Cellulosic insulation paper is usually used in oil-immersed transformer insulation systems. In this study, the molecular dynamics method based on reaction force field (ReaxFF) was used to simulate the pyrolysis process of a cellobiose molecular model. Through a series of ReaxFF- Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, the generation path of ethanol at the atomic level was studied. Because the molecular system has hydrogen bonding, force-bias Monte Carlo (fbMC) is mixed into ReaxFF to reduce the cost of calculation by reducing the sampled data. In order to ensure the reliability of the simulation, a model composed of 20 cellobioses and a model composed of 40 cellobioses were respectively established for repeated simulation in the range of 500−3000 K. The results show that insulating paper produced ethanol at extreme thermal fault, and the intermediate product of vinyl alcohol is the key to the aging process. It is also basically consistent with others’ previous experiment results. So it ca... [more]

Reynolds-stress closure modeling is critical to Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) analysis, and it remains a challenging issue in reducing both structural and parametric inaccuracies. This study first proposes a novel algebraic stress model named as tensorial quadratic eddy-viscosity model (TQEVM), in which nonlinear terms improve previous model-form failure due to neglection of nonlocal effects. Then a data-driven regression model based on a fully-connected deep neural network is designed to determine the TQEVM coefficients. The well-trained data-driven model using high-fidelity direct numerical simulation (DNS) data successfully learned the underlying input-output relationships, further obtaining spatial-dependent optimal values of these coefficients. Finally, detailed validations are made in wall-bounded flows where nonlocal effects are expected to be significant. Comparative results indicate that TQEVM provides improvements both for the stress-strain misalignment and stress an... [more]

This paper presents a numerical method and computational results for acoustic noise of electromagnetic origin generated by an induction motor. The computation of noise incorporates three levels of numerical calculation steps, combining both the finite element method and boundary element method. The role of magnetic forces in the production of acoustic noise is established in the paper by showing the magneto-mechanical and vibro-acoustic pathway of energy. The conversion of electrical energy into acoustic energy in an electrical motor through electromagnetic, mechanical, or acoustic platforms is illustrated through numerical computations of magnetic forces, mechanical deformation, and acoustic noise. The magnetic forces were computed through 2D electromagnetic finite element simulation, and the deformation of the stator due to these forces was calculated using 3D structural finite element simulation. Finally, boundary element-based computation was employed to calculate the sound pressur... [more]

In this study, the 3ω method was used to determine the thermal conductivity of nanofluids (ethylene glycol containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)) with temperature gradients. The thermal modeling of the traditional 3ω method was modified to measure the spatial variation of thermal conductivity within a droplet of nanofluid. A direct current (DC) heater was used to generate a temperature gradient inside a sample fluid. A DC heating power of 14 mW was used to provide a temperature gradient of 5000 K/m inside the sample fluid. The thermal conductivity was monitored at hot- and cold-side 3ω heaters with a spacing of 0.3 mm. Regarding the measurement results for the hot and cold 3ω heaters, when the temperature gradient was applied, the maximum thermal conductivity difference was determined to be 3% of the original value. By assuming that the thermo-diffusion of MWCNTs was entirely responsible for this difference, the Soret coefficient of the MWCNTs in the ethylene glycol was cal... [more]

In this paper, a case study is conducted based on the real data obtained from the local Distribution System Operator (DSO) of electrical energy. The analyzed network represents connections and high-voltage switchgears of 110 kV. Selected graph parameters—vertex degree distribution, the average vertex degree, the graph density, network efficiency, the clustering coefficient, the average path length, and the graph diameter were examined, taking into account that in the analysis, some nodes were removed due to the different failures. For each failure, the possible effects on network parameters were tested. As a final result, it was shown that in the analyzed case, the removal of only five nodes could cause a significant (almost four times) fall of graph efficiency. In turn, this means that the whole analyzed network cannot be considered as a fault-tolerant.

A heat exchanger is a device that transfers unneeded heat from one region to another, and transferred heat may be fully reused, thus improving energy efficiency. To augment this positive process, many studies and investigations on automation technologies have been performed. Inserts are widely used in pipe flow for heat transfer enhancement, since they can break the boundary layer and promote the heat exchange. Segmented twisted tape, which is applicable in 3D printing, is a novel insert and has potential in heat transfer enhancement. To clarify its advantages and disadvantages, this research presents a numerical investigation of vortex flow and heat enhancement in pipes containing one segmented twisted element. Flow state and heat transfer behaviour are obtained by simulation under constant wall temperature with different Reynolds numbers, ranging from 10,000 to 35,000. The effects of geometric parameters, including twist ratio (P/D = 2.0, 3.3 and 4.6) and length ratio (L/P = 0.3, 0.5... [more]

