Yan M. C. Delaure

Recent marine anti-fouling research efforts have sought inspiration from bio-mimetic strategies to develop nontoxic solutions. Surface modifications have shown promising results in their ability to disrupt attachment and growth of early-stage organisms under static immersion conditions but very limited research has attempted to explore the interaction between surface textures and flow under turbulent conditions. The study presented in this article focuses on a simple texture, inspired by the growth rings of the Brill fish Scophthalmus rhombus and developed for applications on the blades of tidal stream turbine. A series of Large Eddy Simulations of fully developed turbulent channel flow were performed to assess the influence of the spacing between the texture elements on turbulent stresses. The aim is to characterize the impact of the texture on turbulent stresses by comparison to a smooth surface and identify whether shelters may form within the gaps between textures. The study clarifies the role of dispersive and Reynolds stresses in terms of their impact on hydrodynamic forces acting on a simplified model of a marine diatom. Reynolds shear stresses predominantly govern the intensity of forces, while dispersive shear stress affects the mean hydrodynamic forces acting on the organism at the early stage of settlement.

Passive flow control techniques, and particularly vortex generators have been used successfully in a broad range of aero- and hydrodynamics applications to alter the characteristics of boundary layer separation. This study aims to review how such techniques can mitigate the extent and impact of cavitation in incompressible flows. This review focuses first on vortex generators to characterize key physical principles. It then considers the complete range of passive flow control technologies, including surface conditioning and roughness, geometry modification, grooves, discharge, injection, obstacles, vortex generators, and bubble generators. The passive flow control techniques reviewed typically delay and suppress boundary layer separation by decreasing the pressure gradient at the separation point. The literature also identifies streamwise vortices that result in the transfer of momentum from the free stream to near-wall low energy flow regions. The area of interest concerns hydraulic machinery, whose performance and life span are particularly susceptible to cavitation. The impact on performance includes a reduction in efficiency and fluctuations in discharge pressure and flow, while cavitation can greatly increase wear of bearings, wearing rings, seals, and impeller surfaces due to excessive vibration and surface erosion. In that context, few studies have also shown the positive effects that passive controls can have on the hydraulic performance of centrifugal pumps, such as total head and efficiency. It is conceivable that a new generation of design in hydraulic systems may be possible if simple design features can be conceived to maximize power transfer and minimize losses and cavitation. There are still, however, significant research gaps in understanding a range of impact factors such as manufacturing processes, lifetime, and durability, and essentially how a static design can be optimized to deliver improved performance over a realistic range of operating conditions.

Hydrophobic membrane contactors represent a promising solution to the problem of recycling ammoniacal nitrogen (N-NH₄) molecules from waste, water or wastewater resources. The process has been shown to work best with wastewater streams that present high N-NH₄ concentrations, low buffering capacities and low total suspended solids. The removal of N-NH₄ from rendering condensate, produced during heat treatment of waste animal tissue, was assessed in this research using a hydrophobic membrane contactor. This study investigates how the molecular composition of rendering condensate wastewater undergo changes in its chemistry in order to achieve suitability to be treated using hydrophobic membranes and form a suitable product. The main objective was to test the ammonia stripping technology using two types of hydrophobic membrane materials, polypropylene (PP) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) at pilot scale and carry out: (i) Process modification for NH₃ molecule removal and (ii) product characterization from the process. The results demonstrate that PP membranes are not compatible with the condensate waste as it caused wetting. The PTFE membranes showed potential and had a longer lifetime than the PP membranes and removed up to 64% of NH₃ molecules from the condensate waste. The product formed contained a 30% concentrated ammonium sulphate salt which has a potential application as a fertilizer. This is the first demonstration of hydrophobic membrane contactors for treatment of condensate wastewater.

This paper describes a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model for the study of flexible cloth-like structures or the so-called rags in flows through centrifugal pumps. The structural model and its coupling to the flow solver are based on a Lagrangian formulation combining structural deformation and motion modeling coupled to a sharp interface immersed boundary model (IBM). The solution has been implemented in the open-source library OpenFOAM relying in particular on its PIMPLE segregated Navier–Stokes pressure–velocity coupling and its detached eddy simulation (DES) turbulence model. The FSI solver is assessed in terms of its capability to generate consistent deformations and transport of the immersed flexible structures. Two benchmark cases are covered and both involve experimental validation with three-dimensional (3D) structural deformations of the rag captured using a digital image correlation (DIC) technique. Simulations of a rag transported in a centrifugal pump confirm the suitability of the model to inform on the dynamic behavior of immersed structures under practical engineering conditions.

A Volume of Fluid (VOF) – Youngs' model for the solution of an incompressible immiscible two-phase flows is presented. The solver computes the flow field by solving the family of Navier Stokes equations on a fixed (Eulerian) Staggered Cartesian grid using the Finite Volume formulation of Semi-Implicit Pressure Linked Equation (SIMPLE) method and tracks the position of interface between two fluids with different fluid properties by Piecewise Linear Interface Construction (PLIC) Method. The suitability of the SIMPLE type implementation is assessed by investigating the dynamics of free rising bubbles for different fluid properties and flow parameters. The results obtained with the present numerical method for rising bubbles in viscous liquids are compared with reported numerical and experimental results.