Browsing by Author "Lorente, S"
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Item Open Access Arrays of flow channels with heat transfer embedded in conducting walls(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2016-08-01) Bejan, A; Almerbati, A; Lorente, S; Sabau, AS; Klett, JWHere we illustrate the free search for the optimal geometry of flow channel cross-sections that meet two objectives simultaneously: reduced resistances to heat transfer and fluid flow. The element cross section and the wall material are fixed, while the shape of the fluid flow opening, or the wetted perimeter is free to vary. Two element cross sections are considered, square and equilateral triangular. We find that the two objectives are best met when the solid wall thickness is uniform, i.e., when the wetted perimeters are square and triangular, respectively. We also consider arrays of square elements and triangular elements, on the basis of equal mass flow rate per unit of array cross sectional area. The conclusion is that the array of triangular elements meets the two objectives better than the array of square elements.Item Open Access Constructal dendritic configuration for the radiation heating of a solid stream(Journal of Applied Physics, 2010-06-01) Kang, DH; Lorente, S; Bejan, AHere we show that the configuration of a slender enclosure can be optimized such that the radiation heating of a stream of solid is performed with minimal fuel consumption at the global level. The solid moves longitudinally at constant rate through the enclosure. The enclosure is heated by gas burners distributed arbitrarily, in a manner that is to be determined. The total contact area for heat transfer between the hot enclosure and the cold solid is fixed. We find that minimal global fuel consumption is achieved when the longitudinal distribution of heaters is nonuniform, with more heaters near the exit than the entrance. The reduction in fuel consumption relative to when the heaters are distributed uniformly is of order 10%. Tapering the plan view (the floor) of the heating area yields an additional reduction in overall fuel consumption. The best shape is when the floor area is a slender triangle on which the cold solid enters by crossing the base. These architectural features recommend the proposal to organize the flow of the solid as a dendritic design, which enters as several branches, and exits as a single hot stream of prescribed temperature. The thermodynamics of heating is presented in modern terms in the Sec. (exergy destruction, entropy generation). The contribution is that to optimize "thermodynamically" is the same as reducing the consumption of fuel. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.Item Open Access Constructal design of evacuation from a three-dimensional living space(Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2015-03-15) Lui, CH; Fong, NK; Lorente, S; Bejan, A; Chow, WK© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This paper demonstrates the fundamental relation that exists between the configuration of a three-dimensional living space and the time needed for the evacuation of all the inhabitants. The evacuation is treated as a physical flow system consisting of pedestrians who move from a volume to one or two exits. The living space has two variable aspect ratios, the floor shape and the profile shape (or the number of floors). First, the paper reports analytically the optimal floor and profile shapes for which the total evacuation time is minimum. Second, the analytical results are complemented and validated by numerical results obtained based on numerous simulations of pedestrian flow from volume to exits. The numerical results are further validated by performing the simulations of pedestrian movement with two different computational codes (Simulex and FDS + Evac). The fundamental relation presented in this paper can be used in the design of larger and more complex living spaces in modern urban settings.Item Open Access Constructal design of gas-cooled electric power generators, self-pumping and atmospheric circulation(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2015-08-24) Bejan, A; Lorente, S; Lee, J; Kim, Y© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Rotating electric machines generate heat volumetrically, and are cooled by forced convection aided by the self-pumping effect. In this paper we focus on the fundamental relationship between the internal flow architecture of the gas cooled winding and its thermal performance, which is represented by the nearly uniform distribution of peak temperature throughout the winding volume. We show that the cooling passages can be sized such that the volumetric cooling is most effective. From this finding follows the number of passages and their distribution through the heat generating volume. The principle is developed analytically, and it is then validated based on numerical simulations of the cooling architecture. The paper also reports the thermodynamics basis of the self-pumping effect, and its natural occurrence as free convection in general, which includes atmospheric circulation.Item Open Access Constructal design of salt-gradient solar pond fields(International Journal of Energy Research, 2016-08-01) González, D; Amigo, J; Lorente, S; Bejan, A; Suárez, F© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Salt-gradient solar ponds (SGSPs) are water bodies that capture and accumulate large amounts of solar energy. The design of an SGSP field has