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Temperature management for battery packs installed in electric vehicles is crucial to ensure that the battery works properly. For lithium-ion battery cells, the optimal operating temperature is in the range of 25 to 40 °C with a maximum temperature difference among battery cells of 5 °C. This work aimed to optimize lithium-ion battery packing design for electric vehicles to meet the optimal operating temperature using an air-cooling system by modifying the number of cooling fans and the inlet air temperature. A numerical model of 74 V and 2.31 kWh battery packing was simulated using the lattice Boltzmann method. The results showed that the temperature difference between the battery cells decreased with the increasing number of cooling fans; likewise, the mean temperature inside the battery pack decreased with the decreasing inlet air temperature. The optimization showed that the configuration of three cooling fans with 25 °C inlet air temperature gave the best performance with low power required. Even though the maximum temperature difference was still 15 °C, the configuration kept all battery cells inside the optimum temperature range. This finding is helpful to develop a standardized battery packing module and for engineers in designing low-cost battery packing for electric vehicles.

Hydraulic fracturing is an effective way to exploit hydrocarbons in tight oil reservoir. The success of this technique lies on the creation of high conductivity channels for the oil and gas. Quantitative analysis of factors influencing the conductivity of propped fractures is significant for the design of the operation schedule. According to the definition of sphericity, cylindrical and planar proppants of different sphericity and sizes were presented. And disordered packs of nonspherical proppants in fractures of different widths were established by the discrete element method. The change of the proppant embedment and fracture width under different closure pressures were analyzed by the solid mechanics. During the fracture deformation, the pressure and velocity of the fluid flowing in fractures were simulated by Lattice‐Boltzmann method. Based on that, the effect of the proppant size, sphericity, and the fracture width on the permeability and conductivity of hydraulic fractures were investigated. The accuracy of the model was verified by the experimental data. The simulation results show that the fracture permeability and conductivity decrease with the decrease in the rock's Young's modulus, proppant size, and sphericity, and their stress sensitivity increases with the decrease in the rock's Young's modulus and the increase in the proppant size. Increasing fracture width can improve fracture conductivity more significantly than increasing fracture permeability. The permeability and conductivity of the fractures filled cylindrical proppants are higher than that of the fractures filled with planar proppants. The discrete element method was adopted to construct the proppant packs of different sphericity and shapes. During the deformation of fracture surfaces under the closure pressure, the pressure and velocity of fluid flowing in the fracture were simulated by the Lattice‐Boltzmann method. And the fracture permeability and conductivity were calculated by the Darcy's Law. Various factors effecting the flowing capacity of fracture were investigated.

In this paper, the simulation and modeling of the turbulent atmospheric boundary layers (ABLs) in the presence of forests are studied using a lattice Boltzmann method with large eddy simulation, which was implemented in the open-source program GASCANS with the use of Graphic Processing Units (GPU). A method of modeling forests in the form of body forces injected near the wall is revisited, while the effects of leaf area density (LAD) on the model accuracy is further addressed. Since a uniform cell size is applied throughout the computational domain, the wall-normal height of the near-wall cells is very large, theoretically requiring a wall function to model the boundary layer. However, the wall function is disregarded here when the forest is modeled. This approximation is validated based on the comparison with previous experimental and numerical data. It concludes that for the ABL conditions specified in this study as well as a large body of literature, the forest forces overwhelm the wall friction so that the modeling of the latter effect is trivial. Constant and varying LAD profiles across the forest zone are defined with the same total leaf area despite the varying one being studied previously. It is found that the two LAD profiles provide consistent predictions. The present forest modeling can therefore be simplified with the use of the constant LAD without degrading the model accuracy remarkably.

A detailed knowledge of the influence of a particle’s shape on its settling behavior is useful for the prediction and design of separation processes. Models in the available literature usually fit a given function to experimental data. In this work, a constructive and data-driven approach is presented to obtain new drag correlations. To date, the only considered shape parameters are derivatives of the axis lengths and the sphericity. This does not cover all relevant effects, since the process of settling for arbitrarily shaped particles is highly complex. This work extends the list of considered parameters by, e.g., convexity and roundness and evaluates the relevance of each. The aim is to find models describing the drag coefficient and settling velocity, based on this extended set of shape parameters. The data for the investigations are obtained by surface resolved simulations of superellipsoids, applying the homogenized lattice Boltzmann method. To closely study the influence of shape, the particles considered are equal in volume, and therefore cover a range of Reynolds numbers, limited to [9.64, 22.86]. Logistic and polynomial regressions are performed and the quality of the models is investigated with further statistical methods. In addition to the usually studied relation between drag coefficient and Reynolds number, the dependency of the terminal settling velocity on the shape parameters is also investigated. The found models are, with an adjusted coefficient of determination of 0.96 and 0.86, in good agreement with the data, yielding a mean deviation below 5.5% on the training and test dataset.

Stator coils of automobiles in operation generate heat and are cooled by coolant poured from above. The flow characteristic of the coolant depends on the coil structure, flow condition, solid–fluid interaction, and fluid property, which has not been clarified due to its complexities. Since straight coils are aligned and layered with an angle at the coolant-touchdown region, the coil structure is simplified to a horizontal square rod array referring to an actual coil size. To obtain the flow and wetting characteristics, two-phase fluid flow simulations are conducted by using the phase-field lattice Boltzmann method. First, the flow onto the single-layered rod array is discussed. The wetting area is affected both by the rod gap and the wettability, which is normalized by the gap and the averaged boundary layer thickness. Then, the flow onto the multi-layered rod arrays is investigated with different rod gaps. The top layer wetting becomes longitudinal due to the reduction of the flow advection by the second layer. The wetting area jumps up at the second layer and increases proportionally to the below layers. These become remarkable at the narrow rod gap case, and finally, the dimensionless wetting area is discussed at each layer.

