Kinetics Study of the Thermal Decomposition of Post-consumer Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate) in an Argon Atmosphere

The thermal decomposition of post-consumer samples of a carbonated water bottle made of poly(ethylene terephthalate), PC-PET, was examined by linear temperature programing under an argon atmosphere to determine its mass loss kinetics. A simple kinetic model, called the first order pseudo single-component model, was used. The total weight-loss of each sample assumed to be in two periods, with each period corresponding to a one step decomposition of the PC-PET to volatiles. Three methods for determining the kinetic parameters by thermal gravimetric analysis were examined: differential analysis at a constant heating rate (differential), temperatures of a given conversion at a number of heating rates (isoconversional), and the maximum rate at multiple heating rates (peak temperature). The latter two multiple heating rates methods results were comparable to each other but they were not in agreement with the results from the differential method. The results of the differential method were insensitive to the heating rate and consistent with kinetics data reported in the literature for PET.     

Thermal decomposition of model compound of algal biomass

This contribution investigates thermal decomposition of leucine, as a representative model compound for amino acids in algal biomass. We map out potential energy surface for a wide array of unimolecular and self-condensation reactions operating in the decomposition of leucine. Decarboxylation and dehydration of leucine ensues by eliminating CO₂ and –OH, respectively, from the –COOH group attached to the α-carbon. The molecular channel for deamination involves cleavage of NH₂ from α-carbon of leucine. The activation energies for direct elimination of CO₂, NH₃, and H₂O from a leucine molecule lie within 20.7 kJ/mol of each other. Activation energies for these decomposition pathways reside below the bond dissociation enthalpy of H–C(α) of 323.1 kJ/mol. The decarboxylation, deamination, and dehydration pathways, via radical-prompted pathways, systematically require lower energy barriers, in reference to closed-shell reaction corridors. Detailed computations at the CBS-QB3 level provide the Arrhenius rate parameters for the unimolecular and bimolecular reactions, and standard enthalpies of formation, standard entropies, and heat capacities for all the products and intermediates. A kinetic analysis of gas-phase reactions, within the context of a plug-flow reactor model, accounts qualitatively for the formation of major products observed experimentally in the thermal degradation of the condensed-phase leucine. Among notable N-containing species, the model predicts the prevailing of NH₃ over HCN and HNCO, in addition to corresponding appreciable concentrations of amines, imines, and nitriles. Our detailed kinetic investigation illustrates a negligible contribution of the self-condensation reactions of leucine in the gas phase.     

On tight 6-cycle decompositions of complete 3-uniform hypergraphs

The complete 3-uniform hypergraph of order v has a vertex set V of size v and the set of all 3-element subsets of V as its edge set. A tight 6-cycle is a hypergraph with vertex set $\{a,b,c,d,e,f\}$ and edge set $\{\{a,b,c\},\{b,c,d\},\{c,d,e\},\{d,e,f\},\{e,f,a\},\{f,a,b\}\}$. We show that there exists a decomposition of the complete 3-uniform hypergraph of order v into isomorphic copies of a tight 6-cycle if and only if $v\equiv 1$, 2, 10, 20, 28, or $29(\mathrm{mod}36)$.     

Incremental dynamic mode decomposition: A reduced-model learner operating at the low-data limit

The present work aims at proposing a new methodology for learning reduced models from a small amount of data. It is based on the fact that discrete models, or their transfer function counterparts, have a low rank and then they can be expressed very efficiently using few terms of a tensor decomposition. An efficient procedure is proposed as well as a way for extending it to nonlinear settings while keeping limited the impact of data noise. The proposed methodology is then validated by considering a nonlinear elastic problem and constructing the model relating tractions and displacements at the observation points.     

Domain decomposition methods in a geometrical multiscale domain using finite volume schemes

The heat equation is solved by using a finite volume discretization in a domain that consists of a two-dimensional central node and several one-dimensional outgoing branches. Several interface connection options to match the submodels set on the node and on the branches, with or without continuity, are looked at. For each of them, a monolithic scheme is defined, and existence and uniqueness of the solution is proved. New schemes are deduced, which are obtained through domain decomposition methods in the form of interface systems, with one or two unknowns per interface. A comparative systematic study is carried out from an algebraic and numerical point of view according to the interface conditions: Dirichlet, Neumann, or Robin. An efficient diagonal preconditioning is proposed.     

基于特征正交分解的一类瞬态非线性热传导问题的新型快速分析方法

提出了一种基于特征正交分解(POD)和有限元法的瞬态非线性热传导问题的模型降阶快速分析方法, 建立了导热系数随温度变化的一类瞬态非线性热传导问题有限元格式的POD降阶模型. 在隐式时间推进方法的基础上有效结合单元预转换方法和多级线性化方法发展了一种加速求解瞬态非线性热传导降阶模型的新型计算方法,并通过二维和三维算例验证了该方法的准确性和高效性. 研究结果表明: (1)降阶模型解的均方根误差在经过初始时段轻微的脉动后稳定于0.01%以下, 而其计算效率比有限元全阶模型提高2$\sim $3个数量级, 并且自由度数量(DOFs)愈大提高的幅度也愈加显著; (2)新型算法解决了常规算法在计算非线性降阶模型时加速性能差的问题, 即使是在DOFs比较小的时候也能够明显提高计算效率; (3)常数边界条件下得到的POD模态可以用来建立相同求解域在各种复杂时变边界条件下的瞬态非线性热传导降阶模型, 并对其传热过程和温度场进行快速准确的分析与预测, 具有很好的工程应用价值.