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In this paper, a robust control strategy with a cascade structure is designed for the underactuated unmanned aerial manipulator (UAM) to perform favorable trajectory tracking, in the presence of model uncertainties and time-varying external disturbances (e.g. wind drag). In the position loop, a geometric distance is adopted as the criterion for the thrust design. Besides, both the model uncertainties and external disturbances are compensated by employing a robust term. In the attitude loop, the prescribed performance guarantees are enforced in the controller design to standardize transient performance on attitude errors. In particular, just relying on the necessary feedback states, an auxiliary system, the adaptive control technique, and the disturbance observer are respectively designed to estimate the model uncertainties and external disturbances. Through the Lyapunov stability theory analysis, the proposed approach based on a geometric distance can effectively track the desired trajectory. The results of the comparative simulations study demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed approach.

Experimental and numerical studies are carried out to validate the potential of opposing Plasma Synthetic Jet (PSJ) for drag reduction for a hemisphere. Firstly, flow field changes of opposing PSJ are analyzed by comparing the experimental schlieren images and simulation results in a supersonic free stream of Mach number 3. As PSJ is a kind of unsteady pulsed jet, the shock standoff distance increases initially and then decreases under the control of PSJ, which corresponds to the change of the strength of PSJ. Accordingly, the amount of drag reduction of the hemisphere increases initially and then decreases. It is found that there is a short period of “drag rise” during the formation of PSJ before the drag reduction, which is induced by the generation of normal shock waves and the area difference of the cavity wall of PSJ Actuator (PSJA). Secondly, the effects of five parameters, including exit diameter, discharge energy of PSJA, Mach number, static pressure of incoming flow and angle of attack, on drag reduction of opposing PSJ were studied in detail by using numerical method. It is found that the Maximum Pressure Ratio (MPR) has a significant impact on the average drag reduction for a configuration-determined PSJA. For the configuration selected in this study, the flow field of opposing PSJ shows typical Short Penetration Mode (SPM) in a control cycle of PSJ when the MPR is less than 0.89. However, the flow field shows typical Long Penetration Mode (LPM) at some time when the MPR is bigger than 0.89. Relatively better drag reduction is achieved in this case.

Origami, such as Miura-ori, is the art of folding two-dimensional materials into complex, elaborate, and multifunctional three-dimensional objects. In this paper, SMP MO sheet are prepared, and the accuracy of deployable process is verified by experiments. The folding and deployable process of SMP MO sheet is divided into 4 stages, and each stage is described in detail. The stiffness of smart deployable stage is characterized by an exponential decline at the beginning and a gradual decrease to 0, and this is similar to the theoretical shear equivalent modulus in the Y direction. The effects of various parameters on strain and stress are also explored. The purpose of studying these mechanical characteristics is to provide driving force reference in application; In terms of application, the flow field and electromagnetic characteristics of MO sheet in different directions are studied. The aerodynamic drag and RCS reduction of MO unit cell and graded MO sheet during the deployable process are evaluated. When the dihedral fold angle is about 45°, the RCS reduction and drag reduction characteristics of MO sheet are relatively optimal, which is most beneficial to morphing aircraft.

Mesoscale bubbles exist inherently in bubbling fluidized beds and hence should be considered in the constitutive modeling of the drag force. The energy minimization multiscale bubbling (EMMS/bubbling) drag model takes the effects of mesoscale structures (i.e., bubbles) into the modeling of drag coefficient and thus improves the coarse-grid simulation of bubbling and turbulent fluidized beds. However, its dependence on the bubble diameter correlation has not been thoroughly investigated. The hydrodynamic disparity between homogeneous and heterogeneous fluidization is accounted for by the heterogeneity index, Hd, which can be affected by choice of bubble diameter correlation. How this choice of bubble diameter correlation influences the model prediction calls for further fundamental research. This article incorporated seven different bubble diameter correlations into EMMS/bubbling drag model and studied their effects on Hd. The performance of these correlations has been compared with the correlation used previously by EMMS/bubbling drag model. We found that some of the correlations predicted lower Hd by order of a magnitude than the correlation used by the original EMMS/bubbling drag. Based on such analysis, we proposed a modification in the EMMS drag model for bubbling and turbulent fluidized beds. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation using two-fluid model with the modified EMMS/bubbling drag model was performed for two bubbling and one turbulent fluidized beds. Voidage distribution, time averaged solid concentration and axial solid concentration profiles were studied and compared with the previous version of the EMMS/bubbling drag model and experimental data. We found that the right choice of bubble diameter correlations can significantly improve the results for CFD simulations.

The present study numerically, investigates the aerodynamic characteristics of low speed flow past symmetric NACA airfoils, for various t/c values of 0.10, 0.15, 0.18, 0.21 and 0.24 at chordwise Reynolds numbers of 2 × 105 and 4 × 105, where t is the airfoil thickness and c is the airfoil chord. The presence of laminar separation bubble is indicated by oscillatory behaviour of pressure coefficient on the suction surface beyond peak pressure. The fluctuations in lift/drag are seen at smaller t/c values of 0.10 and 0.15, whereas no fluctuations are seen at a higher t/c value of 0.21. An empirical expression is developed to predict the mean lift, viscous as well as total drag coefficients for symmetric airfoils as a function of t/c only, which varies linearly for both the Reynolds numbers studied. The velocity vectors show the flow separations phenomenon only at smaller t/c values of 0.10 and 0.15, while at a higher t/c value of 0.21, well behaved and steady flow field is seen, which might be the reason for the absence of lift/drag fluctuations. The far-field acoustic measurements of symmetric NACA airfoils for various thickness ratios reveal that thicker airfoil (NACA0021, t/c = 0.21) radiates lower acoustic emissions (i.e., about 2 dB) as compared to the thinner (NACA0010, t/c = 0.10) ones.

Spacecraft in low-Earth orbit are exposed to environmental threats which can lead to material degradation and component failures. The presence of atomic oxygen and collisions from orbital debris have detrimental effects on the structures, thus affecting their performance. Cranfield University has developed a family of drag augmentation systems (DAS), for end-of-life de-orbit of satellites, addressing the space debris challenge and ensuring that satellites operate responsibly and sustainably. Deorbit devices are stowed on-orbit for the duration of the mission lifetime and, once deployed, the devices must withstand this harsh low-Earth environment until re-entry; a process which can take several years. The DAS’ deployable aluminised Kapton sails are particularly susceptible to undercutting by atomic oxygen. In preparation for commercialising the DAS, Cranfield University and Belstead Research Ltd. have submitted several joint proposals to better understand the degradation process of the drag sail materials and to qualify the materials for the specific application of drag sails in low Earth Orbit (LEO). This paper will outline the proposals and the expected benefits from the projects. Additionally, collisions with debris could accelerate the degradation of the system and generate additional debris. This paper will discuss a future ESABASE2 risk assessment study, aiming to quantifying the probability of collisions between the deployed drag sail and orbital debris. The atmospheric models required to simulate the aforementioned risks are complex and often fail to accurately predict performance or degradation observed in the space environment. A previous UKSA Pathfinder project highlighted this issue when different atmospheric models with varying levels of solar activity yielded drastically different re-entry times. Since Cranfield University has two deployed drag sails in orbit, previous de-orbit analysis performed using STELA and DRAMA will be updated and the simulations will be compared to actual data. This paper will conclude in a summation of the different on-going research projects at Cranfield University related to commercialising the DAS family. This research will benefit the wider space community by expanding the understanding of the effects of long-term exposure on certain materials, as well as improving the validity of future low Earth atmospheric models.

