REPORT

ON

THERMAL FLUIDS
​
~​Computational Fluid Dynamics~

BY

Name of the Student(s): ID Nos:

Arsh Khan 2018B1A40927G

AT

DHIO Research, Bangalore

Process Flow and Heat Transfer Modelling

A practice school station of

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PILANI

(June, 2020)
 A REPORT
ON

THERMAL FLUIDS
​
~​Computational Fluid Dynamics~

BY

Name of the Student(s): ID Nos: Disciplines

Arsh Khan 2018B1A40927G Mechanical engineering

Prepared in partial fulfillment of the

Practice School-I Course
(BITS C221/C231/C241)

AT

DHIO Research, Bangalore

Process Flow and Heat Transfer Modelling

A practice school station of

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PILANI

(June, 2020)
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my PS Faculty, Anirban Roy, for his
continuous support. His guidance and enthusiasm helped me throughout this course.

I would also like to thank the members at DHIO Research, Bangalore, for their patience,
encouragement, and insightful comments.

I thank my fellow students in the Thermal Fluid-CFD Group, for working together when needed to
accomplish our goals, and complete assignments within the stipulated deadlines.

I would like to thank the institution, BITS Pilani, for arranging this Practice School course for its
students, and giving us the opportunity to boost our industrial exposure and develop various technical
as well as soft skills.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family, for their financial and emotional support, and
giving me everything I would need as I embark on this journey.
 BIRLA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PILANI
Practice School Division

Station: ​DHIO Research, Bangalore Center:​ Process Flow and Heat Transfer
Modelling

Duration:​ 6 weeks Date of Start: ​17th May, 2020

Date of Submission: ​26th-27th June, 2020

Title of Project:​ Thermal Fluid - CFD

Name of the Student(s): ID Nos: Disciplines

Arsh Khan 2018B1A40927G Mechanical engineering

Name of the expert Designation

Santhosh NL Director & CEO, DHIO Research & Engineering

Name of the PS Faculty: ​Anirban Roy

Key-words: Process Flow, Heat Transfer, Simulations, CFD,

Thermal Fluids, Process Design, FlowNex

Project Areas: Plant Design, Fluid Analysis, Heat Transfer

Analysis, Thermal Fluids
Abstract:
The aim of this project is to attain conceptual clarity and build a strong foundation in the field of
Thermal Fluid & CFD before taking up specific design problems.
The fundamental concepts of Thermal fluid & CFD have been taken up. Besides these, for gaining
additional insights, hands-on industrial calculations, various real-life problems and scenarios have
been explored. The basic industrial designs that form the fundamental framework in Crude-oil
extraction, airline industry, agricultural practices, etc have been studied through Flownex (Simulation
Environment).
The effects of variations in physical parameters like temperature, pressure, volume, etc have also
been noted, effects of replacing the initial conditions/ tools with better alternatives have also been
studied and further analyzed which catalyzed the learning process and helped us in attaining
conceptual clarity.
On a conclusive note, the application of these basic concepts will come handy in the specific projects
to be allotted.

Signature of Student Signature of PS Faculty

Date: 7th June, 2020 Date:

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr.No. Title Page No.

1 Cover Page 1

2 Title Page 2

3 Acknowledgments 3

4 Project Abstract Page 4

5 Table of Contents 6

6 Introduction 7

7 Main Text 8

8 Conclusions ( /recommendations ) 9
15
9 References 10
16
10 Glossary 11
17
 INTRODUCTION

1. Thermal Fluids
Thermal fluid refers to a branch of science and
engineering that deals with the transfer of heat via
liquid or vapour where temperature, flow rate, phase
transition, pressure, volume, and density all play an
important role.
Thermal fluids are normally low-viscosity mineral oils
that are chemically stable at the higher operating
temperatures.

2. CFD
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical
analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows.
Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the free-stream flow of
the fluid, and the interaction of the fluid (liquids and gases) with surfaces defined by boundary
conditions. With high-speed supercomputers, better solutions can be achieved, and are often
required to solve the largest and most complex problems.

