Boundary-layer suction system design for laminar-flying-wing aircraft

The present study aims to provide insight into the parameters affecting practical laminar-flow-control suction power requirements for a commercial laminar-flying-wing transport aircraft. It is shown that there is a minimum power requirement independent of the suction system design, associated with the stagnation pressure loss in the boundary layer. This requirement increases with aerofoil section thickness, but depends only weakly on Mach number and (for a thick, lightly loaded laminar flying wing) lift coefficient. Deviation from the optimal suction distribution, due to a practical chamber-based architecture, is found to have very little effect on the overall suction coefficient; hence, to a good approximation, the power penalty is given by the product of the optimal suction flow rate coefficient and the average skin pressure drop. In the spanwise direction, through suitable choice of chamber depth, the pressure drop due to frictional and inertial effects may be rendered negligible. Finally, if there are fewer pumps than chambers, the average pressure drop from the aerofoil surface to the pump collector ducts, rather than to the chambers, determines the power penalty. For the representative laminar-flying-wing aircraft parameters considered here, the minimum power associated with boundary-layer losses alone contributes some 80-90% of the total power requirement. © 2011 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc.

A dynamic model to predict the occurrence of skidding in wind-turbine bearings

Despite use of the best in current design practices, high-speed shaft (HSS) bearings, in a wind-turbine gearbox, continue to exhibit a high rate of premature failure. As HSS bearings operate under low loads and high speeds, these bearings are prone to skidding. However, most of the existing methods for analyzing skidding are quasi-static in nature and cannot be used to study dynamic operating conditions. This paper proposes a dynamic model, which includes gyroscopic and centrifugal effects, to study the skidding characteristics of angular-contact ball-bearings. Traction forces between rolling-elements and raceways are obtained using elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication theory. Underlying gross-sliding mechanisms for pure axial loads, and combined radial and axial loads are also studied. The proposed model will enable engineers to improve bearing reliability at the design stage, by estimating the amount of skidding. © 2011 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Optimization of thermal material in a flux pump system with high temperature superconductor

Superconductors are known for the ability to trap magnetic field. A thermally actuated magnetization (TAM) flux pump is a system that utilizes the thermal material to generate multiple small magnetic pulses resulting in a high magnetization accumulated in the superconductor. Ferrites are a good thermal material candidate for the future TAM flux pumps because the relative permeability of ferrite changes significantly with temperature, particularly around the Curie temperature. Several soft ferrites have been specially synthesized to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of the TAM flux pump. Various ferrite compositions have been tested under a temperature variation ranging from 77K to 300K. The experimental results of the synthesized soft ferrites-Cu 0.3 Zn 0.7Ti 0.04Fe 1.96O 4, including the Curie temperature, magnetic relative permeability and the volume magnetization (emu/cm3), are presented in this paper. The results are compared with original thermal material, gadolinium, used in the TAM flux pump system.-Cu 0.3 Zn 0.7Ti 0.04 Fe 1.96O 4 holds superior characteristics and is believed to be a suitable material for next generation TAM flux pump. © 2011 IEEE.

Characterisation and fluidisation of synthetic pit latrine sludge

Half of the world’s urban population will live in informal settlements or “slums” by 2030. Affordable urban sanitation presents a unique set of challenges as the lack of space and resources to construct new latrines makes the de-sludging of existing pits necessary and is something that is currently done manually with significant associated health risks. Therefore various mechanised technologies have been developed to facilitate pit emptying, with the majority using a vacuum system to remove material from the top of the pit. However, this results in the gradual accumulation of unpumpable sludge in the pit, which eventually fills the latrine and forces it to be abandoned. This study has developed a method for fluidising unpumpable pit latrine sludge, based on laboratory experiments using a harmless synthetic sludge. Such a sludge consisting of clay and compost was developed to replicate the physical characteristics of pit latrine sludges characterised in Botswana during the 1980s. Undrained shear strength and density are identified as the critical parameters in controlling pumpability and a method of sludge characterisation based on these parameters is reported. In a series of fluidisation tests using a one fifth scale pit emptying device the reduction in sludge shear strength was found to be caused by i) dilution, which increases water content, and ii) remoulding, which involves mechanical agitation to break down the structure of the material. The tests demonstrated that even the strongest of sludges could be rendered “pumpable” by sufficient dilution. Additionally, air injection alone produced a three-fold decrease in strength of consolidated samples as a result of remoulding at constant water content. The implications for sludge treatment and disposal are discussed, and the classification of sludges according to the equipment required to remove them from the latrine is proposed. Possible field tests to estimate sludge density and shear strength are suggested. The feasibility of using low cost vacuum cleaners to replace expensive vane pumps is demonstrated. This offers great potential for the development of affordable pit emptying technologies that can remove significantly stronger sludges than current devices through fluidising the wastes at the bottom of the pit before emptying