The droplet velocity and diameter significantly affect both the spatial drift loss and the interfacial deposition behaviors, thus determining the ultimate utilization efficiency during pesticide spraying. Investigating the spatial velocity and diameter evolutions can reveal the mechanism of drift loss and guide to design regulation strategy. Here, we explored the spatial velocity distribution of droplets after leaving the nozzle by particle image velocimetry technology and particle tracking model, considering that the effect of nozzle configuration and the air velocity. It shows that all droplets decelerate rapidly with the velocity attenuation ratio ranging from 50% to 80% within the region of 200 mm below the nozzle. The spatial velocity evolution differences between droplets in crossflow are determined by the competition of vertical drag force and net gravity, and the drag force sharply increases as the droplet diameter decreases, especially for that smaller than 150 μm. Based on the spatial evolution differences of the droplet velocity and diameter, a functional adjuvant was added to the liquid for improving the diameter distribution. And the drift loss was significantly reduced due to the reduction of the proportion of easily drifting droplets.

Lodging occurs when the crop canopy is too heavy for the strength of the stem and it falls over onto the ground. This decreases crop yield and quality, and it makes harvest difficult. A research experiment was set up in a spearmint field on a center pivot with mid elevation spray application (MESA) overhead sprinklers, where the water was applied from a “mid elevation” of 2 m above the ground level (AGL), and low elevation precision application (LEPA) sprinklers, where the water was emitted directly onto the soil surface through drag hoses without wetting the crop canopy. Every-other span of this full-size center pivot was configured with MESA and LEPA sprinklers alternatively. In 2018, imagery was collected with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a cross section of this field. In 2019, a cross section was again collected, but in addition UAV imagery was collected from marked lodged and un-lodged areas of the field to validate the lodging detection method. These UAV-based imagery data were captured with a ground sample distance (GSD) of 0.03 m. This research introduces using the texture feature, which is based on image entropy, was used to evaluate the degree of lodging. The results from 2018 showed that the average entropy of the grayscale image from LEPA (5.5 (mean) ± 0.27 (standard deviation)) was significantly (P < 0.0001) greater than the average entropy (5.0 ± 0.25) of MESA. Also, the entropy value extracted from the images in 2019 from the marked un-lodged locations were significantly higher compared to that of the lodged areas. Overall, the LEPA irrigation treatment was significantly less lodged compared to MESA. Moreover, the entropy value, or texture feature, is a viable method for estimating lodging using low altitude RGB imagery.

A novel method for close-proximity formation flying under differential atmospheric drag using Coulomb forces is investigated for applications in Earth sensing, space-situational awareness (SSA), and aeronomy. Objects in LEO are supersonic with respect to the ambient environment, creating a thinned out wake region behind the craft as it travels through the ionosphere. Objects within this wake experience little drag acceleration and are able to attain voltages much greater than in the ambient ionospheric plasma, creating implications for the design and control of close-proximity leader–follower spacecraft pairs. The proposed system consists of a leader craft with a set of affixed, conducting spheres and a charged follower craft located in the wake of the leader. The differential drag acceleration between the leader and follower craft is countered by a controlled Coulomb repulsion to maintain precise separation. The charged structure on the rear of the leader craft is designed such that the charged follower craft sits in an electrostatic potential well which opposes off-axis perturbations. A conceptual method for controlling such a pair without the use of propellant using a set of charged spheres is investigated, with nonlinear models of the system’s relative motion derived and discussed. Linearized models are used to demonstrate the local controllability of the system to demonstrate the proposed system’s merit. This linear analysis is used to derive conditions on controllability and control performance under different charge geometries and environmental assumptions.

The operation of connected platooning vehicles (CPVs) with V2V and V2I techniques has the potential to decrease the overall aerodynamic drag and reduce fuel consumption. One of the key technologies for CPVs is the spacing control which is heavily dependent on the drag force. However, the existing studies on drag coefficient of CPVs seldom pay attention to heterogeneous platoon, and most analysis only consider the effect of vehicle spacing and ignore key information such as cross-sectional area of adjacent vehicles. In addition, most research only focuses on qualitative research, without concluding a quick formula for calculating vehicle drag coefficient in a platoon. In this work, we investigate the modeling and estimation of drag coefficient in terms of the inter-vehicle distances, the platoon configurations, and the cross-sectional area of the adjacent vehicles. We calculate the drag coefficients for ten categories of vehicles with different inter-vehicle distances via numerical analysis in the software FLUENT. According to hundreds of the analysis results, we propose a model to estimate the drag correction factor online. A hybrid algorithm combining the BP neural network (BPNN) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to optimize the parameters in the model. The model is validated via three kinds of regression evaluation indexes and additional simulation tests with different platooning configurations and different types of vehicles. In terms of the comparison results, the developed model is effective to estimate the drag coefficients of CPVs.

The improvement of thermal-hydraulic analysis techniques is essential to ensure the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants. The one-dimensional two-fluid model has been adopted in state-of-the-art thermal-hydraulic system codes. Current constitutive equations used in the system codes reach a mature level. Some exceptions are the partition method of wall friction in the momentum equation of the two-fluid model and the interfacial drag force model for a horizontal two-phase flow. This study is focused on deriving the partition method of wall friction in the momentum equation of the two-fluid model and modeling the interfacial drag force model for a horizontal bubbly flow. The one-dimensional momentum equation in the two-fluid model is derived from the local momentum equation. The derived one-dimensional momentum equation demonstrates that total wall friction should be apportioned to gas and liquid phases based on the phasic volume fraction, which is the same as that used in the SPACE code. The constitutive equations for the interfacial drag force are also identified. Based on the assessments, the Rassame-Hibiki correlation, Hibiki-Ishii correlation, Ishii-Zuber correlation, and Rassame-Hibiki correlation are recommended for computing the distribution parameter, interfacial area concentration, drag coefficient, and relative velocity covariance of a horizontal bubbly flow, respectively.

A cluster-based drag model is proposed for the gas–solid circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser by including the cluster information collected from image processing and wavelet analysis into the calculation of system drag. The performance of the proposed drag model is compared with some commonly used drag models. A good agreement with the experimental data is achieved by the proposed cluster-based drag model. Error analysis of the proposed cluster-based drag model based on the local distributions of solids holdup and particle velocity is conducted. The clustering phenomenon in the low-density and high-density CFB risers and the effect of the cluster size on the simulation accuracy are also numerically studied by the proposed drag model.