In the recent era, hydrogen has gained immense consideration as a clean-energy carrier. Its storage is, however, still the main hurdle in the implementation of a hydrogen-based clean economy. Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) are a potential option for hydrogen storage in ambient conditions, and can contribute to the clean-fuel concept in the future. In the present work, a parametric and simulation study was carried out for the storage and release of hydrogen for the methylcyclohexane toluene system. In particular, the methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction is investigated over six potential catalysts for the temperature range of 300−450 °C and a pressure range of 1−3 bar to select the best catalyst under optimum operating conditions. Moreover, the effects of hydrogen addition in the feed mixture, and byproduct yield, are also studied as functions of operating conditions. The best catalyst selected for the process is 1 wt. % Pt/γ-Al2O3. The optimum operating conditions selec... [more]

The brake system is a critical component for any passenger vehicle as its task is to convert the kinetic and potential energy of the vehicle into heat, allowing the vehicle to stop. Heat energy generated must be dissipated into the surroundings in order to prevent brake overheating. Traditionally, a lot of experimental testing is performed to ensure correct brake operation under all possible load scenarios. However, with the development of simulation techniques, many vehicle manufacturers today are looking into partially or completely replacing physical experiments by virtual testing. Such a transition has several substantial benefits, but simultaneously a lot of challenges and limitations need to be addressed and understood for reliable and accurate simulation results. This paper summarizes many of such challenges, discusses the effects that can and cannot be captured, and gives a broader picture of the issues faced when conducting numerical brake cooling simulations.

In the present work, the effects of different operating parameters on the performance of a gravity-assisted heat pipe-based indirect evaporative cooler (GAHP-based IEC) were investigated. The aim of the theoretical study is to evaluate accurately the cooling performance indicators, such as the coefficient of performance (COP), wet bulb effectiveness, and cooling capacity. To predict the effectiveness of the air cooler under a variety of conditions, the comprehensive calculation method was adopted. A mathematical model was developed to simulate numerically the heat and mass transfer processes. The mathematical model was validated adequately using experimental data from the literature. Based on the conducted numerical simulations, the most favorable ranges of operating conditions for the GAHP-based IEC were established. Moreover, the conducted studies could contribute to the further development of novel evaporative cooling systems employing gravity-assisted heat pipes as efficient equipm... [more]

The paper deals with the problem of modelling and analyzing the dynamic properties of a Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) made of silicon carbide. An examination of the usefulness of the built-in JFET Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) model was performed. A modified model of silicon carbide JFET was proposed to increase modelling accuracy. An evaluation of the accuracy of the modified model was performed by comparison of the measured and calculated capacitance−voltage characteristics as well as the switching characteristics of JFETs.

Offshore wind energy is regarded as a key alternative to fossil fuels in many parts of the world. Its exploitation is based on the sound evaluation of wind resources. This study used data from a meteorological mast, a floating light detection and ranging (LiDAR) device, and the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, a reanalysis data set established by the NASA Center for Climate Simulation, to evaluate wind resources of the Changhua-South Offshore Wind Farm. The average wind speeds evaluated at a height of 105 m in the studied wind farm were 7.97 and 8.02 m/s according to the data obtained from the floating LiDAR device and a mast, respectively. The full-load hours were 3320.5 and 3296.5 h per year when data from the LiDAR device and mast were used, respectively. The estimated annual energy production (AEP) with a probability of 50% (P50) reached 314 GWh/y, whereas the AEPs with a probability of 75% (P75) and with a probability of 90% (P90) were 283 GWh/y and... [more]

Nearly 30% of humanity lives in earthen dwellings. Earthbag is a sustainable, cheap, feasible and comfortable option for emergency housing. A comparative monitoring-simulation analysis of the hygrothermal behavior of an Earthbag dwelling in Mediterranean continental climate, designed under bioclimatic criteria, is presented. The dome shape Earthbag dwelling has a net floor area of 7.07 m2, a glass door facing south and two confronted windows in the east and west facades. A numerical model (EnergyPlus v8.8) was designed for comparison. Twenty-four hour cross ventilation, night cross ventilation, and no ventilation in free floating mode and a controlled indoor temperature were the tested scenarios. Comparisons between experimental data and simulation show a good match in temperature behavior for the scenarios studied. Reductions of 90% in summer and 88% in winter, in the interior thermal amplitude with respect to exterior temperatures are found. Position of the glazed openings was fundam... [more]

