Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Antonio A. Martins
CEFT-Transport Phenomena Research Center,
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP)
Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Rui Lima
Department of Mechanical Technology, ESTiG,
Braganca Polytechnic, C. Sta. Apolonia, 5301-857
Bragança, Portugal
Teresa M. Mata
LEPAE-Laboratory for Process,
Environmental and Energy Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP)
Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
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CONTENTS
Foreword i
Preface ii
Acknowledgements xii
Index 634
i
FOREWORD
I am delighted to write the Foreword for this book, which captures the recent advances
in both analytical and experimental techniques of describing accurately the single and
multiphase flow phenomena in chemical engineering practice and biomedical systems.
I would like to congratulate the editors for bringing these separate but
complementary chapters together in a book form. It is also nice to see many multi-
disciplinary teams from countries across the globe working together to produce these
chapters. I hope that the reader will benefit from the breadth and depth of the range
of chemical engineering and biomedical topics covered in these chapters.
PREFACE
Single or two-phase flows are ubiquitous in most natural process and engineering
systems. Examples of systems or process include packed bed reactors, either
single phase or multiphase, absorber and adsorber separation columns, filter beds,
plate heat exchangers, flow of viscoelastic fluids in polymer systems, or the
enhanced recovery of oil, among others.
In each case the flow plays a central role in determining the system or process
behaviour and performance. A better understanding of the underlying physical
phenomena and the ability to describe is crucial to design, operate and control
processes involving the flow of fluids, ensuring that they will be more efficient
and cost effective.
Growing areas such as microfluidics, nanomedicine and the modelling and simulation
of complex flow in living systems such as the blood flow in microvascular networks
rely upon a good description of the flow. One way of studying the blood flow
behavior is in the context of blood flow in large arteries, and another is in small
vessels. In the former case, blood may be treated as a homogenous fluid and
Newtonian constitutive equations are generally accepted as a good approximation to
express the rheological property of blood. In small vessels, however, the scale of
generated flow field sometimes becomes comparable to the scale of a blood cell. The
chapters from the area of biomedical engineering will describe several physiological
and pathological events that happen in both large and small vessels.
Ricardo Dias
CEFT - Transport Phenomena Research Center
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto (FEUP)
Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
iii
List of Contributors
Jacinto Sá
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, David Keir Building, Queen’s
University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland, UK.
Cristina-Elena Stere
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, David Keir Building, Queen’s
University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland, UK.
Alexandre Goguet
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, David Keir Building, Queen’s
University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland, UK.
Emilio Muñoz
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, University
of Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería 8, 33006-Oviedo, Spain.
David Lesser
Institut für Chemische Verfahrenstechnik, Technische Universität Clausthal,
Leibnizstr. 17, 38678 Clausthal, Germany.
Pablo Marín
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, University
of Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería 8, 33006-Oviedo, Spain.
Salvador Ordóñez
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, University
of Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería 8, 33006-Oviedo, Spain.
Fernando V. Díez
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering, University
of Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería 8, 33006-Oviedo, Spain.
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
iv
Alexandros N. Kalarakis
Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes,
Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Greece.
Eugene D. Skouras
Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes,
Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Greece.
Vasilis N. Burganos
Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes,
Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas, Greece.
Ricardo J. Santos
Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Departamento de Engenharia
Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias,
4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Madalena M. Dias
Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Departamento de Engenharia
Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias,
4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Andrei Chorny
A.V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, 15 P.Brovka Str, Minsk, 220072,
Belarus.
J.P. Pereira
LSRE-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Faculdade de
Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
v
A. Karpinska
LSRE-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Faculdade de
Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
P.J. Gomes
LSRE-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Faculdade de
Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
A.A. Martins
LSRE-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Faculdade de
Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
A. Guardo
Fluid Mechanics Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal
647, ETSEIB, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
E. Ramírez
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemistry, Universitat de
Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
M.A. Larrayoz
Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av.
Diagonal 647, ETSEIB, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
F. Recasens
Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av.
Diagonal 647, ETSEIB, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
J.M.P.Q. Delgado
LFC-Laboratório de Física das Construções, Departamento de Engenharia Civil,
Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n,
4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
xii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The editors acknowledge all the authors for their contributions and express our
sincere appreciation to the assistance of all parts involved in the preparation of the
book. We also acknowledge the support from the following grants: Grant-in-Aid
for Science and Technology (PTDC/SAU-BEB/108728/2008, PTDC/SAU-
BEB/105650/2008 and PTDC/EME-MFE/099109/2008) from the Science and
Technology Foundation (FCT) and COMPETE, Portugal.
Finally, we give our special thanks and gratitude to the editorial assistants,
Tomoko Yaginuma and Carla Fernandes, who critically read the text, identified
mistakes and omissions and helped us throughout the preparation of the present
book.
Part I: Single Phase Flows on Chemical Enginnering
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 3-25 3
CHAPTER 1
Spacims-Probing the Internal Behaviour of 3D Structured
Materials
Jacinto Sá*, Cristina-Elena Stere and Alexandre Goguet*
Abstract: 3D structured materials, especially monoliths have been used for decades in
the removal of pollutants in automotive and stationary stations, bulk chemical
production and so on. Their applications are expected to rise due to the ever growing
concern of global warming. Despite the clear advantages of using materials with a well
defined 3D structure, their implementation is often hindered by the absence of detailed
information of what happens inside the channels. SpaciMS is a minimum invasive
spatially resolved capillary-inlet mass spectroscopy system, often combined with other
analytical probes such as thin thermocouples. The probes can be positioned at multiple
axial and/or radial locations within the working monolith, enabling for the generation of
detailed spatio-temporal maps of the reactions and breakthrough fronts. This antagonist
approach from the conventional ‘end-pipe’ analysis which can be often misleading to
describe the internal behaviour of structured materials, offers the possibility to test the
validity of a pre-conceived kinetic and/or hydrodynamic model instead of the common
occurrence of fitting a model from ‘end-pipe’ measurements.
INTRODUCTION
Spatially structured systems are easily found in nature, however in Catalysis and
Chemical Reaction Engineering poorly structured catalytic systems have long
been the dominant technology. The driving force for the development and
implantation of structured catalytic solutions are new paradigms in the field, such
as minimization of energy consumption and of waste formation, which are related
to the ever growing concern of global warming. In fact it is increasingly important
*Address correspondence to Jacinto Sá and Alexandre Goguet: School of Chemistry and Chemical
Engineering, David Keir Building, Queen’s University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, BT9 5AG,
Northern Ireland, UK; E-mails: jacinto.sa@psi.ch; a.goguet@qub.ac.uk
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
4 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Jacinto Sá et al.
Three dimensional (3D) structured materials have been used for decades in the
removal of pollutants in automotive and stationary applications, bulk chemical
production, just to mention a few [1-4]. Many structured systems, especially
monoliths, currently applied or considered for application offer high degree of
freedom, high geometric surface area, low-pressure drop and good mass transfer
performance. There may also bring advantages in kinetics and mass transfer in
gas/liquid phase applications due to better catalyst wetting, higher effectiveness
factors, and thin films that are beneficial in terms of high mass transfer rates [1].
Despite the clear advantages of using materials with a well defined 3D structures,
their implementation is often hindered by the absence of detailed information
regarding spatial chemical mapping, hydrodynamics and flow distribution of
multi-phase flow inside the channels, i.e., reactor bed (Fig. 1) [1-4].
Unknown gas
phase composition
Unknown gas
phase composition
Figure 2: Conventional approach (gold) versus the approach created with the development of
SpaciMS (blue).
Figs. 3 and 4 report a sketch of the QUB (Queen’s University Belfast) SpaciMS
set-up and photographs of the experimental setup, respectively.
CHAPTER 2
Modelling of a Monolithic Reverse Flow Reactor for Selective
Catalytic Reduction of NO by Ammonia
Emilio Muñoz1,*, David Lesser2, Pablo Marín1, Salvador Ordóñez1 and
Fernando V. Díez1
1
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering,
University of Oviedo, C/Julián Clavería 8, 33006-Oviedo, Spain and 2Institut für
Chemische Verfahrenstechnik, Technische Universität Clausthal, Leibnizstr. 17,
38678 Clausthal, Germany
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Modelling of a Monolithic Reverse Flow STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 27
INTRODUCTION
During the last 50 years, both traffic (including sea, air and road transport) and
industrial activities (i.e., power plants or dairy industries) have grown rapidly. As
a result, the use of fossil fuels and biomasses combustions, and the concentration
of anthropogenic pollutants in the atmosphere have increased.
Nitric oxides (NOx), which include nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
and nitrous oxide (N2O), are nowadays considered as one of the most dangerous
air pollutants. NOx are known for their contribution to the greenhouse effect,
besides participating in photochemical reactions that cause acid rain and the
formation of troposphere ozone (“smog”). Moreover, they have an important role
in lakes and rivers eutrophication. Regarding human health, NOx can damage the
respiratory system.
The abatement of NOx has been studied widely during the last decades [1-4] and
their emissions in the industrialized countries is regulated by restrictive laws, i.e.,
in Europe the Directive 2001/81/EC, establishes national emission ceilings for
several pollutants (an extract for the limits is shown in Table 1).
Table 1: National emission ceilings for SO2, NOx and NH3 to be attained by 2010 (Extract)
will be 6% above the Directive ceilings. The comparison between the projections
and the ceilings for every state member is shown in Fig. 1.
The three major techniques used for the abatement of the nitric oxides are lean
NOx traps (LNT), ammonia-or urea-Selective Catalytic Reduction and
Hydrocarbons Selective Catalytic Reduction (HC-SCR).
LNT consists basically of an alumina support on which a metal oxide (e.g., Ba)
and a noble metal (e.g., Pt) are deposited. By operating in cyclic conditions, NOx
are stored in the lean step, whereas NOx are oxidized in the rich step. This
technique is well established for mobile sources. NH3-SCR is a well established
technique, has been mainly used for the elimination of NOx in stationary sources,
due to the ability of ammonia to react selectively with NOx forming N2, together
with the resistance to poisoning and aging of the catalysts used.
NH3-SCR Reaction
NH3-SCR is based on the reaction of NH3 with NO to form N2 and H2O:
CHAPTER 3
Mesoscopic Simulation of Rarefied Gas Flow in Porous Media
Alexandros N. Kalarakis, Eugene D. Skouras and Vasilis N. Burganos*
INTRODUCTION
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Mesoscopic Simulation of Rarefied Gas STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 53
Typically, the distinction among the various flow regimes is based on the value of
the Knudsen number, Kn, which is defined as the ratio of the mean free path, ,
of the fluid molecules to a characteristic length, L [1-5]. It is common ground
that the continuum limit is attained for Kn values less than 0.001, whereas for
0.001<Kn< 0.1 some slip flow boundary condition is usually employed in
continuum descriptions and the flow regime is commonly termed “slip flow”
regime. For higher Knudsen numbers the continuity assumption breaks down and
the flow can no longer be described by the traditional transport equations (Navier-
Stokes) even with the aid of a slip boundary condition at the fluid-solid interface
[2]. More specifically, Kn values between 0.1 and 10 correspond to “transition
flow”, whereas for Kn values greater than 10 the fluid is considered to be in a
“free molecule flow” state (collisionless transport).
the molecular time and length scales are not sufficiently small compared to the
characteristic macroscopic flow scales.
Navier-Stokes Equation Burnett
Euler No-slip Slip Equation
CHAPTER 4
Mixing Through Half a Century of Chemical Engineering
Ricardo J. Santos, Madalena M. Dias and José Carlos B. Lopes*
Abstract: The first mixing studies on chemical reactor engineering date from
approximately fifty years ago. There are several reviews on mixing that are generally
focused on a specific topic, such as chaotic mixing. This chapter presents an overall
picture of the evolution on mixing science and its impact on chemical reactor
engineering. The works reviewed in this chapter are single-phase flows although some
of the concepts presented in this chapter are also applied to multiphase reactors.
This chapter reviews mixing over the last fifty years of chemical engineering and
it is an addition to several short reviews on this subject that can be found among
the lectures and papers of some of the most prominent researchers in this field [1-
5]. A more complete review can be found in [6].
Up to the early 50s the literature published on mixing was scarce [1]. The turning
point occurred in 1952 when Danckwerts made a first approach to non-ideal
reactors by introducing the concept of Residence Time Distribution [7], RTD, and
defining two measures for fluid non-homogeneities [8]. In addition to the
measurement of mixing, either by tracer or chemical reaction, some approaches to
model the mixing mechanism have been tried, and in this review, the proposed
models will be separated into phenomenological models that do not take into
account the fluid mechanics of the process, and mechanistic models [5].
*Address correspondence to José Carlos B. Lopes: Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering,
Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto
Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal; E-mail: lopes@fe.up.pt
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
80 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Santos et al.
The evolution of computational resources has also allowed some model free
simulations of mixing [9, 10] by numeric resolution of the equations that govern
the flow and mass transfer. The huge computational resources required for model
free simulations of mixing most often requires the introduction of some degree of
modelling of the flow field and for mass transfer mechanisms, in the resolution of
real and complex problems. This type of approach to mixing is nowadays very
common and has been encouraged by the wide spread of commercial
Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD, codes to solve the governing equations of
flow and mass transfer. The last sections of this chapter are dedicated to the
review of mixing and flow field simulation by CFD techniques.
dF t
E t (1)
dt
q
I t
V
1 F t (2)
The RTD can be applied to the design of steady-state reactors with first order
reactions [7]. For reactions of other orders, two reactors with the same RTD can
be associated to different conversions depending on factors such as the earliness
Mixing Through Half a Century of Chemical STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 81
of mixing. A simple example where the same RTD yields different final
conversions, is the case of a plug flow reactor, PFR, in series with a continuous
stirred tank reactor, CSTR, where alternating the order of the reactors keeps the
RTD constant but changes the final conversion of the system [11].
The RTD can be used for the prediction of the reactor yield for a state of complete
segregation, which assumes that each clump of fluid at the inlet with the same life
expectancy is a batch reactor completely segregated from the other clumps and
that mixing of clumps of different ages occurs only at the outlet. In 1959
Zwietering [11] introduced the concept of maximum mixedness, which assumes
that mixing occurs as soon as possible. The model of Zwietering consisted of a
PFR with: a common inlet and multiple outlets for the case of complete
segregation (see Fig. 1a); and multiple entrances and a common outlet for the case
of maximum mixedness (see Fig. 1b). For the same RTD the maximum
mixedness and complete segregation models establish the upper and lower
conversion bounds.
In 1967 Weinstein and Adler [12] introduced a mixing parameter that consists on
the division of the reactor into the two situations described by Zwietering [11]:
fluid with lower residence times is described by the complete segregation model;
and fluid of higher residence times is described by the maximum mixedness
model. Weinstein and Adler [12] used two models to divide the fluid according to
its different life expectancies, one with consecutive reactors and the other with
parallel reactors.
Nowadays the RTD is the most common approach to model the non-idealities of
chemical reactors as can be seen from the most popular reference books of
chemical reactors courses. The RTD is also one of the tools for mixing studies in
chemical reactors, as can be seen from a number of recent papers on topics such
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 113-152 113
CHAPTER 5
Application of the Probability Density Function Method to
Turbulent Mixing with Chemical Reaction
Andrei Chorny*
A.V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, 15 P.Brovka Str, Minsk, 220072,
Belarus
INTRODUCTION
To progress in new technological processes and engineering facilities one needs a
more detailed description of the turbulent flow properties with regard not only to
averaged values of velocity, temperature or concentration, but also to fluctuation
*Address correspondence to Andrei Chorny: A.V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, 15 P.Brovka
Str, Minsk, 220072, Belarus; E-mail: anchor@hmti.ac.by
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
114 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Andrei Chorny
The problems mentioned above are being solved by obtaining and collecting
detailed data on occurring physical phenomena. In doing so, the first estimation of
the processes of fluid-and thermodynamics is usually made by mathematical
modeling procedures.
technology advances, direct numerical simulation (DNS) [5] and large eddy
simulation (LES) [6] of complex turbulent flows cannot be used in full measure first
of all for chemical engineering problems [3, 4]. The methods mentioned here find
use mainly with research objectives for simple geometrical flow configurations at
moderate Reynolds number Re. So, the statistical methods are under development
including three main aspects of modeling: chemical kinetics, mutual influence of
flow dynamics and chemical processes, and also directly turbulence [4].
CHAPTER 6
Activated Sludge Models Coupled to CFD Simulations
Pereira J.P., Karpinska A., Gomes P.J., Martins A.A., Dias M.M., Lopes
J.C.B. and Santos R.J.*
Abstract: Wastewater treatment modelling combining hydrodynamics, mass transfer and kinetic
issues remains one of the major goals of chemical engineering. The reactor design is frequently
based on Activated Sludge Models (ASM) that describe the biological processes in an Activated
Sludge (AS) process. The ASM are generally implemented on ideal models of chemical reactors
that do not account for the actual hydrodynamics of the reactor. Nowadays, it is possible to obtain
hydrodynamic information of an AS tank from computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations
that provide information about the mass transfer in the flow field of the AS tank and enable
determining the residence time distribution (RTD). This chapter focuses on the use of CFD data
coupled to the state-of-the-art ASM1, and resumes the work developed by many researchers on
this issue. The influence of the RTD on the results of the simulations using ASM1, is analyzed
from the simulations of the ASM1 using various reactor models. A procedure is proposed for the
coupling of the CFD simulations information with the ASM1 biological model.
INTRODUCTION
One of the major challenges in the wastewater treatment industry is to assure that
the treatment process meets the outflow quality requirements, while both
investment and operating costs are kept as low as possible [1]. Although the
design of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) is a key step to assure the goals of
the process, the design is usually based on general guidelines and designers’
experience. The wastewater treatment modelling combining hydrodynamics, mass
transfer and the biochemical reactions kinetics remains one of the major goals of
chemical engineering [2, 3].
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
154 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Pereira et al.
The biological reactions that remove organic pollutants from the wastewater are
performed in an aerated reactor that as suspended flocks of active biomass that
use the organic matter in the wastewater for metabolic activities and cellular
growth. The biomass flocks suspended in the water in the aerated reactor form a
sludge that is called the mixed liquor. The biomass flocks are separated from the
water in a settler where the settled portion forms a concentrated sludge that is
recirculated into the aerated reactor. This biological process for wastewater
treatment is called Activated Sludge (AS) process. In many WWTPs the AS
process is the step where the non-settable pollutants are removed. The AS
processes have many implementations, a particular one is the oxidation ditch; a
scheme of an oxidation ditch is shown in Fig. 1. The tank with two channels in
Fig. 1 is the AS biological reactor where the mixed liquor is circulated and
aerated, the circular tank is the settler.
This chapter reviews the implementation of the Activated Sludge Models (ASM)
on chemical reactor models and assesses the effect of hydrodynamic on the results
of the AS processes simulation using the case study of an oxidation ditch. A
procedure is proposed for the assessment of the hydrodynamics in AS processes,
based on Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations (CFD) using the same case
study: the oxidation ditch. A procedure to couple the actual AS process
hydrodynamics into the simulation of the ASM is proposed and the influence of
the reactor model in the ASM simulation results is assessed.
BIOLOGICAL MODEL
The ASM1 soon became the most widely used and accepted model of the AS
process. The generalized usage of the ASM1 is due to its structure that is based on
a matrix model that connects all the components and rate expressions, based on
growth and substrate utilization. Furthermore, another important feature of this
model is that chemical oxygen demand (COD) is used as a common measure of
organic substrate and biomass allowing a total COD balance [5]. The fundamental
processes assumed by the model are the growth and decay of biomass, the
ammonification of organic nitrogen, and the hydrolysis of particulate organics.
