Wentian Zheng

Wentian Zheng received his MEng degrees in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, in 2014. He then started his PhD in accidental release – multiphase flow modelling in Chemical Engineering department at UCL. 

Research project

Title: Multiphase jet release, segregated flow under puncture release and computational simulations.

The transportation of pressurised CO2 using pipelines is a crucial element of the Carbon Capture and Storage chain; for their safe design the ability to accurately predict the consequences of a failure, the release and ensuing dispersion of flashing liquids is essential. Such phenomena are commonly modelled in stages: jet expansion followed by near-field and far-field dispersion. For jet expansion modelling, both analytical and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models are available to predict the fully expanded flow conditions which can be subsequently used as inputs in dispersion modelling. Although analytical models are computationally efficient, due to the lack of experimental data, their predictions have yet been verified. In this work, a conservation law based multiphase analytical model is constructed with a rigorous equation of state. The predicted flow variables at full expansion are then compared to those from Shear Stress Transport  -  CFD modelling. The good agreement between two models provides necessary verification for the application of analytical models in accidental release modelling.  

Education

MEng in Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, 2014