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The use of the classical Boussinesq approximation is a straightforward strategy for taking into account the buoyancy effect in incompressible solvers. This strategy is highly effective if density variation is low. However, ignoring the importance of density variation in highly thermobuoyant flow fields can cause considerable deviation from the correct prediction of fluid flow behavior and the accurate estimation of heat transfer rate. In this study, an incompressible algorithm is suitably extended to solve high-density-variation fields caused by strong natural-convection influence. The key point in this research is the way that an ordinary incompressible algorithm is extended to... 

This article applies a novel non-Boussinesq numerical algorithm to solve the free-convection problem in a wide range of thin to thick vertical cavities subject to different side-wall temperatures. In this regard, the compressible flow equations are solved using a primitive incompressible method. No Boussinesq approximation and low Mach number consideration are included in the formulation. To implement the compressibility effect, the density field is calculated via the equation of state for gas. The temperature gradient is suitably varied to generate different low to high thermobuoyant fields, where the Boussinesq approximation may or may not be valid. Contrary to published works on the thin... 

This work deals with the popular topic of extending incompressible numerical formulations to the compressible or variable density regime. Based on an analogy between the incompressible and compressible governing equations, a general strategy is suitably developed to facilitate the compressible flow solution through using incompressible algorithms. It is shown that the implementation of the extended strategy to an arbitrarily incompressible algorithm requires two minor modifications in the original algorithm. In fact, two on/off switches suffice to implement the two required modifications. Switch one includes the compressible source terms to the momentum governing equations. Switch two... 

Today, commercial CFD codes are widely used to simulate many different entry flow problems. The flow in the developing zone undergoes a transition from a specified velocity profile at the inlet section to a fully developed profile in the region far from the inlet. Previous investigations have shown that the hydrodynamic variables, such as velocity and pressure magnitudes, along the centreline converge to a mesh independent solution even when coarse grid distributions are utilised. However, the present work shows that the local velocity profile is highly dependent on grid resolution in the vicinity of solid boundaries. It is shown that failure to account for the grid resolution can result in... 

If the hydrodynamic diameter of a channel is comparable with the mean free path of the gas molecules moving inside the channel, the fluid can no longer be considered to be in thermodynamic equilibrium and a variety of non-continuum or rarefaction effects can occur. To avoid enormous complexity and extensive numerical cost encountered in modeling of nonlinear Boltzmann equations, the Navier-Stokes equations can be solved considering the concepts of slip flow regime and applying slip velocity boundary conditions at the solid walls. The high-order slip models can, in some cases, extend the range of applicability of the Navier-Stokes equations beyond Kn = 0.1, where the accuracy of first-order... 

One important heat transfer application in engineering is to predict the flow behavior and heat transfer rate in thin vertical air layers. There are numerous applications in engi- neering where high temperature gradients exist between the slot walls. In such cases, the methods based on simple Boussinesq approximations do not provide reliable predictions. Unfortunately, the compressibility effect in heat transfer rate through thin vertical slots has not been much investigated by the past investigators. In this work, a compressible algorithm is properly developed and utilized to solve compressible natural convection in vertical air layers. The current technique employs discretization equations... 

One strategy toward implementing density variation in incompressible algorithms is to add up compressible source terms to the incompressible formulation. The required source terms can be included either passively or actively in the formulation. A passive inclusion would result in no serious impact in the flowchart and main body of the original incompressible algorithm. In this work, an original incompressible algorithm is adapted for treating density variation in flow by a passive inclusion of compressible source terms. The role of inserted terms is investigated by testing flow at different Mach and Reynolds. The study shows that the grid refinement affects the role and magnitude of the... 

The use of classical Bossiness approximation is a straightforward strategy to take into account the buoyancy effect in incompressible solvers. This strategy is highly effective if the density variation is low. However, ignoring the importance of density variation in high thermo buoyant flows can cause considerable deviation in predicting the correct fluid flow behavior and heat transfer phenomenon. Indeed, there are many technological and environmental problems where the Bossiness approximation is not valid. In this study, an incompressible algorithm is suitably extended in order to solve compressible flow problems with natural-convection heat transfer. In this regard, the density field is... 

An easy two-step modification is introduced which enables incompressible controlvolume based algorithms to compressible solutions. Two on/off switches are used to implement the two-step modification. Switch one decides whether the source terms on the right-hand-side of momentum equations are considered in calculations. Switch two decides how to update the density field as a secondary dependent variable. These on/off switches are employed in an original incompressible SIMPLE-based approach. The new formulation is used to solve a benchmark test case. The results perform identical performance for both on and off conditions. © 2001 by M. Darbandi and G.E. Schneider  

Entropy generation due to heat transfer and fluid friction irreversibility has been investigated in a square cavity subjected to different side wall temperatures for compressible and incompressible natural convection flows. Based on the obtained velocity and temperature values, the distributions of local entropy generation, average entropy generation and average Bejan number are determined and compared for compressible and incompressible regimes. It is found that the entropy generated for compressible flow always is more than incompressible flow. The study is performed for Ra=10 4-10 8, j{cyrillic, ukrainian}=0.01(incompressible regime) and 0.6 (compressible regime), Ge=10 -5 and Pr=0.7  

The rapid progress in fabricating and utilizing micro-electromechanical systems during the last decade has not been matched by the corresponding advances in our understanding from the unconventional physics involved in manufacturing and operation of micro devices. To avoid the complexity encountered in modeling of nonlinear Boltzmann equations, the Navier-Stokes equations can be solved considering the slip flow regime concepts. The modeling can be achieved via employing suitable slip velocity boundary conditions at the solid walls. The modified first-order slip models can, in some cases, extend the range of applicability of the Navier-Stokes solvers to around and beyond Kn=0.1, where the... 

