Measurement and chemical kinetic model predictions of detonation cell size in methanol–oxygen mixtures

In this study, detonation cell sizes of methanol–oxygen mixtures are experimentally measured at different initial pressures and compositions. Good agreement is found between the experiment data and predictions based on the chemical length scales obtained from a detailed chemical kinetic model. To assess the detonation sensitivity in methanol–oxygen mixtures, the results are compared with those of hydrogen–oxygen and methane–oxygen mixtures. Based on the cell size comparison, it is shown that methanol–oxygen is more detonation sensitive than methane–oxygen but less sensitive than hydrogen–oxygen.     

Solving initial–boundary-value creep problems

The Galerkin–Bubnov method with global approximations is used to find approximate solutions to initial–boundary-value creep problems. It is shown that this approach allows obtaining solutions available in the literature. The features of how the solutions of initial–boundary-value problems for oneand three-dimensional models are found are analyzed. The approximate solutions found by the Galerkin–Bubnov method with global approximations is shown to be invariant to the form of the equations of the initial–boundary-value problem. It is established that solutions of initial–boundary-value creep problems can be classified according to the form of operators in the mathematical problem formulation     

The propagation mechanism of high speed turbulent deflagrations

The propagation regimes of combustion waves in a 30 cm by 30 cm square cross–sectioned tube with an obstacle array of staggered vertical cylindrical rods (with BR=0.41 and BR=0.19) are investigated. Mixtures of hydrogen, ethylene, propane, and methane with air at ambient conditions over a range of equivalence ratios are used. In contrast to the previous results obtained in circular cross–sectioned tubes, it is found that only the quasi–detonation regime and the slow turbulent deflagration regimes are observed for ethylene–air and for propane–air. The transition from the quasi–detonation regime to the slow turbulent deflagration regime occurs at (where D is the tube “diameter” and is the detonation cell size). When , the quasi–detonation velocities that are observed are similar to those in unobstructed smooth tubes. For hydrogen–air mixtures, it is found that there is a gradual transition from the quasi–detonation regime to the high speed turbulent deflagration regime. The high speed turbulent deflagration regime is also observed for methane–air mixtures near stoichiometric composition. This regime was previously interpreted as the “choking” regime in circular tubes with orifice plate obstacles. Presently, it is proposed that the propagation mechanism of these high speed turbulent deflagrations is similar to that of Chapman–Jouguet detonations and quasi-detonations. As well, it is observed that there exists unstable flame propagation at the lean limit where . The local velocity fluctuates significantly about an averaged velocity for hydrogen–air, ethylene–air, and propane–air mixtures. Unstable flame propagation is also observed for the entire range of high speed turbulent deflagrations in methane–air mixtures. It is proposed that these fluctuations are due to quenching of the combustion front due to turbulent mixing. Quenched pockets of unburned reactants are swept downstream, and the subsequent explosion serves to overdrive the combustion front. The present study indicates that the dependence on the propagation mechanisms on obstacle geometry can be exploited to elucidate the different complex mechanisms of supersonic combustion waves. Received 5 November 2001 / Accepted 12 June 2002 / Published online 4 November 2002 Correspondence to: J. Chao (e-mail: jenny.chao@mail.mcgill.ca) An abridged version of this paper was presented at the 18th Int. Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems at Seattle, USA, from July 29 to August 3, 2001.     

Characteristics of liquid sheets formed by splash plate nozzles

An experimental study was conducted to identify the effect of viscosity on the characteristics of liquid sheets formed by a splash plate nozzle. Various mixtures of corn syrup and water are used to obtain viscosities in the range 1–170 mPa.s. Four different splash plates with nozzle diameters of 0.5, 0.75, 1, and 2 mm, with a constant plate angle of 55° were tested. Liquid sheets formed under various operating conditions were directly visualized. The sheet atomization process for the range of parameters studied here is governed by two different mechanisms: Rayleigh–Plateau (R–P) and Rayleigh–Taylor (R–T) instabilities. R–P occurs at the rim and R–T occurs on the thin sheet. The rim instability can be laminar or turbulent, depending on the jet Reynolds number. The R–T instability of the sheet is observed at the outer edges of the radially spreading sheet, where the sheet is the thinnest. It can also occur inside the sheet, due to formation of holes and ruptures.     

On the Camassa–Holm and K–dV Hierarchies

It is known that a transform of Liouville type allows one to pass from an equation of the Korteweg–de Vries (K–dV) hierarchy to a corresponding equation of the Camassa–Holm (CH) hierarchy (Beals et al., Adv Math 154:229–257, 2000; McKean, Commun Pure Appl Math 56(7):998–1015, 2003). We give a systematic development of the correspondence between these hierarchies by using the coefficients of asymptotic expansions of certain Green’s functions. We illustrate our procedure with some examples.     

