Uniform and non-uniform inlet temperature of a vertical hot water jet injected into a rectangular tank
In most of real-world applications, such as the case of heat stores, inlet is not kept at a constant temperature but it may vary with time during charging process. In this paper, a vertical water jet injected into a rectangular storage tank is measured experimentally and simulated numerically. Two cases of study are considered; one is a hot water jet with uniform inlet temperature (UIT) injected into a cold water tank, and the other is a cold water jet with non-uniform inlet temperature (NUIT) injected into a hot water tank. Three different temperature differences and three different flow rates are studied for the hot water jet with UIT which is injected into a cold water tank. Also, three different initial temperatures with constant flow rate as well as three different flow rates with constant initial temperature are considered for the cold jet with NUIT which is injected into a hot water tank. Turbulence intensity at the inlet as well as Reynolds number for the NUIT cases are therefore functions of inlet temperature and time. Both experimental measurements and numerical calculations are carried out for the same measured flow and thermal conditions. The realizable k-ε model is used for modeling the turbulent flow. Numerical solutions are obtained for unsteady flow while pressure, velocity, temperature and turbulence distributions inside the water tank are analyzed. The simulated results are compared to the measured results, and they show a good agreement at low temperatures.
Calibrated models for simulation of stratified hot water heat stores
Hot water heat stores (HWHS) are generally used to overcome the diurnal or seasonal mismatch in the availability and demand of thermal energy. To enhance the system efficiency, good thermal stratification of the HWHS is required. In order to simulate different flow processes in stratified HWHS the effects of stratification on the turbulence are to be considered. Benchmark experiments have been conducted on turbulent flows into a continuously stratified HWHS. Based on these benchmark experiments, different two‐equation turbulence transport models namely the RNG (ReNormalizable Group) and the realizable k–ε turbulence models have been calibrated. The major improvement is provided to the ε‐equation by introducing the effects of the buoyancy field on the turbulence dissipation rate. It is achieved by calibrating the coefficient of the dissipation term (Cε2 in the RNG and C2 in the realizable k–ε model) based on the benchmark experiments. A re‐definition of the turbulent Prandtl number (Prt) incorporating the effects of stratification on turbulent thermal diffusivity improved the calibration further. The calibrated computational fluid dynamic models are found to predict the charging, discharging and storing processes of typical HWHS with good accuracy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A quality control model that uses PTV-rectal distances to predict the lowest achievable rectum dose, improves IMRT planning for patients with prostate cancer.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
To predict the lowest achievable rectum D35 for quality assurance of IMRT plans of prostate cancer patients.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
For each of 24 patients from a database of 47 previously treated patients, the anatomy was compared to the anatomies of the other 46 to predict the minimal achievable rectum D35. The 24 patients were then replanned to obtain maximally reduced rectum D35. Next, the newly derived plans were added to the database to replace the original clinical plans, and new predictions of the lowest achievable rectum D35 were made.


RESULTS
After replanning, the rectum D35 reduced by 9.3 Gy±6.1 (average±1 SD; p<0.001) compared to the original plan. The first predictions of the rectum D35 were 4.8 Gy±4.2 (average±1 SD; p<0.001) too high when evaluated with the new plans. After updating the database, the replanned and newly predicted rectum D35 agreed within 0.1 Gy±2.8 (average±1 SD; p=0.89). The doses to the bladder, anus and femoral heads did not increase compared to the original plans.


CONCLUSIONS
For individual prostate patients, the lowest achievable rectum D35 in IMRT planning can be accurately predicted from dose distributions of previously treated patients by quantitative comparison of patient anatomies. These predictions can be used to quantitatively assess the quality of IMRT plans.