Numerical Analysis of the Influence of Buoyancy Ratio and Dufour Parameter on Thermosolutal Convection in a Square Salt Gradient Solar Pond

Revise the abstract as follows:This work aims to investigate numerically the influence of the buoyancy ratio and the Dufour parameter on thermosolutal convection in a square Salt Gradient Solar Pond(SGSP).The absorption of solar radiation by the saline water,the heat losses and the wind effects via the SGSP free surface are considered.The mathematical model is based on the Navier-Stokes equations used in synergy with the thermal energy equation.These equations are solved using the finite volume method and the Gauss algorithm.Velocity-pressure coupling is implemented through the SIMPLE algorithm.Simulations of the SGSP are performed for three values of buoyancy ratio(N=1,2 and 10),three values of Dufour parameter(Df?0,0.2 and 0.8)and some sample meteorological data(Tangier,Morocco).Results show that the highest dimensionless temperature of the storage zone is found for N=10.In the same zone and for the same value of N,the dimensionless salt concentration decreases very slightly versus time(unlike for N=1 or 2).Moreover,increasing Df from 0 to 0.8 causes a decrease in the dimensionless temperature of the SGSP storage zone and this decrease is more pronounced for N=1 and N=2.

Macrosegregation and thermosolutal convection-induced freckle formation in dendritic mushy zone of directionally solidified Sn-Ni peritectic alloy

Compared with the growing applications of peritectic alloy,none research on the freckle formation during peritectic solidification has been reported before.Observation on the dendritic mushy zone of Sn-36 at.%Ni peritectic alloy during directional solidification at different growth velocities shows that the freckles are formed in two different regions:region I before peritectic reaction and region II after peritectic reaction.In addition,more freckles can be observed at lower growth velocities.Examination on the experimental results demonstrates that both the temperature gradient zone melting(TGZM)and Gibbs-Thomson(G–T)effects have obvious influences on the morphology of dendritic network during directional solidification.The current theories onKI Rayleigh number Racharacterizing the thermosolutal convection of dendritic mushy zone to predict freckle formation through the maximum of Ra can only explain the existence of region I while the appearance of region II after peritectic reaction cannot be predicted.Thus,a new Rayleigh number RaP is proposed in consideration of evolution of dendritic mushy zone by both effects and peritectic reaction.Theoretical prediction of RaPalso shows a maximum after peritectic reaction in addition to that before peritectic reaction,thus,agreeing well with the freckle formation in region II.In addition,more severe thermosolutal convection can be predicted by the new Rayleigh number RaP at lower growth velocities,which further demonstrates the reliability of RaP in describing the dependence of freckle formation on growth velocity.

Numerical Simulation of Macrosegregation for an Fe-0.8 wt pct C Alloy

Macrosegregation in Fe-0.8 wt pct C alloy solidifying with equiaxed morphology was numerically simulated. Based on a two-phase volumetric averaging approach, heat transfer, melt convection, composition distribution, nucleation and grain evolution on the system scale were described. A weak-coupling numerical procedure was designed to solve conservation equations. Simulations were conducted to study the effects of cooling rate and nuclei density on the macrosegregation pattern. The relative infliJence of thermal buoyancy- and solutal buoyancy-induced flows on macrosegregation was identified. Calculated results indicate that a higher cooling rate establishes a more homogeneous composition. More uniform solute distributions are formed with increasing nuclei density. In addition, it is noted that the direction of channel segregates depends on the relative strength of thermal and solutal buoyancy forces.