Computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method simulation of stirred tank reactor for graphene production

Liquid phase exfoliation(LPE)process for graphene production is usually carried out in stirred tank reactor and the interactions between the solvent and the graphite particles are important as to improve the production efficiency.In this paper,these interactions were revealed by computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method(CFD-DEM)method.Based on simulation results,both liquid phase flow hydrodynamics and particle motion behavior have been analyzed,which gave the general information of the multiphase flow behavior inside the stirred tank reactor as to graphene production.By calculating the threshold at the beginning of graphite exfoliation process,the shear force from the slip velocity was determined as the active force.These results can support the optimization of the graphene production process.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach to the Effect of Mixing and Draft Tube on the Precipitation of Barium Sulfate in a Continuous Stirred Tank

The effect of mixing on the precipitation of barium sulfate in a continuous stirred tank is simulated nu- merically with different feeding location, feed concentration, impeller speed and residence time through solving the standard momentum and mass transport equations in combination with the moment equations for crystal population balance. The numerical method was validated with the literature data. The simulation results including the distribu- tion of the local supersaturation ratio distribution in the precipitator, mean crystal size and coefficient of variation under different operating conditions compared well with experimental data in the literature. The effect of the pres- ence of a draft tube on precipitation were also investigated, and it is suggested that the installation of a draft tube increased the mean crystal size, in general agreement with experimental work in the literature.

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.

Simulation of Solid Suspension in a Stirred Tank Using CFD-DEM Coupled Approach＊

Computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method(CFD-DEM) coupled approach was employed to simulate the solid suspension behavior in a Rushton stirred tank with consideration of transitional and rotational motions of millions of particles with complex interactions with liquid and the rotating impeller. The simulations were satisfactorily validated with experimental data in literature in terms of measured particle velocities in the tank.Influences of operating conditions and physical properties of particles(i.e., particle diameter and density) on the two-phase flow field in the stirred tank involving particle distribution, particle velocity and vortex were studied.The wide distribution of particle angular velocity ranging from 0 to 105r·min 1is revealed. The Magnus force is comparable to the drag force during the particle movement in the tank. The strong particle rotation will generate extra shear force on the particles so that the particle morphology may be affected, especially in the bio-/polymer-product related processes. It can be concluded that the CFD-DEM coupled approach provides a theoretical way to understand the physics of particle movement in micro- to macro-scales in the solid suspension of a stirred tank.

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.

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 sin-gle 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 “Sheng-cao-21C” supercomputer using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code CFX5. The flow fields predicted by the LES simulation and the simulation using standard k-ε model were compared to the results from particle image ve-locimetry (PIV) measurements. It is shown that the CFD simulations using the LES approach and the standard k-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 investi-gations 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 k-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 se-ries 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.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION BY COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON STIRRED BIOREACTOR WITH PUNCHED IMPELLER

Instantaneous flow field and temperature field of the two-phase fluid are measured by particle image velocimetry （PIV） and steady state method during the state of onflow. A turbulent two-phase fluid model of stirred bioreactor with punched impeller is established by the computational fluid dynamics （CFD）, using a rotating coordinate system and sliding mesh to describe the relative motion between impeller and baffles. The simulation and experiment results of flow and temperature field prove their warps are less than 10% and the mathematic model can well simulate the fields, which will also provide the study on optimized-design and scale-up of bioreactors with reference value.

Computational simulation of fluid dynamics in a tubular stirred reactor

The flow and concentration fields in a new style tubular stirred reactor were simulated by simulating the fluids dynamics(CFD),in which FLUENT software was used and the standard k-ε model and multiple reference frame(MRF) were adopted. The various values of initial rotating speed and inlet flow rate were adopted. Simulations were validated with experimental residence time distribution(RTD) determination. It is shown that the fluid flow is very turbulent and the flow pattern approaches to the plug flow. The velocity increases from shaft to the end of impeller,and the gradient is enlarged by increasing the rotating speed. Comparison between RTD curves shows that agitation can improve the performance of reactor. As the flow rate increases,the mean residence time decreases proportionally,and the variance of RTD lessens as well. When rotating speed increases to a certain value,the variance of RTD is enlarged by increasing rotating speed,but the mean residence time has no obvious change.

Numerical simulation of fluid dynamics in the stirred tank by the SSG Reynolds Stress Model

The Speziale,Sarkar and Gatski Reynolds Stress Model(SSG RSM)is utilized to simulate the fluid dynamics in a full baffled stirred tank with a Rushton turbine impeller.Four levels of grid resolutions are chosen to determine an optimised number of grids for further simulations.CFD model data in terms of the flow field,trailing vortex,and the power number are compared with published experimental results.The comparison shows that the global fluid dynamics throughout the stirred tank and the local characteristics of trailing vortices near the blade tips can be captured by the SSG RSM.The predicted mean velocity components in axial,radial and tangential direction are also in good agreement with experiment data.The power number predicted is quite close to the designed value,which demonstrates that this model can accurately calculate the power number in the stirred tank.Therefore,the simulation by using a combination of SSG RSM and MRF impeller rotational model can accurately model turbulent fluid flow in the stirred tank,and it offers an alternative method for design and optimisation of stirred tanks.

