Experimental study on wake flow structures of screen cylinders using PIV

Experiments were conducted in a water flume using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to study the evolution of the vortical structures in the wakes of four types of screen cylinders at a Reynolds number of about 3200. The results were compared with that of a bare cylinder. The screen cylinders were made of stainless steel screen meshes of various porosities (37%, 48%, 61% and 67%) rolled into cylindrical shapes. Smoke wire flow visualisations in a wind tunnel were also conducted in support of the PIV tests. Depending on the porosity of the screen mesh, two vortex formation mechanisms for the screen cylinder wakes were identified. One was associated with wake instability and the other was associated with shear-layer (Kelvin-Helmholtz) convective instability which involved merging through pairing and tripling of small-scale vortices within the shear layers. The former was responsible for the formation of large-scale vortices in the bare cylinder and the screen cylinder wakes with 37% and 48% porosities, while the latter was responsible for the screen cylinder wakes with 61% and 67% porosities. The results also showed that with increasing porosity, the vortex formation region was extended farther downstream and the Reynolds shear stress, the Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) and vortex intensity were decreased constantly.     

Bi/Bi_2O_3 nanoparticles supported on N-doped reduced graphene oxide for highly efficient CO_2 electroreduction to formate

Electrocatalytic CO_2 reduction(CO_2 ER) into formate is a desirable route to achieve efficient transformation of CO_2 to value-added chemicals,however,it still suffers from limited catalytic activity and poor selectivity.Herein,we develop a hybrid electrocatalyst composed of bismuth and bismuth oxide nanoparticles(NPs) supported on nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide(Bi/Bi_2 O_3/NrGO) nanosheets prepared by a combined hydrothermal with calcination treatment.Thanks to the combination of undercoordinated sites and strong synergistic effect between Bi and Bi_2 O_3,Bi/Bi_2 O_3/NrGO-700 hybrid displays a promoted CO2 ER catalytic performance and selectivity for formate production,as featured by a small onset potential of-0.5 V,a high current density of-18 mA/cm~2,the maximum Faradaic efficiency of85% at-0.9 V,and a low Tafel slope of 166 mV/dec.Experimental results reveal that the higher CO_2 ER performance of Bi/Bi_2 O_3/NrGO-700 than that of Bi NPs supported on NrGO(Bi/NrGO) can be due to the partial reduction of Bi_2 O_3 NPs into Bi,which significantly increases undercoordinated active sites on Bi NPs surface,thus boosting its CO_2 ER performance.Furthermore,a two-electrode device with Ir/C anode and Bi/Bi_2 O_3/NrGO-700 cathode could be integrated with two alkaline batteries or a planar solar cell to achieve highly active water splitting and CO_2 ER.     

Carbon-Based Materials as Lithium Hosts for Lithium Batteries

Lithium (Li) metal has attracted significant attention in areas that range from basic research to various commercial applications due to its high theoretical specific capacity (3860 mA h g⁻¹) and low electrochemical potential (−3.04 vs. standard hydrogen electrode). However, dendrites often form on the surfaces of Li metal anodes during cycling and thus lead to battery failure and, in some cases, raise safety concerns. To overcome this problem, a variety of approaches that vary the electrolyte, membrane, and/or anode have been proposed. Among these efforts, the use of three-dimensional frameworks as Li hosts, which can homogenize and minimize the current density at the anode surface, is an effective approach to suppress the formation of Li dendrites. Herein, we describe the development of using carbon-based materials as Li hosts. While these materials can be fabricated into a variety of porous structures, they have a number of intrinsic advantages including low costs, high specific surface areas, high electrical conductivities, and wide electrochemical stabilities. After briefly summarizing the formation mechanisms of Li dendrites, various methods for controlling structural and surface chemistry will be described for different types of carbon-based materials from the viewpoint of improving their performance as Li hosts. Finally, we provide perspective on the future development of Li host materials needed to meet the requirements for their use in flexible and wearable devices and other contemporary energy storage techniques.     

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND FLUID MECHANICS 1)

旷世全才列奥纳多·达·芬奇(Leonardo da Vinci),被世人誉为画家、雕刻家、天文学家、发明家、音乐家、数学家、解剖学家、生理学家、地质学家、植物学家、作家、军事、建筑工程和制图师,是意大利文艺复兴时期人文主义的代表人物。本文对其流体力学相关思想及湍流、飞行、波浪和风暴等几个方面的研究贡献进行梳理,认为他是流体力学科学研究的先驱和奠基人,也是一位“流体力学家”。     