The ASM1 models consider twelve components of an AS process that are briefly
described in Table 1; these twelve components are involved in eight kinetic
processes that are also considered in the ASM1 and are summarized in Table 2.
Among the ASM1 components is the biomass that is divided into autotrophic,
heterotrophic, and inert fractions. The heterotrophic biomass growth is based on
the consumption of both soluble biodegradable substrate and oxygen, in the
aerobic process, or merely based on nitrate in the anoxic process. The autotrophic
biomass consumes ammonium and oxygen, generating nitrate during the growth.
Both biomasses decay into inert biomass, particulate biodegradable substrate, and
particulate nitrogen. With the exception of the inert biomass, both particulate
fractions are hydrolyzed into soluble biodegradable substrate and soluble
biodegradable organic nitrogen, respectively. The soluble biodegradable organic
174 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 174-195
CHAPTER 7
Using CFD to Estimate External Mass Transfer Coefficients and
Intra-Particle Diffusional Effects on the Supercritical
Hydrogenation of Sunflower Oil
A. Guardo1,*, E. Ramírez2, M.A. Larrayoz3 and F. Recasens3
1
Fluid Mechanics Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av.
Diagonal 647, ETSEIB, 08028, Barcelona, Spain; 2Chemical Engineering
Department, Faculty of Chemistry, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1,
08028, Barcelona, Spain and 3Chemical Engineering Department, Universitat
Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal 647, ETSEIB, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
Abstract: Hydrogenation of vegetable oils is an important process in the food industry
because of its widespread application to produce margarines, shortenings, and other
food components. Supercritical technology has proven to be a reliable alternative to
conventional hydrogenation process because not only the trans isomer levels can be
reduced, but also offers a clean, economic and environmental friendly process.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling applied to the supercritical
hydrogenation reaction can be useful in visualizing and understanding the mass transfer
phenomena involved. CFD is applied to the study of the catalytic hydrogenation of
sunflower oil in the presence of a supercritical solvent. A mix of sunflower oil,
hydrogen and supercritical propane (used as a solvent) is the flowing fluid. Their
transport properties at high pressure are incorporated within a CFD commercial code in
order to estimate them online within the simulation process. A 2D CFD model of a
single Pd-based catalyst pellet is presented. Intra-particle and surface concentration
profiles and surface mass fluxes for all species present in the mixture (oil triglycerides
and hydrogen) are obtained and compared against experimental results. Different
temperatures, flow velocities and particle sizes are studied and external and internal
mass transfer phenomena are analyzed. External mass transfer coefficients for hydrogen
and oil triglycerides are obtained and a correlation for estimating them is presented.
INTRODUCTION
The hydrogenation of edible oils is an important process in the fat industry
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Using CFD to Estimate External Mass STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 175
because of its wide applications to produce margarine, shortenings and frying oils.
The general purpose of this process is to increase the melting point and oxidation
point of the liquid oil [1]. The quality and physical properties of the final product
during hydrogenation are greatly affected by the number of double bonds present
in the oil, i.e., the iodine value (IV) and the cis-trans C18:1 isomers [2].
The industrial hydrogenation process is typically carried out in a three-phase
dead-end reactor operating at 383-443 K and 0.1-0.5 MPa with a nickel-base
catalyst. In this process, the low reaction rates and the increase of the trans C18:1
content (about 40 wt %) by isomerisation are consequences of the low solubility
of H2 in the oil and the high mass transfer resistance for the hydrogen in the liquid
phase [3].
Trans isomers not only change the physical and chemical properties of
hydrogenated fats but were also found to be responsible for an increased risk of
cardiovascular and heart diseases [4-7]. Nutritionally, these isomers formed
during hydrogenation are regarded like saturated fatty acids.
Apprehension and public awareness have risen regarding the potential health
hazards of trans fatty acids intake in the human diet. United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) issued in 2003 a regulation requiring manufacturers to list
trans fat, on the Nutrition Facts panel of foods and some dietary supplements. In
the same year, Denmark became the first country to set an upper limit on the
percentage of industrially produced trans fat in foods, limiting trans fats from
sources other than meats and dairy products to a maximum of 2% of total fat in
each food item. In 2005, Canada became the first country to regulate the
mandatory labelling of trans fats on prepackaged foods. In 2006, the United States
introduced the mandatory declaration of trans fats in foods containing 0.5 grams
or more per serving.
In view of the Danish legislation, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
was asked by the European Commission in 2004 to provide an opinion on the
presence of trans fatty acids in food and their effect on human health. The
provision of nutrition labelling is voluntary within the European Union. When it is
provided, it has to follow a prescribed format which does not include trans fatty
acids, unless the manufacturer voluntarily decides to provide this information for
176 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Guardo et al.
consumers. Few products do provide information on trans fatty acids, and they are
not usually included in any form within the nutrition information panel. The
European Commission is due to publish proposals for a review of the nutrition
labelling directive, which provides an opportunity to address this.
CHAPTER 8
Mass Transfer Around a Single Soluble Solid with Different
Shapes Buried in a Packed Bed and Exposed to Fluid Flow
J.M.P.Q. Delgado*
Abstract: The present work describes the mass transfer process between a moving fluid
and a soluble solid mass (a sphere, a cylinder or a plane surface aligned with the flow, a
cylinder in cross-flow, a prolate spheroid and a oblate spheroid) buried in a packed bed
of small inert particles with uniform voidage. Numerical solutions of the partial
differential equations describing solute mass conservation were undertaken (for solute
transport by both advection and diffusion) to obtain the concentration field in the
vicinity of the soluble surface and the mass transfer flux was integrated to give the
Sherwood number as a function of the relevant parameters (e.g., Peclet number,
Schmidt number, aspect ratio of the soluble mass). Mathematical expressions are
proposed that describe accurately the dependencies found. The solutions of these
problems are useful in the analysis of a variety of physical situations, as in the analytical
models of continuous injection of solute at a point source, in a uniform stream, to
estimate the distance from the “contaminant source” beyond which the levels of
contaminant are expected to fall below some safe limit.
There are several situations of practical interest, both in nature and in man made
processes, in which there is fluid flow through a bed of inert particles, packed
around a solid mass that contacts with the moving fluid. Examples may be found
in diverse fields, such as dilute catalyst fixed bed reactors, fluidised bed
combustion, ore leaching and water contamination by buried waste. In such
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Mass Transfer Around a Single Soluble STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 197
When the mass transfer process occur in a porous media with a fluid flowing
around the soluble particle, and at low fluid velocities (as typically observed in
underground flow), the assumption of thin boundary layer is not legitimate, and
the theoretical analysis developed by Coelho and Guedes de Carvalho [1] is not
applicable. Therefore, it is necessary to employ numerical methods for a correct
analysis of the mass transfer process in more general situations.
Flow around a buried sphere is an important model situation in many processes and
in a recent work Guedes de Carvalho et al. [3] treated the problem numerically, so as
to cover the entire range of values of Peclet and Schmidt numbers.
Flow along buried cylindrical surfaces and flat surfaces are also important model
situations, and were investigated theoretically and numerically by Alves et al. [4],
yielding results for a wide range of values of Peclet number, aspect ratio of
soluble solid mass and Schmidt number.
Over the last years, our focus has been driven preferentially to the analysis of the
mass transfer of particles with spherical geometry. This work is a contribution for
the study of mass transfer of soluble particles with different geometries buried in
inert particles with smaller diameter. Additionally, a simple approximate method
is presented to obtain concentration contours plots for solute distribution around
and downstream of the buried surfaces (with different geometries).
CASE STUDIES
The following sections present a detailed description of the mass transfer and
dispersion process around a soluble solid particle with different shapes (sphere,
cylinder or a plane surface aligned with the flow, cylinder in cross-flow, prolate
spheroid and a oblate spheroid) buried in a packed bed of smaller inert particles
with uniform voidage, with a moving fluid with constant interstitial velocity.
198 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering J.M.P.Q. Delgado
If we restrict the analysis to those situations for which the mass transfer boundary
layer extends over several particle diameters and if a small control volume is
considered, inside this boundary layer, with side lengths z, y and unity, a steady
state material balance on the solute leads to
c 2c 2c
u D 'm 2 D 'm 2 (1)
z y z
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 233-265 233
CHAPTER 9
Advances on Viscoelastic Fluid Flow Simulation
Jovani L. Favero1, Argimiro R. Secchi1,*, Nilo S.M. Cardozo2 and Hrvoje
Jasak3
1
PEQ/COPPE-Programa de Engenharia Química, Universidade Federal do Rio
de Janeiro, CT, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; 2Departamento de Engenharia
Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
and 3FSB/Wikki-Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture,
University of Zagreb, Croatia and Wikki Ltd, London, United Kingdom
Abstract: The increasing necessity for use of synthetic polymer products, such as for
production of packaging, parts of appliances, electronics, cars, biomaterials for medical
applications, etc., has led to the polymer industry to seek reduction of waste and increase
product quality and productivity. Consequently, a better understanding of how the
rheological properties of polymers affect their processing and final product quality is of
great importance. In order to obtain faster results with less cost, the studies of modeling and
simulation of polymer processing are increasing every day. This chapter aims to describe
new tools for CFD simulations of viscoelastic fluids, implemented in the OpenFOAM CFD
package due to advantages offered by this software, such as the possibility to use multigrid
techniques and data processing parallelization, besides being a free software and open
source. The constitutive models of Maxwell, UCM, Oldroyd-B, White-Metzner, Giesekus,
Leonov, FENE-P, FENE-CR, linear and exponential PTT, Pom-Pom, XPP and DCPP were
included in the general multimode form. In order to validate the developed solver,
comparisons with numerical and experimental results from literature were carried out. The
results were satisfactory giving credibility to the implemented solver and ensure the
availability of a powerful tool for the study of viscoelastic fluids to be used both in
academia and in industry. An extension of this tool, used for analysis of free-surface
viscoelastic fluid flows using the VOF methodology, is also presented. The die swell
experiment, a classical flow phenomenon used in the rheology literature to present the
concept of viscoelastic effects, was also simulated. The results obtained using Giesekus
model showed the great potential of the developed formulation, once all phenomena
observed experimentally were reproduced in the simulations.
