Transferência de calor e controle de temperatura em tubos capilares utilizados em eletroforese capilar

Este trabalho tem por objetivo estudar a transferência de calor em tubos capilares cilíndricos utilizados na técnica de separação de moléculas denominada Eletroforese Capilar. Esta técnica é usada, por exemplo, na análise de biomoléculas e no sequenciamento de DNA, onde o controle da temperatura está diretamente ligado ao desempenho destes métodos e à qualidade dos resultados. Para empregar esta técnica, tensões elétricas da ordem de 20 kV são aplicadas entre as extremidades dos tubos capilares, que possuem normalmente 50 cm de comprimento, 350 µm de diâmetro externo e 50 µm de diâmetro interno, preenchidos por uma solução aquosa. Tais tensões geram uma corrente elétrica na solução, provocando aquecimento distribuído por Efeito Joule. Os tubos capilares são construídos em quartzo amorfo e protegidos por uma camada de material polimérico (poliimida). Para implementar o controle da temperatura, os tubos capilares são colocados em contato com um fluido de resfriamento. Num primeiro momento, os estudos são realizados por simulação numérica, empregando o Método dos Volumes Finitos em rotinas escritas em FORTRAN. São simulados casos onde os tubos são recobertos por camadas cilíndricas de materiais com uma condutividade térmica relativamente boa, com o objetivo de aumentar a superfície de troca de calor com o fluido de resfriamento. Como resultado, obtêm-se curvas da temperatura no centro dos tubos capilares em função do coeficiente de transferência de calor por convecção. Um caso de interesse é quando os tubos capilares são posicionados excentricamente ao recobrimento cilíndrico Num segundo momento, é utilizado o software de simulação numérica ANSYS CFX®, onde é simulado o resfriamento dos mesmos tubos capilares expostos a um escoamento transversal de ar a 15°C. Neste caso, também são aplicados os recobrimentos cilíndricos e, além disso, opta-se por simular o resfriamento de um arranjo de vários tubos (sistema multicapilar) dispostos entre placas de vidro, no formato de um sanduíche. Como resultados mais importantes salientam-se: a) o aumento do raio do recobrimento resulta no aumento da transferência de calor, fazendo com que a temperatura no núcleo do capilar fique estacionada em valores baixos que não comprometem as separações/análises; b) chegou-se a um valor de raio crítico da ordem de 10 mm para a condição de operação mais típicas na área da Eletroforese Capilar; c) as montagens com o tubo capilar concêntrico e excêntrico ao recobrimento não apresentam diferenças significativas no perfil de temperatura da solução tampão; e finalmente d) observa-se que o uso de duas placas de material dielétrico com os capilares posicionados em forma de sanduíche entre elas permite uma eficiente dissipação do calor gerado na solução tampão.

Simulação do escoamento monofásico em um estágio de uma bomba centrífuga utilizando técnicas de fluidodinâmica computacional

Oil production and exploration techniques have evolved in the last decades in order to increase fluid flows and optimize how the required equipment are used. The base functioning of Electric Submersible Pumping (ESP) lift method is the use of an electric downhole motor to move a centrifugal pump and transport the fluids to the surface. The Electric Submersible Pumping is an option that has been gaining ground among the methods of Artificial Lift due to the ability to handle a large flow of liquid in onshore and offshore environments. The performance of a well equipped with ESP systems is intrinsically related to the centrifugal pump operation. It is the pump that has the function to turn the motor power into Head. In this present work, a computer model to analyze the three-dimensional flow in a centrifugal pump used in Electric Submersible Pumping has been developed. Through the commercial program, ANSYS® CFX®, initially using water as fluid flow, the geometry and simulation parameters have been defined in order to obtain an approximation of what occurs inside the channels of the impeller and diffuser pump in terms of flow. Three different geometry conditions were initially tested to determine which is most suitable to solving the problem. After choosing the most appropriate geometry, three mesh conditions were analyzed and the obtained values were compared to the experimental characteristic curve of Head provided by the manufacturer. The results have approached the experimental curve, the simulation time and the model convergence were satisfactory if it is considered that the studied problem involves numerical analysis. After the tests with water, oil was used in the simulations. The results were compared to a methodology used in the petroleum industry to correct viscosity. In general, for models with water and oil, the results with single-phase fluids were coherent with the experimental curves and, through three-dimensional computer models, they are a preliminary evaluation for the analysis of the two-phase flow inside the channels of centrifugal pump used in ESP systems

Simulação computacional da interação fluido-estrutura em bombas de cavidades progressivas

The pumping through progressing cavities system has been more and more employed in the petroleum industry. This occurs because of its capacity of elevation of highly viscous oils or fluids with great concentration of sand or other solid particles. A Progressing Cavity Pump (PCP) consists, basically, of a rotor - a metallic device similar to an eccentric screw, and a stator - a steel tube internally covered by a double helix, which may be rigid or deformable/elastomeric. In general, it is submitted to a combination of well pressure with the pressure generated by the pumping process itself. In elastomeric PCPs, this combined effort compresses the stator and generates, or enlarges, the clearance existing between the rotor and the stator, thus reducing the closing effect between their cavities. Such opening of the sealing region produces what is known as fluid slip or slippage, reducing the efficiency of the PCP pumping system. Therefore, this research aims to develop a transient three-dimensional computational model that, based on single-lobe PCP kinematics, is able to simulate the fluid-structure interaction that occurs in the interior of metallic and elastomeric PCPs. The main goal is to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of PCP s efficiency based on detailed and instantaneous information of velocity, pressure and deformation fields in their interior. To reach these goals (development and use of the model), it was also necessary the development of a methodology for generation of dynamic, mobile and deformable, computational meshes representing fluid and structural regions of a PCP. This additional intermediary step has been characterized as the biggest challenge for the elaboration and running of the computational model due to the complex kinematic and critical geometry of this type of pump (different helix angles between rotor and stator as well as large length scale aspect ratios). The processes of dynamic generation of meshes and of simultaneous evaluation of the deformations suffered by the elastomer are fulfilled through subroutines written in Fortan 90 language that dynamically interact with the CFX/ANSYS fluid dynamic software. Since a structural elastic linear model is employed to evaluate elastomer deformations, it is not necessary to use any CAE package for structural analysis. However, an initial proposal for dynamic simulation using hyperelastic models through ANSYS software is also presented in this research. Validation of the results produced with the present methodology (mesh generation, flow simulation in metallic PCPs and simulation of fluid-structure interaction in elastomeric PCPs) is obtained through comparison with experimental results reported by the literature. It is expected that the development and application of such a computational model may provide better details of the dynamics of the flow within metallic and elastomeric PCPs, so that better control systems may be implemented in the artificial elevation area by PCP

Numerical Experimental Comparison of Dam Break Flows with non-Newtonian Fluids

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Numerical simulation of a radial diffuser turbulent airflow

In the present work are presented results from numerical simulations performed with the ANSYS-CFX (R) code. We have studied a radial diffuser flow case, which is the main academic problem used to study the flow behavior on flat plate valves. The radial flow inside the diffuser has important behavior such as the turbulence decay downstream and recirculation regions inside the valve flow channel due to boundary layer detachment. These flow structures are present in compressor reed valve configurations, influencing to a greater extent the compressor efficiency. The main target of the present paper was finding the simulation set-up (computational domain, boundary conditions and turbulence model) that better fits with experimental data published by Tabatabai and Pollard. The local flow turbulence and velocity profiles were investigated using four different turbulence models, two different boundary conditions set-up, two different computational domains and three different flow conditions (Re-in - Reynolds number at the diffuser inlet). We used the Reynolds stress (BSL); the k-epsilon; the RNG k-epsilon; and the shear stress transport (SST) k-omega turbulence models. The performed analysis and comparison of the computational results with experimental data show that the choice of the turbulence model, as well as the choice of the other computational conditions, plays an important role in the results physical quality and accuracy. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Two short peptides including segments of subunit A of Escherichia coli DNA gyrase as potential probes to evaluate the antibacterial activity of quinolones

Quinolones constitute a family of compounds with a potent antibiotic activity. The enzyme DNA gyrase, responsible for the replication and transcription processes in DNA of bacteria, is involved in the mechanism of action of these drugs. In this sense, it is believed that quinolones stabilize the so-called 'cleavable complex' formed by DNA and gyrase, but the whole process is still far from being understood at the molecular level. This information is crucial in order to design new biological active products. As an approach to the problem, we have designed and synthesized low molecular weight peptide mimics of DNA gyrase. These peptides correspond to sequences of the subunit A of the enzyme from Escherichia coli, that include the quinolone resistance-determining region (positions 75-92) and a segment containing the catalytic Tyr-122 (positions 116-130). The peptide mimic of the non-mutated enzyme binds to ciprofloxin (CFX) only when DNA and Mg2+ were present (Kd = 1.6 × 10 -6 m), a result previously found with DNA gyrase. On the other hand, binding was reduced when mutations of Ser-83 to Leu-83 and Asp-87 to Asn-87 were introduced, a double change previously found in the subunit A of DNA gyrase from several CFX-resistant clinical isolates of E. coli. These results suggest that synthetic peptides designed in a similar way to that described here can be used as mimics of gyrases (topoisomerases) in order to study the binding of the quinolone to the enzyme-DNA complex as well as the mechanism of action of these antibiotics. Copyright © 2001 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Determinação física e numérica de corridas de lama resultantes de ruptura de barreira retendo material viscoplástico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Rompimento de barreiras: análise experimental e numérica na previsão de velocidades de propagação de frentes de material hiperconcentrado

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estudo teórico e experimental das curvas características de um ventilador axial aplicado em pulverização agrícola

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estudo numerico da convecção natural e forçada em cavidades tridimensionais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Theoretical and experimental study of agricultural spraying using CFD

This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) application about the axial fan design used in an agricultural spraying system with a theoretical and experimental analysis of comparative results between the characteristic curves of a fan for several rotations and numerical results for the influence of blade attack angle variation and optimization of the spraying system, both for a same rotation. Flow was considered three-dimensional, turbulent, isothermal, viscous and non-compressible in a steady state, disregarding any influence of the gravity field. The average turbulent field was obtained from the application of time average where the turbulence model required for closing the set of equations was the k-E model. Resolution of all connected phenomena was achieved with the help of a fluid dynamics computer, CFX, which uses the finite volumes technique as a numerical method. In order to validate the theoretical analysis, an experiment was conducted in a circular section of a horizontal wind tunnel, using a Pitot tube for pressure readings. The main results demonstrate that the methodology used, based on CFD techniques, is able to reproduce the phenomenological behavior of an axial fan in a spraying system because results were very reliable and similar to experimentally measured ones.

Modelagem de motor de combustão internae simulação do processo de queima de combustível

The internal combustion engine is a heat engine widely used in the automotive industry. In order to better understand its behavior many models in the literature have been proposed in the last years. The 0-D thermodynamic model is a fairly simple tool but it is very useful to understand the phenomenon of combustion inside the chamber of internal combustion engines. In the first phase of this work, an extensive literature review was made in order to get information about this kind of analysis and, after this, apply them in a model able to calculate the instantaneous temperature and pressure in one zone of the combustion chamber of a diesel engine. Therefore some considerations were made with the aim of increasing the accuracy of the model in predicting the correct behavior of the engine, adding the combined effects of heat transfer, leakage and injection. In the second phase, the goal was to study the internal flow of a three-dimensional model of an internal combustion engine. In order to achieve this goal the software Solidworks was used to create the geometries of an engine and the suite of softwares Ansys was used to create the moving mesh (ICEM CFD and CFX-Pre) and to solve the CFD problem (Ansys CFX code). The model was able to perform the air flow simulation during the four-stroke cycle of an engine: admission, compression, expansion and exhaust. The results obtained from both models were suitable and they open a new range of possibilities for future researches on the field

Condensational growth of atmospheric aerosol particles in an expanding water saturated air flow

Aerosol particles and water vapour are two important constituents of the atmosphere. Their interaction, i.e. thecondensation of water vapour on particles, brings about the formation of cloud, fog, and raindrops, causing the water cycle on the earth, and being responsible for climate changes. Understanding the roles of water vapour and aerosol particles in this interaction has become an essential part of understanding the atmosphere. In this work, the heterogeneous nucleation on pre-existing aerosol particles by the condensation of water vapour in theflow of a capillary nozzle was investigated. Theoretical and numerical modelling as well as experiments on thiscondensation process were included. Based on reasonable results from the theoretical and numerical modelling, an idea of designing a new nozzle condensation nucleus counter (Nozzle-CNC), that is to utilise the capillary nozzle to create an expanding water saturated air flow, was then put forward and various experiments were carried out with this Nozzle-CNC under different experimental conditions. Firstly, the air stream in the long capillary nozzle with inner diameter of 1.0~mm was modelled as a steady, compressible and heat-conducting turbulence flow by CFX-FLOW3D computational program. An adiabatic and isentropic cooling in the nozzle was found. A supersaturation in the nozzle can be created if the inlet flow is water saturated, and its value depends principally on flow velocity or flow rate through the nozzle. Secondly, a particle condensational growth model in air stream was developed. An extended Mason's diffusion growthequation with size correction for particles beyond the continuum regime and with the correction for a certain particle Reynolds number in an accelerating state was given. The modelling results show the rapid condensational growth of aerosol particles, especially for fine size particles, in the nozzle stream, which, on the one hand, may induce evident `over-sizing' and `over-numbering' effects in aerosol measurements as nozzle designs are widely employed for producing accelerating and focused aerosol beams in aerosol instruments like optical particle counter (OPC) and aerodynamical particle sizer (APS). It can, on the other hand, be applied in constructing the Nozzle-CNC. Thirdly, based on the optimisation of theoretical and numerical results, the new Nozzle-CNC was built. Under various experimental conditions such as flow rate, ambient temperature, and the fraction of aerosol in the total flow, experiments with this instrument were carried out. An interesting exponential relation between the saturation in the nozzle and the number concentration of atmospheric nuclei, including hygroscopic nuclei (HN), cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and traditionally measured atmospheric condensation nuclei (CN), was found. This relation differs from the relation for the number concentration of CCN obtained by other researchers. The minimum detectable size of this Nozzle-CNC is 0.04?m. Although further improvements are still needed, this Nozzle-CNC, in comparison with other CNCs, has severaladvantages such as no condensation delay as particles larger than the critical size grow simultaneously, low diffusion losses of particles, little water condensation at the inner wall of the instrument, and adjustable saturation --- therefore the wide counting region, as well as no calibration compared to non-water condensation substances.