Modern small satellite constellations are demanding quick spacecraft commissioning and high duty cycle for their payload operations. In a conventional small satellite mission architecture, operations time is often split between different modes that require different spacecraft attitudes to achieve their goal. For example, drag-based orbit maneuvering can be used for creating relative separation between constellation members, and with spacecraft consisting of single rigid bodies, dedicated attitude manipulation is required to perform these operations. The attitudes that take advantage of the body asymmetries to modify the drag area are generally incompatible with the attitude maneuvering required for payload operations. At the constellation scale, these downtimes in the payload operation schedule can greatly reduce the overall capability of the system. By including deployable, articulating solar arrays in the design of small spacecraft, array pointing can be decoupled from the main payload pointing operations. With these pieces decoupled, payload operations can proceed uninterrupted while the articulating arrays enable power generation or drag-based orbit maneuvering. The focus of this paper is the demonstration of the articulating arrays as a means of enabling drag-based orbit phasing, while agile attitude maneuvering for payload operations proceeds concurrently. The dynamic equations of the multibody system are derived, and guidance, navigation, and control considerations for achieving decoupled attitude and articulation objectives are presented. Results are shown for attitude performance as well as for the orbit maneuvering performance achieved through array articulation.

The challenges found in geothermal well drilling have forced the industry to develop new significant cost effective, time savertechnologies to go for deeper geothermal resources beyond their traditional limits. To overcome these challenges, the new Dual String Drilling (DSD) technology which is based on penetration pathway of drilling fluid and rock cuttings during drilling a well. The principle of DSD employs drilling fluid flows through the annulus of inner and outer string pipe while cutting from the bottom of the well through inner pipe. The paper describes the novel Dual String Drilling (DSD) technology, predicting their occurrence and advantages on drilling of geothermal well. The outcome shows that with DSD approach a lot of time will be saved to circulate the kick out of the well. Additionally, the characteristic response of DSD enables to improve the hole cleaning capacity, to prevent pipe stuck, better well stability, reduction in torque and drag, to remove the dynamic equivalent circulating density gradient in geothermal wells. Moreover, the paper also depicts the system and method for dual coil tubing drilling of horizontal well which follows the same principle as DSD. The comparison of DSD with conventional drilling assesses that the DSD technology is affordable and appropriate for geothermal well drilling.

This paper presents a dynamical analysis of a tethered aerostat using a multibody simulation tool called SimscapeMultibody™. Tethered aerostats are lighter than air vehicles that float in the air and are connected to the ground through the tether. Atmospheric winds are a source of disturbance to the aerostat. The wind produces drag force that causes the aerostat to displace from its mean position. This phenomenon is called blow-by. Solving the mathematical model of the motion dynamics with time step is the conventional method used for simulating the flight dynamics of the aerostat. This paper discusses the application of Simscape Multibody™ for the three-degrees-of-freedom flight dynamic simulation of spherical tethered aerostat. Simscape Multibody™, an extension of MATLAB®/Simulink, is a multibody modeling tool in which physical bodies and their interactions have to be defined to simulate the dynamics. The mathematical model of the defined system is automatically generated by the SimscapeMultibody™ solver, and the system dynamics is simulated. The simulation of dynamics using multibody modeling tools provides high fidelity simulation for the tethered aerostats.

In this research, a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) accelerated Discrete Element Method (DEM) code was developed and coupled with the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software MFiX to simulate granular and multiphase flows with heat transfers and chemical reactions. The Fortran-based CFD solver was coupled with the CUDA/C++ based DEM solver through inter-process pipes. The speedup to the CPU version of MFiX-DEM is about 130–243 folds in the simulation of particle packings. In fluidized bed simulations, the DEM computation time is reduced from 91% to 17% with a speedup of 78 folds. The simulation of Geldart A particle fluidization revealed a similar level of importance of both fluid and particle coarse-graining. The filtered drag derived from the two-fluid model is suitable for Euler-Lagrangian simulations with both fluid and particle coarse-graining. It overcorrects the influence of sub-grid structures if used for simulations with only fluid coarse-graining.

Three-way coupled numerical simulations of particle-laden fluid flow around a square obstacle are performed by a coupled finite-volume and discrete-element method, taking account of the collisions between particles. The fluid flow is described by the Eulerian formalism, while the Lagrangian formalism is used for the solid particles. The dynamics of each phase and the modulation mechanism of the flow field by the inertial particles are explored. The Reynolds number based on the side length of the obstacle is 100, which leads to a typical periodic flow pattern of vortex shedding. Under the action of particles, the flow tends to be chaotic even in the upstream region, and the vortex shedding occurs earlier. The intensity of the vortex is attenuated due to particle dissipation. At sufficiently small Stokes numbers, the particles exhibit flow tracer behavior with relatively high fidelity. However, as the Stokes number and mass loading increase, the interaction between the particles and fluid becomes important, especially in the core region of the channel. With the increase of the particle response time, the spanwise velocity fluctuation is attenuated, while the influence on the streamwise velocity fluctuation seems complicated. No particles are observed to hit the rear surface of the obstacle or deposit in the domain during the flow. When the Stokes number and mass loading are elevated from 0.0036 and 0.065 to 0.5 and 9.024, respectively, the distribution of the particles near the channel centerline varies from being filled in the shedding vortices to surrounding them. Meanwhile, the particle-free zones centered on these vortices become larger. For the Stokes number and mass loading up to 1.5 and 27.073, respectively, the particles are scattered in the downstream area, and the flow pattern of the Karman vortex street is modified. Within the range of the Stokes number considered, the drag and lift coefficients, and the Strouhal number also show a certain trend of variation.

In real life applications, variations in diffusivity properties are incorporated in order to estimate accurately the transfer rate of heat/mass. This phenomenon has significant impact on liquid diffusion, electronics, moisture migration process, building insulation, vapors diffusion. Thus, present analysis based on the Darcy Forchheimer theory is introduced to study the stagnation flow mechanism in a rotating disk. The nanoparticles to be saturated are illustrated by the constitutive relationship of a second grade fluid. The flow is also subjected to hydro-magnetic phenomenon. Nonlinear stratification along with varying features of thermal conductivity is incorporated for the better understanding of variations in heat transport process. Variable character of thermophoretic and Brownian diffusions on the nanoparticles transportation in the base fluid is also discussed. The features of solutal slip and thermal jump are exercised to examine the mass and heat transfer. Thermal radiation as well as chemical reaction is also assumed in transport equations. The equations govern the physical process are made non-dimensional by introducing appropriate variables. An analytical series solutions are then achieved using a convergent scheme. The behaviors of dimensionless involved constants on flow fields are depicted through graphs. Rates of heat and mass transfers and drag force are also studied through graphical description. In this study, it is concluded that the minimum temperature exists corresponding to higher thermal stratified and temperature jump parameters. Larger inertia parameter enhances the both radial and tangential velocity components. Higher diffusive parameter intensifies the concentration function.

The motion of blood conveying gold nanoparticles on a curved surface when suction, thermal radiation, and Lorentz force are significant is explored in this report with the aim to announce the increasing effects of Williamson fluid parameter, volume fraction, radius of curvature, thermal radiation, and Lorentz force on such a transport phenomenon. This report was designed to explore the upper and lower solutions of the model suitable to study the enhancement of the aforementioned variables. The similarity solution of the dimensional governing equation was sought for using the appropriate similarity variables. These dimensionless forms of ODEs are numerically solved using the 3-stage Lobatto formula, also known as bvp4c. The validation of the numerical scheme was considered. The drag force decelerated and then upsurges owing to the volume fraction of nanoparticles in the corresponding UBS and reduces in LBS, while the rate of heat transfer drastically decreases. The temperature and velocity gradient escalate and decelerate, respectively for both branches of results owing to the effect of higher curvature parameter. The temperature distribution decelerates in both outcomes due to the strengthened of mass suction while the velocity weakened in the lower branch solution (LBS) and augments in the upper branch solution (UBS).

Quantifying incipient sediment motion in vegetated open channel flow is pivotal for estimating bed load transport and the aquatic ecological environment in rivers. A new formula is developed to predict the critical flow velocity for incipient sediment motion in the presence of emergent vegetation, by incorporating the influence of vegetation drag that characterizes the effects of mean flow and turbulence on sediment movement. The proposed formula is shown to agree with existing experimental data. Moreover, the proposed formula is extended to scenarios with submerged vegetation, suggesting that the vegetation drag may be the inherent impact factor for incipient sediment motion in vegetated open channel flow.

The understanding of the flow characteristics and effect of gas-solid interactions in pneumatic risers is fundamental to investigate to ensure effective design cost-effective operation. Thus, to understand the effect of gas-solid interactions on the hydrodynamics of newly proposed conversing risers, this study mainly focused on predicting pressure drop in the dilute phase pneumatic conveying system. The experiments were conducted in a converging riser having a convergence angle of 0.2693°. Various solid particles such as sago, black mustard, and alumina have been considered to study the effect of particle sizes and density on the pressure drop. The experimental outcomes indicate that the total pressure drop increases with an increase in the solid density and gas mass flow rate. Moreover, smaller particle sizes are also increased the pressure drop. An empirical correlation is developed for the prediction of total pressure drop ΔPT in converging pneumatic riser via dimensional analysis. All dependent variables such as particle and air density, drag force, acceleration due to gravity, the mass flow rate of air and particle, the diameter of particle and converging riser, the height of converging riser were considered to develop the empirical correlation. The established relationship is tested, and experimental data have been fitted for its validation. The estimated relative error of less than 0.05 proved the significance of the developed correlation. Hence, it can be stated that the established relationship is useful in studying the effects of various parameters on the pressure drop across the length of the conversing riser.

According to environmental and energy issues, renewable energy has been vigorously promoted. Now solar power is widely used in many areas but it is limited by the weather conditions and cannot work continuously. Heat storage is a considerable solution for this problem and thermochemical energy storage is the most promising way because of its great energy density and stability. However, this technology is not mature enough to be applied to the industry. The reactor is an important component in the thermochemical energy storage system where the charging and discharging process happens. In this paper, a spiral coil is proposed and used as a reactor in the thermochemical energy storage system. The advantages of the spiral coil include simple structure, small volume, and so on. To investigate the flow characteristics, the simulation was carried out based on Energy-Minimization Multi-Scale model (EMMS) and Eulerian two-phase model. CaCO3 particles were chosen as the reactants. Particle distribution was shown in the results. The gas initial velocity was set to 2 m·s-1, 3 m·s-1, and 4 m·s-1. When the particles flowed in the coil, gravity, centrifugal force and drag force influenced their flow. With the Reynold numbers increasing, centrifugal and drag force got larger. Accumulation phenomenon existed in the coil and results showed with the gas velocity increasing, accumulation moved from the bottom to the outer wall of the coil. Besides, the accumulation phenomenon was stabilized when φ>720°. Also due to the centrifugal force, a secondary flow formed, which means solid particles moved from the inside wall to the outside wall. This secondary flow could promote turbulence and mixing of particles and gas. In addition, when the particle volume fraction is reduced from 0.2 to 0.1, the accumulation at the bottom of the coil decreases, and the unevenness of the velocity distribution becomes larger.

The quest to achieve high launching frequency and higher speed is one of the key goals for researchers in the field of underwater projectiles. Many methods have been proposed for reducing the drag force to reach higher speed, such as superhydrophobic surface, compliant surface, and so on. One of the most effective methods is supercavitating drag reduction technology, which can be used to achieve a significant reduction of hydrodynamic drag by wrapping a large, continuous cavity around the underwater projectile. To increase launching frequency and decrease drag force of underwater projectiles, a serial multi-projectiles structure based on the principle of supercavitation is proposed in this paper. However, the matching relationships of serial multiprojectiles between different conditions (cavitation number, distance between projectiles, etc.) and the drag characteristics have not been investigated, because obtaining the relationship between drag characteristics and different conditions requires simulation time and extensive calculations. In this paper, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method and machine learning method were coupled to investigate the natural supercavitation phenomenon of the serial projectiles to reduce the computational cost and improve the simulation accuracy. Firstly, the numerical simulation model for the underwater supercavitating projectile is established and verified by experimental data. Then the evolution of the supercavitation for the serial multi-projectiles is described. In addition, the effects of different cavitation numbers and different distances between projectiles are investigated to demonstrate the supercavitation and drag reduction performance. Finally, the artificial neural network (ANN) model is established to predict the evolution of drag coefficient based on the data obtained by CFD. The results predicted by ANN are in good agreement with the data obtained by CFD. The findings provide helpful guidance for the research on the drag reduction characteristics of underwater serial projectiles. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: (1) The cavity will develop, fuse and collapse in the water and natural supercavitation phenomenon is observed when underwater serial projectiles move at a high speed. The serial multi-projectile structure can reduce the drag of the second projectile and achieve the goal of drag reduction. (2) The length and aspect ratio of supercavity around serial projectiles decrease with the decreasing of the cavitation number, and the drag coefficient of the second projectile decreases. The length and aspect ratio of supercavity decrease with the 3 decreasing of the distance between serial projectiles, and the drag coefficient of the second projectile decreases. (3) The drag coefficient of the second projectile predicted from the ANN model has a high accuracy, where the regression R2 values of training, validation, and testing samples are above 0.99. Machine learning has an obvious advantage in simplifying computational complexity and increasing computational efficiency. Furthermore, the discussion of different cases is based on static projectiles. However, in real-world applications, the movement of serial projectiles should be considered. This is the future direction for this work.

