Effect of incomplete thermal accommodation on intensive subsonic gas condensation

The direct Monte Carlo simulation method is used for investigating the effect of the thermal accommodation coefficient α _E on the relation for the Knudsen layer in the presence of intensive subsonic condensation. It is shown that the deviation of α _E from unity may significantly affect the flow parameters, in particular, M_lim, the Mach number value limiting for subsonic condensation. It is shown that a decrease in α _E leads to an increase in M_lim (M_lim < 1) if the relative flow temperature (ratio of the outer Knudsen layer boundary to the surface temperature) T < 1 and to a decrease in M_lim if T > 1. It is shown that for mirror reflection of molecules from the surface this effect may intensify.     

Growths of mechanical elasticity and electrical conductance of graphene nanoplatelet/poly(lactic acid) composites under strong electric field: correlation with time evolution of higher order structure of graphene nanoplatelets

For a composite of poly(lactic acid) containing graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) at a low concentration (0.34 vol%), this study examined growths of mechanical and electrical properties under an alternating current (AC) electric field, focusing on field-induced GNP structures governing those properties. The composite was subjected to the AC field (60 Hz) of various intensities E for various times t _E at 190 °C. A fraction of randomly oriented GNPs was aligned by the field and then connected into columns, as suggested from optical microscopy. This structural evolution led to qualitatively similar growths of low-frequency storage modulus and static electrical conductivity. The key quantity for understanding this growth was a time t _E* for occurrence of short circuit that detected formation of GNP columns conductively bridging the electrodes. The growths of both modulus and conductivity for various E were summarized as functions of a reduced variable, t _E/t _E*, confirming the growths commonly reflected the evolution of the GNP columns. However, the modulus grew fast and leveled off by t _E/t _E* ~ 1, whereas the conductivity kept growing gradually even at t _E/t _E* > 1. This difference was discussed in relation to the matrix chains and leftover GNPs out the column.     

Re-examination of terminal relaxation behavior of high-molecular-weight ring polystyrene melts

For high-molecular-weight (M) ring polymers with low contamination of linear chains, recent viscoelastic tests revealed broad terminal relaxation associated with no clear entanglement plateau. This relaxation behavior is qualitatively similar to that deduced from molecular models (double-folded lattice-animal model and the fractal loopy globule model) for entangled ring polymers, but quantitatively important differences are also noted: For example, the full terminal relaxation of those polymers is slower than the model prediction. This study re-examined the viscoelastic data of entangled high-M ring polystyrene (PS) samples (coded as R-240; M = 244×10³) specifically for two points: the purity of the ring samples after the viscoelastic tests and the molecular origin of the stress. For the first point, the R-240 samples contaminated with linear chains at low but different levels were prepared by tuning either the purification efficiency or the retention time of the sample at high temperature (T) before/during the viscoelastic test. The fraction w _L of the linear contaminant, determined after the viscoelastic measurement, was ranging from 0.7 to 4.9%, and the extrapolation of the modulus data to w _L = 0 gave the data for the ideally pure ring melt. This pure ring melt exhibited broad terminal relaxation that started faster but completed slower compared to the model prediction, indicating that the ring relaxation is not well described by the current model(s) even in the absence of linear contaminant. For the second point, dynamic birefringence measurements were conducted for the R-240 samples with w _L = 4.6 and 1.0%. These samples obeyed the stress-optical rule, and their stress-optical coefficient was indistinguishable from that for linear PS samples, revealing that the stress of the ring PS chains reflects the orientational anisotropy of the chains (as is the case also for linear chains). The relaxation behavior of pure ring PS melt is discussed on the basis of these findings, with the focus being placed on the ring-ring threading not considered in the models.     

Application of scaling transformation to characterizing complex rheological behaviors and fractal derivative modeling

It has been long observed that cumbersome parameters are required for the traditional viscoelastic models to describe complex rheological behaviors. Inspired by the relationship between normal and anomalous diffusions, this paper tentatively employs t ^α to replace t, called as the scaling transformation, in the traditional creep compliance and relaxation modulus. With this methodology, the relaxation modulus is found to agree with the well-known Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) stretched exponential function. The fitting results confirm that the proposed models accurately characterize rheological behaviors only with one more parameter α. Moreover, it is noted that the present formulations are directly related to the fractal derivative viscoelastic models and the index α is actually the order of the fractal derivative.     

