Matching Items (6)
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- All Subjects: Mechanical Engineering
- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Climate change has been one of the major issues of global economic and social concerns in the past decade. To quantitatively predict global climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations have organized a multi-national effort to use global atmosphere-ocean models to project anthropogenically induced climate changes in the 21st century. The computer simulations performed with those models and archived by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project - Phase 5 (CMIP5) form the most comprehensive quantitative basis for the prediction of global environmental changes on decadal-to-centennial time scales. While the CMIP5 archives have been widely used for policy making, the inherent biases in the models have not been systematically examined. The main objective of this study is to validate the CMIP5 simulations of the 20th century climate with observations to quantify the biases and uncertainties in state-of-the-art climate models. Specifically, this work focuses on three major features in the atmosphere: the jet streams over the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and the low level jet (LLJ) stream over central North America which affects the weather in the United States, and the near-surface wind field over North America which is relevant to energy applications. The errors in the model simulations of those features are systematically quantified and the uncertainties in future predictions are assessed for stakeholders to use in climate applications. Additional atmospheric model simulations are performed to determine the sources of the errors in climate models. The results reject a popular idea that the errors in the sea surface temperature due to an inaccurate ocean circulation contributes to the errors in major atmospheric jet streams.
ContributorsKulkarni, Sujay (Author) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Thesis advisor) / Calhoun, Ronald (Committee member) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
A level set approach for denoising and adaptively smoothing complex geometry stereolithography files
Description
Stereolithography files (STL) are widely used in diverse fields as a means of describing complex geometries through surface triangulations. The resulting stereolithography output is a result of either experimental measurements, or computer-aided design. Often times stereolithography outputs from experimental means are prone to noise, surface irregularities and holes in an otherwise closed surface.
A general method for denoising and adaptively smoothing these dirty stereolithography files is proposed. Unlike existing means, this approach aims to smoothen the dirty surface representation by utilizing the well established levelset method. The level of smoothing and denoising can be set depending on a per-requirement basis by means of input parameters. Once the surface representation is smoothened as desired, it can be extracted as a standard levelset scalar isosurface.
The approach presented in this thesis is also coupled to a fully unstructured Cartesian mesh generation library with built-in localized adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) capabilities, thereby ensuring lower computational cost while also providing sufficient resolution. Future work will focus on implementing tetrahedral cuts to the base hexahedral mesh structure in order to extract a fully unstructured hexahedra-dominant mesh describing the STL geometry, which can be used for fluid flow simulations.
A general method for denoising and adaptively smoothing these dirty stereolithography files is proposed. Unlike existing means, this approach aims to smoothen the dirty surface representation by utilizing the well established levelset method. The level of smoothing and denoising can be set depending on a per-requirement basis by means of input parameters. Once the surface representation is smoothened as desired, it can be extracted as a standard levelset scalar isosurface.
The approach presented in this thesis is also coupled to a fully unstructured Cartesian mesh generation library with built-in localized adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) capabilities, thereby ensuring lower computational cost while also providing sufficient resolution. Future work will focus on implementing tetrahedral cuts to the base hexahedral mesh structure in order to extract a fully unstructured hexahedra-dominant mesh describing the STL geometry, which can be used for fluid flow simulations.
ContributorsKannan, Karthik (Author) / Herrmann, Marcus (Thesis advisor) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Frakes, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Numerical simulation of environmental flow over urban landscape for applications to renewable energy
Description
Development of renewable energy solutions has become a major interest among environmental organizations and governments around the world due to an increase in energy consumption and global warming. One fast growing renewable energy solution is the application of wind energy in cities. To qualitative and quantitative predict wind turbine performance in urban areas, CFD simulation is performed on real-life urban geometry and wind velocity profiles are evaluated. Two geometries in Arizona is selected in this thesis to demonstrate the influence of building heights; one of the simulation models, ASU campus, is relatively low rise and without significant tall buildings; the other model, the downtown phoenix model, are high-rise and with greater building height difference. The content of this thesis focuses on using RANS computational fluid dynamics approach to simulate wind acceleration phenomenon in two complex geometries, ASU campus and Phoenix downtown model. Additionally, acceleration ratio and locations are predicted, the results are then used to calculate the best location for small wind turbine installments.
ContributorsYing, Xiaoyan (Author) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Thesis advisor) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
A numerical study of chemotaxis in 3D turbulence is presented here. Direct Numerical
Simulation were used to calculate the nutrient uptake for both motile and non-motile bacterial
species and by applying the dynamical systems theory the effect of flow topology on the
variability of chemotaxis is analyzed. It is done by injecting a highly localized patch of nutrient
in the turbulent flow, and analyzing the evolution of reaction associated with the observed
high and low stretching regions. The Gaussian nutrient patch is released at different locations
and the corresponding nutrient uptake is obtained. The variable stretching characteristics of
the flow is depicted by Lagrangian Coherent Structures and the roles they play in affecting the
uptake are analyzed. The Lagrangian Coherent Structures are quantified by the Finite Time
Lyapunov Exponents which is a measure of the average stretching experienced by the flow in
finite time. It is found that in high stretching regions, the motile bacteria are attracted to the
nutrient patch very quickly, but also dispersed quickly; whereas in low stretching regions the
bacteria respond slower towards the nutrient patch. However the total uptake is intricately
determined by stretching history. These reaction characteristics are reflected in the several
realizations of simulations. This helps in understanding turbulence intensity and how it affects
the uptake of the nutrient.
