Influence of Submicron Anthracite Particles on the Conditions of Aerosol Synthesis and the Properties of Carbon Nanotubes

Russian Physics Journal - Properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) obtained by the floating catalyst CVD method using ethyl alcohol and coal (anthracite and semi-anthracite) particles...     

Evolution of temperature of a droplet of liquid composite fuel interacting with heated airflow

The macroscopic patterns of a temperature change at the center of a droplet of three-component (coal, water, petroleum) composite liquid fuel (CLF) were studied using a low-inertia thermoelectric converter and system of high-speed (up to 10⁵ frames per second) video recording during the induction period at different heating intensity by the air flow with variable parameters: temperature of 670?870 K and motion velocity of 1?4 m/s. The studies were carried out for two groups of CLF compositions: fuel based on brown coal and coal cleaning rejects (filter cake). To assess the effect of liquid combustible component of CLF on characteristics of the ignition process, the corresponding composition of two-component coal-water fuel (CWF) was studied. The stages of inert heating of CLF and CWF droplets with characteristic size corresponding to radius of 0.75?1.5 mm, evaporation of moisture and liquid oil (for CLF), thermal decomposition of the organic part of coal, gas mixture ignition, and carbon burnout were identified. Regularities of changes in the temperature of CLF and CWF droplets at each of identified stages were identified for the cooccurrence of phase transitions and chemical reactions. Comparative analysis of the times of ignition delay and complete combustion of the droplets of examined fuel compositions was performed with varying droplet dimensions, temperatures, and oxidant flow velocity.     

Low-Temperature Flameless Combustion of a Large Drop of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-Dodecane under Microgravity Conditions

The forced ignition, combustion, and spontaneous ignition of a drop of n-dodecane in an atmosphere of air at a normal pressure under microgravity conditions were studied based on a physicomathematical model of drop combustion and a detailed kinetic mechanism of the oxidation and combustion of n-dodecane C₁₂H₂₆. The selection of n-dodecane was related to the Russian–American experiment CFI (Cool Flame Investigation) Zarevo performed in 2017 aboard the International Space Station with the use of the large drops of this hydrocarbon. The analysis carried out deepens our knowledge about the flameless combustion of a large drop under the conditions of microgravity. The calculations showed that, after the radiation extinction of a hot flame, the drop can continue to evaporate because of the exothermic low-temperature oxidation of fuel vapor with repeated blue flame flashes at a characteristic temperature of 980–1000 K. A detailed analysis of the calculation results showed that the regular splashes of temperature resulted from the thermal decomposition of hydrogen peroxide—branching with the release of hydroxyl radicals.     

Laser ignition of low-rank coal

The measured thresholds (H _cr) and kinetic characteristics of the ignition of the volatile substances and the coke residue of low-rank coal under the action of the pulses of a neodymium laser (1064 nm, 120 μs) are reported here. The ignition of volatile substances was observed in microsecond (H _cr = 0.3 J/cm²) and millisecond time intervals (H _cr = 1.2 J/cm²). The combustion of the coke residue occurred in a time interval of 30–100 ms (H _cr = 2.6 J/cm²).     

Effect of steam on the single particle ignition of solid fuels in a drop tube furnace under air and simulated oxy-fuel conditions

This article investigates the effect of steam on the ignition of single particles of solid fuels in a drop tube furnace under air and simulated oxy-fuel conditions. Three solid fuels, all in the size range 125–150 µm, were used in this study; specifically, a low rank sub-bituminous Colombian coal, a low-rank/high-ash sub-bituminous Brazilian coal and a charcoal residue from black acacia. For each solid fuel, particles were burned at a constant drop tube furnace wall temperature of 1475?K, in six different mixtures of O₂/N₂/CO₂/H₂O, which allowed simulating dry and wet conventional and oxy-fuel combustion conditions. A high-speed camera was used to record the ignition process and the collected images were treated to characterize the ignition mode (either gas-phase or surface mode) and to calculate the ignition delay times. The Colombian coal particles ignite predominately in the gas-phase for all test conditions, but under simulated oxy-fuel conditions there is a decrease in the occurrence of this ignition mode; the charcoal particles experience surface ignition regardless of the test condition; and the Brazilian coal particles ignite predominately in the gas-phase when combustion occurs in mixtures of O₂/N₂/H₂O, but under simulated oxy-fuel conditions the ignition occurs predominantly on the surface. The ignition delay times for particles that ignited in the gas-phase are smaller than those that ignited on the surface, and generally the simulated oxy-fuel conditions retard the onset of both gas-phase and surface ignition. The addition of steam decreases the gas-phase and surface ignition delay times of the particles of both coals under simulated oxy-fuel conditions, but has a small impact on the gas-phase ignition delay times when the combustion occurs in mixtures of O₂/N₂/H₂O. The steam gasification reaction is likely to be responsible for the steam effect on the ignition delay times through the production of highly flammable species that promote the onset of ignition.     

Field-theory methods in coagulation theory

Coagulating systems are systems of chaotically moving particles that collide and coalesce, producing daughter particles of mass equal to the sum of the masses involved in the respective collision event. The present article puts forth basic ideas underlying the application of methods of quantum-field theory to the theory of coagulating systems. Instead of the generally accepted treatment based on the use of a standard kinetic equation that describes the time evolution of concentrations of particles consisting of a preset number of identical objects (monomers in the following), one introduces the probability W(Q, t) to find the system in some state Q at an instant t for a specific rate of transitions between various states. Each state Q is characterized by a set of occupation numbers Q = {n ₁, n ₂, ..., n _g , ...}, where n _g is the total number of particles containing precisely g monomers. Thereupon, one introduces the generating functional Ψ for the probability W(Q, t). The time evolution of Ψ is described by an equation that is similar to the Schrödinger equation for a one-dimensional Bose field. This equation is solved exactly for transition rates proportional to the product of the masses of colliding particles. It is shown that, within a finite time interval, which is independent of the total mass of the entire system, a giant particle of mass about the mass of the entire system may appear in this system. The particle in question is unobservable in the thermodynamic limit, and this explains the well-known paradox of mass-concentration nonconservation in classical kinetic theory. The theory described in the present article is successfully applied in studying the time evolution of random graphs.     

Ignition curves for deuterium/helium-3 fuel in spherical tokamak reactor

In this paper, ignition curve for deuterium /helium-3 fusion reaction is studied. Four fusion reactions are considered. Zero-dimensional model for the power balance equation has been used. The closed ignition curves for ρ=constant (ratio of particle to energy confinement time) have been derived. The results of our calculations show that ignited equilibria for deuterium /helium-3 fuel in a spherical tokamak is only possible for ρ= 5.5 and 6. Then, by using the energy confinement scaling and parameters of the spherical tokamak reactor, the plasma stability limits have been obtained in n_e, T plane and, to determine the thermal instability of plasma, the time-dependent transport equations have been solved.     

Impurity transport in fractal media in the presence of a degrading diffusion barrier

We have analyzed the transport regimes and the asymptotic forms of the impurity concentration in a randomly inhomogeneous fractal medium in the case when an impurity source is surrounded by a weakly permeable degrading barrier. The systematization of transport regimes depends on the relation between the time t ₀ of emergence of impurity from the barrier and time t _* corresponding to the beginning of degradation. For t ₀ < t _*, degradation processes are immaterial. In the opposite situation, when t ₀ > t _*, the results on time intervals t < t _* can be formally reduced to the problem with a stationary barrier. The characteristics of regimes with t _* < t < t ₀ depend on the scenario of barrier degradation. For an exponentially fast scenario, the interval t _* < t < t ₀ is very narrow, and the transport regime occurring over time intervals t < t _* passes almost jumpwise to the regime of the problem without a barrier. In the slow power-law scenario, the transport over long time interval t _* < t < t ₀ occurs in a new regime, which is faster as compared to the problem with a stationary barrier, but slower than in the problem without a barrier. The asymptotic form of the concentration at large distances from the source over time intervals t < t ₀ has two steps, while for t > t ₀, it has only one step. The more remote step for t < t ₀ and the single step for t > t ₀ coincide with the asymptotic form in the problem without a barrier.     

The influence of radiative-convective heat transfer on ignition of the drops of coal-water fuel

Simulation results are presented for thermal treatment and ignition of coal-water fuel drops under conditions of radiative-convective heating. The data demonstrate reasonbble compliance between theory and experiment for the integral parameter of ignition process — the delay time of ignition. The radiative component of heat transfer is significant for parameters and conditions of ignition. The increase in the fuel particle size makes this influence bigger. Prognostic potential was evaluated for differnet models of radiative heat tarnsfer. The delay time of ignition obtained from radiative heat transfer model “grey wall” is in good agreement with experimental data. Meanwhile, the method based on radiation diffusion approximation gives the simulation data for delay time much higher than experimental data. It is confirmed that while the process of inflammation of a coal-water particle, the key impotance belongs not to fuel-oxidizer reactions, but rather to a chain of heat treatment events, such as radiative-convective heating, water evaporation, and thermal decomposition of fuel.     

Correlation between the properties of the deuteron and the low-energy triplet parameters of neutron-proton scattering

The correlation between the asymptotic normalization constant for the deuteron, A_S, and the neutron-proton scattering length for the triplet case, a_t, is investigated. It is found that 99.7% of the asymptotic constant A_S is determined by the scattering length a_t. It is shown that the linear correlation between the quantities A _S ^?2 and 1/a_t provides a good test of correctness of various models of nucleon-nucleon interaction. It is revealed that, for the normalization constant A_S and for the root-mean-square deuteron radius r_d, the results obtained with the experimental value recommended at present for the triplet scattering length a_t are exaggerated with respect to their experimental counterparts. By using the latest experimental data obtained for phase shifts by the group headed by Arndt, it proved to be possible to derive, for the low-energy parameters of scattering (a_t, r_t, P_t) and for the properties of the deuteron (A_S, r_d) results that comply well with experimental data.     

Reciprocal Time Relation of Noncolliding Brownian Motion with Drift

We consider an N-particle system of noncolliding Brownian motion starting from x ₁≤x ₂≤…≤x _N with drift coefficients ν _j , 1≤j≤N satisfying ν ₁≤ν ₂≤…≤ν _N . When all of the initial points are degenerated to be zero, x _j =0, 1≤j≤N, the equivalence is proved between a dilatation with factor 1/t of this drifted process and the noncolliding Brownian motion starting from ν ₁≤ν ₂≤…≤ν _N without drift observed at reciprocal time 1/t, for arbitrary t>0. Using this reciprocal time relation, we study the determinantal property of the noncolliding Brownian motion with drift having finite and infinite numbers of particles.     

Corona effect in <Emphasis Type="Italic">AA</Emphasis> collisions at the LHC

Following our earlier finding based on RHIC data on the dominant jet production from nucleus corona region, we reconsider this effect in nucleus–nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. Our hypothesis was based on experimental data, which raised the idea of a finite formation time for the produced medium. At the RHIC energy and in low-density corona region, this time reaches about 2 fm/c. Following this hypothesis, the nuclear modification factor R _AA at high p _t should be independent on particle momentum, and the azimuthal anisotropy of high p _t particles, v ₂, should be finite. A separate prediction held that, at the LHC energy, the formation time in the corona region should be about 1 fm/c. New LHC data show that R _AA is not flat and is rising with p _t . We add to our original hypothesis an assumption that a fast parton traversing the produced medium loses the fixed portion of its energy. A shift of about 7 GeV from the original power law p ^?6 production cross section in pp explains well all the observed R _AA dependencies. The shift of about 7 GeV is also valid at the RHIC energy. We also show that the observed at the LHC dependence of v ₂ at high p _t and our previous predictions agree.     