From linear viscoelasticity to the architecture of highly branched polyethylene

In this work, the linear viscoelastic behavior of some low-density polyethylene in the melt is used to obtain their architecture. In this way, the number of branches per molecule and long chain branching (LCB) content is determined. For this purpose, a method based on the molecular dynamics of simple star-shaped molecules is presented. It allows one to infer the topology of an average molecule through a set of 2N _c parameters {C ⁿ _i , the number concentration of a level i} and {M _bi , the mass of a segment of level i} representing an irregular Cayley tree with N _c levels. The inverse problem uses the complex shear modulus as a function of the frequency data along with a minimization algorithm. Results from the present method are compared with NMR and SEC measurements of the level of branching. It appears that SEC and rheology leads to similar results on the determination of LCB while NMR overestimate the number of branch points per molecule. Moreover, rheology allows one to go further than the basic evaluation of LCB content and shows a picture of the structure of the molecules that is in agreement with the kinetics of free radical polymerization of polyethylene.     

Effect of the mode of gas-surface interaction on intensive monatomic gas evaporation

The direct Monte Carlo simulation method is used for investigating the effect of the thermal accommodation coefficient α _E on the relations on the Knudsen layer boundary in the presence of intensive evaporation. The model of mirror reflection of molecules from the surface is considered. It is shown that diffuse reflection with α _E = 0 leads to almost the same relations on the Knudsen layer boundary as mirror reflection. The accuracy of the moment method is estimated in application to the problems of intensive evaporation with diffuse and mirror reflection from the surface.     

Quantitative Scanning Probe Microscopy for Nanomechanical Forensics

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to assess the indentation modulus M _s and pull-off force F _po in four case studies of distinct evidence types, namely hair, questioned documents, fingerprints, and explosive particle-surface interactions. In the hair study, M _s decreased and F _po increased after adding conditioner and bleach to the hair. For the questioned documents, M _s and F _po of two inks were markedly different; ballpoint pen ink exhibited smaller variations relative to the mean value than printer ink. The fingerprint case study revealed that both maximum height and F _po decreased over a three-day period. Finally, the study on explosive particle-surface interactions illustrated that two fabrics exhibited similar M _s, but different F _po. Overall, it was found that AFM addresses needs in forensic science as defined by several federal agencies, in particular an improved ability to expand the information extracted from evidence and to quantify its evidentiary value.     

Operator method for solving the plane elasticity problem for a strip with periodic cuts

In the present paper, we use the conformal mapping z/c = ζ?2a sin ζ (a, c?const, ζ = u + iv) of the strip {|v| ≤ v ₀, |u| < ∞} onto the domain D, which is a strip with symmetric periodic cuts. For the domain D, in the orthogonal system of isometric coordinates u, v, we solve the plane elasticity problem. We seek the biharmonic function in the form F = C ψ ₀ + S ψ*₀ + x(C ψ ₁ ? S ψ ₂) + y(C ψ ₂ + S ψ ₁), where C(v) and S(v) are the operator functions described in [1] and ψ ₀(u), …, ψ ₂(u) are the desired functions. The boundary conditions for the function F posed for v = ±v ₀ are equivalent to two operator equations for ψ ₁(u) and ψ ₂(u) and to two ordinary differential equations of first order for ψ ₀(u) and ψ*₀(u) [2]. By finding the functions ψ _j (u) in the form of trigonometric series with indeterminate coefficients and by solving the operator equations, we obtain infinite systems of linear equations for the unknown coefficients. We present an efficient method for solving these systems, which is based on studying stable recursive relations. In the present paper, we give an example of analysis of a specific strip (a = 1/4, v ₀ = 1) loaded on the boundary v = v ₀ by a normal load of intensity p. We find the particular solutions corresponding to the extension of the strip by the longitudinal force X ^∞ and to the transverse and pure bending of the strip due to the transverse force Y ^∞ and the constant moment M ^∞, respectively. We also present the graphs of normal and tangential stresses in the transverse cross-section x = 0 and study the stress concentration effect near the cut bottom.     

Boundary Stabilization of Stokes System in Exterior Domains

The problem of stabilizing a solution to the 2D Stokes system defined in the exterior of the bounded domain with smooth boundary is investigated, i.e. for a given initial velocity field and prescribed positive number k > 0 one has to construct a control function defined on the boundary such that the solution stabilizes to zero at the rate of 1/t ^k .     

Characterization of Viscoelasticity Due to Shear Wave Propagation: a Comparison of Existing Methods Based on Computational Simulation and Experimental Data

Shear wave propagation causes microvibrations within a medium; measuring the wave attenuation coefficient, α, and phase velocity, c _s , the medium shear modulus, μ, and shear viscosity, η, are determined based on a viscoelastic model that includes both c _s and α. The present work compares the performances of nine processing methods, based on cross-correlation and quadrature demodulation, used to extract the motion waveform from a sequence of radio-frequency (RF) echo signals from the medium. Kalman filtering determined the amplitude and the phase of the extracted motion waveform. The comparisons were done with regard to computational simulation and experiments with a gel phantom. Estimates obtained for μ and η of the medium considered different conditions for the vibration amplitude and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the RF echo signals and the waveform extracted by means of single frequency and shear wave dispersion ultrasound vibration (SDUV) methods. According to the simulated results, the cross-correlation-based processing techniques are more precise and accurate in comparison to quadrature demodulation techniques. The results for c _s , α, μ and η of the phantom and those obtained under the same setup conditions for experimental and computational tests agree with each other. Comparing the estimates based on single frequency and SDUV techniques, they presented similar performances at high SNR of the RF echo signal. On the other hand, the former technique prevailed for low SNR.     

Determination of boundary layers in the plane problem for three-layer strips. Part 2

In the first part of this paper, we considered the exact statement of the plane elasticity problem in displacements for strips made of various materials (problem A, an isotropic material; problem B, an orthotropic material with 2G ₁₂ < √E ₁ E ₂; problem C, an orthotropic material with 2G ₁₂ > √E ₁ E ₂). Further, we stated and solved the boundary layer problem (the problem on a solution decaying away from the boundary) for a sandwich strip of regular structure consisting of isotropic layers (problem AA). In the present paper, we use the solution of the plane problem to consider the problem for sandwich strips of regular structure with isotropic face layers and orthotropic filler (problem AB).     

Second Order Corrections to Mean Field Evolution for Weakly Interacting Bosons in The Case of Three-body Interactions

In this paper, we consider the Hamiltonian evolution of N weakly interacting bosons. Assuming triple collisions, its mean field approximation is given by a quintic Hartree equation. We construct a second order correction to the mean field approximation using a kernel k(t, x, y) and derive an evolution equation for k. We show global existence for the resulting evolution equation for the correction and establish an a priori estimate comparing the approximation to the exact Hamiltonian evolution. Our error estimate is global and uniform in time. Comparing with the work of Rodnianski and Schlein (Commun Math Phys 291:31–61, 2009), and Grillakis, Machedon and Margetis (Commun Math Phys 294:273–301, 2010; Adv Math 288:1788–1815, 2011), where the error estimate grows in time, our approximation tracks the exact dynamics for all time with an error of the order \({O(1/\sqrt{N}).}\)     

Regularity of Optimal Maps on the Sphere: the Quadratic Cost and the Reflector Antenna

Building on the results of Ma et al. (in Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 177(2), 151–183 (2005)), and of the author Loeper (in Acta Math., to appear), we study two problems of optimal transportation on the sphere: the first corresponds to the cost function d ²(x, y), where d(·, ·) is the Riemannian distance of the round sphere; the second corresponds to the cost function ?log |x ? y|, known as the reflector antenna problem. We show that in both cases, the cost-sectional curvature is uniformly positive, and establish the geometrical properties so that the results of Loeper (in Acta Math., to appear) and Ma et al. (in Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 177(2), 151–183 (2005)) can apply: global smooth solutions exist for arbitrary smooth positive data and optimal maps are Hölder continuous under weak assumptions on the data.     

Mechanical Properties of Hard W-C Coating on Steel Substrate Deduced from Nanoindentation and Finite Element Modeling

Mechanical properties of a hard and stiff W-C coating on steel substrate have been investigated using nanoindentation combined with finite element modeling (FEM) and extended FEM (XFEM). The significant pile-up observed around the indents in steel substrate caused an overestimation of hardness and indentation modulus. A simple geometrical model, considering the additional contact surfaces due to pile-up, has been proposed to reduce this overestimation. The presence of W-C coating suppressed the pile-up in the steel substrate and a transition to sink-in behavior occurred. The FEM simulations adequately reproduced the surface topography of the indents in the substrate and coating/substrate systems as well. The maximum principal stresses of the indented W-C/steel coated system were tensile; they were always located in the coating and evolved in 3 stages. Cohesive cracking occurred during loading in the sink-in zone (stage III) when the ultimate tensile strength (σ _max ) of the coating was reached. The obtained hardness (H _c ), indentation modulus (E _c ), yield stress (Y) and strength (σ _max ) of the W-C coating were H _c ? =?20 GPa, E _c ? =?250 GPa, Y?=?9.0 GPa and σ _max ? =?9.35 GPa, respectively. XFEM resulted in fracture energy of the W-C coating of G?=?38.1 J?·?m^-2 and fracture toughness of K _IC ? =?3.5 MPa?·?m^0.5.     

Regularity and Singularities of Optimal Convex Shapes in the Plane

We focus here on the analysis of the regularity or singularity of solutions Ω ₀ to shape optimization problems among convex planar sets, namely:

$J(\Omega_{0})={\rm min} \{J(\Omega), \Omega \quad {\rm convex},\Omega \in \mathcal{S}_{\rm ad}\},$

where \({\mathcal{S}_{\rm ad}}\) is a set of 2-dimensional admissible shapes and \({J:\mathcal{S}_{\rm ad}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}}\) is a shape functional. Our main goal is to obtain qualitative properties of these optimal shapes by using first and second order optimality conditions, including the infinite dimensional Lagrange multiplier due to the convexity constraint. We prove two types of results:

1. i)
   under a suitable convexity property of the functional J, we prove that Ω ₀ is a W ^2,p -set, \({p\in[1, \infty]}\). This result applies, for instance, with p = ∞ when the shape functional can be written as J(Ω) = R(Ω) + P(Ω), where R(Ω) = F(|Ω|, E _f (Ω), λ₁(Ω)) involves the area |Ω|, the Dirichlet energy E _f (Ω) or the first eigenvalue of the Laplace–Dirichlet operator λ₁(Ω), and P(Ω) is the perimeter of Ω;
    

1. ii)
   under a suitable concavity assumption on the functional J, we prove that Ω ₀ is a polygon. This result applies, for instance, when the functional is now written as J(Ω) = R(Ω) ? P(Ω), with the same notations as above.
    

     

Effects of the Reynolds number on a scale-similarity model of Lagrangian velocity correlations in isotropic turbulent flows

A scale-similarity model of a two-point two-time Lagrangian velocity correlation(LVC) was originally developed for the relative dispersion of tracer particles in isotropic turbulent flows(HE, G. W., JIN, G. D., and ZHAO, X. Scale-similarity model for Lagrangian velocity correlations in isotropic and stationary turbulence. Physical Review E, 80, 066313(2009)). The model can be expressed as a two-point Eulerian space correlation and the dispersion velocity V. The dispersion velocity denotes the rate at which one moving particle departs from another fixed particle. This paper numerically validates the robustness of the scale-similarity model at high Taylor micro-scale Reynolds numbers up to 373, which are much higher than the original values(R_λ = 66, 102). The effect of the Reynolds number on the dispersion velocity in the scale-similarity model is carefully investigated. The results show that the scale-similarity model is more accurate at higher Reynolds numbers because the two-point Lagrangian velocity correlations with different initial spatial separations collapse into a universal form compared with a combination of the initial separation and the temporal separation via the dispersion velocity.Moreover, the dispersion velocity V normalized by the Kolmogorov velocity V_η≡η/τ_η in which η and τ_η are the Kolmogorov space and time scales, respectively, scales with the Reynolds number R_λ as V/V_η∝ R_λ~(1.39) obtained from the numerical data.     

Large amplitude oscillatory shear rheology of three different shear-thickening particle dispersions

