Simulation of heterogeneous atom recombination on spacecraft heat shield coatings using the methods of molecular dynamics

An efficient method of investigating the processes of interaction between gas mixtures and catalytic surfaces is developed within the framework of classical molecular dynamics. The recombination and chemical-energy accommodation coefficients on the catalytic surface can be determined with fewer computational resources than in the quantum-mechanical and semiclassical approaches. Oxygen atom recombination on a β-cristobalite surface of the type frequently used in spacecraft heat shield systems is investigated. The probability of atom recombination and the recombination energy accommodation coefficient obtained are in satisfactory agreement with the available experimental data and calculations made by means of the semiclassical method. The hypothesis that the probability of the Eley-Rideal reaction decreases and the probability of atom adsorption increases with increase in the atom collision energy is confirmed. It is attributable to the tendency of atoms to be trapped in the potential well and be desorbed in the atomic state when the surface collision energy is high instead of entering into a recombination reaction and then being desorbed in the molecular state.     

The Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation as a constitutive limit

We derive the usual Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation as a constitutive limit of the full system describing the motion of an compressible linearly viscous fluid. To this end, the starting system is written, using the Gibbs free energy, in the variables v, θ and p. The Oberbeck–Boussinesq system is then obtained as the thermal expansion coefficient α and the isothermal compressibility coefficient β tend to zero.     

Miscible Thermo-Viscous Fingering Instability in Porous Media. Part 1: Linear Stability Analysis

The development of the thermo-viscous fingering instability of miscible displacements in homogeneous porous media is examined. In this first part of the study dealing with stability analysis, the basic equations and the parameters governing the problem in a rectilinear geometry are developed. An exponential dependence of viscosity on temperature and concentration is represented by two parameters, thermal mobility ratio β _T and a solutal mobility ratio β _C , respectively. Other parameters involved are the Lewis number Le and a thermal-lag coefficient λ. The governing equations are linearized and solved to obtain instability characteristics using either a quasi-steady-state approximation (QSSA) or initial value calculations (IVC). Exact analytical solutions are also obtained for very weakly diffusing systems. Using the QSSA approach, it was found that an increase in thermal mobility ratio β _T is seen to enhance the instability for fixed β _C , Le and λ. For fixed β _C and β _T , a decrease in the thermal-lag coefficient and/or an increase in the Lewis number always decrease the instability. Moreover, strong thermal diffusion at large Le as well as enhanced redistribution of heat between the solid and fluid phases at small λ is seen to alleviate the destabilizing effects of positive β _T . Consequently, the instability gets strictly dominated by the solutal front. The linear stability analysis using IVC approach leads to conclusions similar to the QSSA approach except for the case of large Le and unity λ flow where the instability is seen to get even less pronounced than in the case of a reference isothermal flow of the same β _C , but β _T  = 0. At practically, small value of λ, however, the instability ultimately approaches that due to β _C only.     

Hydrodynamic properties of squirmer swimming in power-law fluid near a wall

Hydrodynamic properties of squirmer swimming in power-law fluid near a wall considering the interaction between squirmer and wall are numerically studied with an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method. The power-law index, Reynolds number, initial orientation angle of squirmer, and initial distance of squirmer from the wall are all taken into account to investigate the swimming characteristics for pusher (β?<?0), neutral squirmer (β?=?0), and puller (β?>?0) (three kinds of swimmer types) near the no-slip boundary. Four new kinds of swimming modes are found. Results show that, for the pushers and pullers, the wall displays an increasing attraction with increasing power-law index n, which differs from the neutral squirmer who always departs from the wall after the first collision with the wall. Both the initial orientation angle and initial distance from the wall only affect the moving situations rather than the moving modes of the squirmers. However, the squirmers depart from the wall as the Reynolds number increases and chaotic orbits appear for some squirmers at Re?=?5. Several typical flow fields are analyzed and the power consumption and torque for different kinds of flows are also studied. It is found that, as the absolute value of β increases, the power consumption generally increases in shear-thinning (n?=?0.4), Newtonian (n?=?1), and shear-thickening (n?=?1.6) fluids. Moreover, the pushers (β?<?0) and the pullers (β?>?0) expend almost the same power if the absolute value of β remains the same. In addition, the power consumption of the squirmers is highly dependent on the power-law index n.     

