A mass‐fraction‐based interface‐capturing method for multi‐component flow

An interface‐capturing method based on mass fraction is developed to solve the Riemann problem in multi‐component compressible flow. Equations of mass fraction with modified form, which is derived from conservative equations of mass, are employed here to capture the interface. By introducing mass fraction into Euler equations system, as well as other conservative coefficients, a quasi‐conservative numerical model is created. Numerical examples show that the mass fraction model performs well not only in multi‐component fluids modeled by simple stiffened gas equation of state (EOS) but also in that modeled by complex Mie–Grüneisen EOS. Moreover, the mass fraction model is applied to Riemann problem with piecewise EOS; the expression of which depends on density. It is found that the mass fraction model can well adapt to the analytic change in piecewise EOS and produce accuracy solutions with fewer unknown quantities, and the model can be easily extended to m‐component fluid mixture by using only m + 4 equations with no additional conditions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of NiS flower-like architectures

Under the influence of thiocyanate anions (SCN^?) and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), NiS flower-like architectures were successfully synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method. The synthesized flower-like architectures, with a multilayered and highly ordered texture, have diameters of several micrometers. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) shows that the NiS flower-like architectures are rhombohedral crystalline. On the basis of condition-dependent experiments, the diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) model and cage effect were used to explain the growth process of rhombohedral crystalline NiS flower-like architectures. Magnetic measurements showed that the coercivity (H_c) of the as-obtained NiS flower-like architectures was 102.14 Oe.     

Simulation of three‐dimensional flows over moving objects by an improved immersed boundary–lattice Boltzmann method

An improved immersed boundary–lattice Boltzmann method (IB–LBM) developed recently [28] was applied in this work to simulate three‐dimensional (3D) flows over moving objects. By enforcing the non‐slip boundary condition, the method could avoid any flow penetration to the wall. In the developed IB–LBM solver, the flow field is obtained on the non‐uniform mesh by the efficient LBM that is based on the second‐order one‐dimensional interpolation. As a consequence, its coefficients could be computed simply. By simulating flows over a stationary sphere and torus [28] accurately and efficiently, the proposed IB–LBM showed its ability to handle 3D flow problems with curved boundaries. In this paper, we further applied this method to simulate 3D flows around moving boundaries. As a first example, the flow over a rotating sphere was simulated. The obtained results agreed very well with the previous data in the literature. Then, simulation of flow over a rotating torus was conducted. The capability of the improved IB–LBM for solving 3D flows over moving objects with complex geometries was demonstrated via the simulations of fish swimming and dragonfly flight. The numerical results displayed quantitative and qualitative agreement with the date in the literature. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation and Tribological Behaviors of Lubricants—Oil Based on Modified Microbial Oil with Nano-Schiff Base Copper Complex

A W/O microemulsion reactor was used to prepare four kinds of modified lubricants: (i) modified lubricant 1, modified epoxidized microbial oil + rape oil in volume ratio of 1:1; (ii) modified lubricant 2, modified esterified microbial oil + rape oil in volume ratio of 1:3; (iii) modified lubricant 3, modified epoxidized rape oil; and (iv) modified lubricant 4, modified PAO. The individual modified lubricants were further modified with 0%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2% content of nano-Schiff base copper complex (nano-SBCC). A microtribometer was used to evaluate the friction coefficient between ball/flat point contacts immersed in the modified lubricants and operated in reciprocating and linear sliding mode. A comparison of the values of the friction coefficient with the lubricants further modified with nano-SBCC with those of their individual 0% nano-SBCC counterparts indicated significant decrease: (i) almost 19.18% was obtainable for the modified lubricant 1 with 2% of nano-Schiff base copper complex, (ii) almost 16.5% was obtainable for the modified lubricant 2 with 0.5% of nano-Schiff base copper complex; (iii) almost 7.42% was obtainable for the modified lubricant 3 with 1% of nano-SBCC; and (iv) almost 7.01% was obtainable for the modified lubricant 4 with 0.5% of nano-SBCC. These suggested that the addition of nano-Schiff base copper complex can efficiently decrease the friction coefficient of epoxidized or esterified microbial oil. Analyses of two-dimensional images, average profiles (across the mid-section y = 0 of the reciprocating sliding path), and three-dimensional topographies by confocal white light microscope for the worn surfaces of flats immersed in modified lubricant 1 and modified lubricant 2 suggested better wear-resistance of the modified lubricant 2 than that of the modified lubricant 1. The ability of wear resistance for the modified lubricant became better with the increasing content of nano-Schiff base copper complex from 0% to 2%. The study revealed the modification of epoxidized microbial oil + rape oil (1:1 volume ratio) and esterified microbial oil + rape oil (1:3 volume ratio) with Cu(II) chelate of bis(salicylaldehyde)ethylenediamine, reducing the magnitude of friction and wear because of their respective wear self-repairing ability. Such self-repairing ability furnishes the suitability of epoxidized microbial oil or esterified microbial oil to be effectively modified by nano-Schiff base copper complex and to substitute ordinary base oil as a mixture with rape oil.     

The effects of chemical composition and distribution on the preservation of phytolith morphology

Different types of phytolith even when coming from the same plant react to high temperatures in different ways. To understand the behavior of phytoliths upon heating, we examined composition and distribution of some elements within different phytolith types using SEM-EDS and synchrotron radiation μ-X-ray fluorescence. By analyzing phytoliths from rice husk, rice leaf and Than tree leaf, we find that the compositions and distributions of metal oxides within different phytolith types are quite different. It is well known that metal oxides have been used as fluxing agent to reduce the melting temperature of SiO₂ in the production of glass, and different metal oxides can be used to produce a variety of glass with diverse features. Similarly, metal elements including potassium, magnesium and calcium in phytoliths should also act as a fluxing agent under high temperature, and the differential compositions and distributions of these metal elements within the phytoliths resulted in the variable reaction to heating. In sum, there is a negative relationship between the flux elements composition in phytoliths, and the temperatures at which phytoliths deform; furthermore, potassium and calcium in the rice leaf phytolith are almost evenly distributed in all parts, which may cause the phytolith’s shape to deform evenly. In comparison, Than tree leaf phytolith is found to have a high percentage of potassium and calcium located exclusively on the outside, which may explain why the deformation of Than tree leaf phytolith occurs firstly at the outside.     

Coupling-observer-based nonlinear control for flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles

This paper investigates the nonlinear control problem for flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles (FAHVs). The coupling dynamics between flexible and rigid-body parts of FAHVs may cause degradation of control performance or high-frequency oscillations of control input and flexible state. In this paper, the flexible effects produced by the coupling are modeled as a kind of unknown disturbance and included in the new control-design model, for which a coupling observer is constructed to estimate these effects. Thus, a novel nonlinear composite control strategy, which combines a coupling-observer-based feedforward compensator and a dynamic-inversion-based feedback controller, is proposed to reject the flexible effects on pitch rate and track desired trajectories of velocity and flight-path angle. The stability of composite closed-loop system is analyzed by using the Lyapunov theory. Simulation results on a full nonlinear model of FAHVs demonstrate that the presented controller is more effective by comparison with the previous scheme.     

3D photon counting imaging at 1550 nm with 1.5-GHz sine-wave-gated InGaAs/InP GAPD

We demonstrated a 3D laser imaging system at 1550 nm with a 1.5-GHz sine-wave gated Geiger-mode InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD). An optical fiber bundle with 100 individual fiber outputs was implemented at the focal plane of the telescope, providing a 2.5-mrad imaging view. The system used single-pixel near-infrared single-photon detector to measure photons at fiber outputs instead of a photon counting array. The 1.5-GHz gated Geiger-mode InGaAs/InP APD with a timing jitter of 290 ps was operated in quasi-continuous mode with detection efficiency of ∼4.3%. We achieved higher than 6-cm surface-to-surface resolution at single-photon level, showing a potential of low-energy and eye-safe laser imaging system for long-distance measurements.