Introduction

In ME 113 there were four major assignments given, two were research papers, and the other two were simulations to be done by coding in the language of your choice along with a formal report with data analysis of the simulation.

Below I have included the projects that required coding

I have also linked my GitHub repository hosting the code for the simulations

First Project

Engine outer surface temperature investigation for oil autoignition

Problem: Oil leakage on the hot engine can create fire hazard. Some engine oils have an autoignition temperature of 250°C. Consider an outer surface of an engine where oil leakage is occurring. The emissivity of the engine surface is about 0.3 and its inner surface is subjected to 5kW/m2 of heat flux. The engine surrounding temperature is 40°C and the convection heat transfer coefficient is 15W/mK. To prevent a fire hazard, the temperature of the engine surface should be kept below 200°C.

1. Determine whether oil on the engine surface is at a risk of autoignition.

2. Plot the engine surface temperature as a function of the surrounding temperature that may vary from 10°C to 50°C (step size: 5°C). Mark the fire hazard possibilities at each surrounding temperature.

3. Plot a 3D graph showing surface temperatures as a function of heat flux (varying between 2kW/m2 to 8kW/m2 with a step of 0.5kW/m2) and the surrounding temperature (varying from 10°C to 50°C with a step of 5°C). Mark the autoignition region on the graph.

Second Project

Steam Power Plant Analysis

Consider a steam power plant. Steam leaves the boiler at P1 = 2MPa pressure and T1 = 300°C temperature. It enters the turbine by losing some heat along its path with a delta = 5% change in its pressure and temperature. Turbine generates power and releases the saturated mixture at 15 kPa with 90% quality factor to the condenser that cools it down to 45°C at constant pressure. The condenser releases heat to the environment and pushes the liquid to a pump that perform work (4kJ/kg) to push the liquid to the boiler where it is turned to steam by adding heat.

Find the following:

1. Heat released to the environment from boiler to turbine inlet

2. Heat released from the condenser

3. Efficiency of the plant

4. Plot the turbine work as a function of the steam exit temperature from the boiler as it changes from 2 MPa to 2.5 MPa with a step of 0.1 MPa

5. Plot the turbine work as the steam exit temperatures from the boiler varies from 300°C to 350°C with a step of 50°C.

6. Plot the turbine work for above two cases.

7. Plot the plant efficiency for above two cases.

8. Give you analysis for the case when turbine inlet temperature is increased.