1<Emphasis Type="Italic">∕</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis></Superscript> noise for scale-invariant processes: how long you wait matters

We study the power spectrum which is estimated from a nonstationary signal. In particular we examine the case when the signal is observed in a measurement time window [t _w , t _w + t _m ], namely the observation started after a waiting time t _w , and t _m is the measurement duration. We introduce a generalized aging Wiener–Khinchin theorem which relates between the spectrum and the time- and ensemble-averaged correlation functions for arbitrary t _m and t _w . Furthermore we provide a general relation between the non-analytical behavior of the scale-invariant correlation function and the aging 1∕f ^β noise. We illustrate our general results with two-state renewal models with sojourn times’ distributions having a broad tail.     

Simulations and experiments on the ignition probability in turbulent premixed bluff-body flames

The ignition characteristics of a premixed bluff-body burner under lean conditions were investigated experimentally and numerically with a physical model focusing on ignition probability. Visualisation of the flame with a 5 kHz OH* chemiluminescence camera confirmed that successful ignitions were those associated with the movement of the kernel upstream, consistent with previous work on non-premixed systems. Performing many separate ignition trials at the same spark position and flow conditions resulted in a quantification of the ignition probability P_ign, which was found to decrease with increasing distance downstream of the bluff body and a decrease in equivalence ratio. Flows corresponding to flames close to the blow-off limit could not be ignited, although such flames were stable if reached from a richer already ignited condition. A detailed comparison with the local Karlovitz number and the mean velocity showed that regions of high P_ign are associated with low Ka and negative bulk velocity (i.e. towards the bluff body), although a direct correlation was not possible. A modelling effort that takes convection and localised flame quenching into account by tracking stochastic virtual flame particles, previously validated for non-premixed and spray ignition, was used to estimate the ignition probability. The applicability of this approach to premixed flows was first evaluated by investigating the model's flame propagation mechanism in a uniform turbulence field, which showed that the model reproduces the bending behaviour of the S_T-versus-u′ curve. Then ignition simulations of the bluff-body burner were carried out. The ignition probability map was computed and it was found that the model reproduces all main trends found in the experimental study.     

Instability of potential jet streams

A Hamiltonian version has been formulated for the model of a potential jet stream of a homogeneous incompressible fluid with a free boundary. In the framework of this model, instability regimes have been analyzed. It has been shown that self-similar solutions with a compact support can be dominant structures. Analysis of the instability mechanism shows that two collapse scenarios are possible. The first scenario occurs without the deformation of the shape and leads to an intensification of the vortex sheet according to the law (t ₀ ? t)^?1, where t ₀ is the collapse time. The second scenario leads to the formation of a singularity for the surface shape and to a decrease in the intensity of the vortex sheet according to the laws (t ₀ ? t)^?1/5 and (t ₀ ? t)^1/5, respectively. The integral collapse criterion has been found.     

Precursors in two-phase detonation: Occurrence of a contact discontinuity

This paper is concerned with detonation-propelled shocks (precursors) occurring in gas-permeable charges. It is shown that the basic aspects of the event may successfully be reproduced within a one-dimensional two-phase picture widely employed in the modelling of porous energetic materials. Precursor shocks are sustained by intense gasification of the solid phase, provided the ignition pressure (P_ign) exceeds a certain critical level. At high enough P_ign, the post-shock flow is found to acquire a contact discontinuity. Although this pattern is compatible with the associated self-similar solution, the question of the mechanism governing its formation remains open.     

Long-time relaxation phenomena in Pb<Subscript>0.94</Subscript>Ba<Subscript>0.06</Subscript>Sc<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Nb<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> (PBSN-6) single crystals

Long-time polarization relaxation in the temperature range where PBSN-6 single crystals reside in the relaxor state was studied. An analysis of the time dependence of the permittivity ε′(t) performed at measuring frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 kHz in weak electric fields E₀ showed that the relaxation (or freezing) times derived by extrapolating relations of the type ε′(t) ～ log(t/t₀) and ε′(t) ～ exp{?[ln(t/t₀)]_β} range from 10⁸ to 10¹¹ min and depend substantially on the bias voltage applied to the sample. A study of the pattern of the dielectric response in moderate and strong infralow-frequency fields revealed that, after a sample was maintained under a bias lower than the coercive force, it no longer exhibited the additional anomalies in the amplitude dependences of the effective loss tangent tan_eff(E₀) than were observed in a thermally recuperated sample.     

Prediction improvements of ignition characteristics of isolated coal particles with a one-dimensional transient model

A modified 1-D transient model considering intra-particle thermal conduction is adopted to improve the predictions of the ignition characteristics of isolated coal particles. The study aims at resolving the incorrect prediction on the variation trend of ignition temperature T_i with the change of oxygen concentration X_O2, interpreting the contradictory dependencies on coal particle size and furnace temperature and clarifying the conditions when the intra-particle thermal conduction should be considered. The predictions are compared with microgravity data in which the buoyancy effect is minimized. The results reveal that the previous ignition model with transient adiabatic criterion fails to predict the T_i variation with X_O2, since it cannot accurately predict T_i and delay time in the low X_O2 region. Instead, the ignition model with flammability limit ignition criterion can well predict T_i in a wide range of X_O2. Intra-particle thermal conduction causes remarkable temperature differences for large coal particles, and moreover, the variation trends of surface and center temperatures with particle size are very different. The center temperature at ignition drops remarkably with increasing particle size, while the surface temperature barely changes or slightly increases with particle size. At the same particle size, the variation trends of surface and center temperatures with furnace temperature are also opposite. The ignition mode and variation trend of ignition surface temperature with particle size depends on the heating rate and particle size itself. The contradictory experimental results reported by different researchers are attributed to the particle size and temperature measurement location. The conditions necessary to consider the intra-particle thermal conduction are discussed. Lastly, the effect of the intraparticle thermal conduction is shown on an ignition mode diagram.     

Self-gravitating Brownian particles in two dimensions: the case of N = 2 particles

We study the motion of N = 2 overdamped Brownianparticles in gravitational interaction in a space of dimensiond = 2. This is equivalent to the simplified motion of twobiological entities interacting via chemotaxis when time delay anddegradation of the chemical are ignored. This problem also bearssimilarities with the stochastic motion of two point vorticesin viscous hydrodynamics [O. Agullo, A. Verga, Phys. Rev. E 63,056304 (2001)]. We analytically obtain the probability density offinding the particles at a distance r from each other at timet. We also determine the probability that the particles havecoalesced and formed a Dirac peak at time t(i.e. the probability that the reduced particle has reached r = 0at time t). Finally, we investigate the meansquare separation \(\langle\) r ² \(\rangle\) and discuss the proper formof the virial theorem for this system. The reduced particle has anormal diffusion behavior for small times with a gravity-modifieddiffusion coefficient \(\langle\) r ² \(\rangle\) = r ₀ ² + (4k _B /ξ μ)(T–\(T_{*}\))t, wherek _B \(T_{*}\) = Gm ₁ m ₂/2 is a critical temperature, and an anomalousdiffusion for large times \(\langle\) r ² \(\rangle\) \(\propto\) \(t^{1-T_*/T}\). As a by-product, our solution also describes thegrowth of the Dirac peak (condensate) that forms at large time inthe post collapse regime of the Smoluchowski-Poisson system (orKeller-Segel model in biology) for T < T _c = GMm/(4k _B ). We find thatthe saturation of the mass of the condensate to the total mass isalgebraic in an infinite domain and exponential in a boundeddomain. Finally, we provide the general form of the virial theoremfor Brownian particles with power law interactions.