Victor Petrov

This paper provides shadowgraphy and molecular tagging velocimetry (MTV) acquisition results and validates a computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) simulation for an underexpanded supersonic gas jet in a plenum pointed toward a wall with an aligned converging pipe outlet. Flow configurations of this type are encountered in pulse-jet systems for online industrial gas filter regeneration. Although previous CFD validation efforts for pulse-jet systems have relied on static pressure measurements, this work expands the validation data using high-resolution flow visualization and velocimetry techniques. Simulations were performed with an axisymmetric two-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes model and are in close agreement with the shadowgraphy and MTV data, including the description of Mach disks, barrel shocks, and reflected shocks in the underexpanded jet. The CFD model was finally applied to study the role of the converging tube downstream of the jet.

Consecutive oscillatory eruptions of a mixture of gas and liquid in urban stormwater systems, commonly referred to as sewer geysers, are investigated using transient three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. This study provides a detailed mechanistic understanding of geyser formation under partially filled dropshaft conditions, an area not previously explored in depth. The maximum geyser eruption velocities were observed to reach 14.58 m/s under fully filled initial conditions (hw/hd = 1) and reduced to 5.17 m/s and 3.02 m/s for partially filled conditions (hw/hd = 0.5 and 0.23, respectively). The pressure gradients along the horizontal pipe drove slug formation and correlated directly with the air ingress rates and dropshaft configurations. The influence of the dropshaft diameter was also assessed, showing a 116% increase in eruption velocity when the dropshaft to horizontal pipe diameter ratio (Dd/Dt) was reduced from 1.0 to 0.5. It was found that the strength of the geyser (as represented by the eruption velocity from the top of the dropshaft) increased with an increase in the initial water depth in the dropshaft and a reduction in the dropshaft diameter. Additionally, the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability criteria were satisfied during transitions from stratified to slug flow, and they were responsible for the jump and transition of the flow during the initial rise and fallback of the water in the dropshaft. The present study shows that, under an initially lower water depth in the dropshaft, immediate spillage is not guaranteed. However, the subsequent mixing of air from the horizontal pipe generated a less dense mixture, causing a change in pressure distribution along the tunnel, which drove the entire geyser mechanism. This study underscores the critical role of the initial conditions and geometric parameters in influencing geyser dynamics, offering practical guidelines for urban drainage infrastructure.

Drag force acting on swimming marine mammals is difficult to measure directly. Researchers often use simple modeling and kinematic measurements from animals, or computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to estimate drag. However, studies that compare these methods are lacking. Here, computational simulation and physical experiments were used to estimate drag forces on gliding bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). To facilitate comparison, variable drag loading (no‐tag, tag, tag + 4, tag + 8) was used to increase force in both simulations and experiments. During the experiments, two dolphins were trained to perform controlled glides with variable loading. CFD simulations of dolphin/tag geometry in steady flow (1–6 m/s) were used to model drag forces. We expect both techniques will capture relative changes created by experimental conditions, but absolute forces predicted by the methods will differ. CFD estimates were within a calculated 90% confidence interval of the experimental results for all but the tag condition. Relative drag increase predicted by the simulation vs. experiment, respectively, differed by between 21% and 31%: tag, 4% vs. 33%; tag + 4, 47% vs. 68%; and tag + 8, 108% vs. 77%. The results from this work provide a direct comparison of computational and experimental estimates of drag, and provide a framework to quantify uncertainty.

Turbulent free jets attracted the focus of many scientists within the past century regarding the understanding of mass- and momentum transport in the turbulent shear field, especially in the near-field and the self-similar region. Recent investigations attempt to understand the intermediate fields, called the mixing transition or ‘the route to self-similarity’. An apparent gap is recognized in light of this mixing transition, with two main conjectures being put forth. Firstly the flow will always asymptotically reach a fully self-similar state if boundary conditions permit. The second proposes partial and local self-similarity within the mixing transition. We address the later with an experimental investigation of the intermediate field turbulence dynamics in a non-confined free jet with a nozzle diameter of 12.7 mm and an outer scale Reynolds number of 15,000. High speed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to record the velocity fields with a final spatial resolution of 194 × 194 μm2. The analysis focuses on higher order moments and two-point correlations of velocity variances in space and time. We observed local self-similarity in the measured correlation fields. Coherent structures are present within the near-field where the turbulent energy spectrum cascades along a dissipative slope. Towards the transition region, the spectrum smoothly transforms to a viscous cascade, as it is commonly observed in the self-similar region.

The fuel cladding is an important barrier to the release of fission products to the environment. Its integrity must be conserved during the in-reactor lifetime and during the spent fuel pool and dry cask storage. The corrosive interaction between the cladding and the water coolant in light water reactors leads to the oxidation of the zirconium-based cladding. A fraction of the hydrogen released due to those corrosive interactions or the radiolysis of the water coolant is picked-up by the fuel cladding. It diffuses inside the cladding driven by the concentration and temperature gradients. Eventually, its concentration can increase beyond a certain limit above which hydrogen precipitates as hydrides. The formation of hydrides can embrittle the cladding and leads to micro-cracks that can compromise the cladding integrity.

