• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.35 no.5
• /
• pp.300-309
• /
• 2019

Gas foil thrust bearings (GFTBs) support axial loads in oil-free, high speed rotating machinery using air or gas as a lubricant. Due to the inherent low viscosity of the lubricant, GFTBs often have super-laminar flows in the film region at operating conditions with high Reynolds numbers. This paper develops a mathematical model of a GFTB with turbulent flows and validates the model predictions against those from the literature. The pressure distribution, film thickness distribution, load carrying capacity, and power loss are predicted for both laminar and turbulent flow models and compared with each other. Predictions for an air lubricant show that the GFTB has high Reynolds numbers at the leading edge where the film thickness is large and relatively low Reynolds numbers at the trailing edge. The predicted load capacity and power loss for the turbulent flow model show little difference from those for the laminar flow model even at the highest speed of 100 krpm, because the Reynolds numbers are smaller than the critical Reynolds number. On the other hand, refrigerant (R-134a) lubricant, which has a higher density than air, had significant differences due to high Reynolds numbers in the film region, in particular, near the leading and outer edges. The predicted load capacity and power loss for the turbulent flow model are 2.1 and 2.3 times larger, respectively, than those for the laminar flow model, thus implying that the turbulent flow greatly affects the performance of the GFTB.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.609-617
• /
• 2012

The flow characteristics of polluted air are analysed by comparing the results obtained from PIV(Particle Image Velocimetry) experiment and CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) commercial code. In order to simulate the polluted air flow, the olive oil has been used as tracer particles with the kinematic viscosity of air, $1.51{\times}10^{-5}m^2/s$. The investigation has done in the range of Reynolds numbers of 870, 1730 and 2890 due to the inlet flow velocities of 0.3, 0.6, and 1.0 m/s, respectively. The average velocity and the pressure distributions are comparatively discussed with respect to the three different Reynolds numbers. The results show that the outlet flow rates at three different Reynolds numbers are equivalent of 165 to 167 percent of the inlet ones. The pressure drop occurs in the model closed at both end sides and the highest pressures at each Reynolds number are positioned at the top of the tunnel between the inlet and outlet.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.11-17
• /
• 2009

A numerical study of unsteady mixed convection in a cavity with high viscous fluid is presented. Finite volume method was employed for the discretization and PISO algorithm was used for calculating pressure term. The parameters governing the problem are the Rayleigh number ($10^3\;{\leq}\;Ra\;{\leq}\;10^5$), the Reynolds number (0 < Re $\leq$ 1), and the aspect ratio (0.5 $\leq$ AR $\leq$ 2). The fluid used is silicon oil, a high prandtl number fluid, Pr = 909.1. The results show velocity vectors and temperature distributions. It is found that the periodic flows in a cavity are observed at very low Reynolds numbers, and the period of periodic flow decreases with increasing Reynolds and Rayleigh numbers, and increases with increasing aspect ratio. Also, the Reynolds number range of periodic flow increases with increasing Rayleigh numbers and aspect ratio.

• Communications of the Korean Mathematical Society
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.815-832
• /
• 1999

High-order weighted difference schemes with uniform meshes are considered for the convection-diffusion problem depending on Reynolds numbers. For small Reynolds numbers, a weighed cen-tral difference scheme is suggested since there is no boundary layer. For large Reynolds numbers, we propose a modified up wind method with an artificial diffusion in order to overcome nonphysical oscilla-tion of central schemes and obtain good accuracy in the boundary later. Existence and corresponding error estimates of the solution for the difference scheme have been shown. Numerical experiments are provided to back up the analysis.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2011

Flow instability is investigated in a two-dimensional channel with thin baffles placed symmetrically in the vertical direction and periodically in the streamwise dircetion. At low Reynolds numbers, the flow is steady and symmetric. Above a critical Reynolds number, the steady flow undergoes a Hopf bifurcation leading to unsteady periodic flow. As Reynolds number further increases, we observe the onset of secondary instability. At high Reynolds numbers, the two-dimensional periodic flow becomes three dimmensional. To identify the onset of secondary instability, we carry out Floquet stability analysis. We obseved the transition to 3D flow at a Reynolds number of about 125. Also, we computed dominant spanwise wavenumbers near the critical Reynolds number, and visualized vortical structures associated with the most unstable spanwise wave.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Mechanical Technology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.85-91
• /
• 2011

Computational results with pseudoplastic fluid flows for fully developed non-Newtonian laminar flows have been obtained. Those consist of the product of friction factor and Modified Reynolds number and Nusselt numbers with respect to the shear rate parameter in an annular pipe. The numerical results of the product of friction factor and Reynolds numbers and the Nusselt numbers for both Newtonian region and the power law region were compared with previously published asymptotic results, respectively. In the present calculations, the product of friction factor and Newtonian Reynolds numbers for pseudoplastic fluid at power law region in annular pipe is 180% less than that for Newtonian fluid. For power law fluids with different power law flow indices, the difference of the product of friction factor and power law Reynolds number between previous and the present results at the power law region is within 0.20%. The solutions also show the effect of the shear rate parameter on the Nusselt number and about 11% increase of Nusselt number at the power region.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 2008

Effects of the Reynolds and Knudsen numbers on a micro-viscous pump are studied by using a Navier-Stokes code based on a finite volume method. The micro viscous pump consists of a circular rotor and a two-dimensional channel. The channel walls are treated by using a slip velocity model. The Reynolds number is studied in the range of $0.1{\sim}50$. The Knudsen number varies from 0.01 to 0.1. Numerical solutions show that the pump works efficiently when two counter rotating vortices formed on both sides of the rotor have the same size and intensity. As the Reynolds number increases, the size and intensity of the vortex on the inlet side of the pump decrease. It disappears when the Reynolds number is larger than about Re=20. The characteristics of the performance of the pump is shown to deteriorate, in terms of mean velocity and pressure rise, as the Reynolds number increases. The Knudsen number shows a different effect on the characteristics of the pump. As it increases, the mean velocity and pressure rise decrease but the characteristics of the vortex flow remains unchanged, unlike the effect of Reynolds number.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.8
• /
• pp.1632-1648
• /
• 2005

The effects of Reynolds number on the non-nulling calibration of a typical cone-type five-hole probe have been investigated for the representative Reynolds numbers in turbomachinery. The pitch and yaw angles are changed from - 35 degrees to 35 degrees with an angle interval of 5 degrees at six probe Reynolds numbers in range between $6.60{\times}10^3\;and\;3.17{\times}10^4$. The result shows that not only each calibration coefficient itself but also its Reynolds number dependency is affected significantly by the pitch and yaw angles. The Reynolds-number effects on the pitch- and yaw-angle coefficients are noticeable when the absolute values of the pitch and yaw angles are smaller than 20 degrees. The static-pressure coefficient is sensitive to the Reynolds number nearly all over the pitch- and yaw-angle range. The Reynolds-number effect on the total-pressure coefficient is found remarkable when the absolute values of the pitch and yaw angles are larger than 20 degrees. Through a typical non-nulling reduction procedure, actual reduced values of the pitch and yaw angles, static and total pressures, and velocity magnitude at each Reynolds number are obtained by employing the calibration coefficients at the highest Reynolds number ($Re=3.17{\times}10^4$) as input reference calibration data. As a result, it is found that each reduced value has its own unique trend depending on the pitch and yaw angles. Its general tendency is related closely to the variation of the corresponding calibration coefficient with the Reynolds number. Among the reduced values, the reduced total pressure suffers the most considerable deviation from the measured one and its dependency upon the pitch and yaw angles is most noticeable. In this study, the root-mean-square data as well as the upper and lower bounds of the reduced values are reported as a function of the Reynolds number. These data would be very useful in the estimation of the Reynolds-number effects on the non-nulling calibration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.88-93
• /
• 2021

For a flow normal to a circular disk, the flow separation occurs from the edge of the disk and the flow recirculation zone exists behind the disk. Many existing studies conducted simulations of flow normal to a circular disk under low Reynolds numbers. Some studies performed LES or DES simulations under high Reynolds numbers. However, comparative study for different RANS models for high Reynolds numbers is very limited. This study presents numerical simulations of a flow normal to a circular disk using Realizable k-ε model and SST k-ω model. The recirculation bubble length and drag coefficient were compared with the experimental data. The SST k-ω model showed the excellent predictions for the recirculation bubble length and drag coefficient.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.561-575
• /
• 1996

The interaction of turbulent mixed convection and surface radiation in a three-dimensional channel with the heated blocks is analyzed numerically. Two blocks are maintained at high temperature and the other bottom and horizontal walls are insulated. S-4 method is employed to calculate the effect of the radiative heat transfer. The low Reynolds number k-$\varepsilon$ model proposed by Launder and Sharma is used to estimate the turbulent influence on the heat transfer enhancement. From above modeling, the effects of various channel specifications on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are investigated. The variables used for the present study are Reynolds number, block spacing, the channel height spacing for block and the emissivity. Average Nusselt numbers along the block surfaces are correlated and presented in terms of Reynolds number, emissivity and dimensionless geometric parameters. For the range of conditions in this study, average Nusselt numbers along the block surfaces are strongly influenced by the Reynolds numbers and channel height spacing for block but weakly influenced by the block spacing and the emissivity of the adiabatic walls.