Keywords: Viscoelastic fluids, free surface flow, two-phase flow, finite volumes,
multimode simulation, die swell simulation, differential constitutive equations,
high weissenberg numbers, VOF, CFD, DEVSS, OpenFOAMTM.
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
234 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Favero et al.
INTRODUCTION
list of models for viscoelastic fluid and some detailed comparisons among them
can be found in [1, 2, 7]. Additionally, the multimode versions of these models
provide better agreement with experimental data by using a discrete spectrum of
relaxation time instead of a single relaxation time. The improvement in predictive
ability resulting from the use of multiple modes is generally accompanied by a
computational cost due to the increase of the problem size, with six new variables
for each additional mode [13], in case of 3D simulations.
An important subject that is receiving a special attention, mainly in the last two
decades, is the use of these viscoelastic models to simulate free surface flow. It is
particularly useful for industries that work with processes as extrusion and
injection molding of plastics, metallic leagues or the complex fluids used in food
industry, where the final quality of their products depends strongly on how much
is known about the fluid rheology and its relation with the optimal processing
conditions [14]. The modeling of free surface flow presents the same bases of
internal flows plus an appropriate methodology for treatment of free surface
motion, such as the MAC (Marker-and-Cell) [15] and VOF (Volume-of-Fluid)
[16]. An overview of literature works about viscoelastic free surface simulation
can be found in [17]. Most of works treating viscoelastic fluid flow with free
surface use finite element method to solve simplified cases.
CHAPTER 10
Tree-Shaped Flow Structures Viewed from the Constructal
Theory Perspective
António F. Miguel*
Constructal theory, conceived by Adrian Bejan, is the view that the generation of configuration in
nature is a universal phenomenon, which is covered by a law of physics-the constructal law. This
chapter addresses the generation of tree-shaped design in the light of constructal theory.
First, we briefly review the constructal theory that is applicable to animate and
inanimate flow systems. Next, we review the studies that are focused on the constructal
view of tree-shaped flow structures. The constructal theory presented in this chapter
introduces a new paradigm that is universally applicable in nature, engineering and
social sciences.
The study of tree-shaped flow structures dates back to a long time ago. Galen, for
example, who lived in the second century A.D. and spent part of his lifetime in
observation of the human body and its functioning, described the arteries as
"trunks divided into many branches and twigs" that nourished the body [1]. He
also wrote that the lung configuration “has all the properties which make for easy
*Address correspondence to António F. Miguel: Department of Physics and Geophysics Center CGE,
University of Évora, Rua Romão Ramalho 59, 7000-671 Évora, Portugal; E-mail: afm@uevora.pt
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Tree-Shaped Flow Structures Viewed STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 267
evacuation" [1]. In the 15th century, Giacomo Berengario da Capri described the
circulatory system as "a tree of veins" and Leonardo da Vinci drawn images of the
anatomy of the lungs based on dissect human corpses [2, 3]. Leonard was also
convinced that, as the blood in the human body, water also traverses the earth in
channels and veins, branching out in all directions to vitalize and sustain the earth
and its creatures.
Tree-shaped flow structures are not exclusive of living organisms. They play a
basic role in both animate and inanimate systems [8-10]. Tree-shaped flow
structures are of common appearance in leaves, roots, vascular tissues, respiratory
tree, neural dendrites, and bacterial colonies but also in river drainage basins, river
deltas, dendritic crystals, heat exchangers, water distribution networks, urban
growth, etc. The level of complexity which a tree structure exhibits is not simply
of a more advanced degree but of an overall different degree. In fact, scientists
such as Horton [11], Schumm [12] or Shreve [13] took an interest in analyzing the
complex ordering of these networks. They performed topological and
morphometric analyses [14] which can be applied to all branching networks
organized into a hierarchy. Latter, for the description of many of the irregular and
fragmental patterns in nature Mandelbrot [15] has introduced the concept of
fractal (or Hausdorft) dimension. Many of the natural branched structures are
fractal structures. Therefore, they can be approximated by repeating a finite
number that follows a postulated properly designed algorithm, which results in an
increasing number of channels with smaller diameter and an increase in the total
cross-sectional flow area. Fractals do not account for dynamics, hence are
descriptive rather than predictive. Fractal analysis has been applied to a large
variety of animate and inanimate systems whose fractal dimensions have been
sought [16-21]. However, the fractal properties in different systems have different
292 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 292-331
CHAPTER 11
Determination of Effective Transport Properties of Metallic
Foams: Morphology and Flow Laws
J. Vicente1,*, E. Brun2, J.M. Hugo1, J.P. Bonnet3 and F. Topin1
1
Université de Provence, Laboratoire IUSTI CNRS UMR 6695, Technopole de
Château-Gombert, Marseille, France; 2Mechanical Engineering Department,
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States and 3M2P2
UMR CNRS 6181, Université Paul Cézanne, Europôle de l’Arbois, Bâtiment
Laennec, Hall C. 13545 Aix en Provence Cedex 4, France
Abstract: This paper presents a combined approach to study the impact of the structure of
cellular materials on their transport properties. This work is based on the use of the
morphological 3D analysis software (iMorph), to precisely characterize the geometry of
cellular solids, extensive experimental characterization at sample scale and numerical
simulation of heat and mass transfer at pore scale. With these approaches, and the study
on a wide range of metallic foams, we identify the geometrical relevant criteria for the
single and two-phase flow properties understanding.
Keywords: Single and two phase flow laws, effective transport properties, metal
foams, X-ray tomography, 3d images, morphology, representative elementary
volume (rev), numerical simulations, finite volume, lattice boltzmann.
INTRODUCTION
Solid foams are a relatively new class of multifunctional materials that present
attractive thermal, mechanical, electrical and acoustic properties. Moreover, they
also promote mixing and have excellent specific mechanical properties. They are
widely quoted to present a random topology, high open porosity, low relative,
large accessible surface area per unit volume [1]. They are nowadays proposed for
use in numerous applications such as compact heat exchangers, reformers,
biphasic cooling systems and spreaders. They are also used in high-power
batteries for lightweight cordless electronics, and catalytic field application such
*Address correspondence to J. Vicente: Université de Provence, Laboratoire IUSTI CNRS UMR 6695,
Technopole de Château-Gombert, Marseille, France; E-mail: jerome.vicente@polytech.univ-mrs.fr
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Determination of Effective Transport STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 293
as fuel cells systems [2-5]. Usually, geometric properties such as high tortuosity
and high specific surface are proposed to explain their interesting properties.
Literature models of effective thermal properties widely used for low porosity
media are more difficult to apply to these high porosity materials [6, 7]. Most of
the modeling approaches are based on arbitrary periodic structures. Thus,
modeling approaches remains yet only qualitative [8-11]. Very few works uses
real geometry (usually obtained from 3D X-ray tomography) to determine
physical properties [12].
In the present paper, the single and two-phase flow behavior is studied. Fluid flow
parameters are experimentally measured at a macroscopic scale. For single phase
flow, numerical simulations are performed at the pore scale on the real matrix
using foam real geometry obtained from tomographic images. Numerical
simulations allow observing locally macroscopic properties as well as velocity,
temperature or pressure fields. Effective properties are, then, deduced to
determine flow laws and heat transfer performance that can be directly compared
to experimental results. Once the numerical approach is validated, Representative
volume element (RVE) size of fluid flow properties is calculated. Then, the
precise knowledge of the foam geometry allows quantifying the impact of the
morphology on the fluid flow parameters.
MATERIALS
In order to ascertain the structural characteristics of these media, we have used the
morphological data obtained using X-Ray tomography and the open source
morphological analysis software iMorph, developed in our laboratory [7].
The structure of cellular open cells materials presents different pertinent scales,
the cell size and the strut thickness for hollow struts, and the strut diameter for
filled struts. The choice of the resolution and of the sample size results then in a
trade off between these scales. Depending on the tomographied samples, we used
two different optics, and fixed the pixel size of the Frelon CCD camera to 7.46µm
(optics 10µm), 29.47µm (optics 40µm), and 0.7µm.
The 3D starting volume, derived from one scan, is divided into a set of grey tone
slices. In the case of a cellular material and due to the large difference between the
linear attenuation coefficient of air and metal, the high-resolution tomographic
Part II: Two Phase Flows on Chemical Enginnering
332 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 332-360
CHAPTER 12
Flow Visualization in Gas-Solid Packed Beds by Spatially
Resolved Near-Infrared Imaging
Aiouache Farid1,*, Nic An tSaoir Méabh1, and Luis Abreu Fernandes Daniel2
1
Queen’s University Belfast, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, BT9
5AG, Belfast, Northern Ireland and 2Department of Chemistry, University of
Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
*Address correspondence to Aiouache Farid: Queen’s University Belfast, School of Chemistry and
Chemical Engineering, BT9 5AG, Belfast, Northern Ireland.; E-mail: f.aiouache@qub.ac.uk
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Flow Visualization in Gas-Solid Packed STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 333
INTRODUCTION
Until recently, chemical gas-solid processes were described using ‘single point’
spectroscopic techniques. These techniques have helped to understand fundamental
phenomena by using simplified concepts relying on pseudo-homogeneous
descriptions of underlying events, which are often not valid at different spatial scales
and use averaged concentration, temperature and packing structure data. [1, 2] Our
previous work on fluid flow and chemical kinetics in monolith reactors using spatial
mass spectroscopy (SpaciMS), has demonstrated that local flow fields have a
significant impact on concentration and temperature distributions; leading to
oscillating concentrations, changes in temperature and partial breakthrough during
carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation. [3] The SpaciMS technique however, was found
to be relatively intrusive since it was associated with an increase of 5 % in flow
velocity and 19 % in pressure drops inside the monolith channel. Therefore non
intrusive methods, such as spatially-resolved optical spectroscopy techniques have
attracted more interest in recent years. These techniques have revealed that the
averaged information commonly obtained concerning the performance of gas-solid
processes in terms of activity, selectivity, and stability, are in fact the consequence of
complex interplays between different physicochemical gradients of concentration,
temperature and velocity across different length scales. [2] A well-known example is
the catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) on a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst [4].
