade’s PS,while on the rotor blade’s SS,the original vortex system dominates;therefore,the inlet non-uniformities merely enhance the HTC on the SS rather than alter its distribution characteristics.

Electrical and thermal performances of photovoltaic/thermal systems with magnetic nanofluids:A review

Enhancing solar photovoltaic and thermal conversion performances may help develop more environmentally friendly hybrid photovoltaic/thermal(PV/T)systems that can be used in applications ranging from household to industrial scales.Owing to their enhanced thermal and optical properties,nanofluids have proven to be good candidates for designing PV/T systems with superior performances.As smart nanofluids,magnetic nanofluids(MNFs)can further enhance the performances of PV/T systems under external magnetic fields.This paper reviews recent developments in enhancing the electrical and thermal performances of PV/T systems using magnetic nanofluids.Various parameters affecting the performances are highlighted,and some areas for further investigations are discussed.The reviewed literature shows that PV/T systems with MNFs are promising.However,their performances need further investigation before they can be used in applications.

Thermal performance of cast-in-place piles with artificial ground freezing in permafrost regions

During the construction of cast-in-place piles in warm permafrost,the heat carried by concrete and the cement hydration reaction can cause strong thermal disturbance to the surrounding permafrost.Since the bearing capacity of the pile is quite small before the full freeze-back,the quick refreezing of the native soils surrounding the cast-in-place pile has become the focus of the infrastructure construction in permafrost.To solve this problem,this paper innovatively puts forward the application of the artificial ground freezing(AGF)method at the end of the curing period of cast-in-place piles in permafrost.A field test on the AGF was conducted at the Beiluhe Observation and Research Station of Frozen Soil Engineering and Environment(34°51.2'N,92°56.4'E)in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau(QTP),and then a 3-D numerical model was established to investigate the thermal performance of piles using AGF under different engineering conditions.Additionally,the long-term thermal performance of piles after the completion of AGF under different conditions was estimated.Field experiment results demonstrate that AGF is an effective method to reduce the refreezing time of the soil surrounding the piles constructed in permafrost terrain,with the ability to reduce the pile-soil interface temperatures to below the natural ground temperature within 3 days.Numerical results further prove that AGF still has a good cooling effect even under unfavorable engineering conditions such as high pouring temperature,large pile diameter,and large pile length.Consequently,the application of this method is meaningful to save the subsequent latency time and solve the problem of thermal disturbance in pile construction in permafrost.The research results are highly relevant for the spread of AGF technology and the rapid building of pile foundations in permafrost.

Lattice Boltzmann method formulation for simulation of thermal radiation effects on non-Newtonian Al_(2)O_(3) free convection in entropy determination

The simultaneous investigation on the parameters affecting the flow of electrically conductive fluids such as volumetric radiation,heat absorption,heat generation,and magnetic field(MF)is very vital due to its existence in various sectors of industry and engineering.The present research focuses on mathematical modeling to simulate the cooling of a hot component through power-law(PL)nanofluid convection flow.The temperature reduction of the hot component inside a two-dimensional(2D)inclined chamber with two different cold wall shapes is evaluated.The formulation of the problem is derived with the lattice Boltzmann method(LBM)by code writing via the FORTRAN language.The variables such as the radiation parameter(0–1),the Hartmann number(0–75),the heat absorption/generation coefficient(−5–5),the fluid behavioral index(0.8–1.2),the Rayleigh number(103–105),the imposed MF angle(0°–90°),the chamber inclination angle(−90°–90°),and the cavity cold wall shape(smooth and curved)are investigated.The findings indicate that the presence of radiation increases the mean Nusselt number value for the shear-thickening,Newtonian,and shear thinning fluids by about 6.2%,4%,and 2%,respectively.In most cases,the presence of nanoparticles improves the heat transfer(HT)rate,especially in the cases where thermal conduction dominates convection.There is the lowest cooling performance index and MF effect for the cavity placed at an angle of 90°.The application in the design of electronic coolers and solar collectors is one of the practical cases of this numerical research.