3. FlowNex
Flownex Simulation Environment enables us to study
how fluid systems will behave in the real world. It relays
the overall effect of changing specific properties on
components, allowing us to examine extensively all
possible variations in the design and optimization of
systems.
Flownex uses CFD and Heat Transfer models, allowing
us to get extremely close approximations to real world
phenomena.
Through completion of tutorials and exercises using
Flownex, we attempt to master this software to solve
complex problems regarding Process and Heat Transfer.
 MAIN TEXT

This section provides a deeper understanding of the Flownex Simulation Environment and gives
detailed explanations of the various systems and scenarios simulated in Flownex thus far.

Core Modules of Flownex:

1. Flownex Simulation Environment

This allows the user to solve in the steady state. This gives the user the ability to use gases
and liquids, the ability to use adiabatic flow as well incorporate heat transfer in the system.
One can add various components, visualization graphs, text outputs, result layers, buttons,
gauges, sliders and many other features with this.

2. Advanced fluid thermal

This allows advanced features such as gas mixtures, homogeneous two phase flow, coupled
heat transfer through solid structures, special components used in the design of
turbomachinery such as rotating pipes. It also includes combustion modeling.

3. Design and analysis

This includes advanced features such as the designer routine, sensitivity analysis, parametric
study. This capability can be applied to all libraries and on both steady state and transient
modules.

4. Transient state analysis

The transient simulation features of Flownex include the following: The ability to start the
simulation from steady-state or specified initial conditions; Variable time-step sizes; Open loop
events can be specified at different time steps and the plot values of multiple parameters are
displayed on the screen.

Flownex also includes many other modules such as a ​Control Module,​ (Control library configuration
includes analog components digital components and some converters) a ​Nuclear module and an
Electrical module​ ( includes admittance components, auxiliary components nodes and switches)

Apart from the above modules Flownex SE automation API provides the functionality to integrate and
automate Flownex SE from most existing Windows applications. The list of few of the applications
Flownex is compatible with is given in the below picture
 THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Introduction
The standard irrigation system consists of a (main) intake structure
or (main) pumping station, a conveyance system, a distribution
system, a field application system, and a drainage system (Fig).
Simulation, design and optimization
Objective:
Using Flownex for the Selection of a pump with adequate capacity to
pressurize an extension of an irrigation network.
(Our focus is on the pumping station and the distribution system)

Initial System Final System

Theory
Proper design of an irrigation system requires that the
pumping system be precisely matched to the irrigation
distribution system. When an existing pumping system
will be used as a component of an irrigation system, it is
necessary to measure the capacity of the pump so that
the irrigation system can be designed to operate
efficiently using the available flow rate and pressure.
This requires measuring pump discharge rates and
pressures at several points over the available range. Flow meters or volumetric methods can be used
to measure discharge rates, while pressures are easily measured with pressure gauges. Procedures
for measuring pump capacity were presented, and factors affecting pump capacities under field
conditions were analysed.

Result
Using Flownex, optimisation of the present system was carried out as per requirements, appropriate
outputs were obtained and an efficient system was successfully designed.
 TRANSIENT COMPRESSIBLE FLOW

Introduction

There are 3 vessels containing air at

different initial pressures (shown in table)
which are interconnected by two pipes
with valves between tanks 1 & 2 and tanks
2 & 3 respectively. The internal
temperature is 40 for all the vessels and
the valves all feature similar diameters as
the pipes to which they are connected.

Objective

Given that the valves are opened at a time of 1 sec, we are tasked with finding the time taken for the
pressure in all 3 vessels to equalize as well as the equalization pressure.

Procedure

Our first step is to make the initial setup as described in the problem. We start by constructing the
skeleton of the system by arranging the required components as shown in the figure. Then, we assign
the fluid to the system (in this case, air)
followed by applying the boundary
conditions of pressure and
temperature to each vessel using the
data provided to us. To complete the
initial setup, we enter the properties of
the pipes and restrictors (given data)
and solve the initial setup.

