Optimum design of flow distribution in quenching tank for heat treatment of A357 aluminum alloy large complicated thin-wall workpieces by CFD simulation and ANN approach

Based on the computational fluid dynamics （CFD） method, a quenching tank with two agitator systems and two flow-equilibrating devices was selected to simulate flow distribution using Fluent software. A numerical example was used to testify the validity of the quenching tank model. In order to take tank parameters （agitation speed, position of directional flow baffle and coordinate position in quench zone） into account, an approach that combines the artificial neural network （ANN） with CFD method was developed to study the flow distribution in the quenching tank. The flow rate of the quenching medium shows a very good agreement between the ANN predicted results and the Fluent simulated data. Methods for the optimal design of the quenching tank can be used as technical support for industrial production.

CFD-supported optimization of flow distribution in quench tank for heat treatment of A357 alloy large complicated components

The flow distribution in quench tank for heat treatment of A357 alloy large complicated components was simulated using FLUENT computational fluid dynamics（CFD） software.The flow velocity and the uniformity of flow field in two types of quench tanks（with or without agitation system） were calculated.The results show that the flow field in the quench tank without agitation system has not evident regularity.While as for the quench tank with agitation system,the flow fields in different parameters have certain regularity.The agitation tanks have a distinct advantage over the system without agitation.Proper process parameters were also obtained.Finally,the tank model established in this work was testified by an example from publication.This model with high accuracy is able to optimize the tank structures and can be helpful for industrial production and theoretical investigation in the fields of heat treatment of large complicated components.

Numerical Simulation of Gas-Liquid Flow in a Stirred Tank with a Rushton Impeller

The gas-liquid flow field in a stirred tank with a Rushton diskturbine, including the impeller region, was numerically simulatedusing the improved inner-outer iterative procedure. Thecharacteristic features of the stirred tank, such as gas cavity andaccumulation of gas at the two sides of wall baffles, can be capturedby the simulation. The simulated results agree well with availableexperimental data. Since the improved inner-outer iterative algorithmdemands on empirical formula and experimental data for the impellerregion, and the approach seems generally applicable for simulatinggas-liquid stirred tanks.

Treatment and utilization of septic tank effluent using vertical-flow constructed wetlands and vegetable hydroponics

Vertical flow constructed wetlands is a typical ecological sanitation system for sewage treatment. The removal rates for COD, BOD 5, SS, TN, and TP were 60%, 80%, 74%, 49% and 79%, respectively, when septic tank effluent was treated by vertical flow filter. So the concentration of COD and BOD\-5 in the treated effluent could meet the quality standard for irrigation water. After that the treated effluent was used for hydroponic cultivation of water spinach and romaine lettuce, the removal efficiencies of the whole system for COD, BOD\-5, SS, TN and TP were 71 4%, 97 5%, 96 9%, 86 3%, and 87 4%, respectively. And it could meet the integrated wastewater discharge standard for secondary biological treatment plant. It was found that using treated effluent for hydroponic cultivation of vegetables could reduce the nitrate content in vegetables. The removal rates for total bacteria and coliform index by using vertical flow bed system with cinder substrate were 80%—90% and 85%—96%, respectively.

Numerical Study of Solid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in StirredTanks with Rushton Impeller(Ⅱ) Prediction of Critical Impeller Speed

Three-dimensional solid-liquid flow is mathematically formulated by means of the 'two-fluid' approach and the two-phase k-ε-AP turbulence model. The turbulent fluctuation correlations appearing in the Reynolds time averaged governing equations are fully incorporated. The solid-liquid flow field and solid concentration distribution in baffled stirred tanks with a standard Rushton impeller are numerically simulated using an improved 'inner-outer'iterative procedure. The flow pattern is identified via the velocity vector plots and a recirculation loop with higher solid concentration is observed in the central vicinity beneath the impeller. Comparison of the simulation with experimental data on the mean velocities and the turbulence quantities of the solid phase is made and quite reasonable agreement is obtained except for the impeller swept volume. The counterpart of liquid phase is presented as well.The predicted solid concentration distribution for three experimental cases with the average solid concentration up to 20% is also found to agree reasonably with the experimental results published in the literature.

Numerical Study of Solid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in Stirred Tanks with Rushton Impeller (Ⅰ) Formulation and Simulation of Flow Field

The critical impeller speed, N_(JS), for complete suspension of solidparticles in the agitated solid-liquid two-phase system in baffled stirred tanks with a standardRushton impeller is predicted using the computational procedure proposed in Part Ⅰ. Three differentnumerical criteria are tested for determining the critical solid suspension. The predicted N_(JS)is compared with those obtained from several empirical correlations. It is suggested the mostreasonable criterion for determining the complete suspension of solid particles is the positive signof simulated axial velocity of solid phase at the location where the solid particles are mostdifficult to be suspended.

