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- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Huang, Huei-Ping
- Status: Published
Description
A numerical study of incremental spin-up and spin-up from rest of a thermally- stratified fluid enclosed within a right circular cylinder with rigid bottom and side walls and stress-free upper surface is presented. Thermally stratified spin-up is a typical example of baroclinity, which is initiated by a sudden increase in rotation rate and the tilting of isotherms gives rise to baroclinic source of vorticity. Research by (Smirnov et al. [2010a]) showed the differences in evolution of instabilities when Dirichlet and Neumann thermal boundary conditions were applied at top and bottom walls. Study of parametric variations carried out in this dissertation confirmed the instability patterns observed by them for given aspect ratio and Rossby number values greater than 0.5. Also results reveal that flow maintained axisymmetry and stability for short aspect ratio containers independent of amount of rotational increment imparted. Investigation on vorticity components provides framework for baroclinic vorticity feedback mechanism which plays important role in delayed rise of instabilities when Dirichlet thermal Boundary Conditions are applied.
ContributorsKher, Aditya Deepak (Author) / Chen, Kangping (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Image processing in canals, rivers and other bodies of water has been a very important concern. This research using Image Processing was performed to obtain a photographic evidence of the data of the site which helps in monitoring the conditions of the water body and the surroundings. Images are captured using a digital camera and the images are stored onto a datalogger, these images are retrieved using a cellular/ satellite modem. A MATLAB program was designed to obtain the level of water by just entering the file name into to the program, a curve fit model was created to determine the contrast parameters. The contrast parameters were obtained using the data obtained from the gray scale image mainly the mean and variance of the intensity values. The enhanced images are used to determine the level of water by taking pixel intensity plots along the region of interest. The level of water obtained is accurate to less than 2% of the actual level of water observed from the image. High speed imaging in micro channels have various application in industrial field, medical field etc. In medical field it is tested by using blood samples. The experimental procedure proposed determines the flow duration and the defects observed in these channel using a fluid introduced into the micro channel the fluid being water based dye and whole milk. The viscosity of the fluid shows different types of flow patterns and defects in the micro channel. The defects observed vary from a small effect to the flow pattern to an extreme defect in the channel such as obstruction of flow or deformation in the channel. The sample needs to be further analyzed by SEM to get a better insight on the defects.
ContributorsShasedhara, Abhijeet Bangalore (Author) / Lee, Taewoo (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Chen, Kangping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The evolution of single hairpin vortices and multiple interacting hairpin vortices are studied in direct numerical simulations of channel flow at Re-tau=395. The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of increased Reynolds number and varying initial conditions on the growth of hairpins and the conditions under which single hairpins autogenerate hairpin packets. The hairpin vortices are believed to provide a unified picture of wall turbulence and play an important role in the production of Reynolds shear stress which is directly related to turbulent drag. The structures of the initial three-dimensional vortices are extracted from the two-point spatial correlation of the fully turbulent direct numerical simulation of the velocity field by linear stochastic estimation and embedded in a mean flow having the profile of the fully turbulent flow. The Reynolds number of the present simulation is more than twice that of the Re-tau=180 flow from earlier literature and the conditional events used to define the stochastically estimated single vortex initial conditions include a number of new types of events such as quasi-streamwise vorticity and Q4 events. The effects of parameters like strength, asymmetry and position are evaluated and compared with existing results in the literature. This study then attempts to answer questions concerning how vortex mergers produce larger scale structures, a process that may contribute to the growth of length scale with increasing distance from the wall in turbulent wall flows. Multiple vortex interactions are studied in detail.
ContributorsParthasarathy, Praveen Kumar (Author) / Adrian, Ronald (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Ten regional climate models (RCMs) and atmosphere-ocean generalized model parings from the North America Regional Climate Change Assessment Program were used to estimate the shift of extreme precipitation due to climate change using present-day and future-day climate scenarios. RCMs emulate winter storms and one-day duration events at the sub-regional level. Annual maximum series were derived for each model pairing, each modeling period; and for annual and winter seasons. The reliability ensemble average (REA) method was used to qualify each RCM annual maximum series to reproduce historical records and approximate average predictions, because there are no future records. These series determined (a) shifts in extreme precipitation frequencies and magnitudes, and (b) shifts in parameters during modeling periods. The REA method demonstrated that the winter season had lower REA factors than the annual season. For the winter season the RCM pairing of the Hadley regional Model 3 and the Geophysical Fluid-Dynamics Laboratory atmospheric-land generalized model had the lowest REA factors. However, in replicating present-day climate, the pairing of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics' Regional Climate Model Version 3 with the Geophysical Fluid-Dynamics Laboratory atmospheric-land generalized model was superior. Shifts of extreme precipitation in the 24-hour event were measured using precipitation magnitude for each frequency in the annual maximum series, and the difference frequency curve in the generalized extreme-value-function parameters. The average trend of all RCM pairings implied no significant shift in the winter annual maximum series, however the REA-selected models showed an increase in annual-season precipitation extremes: 0.37 inches for the 100-year return period and for the winter season suggested approximately 0.57 inches for the same return period. Shifts of extreme precipitation were estimated using predictions 70 years into the future based on RCMs. Although these models do not provide climate information for the intervening 70 year period, the models provide an assertion on the behavior of future climate. The shift in extreme precipitation may be significant in the frequency distribution function, and will vary depending on each model-pairing condition. The proposed methodology addresses the many uncertainties associated with the current methodologies dealing with extreme precipitation.
ContributorsRiaño, Alejandro (Author) / Mays, Larry W. (Thesis advisor) / Vivoni, Enrique (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Gas turbines have become widely used in the generation of power for cities. They are used all over the world and must operate under a wide variety of ambient conditions. Every turbine has a temperature at which it operates at peak capacity. In order to attain this temperature in the hotter months various cooling methods are used such as refrigeration inlet cooling systems, evaporative methods, and thermal energy storage systems. One of the more widely used is the evaporative systems because it is one of the safest and easiest to utilize method. However, the behavior of water droplets within the inlet to the turbine has not been extensively studied or documented. It is important to understand how the droplets behave within the inlet so that water droplets above a critical diameter will not enter the compressor and cause damage to the compressor blades. In order to do this a FLUENT simulation was constructed in order to determine the behavior of the water droplets and if any droplets remain at the exit of the inlet, along with their size. In order to do this several engineering drawings were obtained from SRP and studies in order to obtain the correct dimensions. Then the simulation was set up using data obtained from SRP and Parker-Hannifin, the maker of the spray nozzles. Then several sets of simulations were run in order to see how the water droplets behaved under various conditions. These results were then analyzed and quantified so that they could be easily understood. The results showed that the possible damage to the compressor increased with increasing temperature at a constant relative humidity. This is due in part to the fact that in order to keep a constant relative humidity at varying temperatures the mass fraction of water vapor in the air must be changed. As temperature increases the water vapor mass fraction must increase in order to maintain a constant relative humidity. This in turn makes it slightly increases the evaporation time of the water droplets. This will then lead to more droplets exiting the inlet and at larger diameters.
ContributorsHargrave, Kevin (Author) / Lee, Taewoo (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Chen, Kaangping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
For CFD validation, hypersonic flow fields are simulated and compared with experimental data specifically designed to recreate conditions found by hypersonic vehicles. Simulated flow fields on a cone-ogive with flare at Mach 7.2 are compared with experimental data from NASA Ames Research Center 3.5" hypersonic wind tunnel. A parametric study of turbulence models is presented and concludes that the k-kl-omega transition and SST transition turbulence model have the best correlation. Downstream of the flare's shockwave, good correlation is found for all boundary layer profiles, with some slight discrepancies of the static temperature near the surface. Simulated flow fields on a blunt cone with flare above Mach 10 are compared with experimental data from CUBRC LENS hypervelocity shock tunnel. Lack of vibrational non-equilibrium calculations causes discrepancies in heat flux near the leading edge. Temperature profiles, where non-equilibrium effects are dominant, are compared with the dissociation of molecules to show the effects of dissociation on static temperature. Following the validation studies is a parametric analysis of a hypersonic inlet from Mach 6 to 20. Compressor performance is investigated for numerous cowl leading edge locations up to speeds of Mach 10. The variable cowl study showed positive trends in compressor performance parameters for a range of Mach numbers that arise from maximizing the intake of compressed flow. An interesting phenomenon due to the change in shock wave formation for different Mach numbers developed inside the cowl that had a negative influence on the total pressure recovery. Investigation of the hypersonic inlet at different altitudes is performed to study the effects of Reynolds number, and consequently, turbulent viscous effects on compressor performance. Turbulent boundary layer separation was noted as the cause for a change in compressor performance parameters due to a change in Reynolds number. This effect would not be noticeable if laminar flow was assumed. Mach numbers up to 20 are investigated to study the effects of vibrational and chemical non-equilibrium on compressor performance. A direct impact on the trends on the kinetic energy efficiency and compressor efficiency was found due to dissociation.
ContributorsOliden, Daniel (Author) / Lee, Tae-Woo (Thesis advisor) / Peet, Yulia (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Production from a high pressure gas well at a high production-rate encounters the risk of operating near the choking condition for a compressible flow in porous media. The unbounded gas pressure gradient near the point of choking, which is located near the wellbore, generates an effective tensile stress on the porous rock frame. This tensile stress almost always exceeds the tensile strength of the rock and it causes a tensile failure of the rock, leading to wellbore instability. In a porous rock, not all pores are choked at the same flow rate, and when just one pore is choked, the flow through the entire porous medium should be considered choked as the gas pressure gradient at the point of choking becomes singular. This thesis investigates the choking condition for compressible gas flow in a single microscopic pore. Quasi-one-dimensional analysis and axisymmetric numerical simulations of compressible gas flow in a pore scale varicose tube with a number of bumps are carried out, and the local Mach number and pressure along the tube are computed for the flow near choking condition. The effects of tube length, inlet-to-outlet pressure ratio, the number of bumps and the amplitude of the bumps on the choking condition are obtained. These critical values provide guidance for avoiding the choking condition in practice.
