Effects of Steel Fibers and Iron Filings on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Concrete for Energy Storage Application

An experimental study on the thermal properties of iron filings and steel-fiber-reinforced concrete for solar/thermal energy storage application is presented in this report. It takes into account the results of measurements of thermal conductivity, thermal resistivity, thermal diffusivity and the results of compressive strength, density as well as energy storage capacity calculated from the knowledge of the above measured parameters. The experimental testing method is described as well: based upon the linear heat source theory, it requires the use of a special probe to be inserted into the sample. The experimentation was forwarded to test concrete aggregate mixtures with three different sizes and same quantity of steel fibers;two different quantities of iron filings and one plain concrete. The measurements were carried out from the pouring time of cubic samples and were ended up when hardened conditions were achieved. The results indicate that the steel fibers and iron filings have influence on the thermal and mechanical properties of the concretes tested, thus the iron filings and steel fibers reinforced concrete is suitable for better solar/thermal energy storage due to an increase in storage capacity over plain concrete.

Rheological characterization of A201 aluminum alloy

The thermodynamic characterization as well as the rheological characterization of the A201 alloy were conducted.Thermodynamic simulations (CALPHAD method) and calorimetric experiments were performed to determine the solidus and liquidus temperatures, the melting range and the sensitivity of the solid fraction at the thixoforming temperatures.The rheology of aluminium alloy A201 was examined using a high temperature Searle rheometer.The flow behaviour was analyzed with concentric cylinders of graphite to avoid chemical interactions with the liquid or semi-solid aluminium.The rotational body was grooved to prevent a phenomenon called wall slippage.Continuous cooling experiment was used to observe the shear rate effects on the flow behaviour.It can be seen that the viscosity level decreases at higher shear rates.Shear rate jump experiment was carried out to evaluate the steady state flow curve within the analyzed shear rate range from 60 s-1 to 260 s-1.It is found that the power law indexes are-1.35 and-1.49 for 35% and 45% solid fraction, respectively.Finally, some mechanical property data of as-cast and as-thixoformed A201 alloy are included indicating the potential for high strength applications.

Lattice Boltzmann Modeling of Viscous Elementary Flows

A lattice Boltzmann method is developed for modeling viscous elementary flows.An adjustable source term is added to the lattice Boltzmann equation,which can be tuned to model different elementary flow features like a doublet or a point source of any strength,including a negative source(sink).The added source term is dimensionally consistent with the lattice Boltzmann equation.The proposed model has many practical applications,as it can be used in the framework of the potential flow theory of viscous and viscoelastic fluids.The model can be easily extended to the three dimensional case.The model is verified by comparing its results with the analytical solution for some benchmark problems.The results are in good agreement with the analytical solution of the potential flow theory.