Browsing by Subject "computational fluid dynamics"

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    Open Access
    A biomass-fueled combined steam and sCO2 heat and power cycle for Southern African conditions
    (2025) Haffejee, Rashid Ahmed; Collier-Reed, Brandon
    Biomass is a renewable, cost-efficient, carbon-neutral fuel obtained from agricultural waste streams or energy crops that can be combusted in a furnace to co-generate electricity and heat. Integrating a supplementary high efficiency cycle, such as the supercritical-CO2 (sCO2) Brayton cycle, with an existing industrial Rankine cycle and a biomass fired boiler may be an economical option to increase overall thermal efficiency and net generation. However, the integration of sCO2 heaters within the biomass boiler presents challenges related to operating philosophies and component specifications. The focus of this research was to investigate the integration of a sCO2 Brayton cycle with a combined heat and power steam cycle with a modular biomass boiler firing typical Southern African bagasse fuel. A quasi-steady state 1D thermofluid network-based process model of the sCO2, steam and flue gas cycles was developed for nominal and partial load analysis. It accounts for the detailed component characteristics for the Rankine and Brayton cycles, as well as the biomass boiler, together with the complex interactions between all of the components in the different cycles. To facilitate the analysis of these intricate systems, a sophisticated simulation code was developed to allow for necessary customization and enforcement of required boundary conditions and control parameters. The network model solves the mass, energy, momentum, and species balance equations for the various fluid streams, accounting for radiative and convective heat transfer phenomena in the boiler. Due to the novelty of the proposed integrated cycle, high-fidelity 3D CFD modelling was then also used to validate the heat uptakes for the sCO2 heaters in the biomass boiler. Two configurations with the sCO2 heater/s situated within the flue gas flow path were investigated, namely a single convective-dominant heater, and a dual heater configuration with a radiative and a convective heater. At nominal load, the network model results show the required rate of overfiring for the sCO2 configurations, with a 15.3% increase in fuel flow rate resulting in an additional 21.2% in net power output. The impact of the sCO2 heaters situated in the gas flow path was quantified, with reduced heat uptakes for downstream steam heat exchangers offset by increased furnace waterwall heat transfer. At partial loads, between 100%-60%, inventory control proves to be the better performing control strategy for load following, maintaining high thermal efficiency across partial loads. Notably, at 60% load, the sCO2 compressor inlet conditions are near the pseudo-critical point, which requires careful management of inventory control. The boiler CFD modelling highlighted lower heat uptakes for sCO2 heaters compared to the 1D model, exacerbated at lower loads, particularly for the dual heater configuration. The 1D model was consequently calibrated based on these results. The single sCO2 heater configuration is recommended as the preferred configuration to minimise adverse impacts on the Rankine cycle superheaters. Further iterations between the 1D process model and CFD model are recommended.
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    Open Access
    Numerical investigation of the convective heat transfer coefficient of the human body using a representative cylindrical model
    (2017) Eferemo, Daniel; Bello-Ochende, Tunde; Malan, Arnaud G
    The principal objective of this study is to investigate, develop and verify a framework for determining the convective heat transfer co-efficient from a cylindrical model that can easily be adaptable to more complex geometry - more specifically the human body geometry. Analysis of the model under forced convection airflow conditions between the transition velocity of about 1m/s - calculated using the Reynolds number - up until 12m/s were carried out. The boundary condition, however, also included differences in turbulence intensities and cylinder orientation with respect to wind flow (seen as wind direction in some texts). A total of 90 Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) calculations from these variations were analysed for the model under forced convective flow. Similar analysis were carried out for the model under natural convection with air flow velocity of 0.1m/s. Here, the temperature difference between the model and its surrounding environments and the cylinder orientation with respect to wind flow were varied to allow for a total of 15 CFD analysis. From these analysis, for forced convection, strong dependence of the convective heat transfer coefficient on air velocity, cylinder orientation and turbulence intensity was confirmed. For natural convection, a dependence on the cylinder orientation and temperature difference between the model and its environment was confirmed. The results from the CFD simulations were then compared with those found in texts from literature. Formulas for the convective heat transfer coefficient for both forced and natural convection considering the respective dependent variables are also proposed. The resulting formulas and the step by step CFD process described in this thesis provides a framework for the computation of the convective heat transfer coefficient of the human body via computer aided simulations. This framework can easily be adaptable to the convective heat transfer coefficient calculations of the human body with some geometric modelling adjustments, thus resulting in similar representative equations for a human geometric model.
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    Open Access
    Numerical optimisation and theoretical analysis of complex microchannel heat exchangers
    (2025) Godi, Nahum Yustus; Collier-Reed, Brandon; Ngoepe, Malebogo
    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of the geometries in forced convective heat transfer and steady state laminar incompressible fluid flow. Microchannel heat sinks used were numerically modelled from highly conductive (aluminium) solid material substrate. ANSYS FLUENT Response Surface Optimisation Tool (RSO) was used to numerically optimise and compare the performance of combined microchannel heat sinks with perforated, solid, half-hollow and hollow fins. The simulation began by optimising a typical microchannel heat sink geometry before fin-bars were inserted into the cooling channel to augment heat transfer. Furthermore, solid and perforated fins were modelled and added on the top of the typical heat sink. The performance of the various configurations was then compared. A novel combined microchannel design with circular micro fins was modelled with a circular flow channel. Additionally, a hybrid model was developed, incorporating circular fins on a microchannel heat sink with a rectangular flow channel. The third design featured rectangular fins mounted on a microchannel with a rectangular flow channel. The combined microchannels, featuring circular and rectangular fins, were cooled by water flowing through the channels and internally along the fin inner surface walls to dissipate heat. These designs were then integrated into the computational domain and subjected to cooling using both water and an air stream. The water flows through the flow channel while air flows over the vertical fins to remove excess heat from the external wall surfaces of the fins in forced convection laminar flow condition. Theoretical analysis (intersection of asymptotes method) was carried out in the cooling channels (circular and rectangular). The theoretical analysis results indicated the presence of an optimal geometry among the various cross-sectional shapes, effectively cooling a volume with a uniformly distributed heat flux. A comparison of the analytic findings with the numerical results demonstrates that an optimal design is possible. The numerical cooling processes were carried out in parallel and counter flows. These findings demonstrate that an optimal design can be realised with a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics and geometric modelling techniques.