Effect of the mode of gas-surface interaction on intensive monatomic gas evaporation

The direct Monte Carlo simulation method is used for investigating the effect of the thermal accommodation coefficient α _E on the relations on the Knudsen layer boundary in the presence of intensive evaporation. The model of mirror reflection of molecules from the surface is considered. It is shown that diffuse reflection with α _E = 0 leads to almost the same relations on the Knudsen layer boundary as mirror reflection. The accuracy of the moment method is estimated in application to the problems of intensive evaporation with diffuse and mirror reflection from the surface.     

Investigation of Particle Deposition Characteristics in Vicinity of Laidback Fan-shaped Film Cooling Holes

To design efficient film cooling systems and mitigate particulate deposition, it is very important to know the influences of the design parameters of film cooling holes on particulate deposition. However, most previous research focused on round film cooling holes. Particle deposition characteristics near shaped film cooling holes need to be studied further. In the present study, numerical computations were carried out to simulate the particle deposition behavior on gas turbine disk samples with laidback fan-shaped film cooling holes by using CFD-DPM (Computational fluid dynamics-discrete particle method). The critical velocities for particle sticking and detachment were determined by EI-Batsh model. Compared with round holes, shaped holes mitigate the particle-wall collision for small particles (d_p≤2μm, ρ_p=990kg/m ³), but promote particle-wall collision for large particles (d_p≥4μm, ρ_p=990kg/m ³). Adding the lateral and forward expansion angle can both cause the decrease of particle deposition efficiency, however, the effect of lateral expansion angle on particle deposition is more active.     

Revisiting History Effects in Adverse-Pressure-Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layers

The goal of this study is to present a first step towards establishing criteria aimed at assessing whether a particular adverse-pressure-gradient (APG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL) can be considered well-behaved, i.e., whether it is independent of the inflow conditions and is exempt of numerical or experimental artifacts. To this end, we analyzed several high-quality datasets, including in-house numerical databases of APG TBLs developing over flat-plates and the suction side of a wing section, and five studies available in the literature. Due to the impact of the flow history on the particular state of the boundary layer, we developed three criteria of convergence to well-behaved conditions, to be used depending on the particular case under study. (i) In the first criterion, we develop empirical correlations defining the R e _?? -evolution of the skin-friction coefficient and the shape factor in APG TBLs with constant values of the Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β = 1 and 2 (note that β = δ ^?/τ _w dP _e /dx, where δ ^? is the displacement thickness, τ _w the wall-shear stress and dP _e /dx the streamwise pressure gradient). (ii) In the second one, we propose a predictive method to obtain the skin-friction curve corresponding to an APG TBL subjected to any streamwise evolution of β, based only on data from zero-pressure-gradient TBLs. (iii) The third method relies on the diagnostic-plot concept modified with the shape factor, which scales APG TBLs subjected to a wide range of pressure-gradient conditions. These three criteria allow to ensure the correct flow development of a particular TBL, and thus to separate history and pressure-gradient effects in the analysis.     

Effect of incomplete thermal accommodation on intensive subsonic gas condensation

The direct Monte Carlo simulation method is used for investigating the effect of the thermal accommodation coefficient α _E on the relation for the Knudsen layer in the presence of intensive subsonic condensation. It is shown that the deviation of α _E from unity may significantly affect the flow parameters, in particular, M_lim, the Mach number value limiting for subsonic condensation. It is shown that a decrease in α _E leads to an increase in M_lim (M_lim < 1) if the relative flow temperature (ratio of the outer Knudsen layer boundary to the surface temperature) T < 1 and to a decrease in M_lim if T > 1. It is shown that for mirror reflection of molecules from the surface this effect may intensify.     

