Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Simulations for Complex Industrial Applications 2018 Isbn 978-91-7485-415-2 Issn 1651-4238 P.O
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Mälardalen University Doctoral Dissertation 282 Md Lokman Hosain Fluid flow and heat transfer simulations for complex industrial applications From Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes towards smoothed particle hydrodynamics FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER SIMULATIONS FOR COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS Md Lokman Hosain Address: P.O. Box 883, SE-721 23 Västerås. Sweden ISBN 978-91-7485-415-2 2018 Address: P.O. Box 325, SE-631 05 Eskilstuna. Sweden E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.mdh.se ISSN 1651-4238 1 Mälardalen University Press Dissertations No. 282 FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER SIMULATIONS FOR COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS FROM REYNOLDS AVERAGED NAVIER-STOKES TOWARDS SMOOTHED PARTICLE HYDRODYNAMICS Md Lokman Hosain 2018 School of Business, Society and Engineering 2 Copyright © Md Lokman Hosain, 2018 ISBN 978-91-7485-415-2 ISSN 1651-4238 Printed by E-Print AB, Stockholm, Sweden 3 Mälardalen University Press Dissertations No. 282 FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER SIMULATIONS FOR COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS FROM REYNOLDS AVERAGED NAVIER-STOKES TOWARDS SMOOTHED PARTICLE HYDRODYNAMICS Md Lokman Hosain Akademisk avhandling som för avläggande av teknologie doktorsexamen i energi- och miljöteknik vid Akademin för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik kommer att offentligen försvaras fredagen den 14 december 2018, 13.00 i Delta, Mälardalens högskola, Västerås. Fakultetsopponent: Professor Moncho Gomez Gesteira, University of Vigo Akademin för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik 4 Abstract Optimal process control can significantly enhance energy efficiency of heating and cooling processes in many industries. Process control systems typically rely on measurements and so called grey or black box models that are based mainly on empirical correlations, in which the transient characteristics and their influence on the control parameters are often ignored. A robust and reliable numerical technique, to solve fluid flow and heat transfer problems, such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which is capable of providing a detailed understanding of the multiple underlying physical phenomena, is a necessity for optimization, decision support and diagnostics of complex industrial systems. The thesis focuses on performing high-fidelity CFD simulations of a wide range of industrial applications to highlight and understand the complex nonlinear coupling between the fluid flow and heat transfer. The industrial applications studied in this thesis include cooling and heating processes in a hot rolling steel plant, electric motors, heat exchangers and sloshing inside a ship carrying liquefied natural gas. The goal is to identify the difficulties and challenges to be met when simulating these applications using different CFD tools and methods and to discuss the strengths and limitations of the different tools. The mesh-based finite volume CFD solver ANSYS Fluent is employed to acquire detailed and accurate solutions of each application and to highlight challenges and limitations. The limitations of conventional mesh-based CFD tools are exposed when attempting to resolve the multiple space and time scales involved in large industrial processes. Therefore, a mesh-free particle method, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is identified in this thesis as an alternative to overcome some of the observed limitations of the mesh-based solvers. SPH is introduced to simulate some of the selected cases to understand the challenges and highlight the limitations. The thesis also contributes to the development of SPH by implementing the energy equation into an open-source SPH flow solver to solve thermal problems. The thesis highlights the current state of different CFD approaches towards complex industrial applications and discusses the future development possibilities. The overall observations, based on the industrial problems addressed in this thesis, can serve as decision tool for industries to select an appropriate numerical method or tool for solving problems within the presented context. The analysis and discussions also serve as a basis for further development and research to shed light on the use of CFD simulations for improved process control, optimization and diagnostics. ISBN 978-91-7485-415-2 ISSN 1651-4238 5 Dedicated to my family 6 “Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful” – George E. P. Box 7 Acknowledgements The research in this PhD thesis was conducted at the Future Energy Center, Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden, with financial support from The Knowledge Foundation, SSAB, ABB, Mälarenergi and Eskilstuna Energi & Miljö. My first