Storage and biomass laboratory
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Storage and biomass laboratory

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Numerical simulations are increasingly being used to predict flow behavior in the natural and engineering sciences. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are a key tool in research for determining complex fluid flow problems. They enable more cost-effective predictions of product behaviour, can reduce the experimental effort for new research results and thus also contribute to an energetic optimization of products.

Experimental investigations are not always possible if, for example, hot or chemically aggressive fluids are used or if flow sensors would significantly falsify the results. Numerical methods enable faster and more reliable variant studies.

In many branches of industry (automotive engineering, process engineering, mechanical engineering, energy technology), CFD is now the basis of modern development processes. The use of open source calculation software such as OpenFOAM has also become increasingly important in research and industry in recent years. Reliable results require a sound knowledge of numerical and physical methods.

Current Research topics

  • Improvement of heat transfer in turbulent flows
  • Simulation of particle transport and deposits on internally structured heat exchanger tubes
  • Energy storage with phase change materials
  • Hydrogen applications in energy technology
  • Simulation of hydraulic switching valves
  • Knowledge transfer to society, politics and companies

CFD is used to support research in many areas.

Copyright: THU

Due to the increasing demand for energy and the associated need to increase efficiency, new or improved methods are required to store thermal energy efficiently. As of 2019(source), 50% of global energy demand for heating and cooling is generated in industry and the building sector, and the same sector is responsible for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In both cases, there is potential for savings and optimization through more efficient thermal storage systems.

The aim of current research is to develop a hybrid thermal storage system that has more storage capacity per volume by using latent and sensible heat and minimizes exergetic losses in the storage system through thermal stratification. For this purpose

  • CFD is used to investigate the phase transition from solid to liquid in macrocapsules
  • Investigating transport processes in the storage tank during loading and unloading
  • A hybrid storage concept is simulated and experimentally constructed and validated
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Heat exchangers play an essential role in many branches of industry. A more efficient design of heat exchangers offers great potential for energy savings and a reduction in CO2 emissions during operation.

The aim of research is to increase turbulent heat transfer and maximize the heat transfer surface. These goals are being pursued in current research through

  • Increasing efficiency through surface roughness, or uniformly structured and unstructured surfaces
  • Optimization of the wall structure through geometry variations
  • Detailed investigations using flow simulations where experiments are not possible
  • Mapping of complex flows using large eddy simulations
Copyright: THU

In heat exchangers, particles are deposited (fouling) over the course of several hours of operation. Previous investigations of solid deposits on heat exchangers were mostly experimental and numerical investigations were hardly available, since

  • high-resolution flow simulations are required to calculate the turbulent flows,
  • only a few seconds of the flow can be calculated,
  • particle deposition depends on a large number of parameters.

The aim of the research is to evaluate differently structured pipes with regard to particle deposition using a numerical method. These goals are pursued in the current research by:

  • Multiphase large-eddy simulations
  • Simulation of particle-wall interactions: Particle deposition and particle ablation as a function of particle size, particle material, wall material and surrounding fluid
  • Investigation with different wall geometries to reduce the amount of deposited particles
  • Evaluation of the pipe geometry with regard to the deposition of solid particles
Copyright: THU

Projects

Heat transfer intensification in energy technology equipment through virtual product development (WAVIPro)

Project manager: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Renze
Project duration: 01.08.2018 - 30.04.2022
Funded by: Federal Government - BMBF

Project description:
Heat transfer plays an essential role in every thermal energy process. Improving heat transfer in appliances can increase their efficiency and reduce resource consumption. However, product development in this sector traditionally relies on empirical knowledge and experimentation, which results in long development cycles and makes optimization difficult. This project aims to use modern simulation methods to develop new methods for intensifying heat transfer by simultaneously considering the manufacturing process and product properties. University expertise from the fields of simulative production technology and energy technology will be combined for this purpose. In order to guarantee application-oriented research, a partner from Ulm will be involved as an industrial project partner. This partner provides the application example, production and testing capacities as well as cash.

Control module for high-performance hydraulic drives - Actuator and system development for controlling high-performance hydraulic drives

Project manager: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mathias Niebergall, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Renze
Project duration: 01.10.2018 - 31.01.2021
Funded by: Federal Government - BMWi
Program name: ZIM

Project description:
For decades, hydraulic drive technology has been characterized by increasing performance and pressure requirements with reduced installation space. In order to meet future requirements, a control module with a compact, highly integrated valve technology structure is being developed as part of this project proposal, which enables safe hydraulic power control of a drive above 500 bar. The control module is to consist of a modular hydromechanical structure with adapted actuator technology, pilot and main control with separate control edges, as well as customized on-board electronics (OBE). The project objective is a market-oriented control module that meets the highest performance requirements and offers safe and efficient functional networking of several hydraulic consumers by means of intelligent control / regulation. This will create the control technology basis for energy-efficient operation of hydraulic power drives, including hydraulic regeneration or recuperation. The project is supported by CFD calculations.

