Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death in the world, making the understanding of hemodynamics and development of treatment options imperative. The most common modality for treatment of occlusive coronary artery diseases is the use of stents. Stent design profoundly influences the postprocedural hemodynamic and solid mechanical environment of the stented artery. However, despite their wide acceptance, the incidence of stent late restenosis is still high (Zwart et al., 2010, "Coronary Stent Thrombosis in the Current Era: Challenges and Opportunities for Treatment," Current Treatment Options in Cardiovascular Medicine, 12(1), pp. 46-57), and it is most prevailing at the proximal and distal ends of the stent. In this work, we focus our investigation on the localized hemodynamic effects of compliance mismatch due to the presence of a stent in an artery. The compliance mismatch in a stented artery is maximized at the proximal and distal ends of the stent. Hence, it is our objective to understand and reveal the mechanism by which changes in compliance contribute to the generation of nonphysiological wall shear stress (WSS). Such adverse hemodynamic conditions could have an effect on the onset of restenosis. Three-dimensional, spatiotemporally resolved computational fluid dynamics simulations of pulsatile flow with fluid-structure interaction were carried out for a simplified coronary artery with physiologically relevant flow parameters. A model with uniform elastic modulus is used as the baseline control case. In order to study the effect of compliance variation on local hemodynamics, this baseline model is compared with models where the elastic modulus was increased by two-, five-, and tenfold in the middle of the vessel. The simulations provided detailed information regarding the recirculation zone dynamics formed during flow reversals. The results suggest that discontinuities in compliance cause critical changes in local hemodynamics, namely, altering the local pressure and velocity gradients. The change in pressure gradient at the discontinuity was as high as 90%. The corresponding changes in WSS and oscillatory shear index calculated were 9% and 15%, respectively. We demonstrate that these changes are attributed to the physical mechanism associating the pressure gradient discontinuities to the production of vorticity (vorticity flux) due to the presence of the stent. The pressure gradient discontinuities and augmented vorticity flux are affecting the wall shear stresses. As a result, this work reveals how compliance variations act to modify the near wall hemodynamics of stented arteries.

Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death in the world, making the understanding of hemodynamics and the development of treatment options imperative. The effect of motion of the coronary artery due to the motion of the myocardium is not extensively studied. In this work, we focus our investigation on the localized hemodynamic effects of dynamic changes in curvature and torsion. It is our objective to understand and reveal the mechanism by which changes in curvature and torsion contribute towards the observed wall shear stress distribution. Such adverse hemodynamic conditions could have an effect on circumferential intimal thickening. Three-dimensional spatiotemporally resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of pulsatile flow with moving wall boundaries were carried out for a simplified coronary artery with physiologically relevant flow parameters. A model with stationary walls is used as the baseline control case. In order to study the effect of curvature and torsion variation on local hemodynamics, this baseline model is compared to models where the curvature, torsion, and both curvature and torsion change. The simulations provided detailed information regarding the secondary flow dynamics. The results suggest that changes in curvature and torsion cause critical changes in local hemodynamics, namely, altering the local pressure and velocity gradients and secondary flow patterns. The wall shear stress (WSS) varies by a maximum of 22% when the curvature changes, by 3% when the torsion changes, and by 26% when both the curvature and torsion change. The oscillatory shear stress (OSI) varies by a maximum of 24% when the curvature changes, by 4% when the torsion changes, and by 28% when both the curvature and torsion change. We demonstrate that these changes are attributed to the physical mechanism associating the secondary flow patterns to the production of vorticity (vorticity flux) due to the wall movement. The secondary flow patterns and augmented vorticity flux affect the wall shear stresses. As a result, this work reveals how changes in curvature and torsion act to modify the near wall hemodynamics of arteries.

The process of pulverized coal combustion inside the tuyere and raceway plays a very important role in the performance of a blast furnace. A three‐dimensional multiphase CFD model using Eulerian approach has been developed to simulate the coal devolatilization and combustion process inside tuyere and raceway. The velocity field, temperature distribution, and combustion characteristics have been determined in details and the effect of tuyere diameter on the pulverized coal combustion process has been predicted. Numerical results show that the pulverized coal combustion process displays different characteristics when the tuyere diameter changes. For a bigger diameter tuyere, there is more coal devolatilization, and combustion occurs inside the tuyere, which results in a better combustion condition compared to smaller tuyere diameters. The gas temperature distributions inside the raceway are dependent on the tuyure diameter; the temperature for the large size tuyere is higher than that of the small one. The coal burnout changes from 85.3% to 60.0% when the tuyere diameter reduces from 0.165m to 0.146 m.

