The Applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Transport Phenomena

A special issue of ChemEngineering (ISSN 2305-7084).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2025 | Viewed by 4160

Special Issue Editors

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Interests: fluid dynamics; multiphase flow; carbon capture; energy storage; multiscale modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Interests: fuel cell; physics-informed machine learning; two-phase flow; flow visualization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to publish original research applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the study of transport phenomena in chemistry and engineering. These involve the mass, momentum, and energy exchange in fluid, solid or porous media. Conservation equations along with constitutive relations can explain the various physics of different transport processes. With the help of CFD, numerical solutions for determining transport characteristics, such as flow velocity, temperature, pressure and chemical species concentration, can be acquired by solving related governing equations. The CFD method is capable of dealing with complex geometries where theoretical solutions are not viable.

Even though computational power has grown substantially over the past decades, applying CFD for the analysis of transport phenomena remains challenging. The modeling of transport phenomena is always coupled with different physics, requiring advanced models and robust constitutive equations. The temporal and spatial scales of the system can span several orders of magnitude. One example is absorption column modeling, where the fast gas and solvent chemical reactions have a much smaller time scale than the multiphase fluid convection and diffusion. The packing elements inside the column are measured in meters, while the surface features can reach a millimeter scale.

In response to the aforementioned opportunities and challenges, we are organizing this Special Issue, which aims to publish studies detailing novel CFD applications for studying transport phenomena. We invite original research and review articles on topics including, but not limited to:

  • Validation and verification of novel CFD schemes for heat and mass transfer;
  • Models with coupled mechanisms in multiphysics and multiscale chemical processes;
  • High-throughput chemical reactor design, optimization and modeling;
  • Single- and multiphase Newtonian and non-Newtonian flow;
  • Microchannel device and structures;
  • Environment- and energy storage-related engineering applications.

Dr. Yucheng Fu
Dr. Dewei Wang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • computational fluid dynamics
  • transport phenomena
  • heat and mass transfer
  • multiscale modeling
  • energy storage
  • reactor column
  • optimization
  • microchannel device

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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17 pages, 5355 KiB  
Article
Prevention and Control of the Spread of Pathogens in a University of Naples Engineering Classroom through CFD Simulations
by Maria Portarapillo, Salvatore Simioli and Almerinda Di Benedetto
ChemEngineering 2024, 8(2), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemengineering8020037 - 1 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1379
Abstract
The design of ventilation and air conditioning systems in university classrooms is paramount to ensure students’ correct number of air changes per hour and an optimal thermal profile for their comfort. With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, these systems will inevitably need [...] Read more.
The design of ventilation and air conditioning systems in university classrooms is paramount to ensure students’ correct number of air changes per hour and an optimal thermal profile for their comfort. With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, these systems will inevitably need to evolve to cope with the current virus and any new airborne pathogens. The aim of this study is to analyze the quality of the ventilation system and the importance of the use of PPE in Lecture Hall C of the University of Naples Federico II compared to the premises in Piazzale Tecchio. After dimensioning the lecture theatre with the Autodesk software AutoCAD 2021, CFD simulations were carried out with the Computational Fluid Dynamics program Ansys 2021 R2. To study the trajectory of virus droplets released by a potentially infected student in the center of the classroom, the multispecies model was used, with carbon dioxide serving as the tracer gas for the virus cloud. After determining the CO2 contour zones at fifteen-minute intervals for a total duration of two hours, the probability of infection was calculated using the Wells–Riley equation. Full article
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14 pages, 2883 KiB  
Article
Numerical Study of CO2 Removal from Inhalational Anesthesia System by Using Gas-Ionic Liquid Membrane
by Alon Davidy
ChemEngineering 2023, 7(4), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemengineering7040060 - 12 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1717
Abstract
Inhalational anesthesia is supplied through an assisted ventilation system. It is mostly composed of xenon or nitrous oxide, halogenated hydrocarbons (HHCs), and oxygen. In order to reduce costs of the anesthesia compounds, the remaining anesthetics present in exhalation are recycled and reused, in [...] Read more.
Inhalational anesthesia is supplied through an assisted ventilation system. It is mostly composed of xenon or nitrous oxide, halogenated hydrocarbons (HHCs), and oxygen. In order to reduce costs of the anesthesia compounds, the remaining anesthetics present in exhalation are recycled and reused, in order to minimize the amount of fresh anesthesia. An alkali hydroxide mixture (called soda lime) is employed in order to remove CO2 from the exhalation. However toxic compounds may be formed during the reaction of soda lime with halogenated hydrocarbons. Ionic liquids (ILs) have several advantages such as non-volatility, functionality, high carbon solubility, and low energy requirements for regeneration. In the framework of this research, carbon dioxide removal with ionic liquids has been numerically studied. COMSOL multi-physics finite element software has been applied. It solves the continuity, fluid flow, and diffusion equations. A new algorithm has been developed for calculating the infrared (IR) radiation absorption of CO2. Its absorption coefficient has wavelength-dependent properties. The gaseous absorption coefficient has been calculated by using HITRAN spectral database. It has been found that the CO2 is absorbed almost completely by the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([emim][DCA]) ionic liquid after a period of 1000 s. It has been shown that the absorption coefficient of CO2 can be neglected in the interval below 1.565 μm, and then at 1.6 μm, it increases to the same order as that for CO. Thus, it is possible to detect CO2 by applying a laser diode which is capable to transmit IR radiation at a wavelength of 1.6 μm. This time period is a function of the diffusion coefficient of the CO2 in the membrane and in the ionic liquid. Full article
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