Thermal effects in the dissipative instability of the electron beam-plasma systems

The effects of the thermal motion of the charged particles in the dissipative instability of the under and over-limiting currents of a relativistic electron beam in a fully magnetized beam-plasma waveguide is investigated. It is shown that by increasing the temperature of the plasma electrons, the resonant frequency of the waveguide slightly increases and the growth rates of the instability development decreases. In addition, an increase of the temperature of the plasma electron can change the dissipative hydrodynamic instability to the collisionless kinetic instability. Furthermore, the dissipative instability of the overlimiting electron beam is shown to be more sensitive with respect to the electron plasma temperature compared to the underlimiting electron beam case.     

Overlimiting current in a microchannel

We revisit the classical problem of diffusion-limited ion transport to a membrane (or electrode) by considering the effects of charged sidewalls. Using simple mathematical models and numerical simulations, we identify three basic mechanisms for overlimiting current in a microchannel: (i)?surface conduction carried by excess counterions, which dominates for very thin channels, (ii)?convection by electro-osmotic flow on the sidewalls, which dominates for thicker channels, and (iii) transitions to electro-osmotic instability on the membrane end in very thick channels. These intriguing electrokinetic phenomena may find applications in biological separations, water desalination, and electrochemical energy storage.     

Superfluid-insulator transition in a moving system of interacting bosons

We analyze the stability of superfluid currents in a system of strongly interacting ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We show that such a system undergoes a dynamic, irreversible phase transition at a critical phase gradient that depends on the interaction strength between atoms. At commensurate filling, the phase boundary continuously interpolates between the classical modulation instability of a weakly interacting condensate and the equilibrium quantum phase transition into a Mott insulator state at which the critical current vanishes. We argue that quantum fluctuations smear the transition boundary in low dimensional systems. Finally we discuss the implications to realistic experiments.     

The Effective Mode Approximation for Analyzing Position Instability of a Tokamak Plasma

The effect of induced currents in the equilibrium field (EF) coils on ameliorating the instability of a small position perturbation of a rigid tokamak plasma is analyzed. A strong analogy between the position instability of the plasma and supercriticality of a fission reactor core is recognized. The position of the plasma corresponds to the neutron population, and the retardation of the displacement by the induced eddy currents to the suppression of population growth by delayed neutrons. The matrix equation of the dispersion relation for the position instability is diagonalized and factored into a form identical to the in-hour equation of fission reactor kinetics. An Effecitve Mode Approximation (EMA) similar to the one group of delayed neutron approximation has been introduced to greatly simplify the analysis of the position instability and feedback control. With this approximation the dispersion relation is reduced to a linear or cubic algebraic equation depending on the effectiveness of retardation by the eddy currents. The time constant of the unstable mode can be expressed in terms of the plasma parameters and the effective resistance and inductance of the current carriers, which can be conveniently computed. The vertical instability of a typical noncircular tokamak plasma is analyzed numerically as well as analytically by the EMA method. The results agree well within a negligible discrepancy.     

高超声速边界层中由粗糙元引起强制转捩的机理

由大粗糙元引起的高超声速边界层强制转捩在航天技术中有实际应用, 因而近年来受到人们的广泛关注.虽然目前导致该转捩过程的内在机理尚不完全清楚, 但有一点是明确的, 即粗糙元的尾迹流场中存在强对流不稳定性.文章的出发点是研究这种对流不稳定模态是如何触发转捩的.首先通过CFD方法, 计算出高超声速边界层中粗糙元的尾迹流场, 并对其进行二维稳定性分析.结果发现, 在传统不稳定Tollmien-Schlichting(T-S)模态出现的临界Reynolds数之前, 存在高增长率的无黏不稳定模态, 表现为对称的余弦模态和反对称的正弦模态.然后对该不稳定模态在粗糙元尾迹流中的演化进行了模拟, 验证了二维稳定性分析的结果, 并考察了非平行性效应的影响.最后通过直接数值模拟, 研究由这些不稳定模态触发转捩的全过程.结果表明, 对流不稳定模态确实是导致边界层转捩的关键机制.该转捩过程的特点是, 局部湍斑首先在不稳定模态特征函数的峰值附近出现, 然后向全流场扩散.就文章研究的工况而言, 余弦和正弦模态的相互作用对转捩的影响并不明显, 且后者在转捩过程中起主导作用.      

Gravitational Instability of a Rotating Viscous Finitely Conducting Plasma

The gravitational instability of infinite homogeneous plasma has been studied to include simultaneously the effects of rotations, Hall currents, viscosity, finite electrical conductivity and the finite Larmor radius (FLR). Both the longitudinal, and transverse modes of wave propagation have been studied. It is found that the gravitational instability is determined by Jeans' criterion even in the presence of effects of rotation, Hall currents, FLR, viscosity and finite conductivity whether included separately or jointly.     

Gravitational Instability of a Rotating Viscous Thermally Conducting Plasma

This paper deals with the gravitational instability of an infinite homogeneous viscous rotating plasma of finite electrical conductivity in the combined presence of effects of Hall currents, finite Larmor radius (FLR) and thermal conductivity. The ambient magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and acting along the vertical direction. Both longitudinal and transverse modes of wave propagation have been studied. It is shown that Jean's criterion determines the gravitational instability even in the presence of the effects of thermal conductivity, viscosity, finite electrical conductivity, FLR, rotation and Hall currents. Further it is found that while FLR, viscosity and rotation have a stabilizing influence, both the thermal and the electrical conductivities have a destabilizing influence on the gravitational instability of a plasma.     

Dynamical instabilities in heavy-ion collisions

Within the σ-ω model for nuclear matter, an instability in a system of two counterstreaming fluids is discussed. This instability leads, if developed, to a separation of the two currents in space — a periodic structure orthogonal to the beam axis is finally obtained. In contrast to previous results by Ivanov, the maximal growth rate for the instability is shown to occur at a finite wavelength. Furthermore, these growth rates are much lower than calculated before. The influence of vacuum contributions is also discussed.     

Nonlinear effects of the thermal stabilization theory of applied superconducting materials

The stability of dissipative states of a Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ applied superconducting composite cooled by liquid helium or hydrogen with continuously increasing current-voltage characteristics described by a power equation has been studied. It has been shown that, under intensive cooling conditions, special conditions of thermal stabilization can exist for applied superconducting materials (technical superconductors) if the nonlinear temperature dependences of critical current density and specific resistance of the stabilizing matrix are taken into account. First, the minimum currents of existence and propagation of a normal zone can be absent. Second, the intensive cooling of a technical superconductor substantially increases the range of stable currents in the diapason of supercritical currents. Third, during the irreversible propagation of the thermal instability, the temperature of a technical superconductor can increase under conditions close to adiabatic, despite cooling by liquid coolant. These effects should be taken into account upon determining the conditions for overheating a technical superconductor. The numerical experiments have been compared with the results that follow from the thermal stabilization theory of combined superconductors, which assumes a linear temperature dependence of critical current density of a superconductor and a step-wise transition from the superconducting to normal state.     

Stability of a Stratified Layer of a Gravitating Partially Ionized Plasma

The instability in a stratified layer of a self-gravitating partially ionized plasma has been studied in the presence of effects of Hall currents. For a plasma permeated by a uniform vertical magnetic field, the dispersion relation has been obtained through variational method. It is found that the Hall currents have a destabilizing effect while the neutral gas frictional effects have a stabilizing influence.     

Effect of Le on criteria of transition to secondary acoustic instability of downward-propagating flame in a tube with controlled curvature induced by external laser

An experimental study is conducted to investigate the effect of Le on the transition to secondary acoustic instability when the curvature of the flame front in a tube is induced and controlled by using external laser irradiation. Once a downward-propagating flame in the primary acoustic instability region is exposed to a specific laser irradiation condition, the flame is transferred to the secondary acoustic instability region. The transition limit is decreased, that is, transition occurs is an easier manner, with increasing laser power input. While the flame propagates with increasing laser irradiation, the flame first exhibits a convex curvature owing to laser irradiation and then a concave structure is formed owing to buoyancy-induced flow. Two types of transition behavior caused by the concave structure and the convex structure are observed. The conflicting thermal-diffusive effect depending on Le leads to the differing transition behaviors. Based on an evaluation of the flame stretch effect attributed to the flame front curvature, it is confirmed that the Lewis number effect influences the transition criteria.     

Der Übergang zur Supraleitung in Sinterproben des Systems Nb-Sn

For samples of the system Nb-Sn sintered between 700 and 1500°C with 20 and 25 percent Sn the inductive and resistive transition to superconductivity has been measured. Especially the influence of magnetic fields on the transition has been examined. The inductive transition is deduced from shielding currents, the anomalous rise of the transition temperature for the 4Nb∶1Sn-samples first found byJansen turns out to be a consequence of higher critical currents of these samples. At low sintering temperatures a rise of the critical fields has been observed.     

Convective instability of solidification with a phase transition zone

The morphological instability of solidification is analytically studied in the presence of an anisotropic and heterogeneous phase transition zone with allowance for a liquid flow and convective heat-andmass transfer in this two-phase zone. The mechanism of breaking the stability of solidification is considered; it consists in a convective heat and impurity transfer during a liquid flow along channels in the phase transition zone. The morphological instability is subjected to linear analysis with allowance for a liquid flow in the liquid phase of the system, impurity diffusion in the two-phase zone, and the dependence of the transfer coefficients on the phase composition. The perturbation evolution parameter is determined for an anisotropic and heterogeneous two-phase zone, and neutral stability curves of the process are obtained. It is shown that taking into account impurity diffusion and an increase in the heterogeneity of the phase transition zone broaden the instability region and that a decrease in the anisotropy narrows this region. A new criterion of convective morphological instability of solidification with a two-phase zone is found, and it substantially broadens the instability region when the liquid flow velocity increases.     