Within the framework of a Reynolds averaged numerical simulation (RANS) methodology for modeling turbulence, a comparative numerical study of turbulent lifted H2/N2 flames is presented. Three different turbulent combustion models, namely, the eddy dissipation model (EDM), the eddy dissipation concept (EDC), and the composition probability density function (PDF) transport model, are considered in the analysis. A wide range of global and detailed combustion reaction mechanisms are investigated. As turbulence model, the Standard k-ε model is used, which delivered a comparatively good accuracy within an initial validation study, performed for a non-reacting H2/N2 jet. The predictions for the lifted H2/N2 flame are compared with the published measurements of other authors, and the relative performance of the turbulent combustion models and combustion reaction mechanisms are assessed. The flame lift-off height is taken as the measure of prediction quality. The results show that the latter de... [more]

Load power forecast is one of most important tasks in power systems operation and maintenance. Enhancing its accuracy can be helpful to power systems scheduling. This paper presents how to use partial real-time temperature information in forecasting load power, which is usually done using past load power and temperature data. The partial real-time temperature information means temperature information for only part of the entire prediction time interval. To this end, a long short-term memory (LSTM) network is trained using past temperature and load power data in order to forecast load power, where forecasted load power depends on the temperature prediction implicitly. Then, in order to deal with the case where nontrivial temperature prediction errors happen, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network is trained using the past data describing the relation between temperature variation and load power variation. Then, the temperature is measured at the beginning of the prediction time-interval... [more]

Microgrid is becoming an essential part of the power grid regarding reliability, economy, and environment. Renewable energies are main sources of energy in microgrids. Long-term solar generation forecasting is an important issue in microgrid planning and design from an engineering point of view. Solar generation forecasting mainly depends on solar radiation forecasting. Long-term solar radiation forecasting can also be used for estimating the degradation-rate-influenced energy potentials of photovoltaic (PV) panel. In this paper, a comparative study of different deep learning approaches is carried out for forecasting one year ahead hourly and daily solar radiation. In the proposed method, state of the art deep learning and machine learning architectures like gated recurrent units (GRUs), long short term memory (LSTM), recurrent neural network (RNN), feed forward neural network (FFNN), and support vector regression (SVR) models are compared. The proposed method uses historical solar rad... [more]

Commercial and residential building is one of the four major final energy consumption and end-use sectors. In this sector, cooling loads represent an important part of the energy consumption, and therefore, they must be minimized, improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Ventilated façades are one of the most widely used passive elements that are integrated into buildings, precisely with the aim of reducing these loads. This reduction is due to the airflow induced in the air cavity by the buoyancy forces, when the solar radiation heats the outer layer of the façade. In the open joint ventilated facades (OJVF), ventilation is attained through the open joints between the panels composing the outer layer. Despite the steadily growing research in the characterization of this type of system, few studies combine the numerical modelling of OJVF with experimental results for the assessment of the airflow in the ventilated cavities. This paper experimentally validates a numerical simulatio... [more]

The modeling of stator and rotor faults is the basis of the development of online monitoring techniques. To obtain reliable stator and rotor fault models, this paper focuses on dynamic modeling of the stator and rotor faults in real-time, which adopts a multiple-coupled-circuit method by using a winding function approach for inductance calculation. Firstly, the model of the induction machine with a healthy cage is introduced, where a rotor mesh that consists of a few rotor loops and an end ring loop is considered. Then, the stator inter-turn fault model is presented by adding an extra branch with short circuit resistance on the fault part of a stator phase winding. The broken rotor bar fault is then detailed by merging and removing the broken-bar-related loops. Finally, the discrete models under healthy and faulty conditions are developed by using the Tustin transformation for digital implementation. Moreover, the stator and rotor mutual inductances are derived as a function of the rot... [more]

Multi-scale bedding fractures, i.e., km-scale regional bedding fractures and cm-scale lamina-induced fractures, have been the focus of unconventional oil and gas exploration and play an important role in resource exploration and drilling practice for tight oil and gas. It is challenging to conduct numerical simulations of bedding fractures due to the strong heterogeneity without a proper mechanical criterion to predict failure behaviors. This research modified the Tien−Kuo (T−K) criterion by using four critical parameters (i.e., the maximum principal stress (σ1), minimum principal stress (σ3), lamina angle (θ), and lamina friction coefficient (μlamina)). The modified criterion was compared to other bedding failure criteria to make a rational finite element simulation constrained by the four variables. This work conducted triaxial compression tests of 18 column samples with different lamina angles to verify the modified rock failure criterion, which contributes to the simulation work on... [more]