Spatiotemporal oscillation patterns and moving fronts originating from the
segregated diffusion of CO, were well observed by infrared thermography at a
spatial resolution of millimetres, while spiral waves on an enhanced defect density of
Pt surfaces were revealed by two dimensional (2D) photoemission electron
microscopy at a spatial resolution of nanometres. Further examples have been cited
in recent reviews on spatiotemporal techniques and catalysis by Urakawa & Baiker
[1] and Weckhuysen [2].
Local dispersion profiles can quickly show the effectiveness of heat and mass
transfers inside and around solid beads of a packing bed. Local dispersions are
334 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Farid et al.
Even less energetic than MRI tomography, X-ray tomography and neutron
tomography, NIR diffuse and transmittance tomography is becoming increasingly
acceptable for use in biomedical applications such as quantifying organ function.
The transport of NIR light in scattering environments such as tissue materials is
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 361-385 361
CHAPTER 13
Interfacial Area Modelling in Two-Phase Flow Studies
Christophe Morel*
Abstract: This chapter summarizes various theoretical approaches for interfacial area
modelling in two-phase flow studies. The interfacial area concentration is defined as the
contact area between the two phases per unit volume of the two-phase mixture. As the
surface available for mass, momentum and energy exchanges between the two phases,
this quantity is of the utmost importance. Various approaches were developed for its
modelling in the few last decades and we can classify these approaches mainly in two
groups. The first group is based on the restrictive assumption of spherical particles
(bubbles or droplets) and the interfacial area modelling is often based on an evolution
equation for this quantity. This evolution equation can be derived from a Liouville-
Boltzmann equation written for the distribution function of a quantity characterizing the
size of the particle (currently its diameter or its volume). The second group is
completely different and is based on local instantaneous evolution equations for pieces
of interfaces and their orientation in the flow, defined by the unit normal vector. Here,
the major assumption is the one of closed interfaces but the fluid particle shapes can be
arbitrary. The two kinds of approaches involve an interfacial area balance equation, but
they are different in their theoretical basis. The link between these two approaches is
given in the context of spherical particles. In the more general context of anisotropic
interfaces (i.e., arbitrary shapes), the interfacial area evolution equation is supplemented
by additional evolution equations characterizing the interface anisotropy. Two possible
mathematical formalisms are presented here: the first one is based on the concept of the
interface anisotropy tensor introduced a long time ago in the study of liquid-liquid
dispersions (e.g., polymer blends) and the second one is based on two equations for the
averaged mean and Gaussian curvatures.
INTRODUCTION
Two-phase flows are encountered in many power and process industries, as well
*Address correspondence to Christophe Morel: CEA GRENOBLE, DEN/DER/SSTH/LDLD, 17, Rue Des
Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble, France. E-mail: christophe.morel@cea.fr
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
362 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Christophe Morel
The equations of the two phases are coupled through interfacial interaction terms
which represent the mass, momentum and energy exchanges between phases on
the average. It is generally admitted that these exchanges are proportional to the
available contact area between phases per unit volume of mixture [1]:
account and several recent reviews attest of the vivacity of the subject [1, 3-5].
Here, we will restrict our attention to the case of disperse two-phase flows
characterized by the existence of one continuous phase (carrier phase) and a
second phase embedded in the first as a great number of discrete (dispersed) fluid
particles, each particle being bounded by a close surface. The two examples in
gas-liquid flows are bubbles in a liquid and droplets in a gas. Thus we exclude a
priori separated two-phase flows characterized by a single large and open
interface, even if some of the concepts developed here also apply to this kind of
flows.
An intuitive idea of the IAC has been given in the introduction. Now we must
define this quantity more precisely. From a general viewpoint, essentially two
descriptions exist to model a disperse two-phase flow. The first one is the classical
two-fluid model [1, 2] where the two phases are considered in a symmetrical way
and the obtained equations are very general in the sense that no assumption is
made about the interfacial configuration, i.e., the flow regime. The second
description [6] is based on an analogy with the kinetic theory of gases, where the
gas molecules are replaced by macroscopic particles (like bubbles or droplets)
surrounded by the carrier fluid. In the first approach, the IAC is defined as the
sum of all the pieces of interfaces contained in a unit volume. In the second
approach, restricted to disperse mixtures, the IAC involves a sum over the
surfaces of all particles having their centres inside the unit volume.
We first give the definitions of the IAC in the two contexts mentioned above [6,
7]. In the most general context of the two-fluid model, the IAC aI is defined as the
average of a Dirac distribution having the different interfaces as a support:
aI I (2)
For the particular case of a suspension of N spherical particles having their centres
located at the set of position vectors R(t) and characterized by their radii a(t) (
= 1, …, N), the Dirac distribution appearing in (2) is given by:
386 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 386-411
CHAPTER 14
Mass Transfer Models for Oxygen-Water Co-Current Flow in
Vertical Bubble Columns
Valdemar Garcia1 and João Sobrinho Teixeira2,*
1
Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Escola Superior de Tecnologia e de Gestão,
Quinta de Santa Apolónia, 5300-999 Bragança, Portugal and 2Instituto
Politécnico de Bragança, Escola Superior Agrária, Quinta de Santa Apolónia,
5301-857 Bragança, Portugal
Abstract: The present work reports a theoretical and experimental study of mass
transfer for oxygen-water co-current flow in vertical bubble columns. The axial dispersion
of liquid phase was also studied. Experiments were carried out in a 32 mm internal
diameter and 5.35 and 5.37 m height columns. The superficial liquid velocity ranged
from 0.3 to 0.8 m/s and volumetric flow rate ratio of gas to liquid ranged from 0.015 to
0.25. Mathematical models were developed to predict concentration of gas dissolved in
the liquid as function of different physical and dynamic variables for two-phase co-
current downflow and upflow. We obtained for the ratio of the liquid side mass transfer
coefficient to initial bubbles radius, kL/r0=0.12 s-1.
INTRODUCTION
The simultaneous gas and liquid flow frequently occurs in several situations and
in many industrial applications such as distillation columns, chemical and nuclear
reactors, pipelines for hydrocarbon mixtures transport, solar collectors, mass
transfer equipments like bubble columns, packed columns, air lifts pumps, among
others. Bubble columns, equipment where the gas phase is dispersed in small
bubbles in continuous liquid phase, have been used as gas-liquid contactors
*Address correspondence to João Sobrinho Teixeira: Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Escola Superior
Agrária, Quinta de Santa Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal. E-mail: sobrinho@ipb.pt.
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Mass Transfer Models for Oxygen-Water STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 387
Particularly, the air/oxygen-water flow can be found in areas where the water
oxygenation is very important, like the aquaculture and the water treatment units
(drinking, waste and river). The simultaneous flow of oxygen and water in co-
current bubbly regime, first in downflow and then in upflow, occurs in a U tube,
device with applications on referred areas [1-6].
The liquid mixing or axial dispersion is one of the parameters that can influence
the process of mass transfer of gas to liquid and therefore must be known. The
literature on liquid axial dispersion for bubble columns, especially for the air-
water system, is extensive. Many empirical [7, 8] and theoretical [9-11] equations
have been developed in order to predict the axial dispersion coefficient.
In the present work, the liquid phase mass transfer coefficients and the axial
mixing (axial dispersion coefficients) of the liquid phase of vertical bubble
columns operating with co-current downflow and upflow were determined for the
oxygen-water system.
EXPERIMENTAL
The experiments were performed on two vertical bubble columns, linked in the
bottom in U tube form, operating with co-current downflow and upflow of gas
and liquid. The columns are respectively, 5.37 and 5.35 m height and 32 mm
inside diameter.
Gas Absorption
The absorption experiments were performed in acrylic glass tubes. The liquid, tap
water, was circulated in the tubes by a centrifugal pump and was introduced at the
top of test section. The water flow rate was measured by a calibrated rotameter
and was regulated by a ball valve. The gas used for all experiments was pure
oxygen supplied by a high pressure bottle. The oxygen was introduced into the
test column through a porous gas distributor installed at the top of the test section.
The porous gas distributor allowed the formation of small diameter bubbles (about
388 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Garcia and Teixeira
2-4 mm). The volumetric oxygen flow rate was determined with an electronic
flow meter.
Axial Dispersion
Determination of the axial dispersion parameters was based on the typical method
of tracer injection. A small amount of tracer (1x105 g/m3 NaCl aqueous solution)
was manually injected as fast as possible at the top of the downflow column and
at the bottom of the upflow column.
412 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 412-439
CHAPTER 15
Characterization of Turbulence and Flow Regimes in Bubble
Columns Based on Nonlinear Chaos Analysis of Various Data
Stoyan Nedeltchev*
Institute of Technical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 10,
38106 Braunschweig, Germany
INTRODUCTION
The bubble column reactors are commonly used in the process industries for
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Characterization of Turbulence and Flow STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 413
carrying out a variety of liquid phase reactions [1]. The simple construction and
absence of moving parts make bubble columns cheap and easy for maintenance.
Usually these reactors operate in two hydrodynamic regimes: at low superficial
gas velocities uG the homogeneous (bubbly flow) regime occurs in which the
dispersion consists of bubbles that are roughly uniform in size. At high uG values
(beyond the transitional gas velocity) the heterogeneous (churn-turbulent) regime
occurs. In this flow regime there is a wide bubble size distribution depending on
the system properties [2]. Usually at high uG values a wide gas phase residence
time distribution is observed which is often detrimental to reactor conversion and
selectivity.
The main parameters that characterize the bubble column hydrodynamics are the
gas holdup, mean bubble diameter, mixing and the volumetric mass transfer rate.
These parameters can be affected by the column geometry and the existing
operating conditions, of which the gas and liquid flow rates are the most
important. Other key variables are the properties of the continuous media used
inside the reactor and the type of gas sparger used.
Some authors [3] reported that gas holdup increases with axial height to a value at
the top of the column over 1.6 times higher than the one at the bottom of the
column. According to them, this axial dependence of the gas holdup occurs
regardless of the sparger type and column height. These observations were made
in a large bubble column (23 m in height, 1.0 m in diameter). The variation in gas
holdup between the top and the bottom of the reactor increases as larger columns
are used [3]. It is worth noting that near the bottom of the column there is an
uneven (non-uniform) distribution of the bubbles over the cross-section, creating
columns of bubble-water jets/plumes.
A large part of the volume of the smaller columns is taken up by the sparger zone,
which is located above the sparger. The sparger zone is where bubble coalescence
and breakup are not in equilibrium and, as a result, where bubble size changes
more rapidly with height than throughout the rest of the column. This affects
particularly the measured bubble size in the smaller columns. Giovannettone et al.
[3] reported that the Sauter mean bubble diameter does not vary substantially with
column diameter. Their results show that the Sauter mean bubble diameter does
414 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Stoyan Nedeltchev
not depend on the total unaerated height of the column while the distribution of
bubble sizes exhibits some influence. According to the authors the bubble
diameter does not vary with depth or gas flow rate under all operating conditions
except near the sparger. Colella et al. [4] measured bubble diameter in two bubble
columns of varying heights and diameters and found that bubble size decreased
with height in the shorter bubble column, however it did not change in the larger
bubble column above a height of 0.375 m from the gas sparger. Polli et al. [5]
found similar results and estimated the sparger zone to extend one column
diameter above the sparger. Magaud et al. [6] found that bubble diameter changes
little with height in columns of comparable size.
TURBULENCE
CHAPTER 16
Characterization and Modeling of Flotation Processes
G.G. Kagramanov* and V.A. Kolesnikov
INTRODUCTION
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
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Characterization and Modeling of Flotation STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 441
The flotation methods are traditionally classified based on the method of gas (air)
bubbles production [1, 5]. The methods can be differentiated in three groups:
MEMBRANE FLOTATION
Microporous membranes are frequently used as air diffusers [6, 7]; these devices
have some price benefits and can produce air bubbles, which are small enough to
achieve a large interfacial surface area between air and water. This process is
similar to the well-known membrane emulsification process, which uses
microporous membranes for a stable emulsion production [8-11].
w f w0 (1)
Finding of function f , that is the ratio of group emersion rate w and single
bubble emersion rate, appears to be a challenge, as the literature on this problem is
contradictory. There is a number of the empirical formulas, most frequently
presented as [12, 13]:
f 1
n
(2)
If the height of bubbling bed is big enough (about 1 m and more) the gas (air) is
distributed along the height according to the energy minimum of gas-liquid bed. A
function of minimum of potential, kinetic, dissipation and surface tension energies
could be presented as follows [14]:
H w2 3 w2 6
J g 1 x x 1 dx (3)
0
2 1 4 1
2n
d
CHAPTER 17
Pulse Wave Propagation in Large Blood Vessels Based on Fluid-
Solid Interactions Methods
Tomohiro Fukui1,*, Kim H. Parker2 and Takami Yamaguchi3
1
Department of Mechanical and System Engineering, Kyoto Institute of
Technology, Gosyokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan;
2
Physiolosical Flow Studies Group, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial
College, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom and 3Department of Biomedical
Engineering, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-
6-01 Aoba-yama, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
INTRODUCTION
*Address correspondence to Tomohiro Fukui: Department of Mechanical and System Engineering, Kyoto
Institute of Technology, Gosyokaido-cho, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan; E-mail:
fukui@kit.ac.jp
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All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Pulse Wave Propagation in Large Blood STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 461
L
PWV . (1)
t
Eh
PWV , (2)
2 ri
where E is the Young’s modulus of the arterial wall, h is the wall thickness, is
the blood density, and ri is the internal radius of the artery. For thick-walled tubes,
the Moens-Korteweg equation has been modified by computing the strain on the
middle wall of the tube [5].
Eh , (3)
PWV
2 ri h 2
In the presence of flow, we assume that the wave will be convected with the
cross-sectional averaged velocity of the blood [6]. For a thick-walled tube with
flow, we therefore use the “modified Moens-Korteweg equation”,
Eh
PWV U ., (4)
2 ri h 2
METHODS
CHAPTER 18
An-Harmonic Modeling of the Peripheral Distortion of the
Arterial Pulse
Panagiotes A. Voltairas1,*, D.I. Fotiadis1, A. Charalambopoulos1 and L.K.
Michalis2
1
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, GR
451 10, Ioannina, Greece and 2Department of Cardiology, Medical School and
Michaelidion Cardiac Center, University of Ioannina, GR 451 10, Ioannina,
Greece
Abstract: As blood circulates through the arterial tree, the flow and pressure pulse distort.
Principal factors to this distortion are reflections from arterial bifurcations and the viscous
character of the blood flow. Both of them are listed and expounded in the literature. Nevertheless,
apart from direct numerical simulations, based on Navier-Stokes like equations, where the
nonlinearities of inertial effects are taken into account, there isn’t any qualitative, as well as
quantitative, analytical formula that explains their role in the distortion of the pulse. We derive an
analytical quasi-linear formula, which emanates from a generalized Bernoulli’s equation for a
linear viscoelastic flow in a quasi-elastic cylindrical vessel. We report that close to the heart (e.g.,
aortic arc), convection effects related to the change in the magnitude of the velocity of blood
dominate the alteration of the shape of the pressure pulse, while at remote sites of the vascular
tree, convection of vorticity, related to the change in the direction of the velocity of blood with
respect to a mean axial flow, prevails. Comparison between the an-harmonic theory and related
pressure measurements is also performed.
Keywords: Arterial pulse, arterial pressure, flow pulse, pressure pulse, large
blood vessels, blood flow, arterial pulse distortions, an-harmonic model,
haemodynamic model, numerical simulations.
INTRODUCTION
Variations in the form of the arterial pressure and flow pulse are often used as
clinical indicators [1, 2]. Therefore, it is important to gain an understanding of the
underlying mechanisms that constitute the arterial pulse in normal physiology.
Each beat of the heart creates a pressure wave which travels along the arterial
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An-Harmonic Modeling of the Peripheral STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 473
network, changing shape as it moves away from the heart. The amplitude of the
flow wave, or pulse, decreases monotonically with the distance from the heart.
The same applies to the pressure pulse but only at remote locations of the arterial
network. This is due to viscous dissipation, accompanied by the viscoelasticity of
the vessel wall. Nevertheless, initially, the systolic peak of the pressure pulse
increases, as it travels away from the heart. In the arterial periphery, about half a
period after the systolic peak a secondary peak, the diastolic peak, appears.
Another feature of the waveform distortion is that irregularities of the proximal
waveform are smoothed out peripherally (like the dicrotic notch: a notch in the
pressure pulse that marks the closure of the aortic valve). A long-standing
problem is the interpretation of these flow and pressure pulse distortions in terms
of physiological factors (cardiac output, blood’s viscosity, vessel wall elasticity,
mean flow velocity, etc.) and geometrical characteristics of the arterial network
(distance from the heart, vessel diameter, degree of bifurcation of the arterial
network, etc.). The proposed models span areas from Fourier analysis [2] and
solitary pressure waves in elastic tubes [3], to computational fluid dynamics
simulations of local flows [4], and hybrid models of the arterial network, which
frequently use measurements as inlet conditions [5-7].
The purpose of this study is to extend our previous model [8], in order to interpret
the initial increase of the systolic peak of the pressure pulse as it propagates away
from the heart (and other arterial pulse distortions), through the inclusion of: an
elaborate estimation of all classes of convection effects, a physiologically sound
constitutive model for the rheology of blood and a three dimensional (3D),
analytical, an-harmonic, time-domain, un-lumped [9] model.
METHODS
arterial wall [10], under normal [11], or pathological conditions [12, 13]. In this
work we neglect the viscoelasticity of the arterial wall and introduce it indirectly,
through a small radial displacement that meets the analytical needs of the model and
some effective material parameters. Although we study the flow in an infinite
cylindrical tube, reflections from arterial bifurcations are taken into account by
means of the eigenfunction expansion of the derived quasi-linear boundary value
problem.
The 3D Model
Hence, we assume that blood is a non-Newtonian, linear, Maxwell fluid, that
flows in an infinite, quasi-elastic tube of circular cross section. By quasi-elastic
we mean a tube that undergoes small but non-vanishing, radial displacements of
the arterial wall. Thus, we solve the problem of flow in a rigid tube, and introduce
appropriately modified no-slip boundary conditions. The conservation of linear
momentum, the conservation of mass for an incompressible fluid and the
constitutive law for a linear viscoelastic Maxwell fluid are:
u
u u P f , (1)
t
u 0, (2)
u u ,
T
Tw (3)
t
f A, A G r z, t e . (4)
CHAPTER 19
Numerical Analysis of Blood Flow in Stenosed Channels
Stéphanie Ferreira1, Ricardo P. Dias2,3,*, Carlos Balsa4 and Carla S.
