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Description
Modern day gas turbine designers face the problem of hot mainstream gas ingestion into rotor-stator disk cavities. To counter this ingestion, seals are installed on the rotor and stator disk rims and purge air, bled off from the compressor, is injected into the cavities. It is desirable to reduce the

Modern day gas turbine designers face the problem of hot mainstream gas ingestion into rotor-stator disk cavities. To counter this ingestion, seals are installed on the rotor and stator disk rims and purge air, bled off from the compressor, is injected into the cavities. It is desirable to reduce the supply of purge air as this decreases the net power output as well as efficiency of the gas turbine. Since the purge air influences the disk cavity flow field and effectively the amount of ingestion, the aim of this work was to study the cavity velocity field experimentally using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Experiments were carried out in a model single-stage axial flow turbine set-up that featured blades as well as vanes, with purge air supplied at the hub of the rotor-stator disk cavity. Along with the rotor and stator rim seals, an inner labyrinth seal was provided which split the disk cavity into a rim cavity and an inner cavity. First, static gage pressure distribution was measured to ensure that nominally steady flow conditions had been achieved. The PIV experiments were then performed to map the velocity field on the radial-tangential plane within the rim cavity at four axial locations. Instantaneous velocity maps obtained by PIV were analyzed sector-by-sector to understand the rim cavity flow field. It was observed that the tangential velocity dominated the cavity flow at low purge air flow rate, its dominance decreasing with increase in the purge air flow rate. Radially inboard of the rim cavity, negative radial velocity near the stator surface and positive radial velocity near the rotor surface indicated the presence of a recirculation region in the cavity whose radial extent increased with increase in the purge air flow rate. Qualitative flow streamline patterns are plotted within the rim cavity for different experimental conditions by combining the PIV map information with ingestion measurements within the cavity as reported in Thiagarajan (2013).
ContributorsPathak, Parag (Author) / Roy, Ramendra P (Thesis advisor) / Calhoun, Ronald (Committee member) / Lee, Taewoo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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Description
With a ground-based Doppler lidar on the upwind side of a wind farm in the Tehachapi Pass of California, radial wind velocity measurements were collected for repeating sector sweeps, scanning up to 10 kilometers away. This region consisted of complex terrain, with the scans made between mountains. The dataset was

With a ground-based Doppler lidar on the upwind side of a wind farm in the Tehachapi Pass of California, radial wind velocity measurements were collected for repeating sector sweeps, scanning up to 10 kilometers away. This region consisted of complex terrain, with the scans made between mountains. The dataset was utilized for techniques being studied for short-term forecasting of wind power by correlating changes in energy content and of turbulence intensity by tracking spatial variance, in the wind ahead of a wind farm. A ramp event was also captured and its propagation was tracked.

Orthogonal horizontal wind vectors were retrieved from the radial velocity using a sector Velocity Azimuth Display method. Streamlines were plotted to determine the potential sites for a correlation of upstream wind speed with wind speed at downstream locations near the wind farm. A "virtual wind turbine" was "placed" in locations along the streamline by using the time-series velocity data at the location as the input to a modeled wind turbine, to determine the extractable energy content at that location. The relationship between this time-dependent energy content upstream and near the wind farm was studied. By correlating the energy content with each upstream location based on a time shift estimated according to advection at the mean wind speed, several fits were evaluated. A prediction of the downstream energy content was produced by shifting the power output in time and applying the best-fit function. This method made predictions of the power near the wind farm several minutes in advance. Predictions were also made up to an hour in advance for a large ramp event. The Magnitude Absolute Error and Standard Deviation are presented for the predictions based on each selected upstream location.
ContributorsMagerman, Beth (Author) / Calhoun, Ronald (Thesis advisor) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Microfluidics is the study of fluid flow at very small scales (micro -- one millionth of a meter) and is prevalent in many areas of science and engineering. Typical applications include lab-on-a-chip devices, microfluidic fuel cells, and DNA separation technologies. Many of these microfluidic devices rely on micron-resolution velocimetry measurements

