Integrated modelling and numerical treatment of freeway flow

The effectiveness of macroscopic dynamic freeway flow models at both uninterrupted and interrupted flow conditions is tested. Model implementation is made by finite difference methods developed here for solving the system's governing equations. These schemes are more effective than existing numerical methods, particularly when generation terms are introduced. The modelling alternatives and numerical solution algorithms are compared by employing a data base generated through microscopic simulation. Despite the effectiveness of the proposed numerical treatments, substantial deviations from the data at interrupted flows are still noticeable. In order to improve performance when flow is interrupted, we develop a modelling methodology that takes into account the ramp-freeway interactions so that all freeway components are treated as a system. We show that the coupling effects of the merging traffic streams are significant. Finally, the incremental benefits of using the more sophisticated high-order continuum models are assessed.     

The numerical modelling of DC electromagnetic pump and brake flow

The interaction of an externally imposed magnetic and electric field on the laminar flow of a conducting fluid in a channel is studied using computational techniques. The Navier-Stokes equations and the equations describing the electromagnetic field are solved simultaneously in a single control volume-type computational fluid dynamic code, in a moderate Hartmann number and interaction parameter regime. The flow considered is two-dimensional, with an imposed magnetic field acting in the third dimension over the central region of the channel and decaying exponentially in the remainder. A pair of electrodes placed at right angles to the magnetic field exercises control over the resultant Lorentz force and hence the velocity profile shape. This configuration has application in direct-current electromagnetic pumps or, conversely, electromagnetic brakes. The initial parabolic flow profile acquires an M-shape / W-shape mode in the magnetic field fringe regions, corresponding to a pump / brake. A novel coupled procedure is described to model magnetohydrodynamic phenomena and is used to explore the effects of the Reynolds number, interaction parameter, and applied voltage on the pump / brake configuration.     

Numerical modelling of rarefied gas flow through a slit at arbitrary pressure ratio based on the kinetic equation

A rarefied gas flow through a thin slit at an arbitrary gas pressure ratio is calculated on the basis of the kinetic model equations (BGK and S-model) applying the discrete velocity method. The calculations are carried out for the whole range of the gas rarefaction from the free-molecular regime to the hydrodynamic one. Numerical data on the flow rate and distributions of density, bulk velocity and temperature are reported. Comparisons of the present results with those based on the direct simulation Monte Carlo method and on the linearized BGK kinetic equation are performed. The conditions of applicability of the linearized theory are discussed.     

Poiseuille flow of a rarefied gas mixture

The flow of a rarefied binary gas mixture is governed by transport equations which correspond to a coupled set of Fredholm integral equations of the second kind.By means of the Fourier transform technique and by expanding the transformed kernels in terms or orthogonal functions the problem is reduced to the solution of a system of linear algebraic equations.As a significant application, the case of a plane Poiseuille flow of a binary mixture following Sirovich-Hamel's model is considered.The convergence of the method is excellent.

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Riassunto Il flusso di una miscela binaria di gas rarefatti è retto da equazioni del trasporto che corrispondono ad un sistema di equazioni integrali di Fredholm di seconda specie. Mediante la tecnica della trasformata di Fourier e sviluppando i kernel trasformati in termini di funzioni ortogonali, il problema si riduce alla soluzione di un sistema di equazioni algebriche lineari. Quale applicazione significative si considera il flusso piano di Poiseuille di una miscela binaria che segue il modello di Sirovich-Hamel. La convergenza del metodo e'eccellente.

     

On the numerical modelling of initiation of sediment transport using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

Mobilization of solid particles at the interface between a porous and a free flow domain is a relevant subject in many fields of mechanical, civil and environmental engineering. One example is the initiation of sediment transport as it appears in river beds. To approximate this initiation state, various theoretical models exist. Common approaches use two-domain formulations as in [1] or one-domain formulations as in [6]. The named approaches were compared with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) in [3]. The results of these simulations showed that the theoretical models often underestimate the occurring velocities at the interface and therefore critical velocities to initialize the motion of single grains can be lower than predicted by theoretical approaches. In our numerical simulations, we study creeping flow in a free flow domain coupled to flow in a porous media applying various porous structures. To investigate velocities and shear stresses at the interface more intensively we then compare our numerical results to data from experiments that were performed on equivalent microstructures. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Non-existence of a steady rarefied supersonic flow in a half-space

The one-dimensional BGK model for a Boltzmann gas is studied by linearizing about a drifting Maxwellian. This linearized BGK model is then expressed as an operator differential equation whose unique solution is given by a contour integral of the resolvent of the relevant transport operator. The Wiener-Hopf factorization of the dispersion function for the problem is employed to show that the unique solution to the differential equation exists only for subsonic drift velocities.

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Riassunto Si studia il modello unidimensionale di Bhatnagar, Gross e Krook, linearizzato intorno a una maxwelliana con velocità di deriva. Si trasforma poi questo modello in una equazione differenziale operatoriale, la cui soluzione (unica) è data da un integrale curvilineo del risolvente dell'operatore di trasporto di cui ci si occupa. Impiegando la fattorizzazione alla Wiener-Hopf della funzione di disperisione del problema, si dimostra che la soluzione (unica) del problema esiste solo per velocita di deriva subsoniche.

     

Transport of rarefied gases inside a vortex tube induced by a surface wave

We derive the entrainment of rarefied gases induced by a surface wave (SW) propagating along the wall or interface of the vortex core in a rather long straight vortex-tube (vortex or vorticity filament) by using the perturbation method. The values of the critical reflux pressure-gradient for time-averaged macroscopic flows of rarefied gases decrease as the Knudsen number increases from zero. Nonlinear coupling due to the boundary effect and the streaming flow of the rarefied gases is observed as the Reynolds number (based on the wave speed) increases to 50 and the wave number of the surface wave is larger. We also address the zero-flux states of our results. Received: November 22, 2004; revised: May 17, 2005     

Numerical study of the Couette flow of a diatomic rarefied gas

The Couette flow is numerically studied using a model kinetic equation for a diatomic rarefied gas (nitrogen). The boundary condition set on the wall takes into account that the molecular rotational energy passes into translational energy when the molecule interacts with the wall. For comparison purposes, the Couette flow is computed using the classical diffuse model of the gas-wall interaction. A comparison of the results obtained with both types of boundary conditions shows that the computed parameters of the Couette flow coincide only for sufficiently low Knudsen numbers. This suggests that transitions between rotational and translational energy in the gas-wall interaction have to be taken into account in the boundary condition.     

On the modelling of distributed outflow in one-dimensional models of arterial blood flow

Summary One-dimensional mathematical models of the flow of blood in arteries commonly make use of the concept of distributed outflow to simulate the loss of blood via side branches. It is shown that the usual approach leads to physically unrealistic results in certain special cases involving flow in rigid tubes, unless we introduce in the momentum equation a suitable additional term depending on the outflow. The influence of such a term on the pressure- and velocity waves calculated from an existing model of the aorta is investigated.

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Zusammenfassung Eindimensionale mathematische Modelle des Blutstromes in Arterien verwenden meist das Konzept von distribuiertem Abfluß um den Blutverlust über Verzweigungen zu simulieren. Es wird gezeigt, daß die übliche Behandlungsweise in speziellen Fällen von Strömungen in starren Röhren zu physikalisch unrealistischen Resultaten führt, es sei denn, daß in der Impulsgleichung ein passendes zusätzliches Glied eingeführt wird, welches vom Abfluß abhängt. Der Einfluß dieses Gliedes auf die Druck- und Geschwindigkeitswellen wird mit Hilfe eines bestehenden Modelles der Aorta untersucht.

     

A numerical algorithm for flame propagation in premixed gases

The propagation speed of a premixed laminar flame or a weak deflagration wave is not uniquely determined in the hyperbolic theory of reactive gas flow. In this paper, we take a hyperbolic system of conservation laws as a governing system of equations for reacting gases and propose an algorithm to determine a wave propagation speed uniquely. The wave speed and states around a flame are computed through solving a Riemann problem near a flame in the phase space. The Riemann problem can be solved by combining the information from the internal wave structure, which is ignored in the hyperbolic approximation, and characteristic information. Therefore, the wave speed comes to depend on the internal variables such as viscosity and diffusion. This method can be used to track a premixed laminar flame when combined with any front tracking method. Some computational results are also presented.     

