Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.7
Journals
Applied Sciences
Special Issues
New Perspectives in Computational Thermal Fluid Dynamics Studies
share announcement

New Perspectives in Computational Thermal Fluid Dynamics Studies

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Thermal Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2023) | Viewed by 5536

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cesare Biserni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento, 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: computational thermal fluid dynamics (CFD); constructal theory; energy saving in buildings; thermal comfort; phase-change materials (PCMs)
Dr. Claudia Naldi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: air-source and ground-source heat pumps; energy consumption of buildings and HVAC systems; phase change materials; borehole heat exchangers; finite element simulations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Computational studies have become extremely important to help improve our understanding of the thermal fluid dynamic behavior within systems. For instance, numerical simulations can be used in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in order to optimize the efficiency of these components and, as a consequence, to enhance energy savings in buildings.

This Special Issue is dedicated to new perspectives in computational thermal fluid dynamics. Papers addressing, but not limited to, the following topics are welcomed:

  • Computational thermal fluid dynamics (CFD);
  • Constructal theory;
  • Phase-change materials;
  • Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems;
  • Heat pumps.

Dr. Cesare Biserni
Dr. Claudia Naldi
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 Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • computational thermal fluid dynamics (CFD)
  • constructal theory
  • phase-change materials
  • heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems
  • heat pumps

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 4062 KiB  
Article
A Long-Term Dynamic Analysis of Heat Pumps Coupled to Ground Heated by Solar Collectors
by Vincenzo Ballerini, Eugenia Rossi di Schio, Paolo Valdiserri, Claudia Naldi and Matteo Dongellini
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(13), 7651; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13137651 - 28 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 925
Abstract
In agreement with the decarbonization of the building sector to meet the 2050 climate neutrality targets, borehole thermal storage for solar energy represents a potential solution to increase the energy efficiency of renewable energy plants. As is well known, electricity is not the [...] Read more.
In agreement with the decarbonization of the building sector to meet the 2050 climate neutrality targets, borehole thermal storage for solar energy represents a potential solution to increase the energy efficiency of renewable energy plants. As is well known, electricity is not the optimum solution to integrate large inflows of fluctuating renewable energy. In the present paper, we investigate the possibility to use the solar collector to give energy to the borehole field. In detail, a solar-assisted geothermal heat pump is applied to a school located in Milan, Italy. In winter, both the energy from the solar collector and the heat pump are collected into a storage tank connected to the emission terminals, whereas, in summer, as there is no energy demand, the hot water from the solar collector flows into the geothermal probes. By means of this seasonal thermal energy storage technology, the intermittent solar energy collected and stored during the summer months can be utilized during the winter months when the heating demand is high. A long-term dynamic analysis is performed by employing Trnsys. The results show that solar collectors coupled with ground-source heat pumps can give an important contribution to the soil temperature drift, and this also applies in cases of un-balanced loads during the heating season. Moreover, the employment of solar collectors increases the seasonal coefficient of performance of the heat pumps and may rise to reductions to the probes field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Perspectives in Computational Thermal Fluid Dynamics Studies)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 3235 KiB  
Article
Energy and Environmental Performance Comparison of Heat Pump Systems Working with Alternative Refrigerants
by Matteo Dongellini, Christian Natale, Claudia Naldi, Eugenia Rossi di Schio, Paolo Valdiserri and Gian Luca Morini
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(12), 7238; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13127238 - 17 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1400
Abstract
The European Parliament has imposed to reduce by 2030 whole HFC emissions by at least two-thirds with respect to 2014 levels. With the aim of contributing to determine the energy and environmental advantages of refrigerants alternative to R-410A, this paper reports the results [...] Read more.
The European Parliament has imposed to reduce by 2030 whole HFC emissions by at least two-thirds with respect to 2014 levels. With the aim of contributing to determine the energy and environmental advantages of refrigerants alternative to R-410A, this paper reports the results of a numerical study focused on an HVAC system coupled to a residential building and based on a reversible electric heat pump. In particular, two heat pump typologies are considered: an air-source and a ground-source heat pump, both operating with the two refrigerants R-410A and R-454B. The environmental performance of the studied system is assessed by means of the TEWI (total equivalent warming impact) index. The adoption of R-454B involves a slight decrease (2–3%) in the overall annual energy performance of the system with respect to the use of R-410A. On the other hand, the working fluid R-454B guarantees a marked decrease in the TEWI indicator. Indeed, considering the current Italian emission factor of electricity taken from the grid, the total emissions over the entire heat pump operating life drop by about 25% and can decrease by up to 89% in perspective, following the current reduction trend of the emission factor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Perspectives in Computational Thermal Fluid Dynamics Studies)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 9452 KiB  
Article
Numerical Analysis on the Optimisation of Thermal Comfort Levels in an Office Located inside a Historical Building
by Eleonora Palka Bayard de Volo, Beatrice Pulvirenti, Aminhossein Jahanbin, Paolo Guidorzi and Giovanni Semprini
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(5), 2954; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13052954 - 25 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1278
Abstract
The present study examines the possibility of thermal comfort optimisation inside an office room where, due to historical heritage, it is possible to modify neither the energetic characteristic of the envelope nor the position of the inlet air vents. The distribution of global [...] Read more.
The present study examines the possibility of thermal comfort optimisation inside an office room where, due to historical heritage, it is possible to modify neither the energetic characteristic of the envelope nor the position of the inlet air vents. The distribution of global and local thermal comfort indices is evaluated in both heating and cooling conditions by establishing a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model validated against experimental data. The obtained results demonstrate a striking asymmetry of the air velocity and temperature distribution due to the low energy efficiency of the building. In heating mode, the predicted mean vote (PMV) values were improved if the discharged air from the fan coil was at its maximal velocity. However, at the same time, the vertical air temperature gradient increased by around 0.5 °C in each working station. In the cooling condition, in the absence of the solar radiation, the minimal air-flow rate satisfied the acceptable range of the draught rate (DR), whereas in the presence of a solar load, it could not meet the required cooling load in all positions, leading to higher floor temperature. The findings of this study allow for identifying and rearranging the optimal position of working stations in terms of thermal comfort. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Perspectives in Computational Thermal Fluid Dynamics Studies)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

30 pages, 7722 KiB  
Article
Investigation on the Association of Differential Evolution and Constructal Design for Geometric Optimization of Double Y-Shaped Cooling Cavities Inserted into Walls with Heat Generation
by Gill Velleda Gonzales, Cesare Biserni, Emanuel da Silva Diaz Estrada, Gustavo Mendes Platt, Liércio André Isoldi, Luiz Alberto Oliveira Rocha, Antônio José da Silva Neto and Elizaldo Domingues dos Santos
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 1998; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13031998 - 3 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1397
Abstract
In the constructal design method, the comprehension of the effect of design on the system performance is crucial to understanding the contributions of the degrees of freedom or constraints in the system evolution in direction of optimal configurations. However, problems with many degrees [...] Read more.
In the constructal design method, the comprehension of the effect of design on the system performance is crucial to understanding the contributions of the degrees of freedom or constraints in the system evolution in direction of optimal configurations. However, problems with many degrees of freedom are prohibitive of optimization with exhaustive search, requiring meta-heuristic strategies. Therefore, the investigation of the optimization algorithms is essential. This work investigates the canonical differential evolution algorithm associated with the constructal design for the geometric optimization of an isothermal double Y-shaped cooling cavity inserted into a wall with internal heat generation. The effect of four degrees of freedom over the thermal performance of the system is investigated using sixteen different combinations of differential evolution algorithms: four variations of mutation parameter, two values of amplification factor (F) and two values of crossover rate (CR). The non-parametric statistical methods of Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn test were used to identify the parameters that improve the meta-heuristic efficiency. Results indicated that the proposed methodology selected the proper combination of DE algorithm parameters (CR, F, and mutation) that led to the best effect of degrees of freedom over the thermal performance in all optimization levels investigated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Perspectives in Computational Thermal Fluid Dynamics Studies)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop