Vol 26, No 4 (2017)

The oxidation of isobutane at high density of reagents in a mixture of i-C₄H₁₀/O₂/H₂O and i-C₄H₁₀/O₂/CO₂ with oxygen deficiency (a molar ratio [O₂]0/[i-C₄H10]0 = 3.5–5.8) has been studied for the first time. The experiments were carried out in a tubular reactor under uniform heating (1 K/min) to 590 K. Data on the kinetics, auto-ignition temperature, and the products of isobutane conversion have been obtained. The auto-ignition was found to be a two-stage process and begin at a temperature of 510–522 K. The heat capacity of the reaction mixture suppressed the autoacceleration of the oxidation. Mass spectrometric analysis of the reactants revealed a difference in the mechanisms of isobutane conversion in water vapor and carbon dioxide. In water vapor, the oxidation is dominant and is realized with the participation of vibrationally excited O*₂ molecules, which appear mainly from resonant exchange with H₂O* molecules. In the CO₂ medium, the oxidation proceeds against the background of intense isobutane dissociation, initiated by the vibrational pumping of i-C₄H₁₀ molecules in their resonant excitation by CO*₂ molecules.

This work relies on constructal design to perform the geometric optimization of morphing T-shaped fins that remove a constant heat generation rate from a rectangular basement. The fins are bathed by a steady stream with constant ambient temperature and convective heat transfer. The body that serves as a basement for the T-shaped construct generates heat uniformly and it is perfectly insulated on the outer perimeter. It is shown numerically that the global dimensionless thermal resistance of the T-shaped construct can be minimized by geometric optimization subjected to constraints, namely, the basement area constraint, the T-shaped fins area fraction constraint and the auxiliary area fraction constraint, i.e., the ratio between the area that circumscribes the T-shaped fin and the basement area. The optimal design proved to be dependent on the degrees of freedom (L₁/L₀, t₁/t₀, H/L): first achieved results indicate that when the geometry is free to morph then the thermal performance is improved according to the constructal principle named by Bejan “optimal distribution of imperfections.”

In this paper, the aerodynamic performance of the S series of wind turbine airfoils with different relative cambers and their modifications is numerically studied to facilitate a greater understanding of the effects of relative camber on the aerodynamic performance improvement of asymmetrical blunt trailing-edge modification. The mathematical expression of the blunt trailing-edge modification profile is established using the cubic spline function, and S812, S816 and S830 airfoils are modified to be asymmetrical blunt trailing-edge airfoils with different thicknesses. The prediction capabilities of two turbulence models, the k-ω SST model and the S-A model, are assessed. It is observed that the k-ω SST model predicts the lift and drag coefficients of S812 airfoil more accurately through comparison with experimental data. The best trailing-edge thickness and thickness distribution ratio are obtained by comparing the aerodynamic performance of the modifications with different trailing-edge thicknesses and distribution ratios. It is, furthermore, investigated that the aerodynamic performance of original airfoils and their modifications with the best thickness of 2% c and distribution ratio being 0:4 so as to analyze the increments of lift and drag coefficients and lift–drag ratio. Results indicate that with the increase of relative camber, there are relatively small differences in the lift coefficient increments of airfoils whose relative cambers are less than 1.81%, and the lift coefficient increment of airfoil with the relative camber more than 1.81% obviously decreases for the angle of attack less than 6.3°. The drag coefficient increment of S830 airfoil is higher than that of S816 airfoil, and those of these two airfoils mainly decrease with the angle of attack. The average lift–drag ratio increment of S816 airfoil with the relative camber of 1.81% at different angles of attack ranging from 0.1° to 20.2° is the largest, closely followed by S812 airfoil. The lift–drag ratio increment of S830 airfoil is negative as the angle of attack exceeds 0.1°. Thus, the airfoil with medium camber is more suited to the asymmetrical blunt trailing-edge modification.

This paper presents a numerical analysis of turbulent periodic flow and heat transfer in a rectangular channel with detached V-baffles. The computations are based on the finite volume method with the SIMPLE algorithm for handling the pressure–velocity coupling and using the QUICK scheme for the convection terms. Air is used as the test fluid with the air flow rate in terms of Reynolds numbers ranging from 3000 to 20,000. The effects of different detached-clearance ratios (c/H, CR) of 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2, baffles-pitch to square channel-diameter ratio (pitch ratio (p/H), PR) is 1.0, baffles-height to square channel-diameter ratio (blockage ratio (b/H), BR) is 0.10, and attack angle (α) is 45◦ on heat transfer, friction factor and thermal enhancement factor are investigated numerically. It is found that a pair of counter-rotating vortices (P-vortex) caused by the baffles can induce impingement/attachment flows repeatedly on the rectangular channel walls leading to a greater increase in the heat transfer over the test channel. The maximum thermal performance and heat transfer are found to be about 1.5 and 3.3, respectively for CR = 0.05 and Re = 3000, while the highest pressure loss is about 21.5 in the case of CR = 0.2 and Re = 20,000.

This paper studies the experimental evaluation of TiO₂ nanofluids in enhancing the heat transfer rate and friction factor on a micro-finned tube fitted with twisted tape inserts. Results show that the enhancement in heat transfer and pumping power completely depends on the concentration ratio of nanoparticles, pitch ratio and the type of pitch. Comparisons were made with the previous study with different operating parameters such as twist ratio and twist type. Viscosity of nanofluid increases with an increase in the concentration, which leads to increased pressure drop and pumping power. For the Reynolds number (Re = 4000), the maximum performance ratio was found as 2.1, 2, for concentration of 0.1 and 0.05, respectively. The addition of microfin arrangement inside the circular tube enhanced the performance ratio with minimum concentration of TiO₂ nanofluid.