Microfluidics is the study of fluid flow at very small scales (micro -- one millionth of a meter) and is prevalent in many areas of science and engineering. Typical applications include lab-on-a-chip devices, microfluidic fuel cells, and DNA separation technologies. Many of these microfluidic devices rely on micron-resolution velocimetry measurements to improve microchannel design and characterize existing devices. Methods such as micro particle imaging velocimetry (microPIV) and micro particle tracking velocimetry (microPTV) are mature and established methods for characterization of steady 2D flow fields. Increasingly complex microdevices require techniques that measure unsteady and/or three dimensional velocity fields. This dissertation presents a method for three-dimensional velocimetry of unsteady microflows based on spinning disk confocal microscopy and depth scanning of a microvolume. High-speed 2D unsteady velocity fields are resolved by acquiring images of particle motion using a high-speed CMOS camera and confocal microscope. The confocal microscope spatially filters out of focus light using a rotating disk of pinholes placed in the imaging path, improving the ability of the system to resolve unsteady microPIV measurements by improving the image and correlation signal to noise ratio. For 3D3C measurements, a piezo-actuated objective positioner quickly scans the depth of the microvolume and collects 2D image slices, which are stacked into 3D images. Super resolution microPIV interrogates these 3D images using microPIV as a predictor field for tracking individual particles with microPTV. The 3D3C diagnostic is demonstrated by measuring a pressure driven flow in a three-dimensional expanding microchannel. The experimental velocimetry data acquired at 30 Hz with instantaneous spatial resolution of 4.5 by 4.5 by 4.5 microns agrees well with a computational model of the flow field. The technique allows for isosurface visualization of time resolved 3D3C particle motion and high spatial resolution velocity measurements without requiring a calibration step or reconstruction algorithms. Several applications are investigated, including 3D quantitative fluorescence imaging of isotachophoresis plugs advecting through a microchannel and the dynamics of reaction induced colloidal crystal deposition.
ContributorsKlein, Steven Adam (Author) / Posner, Jonathan D (Thesis advisor) / Adrian, Ronald (Committee member) / Chen, Kangping (Committee member) / Devasenathipathy, Shankar (Committee member) / Frakes, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Over the past three decades, particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been continuously growing to become an informative and robust experimental tool for fluid mechanics research. Compared to the early stage of PIV development, the dynamic range of PIV has been improved by about an order of magnitude (Adrian, 2005; Westerweel

Over the past three decades, particle image velocimetry (PIV) has been continuously growing to become an informative and robust experimental tool for fluid mechanics research. Compared to the early stage of PIV development, the dynamic range of PIV has been improved by about an order of magnitude (Adrian, 2005; Westerweel et al., 2013). Further improvement requires a breakthrough innovation, which constitutes the main motivation of this dissertation. N-pulse particle image velocimetry-accelerometry (N-pulse PIVA, where N>=3) is a promising technique to this regard. It employs bursts of N pulses to gain advantages in both spatial and temporal resolution. The performance improvement by N-pulse PIVA is studied using particle tracking (i.e. N-pulse PTVA), and it is shown that an enhancement of at least another order of magnitude is achievable. Furthermore, the capability of N-pulse PIVA to measure unsteady acceleration and force is demonstrated in the context of an oscillating cylinder interacting with surrounding fluid. The cylinder motion, the fluid velocity and acceleration, and the fluid force exerted on the cylinder are successfully measured. On the other hand, a key issue of multi-camera registration for the implementation of N-pulse PIVA is addressed with an accuracy of 0.001 pixel. Subsequently, two applications of N-pulse PTVA to complex flows and turbulence are presented. A novel 8-pulse PTVA analysis was developed and validated to accurately resolve particle unsteady drag in post-shock flows. It is found that the particle drag is substantially elevated from the standard drag due to flow unsteadiness, and a new drag correlation incorporating particle Reynolds number and unsteadiness is desired upon removal of the uncertainty arising from non-uniform particle size. Next, the estimation of turbulence statistics utilizes the ensemble average of 4-pulse PTV data within a small domain of an optimally determined size. The estimation of mean velocity, mean velocity gradient and isotropic dissipation rate are presented and discussed by means of synthetic turbulence, as well as a tomographic measurement of turbulent boundary layer. The results indicate the superior capability of the N-pulse PTV based method to extract high-spatial-resolution high-accuracy turbulence statistics.
ContributorsDing, Liuyang (Author) / Adrian, Ronald J (Thesis advisor) / Frakes, David (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
The residential building sector accounts for more than 26% of the global energy consumption and 17% of global CO2 emissions. Due to the low cost of electricity in Kuwait and increase of population, Kuwaiti electricity consumption tripled during the past 30 years and is expected to increase by 20% by

