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Applied Mechanics
Special Issues
Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments
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Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments

A special issue of Applied Mechanics (ISSN 2673-3161).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2022) | Viewed by 13304

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jude Osara

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanics of Solids, Surfaces and Systems, University of Twente, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands
Interests: degradation thermodynamics; system characterization; tribology; irreversible thermodynamics; lubricant grease, design and manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Michael Bryant

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Interests: maintenance science; degradation thermodynamics; tribology; mechatronics; design and manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy contents, transformations and transfers are the mainstay in the field of thermodynamics. Rigorous interpretations of the first and second laws of thermodynamics have introduced material properties, elucidated system behaviors, and characterized material configurations and active processes (physical, chemical, and so on). Classical works in thermodynamics have found extensive practical applications in often controlled, predominantly single-process transformations, as well as laboratory experiments that provide insights into system behaviors. Engineering thermodynamics forms the basis on which combustion engines, power plants and heating/cooling systems operate. The advent of modern irreversible thermodynamics launched a new era in which thermodynamics has become the most widely used science field for characterizing diverse multi-scale inter-disciplinary systems, including biological, nuclear, chemical, electrical, mechanical and thermal systems. In a world where artificial intelligence is the lowest hanging fruit for system analysts and maintenance engineers, the understanding of system–process interactions remains sparse. Unexpected system behaviors due to aging and instabilities continue to render artificial intelligence and other approaches inadequate and often incapable. Hence, the need for continued research into the further development and practical applications of thermodynamics, particularly to systems and processes for which existing methods are inapplicable or inconsistent.

This Special Issue solicits original research and review articles, as well as short communications in the area of applied thermodynamics. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Aging/degradation/remaining useful life (RUL) modeling;
  • Thermodynamics of tribology;
  • Power generation;
  • System optimization;
  • Characterization of materials and material configurations;
  • Energy systems (storage, transfer and losses);
  • Dissipative mechanisms;
  • Nuclear thermodynamics.

Dr. Jude Osara
Prof. Dr. Michael Bryant
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Mechanics is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • thermodynamics
  • energy transformation
  • system characterization
  • materials
  • system analysis
  • entropy
  • energy dissipation
  • maintenance science
  • design and manufacturing