Fluids like hybrid nanofluids have great potential that present exceptional thermal behavior and thermophysical properties as compare to ordinary nanofluids. Hybrid nanofluids are obtained by the mixture of two different nanoparticles in a base fluid. Many scholars stated that hybrid-nanofluids could be replaced by conventional coolants, especially fluids which work at high temperature. Therefore, these kinds of nanofluids are less damaging for environmental impact and also lead to save energy. The main idea of hybrid nanofluids is to develop performance of heat transfer and its advantages has directed to comparatively good hope for its applications. The objective of present article is to examine 3D stagnation point flow of hybrid nanofluid passes along a stretchable heated wavy cylinder under the impact of variable thickness and slip conditions. For this purpose we consider alloy particles of AA7075 + AA7072 and AA7072 which are suspended in methanol liquid. The alloy particles merged in this analysis are entirely manufactured materials as well as possessing higher heat transfer characteristics. Alloy AA7072 is a combination of zinc and aluminum in ratio 1:98 with addition of metals like silicon, copper and ferrous. Similarly, alloy AA7075 is a combination of zinc, aluminum, copper and magnesium in ratio −6, −9, −1 and −3 respectively with addition of metals like silicon, magnesium and ferrous. The scenario of this model is scrutinized mathematically by captivating induced magnetic field with in the domain of thermal boundary layer. Similarity transformations are deployed to change the governing equations into nonlinear ODEs and consequently solved this system through bvp4c solver. The impact of emerging parameters on velocity, induction and energy distributions are examined through graphical depiction. Furthermore, heat transfer rates and drag forces near the boundary are designed numerically in tabular form.

To improve the drag reduction performances of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), a three dimensional numerical investigation about the water removal in a lotus-like PEMFC flow channel is carried out. The effects of the microstructure shape parameters (height, radius and spacing) are investigated. The investigation revealed that the liquid water can be effectively removed by the lotus-like flow channel from the channel wall surface. The appropriate height of lotus-like channel can effectively reduce the water coverage ratio on the top wall of the lotus-like flow channel. As height increases, the average drag reduction ratio increases firstly and decreases finally. When the radiuses are 25 μm and 50 μm, the average drag reduction ratios of these cases are higher than those of the other cases obviously. The spacing of the lotus-like channel has a few effects on the water removal and water coverage ratio. The lotus-like flow channel with the height of 50 μm, the radius of 50 μm and the spacing of 150 μm has a high drag reduction and anti-corrosion performance. The work in this study provides a new choice for the flow channel and has certain guiding significance for the design of the flow channel for anti-corrosion and drag reduction.

For drag-free satellites, one core technology required to achieve the mission requirements is the capture control of the test mass after release. The purpose of capture control is to avoid collisions between test mass and satellite cavity. Currently, there are few studies concerning the capture control of test mass after release. This paper presented a high-precision capture control method for the test mass release, which covers attitude-orbit modeling with 12 degrees of freedom, RBF neural network adaptive sliding mode controller design, actuation waveforms selection, actuation strategy selection, performance results, and contrast analysis.

In the present work, the hydrodynamics behavior of a 3D small-scale cold flow modeling of a gas-solid tapered fluidized bed is evaluated with the Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid modeling (TFM) approach. The sensitivity of different modeling parameters, including lift and virtual mass forces, viscous force, gas-solid drag force, granular temperature, granular viscosity, granular pressure, particle-wall specularity coefficient, particle-particle restitution coefficient, and particle-wall restitution coefficient, are systematically investigated to optimize the performance of the present numerical model. The results from different sensitivity analyses reveal that the gas-particle drag force is a more important force to resolve the correct time-averaged axial and radial solids holdup profiles of the tapered fluidized bed than the other investigated parameters. The highest accuracy possible from simulations is achieved from the Gibilaro drag model followed by the Arastoopour and EMMS/bubbling models. In contrast, all other drag models over-predict the gas-particle interaction force. The assessment of the lift and virtual mass forces, viscous force, granular temperature, granular viscosity, granular pressure, and particle-wall restitution coefficient results reveal that these parameters are less critical for the numerical simulations of the tapered fluidized bed than the gas-solid drag force. However, the assessment of particle-wall specularity coefficient and particle-particle restitution coefficient reveals that adjusting these parameters in the numerical simulations is helpful to achieve a better agreement between the experimental data and model results. For the higher gas flow rate, the current work shows that a better agreement can be achieved by tuning the parameter values in the standard sub-models than the previously published TFM studies. Meanwhile, for the lower gas flow rate, the accuracy of the present work is slightly lower than the previously published work but acceptable with the experimental measurements. The current work has an advantage over the previously published work in terms of lower computational effort by using the simplified geometry and mean particle diameter assumptions.

Flocculation occurring in a feedwell plays a critical role in tailings slurry thickening process, which is complicated and significantly influenced by flow characteristics. This work presents a numerical approach to explore the effect of flow characteristics on flocculation performance. It combines an aggregation kernel and a breakage kernel, used to describe the polymer-bridging flocculation kinetics, with a conventional Computational Fluid Dynamics-Population Balance Model (CFD-PBM) coupling to model the complex flocculation-thickening behavior in a lab-scale gravity thickener. The solid-liquid phase interaction is described by an Euler-Euler approach with a modified Schiller-Naumann drag model. The turbulence of liquid phase is resolved by the RNG k-e turbulence model, while the solid kinematic eddy viscosity is described by a dispersed phase zero equation model. The capability of this proposed model is validated by a good agreement between experimental and predicted results in terms of single-liquid velocity and floc size distribution. The momentum and turbulence dissipation rates are investigated in and around the feedwell over a wide range of feed velocities, showing that the momentum and turbulence dissipation rates have a positive correlation with feed velocity. The momentum and turbulence dissipation rates decrease with the increase in scaled depth in the feedwell. The formation of large vortexes in the feedwell may cause a locally low turbulence dissipation rate. A reasonable increase of feed velocity favours the flocculation, however, an excessive feed velocity can cause a decrease in mean floc size. Modelling tailings flocculation is of great significance for understanding the flocculation behavior and revealing the effect of flow characteristics on flocculation performance.

This study investigates the movement behavior of particles of dissimilar morphology in the powder bed in Laser Powder Bed Fusion. Gas atomized (GA) and water atomized (WA) low alloy steel powders were employed to study their motion around the laser scan path. Particle velocities, entrainment distances and denudation zones were measured for both powders using high-speed imaging. The entrainment of GA powder particles in front of the laser beam towards the process area was initiated 1.6 mm from the edge of the melt pool, whereas the distance was 0.6–0.8 mm for the WA powder. The differences in observed behavior were related to the variations in particle shape of the two types of powder. The processing of WA powder resulted in a 16% narrower denudation zone (for a low volumetric energy density) compared to GA powder. However, the denudation width difference decreased with increasing volumetric energy density, most likely due to a steeper pressure gradient in the process area which diminishes the impact of powder shape. X-ray computed microtomography was utilized to estimate the drag force acting on the powder particles of various morphologies. The results showed that the radial drag force exerted on GA powder was 64% greater than when using WA powder. Moreover, if the WA powder particles were of elongated shape the drag force decreased by almost an order of magnitude, demonstrating the importance of the particle's morphology in the process dynamics.

