Fully compressible Direct Numerical Simulations of carbon dioxide close to the vapour-liquid critical point

Abstract

The challenge of global warming caused by the emission of greenhouse gases has led to the desire for mitigating climate change by exploring the use of alternative sources of energy to reduce the use of traditional fossil fuels. In this context, supercritical fluids play an important role due to their use in various technologies and processes that promote sustainable development. These fluids possess a unique combination of gas-like and liquid-like properties enabling their usage in supercritical power cycles, which are more efficient compared to other methods of energy conversion. In this thesis, we investigate turbulent flows of supercritical CO2 near the vapourliquid critical point in a channel geometry by solving the fully compressible Navier Stokes equations. The purpose of the investigation is to gain a better understanding of the physics of turbulent supercritical fluid flows near the critical point by taking the compressibility effects into account.