and foremost thanks go to my main supervisor Prof. Rebei Bel- Fdhila for his continuous and invaluable guidance, support, suggestions and inspiration throughout this thesis work. I would like to acknowledge my co-supervisor Prof. Konstantinos Kyprian- idis, Prof. Erik Dahlquist and Dr. Hailong Li for their guidance and support during my thesis work. Many thanks to Prof. Emeritus Dan Loyd and Dr. Jan Sandberg for reviewing this PhD thesis and providing valuable comments and suggestions. I am very thankful to Alex J. C. Crespo and Jose M. Domínguez from the University of Vigo, Spain for hosting me and supporting me during the imple- mentation of the thermal models in the open-source SPH code DualSPHysics. My special thanks go to my colleagues and friends at my department for many fruitful discussions. Finally, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my beloved wife Nupur Akther; without her support this PhD would have been impossible. I would also like to thank my sister-in-law Fahima Akther for all the mental support and inspiration from the first day I arrived in Sweden. I would also like to show gratitude towards my parents for all the inspiration I received from them during my studies. Md Lokman Hosain October, 2018. Västerås, Sweden. 8 Summary The energy demand and environmental impacts from the industrial sector are growing concerns within the European Union (EU) due to the need to comply with the strict energy and environmental policy. Optimal process control can significantly enhance energy efficiency of heating and cooling processes in many industries. Process control systems typically rely on measurements and so called grey or black box models that are based mainly on empirical correla- tions, in which the transient characteristics and their influence on the control parameters are often ignored. A robust and reliable high-fidelity numerical technique, to solve fluid flow and heat transfer problems, such as computa- tional fluid dynamics (CFD), which is capable of providing a detailed under- standing of the multiple underlying physical phenomena, is a necessity for optimization, decision support and diagnostics of complex industrial systems. There are several different options within CFD methods and tools, however, choosing the right numerical tool to solve advanced engineering problems, and particularly in industrial research and development (R&D) is often diffi- cult, and the consequences of choosing the wrong tool can be very costly. This thesis deals with several energy-intensive complex industrial applications. The goal is to identify the difficulties and challenges to be met when simulating these applications using different CFD tools and methods and to discuss the strengths and limitations of the different tools. The thesis focuses on performing high-fidelity CFD simulations of a wide range of industrial applications to highlight and understand the complex nonlinear coupling between the fluid flow, heat transfer and other phenomena inherent to the investigated processes, e.g. combustion or induced transients. The industrial applications studied in this thesis include the runout table (ROT) cooling process and slab reheating furnace in a hot rolling steel plant, rotating machines such as electric motors and generators, heat exchangers and sloshing inside a ship carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG). The mesh-based finite volume CFD solver ANSYS Fluent is employed to acquire detailed and accurate solutions of each application and to highlight challenges and limitations. The limitations of conventional mesh-based CFD tools are exposed when attempting to resolve the multiple space and time scales involved in large industrial processes. They are not capable of addressing the multiple jet impingement on a fast-moving strip that we encounter in the ROT cooling process, and are often only partly successful, as in the slab reheating furnace. Therefore, a mesh-free particle method, smoothed 9 particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is identified in this thesis as an alternative to overcome some of the observed limitations of the mesh-based solvers. SPH is introduced to simulate some of the selected cases to understand the challenges and highlight the limitations. The thesis also contributes to the development of SPH by implementing the energy equation into an open-source SPH flow solver to solve thermal problems. The comparison between the solutions from finite volume and SPH methods presented in this thesis clearly indicates their strengths and limita- tions for different types of problems. The thesis highlights the current state of different CFD approaches towards complex industrial applications and dis- cusses the future development possibilities. The overall observations and the hypothesis, based on the industrial prob- lems addressed in this thesis, can serve as decision tool for industries to select an appropriate numerical method or tool for solving problems within the pre- sented context. The analysis and discussions also serve as a