Volume 50, Issue 2

This work aimed to demonstrate that a simple modification to the previously developed rough hard-sphere-chain (RHSC) model would significantly improve the accuracy of that model for viscosities of fatty acid esters and biodiesel fuels at extended pressures up to 200 MPa and higher isotherms. The new finding of this work is the temperature dependence of the exponential factor of the roughness factor (RF) of the earlier RHSC model as the accuracy of the original model (with an average absolute relative deviation, AARD of 8.29 % for 715 data points examined) was significantly improved achieving the AARD of 3.77 % once a universal function of reduced temperature replaced the original exponential factor of 6.4 × 10 −4 for RF. Besides, the predictive capability of the modified RHSC model has been compared with original RHSC model and several previously developed semi-empirical models based on friction theory and free volume theory in literature. Expanding AARD on the progress in deep learning, our research introduces Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model that is simpler than previous models while maintaining high viscosity correlation accuracy for fatty acid esters and biodiesel fuels. The refined ANN model, with a single hidden layer and sigmoid activation function, achieved an AARD% of 0.78 %. Additionally, we conducted a thorough comparison with other deep learning architectures, affirming the effectiveness of our simplified approach for viscosity correlations.

The use of laser irradiation to remove contaminants from soil is an emerging soil remediation technology with broad application prospects. The mechanisms of temperature field variations, moisture transport, evaporation, and condensation under conditions with or without a carrier gas during laser soil remediation are still unclear. This paper utilizes a heat and mass transfer model under continuous wave (CW) laser irradiation, established based on local non-thermal equilibrium, to analyze the variation characteristics of the physical field within the soil, with or without introducing a carrier gas. The results show that CW laser irradiation can rapidly heat the soil to the expected remediation temperature (90 °C–560 °C). However, the gas transport speed induced solely by CW laser irradiation within the soil is very limited (on the order of 0.01 mm/s), making it ineffective at removing vapor from the soil. In contrast, using a carrier gas significantly improves gas flow (on the order of 10 mm/s), enhancing both heat and mass transfer processes and assisting in removing contaminants during laser soil remediation. This study elucidates the coupled heat and moisture transfer process in unsaturated porous media under conditions with and without a carrier gas, providing theoretical support for applying laser soil remediation.

According to the definition of exergy-based efficient ecological-function (EBEEF) which is proposed as product of exergy-based ecological-function (EF) and coefficient of performance (COP) in previous literature, this paper applies the EBEEF to analyze and optimize performance of endoreversible Carnot heat-pumps (ECHPs). Via the ECHP cycle model established in previous literature, EBEEF expression for ECHP cycle model is deduced, relationships among the EBEEF and heating load (HTL) and COP are researched, and performance comparison for ECHP cycle working at the maximum EBEEF and the maximum EF conditions are performed. Results show that relationships among the EBEEF and the HTL and COP are parabolic like ones and the design points of the larger COP and HTL should be selected for designing heat pumps. When the maximum EBEEF is taken as primary objective, the optimized ECHP cycle can improve its COP and reduce its entropy-generation-rate by sacrificing a small amount of its HTL. The EBEEF not only considers the trade-off between the HTL and entropy-generation-rate, but also considers the trade-off between HTL and COP.

Entropy increase is fundamentally related to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. By adding the ‘extra dimension’ associated with thermodynamic forces, we extend that discrete symmetry to a continuous symmetry for the dynamical fluctuations around (nonlinear) gradient flow. The latter connects macroscopic equilibrium conditions upon introducing a quasistatic protocol of control parameters. The entropy state function becomes the Noether charge. As a result, and following ideas expressed by Shin-ichi Sasa and co-workers, the adiabatic invariance of the entropy, part of the Clausius heat theorem, gets connected with the Noether theorem.

This study computationally investigates the time-dependent patterns emerging in the Soret regime for binary fluid convection in slightly inclined cylinders heated from below, with a particular focus on positive Soret coefficient thermophobic mixtures ( S T > 0) and aspect ratios Γ = 5.2, Γ = 5.3, and Γ = 5.4. By varying the Rayleigh number ( Ra ) and smoothly adjusting its increments, we capture a range of spatio-temporal behaviours, revealing the coexistence of large-scale shear flows (LSF) and superhighway convection (SHC) patterns. SHC-like structures, characterised by a high base frequency, involve oscillating plumes arranged in adjacent lanes, moving in opposite directions along the inclination. Remarkably, this frequency remains nearly constant across different Ra values. Some of the observed coherent structures, such as periodic and modulated solutions, exhibit equivariance with respect to some elements of the D 2 ${\mathbb{D}}_{2}$ symmetry group inherent to the physical system. In the case of Γ = 5.4, we identify three-frequency orbits, with modulations up to two orders of magnitude smaller than the base frequency. The observed dynamics is highly sensitive to small variations of Γ, with different patterns being stabilized depending on the aspect ratio of the cell. The bifurcation scenarios are complex and case-specific, and their precise determination is computationally demanding.

Phase diagrams out of equilibrium have been the subject of intense research. An essential concept in these diagrams is the phase definition. Currently, that definition is well established for systems at classic thermodynamic equilibrium conditions. However, such phase definition is inadequate for systems that are not at equilibrium in the classic thermodynamic sense, like fluid systems under flowing conditions. Complex fluids may exhibit instabilities like shear-banding flow and a non-equilibrium critical point where banding flow ends. At this point, the fluid undergoes a phase transition from heterogeneous to homogeneous states. An extended thermodynamic space of variables is considered to adequately address this situation, which includes non-conservative variables such as stress and shear rate. Hence, the current phase definition based on conservative variables does not apply to non-equilibrium phase diagrams. On this basis, a broader definition of phase is required. We propose that this broader definition considers the thermodynamic variables space of Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics and the mathematical conditions that ensure compatibility between equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions for systems where phases are well described by thermodynamic potentials even out of equilibrium.

The conditions for the existence of the Chapman–Enskog first-order solution to the Boltzmann equation for a dilute gas are examined from two points of view. The traditional procedure is contrasted with a somehow more formal approach based on the properties of the linearized collision operator. It is shown that both methods lead to the same integral equation in the non-relativistic scenario. Meanwhile, for relativistic systems, the source term in the integral equation adopts two different forms. However, as we explain, this does not lead to an inconsistency. In fact, the constitutive equations that are obtained from both methods are shown to be equivalent within relativistic first-order theories. The importance of stating invariant definitions for the transport coefficients in this context is emphasized.

In general, the most important method of energy storage at the power plant scale is the pumped hydro method, which has been developed in two main models to improve its performance, which is pumped hydro combined with compressed gas (PHCCG) and pumped hydro in closed towers (PHWT). In this research, to answer which of these methods is more suitable, in the form of a case study, both systems were designed to store the generated energy in the Aghkand wind farm with a nominal power of 50 (MW), and the performance of both was completely compared with each other. The findings indicated that the efficiency of the PHWT method was higher, but on the other hand, the water requirement of the PHCCG method was much lower than the PHWT method. Also, in an innovative way, the PHWT system was presented with a combination of towers of different classes and the performance of each was investigated. Finally, by combining both PHWT and PHCCG systems, a new hybrid system (HPHWTCG) was proposed. By using this hybrid system, the advantages of both methods can be used at the same time and the disadvantages of each method can be eliminated to a great extent. The efficiency of PHWT and PHCCG is 65 % and 45 % respectively. The efficiency of HPHWTCG is between these two values based on its structure.

This investigation aimed to predict the temperature distribution in the inlet and exhaust valve and isotherms to the cooling media at a given load of a diesel engine. For the analysis that has been done a Tata- Mercedes diesel engine with 90 mm bore diameter and Stroke length of 120 mm was analysed using FEM through Ansys workbench 15.0. Steady as well as transient cases were considered in combination. The temperature distribution and isotherms are computed and plotted using Ansys. The results obtained by Ansys workbench 15.0 were satisfactory and were in line when compared with finite differential analysis. There is a large temperature variation along the length of the valve. It may vary from 560 °C to 110 °C from tip to valve head in the exhaust valve while this variation is less in the case of inlet valve from 540 °C to 100 °C from the face to the tip. The linear temperature difference between the nodes at the base of the stem to the node at the center of the face increases with time and acquires the maximum value of about 120 °C at about 10 s then it decreases till the valve attains a steady state value. Thus, was observed from analysis that during this time there is a maximum probability of failure of valves due to linear differences in temperature.

In this paper, we perform an energetic analysis of a non-isothermal linear energy converter operated in inverse mode (refrigerator and heat pump). This is done within the framework of linear irreversible thermodynamics (LIT), starting from the model of an inverse linear energy converter (I-LEC) proposed by S. Gonzalez et al. (S. Gonzalez-Hernandez and L.-A. Arias-Hernandez, “Thermoelectric thomson relations revisited for a linear energy converter,” J. Non-Equilibrium Thermodyn. , vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 315–332, 2019). We extend this model to the case of heat pumps, considering different objective functions and performing their respective analyses. We particularly focus on the coefficient of performance (COP) of heating, ϵ H . Additionally, we propose other energetic functions that may be of interest in the analysis of heat pumps, drawing analogies with the well-known functions for refrigerators and heat engines. Finally, we present a brief description of thermoelectric phenomena, focusing primarily on the Peltier effect. A brief analysis of the results obtained in the context of thermoelectric cooling and heating is presented for a non-isothermal LEC.