MS in Mechanical Engineering;
Currently working at the interface of Mineral matter chemistry and Mechanical Engineering, pertaining to Coal combustion, gasification, biomass combustion and ash formation during fuel conversion.
Flow visualization experiments are presented to validate numerical studies of fluidic mixing in m... more Flow visualization experiments are presented to validate numerical studies of fluidic mixing in micro channels. Mixing is achieved in a laminar flow by perturbing the main flow with transverse impinging jets from secondary side channels. This stretches and folds the layers in the flow stream causing chaotic advection, thereby increasing mixing. The current mixer is a silicon etched device with a glass cover slip anodically bonded on top to hermetically seal the chip. The main channel is 100μm wide x 50μm deep x 650μm long. Experiments were performed by oscillating the flow through the first pair of secondary side channels using a specially developed oscillating syringe pump. The oscillating flows in the side channels are driven with syringes connected to an actuator that has a sinusoidal motion. The working fluid consisted of fluorochrome Acridine Orange solution in water in one half of the main channel cross section and plain DI water in the other. The time evolution of the flow is observed using an epi-fluorescent microscope and a high speed CCD camera. The resulting images are used to characterize the mixing in the flow.
A model has been developed to predict the flow rates of solids (bottom ash and flyash) out of a c... more A model has been developed to predict the flow rates of solids (bottom ash and flyash) out of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler, using fuel and sorbent properties and the plant solids feed data. Fuel particles were separated by density and size classes, and characterized. The attrition of coarse fuel particles that form flyash after combustion is quantified by means of an attrition coefficient for each particle class. The model was used to calculate attrition coefficients for the heavier (higher mineral content) fuel particles which were obtained by gravity separation (float–sink analysis). Toward this end, solids analyses and operating data from two commercial CFB power plants in Pennsylvania were used. This model can be of use for assessing the ability of the flyash and bottom ash handling systems in a CFB power plant to handle the ash streams produced when a plant changes fuels.
Flow visualization experiments are presented to validate numerical studies of fluidic mixing in m... more Flow visualization experiments are presented to validate numerical studies of fluidic mixing in micro channels. Mixing is achieved in a laminar flow by perturbing the main flow with transverse impinging jets from secondary side channels. This stretches and folds the layers in the flow stream causing chaotic advection, thereby increasing mixing. The current mixer is a silicon etched device with a glass cover slip anodically bonded on top to hermetically seal the chip. The main channel is 100μm wide x 50μm deep x 650μm long. Experiments were performed by oscillating the flow through the first pair of secondary side channels using a specially developed oscillating syringe pump. The oscillating flows in the side channels are driven with syringes connected to an actuator that has a sinusoidal motion. The working fluid consisted of fluorochrome Acridine Orange solution in water in one half of the main channel cross section and plain DI water in the other. The time evolution of the flow is observed using an epi-fluorescent microscope and a high speed CCD camera. The resulting images are used to characterize the mixing in the flow.
A model has been developed to predict the flow rates of solids (bottom ash and flyash) out of a c... more A model has been developed to predict the flow rates of solids (bottom ash and flyash) out of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler, using fuel and sorbent properties and the plant solids feed data. Fuel particles were separated by density and size classes, and characterized. The attrition of coarse fuel particles that form flyash after combustion is quantified by means of an attrition coefficient for each particle class. The model was used to calculate attrition coefficients for the heavier (higher mineral content) fuel particles which were obtained by gravity separation (float–sink analysis). Toward this end, solids analyses and operating data from two commercial CFB power plants in Pennsylvania were used. This model can be of use for assessing the ability of the flyash and bottom ash handling systems in a CFB power plant to handle the ash streams produced when a plant changes fuels.
Uploads
Papers by Nari Soundarrajan