The utilization of renewable energy harvesting equipment is one of the methods to reduce the level of environmental pollution risks to the world. Water and wind are considered as environmental potential resources which have become attractive features of urban utilization through different wind and hydrokinetic turbine design technology. While no large-scale Savonius turbines have been developed yet, one of the popular designs is the small-scale rotor, which utilizes a drag-based vertical axis. The advantages of this type of rotor are easy to design, inexpensive, perform well at low speed, and have the capacity to turn independently to the wind-water direction flow. However, through a number of investigations on the performance the Savonius rotor, it was found to suffer from inefficient operation and a large amount of negative torques produced by the returning blade. To resolve the limitations in performance of the Savonius turbine, many optimization techniques and assessments have been conducted on different rotor types. The studies presented and discussed the challenges and changes in variations of rotor design parameters and their significant influence on rotor performance. In order to increase the unit's output without extra cost, improving variable parameters and reducing torques were accomplished in the negative direction while decreasing maintenance cost. Hence, the data collected were classified based on geometric and installation aspect parameters, and different optimization studies were summarized based on several influencing parameters.

Resonance Acoustic Mixing® (RAM) technology applies an external low-frequency vertical harmonic vibration to mix and deagglomerate fine and ultrafine granular materials. However, although this system is used for various applications, its mechanism is yet not well understood. To address this gap in the knowledge, in this study, a continuum model of powder in a low-frequency vertical harmonic vibration container was established, and spectral proper orthogonal decomposition was used to analyse the slip velocity. The mechanism of fine particle deagglomeration with vertical harmonic vibration is proposed. The slip velocity at the interface between the particles and air has a significant periodic character and produces a persistent drag force on the particles. As the vibrational excitation frequency increases, the bandwidth of the slip velocity becomes narrower and the peak frequency becomes equal to the vibrational frequency. The drag force produced by the periodic slip velocity is the main contribution to the deagglomeration force, which needs to overcome aggregation forces (e.g., van der Waals force). The strength of the deagglomeration force determines the overall deagglomeration performance and the particle size distribution of the agglomerates.

Laminar cross-flow over a circular cylinder with smooth as well as longitudinally grooved surfaces was investigated numerically for low freestream Reynolds number ranging from 50 to 300. Most of the currently published works on similar flow configurations considered high Reynolds number in the turbulent regime. The computations were performed by the ANSYS Fluent code. The numerical results were validated against the experimental results. The triangular V-shaped, the U-shaped, and Rectangular shaped grooves, with unit aspect ratio; along with the smooth cylinder, are considered. The predicted flow-field for the grooved cylinder cases are analyzed and compared with that for the smooth cylinder. The aerodynamic loads, time-averaged velocities, rms velocity, vorticity, and pressure coefficient plots around the smooth and grooved cylinders were compared to explore the effect of the shape of the grooves on flow dynamics over the cylinder. The flow physics around the cylinder is significantly affected by the shape and size of the grooves, and their circumferential distribution. It is found that the U-grooves significantly decrease the mean drag coefficient (around 13% for Re = 200 and 10% for Re = 300 compared to the smooth cylinder case). The grooves decreased viscous drag significantly (up to 30%) compared to pressure drag. The grooves on the cylinder also delayed the separation and reduced the extent of the recirculation zone in the cylinder wake due to the presence of recirculating flow within the individual grooves. The conclusion is that the properly designed longitudinal grooves on the cylinder in a cross-flow can be used advantageously for reducing aerodynamic loads like drag and lift force in laminar flow as well.

In this paper, an optimization procedure is proposed to find platform and mooring system configurations which most effectively reduce the dynamic response of a semisubmersible 10 MW Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT). This is done by developing an efficient frequency domain simulation model able to account for the viscous drag forces and the contributions to the equation of motion stemming from turbine and mooring lines. The objective function is the value of the Response Amplitude Operator (RAO) at the eigenfrequency of the selected degree of freedom (DoF) of the system. Both parked and power production states are investigated. Feasibility constraints related to mean displacements and moorings layout are considered. Results show that optimized configurations can be found with better performances and smaller platform dimensions with respect to the configuration obtained by scaling up the 5 MW geometry.

The quasi-steady translational motion of an incompressible couple stress fluid confined between two eccentric spherical surfaces is investigated. It is assumed that the motion is generated by allowing the internal sphere to translate with a constant velocity. The Stokesian assumption of low Reynolds numbers is considered so that the nonlinear terms of the equation of motion are neglected. The superposition principle is employed to construct the general solution of the governing equations in the presence of spherical surfaces using two spherical systems of coordinates relative to the centers of the two spherical surfaces. The no-slip boundary conditions on the spherical boundaries are applied. In addition, the conditions of vanishing couple stresses on the bounding surfaces are imposed. The boundary collocation technique is utilized numerically to satisfy the boundary conditions on the spherical surfaces. The drag force experienced by the fluid flow on the spherical particle is obtained and represented numerically through table and graphs. The numerical results show that the values of the drag force increases monotonically with the increase in the radii ratio. It increases also with the increase of the couple stress viscosity parameter. The obtained results are consistence with the results available in the literature for viscous fluids.

A drag-type, vertical axis hydrokinetic turbine, partially embedded in a relatively shallow channel streambank, has been introduced to mitigate side wall erosion while producing energy [1,2]. The turbine is deployed at river mid-depth to minimize the interaction with erodible bed and biota, floating debris, ice and logs, and it operates at low tip speed ratio, which is relatively safe for fish. To quantify the turbine performance and wake characteristics and to improve its design, we conduct high fidelity large-eddy simulations (LES) in an open channel flow under different operating conditions and blade geometry. The complex turbine geometry, including the rotor and housing structure, are captured by the immersed boundary method, while the coupled level-set and volume-of-fluid method is used to compute the free surface. The resulting power coefficients at different tip speed ratios are compared against results obtained in a reduced scale prototype experiment, carried out at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, for validation. Quantifying the near wake flow structures generated by the turbine and their contribution to the side wall shear stresses, responsible for potential streambank erosion, has become a critical design component. Blade geometry is indeed improved through multiple iterations using the reduced shear stress at the stream bank and the increased power coefficient as a combined metric in our co-design strategy. We believe such a procedure is essential to pursue diffused renewable energy extraction with positive environmental impacts.

The tilted-angle standing surface acoustic wave (taSSAW) microfluidic device has become a powerful tool for biosample separation due to its biocompatibility and non-contact, label-free, and high-efficiency nature. Studying and modeling particle deflection in a microfluid environment containing a taSSAW field is essential in the design of robust taSSAW-based microfluidic devices. Here, we present a numerical model taking into consideration fluid viscous drag force and the acoustic radiation force induced by scattering of acoustic waves for the study of particle deflection. The reliability of the model is validated by comparing our predictions with data from existing literature. In order to support our prediction experimentally, we fabricated a taSSAW microfluidic chip using 128° YX LiNbO3, and the deflection results for 3- and 7-μm polystyrene microspheres concur with the numerical estimation. The effects on particle deflection by parameters such as pre-focusing, pre-focusing width, average flow velocity, acoustic pressure amplitude, tilted angle, and surface acoustic wave frequency on particle deflection are then analyzed. This model could be used to optimize the design and better understand the mechanism of taSSAW microfluidic devices.

Transporting of nanomachines using the nanoplates has been acknowledged as an emerging frontier of nanotechnology over recent years. This paper investigates the aerodynamic response of a temperature-dependent functionally-graded composite nanoplate reinforced by wavy carbon nanotubes (FG-WCNTRC nanoplate) under a nanoparticle moving in a straight path exposed by air drag. The meshfree finite volume (MFV) approach is implemented to develop the governing equations based on the Mindlin's plate and Eringen's non-local theories. Therefore, one uniform distribution and three linear distributions of wavy CNTs are considered through the thickness of the FG composite nanoplate. Moreover, a generalized rule of mixtures is employed to predict the mechanical properties of the nanoplate. In this sense, the material properties of the matrix and wavy CNTs are presumed to depend on temperature. A comprehensive investigation is then carried out for the first time to assess the effects of nanoplate elastic foundation coefficients, nanoparticle velocity, temperature dependency of material, volume fraction, waviness, distribution pattern, and orientation of the wavy CNTs on the amount of air drag effect. It is revealed that in the aerodynamic response of temperature-dependent FG-WCNTRC nanoplates under a moving nanoparticle, the air drag amount can be influenced considerably by the material properties of the nanoplate.

A numerical simulation study of laminar hypersonic cold airflow over the backward-facing step (BFS) is performed at a freestream Knudsen number of 0.00009589 for resolving the flow field. The effects on the wall properties caused by the expansion of the flow and the separation of the boundary layer at the step corner have been investigated. The contributions of pressure and viscosity to the coefficients of lift and drag have been elucidated. It is seen that an increase in step height “nh” from n = 1 to 5 for a freestream flow at Mach 7.6 produces an incremental effect on the CL/CD ratio, whose range is between −1 to 1 for the variations in the step height simulated. The current study concludes that BFS yet remains a geometry that contributes to more drag than lift, however that effect can be minimized by increasing the step height during the design process of hypersonic vehicles for the above-mentioned Mach number.

Extreme drag and aerodynamic heat are the main penalties for blunt forebody of supersonic vehicles. This results in shorter flight range and higher fuel consumption, and aerodynamic heat seriously affects the performance of internal electronics. In the current study, the flow field mechanism of a blunt body model with a supersonic opposing jet in a supersonic flow field is numerically study. The physical model is a two-dimensional axisymmetric blunt forebody model with a convergent nozzle structure, and the numerical calculation model is a coupling of the two-dimensional axisymmetric Reynolds average method and the shear stress transport(SST) turbulence model. The calculation results in this paper are compared with the experimental data in the literature, which verifies the accuracy, and the calculation verifies the grid independence. An active flow control method that controls a single pressure parameter is proposed, and the formation process of the opposing jet in the convergent nozzle is considered, and the flow field structure of the opposing jet formed by the convergent nozzle with different nozzle sizes is studied. The results show that a single pressure parameter can control the formation of a supersonic opposing jet to form a long penetration mode and a short penetration mode. The ratio of the ambient pressure to the jet pressure at the stagnation point of the blunt body can directly affect the flow field structure of the opposing jet, and reasonable control of opposing jet parameters is an effective way for thermal protection and drag reduction of blunt body structures.

In this paper, the primary emphasis was on the modelling and study of aircraft winglets. Drag mitigation is a major problem in aerodynamic engineering. A gadget called a winglet is mounted vertically at a series of angles on the end of the aircraft wing to minimise drag. By decreasing the aircraft drag, the winglet configuration would decrease the fuel consumption and making the aircraft more stable during takeoff, as well as giving the aircraft engine a longer life by reducing the load on the engine thrust. The aim is to design and simulate a using CATIA V5, which is used to build the various winglet models (blended winglet, rated winglet) at different winglet angles (350, 650 and 900) with angle of attack and ANSYS is used to measure and simulate the winglet model. In this study it was observed that wings with winglets produce higher lift force/Drag for the CFD and its static FE analysis study. Its effectiveness is reduced by a certain degree of angle of attack and by rising further to a higher angle of attack. A potential solution for enhancing the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft seems to be the examined idea of variable angle winglets.

Knotless polyethylene (PE) netting is widely used in fisheries because of its excellent hydrodynamic performance and low cost. Netting deformation and the surrounding flow field distribution play an important role in determining the hydrodynamic characteristics of netting in moving water. In order to investigate the effect of solidity ratio and attack angle on drag, netting deformation, and flow field distribution through the netting, a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model based on a one-way coupling combining the shear stress turbulent (SST) k-omega model and the large deformation nonlinear structural finite element model was evaluated. Our results showed the difference between the parallel and normal drag forces found in the present numerical model and experimental flume tank data were 9.17% and 11.58%, respectively. The mean relative error in the inclined hydrodynamic drag for different flow velocities and attack angles was 8.35%, 6.69%, and 5.37% for the nettings 1, 2, and 3, respectively. These results show that the present numerical simulation based on FSI one-way coupling can be used to examine hydrodynamic forces on netting. The flow simulation results show that there is a noticeable flow velocity decrease through the netting and a rather large velocity reduction region downstream from the netting for different attack angles. These results reveal the existence of turbulent flow due to the netting wake. It was found that the equivalent stress and total deformation increase as the flow velocity increases and solidity ratio decreases.

The ferrofluid transport phenomena have a considerable interest in the boundary layer flow due to its versatility in advancing emerging industrial applications, such as printing. In this concern, the current theoretical model examines the particulate suspension's transport phenomena in the magnetite ferrofluid past a permeable non-isothermal moving surface with the viscous dissipation effect. Self-similarity quantities are applied to ease the solving process in the built-in collocation method, bvp4c function in the MATLAB software. The kerosene-based ferrofluid showed a better convective heat transfer rate than the water-based ferrofluid as the governing parameters vary. The dust particles’ increment in the ferrofluid increases the frictional drag force exerted on the shrinking sheet significantly. Dual solutions are obtainable only when the sheet shrinks to some extent. However, stability analysis confirmed that one of the numerical solutions is not stable.