Thermal performance analysis of advanced partial gasification combined cycle

This paper presents the thermodynamic performance analysis and comparison of four kinds of advanced pressurized fluidized bed combustion combined cycle (APFBC-CC) system schemes, two based on pressurized fluidized bed (PFB) combustion and the other two based on atmospheric circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustion. The results show that the first scheme avoids high temperature gas filter, but has the lower cycle efficiency and syngas heating value. The second scheme can gain the highest cycle efficiency, however it is better to now lower the filter operating temperature. The third and fourth schemes, based on CFB, have lower efficiencies than the second one. But the fourth one, with preheating air/steam for gasification, can obtain the highest heating value of syngas and gain higher efficiency than the third one.

INDOOR THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF VENTILATED DWELLINGS USING FLY SCREENS IN THE HOT-HUMID CLIMATE OF CHENNAI,INDIA

In a hot-humid tropical climate,indoor thermal performance can be enhanced by comfort ventilation.Indoor venti-lation depends upon building opening size.But risks involved in providing openings include ingress of mosquitoes and insects which thrive in the tropical climate.A practical and prevalent option to prevent insects in ventilated dwellings of the tropical,hot-humid city of Chennai,India is through the use offly screens.Fly screens,when used over open-ings,prevent a certain quantum of solar radiation and wind from entering inside the rooms.Reduced direct solar radiation prevents the indoors from heating up,while reduced wind movement prevents the cross ventilation.There-fore,it is important to know the indoor thermal performance of ventilated rooms in the presence offly screens with changing opening sizes.The criterion to evaluate indoor thermal performance in this paper is indoor air temperature.The aim of this research is to investigate the influence offly screens on openings with varying sizes,in a naturally ventilated dwelling in the hot-humid climate of Chennai,India,during the summer period.The results of the study show thatfly screens raise the indoor air temperature when openings are in the range of 100%to 35%of the roomfloor area.There is no significant change in the indoor air temperature when the opening sizes are less than 30%of the roomfloor area.

Improvement of thermal performance of envelopes for traditional wooden vernacular dwellings of Tujia Minority in Western Hunan,China

Thermal performance of envelopes and indoor thermal environment were technologically improved for traditional wooden vernacular dwellings of Tujia Minority in Western Hunan, China, on the premise of protecting their conventional styles. Thermal insulation boards and wooden boards were added to the interior side of external walls of vernacular dwellings to form two layers of air cavities, so as to gain excellent thermal performance. The indoor temperature of such dwellings after reconstruction was apparently improved compared with the data before reconstruction both in winter and summer, which verified the feasibility and the effectiveness of the reconstruction technologies proposed.

Effect of obstruction on thermal performance of solar water heaters

Solar water heaters(SWH) are widely used in urban areas because of their advantages in reducing energy consumption and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, the performance of SWH subjected to obstructions is unclear yet. In this study, we present a numerical evaluation on thermal performance of fa?ade-installed SWH under three typical obstructed scenarios, based on various levels of sunshine duration. This study is carried out for four locations with various latitudes across China. Thermal performance is measured by solar fraction for annual and monthly evaluation. The results show that the obstruction can seriously degrade annual solar fraction of SWH, even in the 4-hour sunshine duration scenario, for all the studied locations. Interestingly, only lengthening sunshine duration in the standard day(e.g., from 2 h to 4 h) may not result in increasing annual solar fraction markedly. In terms of the monthly performance, solar fraction in January and December decreases significantly, while from May to August it just declines slightly, except for Guangzhou having a swift reduction. This study can provide insights into the behavior and promote the appropriate application of SWH in urban areas.

