Graduation Year

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.M.E.

Degree Granting Department

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Muhammad M. Rahman, Ph.D.

Keywords

Fully-confined fluid, Sherwood number, Rotating disk, Gadolinium, Heat sink

Abstract

This thesis numerically studied mass transfer during fully confined liquid jet impingement on a rotating target disk of finite thickness and radius. The study involved laminar flow with jet Reynolds numbers from 650 to 1500. The nozzle to plate distance ratio was in the range of 0.5 to 2.0, the Schmidt number ranged from 1720 to 2513, and rotational speed was up to 325 rpm. In addition, the jet impingement to a stationary disk was also simulated for the purpose of comparison. The electrochemical fluid used was an electrolyte containing 0.005moles per liter potassium ferricyanide (K3(Fe(CN6)), 0.02moles per liter ferrocyanide (FeCN6?4), and 0.5moles per liter potassium carbonate (K2CO3). The rate of mass transfer of this electrolyte was compared to Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) and Hydrochloric acid (HCl) electrochemical solutions. The material of the rotating disk was made of 99.98% nickel and 0.02% of chromium, cobalt and aluminum.

The rate of mass transfer was also examined for different geometrical shapes of conical, convex, and concave confinement plates over a spinning disk. The results obtained are found to be in agreement with previous experimental and numerical studies. The study of heat transfer involved a microchannel for a composite channel of trapezoidal cross-section fabricated by etching a silicon wafer and bonding it with a slab of gadolinium. Gadolinium is a magnetic material that exhibits high temperature rise during adiabatic magnetization around its transition temperature of 295K. Heat was generated in the substrate by the application of magnetic field. Water, ammonia, and FC-77 were studied as the possible working fluids. Thorough investigation for velocity and temperature distribution was performed by varying channel aspect ratio, Reynolds number, and the magnetic field. The thickness of gadolinium slab, spacing between channels in the heat exchanger, and fluid flow rate were varied.

To check the validity of simulation, the results were compared with existing results for single material channels. Results showed that Nusselt number is larger near the inlet and decreases downstream. Also, an increase in Reynolds number increases the total Nusselt number of the system.

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