Simulation were used to calculate the nutrient uptake for both motile and non-motile bacterial
species and by applying the dynamical systems theory the effect of flow topology on the
variability of chemotaxis is analyzed. It is done by injecting a highly localized patch of nutrient
in the turbulent flow, and analyzing the evolution of reaction associated with the observed
high and low stretching regions. The Gaussian nutrient patch is released at different locations
and the corresponding nutrient uptake is obtained. The variable stretching characteristics of
the flow is depicted by Lagrangian Coherent Structures and the roles they play in affecting the
uptake are analyzed. The Lagrangian Coherent Structures are quantified by the Finite Time
Lyapunov Exponents which is a measure of the average stretching experienced by the flow in
finite time. It is found that in high stretching regions, the motile bacteria are attracted to the
nutrient patch very quickly, but also dispersed quickly; whereas in low stretching regions the
bacteria respond slower towards the nutrient patch. However the total uptake is intricately
determined by stretching history. These reaction characteristics are reflected in the several
realizations of simulations. This helps in understanding turbulence intensity and how it affects
the uptake of the nutrient.
ContributorsGeorge, Jino (Author) / Tang, Wenbo (Thesis advisor) / Peet, Yulia (Thesis advisor) / Calhoun, Ronald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The effect of reduced frequency on dynamic stall behavior of a pitching NACA0012 airfoil in a turbulent wake using Direct Numerical Simulations is presented in the current study. Upstream turbulence with dynamically oscillating blades and airfoils is associated with ambient flow unsteadiness and is encountered in many operating conditions. Wake turbulence, a more realistic scenario for airfoils in operation, is generated using a small solid cylinder placed upstream, the vortices shed from which interact with the pitching airfoil affecting dynamic stall behavior.
A recently developed moving overlapping grid approach is used using a high-order Spectral Element Method (SEM) for spatial discretization combined with a dynamic time-stepping procedure allowing for up to third order temporal discretization. Two cases of reduced frequency (k = 0:16 and 0:25) for airfoil oscillation are investigated and the change in dynamic stall behavior with change in reduced frequency is studied and documented using flow-fields and aerodynamic coefficients (Drag, Lift and Pitching Moment) with a focus on understanding vortex system dynamics (including formation of secondary vortices) for different reduced frequencies and it’s affect on airfoil aerodynamic characteristics and fatigue life. Transition of the flow over the surface of an airfoil for both undisturbed and disturbed flow cases will also be discussed using Pressure coefficient and Skin Friction coefficient data for a given cycle combined with a wavelet analysis using Morse wavelets in MATLAB.
A recently developed moving overlapping grid approach is used using a high-order Spectral Element Method (SEM) for spatial discretization combined with a dynamic time-stepping procedure allowing for up to third order temporal discretization. Two cases of reduced frequency (k = 0:16 and 0:25) for airfoil oscillation are investigated and the change in dynamic stall behavior with change in reduced frequency is studied and documented using flow-fields and aerodynamic coefficients (Drag, Lift and Pitching Moment) with a focus on understanding vortex system dynamics (including formation of secondary vortices) for different reduced frequencies and it’s affect on airfoil aerodynamic characteristics and fatigue life. Transition of the flow over the surface of an airfoil for both undisturbed and disturbed flow cases will also be discussed using Pressure coefficient and Skin Friction coefficient data for a given cycle combined with a wavelet analysis using Morse wavelets in MATLAB.
ContributorsGandhi, Anurag (Author) / Peet, Yulia (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Modern aircraft propulsion systems such as the ultra high bypass ratio turbofan impose constraints on engine installation below the wing, causing jet–wing interactions. Similar interactions are encountered when a jet-powered aircraft takes off on airport runway or aircraft carrier deck. High-speed jet flow near a solid surface shows markedly different turbulence characteristics compared with free jet, including attached turbulent jet and development of non-equilibrium boundary layer down- stream. Wall pressure fluctuations tend to be more unsteady and stronger, leading to increased vibration affecting aircraft cabin noise and modified jet noise radiation. Large-eddy simulation (LES) is useful to characterize turbulent jet flows over a solid surface as well as wall pressure distribution to promote physical understanding and modeling studies. In this study, LES is performed for an installed setup of a Mach 0.7 turbulent jet where the jet–plate distance is fixed at 2D where D is the nozzle-exit diameter. Unstructured-grid LES is used to validate the corresponding experiment (from literature). In addition, a high-fidelity numerical database is built for further analysis and modeling. Turbulence statistics and energy spectra show that agreement with the experimental measurement for the installed case is encouraging, paving a way for future analysis and modeling.
ContributorsTamhane, Nikhil (Author) / Kim, Jeongale (Thesis advisor) / Peet, Yulia (Thesis advisor) / Jeun, Jinah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022