ABSTRACT
Microfluidics processes play a central role in the design of portable devices for biological and chemical samples analysis. The bottleneck in this technological evolution is the lack of low cost detection systems and control strategies easily adaptable in different operative conditions, able to guarantee the processes reproducibility and reliability, and suitable for on-chip applications. In this work, a methodology for velocity detection of two-phase flow is presented in microchannels. The approach presented is based on a low-cost optical signals monitoring setup. The slug flow generated by the interaction of two immiscible fluids {air and water} in two microchannels was investigated. To verify the reliability of the detection systems, the flow nonlinearity was enhanced by using curved geometries and microchannel diameter greater than 100 µ m . The optical signals were analyzed by using an approach in a time domain, to extract the slug velocity, and one in the frequency domain, to compute the slug frequency. It was possible to distinguish the water and air slugs velocity and frequency. A relation between these two parameters was also numerically established. The results obtained represent an important step in the design of non-invasive, low-cost portable systems for micro-flow analysis, in order to prove that the developed methodology was implemented to realize a platform, easy to be integrated in a System-on-a-Chip, for the real-time slug flow velocity detection. The platform performances were successfully validated in different operative conditions.
ABSTRACT
Bed aerators designed to increase air void ratio are used to prevent cavitation and related damages in spillways. Air entrained in spillway discharges also increases the dissolved oxygen concentration of the water, which can be important for the downstream fishery. This study considers results from a systematic series of measurements along the jet formed by a bed aerator, involving concentration profiles, pressure profiles, velocity fields and corresponding air discharges. The experimental results are, then, compared, with results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with the aim of predicting the air discharge numerically. Comparisons with jet lengths and the air entrainment coefficients from the literature are also made. It is shown that numerical predictive tools furnish air discharges comparable to measured values. However, if more detailed predictions are desired, verification experiments are still necessary.
Aeradores de fundo projetados para aumentar a concentração de ar são utilizados para previnir a cavitação e danos dela derivados em vertedouros. O oxigênio contido na água também é um parâmetro relevante para garantir alta qualidade das águas a jusante do vertedouro, com reflexos na qualidade ambiental. Equações e critérios de projeto existentes ainda são considerados aproximados, mostrando a necessidade de mais estudos para elucidar os mecanismos que governam o carreamento de ar. Este trabalho apresenta resultados de uma série sistemática de medidas de concentração de ar ao longo da superfície inferior do jato de um aerador de fundo, juntamente com medidas pertinentes de descargas de ar e campos de velocidade da água. Foram feitas comparações com resultados da literatura, considerando perfis de concentração ao longo do jato do aerador até a região de jusante. As medições sob condições controladas forneceram informações necessárias para testar resultados numéricos de aeração obtidos em simulações desses escoamentos, utilizando mecânica dos fluidos computacional (CFD). Mostra-se que ferramentas numéricas preditivas fornecem vazões de ar comparáveis aos valores medidos. Também é concluído que, se detalhes são necessários, experimentos são ainda úteis.
