Mohamed Asbik

Towards a knowledge base for a wind electric pumping system design

A knowledge base tool for wind electric pumping system design has been presented. In this paper, the used approach is illustrated through the rotor component. The performance of the rotor is predicted using the axial momentum theory combined with the blade element theory. The design variables of the blade are its geometry and the airfoil aerodynamic characteristics which are introduced into the tool using the analytic model AERODAS. To validate the developed model, it is formulated as a Mixed Complementarity (Problem and is solved using the GAMS software (Generalized Algebraic Modeling System). The model validation refers to the experimental data of NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) obtained using the NASA Ames wind tunnel. The validated model is then used to design a new blade for a small wind turbine which we attempt to manufacture locally.

Thermocline Thermal Storage Using a Packed bed of Moroccan Rocks

This work is a contribution to the numerical study of the thermal behavior of a thermocline storage system. The energy conservation equations associated with their boundary conditions, have been solved numerically in the two filed media solid (rock) and fluid (HTF) constituting the packed bed thermal energy storage (TES). A parameter study of the packed bed dimensions, fluid flow rate, particle diameter and the ratio were carried out to evaluate the charging/discharging profiles of storage system. The results have been validated and they are in good agreement with the literature.

Effect of Swirl Strength on the Flow and Combustion Characteristics of Pulverized Biomass Flames

ABSTRACT This article reports on the effect of swirl intensity on the flow and combustion characteristics of pulverized olive waste (OW) burning. Numerical simulations are carried out using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) Commercial Software “Fluent ANSYS14” by choosing appropriate model parameters. The biomass furnace consists of a vertical cylinder equipped with a swirling co-flow injection burner. The particles of pulverized biomass (OW) are injected transversally into the furnace just near the co-flow exit, via four square-shaped injection nozzles. The non-premixed combustion model with mixture fraction/PDF model for turbulence-chemistry interactions is used. Standard k-ε turbulence model closure, discrete phase model (DPM) for tracking the motion of individual particle and P-1 radiation model for flame radiation inside the combustor are used in the numerical simulation. Four different swirl numbers Sn = 0.38, 0.95, 1.2 and 1.42 are used in this study in order to investigate the swirl intensity effect on the flow and combustion behavior. The results showed that the flow and the flame characteristics such as axial velocity, streamlines, gas temperature, flame length and CO2, CO and O2 concentrations are affected by the swirl intensity.