ContributorsYuan, Jing (Author) / Chen, Kangping (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The partitioning of available solar energy into different fluxes at the Earth's surface is important in determining different physical processes, such as turbulent transport, subsurface hydrology, land-atmospheric interactions, etc. Direct measurements of these turbulent fluxes were carried out using eddy-covariance (EC) towers. However, the distribution of EC towers is sparse due to relatively high cost and practical difficulties in logistics and deployment. As a result, data is temporally and spatially limited and is inadequate to be used for researches at large scales, such as regional and global climate modeling. Besides field measurements, an alternative way is to estimate turbulent fluxes based on the intrinsic relations between surface energy budget components, largely through thermodynamic equilibrium. These relations, referred as relative efficiency, have been included in several models to estimate the magnitude of turbulent fluxes in surface energy budgets such as latent heat and sensible heat. In this study, three theoretical models based on the lumped heat transfer model, the linear stability analysis and the maximum entropy principle respectively, were investigated. Model predictions of relative efficiencies were compared with turbulent flux data over different land covers, viz. lake, grassland and suburban surfaces. Similar results were observed over lake and suburban surface but significant deviation is found over vegetation surface. The relative efficiency of outgoing longwave radiation is found to be orders of magnitude deviated from theoretic predictions. Meanwhile, results show that energy partitioning process is influenced by the surface water availability to a great extent. The study provides insight into what property is determining energy partitioning process over different land covers and gives suggestion for future models.
ContributorsYang, Jiachuan (Author) / Wang, Zhihua (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Vivoni, Enrique (Committee member) / Mays, Larry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
A new theoretical model was developed utilizing energy conservation methods in order to determine the fully-atomized cross-sectional Sauter mean diameters of pressure-swirl atomizers. A detailed boundary-layer assessment led to the development of a new viscous dissipation model for droplets in the spray. Integral momentum methods were also used to determine the complete velocity history of the droplets and entrained gas in the spray. The model was extensively validated through comparison with experiment and it was found that the model could predict the correct droplet size with high accuracy for a wide range of operating conditions. Based on detailed analysis, it was found that the energy model has a tendency to overestimate the droplet diameters for very low injection velocities, Weber numbers, and cone angles. A full parametric study was also performed in order to unveil some underlying behavior of pressure-swirl atomizers. It was found that at high injection velocities, the kinetic energy in the spray is significantly larger than the surface tension energy, therefore, efforts into improving atomization quality by changing the liquid's surface tension may not be the most productive. From the parametric studies it was also shown how the Sauter mean diameter and entrained velocities vary with increasing ambient gas density. Overall, the present energy model has the potential to provide quick and reasonably accurate solutions for a wide range of operating conditions enabling the user to determine how different injection parameters affect the spray quality.
ContributorsMoradi, Ali (Author) / Lee, Taewoo (Thesis advisor) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This study considered the impact of grid resolution on wind velocity simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The period simulated spanned November 2009 through January 2010, for which, multi-resolution nested domains were examined. Basic analysis was performed utilizing the data assimilation tools of NCEP/NCAR (National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research) to determine the ideal location to examine during the simulation was the Pacific Northwest portion of the United States, specifically the border between California and Oregon. The simulated mutli-resolution nested domains in this region indicated an increase in apparent wind speed as the resolution for the domain was increased. These findings were confirmed by statistical analysis which identified a positive bias for wind speed with respect to increased resolution as well as a correlation coefficient indicating the existence of a positive change in wind speed with increased resolution. An analysis of temperature change was performed in order to test the validity of the findings of the WRF simulation model. The statistical analysis performed on temperature change throughout the increased grid resolution did not indicate any change in temperature. In fact the correlation coefficient values between the domains were found in the 0.90 range, indicating the non-sensitivity of temperature across the increased resolutions. These results validate the findings of the WRF simulation: increased wind velocity can be observed at higher grid resolution. The study then considered the difference between wind velocity observed over the entire domains and the wind velocity observed solely over offshore locations. Wind velocity was observed to be significantly higher (an increase of 68.4%) in the offshore locations. The findings of this study suggest simulation tools should be utilized to examine domains at a higher resolution in order to identify potential locations for wind farms. The results go further to suggest the ideal location for these potential wind farms will be at offshore locations.
ContributorsBouey, Michael (Author) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Thesis advisor) / Trimble, Steve (Committee member) / Ronald, Ronald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012