Inviscid Models Generalizing the Two-dimensional Euler and the Surface Quasi-geostrophic Equations

Any classical solution of the two-dimensional incompressible Euler equation is global in time. However, it remains an outstanding open problem whether classical solutions of the surface quasi-geostrophic (SQG) equation preserve their regularity for all time. This paper studies solutions of a family of active scalar equations in which each component u _j of the velocity field u is determined by the scalar θ through \({u_j =\mathcal{R}\Lambda^{-1}P(\Lambda) \theta}\) , where \({\mathcal{R}}\) is a Riesz transform and Λ = (?Δ)^1/2. The two-dimensional Euler vorticity equation corresponds to the special case P(Λ) = I while the SQG equation corresponds to the case P(Λ) = Λ. We develop tools to bound \({\|\nabla u||_{L^\infty}}\) for a general class of operators P and establish the global regularity for the Loglog-Euler equation for which P(Λ) = (log(I + log(I ? Δ))) ^γ with 0 ≦ γ ≦ 1. In addition, a regularity criterion for the model corresponding to P(Λ) = Λ ^β with 0 ≦ β ≦ 1 is also obtained.     

Photographic method to sharpen and double isochromatic fringes

A photographic method is described which gives, upon the superposition of ordinary light- and darkfield isochromatic fringe patterns, a new fringe pattern (mixed field). This mixed-field pattern has fringes at the (N/4 and 3N/4 positions. Use of the mixed-field fringe pattern coupled with the oridinary light- and dark-field patterns permit fringes to be read at theN/4,N/2, 3N/4 andN positions, and thus represents a factor of 2 increase in the number of countable fringes. The method is illustrated on two plane-stress examples, a three-dimensional example, and a case employing birefringent coatings.     

Effects of Fuel Lewis Number on Localised Forced Ignition of Globally Stoichiometric Stratified Mixtures: a Numerical Investigation

The influences of fuel Lewis number Le_F on localised forced ignition of globally stoichiometric stratified mixtures have been analysed using three-dimensional compressible Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) for cases with Le_F ranging from 0.8 to 1.2. The globally stoichiometric stratified mixtures with different values of root-mean-square (rms) equivalence ratio fluctuation (i.e. ?^′= 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6) and the Taylor micro-scale l_? of equivalence ratio ? variation (i.e. l_?/l_f= 2.1, 5.5 and 8.3 with l_f being the Zel’dovich flame thickness of the stoichiometric laminar premixed flame) have been considered for different initial rms values of turbulent velocity u^′. A pseudo-spectral method is used to initialise the equivalence ratio variation following a presumed bi-modal distribution for prescribed values of ?^′ and l_?/l_f for global mean equivalence ratio 〈?〉=1.0. The localised ignition is accounted for by a source term in the energy transport equation that deposits energy for a stipulated time interval. It has been observed that the maximum values of temperature and the fuel reaction rate magnitude increase with decreasing Le_F during the period of external energy deposition. The initial values of Le_F, u^′/S_b(?=1), ?^′ and l_?/l_f have been found to have significant effects on the extent of burning of the stratified mixtures following localised ignition. For a given value of u^′/S_b(?=1), the extent of burning decreases with increasing Le_F. An increase in u^′ leads to a monotonic reduction in the burned gas mass for all values of Le_F in all stratified mixture cases but an opposite trend is observed for the Le_F=0.8 homogeneous mixture. It has been found that an increase in ?^′ has adverse effects on the burned gas mass, whereas the effects of l_?/l_f on the extent of burning are non-monotonic and dependent on ?^′ and Le_F. Detailed physical explanations have been provided for the observed Le_F, u^′/S_b(?=1), ?^′ and l_?/l_f dependences.     

Effects of Fuel Lewis Number on Localised Forced Ignition of Turbulent Mixing Layers

The influences of fuel Lewis number Le _F on localised forced ignition of inhomogeneous mixtures are analysed using three-dimensional compressible Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent mixing layers for Le _F  = 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 and a range of different root-mean-square turbulent velocity fluctuation u′ values. For all Le _F cases a tribrachial flame has been observed in case of successful ignition. However, the lean premixed branch tends to merge with the diffusion flame on the stoichiometric mixture fraction isosurface at later stages of the flame evolution. It has been observed that the maximum values of temperature and reaction rate increase with decreasing Le _F during the period of external energy addition. Moreover, Le _F is found to have a significant effect on the behaviours of mean temperature and fuel reaction rate magnitude conditional on mixture fraction values. It is also found that reaction rate and mixture fraction gradient magnitude \(\vert \nabla \xi \vert \) are negatively correlated at the most reactive region for all values of Le _F explored. The probability of finding high values of \(\vert \nabla \xi \vert \) increases with increasing Le _F . For a given value of u′, the extent of burning decreases with increasing Le _F . A moderate increase in u′ gives rise to an increase in the extent of burning for Le _F  = 0.8 and 1.0, which starts to decrease with further increases in u′. For Le _F  = 1.2, the extent of burning decreases monotonically with increasing u′. The extent of edge flame propagation on the stoichiometric mixture fraction ξ = ξ _st isosurface is characterised by the probability of finding burned gas on this isosurface, which decreases with increasing u′ and Le _F . It has been found that it is easier to obtain self-sustained combustion following localised forced ignition in case of inhomogeneous mixtures than that in the case of homogeneous mixtures with the same energy input, energy deposition duration when the ignition centre is placed at the stoichiometric mixture. The difficultly to sustain combustion unaided by external energy addition in homogeneous mixture is particularly prevalent in the case of Le _F  = 1.2.     