In this study, we simulate the flow and heat transfer during hot-wire anemometry and investigate its thermal behavior and physics using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool. In this regard, we use the finite-volume method and solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equations numerically in slightly non-continuum flow fields. We do not use any slip flow model to include the transitional flow physics in our simulations. Using the CFD method, we simulate the flow over hot-wire and evaluate the uncertainty of CFD in thermal simulation of hot-wire in low transitional flow regimes. The domain sizes and the mesh distributions are carefully chosen to avoid boundary condition error appearances.... 

The spectral line based weighted sum of gray gases (SLW) model is considered as an advanced model, which can solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) in non-gray participating media by dividing the absorption cross section spectrum into a limited number of intervals. Each interval is then treated as a gray gas medium, in which the attributed RTE should be solved separately. Therefore, the SLW model would be computationally more efficient than the other non-gray participating media solvers because it is faced with a small number of RTE solutions. In this work, we present a novel optimized SLW model and applied it to radiation heat transfer calculation in a model furnace. The current... 

Feeding a laboratory furnace with the gaseous kerosene, the resulting two-phase turbulent flame is simulated to study the effects of injecting soot nano-particles into the inflow air on the emissions of smoke aerosol, CO, and CO2species pollutants, and the resulting radiation heat transfer. We use our past experiences in aerosol modeling of soot nano/micro particles in turbulent nonpremixed flames burning simple hydrocarbon fuels and extend them to study the effects of injecting gaseous kerosene on the aforementioned parameters. To model the evolutionary process of soot nanoparticle formation, i.e., the nucleation, coagulation, surface growth, and oxidation, we employ a two-equation soot... 

We extend a hybrid finite-volume-element (FVE) method to treat the laminar reacting flow in cylindrical coordinates considering the collocation of all chosen primitive variables. To approximate the advection fluxes at the cell faces, we use the upwind-biased physical influence scheme PIS and derive a few new extended expressions applicable in the cylindrical frame. These expressions are derived for both the Navier-Stokes and reactive flow governing equations, of which the latter expressions are considered novel in the finite-volume formulation. To validate our derived expressions, the current results are compared with the experimental data and other available numerical solutions. The results... 

In this study, we apply a hybrid direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC)/Navier-Stokes (NS) frame to simulate the effects of catalyst or splitter plates in propulsive efficiency of micro/nanopropulsion systems. Our hybrid frame uses the local Knudsen number based on the gradient of the flow properties (KnGLL) to distinct the continuum and molecular regions. This frame also uses the state-based coupling (Dirichlet-Dirichlet boundary-condition coupling) to transfer the information between the two regions. We simulate typical micro/nanopropulsion systems consisting of channels, catalyst or splitter plates, and convergent-divergent nozzles. According to the Kn GLL, we apply the NS solver to the... 

Automatic control of mesh movement is mandatory in many fluid flow and fluid-solid interaction problems. This paper presents a new strategy, called reduced domain strategy (RDS), which enhances the efficiency of node connectivity-based mesh movement methods and moves the unstructured grid locally and effectively. The strategy dramatically reduces the grid computations by dividing the unstructured grid into two active and inactive zones. After any local boundary movement, the grid movement is performed only within the active zone. To enhance the efficiency of our strategy, we also develop an automatic mesh partitioning scheme. This scheme benefits from a new quasi-structured mesh data... 

We use an extended direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, applicable to unstructured meshes, to numerically simulate a wide range of rarefaction regimes from subsonic to supersonic flows through micro/nanoscale converging-diverging nozzles. Our unstructured DSMC method considers a uniform distribution of particles, employs proper subcell geometry, and follows an appropriate particle tracking algorithm. Using the unstructured DSMC, we study the effects of back pressure, gas/surface interactions (diffuse/specular reflections), and Knudsen number on the flow field in micro/nanoscale nozzles. If we apply the back pressure at the nozzle outlet, a boundary layer separation occurs before the... 

In high Knudsen number flow regimes microgas flow analysis may not be performed accurately using the classical CFD methods. Alternatively, the gas flow through micro-geometries can be investigated reliably using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Our concern in this paper is to use DSMC to study the mixing of two gases in entering simultaneously into a microchannel. The mixing process is assumed to be complete when the mass composition of each species deviates by no more than ±1% from its equilibrium composition. To enhance the mixing process, we focus on the effects of inlet-outlet pressure difference and the pressure ratios of the two incoming CO and N2 streams on the mixing... 

In this study, we use direct simulation Monte Carlo method to simulate subsonic flow in nanochannels and micro/nanoscale backward-facing (BF) step considering a wide range of Knudsen number regimes. The nanochannel flow simulation indicates that the nanoscale flow through the nanochannel resembles unique features such as encountering negative pressure deviation behavior and observing flat velocity profiles at higher Knudsen number regimes. On the other hand, the micro/nano BF step flow simulations demonstrate that the length of separation region considerably decreases as the flow becomes more rarefied and approaches the transition regime. Meanwhile, the variations in the flow properties are...