At the spacer grids locations, the mixing vanes will create swirl flow and mixing of the coolant leading to a high temperature gradient on the fuel rod cladding. This temperature gradient is a strong driving force for hydrogen to diffuse from high to low temperature locations. Therefore, the hydrogen behavior around the spacer grids with mixing vanes is important to model. In this work, the computational fluid dynamics code START-CCM+ is used to model the effect of the mixing vanes on the temperature profile on the cladding outer surface. It ws coupled with the transport code MPACT and the fuel performance code BISON. The computational model consisted of a 5 × 5 fuel rods subassembly with a guide tube in the central location. The obtained cladding temperature profile on a fuel rod of interest was applied as a boundary condition to BISON to model the hydrogen behavior around the spacer grids in a three-dimensional manner. Three spacer grids were modeled at elevations of 217.9 cm, 270.14 cm and 322.35 cm. The hydrogen behavior at each of those locations is evaluated and compared to assess the importance order of those locations.

Turbulent mixing in density stratified environments represents a challenging task in experimental turbulence research. When optical measurement techniques like Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) are applied to stratified liquids, it is common practice to combine two aqueous solutions with different densities but equal refractive indices. As a result, light deflections/distortions due to the mixing of the fluids can be suppressed. While refractive image matching (RIM) was developed in the late ’70s, the limit of a 4% density ratio had yet to be reported before this work. In the present work, a methodology based on the behavior of changes in a multi component system while mixing is presented. This methodology allows RIM for solutions with higher density differences. The applicability of this methodology is experimentally demonstrated with a turbulent buoyant jet using a ternary combination of water, isopropanol and glycerol, for which an index matched density ratio of 8.6% has been achieved (Krohn et al. 2018). Measurements were conducted with a high fidelity synchronized PIV/PLIF system and the results are qualitatively compared in terms of turbulent statistics.

Attaching bio-telemetry or -logging devices (‘tags’) to marine animals for research and monitoring adds drag to streamlined bodies, thus affecting posture, swimming gaits and energy balance. These costs have never been measured in free-swimming cetaceans. To examine the effect of drag from a tag on metabolic rate, cost of transport and swimming behavior, four captive male dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were trained to swim a set course, either non-tagged (n=7) or fitted with a tag (DTAG2; n=12), and surface exclusively in a flow-through respirometer in which oxygen consumption () and carbon dioxide production (; ml kg−1 min−1) rates were measured and respiratory exchange ratio (/) was calculated. Tags did not significantly affect individual mass-specific oxygen consumption, physical activity ratios (exercise /resting ), total or net cost of transport (COT; J m−1 kg−1) or locomotor costs during swimming or two-minute recovery phases. However, individuals swam significantly slower when tagged (by ~11%; mean ± s.d., 3.31±0.35 m s−1) than when non-tagged (3.73±0.41 m s−1). A combined theoretical and computational fluid dynamics model estimating drag forces and power exertion during swimming suggests that drag loading and energy consumption are reduced at lower swimming speeds. Bottlenose dolphins in the specific swimming task in this experiment slowed to the point where the tag yielded no increases in drag or power, while showing no difference in metabolic parameters when instrumented with a DTAG2. These results, and our observations, suggest that animals modify their behavior to maintain metabolic output and energy expenditure when faced with tag-induced drag.

In order to assess the accuracy and validity of subchannel, system, and computational fluid dynamics codes, the Paul Scherrer Institut has participated in the OECD/NRC PSBT benchmark with the thermal-hydraulic system code TRACE5.0 developed by US NRC, the subchannel code FLICA4 developed by CEA, and the computational fluid dynamic code STAR-CD developed by CD-adapco. The PSBT benchmark consists of a series of void distribution exercises and departure from nucleate boiling exercises. The results reveal that the prediction by the subchannel code FLICA4 agrees with the experimental data reasonably well in both steady-state and transient conditions. The analyses of single-subchannel experiments by means of the computational fluid dynamic code STAR-CD with the CD-adapco boiling model indicate that the prediction of the void fraction has no significant discrepancy from the experiments. The analyses with TRACE point out the necessity to perform additional assessment of the subcooled boiling model and bulk condensation model of TRACE.

This work presents a sensitivity study of boiling and two phase flow models for thermal hydraulics simulations in nuclear reactors. This study quantifies sources of uncertainty and error in these simulations by computing global sensitivities of figures of merit, or output, to model parameters, inputs, and mesh resolution. Results are obtained for the DEBORA benchmark problem of boiling in a channel driven by a heated wall section. Scalar outputs of interest consist of axial pressure drop, average wall temperature in the heated section, average void fraction at the end of the heated section, and the centroid of the radial distribution of the void fraction at the end of the heated test section. Sensitivities to both individual heat fluxes and to the parameters in the models for these heat fluxes are computed.