Control of adiabatic two-phase dielectric fluid flow distribution with EHD conduction pumping

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumping is associated with the heterocharge layers of finite thickness in the vicinity of the electrodes, which are based on the process of dissociation of the neutral electrolytic species and recombination of the generated ions. This paper presents the successful control of dielectric liquid/vapor flow distribution between two parallel branch lines utilizing an EHD conduction pump at a select mass flux level under adiabatic condition.     

Development of a finite-element analysis methodology for the propagation of delaminations in composite structures

Analysing the collapse of skin-stiffened structures requires capturing the critical phenomenon of skin-stiffener separation, which can be considered analogous to interlaminar cracking. This paper presents the development of a numerical approach for simulating the propagation of interlaminar cracks in composite structures. A degradation methodology was introduced in MSC.Marc, which involved the modelling of a structure with shell layers connected by user-defined multiple-point constraints (MPCs). User subroutines were written that employ the virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) to determine the onset of crack growth and modify the properties of the user-defined MPCs to simulate crack propagation. Methodologies for the release of failing MPCs are presented and are discussed with reference to the VCCT assumption of self-similar crack growth. The numerical results obtained by using the release methodologies are then compared with experimental data for a double-cantilever beam specimen. Based on this comparison, recommendations for the future development of the degradation model are made, especially with reference to developing an approach for the collapse analysis of fuselage-representative structures. Russian translation published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 15–42, January–February, 2007.     

Buckling and free vibration analyses of stiffened plates using the FSDT mesh-free method

This paper presents a mesh-free Galerkin method for the free vibration and stability analyses of stiffened plates via the first-order shear deformable theory (FSDT). The model of a stiffened plate is formed by (1) regarding the plate and the stiffener separately, (2) imposing displacement compatible conditions between the plate and the stiffener so that displacement fields of the stiffener can be expressed in terms of the mid-surface displacement of the plate, and (3) superimposing the strain energy of plate and stiffener. Because there are no meshes used in this method, the stiffeners can be placed anywhere on the plate and need not be placed along the mesh lines. Several numerical examples are computed by this method to show its accuracy and convergence. The present results demonstrate good agreement with the existing solutions given by other researchers and the ANSYS. Influences of support size and order of the complete basis functions on the numerical accuracy are also investigated.     

Phase transition and diffusivity in social hierarchies with attractive sites

We study the effects of including a distribution of valuable or attractive sites in a two-dimensional lattice in self-organizing social hierarchies. Agents move aleatorily except in the case where an attractive site is located in their neighborhood. We find that the transition between an egalitarian society at low population density and a hierarchical one at high population density strongly depends on the distribution and percolation of strategic sites. Also, it is shown how agent diffusivity is closely related to the amount of inequality. The proposed model introduces an optimization aspect to the problem of social hierarchies since the system tends to maximize the occupation of attractive sites (wealth per capita). However, when the density of attractive sites is small, the system fails to reach this state, and is trapped in a local minimum, as in a glass or jam transition.     

Towards the synthesis of insulated oligoynes: A ring-closing-metathesis approach to molecular encapsulation

Masked hexayne 18 was prepared in 11 steps from commercially available reagents. The four butenyl substituents contained within the two arylsilane residues in 18 have been used in a double ring-closing-metathesis operation in an attempt to encapsulate the π-conjugated framework. When 18 was treated with Grubbs’ 1st generation metathesis catalyst however, double ring-closing metathesis provided macrocycle 19 as the major product in good yield. Reasons why the macrocycle in 19 crowns, rather than encapsulates, the π-conjugated framework are discussed.     

Highly charging of nanoparticles through electrospray of nanoparticle suspension

Patterned deposition of nanoparticles is a prerequisite for the application of unique properties of nanoparticles in future nanodevices. Recent development of nanoxerography requires highly charged aerosol nanoparticles to avoid noise deposition due to random Brownian motion. However, it has been known that it is difficult to charge aerosol nanoparticles with more than two elementary charges. The goal of this work is to develop a simple technique for obtaining highly charged monodisperse aerosol nanoparticles by means of electrospray of colloidal suspension. Highly charged aerosol nanoparticles were produced by electrospraying (ES) and drying colloidal suspensions of monodisperse gold nanoparticles. Size and charge distributions of the resultant particles were measured. We demonstrate that this method successfully charges monodisperse nanoparticles very highly, e.g., 122 elementary charges for 25.0 nm, 23.5 for 10.5 nm, and 4.6 for 4.2 nm. The method described here constitutes a convenient, reliable, and continuous tool for preparing highly charged aerosol nanoparticles from suspensions of nanoparticles produced by either wet chemistry or gas-phase methods.     

