Determination and introduction of the transport properties of soybean oil biodiesel in the computational fluid dynamics code OpenFOAM

Abstract

In this work the determination and introduction of the transport properties of soybean oil biodiesel in the CFD code OpenFOAM has been studied. Additionally, effects of soybean oil biodiesel on the mixing process using CFD code OpenFOAM have been analyzed. In order to reach the objectives described, the most relevant transport properties of soybean oil biodiesel in the mixing process i. e. density, viscosity, surface tension, and vapor pressure have been determined. These transport properties were introduced in the CFD code OpenFOAM using coefficients obtained, which are based on the molecular structure of the fatty acids that composes the biodiesel and applying non-linear regressions. The main findings of the work were: the coefficients which are used in the proposed models by CFD code OpenFOAM for the introduction of the transport properties of soybean oil biodiesel have been obtained and the influence of the transport properties of soybean oil biodiesel on the mixing process has been confirmed.