Imposing accurate wall boundary conditions in corrective‐matrix‐based moving particle semi‐implicit method for free surface flow

Corrective matrix that is derived to restore consistency of discretization schemes can significantly enhance accuracy for the inside particles in the Moving Particle Semi‐implicit method. In this situation, the error due to free surface and wall boundaries becomes dominant. Based on the recent study on Neumann boundary condition (Matsunaga et al, CMAME, 2020), the corrective matrix schemes in MPS are generalized to straightforwardly and accurately impose Neumann boundary condition. However, the new schemes can still easily trigger instability at free surface because of the biased error caused by the incomplete/biased neighbor support. Therefore, the existing stable schemes based on virtual particles and conservative gradient models are applied to free surface and nearby particles to produce a stable transitional layer at free surface. The new corrective matrix schemes are only applied to the particles under the stable transitional layer for improving the wall boundary conditions. Three numerical examples of free surface flows demonstrate that the proposed method can help to reduce the pressure/velocity fluctuations and hence enhance accuracy further.     

Deciphering the Structure and Chemical Composition of Drug Nanocarriers: From Bulk Approaches to Individual Nanoparticle Characterization

Drug nanocarriers (NCs) with sizes usually below 200 nm are gaining increasing interest in the treatment of severe diseases such as cancer and infections. Characterization methods to investigate the morphology and physicochemical properties of multifunctional NCs are key in their optimization and in the study of their in vitro and in vivo fate. Whereas a variety of methods has been developed to characterize “bulk” NCs in suspension, the scope of this review is to describe the different approaches for the NC characterization on an individual basis, for which fewer techniques are available. The accent is put on methods devoid of labelling, which could lead to artefacts. For each characterization method, the principles and approaches to analyze the data are presented in an accessible manner. Aspects related to sample preparation to avoid artefacts are indicated, and emphasis is put on examples of applications. NC characterization on an individual basis allows gaining invaluable information in terms of quality control, on: i) NC localization and fate in biological samples; ii) NC morphology and crystallinity; iii) distribution of the NC components (drugs, shells), and iv) quantification of NCs’ chemical composition. The individual characterization approaches are expected to gain increasing interest in the near future.     

Effects of particle size and concentration on bubble coalescence and froth formation in a slurry bubble column

A new approach for simulating the formation of a froth layer in a slurry bubble column is proposed. Froth is considered a separate phase, comprised of a mixture of gas, liquid, and solid. The simulation was carried out using commercial flow simulation software (FIRE v2014) for particle sizes of 60–150 μm at solid concentrations of 0–40 vol%, and superficial gas velocities of 0.02–0.034 m/s in a slurry bubble column with a hydraulic diameter of 0.2 m and height of 1.2 m. Modelling calculations were conducted using a Eulerian–Eulerian multiphase approach with k–ε turbulence. The population balance equations for bubble breakup, bubble coalescence rate, and the interfacial exchange of mass and momentum were included in the computational fluid dynamics code by writing subroutines in Fortran to track the number density of different bubble sizes. Flow structure, radial gas holdup, and Sauter mean bubble diameter distributions at different column heights were predicted in the pulp zone, while froth volume fraction and density were predicted in the froth zone. The model was validated using available experimental data, and the predicted and experimental results showed reasonable agreement. To demonstrate the effect of increasing solid concentration on the coalescence rate, a solid-effect multiplier in the coalescence efficiency equation was used. The solid-effect multiplier decreased with increasing slurry concentration, causing an increase in bubble coalescence efficiency. A slight decrease in the coalescence efficiency was also observed owing to increasing particle size, which led to a decrease in Sauter mean bubble diameter. The froth volume fraction increased with solid concentration. These results provide an improved understanding of the dynamics of slurry bubble reactors in the presence of hydrophilic particles.     

Multistrain edge‐based compartmental model on networks

Multistrain diseases, which are infected through individual contacts, pose severe public health threat nowadays. In this paper, we build competitive and mutative two‐strain edge‐based compartmental models using probability generation function (PGF) and pair approximation (PA). Both of them are ordinary differential equations. Their basic reproduction numbers and final size formulas are explicitly derived. We show that the formula gives a unique positive final epidemic size when the reproduction number is larger than unity. We further consider competitive and mutative multistrain diseases spreading models and compute their basic reproduction numbers. We perform numerical simulations that show some dynamical properties of the competitive and mutative two‐strain models.     