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 7173 KiB  
Article
Theoretical and Experimental Comparisons of Total Solar Transmittance for Polycarbonate Sheet with Twin Wall Rectangular Structure
by Zbigniew Zapałowicz and Agnieszka Garnysz-Rachtan
Appl. Mech. 2022, 3(4), 1163-1175; https://doi.org/10.3390/applmech3040066 - 20 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1703
Abstract
Multiwall polycarbonate sheets are applied as construction elements. Modelling and analysis of thermal processes that occur in this material demand the knowledge of solar transmittance. Values of this parameter determined in laboratory conditions are given in the technical specification of the product. However, [...] Read more.
Multiwall polycarbonate sheets are applied as construction elements. Modelling and analysis of thermal processes that occur in this material demand the knowledge of solar transmittance. Values of this parameter determined in laboratory conditions are given in the technical specification of the product. However, the parameter is in practice a complex function depending on the number of factors. This paper presents theoretical and experimental research results for total solar transmittance (TST) for a polycarbonate sheet with twin wall rectangular structure. Theoretical TST is calculated as a product of transmissivity after accounting for light absorption in polycarbonate and of transmissivity after accounting for multiple reflections of solar rays from walls of a channel. The first kind of transmissivity is insignificant and can be neglected. The second one depends on the number of reflection layers, season, and time of day. Experimental TST is determined as the ratio of irradiance under and above the polycarbonate sheet measured by pyranometers. Experimental TST is also a function of time of day and season. Both kinds of TST have an approximately constant value in the time about noon. The theoretical values of TST (0.74) are approximately equal to experimental values of TST (0.75) for the selected summer day. The value of TST in catalogue is equal to 0.82. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments)
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21 pages, 4675 KiB  
Article
Modeling of a Blast Furnace with Both CFD and Thermodynamics Principles
by Tomas Grejtak, Sheldon Wang and Jianguo Shao
Appl. Mech. 2022, 3(3), 1019-1039; https://doi.org/10.3390/applmech3030057 - 05 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1792
Abstract
In this paper, we revisit a turbulent mixing of gas and air in a gas burner with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. The quality of such a turbulent mixture is based on temperature, pressure, and velocity distributions as well as the distributions of [...] Read more.
In this paper, we revisit a turbulent mixing of gas and air in a gas burner with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. The quality of such a turbulent mixture is based on temperature, pressure, and velocity distributions as well as the distributions of different molecules, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation rate. In order to identify a precise combination of a gas and air mixture in a gas burner, which directly influences the quality of the combustion flame and reduces the amount of carbon monoxide (CO) emission in flue gases, thermodynamic principles are utilized based on the balancing ratio of molecular weights and the balancing ratio of mass flows between gas and air. Moreover, input parameters, such as volume flow rates, pressure, mass ratio, temperature, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulent dissipation rate, are judiciously chosen with proper boundary conditions for both axisymmetric two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. It is confirmed that the effectiveness of gas and air mixture and combustion depends on the gas burner model, more specifically, on the sizes and locations of gas and air inlets and outlets as well as operation conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments)
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21 pages, 1058 KiB  
Article
Thermodynamics of Extra-Toughness and Hidden-Length in Polymeric Materials with Sacrificial Bonds
by Romain Jorge Do Marco and Stefano Giordano
Appl. Mech. 2022, 3(3), 935-955; https://doi.org/10.3390/applmech3030053 - 31 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2382
Abstract
Sacrificial bonds have been observed in several biological materials and structures and can increase their toughness, i.e., their resistance to fracture. They provide a reversible mechanism for dissipating mechanical energy before the possible system rupture. From a structural point of view, sacrificial bonds [...] Read more.
Sacrificial bonds have been observed in several biological materials and structures and can increase their toughness, i.e., their resistance to fracture. They provide a reversible mechanism for dissipating mechanical energy before the possible system rupture. From a structural point of view, sacrificial bonds consist of short polymer chains that short-circuit parts of a main macromolecular chain (generating hidden lengths) and absorb energy by breaking them instead of the main chain. The toughness increase due to the presence of sacrificial bonds is typically named extra-toughness. Here, we developed a statistical mechanics and thermodynamics-based theory able to estimate the force–extension relation for chains with sacrificial bonds and to calculate the corresponding extra-toughness. The model is useful to better understand the sacrificial bond effects in biomaterials but also to apply the biomimetic paradigm and foster the development of high-performance artificial polymeric materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments)
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15 pages, 14901 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Working Fluid Performance through a Centrifugal Compression System
by James Bull, James M. Buick and Jovana Radulovic
Appl. Mech. 2022, 3(3), 815-829; https://doi.org/10.3390/applmech3030048 - 02 Jul 2022
Viewed by 1833
Abstract
Commonly, researchers have investigated many factors that impact the performance of air conditioning and refrigeration systems, such as varied cooling configurations, operating conditions and optimization of specific system components. Although there is an abundance of research detailing the importance of working fluid selection, [...] Read more.
Commonly, researchers have investigated many factors that impact the performance of air conditioning and refrigeration systems, such as varied cooling configurations, operating conditions and optimization of specific system components. Although there is an abundance of research detailing the importance of working fluid selection, very few studies focus on how the working fluid selection influences the performance of the individual components of the system, such as the compressor. In this paper, the performances of a selection of working fluids are compared through a centrifugal compressor using CFD. The working fluids considered are R1234ze, R1234yf, R152a, R444a, R445a, R290 and R600a and were selected due to suitability as replacements to R134a. Each fluid, including R134a, was compared based on the performance of a centrifugal compressor with fixed inlet conditions across two operational speeds. The results indicate that R1234ze and R1234yf demonstrated the best performance as replacements to R134a, achieving the highest overall pressure ratios. Additionally, R1234ze also displayed similar power required through the compressor to R134a indicating greater suitability as a drop-in replacement. The working fluids R444a and R445a both displayed performance similar to that of R134a across both operational speeds, indicating reasonable suitability as a replacement to R134a. Alternatively, R152a, R290 and R600a displayed reduced performance compared to R134a and subsequently, are not suitable replacements based on the compression system considered in this study. As well as considering the observed differences in the performance from the selected working fluids, the implications of the results for industrial applications are also considered, along with avenues for further work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments)
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21 pages, 5680 KiB  
Article
A New Coupled Approach for Enthalpy Pumping Consideration in a Free Piston Stirling Engine (FPSE)
by Mahdi Majidniya, Mohamed Tahar Mabrouk, Abdelhamid Kheiri, Benjamin Remy and Thierry Boileau
Appl. Mech. 2022, 3(2), 339-359; https://doi.org/10.3390/applmech3020021 - 25 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2496
Abstract
One group of losses that can considerably affect the performance of Free Piston Stirling Engines’ (FPSE) is the enthalpy pumping and the shuttle effect, which are due to the gap standing between the cylinder and the displacer. The shuttle effect is induced by [...] Read more.
One group of losses that can considerably affect the performance of Free Piston Stirling Engines’ (FPSE) is the enthalpy pumping and the shuttle effect, which are due to the gap standing between the cylinder and the displacer. The shuttle effect is induced by the periodic displacer motion between the hot and the cold sources. The enthalpy pumping, which is the subject of the present study, is due to the short-circuit-like flow between the hot and cold spaces. To study these losses, first, a fine nonlinear dynamic model of the FPSE is developed and validated. Then, to study the enthalpy pumping based on that, a coupled model (for the first time) and a decoupled model are presented. The difference between the two models is that the first one provides a dynamic and a thermic linkage between the Stirling and loss model, while the second one studies them separately. The effect of the gap size on both loss models was investigated. The coupled and decoupled modeling results were quite different due to the considerable effect of the enthalpy pumping on the FPSE response. The results showed that the enthalpy pumping in the decoupled model exceeds the total output power when the gap exceeds 30 μm, and when the gap exceeds 70 μm, the enthalpy pumping is around ten times larger than the output power. In contrast, the enthalpy pumping in the coupled model is always less than the output power, which is logical. Thus, the coupled one was presented as the adapted model that should be considered for further FPSE studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments)
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Review