Fernandes4
1
Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Bragança, Campus de Santa
Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; 2Departamento de Tecnologia Química
e Biológica, Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Bragança, Campus de
Santa Apolónia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; 3CEFT-Centro de Estudos de
Fenómenos de Transporte, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto,
4200-465 Porto, Portugal and 4Departamento de Matemática, Escola Superior de
Tecnologia e Gestão de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5301-857
Bragança, Portugal
Abstract: Wall shear rates and pressure developed in blood vessels play an important role on the
development of some clinical problems such as atherosclerosis and thrombosis. In the present
work, blood flow behaviour was numerically studied in simplified domains and several
relevant local properties were determined. We believe that the obtained results will be
useful in the interpretation of some phenomena associated to some clinical problems. To
describe the rheological behaviour of blood, three constitutive equations were used-
constant viscosity, power-law and Carreau model. Numerical predictions for the blood
flow in stenosed channels were in good agreement with analytical results, indicating
that the computational model used to describe the studied problem is reliable. Pressure
attains maximum values close to the top of the atheroma and shear rates achieved
maximum values at the walls located in the nearby of the atheroma. It was also
observed that, with the studied flows, the impact of the non-Newtonian behaviour of the
blood on the velocity profiles was not significant. This observation can be explained by
the magnitude of the obtained shear rates.
INTRODUCTION
The survival of a complex organism with large dimensions, like the human
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490 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Ferreira et al.
organism, requires a system prepared to transport several substances for and from
every organism’s cells [1-3]. This is the principal function of the circulatory
system. In this system, the blood is an aqueous vehicle responsible for the
transportation of nutrients, oxygen, chemical mediators, antibodies, defense cells
and toxic substances [1], maintaining the ideal environment for the survival and
function of the entire organism cells [3].
Blood
The blood is an opaque and heterogeneous fluid composed by a yellowish fluid-
the plasma-and a series of cellular elements [1]. The blood is contained in a closed
compartment-the circulatory system-that keeps it in motion in a unidirectional
stream [4]. In an adult, the volume of blood is about 7% of the body weight or
about 5 liters (in an adult with about 70 Kg of body weight) of which almost 60%
is plasma [5].
The blood cells have a short lifetime in the blood flow. Therefore, they are
constantly replaced for new cells [4, 5]. The blood cell formation process is
designated as hemocitopoiesis or hematopoiesis [4].
The steam cell is rare, less than one in every 10000 nucleated cells of the bone
marrow. The mitotic division of the steam cell originates two daughter cells, one
remains as steam cell and the other will pursue for one of two differentiation
ways: the lymphoid way, which gives origin to lymphocytes, and the myeloid way
that gives origin to the rest of the blood cells [3, 4, 6].
Blood Rheology
Inside de normal circulatory flow, blood behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid. As a
first approach, blood viscosity can be determined by the viscosity of plasma and
internal friction between plasma and the cells in suspension (solution-gel) [7].
The hematocrit increase leads to the increase of the viscosity (Fig. 1). When the
hematocrit overcomes 80%, blood cannot be considered a fluid but a gel. For the
Numerical Analysis of Blood Flow STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 491
Under normal conditions, temperature (Fig. 2) does not play an important role in
the blood viscosity. However, in in vitro experiments, surgeries requiring
circulation outside the body and hypothermic conditions, there is an increase of
the blood viscosity [8].
Since blood is not a Newtonian fluid, blood viscosity varies with the flow velocity,
as presented in Fig. 3. The blood only flows when a certain tangential force is
exceeded and, after this force, presents a pseudoplastic behaviour, i.e., its viscosity
decrease with the increase of the velocity, until a certain limit is reached [8].
Johnston et al. [9] explored the rheology of blood during the flow in arteries and
concluded that the non-Newtonian behaviour of the blood could be well described
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 513-547 513
CHAPTER 20
Blood Flow Behavior in Microchannels: Past, Current and Future
Trends
R. Lima1,2,*, T. Ishikawa3, Y. Imai3 and T. Yamaguchi4
1
DTM/ESTiG, Braganca Polytechnic, C. Sta. Apolonia, 5301-857 Bragança,
Portugal; 2CEFT, Engineering Faculty, Porto University, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias,
4200-465 Porto, Portugal; 3Department of Bioengineering & Robotics, Graduate.
School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-01 Aoba, 980-8579 Sendai, Japan
and 4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Graduate School of Biomedical
Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-01 Aoba, 980-8579 Sendai, Japan
Abstract: Over the years, various experimental methods have been applied in an effort
to understand the blood flow behavior in microcirculation. Most of our current
knowledge in microcirculation is based on macroscopic flow phenomena such as
Fahraeus effect and Fahraeus-Linqvist effect. The development of optical experimental
techniques has contributed to obtain possible explanations on the way the blood flows
through microvessels. Although the past results have been encouraging, detailed studies
on blood flow behavior at a microscopic level have been limited by several factors such
as poor spatial resolution, difficulty to obtain accurate measurements at such small
scales, optical errors arisen from walls of the microvessels, high concentration of blood
cells, and difficulty in visualization of results due to insufficient computing power and
absence of reliable image analysis techniques. However, in recent years, due to
advances in computers, optics, and digital image processing techniques, it has become
possible to combine a conventional particle image velocimetry (PIV) system with an
inverted microscope and consequently improve both spatial and temporal resolution.
The present review outlines the most relevant studies on the flow properties of blood at
a microscale level by using past video-based methods and current micro-PIV and
confocal micro-PIV techniques. Additionally the most recent computational fluid
dynamics studies on microscale hemodynamics are also reviewed.
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
514 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Lima et al.
Figure 1: a) Schematic diagram of the circulatory system. b) Schematic diagram showing the
changes in blood pressure and Re on the large arteries, capillaries and veins [1, 4, 15].
Blood Flow Behavior in Microchannels STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 515
In large arteries, where the diameter of the blood vessels is large enough
compared to individual cells, it has been proved adequate to consider blood as a
single-phase fluid [1-3]. Accordingly, blood in large arteries may be treated as a
homogeneous fluid (continuous viscous fluid) where its particulate nature is
ignored. Moreover, due to the large Reynolds number (Re) in arteries, blood flow
is governed by inertial forces. However, arteries divide into successive smaller
arteries and consequently the cross-sectional area of the vascular bed increases.
As a result both pressure and velocity decrease as the blood flows into the smaller
vessels. When the blood reaches the arterioles and capillaries the Re became less
than 1, where viscous force dominates over inertial forces (see diagram in Fig.
1b). At this microscale it is fundamental to take into account the effects of the
multiphase properties of the blood on its flow behavior [1, 2, 4]. A clear example
of the multiphase nature of the blood, illustrated in Fig. 1a, is the formation of a
plasma layer at microvessels less than 300 μm, known as Fahraeus-Lindqvist
effect [5]. It is based on the Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect we define microcirculation
as the one including all microvessels or microchannels with a diameter smaller
than 300 μm.
Blood Composition
Blood is not a homogeneous fluid, but one composed of a suspension of cells,
proteins and ions in plasma. In normal blood, three types of cells comprise about
46% of its volume (see Table 1). These cells are the red blood cells (also known
as erythrocytes), white blood cells (also known as leukocytes) and platelets (also
known as thrombocytes) (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Scanning electron microscope image of human blood cells (adapted from [6]).
548 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 548-578
CHAPTER 21
A Survey of Microchannel Geometries for Mixing of Species in
Biomicrofluidics
Francesco Pennella, Francesco Mastrangelo, Diego Gallo, Diana Massai,
Marco A. Deriu, Giuseppe Falvo D'Urso Labate, Cristina Bignardi, Franco
Montevecchi and Umberto Morbiducci*
Department of Mechanics, Politecnico di Torino, 24 Corso Duca degli Abruzzi,
Turin, 10129, Italy
Abstract: Microfluidics is changing the way modern biology is performed and is becoming
a key technology in the field of micro arrays, DNA sequencing, and Lab on a Chip
applications. Microsystems, being compact in size, disposable, and ensuring high speed of
analysis using decreased sample volumes, allow to replace large-scale conventional
laboratory instrumentation with miniaturized devices, reducing hardware costs, and
assuring low reagent consumption and faster analysis. At the microscale mixing of species
becomes crucial to i) improve the effectiveness of and ii) speed up chemical reactions, but
it is often critical to be achieved, since microfluidics is characterized mainly by very low
Reynolds flows, and cannot take advantage of turbulence in order to enhance mixing.
Hence, given that diffusion-driven mixing in very low Reynolds number flow regimes is
characterized by long time scales, methods for enhancing the rate of the mixing process are
essential in microfluidics. In order to enhance mixing, several techniques have been
developed. In general, mixing strategies can be classified as either active or passive,
according to the operational mechanism. Active mixers employ external forces in order to
perform mixing, so that actuation system must be embedded into the microchips. On the
contrary, passive mixers avoid resorting to external electrical or mechanical sources by
exploiting characteristics of specific flow fields in microchannel geometries to mix species,
offering the advantage to be easy to be produced and integrated. In this work, a survey of
the passive micromixing solutions currently adopted is presented. In detail, the most widely
used microchannel geometries and the metrics used to quantify mixing effectiveness in
microfluidic applications are discussed.
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
A Survey of Microchannel Geometries STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 549
fluid flows with length scales less than a millimetre” [1]. The essence of
microfluidics is to use streams of fluids (e.g., channel-based biochips) or droplets
(e.g., digital microfluidics) as carriers of biochemical samples to carry out pre-
determined sample manipulation procedures. As microfluidics is massively
applied as operating principle in biochips, and a large amount of studies dealing
with microfluidics aim at improving biochip design and development, the term
"microfluidics" is regarded as interchangeable with biochip, Lab-on-a-Chip
(LoC), or Micro-Total-Analysis Systems (µTAS) [2]. Microfluidics is achieving a
position of significance as an interdisciplinary technology with applications in
many important areas such as biosensing, diagnostics and drug discovery. In fact,
microfluidics is becoming an effective and reliable tool in cell biology [3],
biochemistry [4], neuroscience [5], drug testing [6], and other areas of biology
and biomedical engineering. The enormous attraction towards microfluidics
results from its capability to achieve significant reduction in reagent volumes, in
performance time, and in power consumption while allowing massive parallelism.