Publications

Akermann, Kevin; Renze, Peter:
Numerical study of turbulent heat transfer and particle deposition in enhanced pipes with helical roughness,
in: International Journal of Multiphase Flow, vol. 176, ScienceDirect, 2024, pages 104827 (13 pages).
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2024.104827
ISSN: 0301-9322

Jäger, Sarah; Pabst, Valerie; Renze, Peter:
Multizone Modeling for Hybrid Thermal Energy Storage,
in: Energies, 17(12), 2854, MDPI, 2024, pages 21.
DOI: doi.org/10.3390/en17122854
ISSN: 1996-1073

Kügele, Simon; Mathlouthi, Gino Omar; Renze, Peter; Dietl, Jochen; Grützner,Thomas:
Turbulent heat transfer in pipes with increased roughness through shavings of helical ribs,
in: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 210, Elsevier, Elsevier, 2023, 124159.
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2023.124159
ISSN: 1879-2189 (online), 0017-9310 (print)

Mathlouthi, Gino; Kügele, Simon; Elsayed, Fatmaalzahraa; Voß, Ralf; Renze, Peter; Kaufeld, Michael; Grützner, Thomas:
Wettability Prediction for 3D-Printed Surfaces Using Reverse Engineering and Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations,
in: Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Volume 62, Issue 3, American Chemical Society for applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, ACS Publications, 2023, Pages 1627-1635.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.2c03805
ISSN: 1520-5045

Akermann, Kevin; Renze, Peter; Schröder, Wolfgang:
Large-eddy simulation for solid particle transport and deposition in a helically rib-roughened pipe using an Euler-Lagrange approach,
in: Chemical Engineering Science, Volume 253, Elsevier, 2022, Pages 117557.
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2022.117557
ISSN: 0009-2509

Kügele, Simon; Mathlouthi, Gino Omar; Renze, Peter; Grützner, Thomas:
Numerical Simulation of Flow and Heat Transfer of a Discontinuous Single Started Helically Ribbed Pipe,
in: Energies, Volume 15(19), MDPI, 2022, pages 17 (Art. No.: 7096).
DOI: doi.org/10.3390/en15197096
ISSN 1996-1073

Kügele, Simon; Renze, Peter; Dietl, Jochen; Grützner, Thomas:
Investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop for a multiple-started ribbed pipe using large-eddy simulation,
in: AIChE Journal, Volume 68(11), American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2022, pages 1-12, e17808.
DOI: doi.org/10.1002/aic.17808
ISSN: 0001-1541

Pabst, Valerie; Güttel, Robert; Renze, Peter:
Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Melting of a Spherical Encapsulated Phase Change Material With Variable Material Data,
in: Atlantis Highlights in Engineering, volume 6, 14th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference 2020 (IRES 2020), Zheng Zheng, Zhiyu Xi, Atlantis Press, 2021, pages 8.
DOI: 10.2991/ahe.k.210202.032
ISSN: 2589-4943 / ISBN:978-94-6239-327-1

Akermann, K.; Renze, P.; Dietl, J.; Schröder, W.:
Large-Eddy Simulation of turbulent heat transfer in a multiple-started helically rib-roughened pipe,
in: International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 154, 2020, Elsevier (ed.), Elsevier, 2020, pages 13.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.119667
ISSN: 1879-2189

Renze, Peter; Akermann, Kevin:
Simulation of Conjugate Heat Transfer in Thermal Processes with Open Source CFD, in: ChemEngineering, 3 (2), 2019, MDPI, 2019, pages 19.
DOI: 10.3390/chemengineering3020059, ISSN: 2305-7084

Renze, P.; Simulation of flow and heat transfer in power engineering with OpenFOAM; ASIM/GI expert group meeting, March 9-10, 2017; Ulm.

Hecht, K., Krause, U., Hofinger, J., Bey, O., Nilles, M., Renze, P. ; Numerical investigation of the influence of swarm and coalescence effects on bubble flows by CFD and population balance models, ProcessNet Fachgruppentreffen Mehrphasenströmungen 2017, Dresden.

Prediction of Gas Density Effects on Bubbly Flow Hydrodynamics: New Insights through an Approach combining Population Balance Models and Computational Fluid Dynamics, K.J. Hecht, U. Krause, J. Hofinger, O. Bey, M. Nilles, P. Renze, to be submitted to AICHE Journal

Renze P, Buffo A, Marchisio DL, Vanni M. Simulation of Coalescence, Breakup, and Mass Transfer in Polydisperse Multiphase Flows. Chem. Ing. Tech. 2014;86(7):1088-1098.

Contact

Head of research group

Professor
Faculty Production Engineering and Production Economics
Placeholder

Research staff

A team of four people from the Flow Simulation Group
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The Flow Simulation Group Team

We are currently a team of four research associates. If you are interested in collaborating on joint research projects or joining our team, please feel free to contact us.

You can find areas of interest in our profile sections:

  • Heat Transfer & Intensification
  • Variable material properties in flows
  • Fouling
  • Thermal stratified storage
  • Latent heat storage
  • Thermal Utilization of Hydrogen
  • Power electronics cooling & battery cooling

There are always current topics available for research-based project work or theses. Please contact us!