Dual solutions of Casson fluid flows over a power-law stretching sheet

A steady boundary layer flow of a non-Newtonian Casson fluid over a power-law stretching sheet is investigated. A self-similar form of the governing equation is obtained, and numerical solutions are found for various values of the governing parameters. The solutions depend on the fluid material parameter. Dual solutions are obtained for some particular range of these parameters. The fluid velocity is found to decrease as the power-law stretching parameter β in the rheological Casson equation increases. At large values of β, the skin friction coefficient and the velocity profile across the boundary layer for the Casson fluid tend to those for the Newtonian fluid.     

Spray-Flame Dynamics in a Rich Droplet Array

We numerically study spray-flame dynamics. The initial state of the spray is schematized by alkane droplets located at the nodes of a face-centered 2D-lattice. The droplets are surrounded by a gaseous mixture of alkane and air. The lattice spacing s reduced by the combustion length scale is large enough to consider that the chemical reaction occurs in a heterogeneous medium. The overall spray equivalence ratio is denoted by ?_T, with ?_T = ?_L + ?_G, where ?_G corresponds to the equivalence ratio of the gaseous surrounding mixture at the initial saturated partial pressure, while ?_L is the so-called liquid loading. To model such a heterogenous combustion, the retained chemical scheme is a global irreversible one-step reaction governed by an Arrhenius law, with a modified heat of reaction depending on the local equivalence ratio. ?_T is chosen in the range 0.9 ≤ ?_T ≤ 2. Three geometries (s = 3, s = 6, s = 12) and four liquid loadings, ?_L = 0.3, ?_L = 0.5, ?_L = 0.7, ?_L = 0.85 are studied. In the rich sprays, our model qualitatively retrieves the recent experimental measurements: the rich spray-flames can propagate faster than the single-phase flames with the same overall equivalence ratio. To analyse the conditions for this enhancement, we introduce the concept of “spray Peclet number”, which compares the droplet vaporization time with the combustion propagation time of the single-phase flame spreading in the fresh surrounding mixture.     

Morse Index and Linear Stability of the Lagrangian Circular Orbit in a Three-Body-Type Problem Via Index Theory

It is well known that the linear stability of the Lagrangian elliptic solutions in the classical planar three-body problem depends on a mass parameter β and on the eccentricity e of the orbit. We consider only the circular case (e = 0) but under the action of a broader family of singular potentials: α-homogeneous potentials, for \(\alpha \in (0, 2)\), and the logarithmic one. It turns out indeed that the Lagrangian circular orbit persists also in this more general setting. We discover a region of linear stability expressed in terms of the homogeneity parameter α and the mass parameter β, then we compute the Morse index of this orbit and of its iterates and we find that the boundary of the stability region is the envelope of a family of curves on which the Morse indices of the iterates jump. In order to conduct our analysis we rely on a Maslov-type index theory devised and developed by Y. Long, X. Hu and S. Sun; a key role is played by an appropriate index theorem and by some precise computations of suitable Maslov-type indices.     

Kovasznay Mode Decomposition of Velocity-Temperature Correlation in Canonical Shock-Turbulence Interaction

The correlation coefficient R_uT between the streamwise velocity and temperature is investigated for the case of canonical shock-turbulence interaction, motivated by the fact that this correlation is an important component in compressible turbulence models. The variation of R_uT with the Mach number, the turbulent Mach number, and the Reynolds number is predicted using linear inviscid theory and compared to data from DNS. The contributions from the individual Kovasznay modes are quantified. At low Mach numbers, the peak post-shock R_uT is determined by the acoustic mode, which is correctly predicted by the linear theory. At high Mach numbers, it is determined primarily by the vorticity and entropy modes, which are strongly affected by nonlinear and viscous effects, and thus less well predicted by the linear theory.     