never been analyzed in terms of studying the optimal number of solar ponds that must be built to maximize the useful energy that can be collected in the field, or the most convenient way to connect the ponds. In this paper, we use constructal design to find the optimal configuration of an SGSP field. A steady-state thermal model was constructed to estimate the energy collected by each SGSP, and then a complementary model was developed to determine the final temperature of a defined mass flow rate of a fluid that will be heated by heat exchangers connected to the solar ponds. By applying constructal design, four configurations for the SGSP field, with different surface area distribution, were evaluated: series, parallel, mixed series-parallel and tree-shaped configurations. For the study site of this investigation, it was found that the optimal SGSP field consists of 30 solar ponds of increasing surface area connected in series. This SGSP field increases the final temperature of the fluid to be heated in 22.9%, compared to that obtained in a single SGSP. The results of this study show that is possible to use constructal theory to further optimize the heat transfer of an SGSP field. Experimental results of these configurations would be useful in future works to validate the methodology proposed in this study.Item Open Access Counterflow heat exchanger with core and plenums at both ends(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2016-08-01) Bejan, A; Alalaimi, M; Lorente, S; Sabau, AS; Klett, JWThis paper illustrates the morphing of flow architecture toward greater performance in a counterflow heat exchanger. The architecture consists of two plenums with a core of counterflow channels between them. Each stream enters one plenum and then flows in a channel that travels the core and crosses the second plenum. The volume of the heat exchanger is fixed while the volume fraction occupied by each plenum is variable. Performance is driven by two objectives, simultaneously: low flow resistance and low thermal resistance. The analytical and numerical results show that the overall flow resistance is the lowest when the core is absent, and each plenum occupies half of the available volume and is oriented in counterflow with the other plenum. In this configuration, the thermal resistance also reaches its lowest value. These conclusions hold for fully developed laminar flow and turbulent flow through the core. The curve for effectiveness vs number of heat transfer units (Ntu) is steeper (when Ntu < 1) than the classical curves for counterflow and crossflow.Item Open Access Energy design for dense neighborhoods: One heat pump rejects heat, the other absorbs heat from the same loop(International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 2015-06-29) Almerbati, A; Lorente, S; Bejan, A© 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. This paper documents the joint performance of heat pumps that are served by a common loop buried in the ground, and which operate simultaneously: one heat pump absorbs heat from the buried loop whereas the other one rejects heat. A background flow is circulated in the underground loop even when the two heat pumps are not operating. The objective is to determine the performance and the manner in which it is affected by the way in which the two heat pumps are connected to the loop. The performance measures are the heat transfer rates into and out of the heat pumps, and the total pumping power required by the assembly. The paper documents the individual performance of the heat pumps, and their relative performance, which is the ratio of heating absorbed by one pump to the heating rejected by the other pump.Item Open Access Entrance-length dendritic plate heat exchangers(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2017-01-01) Bejan, A; Alalaimi, M; Sabau, AS; Lorente, S© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. Here we explore the idea that the highest heat transfer rate between two fluids in a given volume is achieved when plate channel lengths are given by the thermal entrance length, i.e., when the thermal boundary layers meet at the exit of each channel. The overall design can be thought of an elemental construct of a dendritic heat exchanger, which consists of two tree-shaped streams arranged in cross flow. Every channel is as long as the thermal entrance length of the developing flow that resides in that channel. The results indicate that the overall design will change with the total volume and total number of channels. We found that the lengths of the surfaces swept in cross flow would have to decrease sizably as number of channels increases, while exhibiting mild decreases as total volume increases. The aspect ratio of each surface swept by fluid in cross flow should be approximately square, independent of total number of channels and volume. We also found that the minimum pumping power decreases sensibly as the total number of channels and the volume increase. The maximized heat transfer rate per unit volume increases sharply as the total volume decreases, in agreement with the natural evolution toward miniaturization in technology.Item Open Access Morphing tree structures for latent thermal energy storage(Journal of Applied Physics, 2015-06-14) Ziaei, S; Lorente, S; Bejan, A© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Here, we report the numerical study of time dependent storage of energy by melting a phase change material. The heating is provided along invading