The residential building sector accounts for more than 26% of the global energy consumption and 17% of global CO2 emissions. Due to the low cost of electricity in Kuwait and increase of population, Kuwaiti electricity consumption tripled during the past 30 years and is expected to increase by 20% by 2027. In this dissertation, a framework is developed to assess energy savings techniques to help policy-makers make educated decisions. The Kuwait residential energy outlook is studied by modeling the baseline energy consumption and the diffusion of energy conservation measures (ECMs) to identify the impacts on household energy consumption and CO2 emissions.



The energy resources and power generation in Kuwait were studied. The characteristics of the residential buildings along with energy codes of practice were investigated and four building archetypes were developed. Moreover, a baseline of end-use electricity consumption and demand was developed. Furthermore, the baseline energy consumption and demand were projected till 2040. It was found that by 2040, energy consumption would double with most of the usage being from AC. While with lighting, there is a negligible increase in consumption due to a projected shift towards more efficient lighting. Peak demand loads are expected to increase by an average growth rate of 2.9% per year. Moreover, the diffusion of different ECMs in the residential sector was modeled through four diffusion scenarios to estimate ECM adoption rates. ECMs’ impact on CO2 emissions and energy consumption of residential buildings in Kuwait was evaluated and the cost of conserved energy (CCE) and annual energy savings for each measure was calculated. AC ECMs exhibited the highest cumulative savings, whereas lighting ECMs showed an immediate energy impact. None of the ECMs in the study were cost effective due to the high subsidy rate (95%), therefore, the impact of ECMs at different subsidy and rebate rates was studied. At 75% subsidized utility price and 40% rebate only on appliances, most of ECMs will be cost effective with high energy savings. Moreover, by imposing charges of $35/ton of CO2, most ECMs will be cost effective.
ContributorsAlajmi, Turki (Author) / Phelan, Patrick E (Thesis advisor) / Kaloush, Kamil (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Hajiah, Ali (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Rapid expansion of dense beds of fine, spherical particles subjected to rapid depressurization is studied in a vertical shock tube. As the particle bed is unloaded, a high-speed video camera captures the dramatic evolution of the particle bed structure. Pressure transducers are used to measure the dynamic pressure changes during

Rapid expansion of dense beds of fine, spherical particles subjected to rapid depressurization is studied in a vertical shock tube. As the particle bed is unloaded, a high-speed video camera captures the dramatic evolution of the particle bed structure. Pressure transducers are used to measure the dynamic pressure changes during the particle bed expansion process. Image processing, signal processing, and Particle Image Velocimetry techniques, are used to examine the relationships between particle size, initial bed height, bed expansion rate, and gas velocities.

The gas-particle interface and the particle bed as a whole expand and evolve in stages. First, the bed swells nearly homogeneously for a very brief period of time (< 2ms). Shortly afterward, the interface begins to develop instabilities as it continues to rise, with particles nearest the wall rising more quickly. Meanwhile, the bed fractures into layers and then breaks down further into cellular-like structures. The rate at which the structural evolution occurs is shown to be dependent on particle size. Additionally, the rate of the overall bed expansion is shown to be dependent on particle size and initial bed height.