Effect of Agitator’s Types on the Hydrodynamic Flow in an Agitated Tank

The aim of this paper is to study the effect of agitator’s types on the turbulent flows in stirred tanks without and with baffles.The hydrodynamics behavior induced by four different agitator’s types:a Rushton turbine(RT),a circular blade turbine(CBT),a diverging triangular blade turbine(DTBT)and converging triangular blade turbine(CTBT)are numerically predicted by solving the Navier-Stokes equations and RNGκ–εturbulent model.The simulations are carried out using the Multi Reference Frame(MRF)approach.The numerical results showed good agreement with experiment.We find that the agitator CTBT gives an important profit on the power consumption per report/ratio the others and DTBT give a good reduction of the vortex size of the impeller angles.

Validation of a CIP-based tank for numerical simulation of free surface flows

A constrained interpolation profile CIP-based numerical tank is developed to simulate violent free surface flows.The numerical simulation is performed by the CIP-based Cartesian grid method,which is described in the present paper.The tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing（THINC） scheme is applied for capturing complex free surfaces.The new model is capable of simulating a flow with violently varied free surface.A series of computations are conducted to assess the developed algorithm and its versatility.These tests include the collapse of water column with and without an obstacle,sloshing in a fixed tank,the generation of regular waves in a tank,the generation of extreme waves in a tank.Excellent agreements are obtained when numerical results are compared with available analytical,experimental,and other numerical results.

Parametric study of gas−liquid two-phase flow field in horizontal stirred tank

Based on Fluent software,the gas−liquid two-phase flow in the horizontal stirred tank was simulated with SST k−ωturbulence model,Eulerian−Eulerian two-fluid model,and multi-reference flame method.The mixing process in the tank was calculated by tracer method.The results show that increasing the rotating speed or gas flow is conducive to a more uniform distribution of the gas phase and accelerates the mixing of the liquid phase.When the rotating speed exceeds 93 r/min,the relative power demand remains basically constant.The change in the inclination angle of the upper impeller has minimal effect on the gas phase distribution.When the inclination angle is 50°,the relative power demand reaches the maximum.An appropriate increase in the impeller distance from the bottom improves the gas holdup and gas phase distribution but increases the liquid phase mixing time.

Numerical Simulation of Laminar Flow Field in a Stirred Tank

Stirred tanks are used extensively in process industry and one of the most commonly used impellers in stirred tanks is the R.ushton disk turbine. Surprisingly few data are available regarding flow and mixing in stirred-tank reactors with Rushton turbine in the laminar regime, in particular the laminar flow in baffled tanks.In this paper, the laminar flow field in a baffled tank stirred by a standard R.ushton turbine is simulated with the improved inner-outer iterative method. The non-inertial coordinate system is used for the impeller region, which is in turn used as the boundary conditions for iteration. It is found that the simulation results are in good agreement with previous experiments. In addition, the flow number and impeller power number calculated from the simulated flow field are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data. This numerical method allows prediction of flow structure requiring no experimental data as the boundary conditions and has the potential of being used to scale-up and design of related process equipment.

Large Eddy Simulations of Flow Instabilities in a Stirred Tank Gen-erated by a Rushton Turbine

The aim of this work is to investigate the flow instabilities in a baffled, stirred tank generated by a single Rushton turbine by means of large eddy simulation （LES）. The sliding mesh method was used for the coupling between the rotating and the stationary frame of references. The calculations were carried out on the ＂Shengcao-21C＂ supercomputer using a computational fluid dynamics （CFD） code CFX5. The flow fields predicted by the LES simulation and the simulation using standard κ-ε model were compared to the results from particle image velocimetry （PIV） measurements. It is shown that the CFD simulations using the LES approach and the standard κ-ε model agree well with the PIV measurements. Fluctuations of the radial and axial velocity are predicted at different frequencies by the LES simulation. Velocity fluctuations of high frequencies are seen in the impeller region, while low frequencies velocity fluctuations are observed in the bulk flow. A low frequency velocity fluctuation with a nondimensional frequency of 0.027Hz is predicted by the LES simulation, which agrees with experimental investigations in the literature. Flow circulation patterns predicted by the LES simulation are asymmetric, stochastic and complex, spanning a large portion of the tanks and varying with time, while circulation patterns calculated by the simulation using the standard κ-ε model are symmetric. The results of the present work give better understanding to the flow instabilities in the mechanically agitated tank. However, further analysis of the LES calculated velocity series by means of fast Fourier transform （FFT） and/or spectra analysis are recommended in future work in order to gain more knowledge of the complicated flow phenomena.