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11 pages, 1335 KiB  
Review
Towards Ab-Initio Simulations of Crystalline Defects at the Exascale Using Spectral Quadrature Density Functional Theory
by Swarnava Ghosh
Appl. Mech. 2022, 3(3), 1080-1090; https://doi.org/10.3390/applmech3030061 - 24 Aug 2022
Viewed by 1363
Abstract
Defects in crystalline solids play a crucial role in determining properties of materials at the nano, meso- and macroscales, such as the coalescence of vacancies at the nanoscale to form voids and prismatic dislocation loops or diffusion and segregation of solutes to nucleate [...] Read more.
Defects in crystalline solids play a crucial role in determining properties of materials at the nano, meso- and macroscales, such as the coalescence of vacancies at the nanoscale to form voids and prismatic dislocation loops or diffusion and segregation of solutes to nucleate precipitates, phase transitions in magnetic materials via disorder and doping. First principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations can provide a detailed understanding of these phenomena. However, the number of atoms needed to correctly simulate these systems is often beyond the reach of many widely used DFT codes. The aim of this article is to discuss recent advances in first principles modeling of crystal defects using the spectral quadrature method. The spectral quadrature method is linear scaling with respect to the number of atoms, permits spatial coarse-graining, and is capable of simulating non-periodic systems embedded in a bulk environment, which allows the application of appropriate boundary conditions for simulations of crystalline defects. In this article, we discuss the state-of-the-art in ab-initio modeling of large metallic systems of the order of several thousand atoms that are suitable for utilizing exascale computing resourses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Thermodynamics: Modern Developments)
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