Study on Thermal Insulation Performance of Cross-Laminated Bamboo Wall

In recent years,bamboo,as a green building material,has attracted more and more attention worldwide.Inspired by the investigation of cross-laminated timber in structural systems,a new engineered cross-laminated bamboo(CLB)consisting of the cross lamination of bamboo scrimber plates is proposed in this paper.To evaluate its potential in structural applications,the thermal insulation performances of the CLB walls and CLB walls with the EPS foam plate were studied and evaluated by the temperature-controlled box-heat flow meter method.Test results indicated that the thermal insulation performance improved with the increase of thickness,but different wall configurations had little effect on the thermal insulation performance under the same thickness of the CLB wall.The thermal insulation performance of EPS-CLB composite wall was much better than that of CLB wall.In addition,a relatively acceptable accuracy of the theoretical calculations was proved.Finally,the influence of different locations of the EPS foam plate on heat transfer coefficient can be neglected as it was studied based on the validated numerical models.

Multi-objective Optimization of Geothermal Extraction from the Enhanced Geothermal System in Qiabuqia Geothermal Field, Gonghe Basin

A geothermal demonstration exploitation area will be established in the Enhanced Geothermal System of the Qiabuqia field, Gonghe Basin, Qinghai–Xizang Plateau in China. Selection of operational parameters for geothermal field extraction is thus of great significance to realize the best production performance. A novel integrated method of finite element and multi-objective optimization has been employed to obtain the optimal scheme for thermal extraction from the Gonghe Basin. A thermal-hydraulic-mechanical coupling model(THM) is established to analyze the thermal performance. From this it has been found that there exists a contraction among different heat extraction indexes. Parametric study indicates that injection mass rate(Q_(in)) is the most sensitive parameter to the heat extraction, followed by well spacing(WS) and injection temperature(T_(in)). The least sensitive parameter is production pressure(p_(out)). The optimal combination of operational parameters acquired is such that(T_(in), p_(out), Q_(in), WS) equals(72.72°C, 30.56 MPa, 18.32 kg/s, 327.82 m). Results indicate that the maximum electrical power is 1.41 MW for the optimal case over 20 years. The thermal break has been relieved and the pressure difference reduced by 8 MPa compared with the base case. The optimal case would extract 50% more energy than that of a previous case and the outcome will provide a remarkable reference for the construction of Gonghe project.

CFD investigation of the feasibility of polymer-based microchannel heat sink as thermal solution

Microchannel heat sinks(MCHSs)are promising thermal solutions in miniaturized or compact devices.Lightweight aspect has been given huge emphasis in recent years.Metal-based materials are commonly used to fabricate MCHSs due to their high thermal conductivity.Consequently,MCHSs are heavy due to the high density of these materials albeit the small footprint of MCHSs.Polymer-based materials are interesting alternatives.Despite their poor thermal conductivity,lightweight feature attracts the interest of researchers.Heat transfer is a conjugate process of heat conduction and heat convection.Poor heat conductions aspect may be compensated through enhancement of heat convection aspects.Although polymer-based materials have been used in microscale heat transfer studies,their focus was not on their feasibility.The present study aims to evaluate the feasibility of polymer-based MCHSs as thermal solutions.The effect of thermal conductivity of fabrication materials,including polymer-based PDMS,PTFE,PDMS/MWCNT,and metal-based aluminum,on the thermal performance of MCHSs was investigated and compared at various inlet flow rate,fluid thermal conductivity,and microchannel ratio at different constant heat fluxes using three-dimensional CFD approach.Results showed that the thermal performance of MCHSs was greatly affected by the heat conduction aspect in which poor heat conduction limited the thermal performance improvement due to enhanced heat convection aspects.This suggests polymer-based materials have the potential for heat transfer applications through thermal conductivity enhancement.This was confirmed in the further analysis using a recently proposed high thermal conductivity polymer-based graphite/epoxy MCHS and a hybrid-based PDMS/aluminum MCHS.

Thermal performance of tubular heat exchanger with multiple twisted-tape inserts

The paper presents an experimental investigation on enhanced heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics by using single, double, triple, and quadruple twisted-tape inserts in a round tube having a uniform heat-fluxed wall. The investigation has been conducted in the heat exchanger tube inserted with various twisted-tape numbers for co- and counter-twist arrangements for the turbulent air flow, Reynolds number （Re） from 5300 to 24000. The typical single twisted-tape inserts at two twist ratios, y/w = 4 and 5, are used as the base case, while the other multiple twisted-tape inserts are aty/w = 4 only. The experimental results of heat transfer and pressure drop in terms of Nusselt number （Nu） and friction factor 00, respectively, reveal that Nu increases with the increment of Re and of twisted-tape number. The values of Nu for the inserted tube are in a range of 1.15-2.12 times that for the plain tube while f is 1.9-4.1 times. The thermal enhancement factor of the inserted tube under similar pumping power is evaluated and found to be above unity except for the single and the double co-twisted tapes. The quadruple counter-twisted tape insert provides the maximum thermal performance.

Exergy Analysis and Thermal Optimization of a Double-Turbine Regeneration System in a Ultra-Supercritical Double-Reheat Unit

Improving the primary steam parameters is one of the most direct ways to improve the cycle efficiency of a powergeneration system. In the present study, the typical problem connected to the excessively high superheat degree ofextraction steam in an ultra-supercritical (USC) double-reheat unit is considered. Using a 1000 MW power plantas an example, two systems (case 1 and case 2) are proposed, both working in combination with a regenerativesteam turbine. The thermal performances of these two systems are compared with that of the original systemthrough a heat balance method and an exergy balance strategy. The results reveal that the two coupled systemscan significantly reduce the superheat degree of extraction steam, turbine heat rate, and coal consumption of theunit and improve the energy utilization efficiency. These results will provide useful theoretical guidance to futureinvestigators wishing to address the general problem relating to energy conservation and modelling of the coupledextraction steam regenerative system of USC double-reheat units.

Thermal hazard assessment of TKX-50-based melt-cast explosive

In the present study, thermal hazards of TNT and DNAN used as the molten binder in TKX-50-based meltcast explosives were comparatively studied through accelerating rate calorimeter(ARC) and Cook-off experiments. Two kinds of ARC operation modes were performed to investigate the thermal safety performance under adiabatic conditions(HWS mode) and constant heating(CHR mode). The obtained results demonstrated that at both heating modes, DNAN/TKX-50 outperformed TNT/TKX-50 from the thermal safety point of view. However, the sensitivity to heat of the samples was reverse because of the different heating modes. In addition, the results of thermal hazard assessment obtained from the cookoff experiment complied with ARC analysis which indicated the molten binder TNT replaced by DNAN would reduce the hazard of the TKX-50 melt cast explosive. Furthermore, the results of cook-off experiments also showed that DNAN/TKX-50 outperformed TNT/TKX-50 from the aspect of thermal stability, which was consistent with the result of CHR mode because of the similar heating process.

THE INFLUENCE OF THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF TWT CATHODE-HEATER ASSEMBLY BY DIFFERENT CONTACT FORM BETWEEN INNER HEAT SHIELD AND SUPPORT CYLINDER

In this paper,the influence of thermal performance of cathode-heater assembly of Traveling Wave Tube(TWT),which has different contact form between inner heat shield and supporting cylinder,is analyzed using the simulation software ANSYS.With both thermal radiation and heat conduction are considered,the temperature and heat flux distribution of structures with different contact form are calculated,and also starting time which is needed before temperature come into steady status.The result of analysis suggests that changing the contact form between inner heat shield and support cylinder can influence the thermal performance of cathode-heater assembly and improve assembly's temperature distribution and promote heater's heating efficiency.The result of this paper provides theoretical guidance in the design of cathode-heater assembly.

