I. Rodríguez

Numerical Study of Plane and Round Impinging Jets using RANS Models

In this article, different impinging jet configurations are studied by means of time-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations. In this technique, explicit algebraic Reynolds stress models and both nonlinear and linear eddy–viscosity models are explored jointly with k − ε and k − ω platforms. The main object of this work is to study numerical performance and accuracy of models when they are used in the simulation of both plane and round impinging jets. With this purpose, results from numerical simulations, using different models, are compared among them and with experimental data available in the literature. Comparisons are performed in terms of mean and fluctuating velocities and global parameters, i.e., the local Nusselt number. A verification procedure is applied in order to ensure the credibility of the numerical solutions.

Low-frequency unsteadiness in the vortex formation region of a circular cylinder

The presence of low-frequency fluctuations in the wake of bluff bodies have been observed in several investigations. Even though the flow past a circular cylinder at Re = 3900 (Re = UrefD/ν) has been the object of several experimental and numerical investigations, there is a large scattering in the average statistics in the near wake. In the present work, the flow dynamics of the near wake region behind a circular cylinder has been investigated by means of direct numerical simulations and statistics have been computed for more than 858 shedding cycles. The analysis of instantaneous velocity signals of several probes located in the vortex formation region, point out the existence of a low-frequency fluctuation at the non-dimensional frequency of fm = 0.0064. This large-scale almost periodic motion seems to be related with the modulation of the recirculation bubble which causes its shrinking and enlargement over the time. Two different configurations have been identified: (i) a high-energy mode with larger ...

UNSTEADY FORCES ON A CIRCULAR CYLINDER AT CRITICAL REYNOLDS NUMBERS

It is well known that the flow past a circular cylinder at critical Reynolds number combines flow separation, turbulence transition, reattachment of the flow, and further turbulent separation of the boundary layer. The transition to turbulence in the boundary layer causes the delaying of the separation point and an important reduction of the drag force on the cylinder surface known as the drag crisis. In the present work, large-eddy simulations of the flow past a cylinder at Reynolds numbers in the range 2.5 × 105-6.5 × 105 are performed. It is shown how the pressure distribution changes as the Reynolds number increases in an asymmetric manner, occurring first on one side of the cylinder and then on the other side to complete the drop in the drag up to 0.23 at Re = 6.5 × 105. These variations in the pressure profile are accompanied by the presence of a small recirculation bubble, observed as a small plateau in the pressure, and located around ϕ = 105∘ (measured from the stagnation point). This small recir...

Parallel algorithms for Sn transport sweeps on unstructured meshes

The Boltzmann Transport Equation is solved on unstructured meshes using the Discrete Ordinates Method. The flux for each ordinate is swept across the computational grid, within a source iteration loop that accounts for the coupling between the different ordinates. In this paper, a spatial domain decomposition strategy is used to divide the work among the available CPUs. The sequential nature of the sweep process makes the parallelization of the overall algorithm the most challenging aspect. Several parallel sweep algorithms, which represent different options of interleaving communications and calculations in the solution process, are analysed. The option of grouping messages by means of buffering is also considered. One of the heuristics proposed consistently stands out as the best option in all the situations analyzed, which include different geometries and different sizes of the ordinate set. With this algorithm, good scalability results have been achieved regarding both weak and strong speedup tests with up to 2560 CPUs.

Low-frequency variations in the wake of a circular cylinder at Re = 3900

Flow around cylindrical structures is of relevance for many practical applications. Knowledge of flow-related unsteady loading of such structures is crucial for hydro - and aerodynamic control and design. In order to obtain a deeper knowledge of this kind of flow, a DNS have been performed at ReD = 3900 (ReD = UrefD/ν). The instantaneous velocity signals of probes located in the separated shear-layer and in the vortex formation region exhibit the presence of low-frequency variations. The statistical analysis of these signals suggest that low-frequency variations in the vortex formation length, suction base pressure and intermittencies in the shear layer are closely related. It is shown that these variations are the responsible of the large scattering of data obtained in different experimental and numerical results, as well as the U-shape and V-shape stream-wise velocity profiles observed in the very near wake of the cylinder.