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis of an Undulatory Mechanical Fin Driven by Shape Memory Alloy

Many fishes use undulatory fin to propel themselves in the underwater environment. These locomotor mechanisms have a popular interest to many researchers. In the present study, we perform a three-dimensional unsteady computation of an undulatory mechanical fin that is driven by Shape Memory Alloy （SMA）. The objective of the computation is to investigate the fluid dynamics of force production associated with the undulatory mechanical fin. An unstructured, grid-based, unsteady Navier-Stokes solver with automatic adaptive remeshing is used to compute the unsteady flow around the fin through five complete cycles. The pressure distribution on fin surface is computed and integrated to provide fin forces which are decomposed into lift and thrust. The velocity field is also computed throughout the swimming cycle. Finally, a comparison is conducted to reveal the dynamics of force generation according to the kinematic parameters of the undulatory fin （amplitude, frequency and wavelength）.

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS(CFD) SIMULATIONS OF DRAG REDUCTION WITH PERIODIC MICRO-STRUCTURED WALL

Computational fluid dynamics（CFD） simulations are adopted to investigate rectangular microchannel flows with various periodic micro-structured wall by introducing velocity slip boundary condition at low Reynolds number. The purpose of the current study is to numerically find out the effects of periodic micro-structured wall on the flow resistance in rectangular microchannel with the different spacings between microridges ranging from 15 to 60 pm. The simulative results indicate that pressure drop with different spacing between microridges increases linearly with flow velocity and decreases monotonically with slip velocity; Pressure drop reduction also increases with the spacing between microridges at the same condition of slip velocity and flow velocity. The results of numerical simulation are compared with theoretical predictions and experimental results in the literatures. It is found that there is qualitative agreement between them.

Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) Analysis and Optimization of Reconstructed Intake System of Cylinder Head Based on Slicing Reverse Method

To find out and improve the flow characteristics inside the intake system of cylinder head,the application of computational fluid dynamics(CFD)in the evaluation and optimization of the reconstructed intake system based on slicing reverse method was proposed.The flow characteristics were found out through CFD,and the velocity vector field,pressure field and turbulent kinetic energy field for different valve lifts were discussed,which were in good agreement with experimental data,and the quality of reconstruction was evaluated.In order to improve its flow characteristic,an optimization plan was proposed.The results show that the flow characteristics after optimization are obviously improved.The results can provide a reference for the design and optimization of the intake system of cylinder head.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modelling to Estimate Fluvial Bank Erosion—A Case Study

River bank erosion models are an important prerequisite for understanding the development of river meanders and for estimating likely land-loss and potential danger to floodplain infrastructure. Although bank erosion models have been developed that consider large-scale mass failure, the contribution of fluvial erosion (the process of particle-by-particle erosion due to the shearing action of the river flow) to bank retreat has not received as much consideration. In principle, such fluvial bank erosion rates can be quantified using excess shear stress formulations, but in practice, it has proven difficult to estimate the parameters involved. In this study, a series of three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations for a meander loop on the River Asker (200 m long) at Bridport in southern England were undertaken to elucidate the overall flow structures and in particular to provide estimates of the applied fluid shear stress exerted on the riverbanks. The CFD models, which simulated relatively low and relatively high flow conditions, were established using Fluent 6.2 software. The modelling outcomes show that the key qualitative features of the flow endure even as flow discharge varies. At bank full, the degrees of velocity and simulated shear stresses within the inner bank separation zones are shown to be higher than those observed under low flow conditions, and that these elevated shear stresses may be sufficient to result in the removal of accumulated sediments into the main downstream flow.

Improved suspension quality and liquid level stability in stirred tanks with Rotor-Stator agitator based on CFD simulation

The solid-liquid mixing is an important operation unit in the preparation of composites by stirring casting.High quality composite materials need good homogeneity and stable liquid level.In this work,the performances of the Rotor-Stator agitator for solid suspension in stirred tank were investigated through CFD modeling,including the homogeneity,power consumption and liquid level stability.The Eulerian-Eulerian(E-E)multiphase model and the RNG k-εturbulence model were adopted for modeling the multiphase flow and the turbulence effects,respectively.The effect of various important parameters such as stirring speed,particle size,solid loading and the use of baffles were examined.Adding a stator structure with array holes outside the rotor can optimize the flow pattern,thereby improving the mixing uniformity and liquid level stability.The homogeneity and liquid level stability attained by the Rotor-Stator agitator were better than those for the A200(an axial-flow agitator)and the Rushton(a radial-flow agitator).

Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics and Fluid Structure Interaction Techniques for Calculating the 3D Transient Flow of Journal Bearings Coupled with Rotor Systems

Journal bearings are important parts to keep the high dynamic performance of rotor machinery. Some methods have already been proposed to analysis the flow field of journal bearings, and in most of these methods simplified physical model and classic Reynolds equation are always applied. While the application of the general computational fluid dynamics （CFD）-fluid structure interaction （FSI） techniques is more beneficial for analysis of the fluid field in a journal bearing when more detailed solutions are needed. This paper deals with the quasi-coupling calculation of transient fluid dynamics of oil film in journal bearings and rotor dynamics with CFD-FSI techniques. The fluid dynamics of oil film is calculated by applying the so-called ＂dynamic mesh＂ technique. A new mesh movement approacb is presented while the dynamic mesh models provided by FLUENT are not suitable for the transient oil flow in journal bearings. The proposed mesh movement approach is based on the structured mesh. When the joumal moves, the movement distance of every grid in the flow field of bearing can be calculated, and then the update of the volume mesh can be handled automatically by user defined function （UDF）. The journal displacement at each time step is obtained by solving the moving equations of the rotor-bearing system under the known oil film force condition. A case study is carried out to calculate the locus of the journal center and pressure distribution of the journal in order to prove the feasibility of this method. The calculating results indicate that the proposed method can predict the transient flow field of a journal bearing in a rotor-bearing system where more realistic models are involved. The presented calculation method provides a basis for studying the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a general rotor-bearing system.

Application of computational fluid dynamics simulation for submarine oil spill

Computational fluid dynamics （CFD） codes are being increasingly used in the simulation of submarine oil spills. This study focuses on the process of oil spills, from damaged submarine pipes, to the sea surface, using numerical models. The underwater oil spill model is developed, and a description of the governing equations is proposed, along with modifications required for the particalization of the control volume. Available experimental data were introduced to evaluate the validity of the CFD predictions, the results of which proved to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The effects of oil leak rate, leak diameter, current velocity, and oil density are investigated, by the validated CFD model, to estimate the undersea leakage time, the lateral migration distance, and surface diffusion range when the oil reaches the sea surface. Results indicate that the leakage time and lateral migration distance increase with decreasing leak rates and leak diameter, and increase with increasing current velocity and oil density. On the other hand, a large leak diameter, high density, high leak rate, or fast currents result in a greater surface diffusion range. The findings and analysis presented here will provide practical predictions of oil spills, and guidance for emergency rescues.

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS RESEARCH ON PRESSURE LOSS OF CROSS-FLOW PERFORATED MUFFLER

The pressure loss of cross-flow perforated of physical modeling, simulation and data processing. muffler has been computed with the procedure Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics （CFD） has been used to investigate the relations of porosities, flow velocity and diameter of the holes with the pressure loss. Accordingly, some preliminary results have been obtained that pressure loss increases with porosity descent as nearly a hyperbolic trend, rising flow velocity of the input makes the pressure loss increasing with parabola trend, diameter of holes affects little about pressure loss of the muffler. Otherwise, the holes on the perforated pipes make the air flow gently and meanly, which decreases the air impact to the wall and pipes in the muffler. A practical perforated muffler is used to illustrate the available of this method for pressure loss computation, and the comparison shows that the computation results with the method of CFD has reference value for muffler design.

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of a novel bioreactor forsophorolipid production

This paper describes three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulations of gas–liquid flow in a novel laboratory-scale bioreactor contained dual ventilation-pipe and double sieve-plate bioreactor(DVDSB)used for sophorolipid(SL) production. To evaluate the role of hydrodynamics in reactor design, the comparisons between conventional fed-batch fermenter and DVDSB on the hydrodynamic behavior are predicted by the CFD methods. Important hydrodynamic parameters of the gas–liquid two-phase system such as the liquid phase velocity field, turbulent kinetic energy and volume-averaged overall and time-averaged local gas holdups were simulated and analyzed in detail. The numerical results were also validated by experimental measurements of overall gas holdups. The yield of sophorolipids was significantly improved to 484 g·L^(-1)with a 320 h fermentation period in the new reactor.

The influence of temperature on flow-induced forces on quartz-crystal-microbalance sensors in a Chinese liquor identification electronic-nose: three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation and analysis

An electronic-nose is developed based on eight quartz-crystal-microbalance (QCM) gas sensors in a sensor box, and is used to detect Chinese liquors at room temperature. Each sensor is a highly-accurate and highly-sensitive oscillator that has experienced airflow disturbances under the condition of varying room temperatures due to unstable flow-induced forces on the sensors surfaces. The three-dimensional (3D) nature of the airflow inside the sensor box and the interactions of the airflow on the sensors surfaces at different temperatures are studied by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools. Higher simulation accuracy is achieved by optimizing meshes, meshing the computational domain using a fine unstructural tetrahedron mesh. An optimum temperature, 30 ℃, is obtained by analyzing the distributions of velocity streamlines and the static pressure, as well as the flow-induced forces over time, all of which may be used to improve the identification accuracy of the electronic-nose for achieving stable and repeatable signals by removing the influence of temperature.