Al_(2)O_(3) andγAl_(2)O_(3) Nanomaterials Based Nanofluid Models with Surface Diffusion:Applications for Thermal Performance in Multiple Engineering Systems and Industries

Thermal transport investigation in colloidal suspensions is taking a significant research direction.The applications of these fluids are found in various industries,engineering,aerodynamics,mechanical engineering and medical sciences etc.A huge amount of thermal transport is essential in the operation of various industrial production processes.It is a fact that conventional liquids have lower thermal transport characteristics as compared to colloidal suspensions.The colloidal suspensions have high thermal performance due to the thermophysical attributes of the nanoparticles and the host liquid.Therefore,researchers focused on the analysis of the heat transport in nanofluids under diverse circumstances.As such,the colloidal analysis of H_(2)O composed byγAl_(2)O_(3)and Al_(2)O_(3)is conducted over an elastic cylinder.The governing flow models ofγAl_(2)O_(3)/H_(2)O and Al_(2)O_(3)/H_(2)O is reduced in the dimensionless form by adopting the described similarity transforms.The colloidal models are handled by implementing the suitable numerical technique and provided the results for the velocity,temperature and local thermal performance rate against the multiple flow parameters.From the presented results,it is shown that the velocity of Al_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O increases promptly against a high Reynolds number and it decreases for high-volume fraction.The significant contribution of the volumetric fraction is examined for thermal enhancement of nanofluids.The temperature of Al_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O andγAl_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O significantly increases against a higherϕ.Most importantly,the analysis shows thatγAl_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O has a high local thermal performance rate compared to Al_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O.Therefore,it is concluded thatγAl_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O is a better heat transfer fluid and is suitable for industrial and technological uses.

Thermal performance assessment of self-rotating twisted tapes and Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticle in a circular pipe

In view of the practical importance of the heat transfer devices in various thermal engineering fields including chemical and nuclear engineering,this study aims at developing an effective method of heat transfer enhancement by using selfrotating twisted tapes(SRTTs)and Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticles.The effect of the selfrotating twisted tapes and Al2O3 nanoparticles on the thermal performance was comprehensively investigated in a circular pipe.The experimental results indicated the heat transfer rate was effectively improved by SRTTs in comparison of plain tube.In addition,the heat transfer multiplier with SRTTs decreased from 1.38 to 1.08 with the Reynolds number increasing from 19,322 to 64,407,while the friction factor multiplier decreased from 1.61 to 1.32.Besides,the results indicated that the employment of Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticles and SRTTs demonstrated superior thermal performance to the single SRTTs.As Reynolds number increases from 19,322 to 64,407,the heat transfer multiplier decreased from 2.08 to 1.18 in the mass concentration of 3.0%and from 1.38 to 1.08 in mass concentration of 0.0%.Finally,the new heat transfer and friction factor correlations considering the combined effect of Al2O3 nanoparticle and SRTTs were developed within 10%deviation of experimental values.

Effect of thermal storage performance of concrete radiant cooling room on indoor temperature

A building model with radiant cooling system was established and the cooling load, indoor temperature, surface temperature of the wails and other parameters in non-cooling and radiant cooling room were calculated by TRNSYS. The comparative analysis of the characteristics of attenuation and delay proves that the operation of radiant cooling system increases the degree of temperature attenuation of the room and reduces the inner surface temperature of the wall significantly, but has little effect on the attenuation coefficient and delay time of wall heat transfer. The simulation results also show that the inner surface temperature of the walls in the radiant cooling room is much lower than that in non-cooling room in the day with the maximum cooling load, which reduces the indoor operation temperature largely, and improves the thermal comfort. Finally, according to the analysis of indoor temperature of the rooms with different operation schedules of cooling system, it can be derived that the indoor mean temperature changes with the working time of radiant cooling system, and the operation schedule can be adjusted in practice according to the actual indoor temperature to achieve the integration of energy efficiency and thermal comfort.