Vortex pairing in an axisymmetric jet using two-frequency acoustic forcing at low to moderate strouhal numbers

 Hot-wire measurement and multi-smoke wire flow visualization method are employed to study vortex pairing in the jet column mode under two-frequency forcing with controlled initial phase differences. For the range of 0.3<St _D <0.6, vortex pairing can be easily controlled by means of the fundamental and its subharmonic forcing with varying initial phase differences. As stable vortex pairing dominates, the variation of the subharmonic component with the initial phase difference changes from a sine shape to a cusp-like shape. The harmonics of the subharmonic also show similar trends. The detuning induces the amplitude and phase modulations of the u-signal in the time trace and the sideband growth in the spectra. The u-signal reflects the subharmonic variation with the initial phase difference in its envelope. For 0.6<St _D <0.9, non-pairing advection of vortices due to improper phase difference is sometimes observed under single-frequency forcing. In this case, vortex pairing can be made to occur by the addition of a subharmonic with very small amplitude. As the initial level of this subharmonic is increased, the onset position of vortex pairing moves upstream. In this range, the initial phase difference is not an effective parameter in controlling vortex pairing. Received: 22 May 1997 / Accepted: 16 October 1997     

K-shell spectroscopy of plasmas created by intense laser irradiation of micron-scale pyramid and sphere targets

K-shell spectra of targets with microstructured features irradiated by an intense femtosecond laser have been studied. Examination of K_α emission from laser irradiated Si targets coated with micron-scale polystyrene spheres indicates that the emission is enhanced by a factor of 3 over emission from planar solids. Sphere-coated targets also emit K-shell He-like Si radiation indicating the presence of a hot dense plasma beneath the microspheres. Furthermore, K_α from Ti foils coupled to micro-tipped reentrant pyramid and wedge shaped targets has been studied, however, no significant enhancement of the K_α yield is observed for these kinds of targets. These studies illustrate that, with correct tailoring of the target surface, field enhancements can be used to increase X-ray emission from intensely irradiated targets.     

Finite element simulations of martensitic phase transitions and microstructures based on a strain softening model

A new approach for modeling multivariant martensitic phase transitions (PT) and martensitic microstructure (MM) in elastic materials is proposed. It is based on a thermomechanical model for PT that includes strain softening and the corresponding strain localization during PT. Mesh sensitivity in numerical simulations is avoided by using rate-dependent constitutive equations in the model. Due to strain softening, a microstructure comprised of pure martensitic and austenitic domains separated by narrow transition zones is obtained as the solution of the corresponding boundary value problem. In contrast to Landau-Ginzburg models, which are limited in practice to nanoscale specimens, this new phase field model is valid for scales greater than 100 nm and without upper bound. A finite element algorithm for the solution of elastic problems with multivariant martensitic PT is developed and implemented into the software ABAQUS. Simulated microstructures in elastic single crystals and polycrystals under uniaxial loading are in qualitative agreement with those observed experimentally.     

Molecular Encapsulation of Trimeric Chromium Carboxylate Clusters in Metal–Organic Frameworks and Propylene Sorption

Oxo-bridged trimeric chromium acetate clusters [Cr₃O(OOCCH₃)₆(H₂O)₃]NO₃ have been encapsulated for the first time in the mesoporous cages of the chromium terephthalate MIL-101(Cr). The isolated clusters in MIL-101(Cr) have increased affinity towards propylene compared to propane, due to generation of a new kind of pocket-based propylene-binding site, as supported by DFT calculations.     

Understanding the effect of inhomogeneous fuel–air mixing on knocking characteristics of various ethanol reference fuels with RON 100 using rapid compression machine

