Wen-Quan Tao

Bio: Wen-Quan Tao is an academic researcher from Xi'an Jiaotong University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Heat transfer & Heat transfer coefficient. The author has an hindex of 72, co-authored 642 publications receiving 19434 citations. Previous affiliations of Wen-Quan Tao include Chinese Ministry of Education & Tongji University.

A critical review of the pseudopotential multiphase lattice Boltzmann model: Methods and applications

Abstract: This article presents a critical review of the theory and applications of a multiphase model in the community of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the pseudopotential model proposed by Shan and Chen (1993) [4], which has been successfully applied to a wide range of multiphase flow problems during the past two decades. The first part of the review begins with a description of the LBM and the original pseudopotential model. The distinct features and the limitations of the original model are described in detail. Then various enhancements necessary to improve the pseudopotential model in terms of decreasing the spurious currents, obtaining high density/viscosity ratio, reducing thermodynamic inconsistency, unraveling the coupling between surface tension and equations of state (EOS), and unraveling the coupling between viscosity and surface tension, are reviewed. Then the fluid–solid interactions are presented and schemes to obtain different contact angles are discussed. The final section of this part focuses on the multi-component multiphase pseudopotential model. The second part of this review describes fruitful applications of this model to various multiphase flows. Coupling of this model with other models for more complicated multiple physicochemical processes are also introduced in this part.

Fatty acids as phase change materials: A review

Abstract: Fatty acids as phase change materials have attracted much attention for their various applications in building energy efficiency, solar heating systems and air-conditioning systems. After summarizing the basic characteristics of fatty acids, eutectic mixtures of fatty acids and fatty acid esters, as well as the preparation and characteristics of fatty acid composites as phase change materials (PCMs), this paper analyzes the thermal reliability and stability of fatty acids as PCMs and their heat transfer characteristics in a unit which is followed by an introduction to the energy storage systems of three kinds of fatty acids as PCMs. Besides, it also points out the future research direction of fatty acids as PCMs as a solution of the insufficiency and flaws of current researches.

The field synergy (coordination) principle and its applications in enhancing single phase convective heat transfer

Abstract: In this paper the concept of field synergy (coordination) principle is briefly introduced first, and then its numerical verification is presented. A dimensionless number, field synergy number Fc, is defined as an indication of the synergy degree between velocity and temperature field for the entire flow and heat transfer domain. It is found that for the ideal case, this number should equal one, and for most of the engineering heat transfer cases, its value is far from being equal to one, showing a large room for the heat transfer enhancement study. Then the applications of the principle are discussed, with focusing being paid on the application for developing new type of enhanced techniques. Three examples are provided to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of the field synergy principle.

Experimental and numerical studies on melting phase change heat transfer in open-cell metallic foams filled with paraffin

Abstract: In the current study, the melting phase change heat transfer in paraffin-saturated in open-celled metallic foams was experimentally and numerically studied. The experiments were conducted with seven high-porosity copper metal foam samples ( ɛ ≥ 90%), and paraffin was applied as the phase-change material (PCM). The wall and inner temperature distribution inside the foam were measured during the melting process. The effects of foam morphology parameters, including porosity and pore density, on the wall temperature and the temperature uniformity inside the foam were investigated. The melting heat transfer is enhanced by the high thermal conductivity foam matrix, although its existence suppresses the local natural convection. A numerical model considering the non-Darcy effect, local natural convection, and thermal non-equilibrium was proposed. The velocity, temperature field, and evolution of the solid–liquid interface location at various times were predicted. The numerically predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental findings. The model as well as the feasibility and necessity of the applied two-equation model were further validated.

Field synergy principle for enhancing convective heat transfer--its extension and numerical verifications

Abstract: The concept of enhancing parabolic convective heat transfer by reducing the intersection angle between velocity and temperature gradient is reviewed and extended to elliptic fluid flow and heat transfer situation. Five examples of elliptic flow are provided to show the validity of the new concept (field synergy principle). Two further examples are supplemented to demonstrate the importance of the concept in the design of the enhanced surfaces.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

Abstract: Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.