Geometric Design of Anode-Supported Micro-Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by Multiphysics Simulations

High volumetric power density (VPD) is the basis for the commercial success of micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cells (mtSOFCs). To find maximal VPD (MVPD) for anode-supported mtSOFC (as-mtSOFC), the effects of geometric parameters on VPD are analyzed and the anode thickness, t_an, and the cathode length, l_ca, are identified as the key design parameters. Thermo-fluid electrochemical models were built to examine the dependence of the electrical output on the cell parameters. The multiphysics model is validated by reproducing the experimental I-V curves with no adjustable parameters. The optimal l_ca and the corresponding MVPDs are then determined by the multiphysics model for 20 combinations of r_in, the inner tube radius, and t_an. And all these optimization are made at 1073.15 K. The results show that:(i) significant performance improvement may be achieved by geometry optimization, (ii) the seemingly high MVPD of 11 and 14 W/cm³ can be easily realized for as-mtSOFC with single-and double-terminal anode current collection, respectively. Moreover, the variation of the area specific power density with l_ca2(2 mm, 40 mm) is determined for three representative (r_in, t_an) combinations. Besides, it is demonstrated that the current output of mtSOFC with proper geometric parameters is comparable to that of planar SOFC.     

Parametric excitation of waves on a free boundary of a horizontal fluid layer

We consider the dynamical stability of horizontal fluid layer, performing harmonic oscillations in vertical direction. The continued fractions approach allowed us to avoid the conventional restriction to the case of small viscosity and almost-resonant frequencies. Our numerical results cover a wide range of the parameters (viscosity, amplitude and frequency of the oscillation, and depth of the layer). To cite this article: V.I. Yudovich et al., C. R. Mecanique 332 (2004).     

Non-element method of solving 2D boundary problems defined on polygonal domains modeled by Navier equation

The paper presents a non-element method of solving boundary problems defined on polygonal domains modeled by corner points. To solve these problems a parametric integral equation system (PIES) is used. The system is characterized by a separation of the approximation of boundary geometry from the approximation of boundary functions. This feature makes it possible to effectively investigate the convergence of the obtained solutions with no need of performing the approximation of boundary geometry. The testing examples included confirm high accuracy of the solutions.     

Stabilization of Parametric Vibrations of a Nonlinear Continuous System

The purpose of the present paper is to solve an active control problem of nonlinear continuous system parametric vibrations excited by the fluctuating force. The problem is solved using the concept of distributed piezoelectric sensors and actuators with a sufficiently large value of velocity feedback. The direct Liapunov method is proposed to establish criteria for the almost sure stochastic stability of the unperturbed (trivial) solution of the shell with closed-loop control. The distributed control is realized by the piezoelectric sensor and actuator, with the changing widths, glued to the upper and lower shell surface. The relation between the stabilization of nonlinear problem and a linearized one is examined. The fluctuating axial force is modeled by the physically realizable ergodic process. The rate velocity feedback is applied to stabilize the shell parametric vibrations.     

Rain-wind-induced vibrations of a simple oscillator

In this paper a relatively simple mechanical oscillator which may be used to study rain-wind-induced vibrations of stay cables of cable-stayed bridges is considered. In recent publications, mention is made of vibrations of (inclined) stay cables which are excited by a wind field containing rain drops. The rain drops that hit the cables generate a rivulet on the surface of the cable. The presence of flowing water on the cable changes the cross section of the cable experienced by the wind field. A symmetric flow pattern around the cable with circular cross section may become asymmetric due to the presence of the rivulet and may consequently induce a lift force as a mechanism for vibration. During the motion of the cable the position of rivulet(s) may vary as the motion of the cable induces an additional varying aerodynamic force perpendicular to the direction of the wind field. It seems not too easy to model this phenomenon, several author state that there is no model available yet.The idea to model this problem is to consider a horizontal cylinder supported by springs in such a way that only one degree of freedom, i.e. vertical vibration is possible. We consider a ridge on the surface of the cylinder parallel to the axis of the cylinder. Additionally, let the cylinder with ridge be able to oscillate, with small amplitude, around the axis such that the oscillations are excited by an external force.It may be clear that the small amplitude oscillations of the cylinder and hence of the ridge induce a varying lift and drag force. In this approach it is assumed that the motion of the ridge models the dynamics of the rivulet(s) on the cable. By using a quasi-steady approach to model the aerodynamic forces, one arrives at a non-linear second-order equation displaying three different kinds of excitation mechanisms: self-excitation, parametric excitation and ordinary forcing. The first results of the analysis of the equation of motion show that even in a linear approximation for certain values of the parameters involved, stable periodic motions are possible. In the relevant cases where in linear approximation unstable periodic motions are found, results of an analysis of the non-linear equation are presented.     

Development of adaptive modeling techniques for non-linear hysteretic systems

Adaptive estimation procedures have gained significant attention by the research community to perform real-time identification of non-linear hysteretic structural systems under arbitrary dynamic excitations. Such techniques promise to provide real-time, robust tracking of system response as well as the ability to track time variation within the system being modeled. An overview of some of the authors’ previous work in this area is presented, along with a discussion of some of the emerging issues being tackled with regard to this class of problems. The trade-offs between parametric-based modeling and non-parametric modeling of non-linear hysteretic dynamic system behavior are discussed. Particular attention is given to (1) the effects of over- and under-parameterization on parameter convergence and system output tracking performance, (2) identifiability in multi-degree-of-freedom structural systems, (3) trade-offs in setting user-defined parameters for adaptive laws, and (4) the effects of noise on measurement integration. Both simulation and experimental results indicating the performance of the parametric and non-parametric methods are presented and their implications are discussed in the context of adaptive structures and structural health monitoring.     

Shape stability of a gas bubble in a soft solid

Predicting the onset of non-spherical oscillations of bubbles in soft matter is a fundamental cavitation problem with implications to sonoprocessing, polymeric materials synthesis, and biomedical ultrasound applications. The shape stability of a bubble in a Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic medium with nonlinear elasticity, the simplest constitutive model for soft solids, is analytically investigated and compared to experiments. Using perturbation methods, we develop a model reducing the equations of motion to two sets of evolution equations: a Rayleigh-Plesset-type equation for the mean (volume-equivalent) bubble radius and an equation for the non-spherical mode amplitudes. Parametric instability is predicted by examining the natural frequency and the Mathieu equation for the non-spherical modes, which are obtained from our model. Our theoretical results show good agreement with published experiments of the shape oscillations of a bubble in a gelatin gel. We further examine the impact of viscoelasticity on the time evolution of non-spherical mode amplitudes. In particular, we find that viscosity increases the damping rate, thus suppressing the shape instability, while shear modulus increases the natural frequency, which changes the unstable mode. We also explain the contributions of rotational and irrotational fields to the viscoelastic stresses in the surroundings and at the bubble surface, as these contributions affect the damping rate and the unstable mode. Our analysis on the role of viscoelasticity is potentially useful to measure viscoelastic properties of soft materials by experimentally observing the shape oscillations of a bubble.     

Parametric error bounds for convex approximations of two-stage mixed-integer recourse models with a random second-stage cost vector

We consider two-stage recourse models with integer restrictions in the second stage. These models are typically non-convex and hence, hard to solve. There exist convex approximations of these models with accompanying error bounds. However, it is unclear how these error bounds depend on the distributions of the second-stage cost vector q. In this paper, we derive parametric error bounds whose dependence on the distribution of q is explicit: they scale linearly in the expected value of the ${?}_1$-norm of q.     

Dynamical instability of laminated plates with external cutout

A method to study dynamical instability and non-linear parametric vibrations of symmetrically laminated plates of complex shapes and having different cutouts is proposed. The first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and the classical plate theory (CPT) are used to formulate a mathematical statement of the given problem. The presence of cutouts essentially complicates the solution of buckling problem, since the stress field is non-uniform. At first, a plane stress analysis is carried out using the variational Ritz method and the R-functions theory. The obtained results are applied to investigate buckling and parametric vibrations of laminated plates. The developed method uses the R-functions theory, and it may be directly employed to study laminated plates of arbitrary forms and different boundary conditions. Besides, the proposed method is numerical-analytical, what greatly facilitates a solution of similar-like non-linear problems. In order to show the advantage of the developed approach, instability zones and response curves for the layered cross- and angle-ply plates with external cutouts are constructed and discussed.     

Probabilistic models for stochastic elliptic partial differential equations

Mathematical requirements that the random coefficients of stochastic elliptical partial differential equations must satisfy such that they have unique solutions have been studied extensively. Yet, additional constraints that these coefficients must satisfy to provide realistic representations for physical quantities, referred to as physical requirements, have not been examined systematically.