Now, to actually solve the problem, we have to tell the software to open the valves at 1 sec and find
the time taken to reach equalization. This is achieved by using the ​Action Setup​, which is a feature
of Flownex that allows it to perform actions such as pressure equalization at the activation of a trigger
(in this case, an elapsed time of 1 sec). Flownex will perform the action until either the target value for
the property under consideration is reached or the trigger expires.
For this purpose, we have to mention which properties can be varied and which are to be maintained
constant. Since our operation requires internal pressure and temperature of the vessels to be varied,
we allow those to be manipulated by Flownex while keeping the dimensions of the vessels, pipes and
restrictors as constant. We also set start and stop times as 1 sec and 125 secs respectively with the
stop time being an arbitrarily large value so as to ensure completion of the operation. We set the
target values of the pressures and temperatures as ​not specified ​which automatically tells Flownex
that we intend to equalize these properties across all vessels.

Both a Mass Flow Graph and a Pressure Graph have been created to record the respective values
against time elapsed. A ​scheduler is also used as a solver in addition to the flow solver to introduce
the constraint of time in our domain.

The final step is to run the network and observe the results.

Result

The time taken to reach equalization pressure of ​651.798 kPa​ is approx. ​112 secs​.

Mass Flow-Time Graph Pressure Flow-Time Graph

 COMPRESSIBLE VS INCOMPRESSIBLE FLUID FLOW

Introduction

Flownex SE has various types of fluids (compressible & incompressible) already available in the
software. It also has the capability which allows users to make custom fluids and define all its
properties. For a system, the pressure drop along the length of the pipe was compared when
compressible fluid in place of the
compressible gas was used.

Theory

Compressible flows are the flows

experiencing significant changes in the
fluid density while incompressible flows
have constant density across the fluid.
Therefore, a difference in the value of
pressure drop across the length of the 2
pipes are expected.

Design and simulation

2 identical systems were designed containing a pipe with inlet and outlet boundary conditions.
Parameters of the systems were defined such as roughness, inlet pressure and temperature and
mass flow. A custom fluid was created and assigned as incompressible fluid and parameters such as
density, viscosity and enthalpy were defined. Another custom fluid was created and assigned as
compressible and its equation option under density was taken as ideal gas 1 which means its density
will be calculated by using the ideal gas law (ρ = P/RT). Then its parameters such as viscosity,
enthalpy and the value of R was defined. The incompressible fluid was assigned to one pipe and the
compressible to another pipe. Now using the steady state solver feature of Flownex both the systems
were solved.

Result

Comparing the pressure drops across both the systems, it

was observed that there was a significant difference in the
values when using incompressible fluid in place of
compressible gas.
 PRESSURIZED LIGHT WATER REACTOR
Introduction
The ​Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used to generate electricity and
propel nuclear submarines and naval vessels​] They make use of light water (ordinary water, as
opposed to heavy water) as their coolant and neutron moderator. It is one of three types of light water
reactors, with the others being the boiling water reactor and the supercritical water-cooled reactor.

System Description
The pressurized water reactor consists of two loops, a primary loop consisting of a nuclear reactor of
mostly Uranium 235, a pressurizer and a steam generator which connects it to the secondary loop.
The secondary loop consists of a steam generator, a condenser and a turbine which is further
connected to a generator along with the coupler.

Theory
Nuclear fuel in the reactor pressure vessel is engaged in a fission chain reaction, which produces
heat, heating the water in the primary coolant loop by thermal conduction through the fuel cladding.
The hot primary coolant is pumped into a heat exchanger called the steam generator, where it flows
through hundreds or thousands of small tubes. Heat is transferred through the walls of these tubes to
the lower pressure secondary coolant located on the sheet side of the exchanger where the coolant
evaporates to pressurized steam. The pressurized steam is fed through a steam turbine which drives
an electrical generator connected to the electric grid for transmission. After passing through the
turbine the secondary coolant (water-steam mixture) is cooled down and condensed in a condenser.
The condenser converts the steam to a liquid so that it can be pumped back into the steam generator,
and maintains a vacuum at the turbine outlet so that the pressure drops across the turbine, and
hence the energy extracted from the steam, is maximized.
Simulation and Design
Using Flownex first we simulated only the primary loop along with the steam generator and
determined the typical operating conditions of each component in the loop. Further, we would model it
with a two-phase tank, pipes and heat transfer components along with the feedwater heater with the
fixed mass flow.
There are few assumptions we have taken into account to reduce the complexity of the problem. The
PWR, water pump and the connecting pipe will be simulated with pipe elements. The heat generated
in the PWR will be added to a representative pipe element. The pressurizer is modeled as a tank with
fixed thermal quality and pressure. The geometry of the tank is also assumed to be specific. No
thermal inertia is incorporated in the initial model.
To begin with the simulation of the primary loop we constructed the pressurizer with the two-phase
liquid water along with the necessary boundary conditions and the specified geometry. If we simulate
the model with the general empirical relationship we would find out that the desired tank height and
pressure drop are not achieved. Now we used the designer setup in Flownex to set constraints on our
system and then again solved the setup. The results and graphs are shown in the figure beside. Next
after getting the desired conditions we constructed the pump and PWR conditions and finally
completed the whole loop by adding pipes with desired geometry. Now we used the designer setup
again to balance energy in PWR and solved the loop to get the desired pressure drop and other
parameters.
For the next simulation, we set the same model with
extra remaining components. We constructed the
shell side of the steam generator with proper geometry
and heat conditions. We used the designer setup to
modify the various constraints and again run the results.
Next, we constructed the tube side of the steam
generator and again used the designer setup same as
before and analysed the result. We added the heat
transfer component needed for the two loops to connect
thermally and further put necessary constraints about
energy balance to the heat transfer component. After
running the system we obtained results and further plotted the required data in specific graphs.

Results
The results of each component namely heat transfer component, two-phase tank and pipe are
obtained and can be further plotted into line graphs for better understanding and can be seen in the
figure given below.
 CONCLUSION

Thus, fundamental concepts of Thermal fluid & CFD have been grasped. Along with it some practical
insights like hands-on industrial calculations, multiple real-life problems and situations have been
analysed. The fundamentals of industrial designs that form the defining framework in crude-oil
extraction, agricultural practices, aerospace industry, etc. have been explored using the simulation
environment (FlowNex).
An analysis of the effects of variations in physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, volume,
etc. were noted. Also, the variations caused due to altering initial conditions and alternative tools were
also studied. This gave us crearity that is the first step towards developing the ability to do meaningful
work in the industry.
 REFERENCES

1. https://www.flownex.com/about-us/about-flownex
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_fluid_dynamics
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_fluids
4. https://www.sigmathermal.com/blog/understanding-thermal-fluids-thermal-fluid-systems/
5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/thermal-fluid
6. https://www.globalhtf.com/glossary/thermal-fluid/#:~:text=Thermal%20oil%20or%20thermic%2
0oil,%2C%20pressure%2C%20volume%2C%20and%20density
7. Flownex Tutorial
8. http://www.fao.org/3/r4082e/r4082e06.htm
9. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/AE/AE06700.pdf
10. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Pressurized_water_reactor
 GLOSSARY

· Viscosity – ​the state of being thick, sticky, and semi-fluid in consistency, due to internal
friction.

· Adiabatic –​ ​An adiabatic process occurs without transferring heat or mass between a
thermodynamic system and its surroundings. Unlike an isothermal process, an adiabatic process
transfers energy to the surroundings only as work.

· Turbomachinery – ​Turbomachinery, in mechanical engineering, describes machines that

transfer energy between a rotor and a fluid, including both turbines and compressors. While a turbine
transfers energy from a fluid to a rotor, a compressor transfers energy from a rotor to a fluid.

· Transient –​ ​Lasting only for a short time; impermanent.

· Conveyance – ​The action or process of transporting or carrying someone or something from

one place to another.

· Pressurizer – ​A ​pressurizer is a component of a pressurized water reactor. The basic design

of the pressurized water reactor includes a requirement that the coolant (water) in the reactor coolant
system must not boil. Put another way, the coolant must remain in the liquid state at all times,
especially in the reactor vessel.
· Cladding – ​Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer.
In construction, cladding is used to provide a degree of thermal insulation and weather resistance,
and to improve the appearance of buildings.