Numerical and Experimental Studies of Sail Aerodynamics

The purpose of this investigation was the determination of the aerodynamic performance of sails and gain knowledge of the phenomena involved in order to improve the aerody¬namic characteristics. In this research, the airflow around different sails in four scenarios was studied. The method to analyze these scenarios was the combination of numerical simulations and experimental tests by taking advantage of the best of each tool. Two different Com¬putational Fluid Dynamic codes were utilized: the ANSYS-CFX and the CD-Adapco’s STAR-CCM+. The experimental tests were conducted in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel at the Universidad de Granada (Spain), the Twisted Flow Wind Tunnel at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and the A9 Wind Tunnel at the Universidad Polit´ecnica de Madrid (Spain). Through this research, it was found the three-dimensional effect of the mast on the aerodynamic performance of an IMS Class boat. The pressure distribution on a Transpac 52 Class mainsail was also determined. Moreover, the aerodynamic perfor¬mance of the 43ft and 60ft Dhow Classes was obtained. Finally, a feasibility study was conducted to use a structural wing in combination with conventional propulsions systems. The main conclusion was that this research clarified gaps on the knowledge of the aerodynamic performance of sails. Moreover, since commercial codes were not specifically designed to study sails, a procedure was developed. On the other hand, innovative experimental techniques were used and applied to model-scale sails. The achievements of this thesis are promising and some of the results are already in use by the industry on a daily basis. El propósito de este estudio era determinar el comportamiento aerodinámico de unas velas y mejorar el conocimiento de los fenómenos que suceden para optimizar las características aerodinámicas de dichas velas. En esta investigación se estudió el flujo de aire alrededor de diferentes velas en cuatro escenarios. El método para analizar estos escenarios fue la combinación de simulaciones numéricas y ensayos experimentales mediante el aprovechamiento de las ventajas de cada herramienta. Se utilizaron dos códigos de dinámica de fluidos computacional: el ANSYS-CFX y el STAR-CCM+ de la empresa CD-Adapco. Los ensayos experimentales se desarrollaron en el túnel de viento de capa límite de la Universidad de Granada (España), el túnel de viento de la Universidad de Auckland (Nueva Zelanda) y en el túnel A9 de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (España). Mediante esta investigación, se determinó el efecto tridimensional del mástil en un velero de la clase IMS. También se describió la distribución de presiones sobre una mayor de un Transpac 52. Además, se obtuvo el comportamiento aerodinámico de las clases 43ft y 60ft de los veleros Dhows. Finalmente, se llevó a cabo un estudio de viabilidad de la utilización de un ala estructural en combinación con sistemas de propulsión convencionales. La conclusión principal de esta investigación fue la capacidad de explicar ciertas lagunas en el conocimiento del comportamiento aerodinámico de las velas en diferentes escenarios. Además, dado que los códigos comerciales no están específicamente diseñados para el estudio de velas, se desarrolló un procedimiento a tal efecto. Por otro lado, se han utilizado innovadoras técnicas experimentales y se han aplicado a modelos de velas a escala. Los logros de esta investigación son prometedores y algunos de los resultados obtenidos ya están siendo utilizados por la industria en su día a día.