Scrape-off-layer current model for filament structure observed during edge-localized modes in the DIII-D tokamak

The plasma in tokamaks often exhibits a relaxation oscillation called the edge-localized mode (ELM), which is generally attributed to MHD instability driven by strong gradients at the plasma boundary. It is shown here that field-aligned currents flowing just outside the boundary may also play a role in the ELM process. The poloidal perturbation magnetic field during ELMs in the DIII-D tokamak calculated from measured currents can reproduce prominent observed features, including a narrow magnetic structure at the outboard midplane similar to filaments observed earlier in DIII-D and NSTX.     

Gravitational Instability of a Thermally Conducting Plasma in an Oblique Magnetic Field

The combined influence of the effects of Hall currents, magnetic resistivity and viscosity have been studied on the gravitational instability of a thermally conducting homogeneous unbounded plasma in an oblique magnetic field. The solution has been obtained through the normal mode technique and the dispersion relation has been derived. It is shown that the Jeans' criterion for gravitational instability remains unchanged. Solving numerically the dispersion relation, the dependence of the growth rate of the gravitational unstable mode on the considered physical effects has been obtained for an astrophysical situation. For conditions prevailing in the magnetized collapsing clouds, the numerical calculations for the plot of growth rate against wave number has been obtained for several values of the parameters characterizing Hall currents magnetic resistivity viscosity thermal conductivity. It is found that magnetic resistivity and thermal conductivity have destabilizing influence while viscosity has stabilizing influence on the instability of the plasma of disturbance m(ϱ) = 9 × 10⁻³ kg.     

Numerical investigation of separation-induced transition in a lowpressure turbine cascade in a low-disturbance environment

In this paper,the separation-induced transition in an LPT(low-pressure turbine)cascade is investigated at low Reynolds number with DNS(direct numerical simulation).The transition process is accurately predicted giving good agreements between the DNS and experimental results.To illustrate the secondary instability of separation-induced transition in a low-disturbance environment,the results are comprehensively analyzed in both Fourier space and physical space.It is illustrated that the effect of hyperbolic instability dominates around the saddle point of hyperbolic streamlines.This instability mechanism is responsible for the emergence of the streamwise vortices in the braid region.Elongated and intensified because of the“stretching”effect of the background flow,these vortices become the most noticeable characteristic of the flow field.Fundamental modes of small spanwise wavelength are excited in the braid region,so as some low-frequency modes.The elliptical instability plays a minor role than hyperbolic instability.It is also observed that the fundamental mode with a larger spanwise wavelength is unstable in the vortex core which is associated with the deformation of the vortex core via elliptical instability.There is no convincing evidence for the existence of subharmonic instability.     

高超声速椭圆锥边界层横流转捩特性大涡模拟

横流效应显著影响高超声速飞行器的三维边界层转捩过程, 深化对该流动机制的认识有助于提升和改善飞行器气动性能及热力学环境. 针对HIFiRE5椭圆锥绕流问题, 采用大涡模拟方法计算分析了超声速边界层横流转捩特性, 并揭示其中的流动机理. 参考HIFiRE5风洞模型试验条件, 数值模拟中椭圆锥来流入口处施加人工速度扰动以激发边界层内不稳定扰动波, 进而预测了高超声速边界层流动横流失稳、转捩过程等基本流动特征, 并基于转捩热流分布形态对比, 获得了与试验数据基本吻合的计算结果. 研究发现, 椭圆锥中心线流动汇聚形成的流向涡结构非常容易失稳, 另外在中心线及侧缘之间的中部区域存在较强的横流不稳定性, 两种机制共同作用影响边界层转捩过程. 此外, 分析了来流扰动幅值对边界层横流失稳转捩的影响, 并发现静来流条件下, 横流区域出现两组独立的定常横流涡结构, 而强噪声来流条件下, 中心线主涡和中部横流涡均发生失稳转捩, 且在椭圆锥表面形成多峰状的转捩阵面. 最后, 深入分析流场的压力脉动动力学特性, 揭示了三维边界层发生失稳转捩的非线性演化机制.      

Stability of liquid-metal ion sources

In this paper we find the parameters (radii, lengths, velocities) of the jets produced in liquid-metal ion sources. The jet stability with respect to developing sausages (Rayleigh instability) is studied. The Rayleight instability is shown to occur for rather large currents (in long jets). The currents critical for the instability initiation are calculated for Ga and Au sources. The results are in accordance with the experimental data available. In the case of Ga, the accordance is achieved only for the hot jet model (TT _m , whereT _m is the melting temperature), when the viscosity is appreciably lower.     

Effects of Hall Currents and Gyroviscosity on the Stability of a Finitely Conducting Rotating Viscous Plasma of Variable Density

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability of an incompressible viscous, finitely conducting, rotating plasma of variable density has been investigated in the presence of the effects of Hall currents and finite ion Larmor radius. The proper solution for a semi-infinité plasma layer having exponentially varying density in the vertical direction has been obtained by making use of a variational principle which is shown to characterize the problem. The dispersion relation has been solved numerically. It is found that gyroviscosity, viscosity and coriolis forces have stabilizing influence whereas Hall currents and resistivity have a destabilizing influence.