Session: Government Agency Student Posters

Paper Number: 173753

Utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics to Create Velocity Profiles for Fluid Flow in Pipes Within a Mixed Reality Environment 

Understanding how fluids move through pipes is fundamental to a wide range of engineering applications from chemical processing and power systems to biomedical devices and environmental technologies. How the velocity profile changes with pipe geometry, the formation of turbulence, and where pressure losses occur, can all have a major impact on efficiency, performance, and safety. To analyze these fluid behaviors, engineers often turn to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). By solving the Navier-Stokes equations, CFD offers deep insight into how fluids behave under different environmental and equipment conditions. However, despite its power, viewing CFD results on a flat 2D screen can make it difficult to truly grasp the three-dimensional nature of fluid flow especially in educational settings where intuition and engagement are critical.

Separately, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how important it is to provide distance learning alternatives, especially for lab-based courses that are traditionally hands-on and in person. To address this concern, we explored using Mixed Reality (MR) technology to provide an immersive experience for students, whereby the students could interact with 3D holograms overlaid on the physical environment through the use of a headset, like the Microsoft HoloLens 2. The MR experience is interactive, collaborative and personal, making it a powerful tool for engineering education and group work. The project group in the Chemical Engineering Department at Prairie View A&M University had developed several MR lab modules based on a digital twin of a fluid flow in pipes equipment setup. The digital twin has been programmed to provide realistic simulated data based on inputs of fluid flow, fluid properties and pipe geometry and roughness. The associated lab modules are being tested in an undergraduate Chemical Engineering Unit Operations course.

To add further aspects of realism and utility to the MR tool, the current work aims to integrate CFD results with the MR simulations in real-time, allowing users to “step inside” the simulation and explore the flow of fluid from a first-person point of view. Using ANSYS Fluent, we ran simulations on two pipe configurations: straight pipe and a straight pipe with a 90 degree elbow for a fixed diameter and length. The simulations addressed different flow regimes, ranging from laminar to turbulent. For real-time, dynamic and high-fidelity renderings of the CFD results in MR, it is important to understand the effect of the number of elements and the number of nodes on computational time, as increasing computational time will increase perceived lag. To this end, we performed a grid independence study to understand the interplay between the number of nodes and elements and to determine the minimum number of each that can be used to give high fidelity rendering in as low a time as possible. That time is still to be determined. Our preliminary results have guided us towards the minimum mesh size that we can use for subsequent simulations, without sacrificing rendering fidelity.

 

Presenting Author: Rachel Israel Prairie View A&M University

Presenting Author Biography: My name is Rachel Israel, and i am a graduate research student in the department of Chemical Engineering at Prairie View A&M University. My research focuses on using Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) to create velocity profiles for fluid in pipes, and bringing those simulations to life in a mixed reality environment. I am especially interested in how mixed reality can help make complex engineering concepts more visual and easier to understand. As i continue to grow in this field , i look forward to exploring more ways technology can improve how we learn, design, and solve real-world problems.

Authors:

Rachel Israel Prairie View A&M University
Keisha Antonie PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY
Kazeem Olanrewaju PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY