New Advancement of Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling on Sustainable Renewable Energy Applications

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 2310

Special Issue Editor

College of Engineering and Aviation, Central Queensland University, Cairns Square, Corner Abbott and Shields Streets, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia
Interests: computational fluid dynamics modeling; fluid flow systems; applications of thermo-fluid processes; heat and mass transfer applications; renewable energy technologies; environmental pollution; hydrodynamic modelling of waste water treatment
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy demands are increasing due to the increase in world population, which motivates the search for renewable and clean energy resources. Globally, people rely on diesel generators for their basic energy needs, which depend upon limited supplies of fossil fuel oil, causing huge greenhouse gas emissions, which damage trees, vegetation, and aquatic life. Rapid socioeconomic advancement, including population outgrowth, technological upgradation, trade, rising production, and expenditure, has led to much deeper interactions between the Earth and human beings. Accordingly, the fossil fuel reserves required for energy demand are diminishing quickly, which is a major world issue. The Earth has plentiful solar and wind resources that are clean and offer the potential for efficient, sustainable energy systems. Many researchers are undertaking research to identify and design low-cost, low-pollution renewable energy generation systems to mitigate energy problems and reduce the use of harmful and costly diesel. This topic deals with a range of options that will be investigated to identify suitable options to solve the power generation problems.

A very significant prevalence of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been detected during the last two decades regarding users and the number of applications. The advancement of numerical simulations is progressively encouraging to the current state of the art in many energy engineering applications. CFD has been recognised as a fundamental field for advancing research on energy applications such as power generation, combustion, wind energy, concentrated solar power, hydropower, gas and steam turbines, fuel cells, and many others. Even though a wide range of renewable energy devices can be benefited from CFD simulations.

The CFD tools enable engineers working in the renewable energy industry to understand the physical phenomena well and can be useful in the early design process by offering a full range of analyses. Engineers can effectively test and optimize products in less time and at a significantly lower cost by using a powerful tool such as CFD.

This Special Issue aims to outline the innovations of CFD applications in energy sectors. Henceforth, the objective of the Special Issue is to provide an overview of the CFD applications in renewable energy applications, highlighting the scientific articles focused on the different topics in energy sectors so that readers can refer to the different articles for a detailed revision of the state of the art and contributions to the field of interest.

New Advances in Sustainable Renewable Energy:

The following topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Clean energy conversion technologies: Fuel cells and Electrolysers, Conversion of petroleum/gas/coal to materials and chemicals, Hybrid energy systems.
  • Energy storage system: Battery management systems, Fuel cell/ Electrolyser management systems, Thermal energy storage, Distributed energy storage.
  • Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Solar waste, Battery waste.
  • Smart grids, Superconducting power transmission, Wireless power transmission, Electrification of transportation and industrial production, and Electrochemical processing.
  • Sustainability of energy systems, Environmental monitoring, Consensus building, Governmental policymaking,
  • Sustainable geo-energy, Geothermal energy, Gas hydrate, Alternative natural gas, Liquified natural gas, Reducing Methane and CO2 emission, Sustainable geo-energy development, and management.
  • Energy, Food, Water, and Air treatment, Water-Food-Energy Nexus.
  • Alternative Fuel, Wind, and Tidal energy.

Offering novel examples using CFD in relation to cutting-edge topics in energy efficiency technologies. It would be a valuable resource for academics, engineers, researchers, and students undertaking research in these areas. Our mission is to request authors provide their innovative ideas in a problem-solving fashion when preparing their articles. 

Dr. Nur Hassan
Guest Editor

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. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2400 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

  • renewable efficient technologies
  • energy storage system
  • sustainability of energy systems
  • geothermal, wind, and tidal energy
  • carbon capture and sequestration
  • alternative fuel
  • alternative natural gas
  • liquified natural gas
  • water-food-energy nexus
  • thermal energy storage
  • solar energy technology

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 7251 KiB  
Article
Wind Turbine Blade-Tip Optimization: A Systemic Computational Approach
by Panagiotis Zouboulis, Elias P. Koumoulos and Anna Karatza
Processes 2023, 11(4), 1170; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11041170 - 11 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2029
Abstract
Curved bladelets on wind turbine blades play an important role in improving the performance and efficiency of wind turbines. Implementing such features on the tip of wind turbine blades can improve their overall aerodynamic characteristics by reducing turbulence and loading without hindering lift [...] Read more.
Curved bladelets on wind turbine blades play an important role in improving the performance and efficiency of wind turbines. Implementing such features on the tip of wind turbine blades can improve their overall aerodynamic characteristics by reducing turbulence and loading without hindering lift generation and overall efficiency, thus leading to increased energy capture and reduced costs over the life of the turbine. Subjecting the integrated blade tip to optimization procedures can maximize its beneficial contribution to the assembly in general. Within this context, a systemic workflow is proposed for the optimization of a curved bladelet implemented on a wind turbine blade. The approach receives input in the form of an initial tip geometry and performs improvements in two distinct stages. Firstly, shape optimization is performed directly on the outer shape to enhance its aerodynamic properties. Subsequently, the topology of its interior structure is refined to decrease its mass while retaining its improved airflow characteristics. The proposed workflow aims to approach blade tip optimization holistically, both in terms of aerodynamic performance and structural capabilities; is computationally validated via fluid dynamics studies and finite element analysis to evaluate the performance augmentation achieved through it; and is further coupled with additive manufacturing for the production of prototype parts, benefiting from the manufacturing flexibility offered by digital fabrication technologies. The optimized bladelet model presented an approximate 30% improvement in the torque generated on it, while maintaining only 70% of its original mass, effectively contributing to a 0.81% increase to the total torque generated by the blade, consequently confirming the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Full article
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