In situ force-balance tensiometry

 Although a fundamental physical parameter, surface tension is difficult to measure. Common tensiometry inaccuracy comes from failure to control air–liquid–solid contact conditions, or account for liquid meniscus geometry and buoyancy corrections. This paper describes an in situ tensiometry technique, based on withdrawal of a thin-walled tube from the liquid interface, that enforces a known air–liquid–solid contact condition. This technique can be pursued at any level of experimental hygiene. Experimental results for filtered tap water, an alcohol–water solution, and a surfactant–water solution show that results repeatable to three significant digits are obtained with modest effort for a variety of geometrical parameters. Received: 7 October 1997/Accepted: 23 April 1998     

Global Solvability in W 2 2,1 -Weighted Spaces of the Two-Dimensional Navier–Stokes Problem in Domains with Strip-Like Outlets to Infinity

The time-dependent Navier–Stokes system is studied in a two-dimensional domain with strip-like outlets to infinity in weighted Sobolev function spaces. It is proved that under natural compatibility conditions there exists a unique solution with prescribed fluxes over cross-sections of outlets to infinity which tends in each outlet to the corresponding time-dependent Poiseuille flow. The obtained results are proved for arbitrary large norms of the data (in particular, for arbitrary fluxes) and globally in time. The authors are supported by EC FP6 MC–ToK programme SPADE2, MTKD–CT–2004–014508.     

The Low Mach Number Limit for the Full Navier–Stokes–Fourier System

We study the low Mach number asymptotic limit for solutions to the full Navier–Stokes–Fourier system, supplemented with ill-prepared data and considered on an arbitrary time interval. Convergencetowards the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is shown.     

EFFECT OF LASER IMPACT PARAMETERS ON THE FORMATION OF A POOL OF THE MOLTEN B4C — Ti–6Al–4V CERMET MIXTURE

Journal of Applied Mechanics and Technical Physics - Results of a series of experiments aimed at studying laser cladding of individual tracks with the use of the B4C–Ti–6Al–4V...     

Prediction of separation flows around a 6：1 prolate spheroid using RANS/LES hybrid approaches

This paper presents hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy-simulation (LES) methods for the separated flows at high angles of attack around a 6:1 prolate spheroid. The RANS/LES hybrid methods studied in this work include the detached eddy simulation (DES) based on Spalart–Allmaras (S–A), Menter’s k–ω shear-stress-transport (SST) and k–ω with weakly nonlinear eddy viscosity formulation (Wilcox–Durbin+, WD+) models and the zonal-RANS/LES methods based on the SST and WD+ models. The switch from RANS near the wall to LES in the core flow region is smooth through the implementation of a flow-dependent blending function for the zonal hybrid method. All the hybrid methods are designed to have a RANS mode for the attached flows and have a LES behavior for the separated flows. The main objective of this paper is to apply the hybrid methods for the high Reynolds number separated flows around prolate spheroid at high-incidences. A fourth-order central scheme with fourth-order artificial viscosity is applied for spatial differencing. The fully implicit lower–upper symmetric-Gauss–Seidel with pseudo time sub-iteration is taken as the temporal differentiation. Comparisons with available measurements are carried out for pressure distribution, skin friction, and profiles of velocity, etc. Reasonable agreement with the experiments, accounting for the effect on grids and fundamental turbulence models, is obtained for the separation flows. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10502030 and 90505005).     

Estimation of Chaotic and Regular (Stick–Slip and Slip–Slip) Oscillations Exhibited by Coupled Oscillators with Dry Friction

In this paper, we present a novel approach to quantify regular or chaotic dynamics of either smooth or non-smooth dynamical systems. The introduced method is applied to trace regular and chaotic stick–slip and slip–slip dynamics. Stick–slip and slip–slip periodic and chaotic trajectories are analyzed (for the investigated parameters, a stick–slip dynamics dominates). Advantages of the proposed numerical technique are given.     

Aspect-ratio dependence of transient Taylor vortices close to threshold

We perform a detailed numerical study of transient Taylor vortices arising from the instability of cylindrical Couette flow with the exterior cylinder at rest for radius ratio η = 0.5 and variable aspect ratio Γ. The result of Abshagen et al. (J Fluid Mech 476:335–343, 2003) that onset transients apparently evolve on a much smaller time–scale than decay transients is recovered. It is shown to be an artefact of time scale estimations based on the Stuart–Landau amplitude equation which assumes frozen space dependence while full space–time dependence embedded in the Ginzburg–Landau formalism needs to be taken into account to understand transients already at moderate aspect ratio. Sub-critical pattern induction is shown to explain the apparently anomalous behaviour of the system at onset while decay follows the Stuart–Landau prediction more closely. The dependence of time scales on boundary effects is studied for a wide range of aspect ratios, including non-integer ones, showing general agreement with the Ginzburg–Landau picture able to account for solutions modulated by Ekman pumping at the disks bounding the cylinders.      

A comparison of three adsorption equations and sensitivity study of parameter uncertainty effects on adsorption refrigeration thermal performance estimation

This paper presents isosteric-based adsorption equilibrium tests of three activated carbon samples with methanol as an adsorbate. Experimental data was fitted into Langmuir equation, Freundlich equation and Dubinin-Astakov (D–A) equation, respectively. The fitted adsorption equations were compared in terms of agreement with experimental data. Moreover, equation format’s impacts on calculation of the coefficient of performance (COP) and refrigeration capacity of an adsorption refrigeration system was analyzed. In addition, the sensitivity of each parameter in each adsorption equation format to the estimation of cycle’s COP and refrigeration capacity was investigated. It was found that the D–A equation is the best form for presenting the adsorptive property of a carbon-methanol working pair. The D–A equation is recommended for estimating thermal performance of an adsorption refrigeration system because simulation results obtained using the D–A equation are less sensitive to errors of experimentally determined D–A equation’s parameters.     

Temperature dependence of the interfacial tension of PS/PMMA, PS/PE, and PMMA/PE blends

The effect of temperature on the interfacial tension for PS/PMMA, PS/PE, and PMMA/PE was measured using the imbedded fiber retraction method. Interfacial tensions for PS/PMMA, PS/PE, and PMMA/PE were measured over temperature ranges of 160–250 °C, 140–220 °C, and 140–220 °C, respectively. The interfacial tension was found to follow a dependence of 3.6–0.013 T dyn/cm, 7.6–0.051 T dyn/cm and 11.8–0.017 T dyn/cm for PS/PMMA, PS/PE, and PMMA/PE, respectively. Comparison of the data with the mean field theory of Helfand and Sapse were made; however, a simple linear fit to the data described the temperature dependence in the experimental window as well as the predictions of the mean field theory. Received: 6 July 1999 Accepted: 23 March 2000     

Deformation and short-term damage of physically nonlinear stochastic composites

The studies on the deformation and short-term damage of physically nonlinear homogeneous and composite materials are systemized. A single microdamage is modeled by an empty quasispherical pore in place of a microvolume damaged in accordance with the Huber–von Mises failure criterion. The ultimate microstrength is assumed to be a random function of coordinates. The porosity balance equation is derived. Together with the macrostress–macrostrain relationship, it constitutes a closed-form system of equations. The damage–macrostrain relationship and macrostress–macrostrain curves for homogeneous and composite materials are analyzed     

On the Range of Applicability of the Reissner–Mindlin and Kirchhoff–Love Plate Bending Models

We show that the Reissner–Mindlin plate bending model has a wider range of applicability than the Kirchhoff–Love model for the approximation of clamped linearly elastic plates. Under the assumption that the body force density is constant in the transverse direction, the Reissner–Mindlin model solution converges to the three-dimensional linear elasticity solution in the relative energy norm for the full range of surface loads. However, for loads with a significant transverse shear effect, the Kirchhoff–Love model fails. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Solvability of Uniformly Elliptic Fully Nonlinear PDE

We get existence, uniqueness and non-uniqueness of viscosity solutions of uniformly elliptic fully nonlinear equations of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman–Isaacs type with unbounded ingredients and quadratic growth in the gradient without hypotheses of convexity or properness. Some of our results are new even for equations in divergence form.     

Numerical simulation of shock wave propagation in microchannels using continuum and kinetic approaches

Numerical simulations of shock wave propagation in microchannels and microtubes (viscous shock tube problem) have been performed using three different approaches: the Navier–Stokes equations with the velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions, the statistical Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation, and the model kinetic Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook equation with the Shakhov equilibrium distribution function. Effects of flow rarefaction and dissipation are investigated and the results obtained with different approaches are compared. A parametric study of the problem for different Knudsen numbers and initial shock strengths is carried out using the Navier–Stokes computations.      

Stability for the 3D Navier–Stokes Equations with Nonzero far Field Velocity on Exterior Domains

Concerning to the non-stationary Navier–Stokes flow with a nonzero constant velocity at infinity, just a few results have been obtained, while most of the results are for the flow with the zero velocity at infinity. The temporal stability of stationary solutions for the Navier–Stokes flow with a nonzero constant velocity at infinity has been studied by Enomoto and Shibata (J Math Fluid Mech 7:339–367, 2005), in L ^p spaces for p ≥ 3. In this article, we first extend their result to the case \frac32 < p{\frac{3}{2} < p} by modifying the method in Bae and Jin (J Math Fluid Mech 10:423–433, 2008) that was used to obtain weighted estimates for the Navier–Stokes flow with the zero velocity at infinity. Then, by using our generalized temporal estimates we obtain the weighted stability of stationary solutions for the Navier–Stokes flow with a nonzero velocity at infinity.