Taller particle beds and beds composed of smaller-diameter particles are found to be associated with faster bed-expansion rates, as measured by the velocity of the gas-particle interface. However, the expansion wave travels more slowly through these same beds. It was also found that higher gas velocities above the the gas-particle interface measured \textit{via} Particle Image Velocimetry or PIV, were associated with particle beds composed of larger-diameter particles. The gas dilation between the shocktube diaphragm and the particle bed interface is more dramatic when the distance between the gas-particle interface and the diaphragm is decreased-as is the case for taller beds.

To further elucidate the complexities of this multiphase compressible flow, simple OpenFOAM (Weller, 1998) simulations of the shocktube experiment were performed and compared to bed expansion rates, pressure fluctuations, and gas velocities. In all cases, the trends and relationships between bed height, particle diameter, with expansion rates, pressure fluctuations and gas velocities matched well between experiments and simulations. In most cases, the experimentally-measured bed rise rates and the simulated bed rise rates matched reasonably well in early times. The trends and overall values of the pressure fluctuations and gas velocities matched well between the experiments and simulations; shedding light on the effects each parameter has on the overall flow.
ContributorsZunino, Heather (Author) / Adrian, Ronald J (Thesis advisor) / Clarke, Amanda (Committee member) / Chen, Kangping (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
In the last several years, there has been a significant growth in research in the field of power harvesting, the process of capturing the energy surrounding a system and converting it into usable electrical energy. This concept has received particular interest in recent years with the ever-increasing production of portable

In the last several years, there has been a significant growth in research in the field of power harvesting, the process of capturing the energy surrounding a system and converting it into usable electrical energy. This concept has received particular interest in recent years with the ever-increasing production of portable and wireless electronic devices. Many of these devices that are currently in production utilize electrochemical batteries as a power source, which while effective, maintain the drawback of having a finite energy supply, thus requiring periodic replacement. The concept of power harvesting, however, works to solve these issues through electronics that are designed to capture ambient energy surrounding them convert it into usable electronic energy. The use of power harvesting in energy scavenging devices allows for the possible development of devices that are self-powered and do not require their power sources to be replaced. Several models have been developed by Soldano et al [3] and Liao et al [2] that have been proven accurate at predicting the power output of a piezoelectric power harvester in a cantileaver beam configuration. The work in this paper will expand further on the model developed by Liao et al [2], and as its main goal will use a modified form of that model to predict the optimal dimensions for a beam power harvester to achieve the maximum power output possible. The model will be updated b replacing the mode shape function used to approximate the deflection of the beam with the true defletion, which is based on the complex wavenumber that incorporates the complex Young's modulus of the material used. Other changes to account for this replacement will also be presented, along with numerical results of the final model.
ContributorsWinterstein, Joshua (Author) / Liao, Yabin (Thesis director) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Chen, Kangping (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05
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Description
The global energy demand is expected to grow significantly in the next several decades and support for energy generation with high carbon emissions is continuing to decline. Alternative methods have gained interest, and wind energy has established itself as a viable source. Standard wind farms have limited room for growth

The global energy demand is expected to grow significantly in the next several decades and support for energy generation with high carbon emissions is continuing to decline. Alternative methods have gained interest, and wind energy has established itself as a viable source. Standard wind farms have limited room for growth and improvement, so wind energy has started to explore different directions. The urban environment is a potential direction for wind energy due to its proximity to the bulk of energy demand. CFD analysis has demonstrated that the presence of buildings can accelerate wind speeds between buildings and on rooftops. However, buildings generate areas of increased turbulence at their surface. The turbulence thickness and intensity vary with roof shape, building height, and building orientation. The analysis has concluded that good wind resource is possible in the urban environment in specific locations. With that, turbine selection becomes very important. A comparison has concluded that vertical axis wind turbines are more useful in the urban environment than horizontal axis wind turbines. Furthermore, building-augmented wind turbines are recommended because they are architecturally integrated into a building for the specific purpose of generating more energy. The research has concluded that large-scale generation in the urban environment is unlikely to be successful, but small-scale generation is quite viable. Continued research and investigation on urban wind energy is recommended.
ContributorsKlumpers, Ryan Scott (Author) / Calhoun, Ronald (Thesis director) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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Description
This study uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to analyze the

dependence of wind power potential and turbulence intensity on aerodynamic design of a

special type of building with a nuzzle-like gap at its rooftop. Numerical simulations using