Pressure-Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layers Developing Around a Wing Section

A direct numerical simulation database of the flow around a NACA4412 wing section at R e _c = 400,000 and 5^° angle of attack (Hosseini et al. Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 61, 117–128, 2016), obtained with the spectral-element code Nek5000, is analyzed. The Clauser pressure-gradient parameter β ranges from ? 0 and 85 on the suction side, and from 0 to ? 0.25 on the pressure side of the wing. The maximum R e _?? and R e _τ values are around 2,800 and 373 on the suction side, respectively, whereas on the pressure side these values are 818 and 346. Comparisons between the suction side with zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer data show larger values of the shape factor and a lower skin friction, both connected with the fact that the adverse pressure gradient present on the suction side of the wing increases the wall-normal convection. The adverse-pressure-gradient boundary layer also exhibits a more prominent wake region, the development of an outer peak in the Reynolds-stress tensor components, and increased production and dissipation across the boundary layer. All these effects are connected with the fact that the large-scale motions of the flow become relatively more intense due to the adverse pressure gradient, as apparent from spanwise premultiplied power-spectral density maps. The emergence of an outer spectral peak is observed at β values of around 4 for λ _z ? 0.65δ ₉₉, closer to the wall than the spectral outer peak observed in zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers at higher R e _?? . The effect of the slight favorable pressure gradient present on the pressure side of the wing is opposite the one of the adverse pressure gradient, leading to less energetic outer-layer structures.     

Influence of the powder mixture composition on the deposition coefficient and the properties of NI+B<Subscript>4</Subscript>C CGDS coatings

The cold gas dynamic spray (CGDS) method used to form composite Ni+B₄C coatings from mechanical powder mixture with various content of abrasive components is investigated, and the surface and microstructure of these coatings are considered. An experimental dependence of the deposition coefficient on the abrasive content in the mechanical powder mixture is obtained. The coatings are studied by interference profilometry, optical microscopy, and microindentation methods. The dependence of the bulk and mass B₄C content in the sprayed material on the abrasive content in the sprayed powder mixture is obtained. The bulk B₄C content in the coating c _V ≈ 0.27 is attained. The dependence of the microhardness of composite CGDS coatings on the boron carbide content in them is investigated. The results of this paper demonstrate that the powder mixture composition significantly affects the CGDS coating growth and the properties of these coatings and can be used to control the properties of the CGDS cermet materials.     

Stability of Traveling Waves of Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation with Nonzero Condition at Infinity

We study effective elastic behavior of the incompatibly prestrained thin plates, where the prestrain is independent of thickness and uniform through the plate’s thickness h. We model such plates as three-dimensional elastic bodies with a prescribed pointwise stress-free state characterized by a Riemannian metric G, and seek the limiting behavior as \({h \to 0}\). We first establish that when the energy per volume scales as the second power of h, the resulting \({\Gamma}\) -limit is a Kirchhoff-type bending theory. We then show the somewhat surprising result that there exist non-immersible metrics G for whom the infimum energy (per volume) scales smaller than h². This implies that the minimizing sequence of deformations carries nontrivial residual three-dimensional energy but it has zero bending energy as seen from the limit Kirchhoff theory perspective. Another implication is that other asymptotic scenarios are valid in appropriate smaller scaling regimes of energy. We characterize the metrics G with the above property, showing that the zero bending energy in the Kirchhoff limit occurs if and only if the Riemann curvatures R₁₂₁₃, R₁₂₂₃ and R₁₂₁₂ of G vanish identically. We illustrate our findings with examples; of particular interest is an example where \({G_{2 \times 2}}\), the two-dimensional restriction of G, is flat but the plate still exhibits the energy scaling of the Föppl–von Kármán type. Finally, we apply these results to a model of nematic glass, including a characterization of the condition when the metric is immersible, for \({G = Id_{3} + \gamma n \otimes n}\) given in terms of the inhomogeneous unit director field distribution \({ n \in \mathbb{R}^3}\).