A major activity in LIFTEC is the development and implementation of numerical methods on public software applied to problems related to fluid mechanics. Topics expand from basic to applied research:
Temperature prediction of a methane flame using LES
Most modern models and numerical methods are developed and used in LIFTEC to simulate the behavior of flames in combustion processes. Next movie shows the evolution of the temperature in a methane flame. Results are obtained by a stochastic LES using Eulerian PDFs.
Meshing the inner coil of a thermosolar supporting boiler for heat exchange and local tempereture calculations
In solar thermal energy, gas support boilers play an important role in allowing the thermal solar heating oil to reach a suitable temperature for proper energy use. These temperatures are close to the oil degradation point, so it is extremely important to accurately know the oil thermal evolution. A new model has been developed in LIFTEC which allows a numerical estimate with minimal error from the operation data. The figure shows the meshing of the coil where the thermal oil circulates.
Numerical simultion of gas flow and proton transport in a PEM fuel cell
LIFTEC is a pioneer in Spain in modeling, engineering and assembly of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The fuel cell modeling process involves the numerical simulation of the evolution of different magnitudes of interest inside the stack, including its polarization curve. New numerical methods have been developed in LIFTEC to describe and solve the coupling of different transport phenomena inside the stack. Various subroutines have been introduced in free finite volumes software whick allow an accurate estimate of the stack behavior. Figures show the meshing of a stack, including its cooling system, details of the meshing of a bipolar plate along with the velocity and temperature values on the plate.
Simulation of two-phase flow in automotive diesel filter
LIFTEC develops models on basic processes with direct application to real industry problems. Within an advanced research program, CENIT, water and particle filtering in an automotive diesel filter has been modeled. Figures show velocity and pressure drop across the filter samples.
Calculation of the flow around a vertical axis wind turbine
Renewable energy is also among LIFTEC research interests. The movie shows the evolution of velocity mean averages around a vertical axis wind turbine seen from above.
Evolution of surface ozone concentration in a summer day in the Iberian Peninsula
Stochastic methods developed in LIFTEC have direct aplication to the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. More specifically, photoreactive pollutants such as surface ozone and its precursors. Using LIFTEC software it can be known in advance the risk of ozone exceeding legal limits in certain areas. In particular, the influence of nearby power plant emissions can be predicted. With this tool management, ozone episodes can be prevented by a temporary decrease in the activity of those plants. The figure shows surface ozone concentration in a summer day in the Iberian Peninsula.
Inventory of greenhouse gases
LIFTEC actively works with civil services on environmental issues. An example is the execution of inventories of emissions of greenhouse gases. The figure shows a graph of the distribution of emissions of carbon dioxide corresponding to 2006 on the autonomous community of Aragon.