Continuum models in problems of the hypersonic flow of a rarefied gas around blunt bodiest

All possible continuum (hydrodynamic) models in the case of two-dimensional problems of supersonic and hypersonic flows around blunt bodies in the two-layer model (a viscous shock layer and shock-wave structure) over the whole range of Reynolds numbers, Re, from low values (free molecular and transitional flow conditions) up to high values (flow conditions with a thin leading shock wave, a boundary layer and an external inviscid flow in the shock layer) are obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations using an asymptotic analysis. In the case of low Reynolds numbers, the shock layer is considered but the structure of the shock wave is ignored. Together with the well-known models (a boundary layer, a viscous shock layer, a thin viscous shock layer, parabolized Navier-Stokes equations (the single-layer model) for high, moderate and low Re numbers, respectively), a new hydrodynamic model, which follows from the Navier-Stokes equations and reduces to the solution of the simplified (“local”) Stokes equations in a shock layer with vanishing inertial and pressure forces and boundary conditions on the unspecified free boundary (the shock wave) is found at Reynolds numbers, and a density ratio, k, up to and immediately after the leading shock wave, which tend to zero subject to the condition that (k/Re)^1/2 → 0. Unlike in all the models which have been mentioned above, the solution of the problem of the flow around a body in this model gives the free molecular limit for the coefficients of friction, heat transfer and pressure. In particular, the Newtonian limit for the drag is thereby rigorously obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations. At the same time, the Knudsen number, which is governed by the thickness of the shock layer, which vanishes in this model, tends to zero, that is, the conditions for a continuum treatment are satisfied. The structure of the shock wave can be determined both using continuum as well as kinetic models after obtaining the solution in the viscous shock layer for the weak physicochemical processes in the shock wave structure itself. Otherwise, the problem of the shock wave structure and the equations of the viscous shock layer must be jointly solved. The equations for all the continuum models are written in Dorodnitsyn--Lees boundary layer variables, which enables one, prior to solving the problem, to obtain an approximate estimate of second-order effects in boundary-layer theory as a function of Re and the parameter k and to represent all the aerodynamic and thermal characteristic; in the form of a single dependence on Re over the whole range of its variation from zero to infinity.

An efficient numerical method of global iterations, previously developed for solving viscous shock-layer equations, can be used to solve problems of supersonic and hypersonic flows around the windward side of blunt bodies using a single hydrodynamic model of a viscous shock layer for all Re numbers, subject to the condition that the limit (k/Re)^1/2 → 0 is satisfied in the case of small Re numbers. An aerodynamic and thermal calculation using different hydrodynamic models, corresponding to different ranges of variation Re (different types of flow) can thereby, in fact, be replaced by a single calculation using one model for the whole of the trajectory for the descent (entry) of space vehicles and natural cosmic bodies (meteoroids) into the atmosphere.     

On optimization of the discrete velocity method used in rarefied gas dynamics

Summary It is shown that the modification of the kinetic equations using the continuum solution allows us to decrease difficulties of numerical calculation in the discrete velocity method at small Knudsen numbers. As an example the problem of the rarefied gas flow between parallel plates (so-called Poiseuille flow) is solved on the basis of both ordinary and modified kinetic equations.     

Artificial diffusion in the numerical modelling of the advective transport of salinity

Numerical modelling of the advective transport of salinity in coastal seas, using upstream differences, is considered. Upstream differences do not give rise to spurious negative salinities, as do forward time centred space differences.It is shown that the artificial diffusion associated with upstream differences can be incorporated into the physical diffusion in a simple quantitative manner. The method is applicable to finite-difference grids of less than about 2-4 km in tidal problems. For non-tidal problems the method is applicable to larger grids.     

Magnetohydrodynamic flow of a rarefied gas near an accelerated porous plate

An investigation is made of the flow of an electrically conducting rarefied gas due to the time-varying motion of an infinite porous plate, the gas being permeated by a transverse magnetic field. The suction is taken to be a constant and the magnetic lines of force are taken to be fixed relative to the fluid. The effects of magnetic field, rarefaction parameter, suction parameter are shown by means of some tables. The expressions of the skin friction for the two particular cases have also been obtained.     

Application of a momentum method to some rarefied gas flow problems

Zusammenfassung Eine Kombination der Lees-Methode und des Mott-Smith Ansatzes wird auf zwei Probleme der Couette-Strömung zwischen zwei Zylindern angewandt. Es werden Ausdrücke hergeleitet für das Moment im Fall, dass ein Zylinder rotiert, und für den Wärmefluss im Fall, dass beide Zylinder stationär sind, aber verschiedene Temperatur haben; diese Ausdrücke sind für alle Werte der Knudsenzahl gültig.