Effect of pitched short blades on the flow characteristics in a stirred tank with long-short blades impeller

This work focuses on the design improvement of the long-short blades(LSB)impeller by using pitched short blades(SBs)to regulate the flow field in the stirred vessel.After mesh size evaluation and velocity field validation by the particle image velocimetry,large eddy simulation method coupled with sliding mesh approach was used to study the effect of the pitched SBs on the flow characteristics.We changed the inclined angles of the SBs from 30°to 60°and compared the flow characteristics when the impeller was operated in the down-pumping and up-pumping modes.In the case of down-pumping mode,the power number is relatively smaller and vortexes below the SBs are suppressed,leading to turbulence intensification in the bottom of the vessel.Whereas in the case of up-pumping mode,the axial flow rate in the center increased significantly with bigger power number,resulting in more efficient mass exchange between the axial and radial flows in the whole vessel.The LSB with 45°inclined angle of the SBs in the up-pumping mode has the most uniform distributions of flow field and turbulent kinetic energy compared with other impeller configurations.

Numerical simulation of flow field and optimization of structure parameters of seed precipitation tank for production of alumina

In order to overcome the defects of air-agitated seed precipitation, such as scaring, liquid short-(circuiting,) the three-dimension flow fields with different structure are numerically simulated by computational fluid dynamics software. Euler/Euler approach was used to study the effects of structure on the flow field in the tank. Multi-fluid model, body-fitted coordinates and multi-block gird were adopted in the simulation. The simulating results are well consonant with the practical situations. The flow field is improved obviously when the flow velocity increases from (0.089m/s) to 0.1920.300m/s at the bottom of the optimized tank and therefore the scaring is reduced greatly in the industrial production. With a gathering sill, the problem of short-circuiting, which always appeares in the upper of the tank, can be solved very well.

Flow-rate Characteristics Measurement of Regulators Based on the Pressure Response in an Isothermal Tank

Regulators are important components in pneumatic system, and their flow-rate characteristics are the key parameters for designers. According to the correlatively international standard and national standard of China, which describe the flow-rate characteristics measurement method of pneumatic regulators, the pressure and the flow are measured point by point, and then the flow-rate characteristics curve is plotted point to point. This method has some disadvantages, such as equipment complexity, much air consumption, and low efficiency. To settle the problems presented above, this paper puts forward a new high efficient and energy saving flow-rate characteristics measurement method of regulators, which is based on the pressure response when charging and discharging to an isothermal tank without any flow meters. The measurement principle, the system and the steps are introduced. And the tracking differentiator is used for the data processing of the pressure difference. Two typical kinds of regulators were experimentally investigated, and their flow-rate characteristics curves were obtained with the new and the conventional method, respectively. Comparatively, it＇s proved that this new method is feasible because it is not only able to meet the demand of the measurement precision, but also to save energy and improve efficiency. Compared to the conventional method, the new method takes only about 1/10 amount of time and consumes about only 1/30 amount of air. Hopefully it will be able to serve as an international standard of flow-rate characteristics measurement method of regulators.

Effect of aspect ratio of elliptical stirred vessel on mixing time and flow field characteristics in the absence of baffles

Elliptical tanks were used as an alternative to circular tanks in order to improve mixing efficiency and reduce mixing time in unbaffled stirred tanks(USTs). Five different aspect ratios of elliptical vessels were designed to compare their mixing time and flow field. Computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulations were performed using the k–ε model to calculate the mixing time and simulate turbulent flow field features, such as streamline shape, velocity distribution, vortex core region distribution, and turbulent kinetic energy(TKE) transfer. Visualization was also carried out to track the tinctorial evolution of the liquid phase. Results reveal that elliptical stirred tanks can significantly improve mixing performance in USTs. Specifically, the mixing time at an aspect ratio of 2.00 is only 45.3% of the one of a circular stirred tank. Furthermore, the secondary flow is strengthened and the vortex core region increases with the increase of aspect ratio. The axial velocity is more sensitive to the aspect ratio than the circumferential and radial velocity. Additionally, the TKE transfer in elliptical vessels is altered. These findings suggest that elliptical vessels offer a promising alternative to circular vessels for enhancing mixing performance in USTs.