We investigated the effect of inhomogeneous mixing of a fuel–air mixture in a spark-ignition engine on knocking characteristics and the dependency of the effect on the fuel, especially for various ethanol reference fuels with a fixed RON of 100. We assumed that a locally lean spot and rich spots exist in the end gas owing to inhomogeneous mixing and calculated their thermodynamic states with a multizone spark-ignition engine simulation. Subsequently, the ignition delay around the state was measured using a rapid compression machine at varying temperatures and equivalence ratios. The obtained results were processed to calculate ξ, which is the ratio of sound speed to auto-ignition propagation speed, and $?$, defined as the time required for acoustic front to exit the hot spot divided by the excitation time. Then, we analyzed the knocking occurrence and intensity from the locally lean spot and rich spots based on Zel'dovich and Bradley's ξ–$?$ theory. Our results show that the lean spot has a shorter ignition delay than the stoichiometric mixture (ξ?>?0) regardless of the ethanol content, whereas the rich spot does not (ξ?<?0), implying that only the lean spot can initiate knocking. This is because the temperature of the lean spot is higher than the surrounding mixture owing to its higher specific heat ratio and less charge cooling effect. In addition, the knocking intensity from the lean spot is found to be maximized with ERF0, showing the largest ${\xi }^{?2}$ value. Further analysis was conducted by dividing ξ into the effect of the temperature gradient, ξ_T, and that of the equivalence ratio gradient, ξ_?. Consequently, we found that the magnitude of ξ_T is related to the activation energy of the fuel, while that of ξ_? is determined by the dependency of the pre-heat release characteristics of the fuel on the equivalence ratio.     

Self‐Assembly of a Tripod Aromatic Rod into Stacked Planar Networks

Threefold symmetric rigid‐core molecules with an internally grafted poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) chain were synthesized, and their self‐assembled structures were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry, TEM, and 1D and 2D X‐ray scatterings in the solid state. The tripod compounds based on short PEO chains (n=8, 13, 17, 21), self‐assemble into 2D channel‐like network structures, whereas the compound with the longest PEO chain (n=34) forms a lamellar liquid crystalline phase. The interiors of the channel structures are filled with flexible PEO chains along the double‐walled aromatic circumference. In these channel‐like networks, three aromatic rods connected in the meta‐position to each other are superimposed in parallel to other adjacent molecules to form the double‐walled aromatic frameworks stacked perpendicular to the resulting channels. These are novel examples of supramolecular channel‐like structures developed using amphiphilic diblock molecules based on a threefold symmetric rigid scaffold.     

A Kinetic Study for the Noncatalytic Esterification of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

In this work, the reaction scheme for the esterification of palm fatty acid distillate performed under the noncatalytic and high‐temperature condition (230–290°C) was investigated with a rigorous mathematical modeling. The esterification reaction was assumed to be the pseudo–homogeneous second‐order reversible reaction, and the mass transfer effectiveness factor (η) was introduced in the modeling framework to systematically and collectively consider both evaporation and reaction, which are simultaneously and competitively occurred in the liquid phase. The nonlinear programming problem was constructed with the objective function consisting of the errors between experimental data and the estimated values from the reaction model. The problem was solved by using the Nelder–Mead simplex algorithm to identify kinetic parameters, reaction rate constants, and mass transfer coefficients. The values of mass transfer coefficients were found to follow the Hertz–Knudsen relation and expressed as a function of reaction temperature. From the reaction rate constants obtained from the proposed kinetic models, the apparent activation energy was estimated to be 43.98 kJ/mol, which is lower than the value obtained from the reaction using heterogeneous catalysts. This low value indicates that reactants and products behave as an acid catalyst at relatively high operating temperature and constant pressure.     

Reversible Transformation between Cubane and Stairstep Cu4I4 Clusters Using Heat or Solvent Vapor

The controlled self‐assembly of CuI and an asymmetric ligand with mixed N/S donors, 2‐(tert‐butylthio)‐N‐(pyridin‐3‐yl)acetamide ( L ), afforded three Cu^I coordination polymers (CPs), [Cu₄I₄ L ₂(MeCN)₂]_n ( 1 ), [Cu₄I₄ L ₂]_n ( 2 ), and {[Cu₄I₄ L ₂] ? MeOH}_n ( 3 ). X‐ray analyses showed that CPs 1 – 3 are supramolecular isomers with 1, 2, and 3D structures, respectively. CP 1 adopts a stairstep Cu₄I₄ cluster, whereas CPs 2 and 3 are composed of cubane‐like Cu₄I₄ clusters. Crystal‐to‐crystal transformations of 1 to 2 and 3 showed reversible transformations between different Cu₄I₄ clusters using heat or solvent (acetonitrile or methanol) vapor. CP 2 was reversibly transformed to 3 by the addition of methanol and heat. Therefore, the transformations between supramolecular isomers 1 , 2 , and 3 are completely reversible.