We present a large amplitude oscillatory shear rheology (LAOS) investigation of three different shear-thickening particle dispersions - fumed silica in polyethylene oxide (FLOC), fumed silica in polypropylene glycol (HydroC), and cornstarch in water (JAM). These systems shear-thicken by three different mechanisms - shear-induced formation of particle clusters flocculated by polymer bridging, hydrocluster formation, and jamming. The viscoelastic non-linearities of the three fluids were studied as a function of strain and strain-rate space through the use of Lissajous-Bowditch curves and local nonlinear viscoelastic moduli of an oscillatory shear cycle. The nonlinear behaviors of the three fluids were compared and contrasted to understand the nonlinear shear-thickening mechanism of each. Both HydroC and JAM dispersions were found to exhibit strong strain stiffening of the elastic moduli and strain thickening of the loss moduli behavior associated with possible hydrocluster formation and particle jamming. However, the FLOC dispersion, in contrast, showed strong strain softening and strain thinning behavior at large strain amplitudes associated with yielding of the microstructure. The expected thickening of the loss modulus of FLOC in LAOS with increasing strain was not observed even though viscosity of FLOC was found to shear-thicken in steady-shear measurements. This disagreement is likely due to very large strain amplitudes required for shear-thickening to occur by shear-induced polymer bridging mechanism. The hypothesis was confirmed through stress growth experiments. Conversely, the HydroC and JAM dispersions required relatively small applied strains for shear-thickening to occur by hydrocluster and jamming mechanism. The comparison of local intra-cycle nonlinearity through Lissajous-Bowditch plots and nonlinear viscoelastic parameters indicated that the elastic nonlinearities of all three systems are primarily driven by a strong dependence on the magnitude of the applied strain-rates within an oscillatory cycle rather than the amplitude of the applied strain. A close inspection of the LAOS data reveals strong differences in the viscoelastic nonlinearities of these three different shear-thickening dispersions which can be used to create a nonlinear rheological fingerprint for each and offers valuable new insights into the nonlinear dynamics associated with each of the shear-thickening mechanisms.     

Pressure-Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layers Developing Around a Wing Section

A direct numerical simulation database of the flow around a NACA4412 wing section at R e _c = 400,000 and 5^° angle of attack (Hosseini et al. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 61, 117–128, 2016), obtained with the spectral-element code Nek5000, is analyzed. The Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β ranges from ? 0 and 85 on the suction side, and from 0 to ? 0.25 on the pressure side of the wing. The maximum R e _?? and R e _τ values are around 2,800 and 373 on the suction side, respectively, whereas on the pressure side these values are 818 and 346. Comparisons between the suction side with zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer data show larger values of the shape factor and a lower skin friction, both connected with the fact that the adverse pressure gradient present on the suction side of the wing increases the wall-normal convection. The adverse-pressure-gradient boundary layer also exhibits a more prominent wake region, the development of an outer peak in the Reynolds-stress tensor components, and increased production and dissipation across the boundary layer. All these effects are connected with the fact that the large-scale motions of the flow become relatively more intense due to the adverse pressure gradient, as apparent from spanwise premultiplied power-spectral density maps. The emergence of an outer spectral peak is observed at β values of around 4 for λ _z ? 0.65δ ₉₉, closer to the wall than the spectral outer peak observed in zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers at higher R e _?? . The effect of the slight favorable pressure gradient present on the pressure side of the wing is opposite the one of the adverse pressure gradient, leading to less energetic outer-layer structures.     

Morse Index and Linear Stability of the Lagrangian Circular Orbit in a Three-Body-Type Problem Via Index Theory

It is well known that the linear stability of the Lagrangian elliptic solutions in the classical planar three-body problem depends on a mass parameter β and on the eccentricity e of the orbit. We consider only the circular case (e = 0) but under the action of a broader family of singular potentials: α-homogeneous potentials, for \(\alpha \in (0, 2)\), and the logarithmic one. It turns out indeed that the Lagrangian circular orbit persists also in this more general setting. We discover a region of linear stability expressed in terms of the homogeneity parameter α and the mass parameter β, then we compute the Morse index of this orbit and of its iterates and we find that the boundary of the stability region is the envelope of a family of curves on which the Morse indices of the iterates jump. In order to conduct our analysis we rely on a Maslov-type index theory devised and developed by Y. Long, X. Hu and S. Sun; a key role is played by an appropriate index theorem and by some precise computations of suitable Maslov-type indices.     

Supersonic viscous perfect-gas flow past a slender sharp elliptic cone

The supersonic M_∞ = 5 flow past slender elliptic cones with the semi-vertex angle in the plane of the major semi-axis ? _c = 4° and an isothermal surface is investigated under the assumption of the flow symmetry. Calculations on the basis of the time-dependent three-dimensional Navier-Stokes and Reynolds equations are carried out on the Reynolds number and angle of attack ranges 10⁴ ≤ Re ≤ 108 and 0 ≤ α ≤ 15° for cones with ellipticity coefficients 1/32 ≤ δ= b/a ≤ 1. The effect of the relevant parameters of the problem on the flowfield structure and the aerodynamic characteristics of the cones is demonstrated.