lines, which change from single-line invasion to tree-shaped invasion. The numerical simulations show that the history of the amount of melted material is S-shaped. We also found that the fastest melting (i.e., the steepest S curve) is discovered by allowing the tree architecture to morph freely, toward greater access over time. The stem length and branching angle of invading trees can be selected such that the complete melting process is shorter. The melting process can also be made faster by increasing the complexity of the tree structure.Item Open Access Natural constructal emergence of vascular design with turbulent flow(Journal of Applied Physics, 2010-06-01) Cetkin, E; Lorente, S; Bejan, AHere, we show that vascular design emerges naturally when a volume is bathed by a single stream in turbulent flow. The stream enters the volume, spreads itself to bathe the volume, and then reconstitutes itself as a single stream before it exits the volume. We show that in the pursuit of a smaller global flow resistance and larger volumes, the flow architecture changes stepwise from a stack of identical elements bathed in parallel flow (like a deck of cards) to progressively more complex structures configured as trees matched canopy to canopy. The transition from one architecture to the next occurs at a precise volume size, which is identified. Each transition marks a decrease in the rate at which the global flow resistance increases with the volume size. This decrease accelerates as the volume size increases. The emergence of such vasculatures for turbulent flow is compared with the corresponding phenomenon when the flow is laminar. To predict this design generation phenomenon is essential to being able to scale up the designs of complex flow structures, from small scale models to life size models. The constructal law is a bridge between the principles of physics and biology. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.Item Open Access The evolution of airplanes(Journal of Applied Physics, 2014-07-28) Bejan, A; Charles, JD; Lorente, SThe prevailing view is that we cannot witness biological evolution because it occurred on a time scale immensely greater than our lifetime. Here, we show that we can witness evolution in our lifetime by watching the evolution of the flying human-and-machine species: the airplane. We document this evolution, and we also predict it based on a physics principle: the constructal law. We show that the airplanes must obey theoretical allometric rules that unite them with the birds and other animals. For example, the larger airplanes are faster, more efficient as vehicles, and have greater range. The engine mass is proportional to the body size: this scaling is analogous to animal design, where the mass of the motive organs (muscle, heart, lung) is proportional to the body size. Large or small, airplanes exhibit a proportionality between wing span and fuselage length, and between fuel load and body size. The animal-design counterparts of these features are evident. The view that emerges is that the evolution phenomenon is broader than biological evolution. The evolution of technology, river basins, and animal design is one phenomenon, and it belongs in physics. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.Item Open Access The evolution of helicopters(Journal of Applied Physics, 2016-07-07) Chen, R; Wen, CY; Lorente, S; Bejan, AHere, we show that during their half-century history, helicopters have been evolving into geometrically similar architectures with surprisingly sharp correlations between dimensions, performance, and body size. For example, proportionalities emerge between body size, engine size, and the fuel load. Furthermore, the engine efficiency increases with the engine size, and the propeller radius is roughly the same as the length scale of the whole body. These trends are in accord with the constructal law, which accounts for the engine efficiency trend and the proportionality between "motor" size and body size in animals and vehicles. These body-size effects are qualitatively the same as those uncovered earlier for the evolution of aircraft. The present study adds to this theoretical body of research the evolutionary design of all technologies [A. Bejan, The Physics of Life: The Evolution of Everything (St. Martin's Press, New York, 2016)].Item Open Access The evolutionary design of condensers(Journal of Applied Physics, 2015-01-01) Bejan, A; Lee, J; Lorente, S; Kim, Y© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Condensers are flow architectures needed to provide high rates of condensation (or cooling) per unit volume, in enclosures with fixed volume. Their design has not changed from configurations consisting of the banks of horizontal tubes. In this paper, we outline a free path to evolving the design by exploring new features of flow configuration: flattened tubes, multiple tube sizes, arrays of flattened tubes, vertical tubes with turbulent film flow, forced convection condensation instead of gravity driven condensation, and the optimal length of a horizontal tube, i.e., the number of tubes in a column aligned with vapor cross flow. We show that the condensation density can be increased sizably by varying freely and without bias the morphology of the flow system: the shapes and arrangement of the cooled surfaces on which condensation occurs. The evolution of technology is described in terms of the special time direction of the useful (purposeful) changes in the configuration (shapes, arrangements) of surfaces on which flow/condensation occurs. This explains what "evolution" means. It is an important step for physics, not just technology.Item Open Access The robustness of the permeability of constructal tree-shaped fissures(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2015-07-06) Alalaimi, M; Lorente, S; Wechsatol, W; Bejan, A© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Here we develop analytically the formulas for effective permeability in several configurations using the closed-form description of tree networks designed to provide flow access. The objective was to find the relation between the permeability and porosity of tree-shaped fissures. We found the effect of the fracture size on the permeability for fixed number of bifurcation and the results showed that the permeability of the fracture network increased rapidly with the size of the fracture. Next, we found a relation between the Reservoir Quality Index (RQI) and the porosity of the fracture. The results in this paper have been validated by comparison with experimental and numerical results. We show that the permeability formulas do not vary much from one tree design to the next, suggesting that similar formulas may apply to naturally fissured porous media with unknown precise details, which occur in natural reservoirs.Item Open Access Thermal coupling between a helical pipe and a conducting volume(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2015-01-01) Alalaimi, M; Lorente, S; Bejan, A© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Here we document the effect of flow configuration on the heat transfer performance of a helically shaped pipe embedded in a cylindrical conducting volume. The helix is wrapped on an imaginary cylinder. Several configurations of helices with fixed volume of fluid are considered. We found the optimal spacings between the helical turns such that the volumetric heat transfer rate is maximal. Next, we extended the study by varying the volume (length) of the embedded pipe. We found that the optimized features of the heat transfer architecture are robust with respect to changes in several physical parameters. We compared the performance for both helical 3D and 2D designs. We found that the 2D designs offer greater heat transfer density than the 3D designs.Item Open Access Vascular structures for volumetric cooling and mechanical strength(Journal of Applied Physics, 2010-03-15) Wang, KM; Lorente, S; Bejan, AWhen solid material is removed in order to create flow channels in a load carrying structure, the strength of the structure decreases. On the other hand, a structure with channels is lighter and easier to transport as part of a vehicle. Here, we show that this trade off can be used for benefit, to design a vascular mechanical structure. When the total amount of solid is fixed and the sizes, shapes, and positions of the channels can vary, it is possible to morph the flow architecture such that it endows the mechanical structure with maximum strength. The result is a multifunctional structure that offers not only mechanical strength but also new capabilities necessary for volumetric functionalities such as self-healing and self-cooling. We illustrate the generation of such designs for strength and fluid flow for several classes of vasculatures: parallel channels, trees with one, two, and three bifurcation levels. The flow regime in every channel is laminar and fully developed. In each case, we found that it is possible to select not only the channel dimensions but also their positions such that the entire structure offers more strength and less flow resistance when the total volume (or weight) and the total channel volume are fixed. We show that the minimized peak stress is smaller when the channel volume (φ) is smaller and the vasculature is more complex, i.e., with more levels of bifurcation. Diminishing returns are reached in both directions, decreasing φ and increasing complexity. For example, when φ=0.02 the minimized peak stress of a design with one bifurcation level is only 0.2% greater than the peak stress in the optimized vascular design with two levels of bifurcation. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.Item Open Access Vascularization for cooling and reduced thermal stresses(International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2015-01-01) Cetkin, E; Lorente, S; Bejan, A© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This paper documents the effect of thermal expansion on a vascularized plate that is heated and loaded mechanically. Vascular cooling channels embedded in a circular plate provide cooling and mechanical strength. The coolant enters the plate from the center and leaves after it cools the plate to an allowable temperature limit. The mechanical strength of the plate decreases because of the embedded cooling channels. However, cooling the plate under an allowable temperature level decreases the thermal stresses. The mechanical strength of the plate which is heated and loaded mechanically at the same time can be increased by inserting cooling channels in it. The mechanical and thermofluid behavior of a vascularized plate was simulated numerically. The cooling channel configurations that provide the smallest peak temperature and von Mises stress are documented. There is one cooling channel configuration that is the best for the given set of boundary conditions and constraints; however, there is no single configuration that is best for all conditions.