基于Flowmaster的小流量供水设备调节性能模拟

现有的二次供水研究对小流量工况关注较少,小流量工况下主泵低效运行、频繁启停问题正成为制约城市供水“最后一公里”低能耗、高质量发展的痛点。为此,建立Flowmaster仿真模型对“工频辅泵+气压罐”小流量供水模式进行模拟,探究了需求侧不同小流量下气压罐的调节性能。结果表明,“工频辅泵+气压罐”可很好减少水泵启停次数,保持系统稳定。进一步研究了气压罐预充压力对调节性能的影响,阐明了预充气泄漏带来的负面影响,并提出相关工程建议。

Experimental and Numerical Study on the Transient Flow Behavior in Gasoline Refueling System

Efficient and secure refueling within the vehicle refueling systems exhibits a close correlation with the issues concerning fuel backflow and gasoline evaporation.This paper investigates the transient flow behavior in fuel hose refilling and simplified tank fuel replenishment using the volume of fluid method.The numerical simulation is validated with the simplified hose refilling experiment and the evaporation simulation of Stefan tube.The effects of injection flow rate and injection directions have been discussed in the fuel hose refilling part.For both the experiment and simulation,the pressure at the end of the refueling pipe in the lower located nozzle case is 30%higher than that in the upper located nozzle case at a high flow rate,and the backflow phenomenon occurs at the lower filling mode.The fluid will directly flush into the first pipe elbow,changing the flow pattern from bubble flow to slug flow,which results in low-frequency and high-amplitude flowpressure fluctuations.Ahexane refueling system,consisting of a refueling pipe,fuel tank and a vapor return line,is analyzed,in which hexane evaporation is considered.At the early refueling period,a higher refueling rate will lead to more obvious splashing,which leads to a higher average mass of hexane vapor and pressure in the tank.Two optimized fuel tank designs are examined.The lower fuel tank filling port exhibits significantly lower vapor hexane in the fuel tank compared to the other design,resulting in a reduction of 200 Pa in the peak pressure in the tank,which contributes to a substantial reduction of gasoline loss during tank filling.

A Laboratory Model for the Flow in Urban Street Canyons Induced by Bottom Heating

Water tank experiments are carried out to investigate the convection flow induced by bottom heating and the effects of the ambient wind on the flow in non-symmetrical urban street canyons based on the PIV (Particle Image Visualization) technique. Fluid experiments show that with calm ambient wind, the flows in the street canyon are completely driven by thermal force, and the convection can reach the upper atmosphere of the street canyon. Horizontal and vertical motions also appear above the roofs of the buildings. These are the conditions which favor the exchange of momentum and air mass between the street canyon and its environment. More than two vortices are induced by the convection, and the complex circulation pattern will vary with time in a wider street canyon. However, in a narrow street canyon, just one vortex appears. With a light ambient wind, the bottom heating and the associated convection result in just one main vortex. As the ambient wind speed increases, the vortex becomes more organized and its center shifts closer to the leeward building.

Study on the solid-liquid suspension behavior in a tank stirred by the long-short blades impeller

We investigated the solid–liquid suspension characteristics in the tank with a liquid height/tank diameter ratio of 1.5 stirred by a novel long-short blades(LSB) impeller by the Euler granular flow model coupled with the standard k–ε turbulence model. After validation of the local solid holdup by experiments,numerical predictions have been successfully used to explain the influences of impeller rotating speed,particle density, particle size, liquid viscosity and initial solid loading on the solid suspension behavior,i.e. smaller particles with lower density are more likely to be suspended evenly in the liquid with higher liquid viscosity. At a low impeller rotating speed(N), increase in N leads to an obvious improvement in the solid distribution homogeneity. Moreover, the proposed LSB impeller has obvious advantages in the uniform distribution of the solid particles compared with single Rushton turbine(RT), dual RT impellers or CBY hydrofoil impeller under the same power consumption.

Numerical simulation of micro-mixing in gas–liquid and solid–liquid stirred tanks with the coupled CFD-E-model

The coupled CFD-E-model for multiphase micro-mixing was developed,and used to predict the micro-mixing effects on the parallel competing chemical reactions in semi-batch gas–liquid and solid–liquid stirred tanks.Based on the multiphase macro-flow field,the key parameters of the micro-mixing E-model were obtained with solving the Reynolds-averaged transport equations of mixture fraction and its variance at low computational costs.Compared with experimental data,the multiphase numerical method shows the satisfactory predicting ability.For the gas–liquid system,the segregated reaction zone is mainly near the feed point,and shrinks to the exit of feed-pipe when the feed position is closer to the impeller.Besides,surface feed requires more time to completely exhaust the added H+solution than that of impeller region feed at the same operating condition.For the solid–liquid system,when the solid suspension cloud is formed at high solid holdups,the flow velocity in the clear liquid layer above the cloud is notably reduced and the reactions proceed slowly in this almost stagnant zone.Therefore,the segregation index in this case is larger than that in the dilute solid–liquid system.