Numerical Study of the Transient Cooling Process of Water Storage Tanks under Heat Losses to the Environment

The unsteady laminar heat transfer and fluid flow phenomena inside a water storage tank during its static mode of operation and submitted to heat losses to the environment has been investigated by means of CFD and heat transfer numerical simulations. A parametric study has been carried out considering several situations and varying the aspect ratio, insulation thickness, initial temperature, and tank volume. In order to characterize the cooling process, a nondimensional analysis has been performed. From the analysis of the results of several detailed numerical simulations, correlations for the Nusselt number at the lateral, top, and bottom walls have been obtained. The verification of the mathematical model assumed, together with the verification and validation of the results, have also been pointed out.

Optimising the Termofluids CFD code for petascale simulations

ABSTRACT This paper presents some recent efforts carried out on the expansion of the scalability of TermoFluids multi-physics Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code, aiming to achieve petascale capacity for a single simulation. We describe different aspects that we have improved in our code in order to efficiently run it on 131,072 CPU-cores. This work has been developed using the BlueGene/Q Mira supercomputer of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, where we have obtained feedback at the targeted scale. In summary, this is a practical paper showing our experience at reaching the petascale paradigm for a single simulation with TermoFluids.

Large-Eddy Simulations of Wind Turbine Dedicated Airfoils at High Reynolds Numbers

This work aims at modelling the flow behaviour past airfoils used for wind turbine blades at high Reynolds number and large AoA. Three profiles have been selected: DU-93-W-210, DU-91-W2-250 and FX-77-W-500. To do this, a parallel unstructured conservative formulation has been used together with walladapting local-eddy viscosity model within a variational multi-scale framework (VMS-WALE). A methodology based on unstructured meshes has been developed in order to optimize the performance of the grid for LES calculations. Numerical results are presented in comparison with experimental ones for each airfoil. A good agreement between them can be observed.

Coherent Structures in a Flow Past a Circular Cylinder at Critical and Super-Critical Reynolds Numbers

It is well known that the wake topology in the flow past a circular cylinder remains almost unchanged up to Reynolds number \(\sim 10^5\) Williamson (Annu Rev Fluid Mech 28(1), 477–539 (1996)) [1]. Then, at \(Re\sim 2\times 10^5\) major changes take place entailing flow separation, turbulence transition in the detached shear layers, reattachment of the flow and further separation of the boundary layer. In the present work, large-eddy simulations of the flow past a cylinder at Reynolds numbers in the range \(2.5\times 10^5{-}10^6\) are performed. This range includes both critical and super-critical Reynolds numbers (J Fluid Mech 10(3), 345–356 (1961)) [2]. Contradicting results about the wake configuration and structures are found in the literature.

Techno-economic performance evaluation of solar tower plants with integrated multi-layered PCM thermocline thermal energy storage – A comparative study to conventional two-tank storage systems

Solar Tower Power Plants with thermal energy storage are a promising technology for dispatchable renewable energy in the near future. Storage integration makes possible to shift the electricity production to more profitable peak hours. Usually two tanks are used to store cold and hot fluids, but this means both higher investment costs and difficulties during the operation of the variable volume tanks. Instead, another solution can be a single tank thermocline storage in a multi-layered configuration. In such tank both latent and sensible fillers are employed to decrease the related cost up to 30% and maintain high efficiencies. This paper analyses a multi-layered solid PCM storage tank concept for solar tower applications, and describes a comprehensive methodology to determine under which market structures such devices can outperform the more conventional two tank storage systems. A detail model of the tank has been developed and introduced in an existing techno-economic tool developed by the authors (DYESOPT). The results show that under current cost estimates and technical limitations the multi-layered solid PCM storage concept is a better solution when peaking operating strategies are desired, as it is the case for the two-tier South African tariff scheme.