Two-body point absorbers are useful for wave energy conversion in high energetic and high wave period sea locations. Analysis and simulation show that the two-body point absorbers have high efficiencies which makes them a potential candidate to promote wave energy harvesting technology towards commercialization and implementation. The submerged body of the two-body point absorbers has a large effect on their performance, hence the question arises: which geometric shape of the submerged body will lead to the best performance of the two-body wave energy harvesters? This paper presents a comprehensive study that analyses the different shapes of the submerged bodies based on the numerical wave tank simulated viscous drag coefficient and hydrodynamic property parameters of the oscillating device. A set of transient and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulations of a numerical wave tank were carried out in Ansys Fluent to determine the viscous drag coefficients of the different submerged body shapes. And then the boundary element hydrodynamic simulation and linear dynamic frequency-domain modeling have been applied to identify the optimized PTO damping. Finally, non-linear time-domain modeling has been applied with the identified viscous damping drag coefficient and PTO damping coefficients to predict and compare the power output performance of different large-scale devices with different shapes of submerged bodies. It is found that each submerged body shape is suitable for a different range of wave frequencies, as one must establish a balance between the hydrodynamic properties and the viscous drag of the submerged body based on the sea location. It is also found that the typical viscous drag coefficient values used in the past studies underestimate the drag coefficient, and the linearized model widely adopted in frequency domain models is non-accurate for the devices with large viscous drag forces.

The use of biofuels helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier studies have shown that transporting biomass in horizontal pipelines in the form of water-based slurries significantly reduces transportation costs. The frictional behaviour of water-based chopped wheat straw slurry in a vertical pipeline has not been studied and this is the focus of this study. In situ concentrations of water-based conventional solids of medium sand, glass beads, and fine sand and straw slurry flows were determined by measuring their delivered concentrations in pseudo-homogeneous regimes for prepared concentrations of 1–6% (dry volume of conventional solids) and 5–25% (saturated mass of straw), respectively. Two grades of sand and glass beads with mean particle diameters of 0.103, 0.447, and 0.5 mm, respectively, and straw with a nominal particle length of 19.2 mm were utilised. The delivered concentrations for the straw slurries and fine sand were close to their corresponding prepared concentrations and were homogeneous. There was a large discrepancy between prepared and delivered concentrations for the medium-sized sand and glass beads slurries. The pressure drop of straw slurries over the range of velocities of 0.5–4.2 m s−1 and mass concentrations of 5–25% through the vertical pipe showed a maximum drag reduction of 19% at a concentration of 25% (mass) and at a 3.5 m s−1 velocity. For concentrations of 5–20% (mass), the straw slurries showed drag-reducing capabilities in the mixed and turbulent flow regions for various velocities that were different from horizontal flows.

A scale-independent modeling method for filtered drag force is proposed for coarse-grid simulation of fluidized gas-solid flows based on the fine-grid data generated using kinetic theory-based two-fluid method in periodic sedimentation systems. In the modeling process, the filtered solid volume fraction at a larger scale whose side length is three times of the filter size is introduced as a new marker. New developed closures show an excellent performance in a priori test, and exhibit a fairly good agreement with the fine-grid data and the experimental data in a posteriori test for three typical fluidized regimes including bubbling, turbulent and fast fluidized beds. Furthermore, the available correction methods to consider the effect of the material properties via adding a multiplicative factor are tested. The results show that these correction methods are not suitable for the considered cases.

The effects of operating pressure on the gas–solid flow characteristics in a pressurized circulating fluidized bed (CFB) gasification system were studied by experiment and simulation. Elevated operating pressure was found to increase the particle uniformity in the axial and radial directions. Experiments and simulations both showed that as the operating pressure increased, the pressure drops along the riser height decreased. The experimental pressure drops at the same locations decreased when the operating pressure increased, but the opposite trend was observed in the simulation results. A proper drag model must be developed for the accurate simulation of pressurized CFB operation, and the accuracy of electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) measurement and cross-correlation analysis should be improved for better prediction of the particle circulation flux.

Particle-laden turbulent flow under saturated electrostatic field in 90-degree bend pipe at Reb = 58000 is investigated using one-way coupled Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with a Lagrangian particle tracking technique. Drag, lift, buoyancy, gravity, and electrostatic force are considered. Three particle sizes (dp = 5, 10, 50 μm, St = 5.47, 21.91, 547) are considered. The results show that particle concentration is higher in outer bend than that in inner bend and the concentration increases with particle size. At the stagnation point of Dean vortices near the inner arc of bend, particle concentration is significantly increased under the synergy effect of electrostatics and secondary flow. In addition, particles trapped in the viscous layer are difficult to resuspend under electrostatic effect. Particle concentration near the wall under the presence of electrostatics is larger than that under the absence of electrostatics. However, at the bend, particle concentration in the core region under the presence of electrostatics is lower than that in the absence of electrostatics. For particle behavior, drag force plays the most important role in the core region while electrostatic force dominates the near wall region and causes particles to accumulate there.

In this study the multiphase particle-in-cell (MP-PIC) method is used for the simulation of two pilot-scale circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) with quartz sand belonging to Geldart’s group B as bed material. The simulations were performed using a homogeneous drag model as well as a structure dependent drag model based on the energy minimization multi-scale method (EMMS). The results are compared with experimental data from literature as well as experiments. The simulations with the EMMS based drag model show a good agreement of the time-averaged axial solids concentration, circulation rate and riser pressure drop. Furthermore, a lower grid sensitivity is observed compared to the homogeneous drag model. In contrast to the conventional drag model a dense bottom zone is predicted by the EMMS based drag model. An overprediction of the solid concentration in the dense bottom zone is presumably due to an overprediction of the cluster diameter that is calculated using an empirical cluster diameter correlation. This shows the necessity for a new meso-scale cluster correlation for the simulation of Geldart B particles. Furthermore, the results of the time-averaged radial solids concentration differ from the expectations of a core-annulus flow indicating that a mesh refinement at the walls is necessary. Finally, the importance of using a realistic particle size distribution is identified.

Spiral jet mills utilise high-pressure gas jets, which induce particle breakage by collisions. Appropriately angled jets force particles to circulate in dense phase near the wall due to the centrifugal field. Moving radially inwards towards the mill centre, the two-phase dense flow is transformed into a lean phase and fine particles are entrained out by the fluid drag. Here we analyse the effect of grinding nozzles pressure on the particle dynamics and fluid flow by numerical simulation. The average velocity gradient in the radial direction is very steep for low mass loadings, indicative of rapid shearing, but it decreases significantly as the particle mass loading is increased. The dissipated collisional energy, accountable for size reduction, is strongly influenced by the jet penetration through the circulating bed, which in turn depends on the mass loading and operating pressure of grinding gas nozzles. As a result of jet penetration, the grinding gas nozzles pressure becomes less effective at high pressures. The analysis developed here elucidates the coupled effect of mass loading and grinding nozzles pressure on the dissipated collisional energy, which accounts for particle breakage.