ANSYS Fluent are carried out to quantify the above-mentioned dependency due to three

major geometric parameters

This study uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to analyze the

dependence of wind power potential and turbulence intensity on aerodynamic design of a

special type of building with a nuzzle-like gap at its rooftop. Numerical simulations using

ANSYS Fluent are carried out to quantify the above-mentioned dependency due to three

major geometric parameters of the building: (i) the height of the building, (ii) the depth of

the roof-top gap, and (iii) the width of the roof-top gap. The height of the building is varied

from 8 m to 24 m. Likewise, the gap depth is varied from 3 m to 5 m and the gap width

from 2 m to 4 m. The aim of this entire research is to relate these geometric parameters of

the building to the maximum value and the spatial pattern of wind power potential across

the roof-top gap. These outcomes help guide the design of the roof-top geometry for wind

power applications and determine the ideal position for mounting a micro wind turbine.

From these outcomes, it is suggested that the wind power potential is greatly affected by

the increasing gap width or gap depth. It, however, remains insensitive to the increasing

building height, unlike turbulence intensity which increases with increasing building

height. After performing a set of simulations with varying building geometry to quantify

the wind power potential before the installation of a turbine, another set of simulations is

conducted by installing a static turbine within the roof-top gap. The results from the latter

are used to further adjust the estimate of wind power potential. Recommendations are made

for future applications based on the findings from the numerical simulations.
ContributorsKailkhura, Gargi (Author) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Thesis advisor) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Forzani, Erica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
One the major problems of this modern industrialized world is its dependence on fossil fuels for its energy needs. Burning of fossils fuels generates green-house gases which have adverse effects on global climate contributing to global warming. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), carbon dioxide makes up 80 percent of

One the major problems of this modern industrialized world is its dependence on fossil fuels for its energy needs. Burning of fossils fuels generates green-house gases which have adverse effects on global climate contributing to global warming. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), carbon dioxide makes up 80 percent of green-house gases emitted in USA. Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is an approach which uses CO2 emissions to produce other useful hydrocarbons which can be used in many ways.

In this study, primary focus was on optimizing the operating conditions, determining the better catalyst material, and analyzing the reaction products for the process of electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (ERC). Membrane electrode assemblies (MEA’s) are developed by air bushing the metal particles with a spray gun on to Nafion-212 which is a solid polymer based electrolyte (SPE), to support the electrodes in the electrochemical reactor gas diffusion layers (GDL) are developed using porous carbon paper. Anode was always made using the same material which is platinum but cathode material was changed as it is the working electrode.

The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is then placed into the electrochemical reactor along with gas diffusion layer (GDL) to assess the performance of the catalyst material by techniques like linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Performance of MEA was analyzed at 4 different potentials, 2 different temperatures and for 2 different cathode catalyst materials. The reaction products of the process are analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) which has thermal conductivity detector (TCD) used for detecting hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and flame ionization detector (FID) used for detecting hydrocarbons. The experiments performed at 40o C gave the better results when compared with the experiments performed at ambient temperature. Also results suggested that copper oxide cathode catalyst has better durability than platinum-carbon. Maximum faradaic efficiency for methane was 5.3% it was obtained at 2.25V using copper oxide catalyst. Furthermore, experiments must be carried out to make the electrochemical reactor more robust to withstand all the operating conditions like higher potentials and to make it a solar powered reactor.
ContributorsMudunur, Santosh shekar (Author) / Kannan, Arunachala (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017