In a microfluidic system, one of the most important components is the
micromixer. In fact, microfluidic mixing is the central process of most
microfluidic devices for medical diagnostics, genetic sequencing, chemistry
production, drug discovery, and proteomics. Biological processes such as cell
activation, enzyme reactions and protein folding often involve mixing of reactants
for initiation [1]. Mixing is also necessary in LoC platforms for complex chemical
reactions [7]. Micromixers can be integrated in a microfluidic system or work as
stand-alone devices. Therefore, the investigation of micromixers is fundamental
for comprehending transport phenomena on the microscale.
In microfluidics, the small size of the conduits, the low flow regimes, and
viscosity of fluids are typically predominant factors in establishing local flow
550 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Pennella et al.
V Lch
Re
(1)
where V is the mean velocity in the flow direction, Lch is the characteristic length
of the channel, (typically the diameter of the microchannel, in microfluidics), and
υ is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid. At microscale, seeking to rise Reynolds
number is very energy consuming: in fact, this non-dimensional number at the
microfluidic scale generally varies in a range going from less than unity up to a
few hundred, well within the range of laminar flow, so the efficient mixing
obtained with turbulence is, in most cases, not achievable in the common practice.
Hence, three are the main transport phenomena involved in microfluidics:
molecular diffusion, advection and Taylor dispersion. Molecular diffusion is the
predominant driving force for any mixing to occur, and it is the consequence of
the random motion of molecules. This mechanism of transport can be
synthetically expressed by means of the molecular diffusion coefficient, which is
a physical feature of the species and the liquid (i.e., diffusion coefficient of a
molecule depends on the viscosity of solute). Another nondimensional quantity,
the Péclet number (Pe), is often used to describe flows behaviour at the
microscale:
V Lch
Pe
D (2)
where V is the mean velocity in the flow direction, Lch is the characteristic length
of the channel and D is the molecular diffusivity. From a physical viewpoint, the
Péclet number is the ratio between mass transport due to convection and the one
due to transverse diffusion. High values of the Péclet number indicate that
diffusive mixing occurs at a much slower rate than the timescales associated with
fluid motion. Typically, in microchannels Péclet numbers are relatively high in
(Pe > 100). This is like to say that diffusive and convective transport phenomena
combine to produce characteristic mixing lengths Δym:
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 579-599 579
CHAPTER 22
Endothelial Cell Responses to Fluid Shear Stress: From
Methodology to Applications
Toshiro Ohashi1,* and Masaaki Sato2
1
Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo,
Hokkaido, 0608628, Japan and 2Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering,
Tohoku University, Aramaki Aza, Aoba, 6-6-01, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
*Address correspondence to Toshiro Ohashi: Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi
8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 0608628, Japan; E-mail: ohashi@eng.hokudai.ac.jp
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
580 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Ohashi and Sato
INTRODUCTION
Vascular endothelial cells line the interior surface of blood vessels and form a
monolayer serving as a barrier between the vessels and blood flow (Fig. 1(a))
[33]. Endothelial cells regulate multiple physiological functions such as vascular
tone, thrombosis and coagulation, smooth muscle cell growth and migration,
vascular permeability, etc. [34] and therefore endothelial dysfunction may have a
crucial role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Hemodynamic forces
constantly exerted on endothelial cell monolayer are directly resolved into two
components such as shear stress and hydrostatic pressure, and indirectly induce
circumferential stretch due to wall motion. It has been well recognized that these
hemodynamic forces play a central role in physiology and pathology of
endothelial cells. A typical flow-induced regulation is that shear stress-mediated
nitric oxide (NO) production by endothelial cells induces smooth muscle
relaxation, thereby controlling vascular tone.
600 Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 600-612
CHAPTER 23
Micro-Flow Visualization of Magnetic Nanoparticles for
Biomedical Applications
R. Lima1,2,*, R.J. Joseyphus 3,‡, T. Ishikawa4, Y. Imai4, and T. Yamaguchi5
1
Department of Mechanical Technology, ESTiG, Braganca Polytechnic, C. Sta.
Apolonia, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal; 2CEFT, Engineering Faculty, Porto
University, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal; 3Department of
Physics, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, India;
4
Department of Bioengineering & Robotics, Grad. Sch. Eng., Tohoku University,
6-6-01 Aoba, 980-8579 Sendai, Japan and 5Department of Biomedical Eng.,
Grad. Biomedical Sch. Eng., Tohoku University, 6-6-01 Aoba, 980-8579 Sendai,
Japan
INTRODUCTION
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Micro-Flow Visualization of Magnetic STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 601
using magnetic nanoparticles in drug delivery is that it could be used for localized
drug delivery whereas the conventional drug delivery methods would result in drug
associated side effects. The magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications are
usually coated with a biocompatible surfactant layer which prolongs the circulation
time of the nanoparticles in the blood. The size of the magnetic nanoparticles should
be less than 100 nm to prevent its capture by mononuclear phagocyte system [4].
Though magnetic nanoparticles of sizes below 50 nm could be easily synthesized
and dispersed, the polymeric coating would render the particle size to more than 50
nm [5]. Hence magnetic nanoparticles of smaller sizes are preferred. When the size
of the magnetic nanoparticles becomes smaller, thermal relaxation would be
dominant and result in superparamagnetism. Superparamagnetism is a phenomenon
arising due to the dominance of thermal energy over anisotropy energy (kT>KV).
The thermal energy and anisotropy energy are given by kT and KV respectively,
where k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, K is the magnetocrystalline
anisotropy constant and V is the volume of the particle. The superparamagnetic
particles would exhibit close to zero coercivity and hence could be controlled easily
by external magnetic field. However the superparamagnetic nanoparticles are hard to
saturate and hence it requires sufficiently larger field. Thus it would be advantageous
to use magnetic materials which show larger saturation magnetization even at low
magnetic field. Fig. 1(a) shows the typical hysteresis loop at room temperature for
magnetic materials with high K and Fig. 1(b) shows the hysteresis loop for a
superparamagnetic material. The difference in magnetic parameters such as
coercivity and saturation magnetization is obvious from the Fig. 1.
Fe-oxides is well known. However when the particle size becomes smaller, the Fe
particles naturally undergoes oxidation and the large surface area of smaller
particles with Fe-oxide layer would reduce the saturation magnetization. This is
illustrated in Fig.2 where larger Fe particles would show higher magnetization.
(a)
Magnetization (a.u)
-10 -5 0 5 10
Applied field (kOe)
0.8
0.6
0.4
Magnetization (a.u)
0.2
(b)
0.0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-10 -5 0 5 10
Applied Field (kOe)
Figure 1: (a) Typical hysteresis loop at room temperature for a high K magnetic material and (b)
hysteresis loop for a superaparamagnetic material. The superaparamagnetic material shows
negligible coercivity.
Single and Two-Phase Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, 2012, 613-633 613
CHAPTER 24
A Computational Study on the Possibility of the Initialization and
Development of Intracranial Aneurysms Considering Biofluid and
Biosolid Mechanics
Yixiang Feng1,*, Shigeo Wada2 and Takami Yamaguchi3
1
Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki
312-0034, Japan; 2Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering,
Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Japan and
3
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Graduate School of Biomedical
Engineering Tohoku University, 6-6-01 Aoba-yama, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
Abstract: Intracranial aneurysms are local dilations of the arterial wall which have a
very high morbidity rate if they rupture. Although the mechanism initiation, growth, and
rupture of intracranial aneurysms are still unknown yet, it is believed to be closely
related to both biosolid and biofluid mechanics. Therefore, a multi-physical model is
needed to study the pathophysiology of intracranial aneurysms. In this study, we
introduce a numerical model on the development of intracranial aneurysms considering
the interaction between fluid and structure interaction. The blood flow is considered to
be incompressible, Newtonian, and laminar. The vessel wall is considered to be elastic
and isotropic. The coupling between the structural and fluid domain is performed using
a two-way weak coupling method. Three general shapes are adopted in this study,
namely a straight vessel, a curved vessel, and a vessel with bifurcations. They represent
vessel geometries that are most typical to the cerebral vasculature. The numerical model
is a "rule-base" one in a sense that different kinds of rules can be tested. In our study,
we adopt the high wall shear stress hypothesis as a cause for aneurysm initiation and
development. A threshold value is used for the wall shear stress. It is shown that
aneurysm initiation and development can be realized using our numerical model. And
the influence of WSS threshold, the Reynolds number and some other parameters are
also discussed.
*Address correspondence to Yixiang Feng: Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd,
Hitachinaka, Ibaraki 312-0034, Japan; E-mail: yixiangf@gmail.com
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
614 STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Feng et al.
INTRODUCTION
Various degenerative changes in the arterial wall structure have been observed
and are supposed to be responsible for the initiation of intracranial aneurysms [17-
19]. These include mechanical fatigue, occlusion of the vasa vasorum [20],
existence of media gaps [21], apoptosis of medial smooth muscle cells (SMCs)
[14], reduced production of collagen [19, 22, 23], and enzymatic digestion [24].
Although the exact cause for the degeneration of the arterial wall has not been
clarified yet, it is accepted that hemodynamic forces alone are able to cause
degeneration of the vascular structure. Among various hemodynamic factors, high
wall shear stress (WSS) has been proposed to be the candidate responsible for
aneurysm initiation [3, 8]. Krings and colleagues [25] have reported a method for
creating saccular aneurysms in rabbit in areas of high WSS. They also observed
loss of internal elastic laminar in the high WSS region. Kim et al. [26] also
reported that sites of endothelial injuries corresponds well to areas of high WSS.
All these experimental studies point to the conclusion that exaggerated WSS can
degenerate the arterial wall and give rise to the initiation of intracranial
aneurysms.
Index
2D modeling 332-360
2D Momentum Model 341
3D images 292-331
Backmixing model 90
Ricardo Dias, Antonio A. Martins, Rui Lima and Teresa M. Mata (Eds)
All rights reserved-© 2012 Bentham Science Publishers
Index STP Flows on Chemical and Biomedical Engineering 635