The effects of a strong transverse temperature gradient on a turbulent Poiseuille flow are studied numerically using Reynoldsaveraged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models. Such a situation is very common for numerous industrial applications. Since a large majority of industrial computations are based on the RANS approach, the aim of the present work is to investigate the ability of different RANS models to reproduce the main physical phenomena at the origin of the asymmetry of the flow and thermal fields. Comparison are performed with available direct numerical simulations (DNS) or large eddy simulation (LES) databases. With the prospect of future application of the models in the industrial context, models based on the widely used eddy-viscosity and simple gradient diffusion (SGDH) hypotheses are compared to more elaborate second-moment closures for the Reynolds stress and turbulent heat flux. The aim is to determine the closure level necessary to reproduce the influence of strong temperature gradients on the turbulent flow, for a wide range of wall-temperature ratios. Eddy-viscosity models prove able to correctly reproduce the asymmetry of the flow and the tendency toward relaminarization close to the hot wall, which are mainly due to the strong variations of the physical properties (namely the molecular viscosity and the density). Discrepancies in the predictions of the different closure levels only appear for the highest temperature ratios. Unfortunately, reliable reference data are lacking for these configurations, which calls for future DNS or refined LES studies.

The sustainable production of food to support the increasing world population is one of humanity’s most pressing challenges. Plasma activated water (PAW), produced using renewable energy, can help fulfil plants’ needs in sustainable agriculture approaches. The design, implementation, and characterization of a digitally manufactured air Plasma-On-Water Reactor (POWR) for the synthesis of nitrate as green nitrogen fertilizer is presented. The interaction of air plasma-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species with water produces nitrate (NO3-) and related species, which are the main nitrogen-containing nutrients for plants. The mild conditions of the operation of the POWR opens the possibility to use plastics, particularly through digital manufacturing strategies such as 3D-printing, for its fabrication. A pin-to-plate reactor configuration powered by high-voltage alternating power is chosen due to its simplicity and efficacy. A computational thermal-fluid model is used to evaluate the design and attain expected operational characteristics. The experimental characterization of the POWR encompassed design and operation parameters, namely electrode water spacing, air flow rat- e, and voltage level. A machine learning approach is implemented to extract and quantify characteristic features of the plasma-water interaction, such plasma volume and plasma-water interface area. Experimental results revealed that the nitrate production rate varies linearly with dimensionless plasma volume. The design, fabrication, and characterization methods presented can be adapted to other POWRs and help enable on-demand nitrogen fertilizer production at low environmental and economic cost.

Laminarization of a turbulent flow due to wall heating has been known for more than 50 years, to the point that it is sometimes used as means of reducing friction. However this phenomenon has been mainly studied for cylindrical pipes and with imposed heat flux but not for channel flows and with imposed temperature boundary conditions, especially with asymmetric ones (that is to say in presence of a transverse thermal gradient). Based on the recent success of some Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models to correctly describe the influence of a strong transverse temperature gradient on turbulent Poiseuille flows, when compared to similar direct numerical simulations (DNS) or large eddy simulations (LES) results, these approaches are used here to investigate reverse transition. Since the choice of turbulence model has a non-negligible influence on the results, however, it is necessary to use different models to get an indication of the uncertainty associated with them. The proposed methodology is based on the use of RANS closures that do not involve any wall functions due to the strong gradient in the wall layer that has to be modeled. Thus, two first-moment closures and a second-moment closure are considered: the k − ω − SST and the k − ε − v 2 /k, and the EB-RSM. The latter two rely on an elliptic blending. The turbulent heat flux is modeled with a simple gradient diffusion hypothesis (SGDH) and a generalized gradient diffusion hypothesis (GGDH) for the first-moment and second-moment closures respectively. In summary, more than 800 calculations are performed for the above three models in order to analyze the reverse transition, and to open room for debate on the possibility for such approaches to correctly reproduce the experimentally observed behavior.

The Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge (APGD) is a relatively simple and versatile plasma source used in diverse applications. Stable APGD operation at high currents, generally a challenge due to instabilities leading to glow-to-arc transition, has been demonstrated using actively-controlled cathodic cooling. This article presents the computational modelling and simulation of a self-sustained direct-current APGD in helium within a 10 mm pin-to-plate inter-electrode gap for currents ranging from 4 to 40 mA. The APGD model is comprised of the conservation equations for total mass, chemical species, momentum, thermal energy of heavy-species and of free electrons, and electric charge. The model equations are discretized using a nonlinear Variational Multi-Scale Finite Element Method that has demonstrated superior accuracy in other plasma flow problems, on a temporal and three-dimensional computational domain suitable to unveil the potential occurrence of instabilities. Modelling results show good agreement with experimental measurements of voltage drop and the same trend but higher values of temperature. The higher temperatures obtained by the simulations appear to be due to the absence of a near-cathode heat dissipation model. The results also reveal that the distribution of electron density and of the ratio of atomic helium ions to total ions transitions from monotonically increasing away from the cathode to presenting a minimum near the centre of the gap with increasing current.

No abstract