Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica
Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad de Concepción

The interaction between local hydrodynamics conditions and salmon cages are important in disease transmission and in the transport of waste products generated by aquaculture. We propose a modeling methodology to assess the hydrodynamic effects of a salmon farm in a Patagonian channel. The method is based on the coupling between a Coastal and Regional Ocean COmmunity model (CROCO) and a high resolution Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model. A salmon farm located in the Estero Elefantes Channel (45°39′16.50″S–73°35′59.40″W) was used as a study case. The physical coherence of the results was validated by comparison with field current velocities measured with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). The model predictions were capable of reproducing the tendencies of the variation although there were some differences in magnitude. The results showed that the hydrodynamics of the Estero Elefantes Channel is dominated by two circulation modes depending on the current direction in the adjacent Moraleda channel. Both circulation modes are characterized by a highly unstable shear flow composed by turbulent structures that interact with the salmon cages. Therefore it is not possible to select a local control volume with arbitrarily defined inlets, outlets and impermeable walls to evaluate hydrodynamic processes relevant to the salmon farms. The presence of the cages modifies the natural hydrodynamics of the channel, attenuating the intensity of the local velocity magnitude and generating recirculation and retention zones near them. However, their effect is not confined locally because the perturbations introduced by the presence of cages are propagated far from them. The transport of material discharged inside the cages was also analyzed. This information should prove useful both for producers and the aquaculture management authority. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2018.05.003

Chile has begun to promote the use of biomass to replace a fraction of the energy produced from coal. However, the power plants are located in the world driest desert, the Atacama Desert, and far from the forest resources. Fortunately, a cactaceous species named Opuntia ficus-indica, has proven to be able to grow under climate desert conditions. In this study the behavior of Opuntia ficus-indica under co-firing conditions with coal, is evaluated and compared to that of Pinus radiata, in terms of heat transfer, ash deposits formation and pollutant emissions in a 150 kW fluidized bed pilot plant. The results revealed a variation of the temperature profile inside the reactor, as well as a relationship between the efficacy factor and the base-acid ratio. The heat transfer coefficients in the dense bed evidenced a decrease in the heat transfers mechanisms attributed to a variation of the mean particle diameter and a greater presence of fuel particles. Under coal-Pine co-firing conditions, an increase in NO formation and a decrease of PM and SO2 concentrations was observed. While co-firing coal with Opuntia showed an increase in the particulate matter and a reduction of NO and SO2 concentrations. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.10.053

Although roping in hydrocyclones is a problem that has been studied by many researchers, we do not yet have a theory that relates all the variables involved. Several experimental works with different approaches such as mechanical energy balance, work on hydrocyclones with water only and hydrocyclone air core measurements with different instruments in the laboratory and plant have attempted to explain the roping phenomenon. They have addressed design variables such as apex to vortex diameters and different cone angles as well as operating variables such as inlet solid concentration, particle size, pressure and overflow and underflow flow rates and concentrations in order to understand their effect on the roping condition. In this paper we intend to verify some of the conclusions of these studies and establish inlet pressure and particle diameter as the variables that, in combination, lead from spray to roping. We present a computational model using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to study a 75-mm laboratory hydrocyclone operating at a variable flow rate and with three different particle diameters. The Reynolds Stress Model and Eulerian multiphase model were used to model the turbulence and interaction of phases, respectively. The solid particles are described with the kinetic theory of granular flows (KTGF). Physical coherence and accuracy were compared with experimental data, where errors are within the expected range for an engineering prediction. The results indicate that transition from spray to roping generates an increase in the inlet flow pressure and/or particle diameter at a constant solid concentration in the feed flow. For 20-µm-diameter particles an increase results in a decrease in the discharge angle, although it always has a spray shape, for 34-µm diameters increasing the inlet pressure generates a semi-rope discharge and for 70-µm-diameter particles a small increase in the inlet pressure generates a roping condition. Transition to roping is characterized by a decrease in the air core diameter and discharge angle due to slow rotational velocity when particle diameter increases or higher accumulation of the solid fraction in the apex when inlet pressure increases. The passage from spray to roping occurs with a change in the frequency spectrum of the pressure oscillations in the walls of the hydrocyclone, with high amplitudes at low frequencies for spray discharge and noisy signals in all spectrums and damped low frequencies for roping. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2018.04.008

Aerospace Science and Technology, en prensa

Aquaculture 430, 195-206, 2014

International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering, vol. 11, 2011, Article A2