|
research
The Thermo-Fluid Dynamics Division of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has expertise, equipment and laboratory and computational facilities to conduct research and investigations in two major areas: Fluid Mechanics, and Energy and the Environment. Much of the fluid mechanics research work has been in the fields of Turbomachinery and Naval Architecture, and specifically the application of hydrofoils to improve catamaran performance. Energy and the Environment has four subdivions: Sustainable energy systems; Cooling towers; Thermal management and heat pipes; Internal combustion engines.
Group Members
Areas of expertise
Objectives
Contact
group members
Prof Thomas Harms
Prof Detlev Kröger
Prof Theo von Backström
Mr Robert Dobson
Mr Johan Van der Spuy
Mr Hanno Reuter
Ms Dimitra Westdyk
areas of expertise
- World renowned
expertise in air-cooled
heat exchangers and cooling towers.
- Turbo-machinery
design and analysis applied to fans, compressors, turbines
and turbo-chargers.
- Computational
Fluid Dynamic modelling of phenomena in the environment.
- Performance
production and assembly of renewable energy
systems such as solar chimneys, solar troughs and wind
turbines.
- Design
procedures relating to heat recovery systems and natural circulation
loops. Heat
pipe and other two-phase flow devices and systems.
- Experimental
and computational analysis.
Return to top of page
objectives
- To combine
sound experimental work with analytical or numerical modelling.
Some of the unique experimental facilities are the wet-coil wind
tunnel, the large
fan test facility, the marine engineering towing
tank and cavitation tunnel and the solar chimney turbine
test facility.
Return to top of page
Research
Projects:
Air-cooled heat exchangers and cooling towers:
- The Department
is involved in a series of research projects related to the
development of such systems for conventional power plants,
and for the petrochemical and processing industries, both in
South Africa and in the USA.
Turbo-machinery:
- The two
main research areas over the last few years have been axial
flow fans and compressors, and solar chimney power plants.
Turbo-machinery through-flow methods have been developed to
the stage where they are useful, for example in solar chimney
turbine design. A turbocharger for a diesel locomotive has
been designed, built and tested.
Computational
Fluid Dynamic modelling:
- The division
is involved in a variety of activities such as modelling snow
accumulation around the South African base in Antarctica, particle
dispersion over Marion Island, atmospheric thermal flow modelling
over large scale solar power stations, modelling IC engine
and gas turbine exhaust waste heat recovery or exhaust cooling
by droplet injection, IC engine combustion and catalytic conversion
computational simulations, modelling air and water flow around
new South African navy ships as well as energy efficiency studies
with particular emphasis on solar energy. Personal computer
stations with thermo-fluids academic licensed simulation software
installations such as STAR-CD, CFX and FLUENT are supported.
Energy
systems:
- Energy
efficiency studies with particular emphasis on solar energy,
are being conducted on a great scale.
Two-phase
flow:
- The thrust
of this work is to develop heat pipe and other two-phase flow
devices and systems capable of transferring heat without the
use of any mechanically moving parts. Design procedures relating
to heat recovery systems and natural circulation loops have
been developed. One example is a 500 kW heat recovery heat
exchanger capable of heating highly corrosive fumes from 80 °C
to 420 °C using a stream of 460 °C waste air at a large
stainless steel manufacturing plant.
contact
Prof Thomas Harms
Tel.: +27 (0)21 808 3742
Fax: +27 (0)21 808 4958
E-mail: tmh@sun.ac.za
Return to top of page |