Risk based lifetime costs assessment of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system design: Methodology and case study

Space heating accounts for a large portion of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) are a technology which can reduce carbon emissions from heating and cooling. GSHP system performance is however highly sensitive to deviation from design values of the actual annual energy extraction/rejection rates from/to the ground. In order to prevent failure and/or performance deterioration of GSHP systems it is possible to incorporate a safety factor in the design of the GSHP by over-sizing the ground heat exchanger (GHE). A methodology to evaluate the financial risk involved in over-sizing the GHE is proposed is this paper. A probability based approach is used to evaluate the economic feasibility of a hypothetical full-size GSHP system as compared to four alternative Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system configurations. The model of the GSHP system is developed in the TRNSYS energy simulation platform and calibrated with data from an actual hybrid GSHP system installed in the Department of Earth Science, University of Oxford, UK. Results of the analysis show that potential savings from a full-size GSHP system largely depend on projected HVAC system efficiencies and gas and electricity prices. Results of the risk analysis also suggest that a full-size GSHP with auxiliary back up is potentially the most economical system configuration. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Density stratified environments: The double-tank method

We present an alternative method of producing density stratifications in the laboratory based on the 'double-tank' method proposed by Oster (Sci Am 213:70-76, 1965). We refer to Oster's method as the 'forced-drain' approach, as the volume flow rates between connecting tanks are controlled by mechanical pumps. We first determine the range of density profiles that may be established with the forced-drain approach other than the linear stratification predicted by Oster. The dimensionless density stratification is expressed analytically as a function of three ratios: the volume flow rate ratio n, the ratio of the initial liquid volumes λ and the ratio of the initial densities ψ. We then propose a method which does not require pumps to control the volume flow rates but instead allows the connecting tanks to drain freely under gravity. This is referred to as the 'free-drain' approach. We derive an expression for the density stratification produced and compare our predictions with saline stratifications established in the laboratory using the 'free-drain' extension of Oster's method. To assist in the practical application of our results we plot the region of parameter space that yield concave/convex or linear density profiles for both forced-drain and free-drain approaches. The free-drain approach allows the experimentalist to produce a broad range of density profiles by varying the initial liquid depths, cross-sectional and drain opening areas of the tanks. One advantage over the original Oster approach is that density profiles with an inflexion point can now be established. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.

Modelling the vibration of tyre sidewalls

The dynamical behaviour of the sidewall has an important influence on tyre vibration characteristics. Nonetheless, it remains crudely represented in many existing models. The current work considers a geometrically accurate, two-dimensional, sidewall description, with a view to identifying potential shortcomings in the approximate formulations and identifying the physical characteristics that must be accounted for. First, the mean stress state under pressurisation and centrifugal loading is investigated. Finite-Element calculations show that, while the loaded sidewall shape remains close to a toroid, its in-plane tensions differ appreciably from the associated analytical solution. This is largely due to the inability of the anisotropic sidewall material to sustain significant azimuthal stress. An approximate analysis, based on the meridional tension alone, is therefore developed, and shown to yield accurate predictions. In conjunction with a set of formulae for the 'engineering constants' of the sidewall material, the approximate solutions provide a straightforward and efficient means of determining the base state for the vibration analysis. The latter is implemented via a 'waveguide' discretisation of a variational formulation. Its results show that, while the full geometrical description is necessary for a complete and reliable characterisation of the sidewall's vibrational properties, a one-dimensional approximation will often be satisfactory in practice. Meridional thickness variations only become important at higher frequencies (above 500 Hz for the example considered here), and rotational inertia effects appear to be minor at practical vehicle speeds. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the two classes of global primary modal instability in laminar separation bubbles

The self-excited global instability mechanisms existing in flat-plate laminar separation bubbles are studied here, in order to shed light on the causes of unsteadiness and three- dimensionality of unforced, nominally two-dimensional separated flows. The presence of two known linear global mechanisms, namely an oscillator behavior driven by local regions of absolute inflectional instability and a centrifugal instability giving rise to a steady three- dimensionalization of the bubble, is studied in a series of model separation bubbles. Present results indicate that absolute instability, and consequently a global oscillator behavior, does not exist for two-dimensional bubbles with a peak reversed-flow velocity below 12% of the free-stream velocity. However, the three-dimensional instability becomes active for recirculation levels as low as urev ≈ 7%. These findings suggest a route to the three-dimensionality and unsteadiness observed in experiments and simulations substantially different from that usually found in the literature, in which two-dimensional vortex shedding is followed by three-dimensionalization.