The crystal structures of α- and β-CdUO4

The structural parameters of α- and β-CdUO₄ crystals are determined by X-ray powder diffraction technique. α-CdUO₄ is rhombohedral and cell parameters are a = 6.233(3) Å and α = 36.12(5)°. β-CdUO₄ crystallizes in a C-centered orthorhombic cell with a = 7.023(4), b = 6.849(3), c = 3.514 (2) Å. The space groups are $\text{R}\text{3}\text{m}$ for α-CdUO₄ and Cmmm for β-CdUO₄. α-CdUO₄: 1U in (000), 1Cd in ($\text{1}\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}$), 2O(1) in ±(uuu), 2O(2) in ±(vvv); u = 0.113, v = 0.350, Z = 1. β-CdUO₄: 2U in ($\text{000;}\text{1}\text{2}\text{1}\text{2}\text{0}$), 2Cd in ($\text{1}\text{2}\text{0}\text{1}\text{2}\text{; 0}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{1}\text{2}$), 4O(1) in ($\text{0, ±y, 0;}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{1}\text{2}\text{±y, 0}$), 4O(2) in ($\text{±x, 0,}\text{1}\text{2}\text{;}\text{1}\text{2}\text{±x,}\text{1}\text{2}\text{,}\text{1}\text{2}$); x = 0.159, y = 0.278, Z = 2. β-CdUO₄ contains collinear uranyl UO²⁺₂ groups with a UO(1) distance of 1.91 Å, located either along or parallel to the c axis whereas the UO(1) bond length in α-CdUO₄ is 1.98 Å which is longer than the usual uranyl bond length.     

Vortex shedding from a ring in shear flow

Vortex shedding from a bluff ring in a linear shear flow has been investigated experimentally. The shedding frequency, measured using a hot wire in various positions within the near wake of the ring, was found to be remarkably insensitive to a mean flow shear parameter, , defined by (d/U _o).U/y, where d is the mean ring diameter and U _o is the undisturbed upstream velocity on the ring axis; even for = 0.41, corresponding to a velocity variation of about ±24% across the outer ring diameter, the Strouhal number was only about 5% lower than in uniform flow. However, the strong axisymmetric shedding which dominates the flow for = 0 is significantly affected by shear. Indeed, spatial correlation measurements demonstrated that the shedding actually becomes anti-symmetric at the highest values of . The implication of these results is that vortex flowmeters constructed using a ring as the shedding body would be relatively unaffected by changes in the upstream mean flow profile.