Physics-based plasticity model incorporating microstructure changes for severe plastic deformation

During machining processes, materials undergo severe deformations that lead to different behavior than in the case of slow deformation. The microstructure changes, as a consequence, affect the materials properties and therefore influence the functionality of the component. Developing material models capable of capturing such changes is therefore critical to better understand the interaction process–materials. In this paper, we introduce a new physics model associating Mechanical Threshold Stress (MTS) with Dislocation Density (DD) models. The modeling and the experimental results of a series of large strain experiments on polycrystalline copper (OFHC) involving sequences of shear deformation and strain rate (varying from quasi-static to dynamic) are very similar to those observed in processes such as machining. The Kocks–Mecking model, using the mechanical threshold stress as an internal state variable, correlates well with experimental results and strain rate jump experiments. This model was compared to the well-known Johnson–Cook model that showed some shortcomings in capturing the stain jump. The results show a high effect of rate sensitivity of strain hardening at large strains. Coupling the mechanical threshold stress dislocation density (MTS–DD), material models were implemented in the Abaqus/Explicit FE code. The model shows potentialities in predicting an increase in dislocation density and a reduction in cell size. It could ideally be used in the modeling of machining processes.     

Size and Shape Effect of Gold Nanoparticles in “Far‐Field” Surface Plasmon Resonance

The “far‐field” surface plasmon resonance (FSPR) of metal nanoparticles, which have built a facile way to emission enhancement of red, green, blue, and white with nice reproducibility, has big potential application in solution‐processed organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). According to the theory of the “far‐field” effect, the reflectivity of the metal surface and the phase shift at the reflection play an important role in enhancing ratio, which strongly relate to the size and shape of nanoparticles. In this work, gold nanospheres with different sizes and nanorods are synthesized in order to determine the size and shape effect of FSPR. The results demonstrate that the one with higher reflectivity in a certain range induces a better emission enhancement in the luminous efficiency and the maximum brightness. The nanoparticles with bigger sizes and shape of rods have higher reflectivity, which is consistent with the simulation based on FSPR effect. The phase shifts of different nanoparticles are optimized by the distance between gold nanoparticles and emitters. The metal NPs with a high reflectivity and the applicable phase shift will have big potential for the emission enhancement in OLEDs.     

The catalytic performance study of polymerized ionic liquid synthesized in different conditions on alkylation of o‐Xylene with styrene

In this work, a series of novel acidic polymerized ionic liquids were used as heterogeneous catalyst for alkylation of o‐Xylene with styrene. And the effect of the amount of initiator and the type of acid used for ion exchange on catalyst structure and the catalytic performance of catalysts for alkylation were studied thoroughly. The experiment results show: when the percentage of the amount of initiator in the total material is 3%, the polymerized ionic liquid catalyst MPM‐SO₃H‐[C₃V][SO₃CF₃] has the most uniform with a specific surface area of 97.30 m²/g and a pore volume of 0.35 cm³/g. Benefiting from the unique structure features, MPM‐SO₃H‐[C₃V][SO₃CF₃] manifested an excellent catalytic performance for alkylation of o‐Xylene with styrene, along with the conversion of styrene was 96.8% and the yield of 1‐Phenyl‐1‐ortho‐xylene ethane was 94.7%. Therefore, this work provides a novel reference to the synthesis of polymerized ionic liquids and clearly explains the advantage of novel acidic polymerized ionic liquids on alkylation.     

托卡马克中局域磁扰动引起的高能量离子损失研究

基于单粒子导心运动代码ORBIT，采用测试粒子模拟方法，研究了托卡马克等离子体内部不同径向位置处局域磁场扰动对高能量离子的损失的影响。研究表明，在局域磁扰动主要分布在某磁面附近、其环向具有类似纹波场形式下，可造成一些靠近等离子体中心区域的高能量离子损失，但对靠近等离子边界的离子损失影响相对不大。这些损失的高能量离子均为捕获离子，离子的投掷角越大就越容易损失。此外，造成高能量离子最大损失率的局域场径向位置与这些损失离子的初始径向位置通常存在一定的偏移，而且这个偏移与这些离子的能量密切相关。当局域场出现在某些位置时，能量较低的离子会有一定的损失，能量较高的离子反而不会损失。     

FTIR与XRD的均匀粒度分布Ce-Cu/TiO2空心微球制备机理研究

随着社会经济的发展，环境空气品质已经成为研究热点。TiO₂是一种化学稳定性高，耐腐蚀性强，对人体无毒无害的N型半导体材料。利用TiO₂的光催化性能提高室内环境空气品质已经成为研究焦点，但是由于TiO₂只能在紫外光源下才具有较高的光催化效率，而在可见光源下的光催化效率较低，从而极大的限制了TiO₂在室内环境领域的发展。因此，研发在可见光源下具有良好光催化性能的TiO₂复合材料势在必行。利用元素掺杂改性技术与提高比表面积方法可以改善光催化反应过程中量子效率和对光能的利用率，以加快电子和空穴向表面迁移的速率同时降低光生载流子的复合机率。以二氧化硅SiO₂为模板、聚乙烯吡咯烷酮为成膜剂、硝酸铈Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O和硝酸铜Cu(NO₃)₂·3H₂O为改性剂采用溶胶-凝胶法制备均匀粒度分布的Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球，并将制备过程分为四个阶段，即纳米SiO₂球模板的制备、Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球凝胶的制备、Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球的制备和Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的制备。利用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪（FTIR）与X射线衍射仪（XRD）对Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的制备过程各阶段生成物进行测试与分析，即在纳米SiO₂球模板的制备阶段从微观角度研究纳米SiO₂球模板的搭建过程，在Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球凝胶的制备阶段研究TiO₂附着于纳米SiO₂球模板的过程，在Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球的制备阶段研究煅烧工艺对Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球中晶相与结构的影响，在Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的制备阶段研究氢氧化钠溶液对Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球中纳米SiO₂球模板洗涤效果的影响。利用紫外-可见分光光度计（UV-Vis）对Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的光响应性能进行测试与分析，以研究Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球对可见光源的利用效率。利用激光粒度分析仪（LPSA）与扫描电子显微镜（SEM）对Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的粒度分布与微观形貌进行测试与分析，以研究Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的均匀粒度分布效果。结果表明：以Si-O-Si基团构建非晶体结构的无定形态纳米SiO₂球模板，有利于聚乙烯吡咯烷酮在纳米SiO₂球模板表面附着，从而控制Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的空腔结构。Ce-Cu掺杂基本进入TiO₂晶体，极少进入纳米SiO₂球模板晶体，从而抑制了Ce-Cu/TiO₂-SiO₂复合微球中TiO₂由锐钛矿相向金红石相的转变。Ce-Cu掺杂TiO₂可以促使TiO₂内部形成新的能级，实现能量较小的光子捕获e-和h+，从而提高Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球对可见光源的利用效率。Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球的表面光滑且不存在明显的缺陷，其形貌呈现良好的球体且粒径分布均匀，即d₉₀为219.54 nm，d₅₀为151.60 nm、d₁₀为103.84 nm，以及d₉₀-d₁₀为115.70 nm。研究结果为进一步获得可见光源下具有良好光催化性能的均匀粒度分布Ce-Cu/TiO₂空心微球提供理论依据和研究基础。     

A high‐order PIC method for advection‐dominated flow with application to shallow water waves

A hybrid Eulerian‐Lagrangian particle‐in‐cell–type numerical method is developed for the solution of advection‐dominated flow problems. Particular attention is given over to the high‐order transfer of flow properties from the particles to the grid. For smooth flows, the method presented is of formal high‐order accuracy in space. The method is applied to solve the nonlinear shallow water equations resulting in a new, and novel, shock capturing shallow water solver. The approach is able to simulate complex shallow water flows, which can contain an arbitrary number of discontinuities. Both trivial and nontrivial bottom topography is considered, and it is shown that the new scheme is inherently well balanced, exactly satisfying the ‐property. The scheme is verified against several one‐dimensional benchmark shallow water problems. These include cases that involve transcritical flow regimes, shock waves, and nontrivial bathymetry. In all the test cases presented, very good results are obtained.