Abstract. We present a modular approach to realizing fine-grained adaptation of program behavior in a parallel environment. Using a compositional framework based on function call interception and manipulation, the adaptive logic to monitor internal program states and control the behavior of program modules is written and managed as a separate code, thus supporting centralized design of complex adaptation strategies for adapting to dynamic changes within an application. By 'catching' the functions that execute in synchronization across the parallel environment and inserting the adaptive logic operations at the intercepted control points, the proposed method provides a convenient way of synchronous adaptation without disturbing the parallel execution and communication structure already established in the original program. Applying our method to a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulation program to implement example adaptation scenarios, we demonstrate how effectively applications can change their behavior through fine-grained control.

No abstract

For many aluminum melting furnaces, natural gas is mixed with air. The ensuing heat from combustion is then used to melt the solid aluminum and heat the liquid metal. Of increasing concern to the industry are the more stringent regulations in regard to NOx emissions from these plants. The formation of NOx mainly depends on the concentration of nitrogen and the temperature of the gas. One problem that affects this formation that has not been adequately addressed is the variability of the local natural gas supply. Natural gas has molecular nitrogen as a portion of its composition. This percentage ranges from approximately one to seven percent of the total mass fraction. In addition, the aluminum industry is investigating methods to reduce NOx emissions. One method is to replace some of the combustion air with pure oxygen. This reduces the amount of nitrogen coming into the furnace, but also raises the combustion temperature which could promote NOx production. This paper details a systematic computational fluid dynamics study on how the variability of the nitrogen concentration coupled with the partial replacement of air with pure oxygen affects heat transfer and pollutant formation in an aluminum furnace. Trends will be discussed as will the ideal oxygen concentration for a given nitrogen mass fraction.

In a blast furnace, preheated air and fuel (gas, oil or pulverized coal) are often injected into the lower part of the furnace through tuyeres, forming a raceway in which the injected fuel and some of the coke descending from the top of the furnace are combusted and gasified. The shape and size of the raceway greatly affect the combustion of, the coke and the injected fuel in the blast furnace. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to investigate the raceway evolution. The furnace geometry and operating conditions are based on the Mittal Steel IH7 blast furnace. The effects of Tuyere-velocity, coke particle size and burden properties are computed. It is found that the raceway depth increases with an increase in the tuyere velocity and a decrease in the coke particle size in the active coke zone. The CFD results are validated using experimental correlations and actual observations. The computational results provide useful insight into the raceway formation and the factors that influence its size and shape.

The incidence of stent late restenosis is high (Zwart et al., 2010, "Coronary Stent Thrombosis in the Current Era: Challenges and Opportunities for Treatment," Curr. Treat. Options Cardiovasc. Med., 12(1), pp. 46-57) despite the extensive use of stents, and is most prevalent at the proximal and distal ends of the stent. Elastic modulus change in stented coronary arteries subject to the motion of the myocardium is not studied extensively. It is our objective to understand and reveal the mechanism by which changes in elastic modulus and geometry contribute to the generation of nonphysiological wall shear stress (WSS). Such adverse hemodynamic conditions could have an effect on the onset of restenosis. Three-dimensional (3D), spatiotemporally resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of pulsatile flow with moving wall boundaries and fluid structure interaction (FSI) were carried out for a helical artery with physiologically relevant flow parameters. To study the effect of coronary artery (CA) geometry change on stent elastic modulus mismatch, models where the curvature, torsion and both curvature and torsion change were examined. The elastic modulus is increased by a factor of two, five, and ten in the stented section for all three modes of motion. The changes in elastic modulus and arterial geometry cause critical variations in the local pressure and velocity gradients and secondary flow patterns. The pressure gradient change is 47%, with respect to the unstented baseline when the elastic modulus is increased to 10. The corresponding WSS change is 15.4%. We demonstrate that these changes are attributed to the production of vorticity (vorticity flux) caused by the wall movement and elastic modulus discontinuity. The changes in curvature dominate torsion changes in terms of the effects to local hemodynamics. The elastic modulus discontinuities along with the dynamic change in geometry affected the secondary flow patterns and vorticity flux, which in turn affects the WSS.