泡沫铝防护钢筋混凝土板的抗爆性能

为研究多孔吸能材料泡沫铝板对工程结构的抗爆防护作用，开展室外爆炸破坏实验，分别对设置不同泡沫铝防护层的钢筋混凝土（reinforced concrete，RC）板在爆炸荷载下的动态响应及破坏模式进行了研究，并运用LS-DYNA软件建立了有限元模型。通过与实验对照，验证了模型的可行性，对比分析了有、无泡沫铝防护层钢筋混凝土板的损伤破坏规律，并讨论了泡沫铝密度梯度分布和纵筋配筋率的影响。结果表明:有限元模型能够有效分析含泡沫铝防护层RC板的动态响应及其破坏形态；泡沫铝防护层能够有效减小钢筋混凝土板的挠度变形，降低试件的破坏程度；泡沫铝密度由下到上递增情况对RC板的减爆效果最好；增大配筋率可以提升泡沫铝防护RC板整体抗爆性能。     

水冷却对高温花岗岩的细观损伤及动力学性能影响

为探讨高温花岗岩经水冷却后的细观结构损伤及动态力学性能，对水冷却后高温花岗岩开展波速和核磁共振测试，分离式霍普金森压杆冲击试验，以及冲击破碎试样的扫描电镜观察，分析比较不同状态下花岗岩波速、孔隙度和动力学参数的变化规律。研究发现:随着温度升高，经水冷却处理后高温花岗岩波速非线性下降，大孔径孔隙度分量增大，且水冷却后试样的孔隙孔径尺寸和数量均大于自然冷却；水冷却后高温花岗岩动力学参数呈现出随着温度升高，峰值应力减小，峰值应变增大，弹性模量则先增大后减小的规律；由于水冷却使高温花岗岩表面温度急剧降低，产生额外的温度应力，花岗岩内部损伤加剧，表现出更低的波速与峰值应力；而水的冷淬作用一定程度上提高了表层花岗岩的硬度，降低了高温后花岗岩的塑性能力，与自然冷却相比水冷却后花岗岩的峰值应变减小，弹性模量增大，表现出脆性破坏特征。在温度低于400 ℃时，冷却方式对冲击裂纹影响不大，随着温度升高到800 ℃，自然冷却后花岗岩冲击断面呈蜂窝状，而水冷却后冲击断面则相对平整。     

不可压粘性流体浸入边界直接力法及软件实现

浸入边界法通过在N-S方程中施加体积力模拟不可滑移固壁边界及动边界，避免生成复杂贴体网格及动网格，极大地节省了网格建模时间及动网格计算消耗。本文提出一种新型附加体积力简化计算方法，将简化附加体积力以源项形式嵌入动量方程迭代中，通过用户自定义函数对CFD软件FLUENT二次开发，实现了浸入边界法和通用流体力学求解器的耦合计算。通过静止圆柱和动圆柱绕流数值模拟进行了验证，并探讨了插值函数对计算精度的影响。研究表明，通过引入浸入边界模型，能够提高计算效率，并实现结构网格背景下复杂边界和动边界的高效建模。     

meta-Nitration of Arenes Bearing ortho/para Directing Group(s) Using C−H Borylation

Herein, we report the meta-nitration of arenes bearing ortho/para directing group(s) using the iridium-catalyzed C−H borylation reaction followed by a newly developed copper(II)-catalyzed transformation of the crude aryl pinacol boronate esters into the corresponding nitroarenes in a one-pot fashion. This protocol allows the synthesis of meta-nitrated arenes that are tedious to prepare or require multistep synthesis using the existing methods. The reaction tolerates a wide array of ortho/para-directing groups, such as −F, −Cl, −Br, −CH₃, −Et, −iPr −OCH₃, and −OCF₃. It also provides regioselective access to the nitro derivatives of π-electron-deficient heterocycles, such as pyridine and quinoline derivatives. The application of this method is demonstrated in the late-stage modification of complex molecules and also in the gram-scale preparation of an intermediate en route to the FDA-approved drug Nilotinib. Finally, we have shown that the nitro product obtained by this strategy can also be directly converted to the aniline or hindered amine through Baran's amination protocol.     

Sharp Reilly-type inequalities for a class of elliptic operators on submanifolds

Let M be an $n(>2)$-dimensional closed orientable submanifold in an $(n+p)$-dimensional space form ${\mathbb{R}}^{n+p}(c)$. We obtain an optimal upper bound for the second eigenvalue of a class of elliptic operators on M defined by $L_{T}f=-\text{div}(T\mathrm{\nabla }f)$, where T is a general symmetric, positive definite and divergence-free $(1,1)$-tensor on M. The upper bound is given in terms of an integration involving tr T and $|H_T{|}^2$, where tr T is the trace of the tensor T and $H_T={\sum }_{i=1}^{n}A(T{e}_i,e_i)$ is a normal vector field associated with T and the second fundamental form A of M. Furthermore, we give the sufficient and necessary conditions when the upper bound is attained. Our main theorem can be viewed as an extension of the famous “Reilly inequality”. The operator $L_T$ can be regarded as a natural generalization of the well-known operator $L_r$ which is the linearized operator of the first variation of the $(r+1)$-th mean curvature for hypersurfaces in a space form. As applications of our main theorem, we generalize the results of Grosjean [17] and Li–Wang [20] in codimension one to arbitrary codimension.