Dilation behavior is of great importance for reasonable modeling of the stability of the host rock of the repository for high-level radioactive waste disposal. It is a suitable method for carrying out direct shear experiments to analyze the dilation behavior of rock with well understood physical meanings. Based on a series of direct shear experiments on granite samples from the Alxa candidate area under different normal stresses, the shear stress‒shear strain and shear stress‒normal strain relations have been studied in detail. Five typical stages have been divided associated with the fracturing process and deformation behaviors of the granite samples during the experimental process, and the method to determine the typical stress thresholds has been proposed. It has also been found that the increasing normal stress may reduce the maximum dilation angle, and when the normal stress is relatively lower, the negative dilation angle may occur during the post-peak stage. According to the dat... [more]

Increasing the share of renewables in energy markets influences the daily operation of thermal power units. High capacity power units are more frequently operated to balance power grids and, thus, steam boilers are exposed to unfavorable transient states. The aim of this work was to perform thermal and structural analyses of a boiler’s outlet steam header, with a capacity of 650∙103 kg/h (180 kg/s) of live steam. Based on the measured steam pressure and temperatures on the outer surface of the component, transient temperature fields were determined by means of an algorithm that allows determination of transient stress distributions on the internal and external surfaces, as well as at stress concentration regions. In parallel, a finite element method simulation was performed. A comparison of the obtained results to a finite element analysis showed satisfactory agreement. The analyses showed that the start-up time could be reduced because the total stress did not exceed the allowed value... [more]

Passive safety systems are an important feature of currently designed and constructed nuclear power plants. They operate independent of external power supply and manual interventions and are solely driven by thermal gradients and gravitational force. This brings up new needs for performance and reliably assessment. This paper provides a review on fundamental approaches to model and analyze the performance of passive heat removal systems exemplified for the passive heat removal chain of the KERENA boiling water reactor concept developed by Framatome. We discuss modeling concepts for one-dimensional system codes such as ATHLET, RELAP and TRACE and furthermore for computational fluid dynamics codes. Part I dealt with numerical and experimental methods for modeling of condensation inside the emergency condenser and on the containment cooling condenser. This second part deals with boiling and two-phase flow instabilities.

Electronic devices can be damaged in an undesirable manner if the junction temperature achieves high values in order to cause thermal runaway and melting. This paper describes the mathematical model to calculate the power losses in power semiconductor devices used in bidirectional rectifier which supplies a resistive-inductive load. The obtained thermal model can be used to analyse the thermal behaviour of power semiconductors in steady-state conditions, at different values of the firing angle, direct current, air speed in the case of forced cooling, and different types of load. Also, the junction and case temperature of a power thyristor have been computed. In order to validate the proposed mathematical model, some experimental tests have been performed. The theoretical values are in good concordance with the experimental data and simulated results.

The performance of ground-coupled heat pump systems (GCHPs) operating under significant groundwater flow can be difficult to predict due to advective heat transfer in the subsurface. This is the case of the Carignan-Salières elementary school located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River near Montréal, Canada. The building is heated and cooled with a GCHP system including 31 boreholes subject to varying groundwater flow conditions due to the proximity of an active quarry being irregularly dewatered. A study with the objective of predicting the borehole temperatures in order to anticipate potential operational problems was conducted, which provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of groundwater flow. For this purpose, a numerical model was calibrated using a full-scale heat injection test and then run under different scenarios for a period of twenty years. The heat exchange capacity of the GCHP system is clearly enhanced by advection when the Darcy flux changes from 6 × 10−... [more]

The electrical efficiency and durability of a photovoltaic (PV) cell degrades as its temperature increases. Accordingly, there have been continued efforts to control the cell temperature by cooling the PV module. Generally, passive PV cooling using heat sinks attached on the back of the PV module can improve the electrical efficiency. However, few experimental studies have evaluated the effect of the heat sink shape on PV cooling. Therefore, this study proposed a passive cooling technology using meshes made of iron and aluminum, and performed indoor tests using a solar simulator to analyze the cooling performance. The experimental results demonstrated that iron and aluminum meshes reduced the PV module temperature by approximately 4.35 °C and 6.56 °C, respectively. Additionally, numerical studies were performed using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to compare the cooling fins and meshes. The numerical results showed that the cooling fins exhibited a better cooling perfo... [more]

Reliable energy models are needed to determine building energy performance. Relatively detailed energy models can be auto-generated based on 3D shape representations of existing buildings. However, parameters describing thermal performance of the building fabric, the technical systems, and occupant behavior are usually not readily available. Calibration with on-site measurements is needed to obtain reliable energy models that can offer insight into buildings’ actual energy performances. Here, we present an energy model that is suitable for district-heated multifamily buildings, based on a 14-node thermal network implementation of the ISO 52016-1:2017 standard. To better account for modeling approximations and noisy inputs, the model is converted to a stochastic state-space model and augmented with four additional disturbance state variables. Uncertainty models are developed for the inputs solar heat gains, internal heat gains, and domestic hot water use. An iterated extended Kalman fil... [more]