A novel electrode architecture for passive direct methanol fuel cells

The supply of cathode reactants in a passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) relies on naturally breathing oxygen from ambient air. The successful operation of this type of passive fuel cell requires the overall mass transfer resistance of oxygen through the layered fuel cell structure to be minimized such that the voltage loss due to the oxygen concentration polarization can be reduced. In this work, we propose a new membrane electrode assembly (MEA), in which the conventional cathode gas diffusion layer (GDL) is eliminated while utilizing a porous metal structure for transporting oxygen and collecting current. We show theoretically that the new MEA enables a higher mass transfer rate of oxygen and thus better performance. The measured polarization and constant-current discharging behavior showed that the passive DMFC with the new MEA yielded better and much more stable performance than did the cell having the conventional MEA. The EIS spectrum analysis further demonstrated that the improved performance with the new MEA was attributed to the enhanced transport of oxygen as a result of the reduced mass transfer resistance in the fuel cell system.     

Influence of the laser parameters on the space and time characteristics of an aluminum laser-induced plasma

In this work, an aluminum laser plasma produced in ambient air at atmospheric pressure by laser pulses at a fluence of 10 J/cm² is characterized by time- and space-resolved measurements of electron density and temperature. Varying the laser pulse duration from 6 ns to 80 fs and the laser wavelength from ultraviolet to infrared only slightly influences the plasma properties. The temperature exhibits a slight decrease both at the plasma edge and close to the target surface. The electron density is found to be spatially homogeneous in the ablation plume during the first microsecond. Finally, the plasma expansion is in good agreement with the Sedov's model during the first 500 ns and it becomes subsonic, with respect to the velocity of sound in air, typically 1 μs after the plasma creation. The physical interpretation of the experimental results is also discussed to the light of a one-dimensional fluid model which provides a good qualitative agreement with measurements.     

Preparation and voltammetric characterisation of bismuth-modified mesoporous platinum microelectrodes. Application to the electrooxidation of formic acid

In this paper mesoporous platinum microeletrodes (Pt-ME) modified with submonolayers of adsorbed bismuth (Bi-PtME) were prepared and characterised by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The mesoporous platinum films were electrodeposited from hexachloroplatinic acid dissolved in the aqueous domain of the lyotropic liquid crystalline phase of Brij 78^®, to form metal films with hexagonal arrays of nanometer-sized channels. Bismuth deposition was performed by different procedures involving either the spontaneous adsorption of bismuth onto the Pt surface from Bi³⁺ solutions, or by under potential deposition (UPD) of bismuth from Bi³⁺ solutions, by cycling the potential over an useful range, or applying a constant potential for a given time. The latter procedures provided high bismuth coverage (θ_Bi), whereas only small amounts of bismuth could be adsorbed from the simple immersion of the Pt-ME at open circuit. The coverage by irreversibly adsorbed bismuth was checked in a 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution free of Bi³⁺ ions and exploiting the charge involved in the hydrogen adsorption/desorption, which decreased in proportion to the amount of platinum sites covered by bismuth. The ability of the prepared Bi-PtME towards the oxidation of formic acid was also investigated. It was found that Bi-PtME with θ_Bi = 0.6 provided stationary voltammograms characterised by a low hysteresis between the anodic and cathodic scans. The onset of the waves resulted shifted by about 150 mV towards less positive potentials with respect to that of the corresponding Pt-ME. At 0.1 M HCOOH current densities of about 70 mA cm⁻² were achieved. These results were discussed in terms of high tolerance towards the intermediate poisons of the Bi-PtME investigated here. Bi-PtME with much lower real surface area and bismuth coverage displayed both lower catalytic activity and tolerance to poisons.