The deformability of a red blood cell (RBC) is one of the most important biological parameters affecting blood flow, both in large arteries and in the microcirculation, and hence it can be used to quantify the cell state. Despite numerous studies on the mechanical properties of RBCs, including cell rigidity, much is still unknown about the relationship between deformability and the configuration of flowing cells, especially in a confined rectangular channel. Recent computer simulation techniques have successfully been used to investigate the detailed behavior of RBCs in a channel, but the dynamics of a translating RBC in a narrow rectangular microchannel have not yet been fully understood. In this study, we numerically investigated the behavior of RBCs flowing at different velocities in a narrow rectangular microchannel that mimicked a microfluidic device. The problem is characterized by the capillary number C a , which is the ratio between the fluid viscous force and the membrane elastic force. We found that confined RBCs in a narrow rectangular microchannel maintained a nearly unchanged biconcave shape at low C a , then assumed an asymmetrical slipper shape at moderate C a , and finally attained a symmetrical parachute shape at high C a . Once a RBC deformed into one of these shapes, it was maintained as the final stable configurations. Since the slipper shape was only found at moderate C a , measuring configurations of flowing cells will be helpful to quantify the cell state.

Rearrangement events in wall-flow filters lead to the formation of specific deposition patterns, which affect a filter’s pressure drop, its loading capacity and the separation efficiency. A universal and consistent formulation of probable causes and influence factors does not exist and appropriate calculation models that enable a quantification of respective influence factors are missing. In this work, a previously developed lattice Boltzmann method, which has been used with inflow velocities of up to 2 m s−1, is applied to elevated velocities of up to 60 m s−1. The particle-free flow, a single layer fragment and a deposition layer during break-up are investigated as three different scenarios. One goal of this work is a comprehensive quantification of the stability and accuracy of both particle-free and particle-including flows, considering static, impermeable deposition-layer fragments. A second goal is the determination of the hydrodynamic surface forces and the deduction of the local detachment likelihood of individual layer fragments. Satisfactory stability and accuracy can be shown for fluid velocity, fluid pressure and the hydrodynamic forces. When considering layer fragments, the parameter domain turns out to be limited to inflow velocities of 28 m s−1. It is shown that fragment detachment rather occurs consecutively and regions of no possible detachment are identified. The work contributes to an understanding of rearrangement events and respective deposition pattern predictions and enables potential optimizations in engine performance, fuel consumption and the service life of wall-flow filters.

The Buoyancy-driven flow of two immiscible liquids having varying density and viscosity is studied in a three-dimensional inclined confined channel. Initially, the heavier/lighter liquids occupy the upper/lower parts of the channel, respectively, which is an unstable configuration. The numerical simulations are performed using a multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) that is further implemented on the graphics processing unit (GPU). The three-dimensional flow dynamics and the associated physics are studied based on various parameters such as viscosity ratios (m), Atwood numbers (At) and Reynolds numbers (Re). The results were presented in the form of iso-surface/contour plots, average density profiles, and lengths of interpenetration. It is observed that larger interpenetration occurs with iso-viscous liquids having higher density gradients (higher At). The Reynolds number had a non-monotonic effect on the axial lengths of interpenetration (Lp∗); Lp∗ increases till Re = 500 and then decreases for Re = 1000. At larger Re, due to the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities higher transverse interpenetration is observed.

In this study, the electrically conducting fluid flow inside a channel with local symmetric constrictions, in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field is investigated using Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). To simulate Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) flow, the extended model of D2Q9 for MHD has been used. In this model, the magnetic induction equation is solved in a similar manner to hydrodynamic flow field which is easy for programming. This extended model has a capability of simultaneously solving both magnetic and hydrodynamic fields; so that, it is possible to simulate MHD flow for various magnetic Reynolds number (Rem). Moreover, the effects of Rem on the flow characteristics are investigated. It is observed that, an increase in Rem, while keeping the Hartman number (Ha) constant, can control the separation zone; furthermore, comparing to increasing Ha, it doesn't result in a significant pressure drop along the channel.

Wall-flow filters are applied in the exhaust treatment of internal combustion engines for the removal of pm. Over time, the pressure drop inside those filters increases due to the continuously introduced solid material, which forms pm deposition layers on the filter substrate. This leads to the necessity of regenerating the filter. During such a regeneration process, fragments of the pm layers can potentially rearrange inside single filter channels. This may lead to the formation of specific deposition patterns, which affect a filter’s pressure drop, its loading capacity and the separation efficiency. The dynamic formation process can still not consistently be attributed to specific influence factors, and appropriate calculation models that enable a quantification of respective factors do not exist. In the present work, the dynamic rearrangement process during the regeneration of a wall-flow filter channel is investigated. As a direct sequel to the investigation of a static deposition layer in a previous work, the present one additionally investigates the dynamic behaviour following the detachment of individual layer fragments as well as the formation of channel plugs. The goal of this work is the extension of the resolved particle methodology used in the previous work via a discrete method to treat particle–particle and particle–wall interactions in order to evaluate the influence of the deposition layer topology, pm properties and operating conditions on dynamic rearrangement events. It can be shown that a simple mean density methodology represents a reproducible way of determining a channel plug’s extent and its average density, which agrees well with values reported in literature. The sensitivities of relevant influence factors are revealed and their impact on the rearrangement process is quantified. This work contributes to the formulation of predictions on the formation of specific deposition patterns, which impact engine performance, fuel consumption and service life of wall-flow filters.