Amplitude and frequency characteristics of acoustic jets

The prerequisites to formation and the characteristics of a jet that occurs at the open end of a waveguide guiding an intense sound wave are studied. The velocity field is measured by a hot-wire anemometer. The previously developed method of separating the jet velocity V_jet from the amplitude of the oscillating particle velocity V_osc, which is applicable only when V_jet>V_osc, is supplemented with the method of oscillogram processing applicable for V_jet≤V_osc. Thus, a full picture of the jet evolution in space, starting from the waveguide outlet, is obtained. The experimentally determined spatial distribution of the jet velocity is found to agree well with the numerically simulated dependences reported by other authors. For the oscillating velocity amplitude at the open end of the waveguide, a threshold value, beyond which the formation of the acoustic jet takes place, is revealed. The frequency dependence of this threshold value is determined. The dependence of the maximal jet velocity on the oscillating velocity amplitude in the outlet waveguide cross section is found to be close to linear.     

Route to chaos for combustion instability in ducted laminar premixed flames

Complex thermoacoustic oscillations are observed experimentally in a simple laboratory combustor that burns lean premixed fuel-air mixture, as a result of nonlinear interaction between the acoustic field and the combustion processes. The application of nonlinear time series analysis, particularly techniques based on phase space reconstruction from acquired pressure data, reveals rich dynamical behavior and the existence of several complex states. A route to chaos for thermoacoustic instability is established experimentally for the first time. We show that, as the location of the heat source is gradually varied, self-excited periodic thermoacoustic oscillations undergo transition to chaos via the Ruelle-Takens scenario.     

Analysis of the formation of ion beams in varying electric fields of a stationary plasma thruster

We propose a technique for analyzing the distribution function of the velocity components (radial V _r and azimuthal V _φ) of ions in a beam. This technique is used for studying the ion beam emerging from a stationary plasma thruster (SPT). It is shown that the beam contains ions with a radial velocity component in the range V _r /V _z = ? 1.2 to +0.74, as well as ions with the azimuthal velocity component in the range V _?/V _z = ±0.9. Numerical calculations lead to the conclusion that ions acquire the azimuthal velocity component in the field of the azimuthal wave of the plasma potential evolving in the SPT channel.     

Phase-resolved laser Raman scattering and laser Doppler velocimetry applied to periodic instabilities in a gas turbine model combustor

The understanding of periodic flame instabilities belongs to the major challenges in modern combustion research and technology and is of special importance for lean premixed gas turbine combustion. This paper presents experimental investigations in a gas turbine model combustor using laser diagnostic techniques. A partially premixed CH₄/air flame operated at a thermal power of 10 kW at atmospheric pressure and an overall equivalence ratio of 0.75, which exhibited thermoacoustic oscillations at a frequency of 290 Hz, was investigated. Phase-locked laser Raman scattering was applied in order to determine the major species concentrations, temperature, and mixture fraction. In addition, laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) was used separately for the measurement of the axial and radial velocity components. The measurements revealed pronounced phase-dependent variations of the velocity and the temperature, species, and mixture fraction distributions. The combined Raman and LDV results also enabled the determination of molecular species fluxes which showed that the fuel and air supply rates both varied during an oscillation cycle by ±33% but with a phase shift of 80 between them. The correlations between temperature and mixture fraction revealed strong deviations from equilibrium composition and temperature, and their phase-dependent changes reflected the transport and mixing processes near the nozzle. The emphasis of the paper lies on the demonstration of the potential of phase-locked laser Raman scattering for the study of phenomena of periodic flame instabilities. PACS 33.20; 39.30; 47.27; 47.70; 82.33; 82.40     

The impact of N2 micro-jets on the V-to-M flame shape transition in a premixed swirl burner

Injection of N₂ through micro-jets located on the dump plane of a lean premixed swirl stabilized combustor is investigated as a new method for mitigating combustion instabilities. This study focuses on the chemical and fluid dynamic processes by which the N₂ micro-jets impact the flame dynamics. An experimental and numerical investigation is performed to characterize the combustion instability during the V-to-M flame shape transition in a swirl burner fueled with premixed CH₄/air, at an equivalence ratio of 0.62. Reasonable agreements have been found between the experimental measurements and simulation results. Both of them present that the flame changes from V-shape to M-shape periodically, and a low-frequency instability around 10 Hz is observed accordingly. It is confirmed that intermittent flame extinction in the outer recirculation zone (ORZ) is the source of the combustion instability. Furthermore, injection of N₂ through micro-jets located on the combustor dump plane, into the outer recirculation zone, results in a stable V shape flame. It is clearly seen that the ORZ dilution can eliminate the combustion instability without inhibiting the combustion efficiency. A special focus is placed on the impact of the diluent injection on the local flame-flow interaction. The nitrogen micro-jets increase the local nitrogen concentration by 7% on average, lowering the flame speed and extinction strain rates by 27% and 17% respectively. Moreover, the micro-jets increase the turbulence intensity in the ORZ, leading to a significant increase in the Karlovitz number and transferring the local combustion regime from the thin reaction zone regime to the broken reaction zone regime. Hence, the nitrogen micro-jets impact on both the turbulence and the chemical reaction rates prevents flame propagation into the ORZ and results in a stable flame.     

Studies of the nuclear inertia in fission and heavy-ion reactions

On the basis of the non-self-consistent cranking model we study some aspects of the nuclear inertia of interest in fission and heavy-ion reactions. First, we consider in the adiabatic limit the inertia for a doubly closed-shell nucleus in a deformed spheroidal harmonic-oscillator single-particle potential plus a small perturbation. When expressed in terms of a coordinate that describes the deformation of the nuclear matter distribution, the inertia for small oscillations about a spherical shape is exactly equal to the incompressible, irrotational value. For large distortions it deviates from the incompressible, irrotational value by up to about ±1 % away from level crossings. Second, in order to study the dependence of the inertia upon a level crossing, we consider in detail two levels of the above system. This is done both in the adiabatic limit and for large collective velocities. At level crossings the adiabatic inertia relative to the deformation of the matter distribution diverges as 1/|ΔV|, where |ΔV| is the magnitude of the perturbation. However, for large collective velocities the contribution to the inertia from a level crossing is less than 4|ΔV|r²_m, where r_m is the collective velocity of the matter distribution. Although we have not considered the effect of large velocities on the remaining levels of the many-body system or the effect of a statistical ensemble of states, some of our results suggest that for high excitation energies and moderately large collective velocities the nuclear inertia approaches approximately the irrotational value.     

Variation of RKKY interaction strength in dilute AuFe alloys

From measurements of the magnetic properties of some dilute AuFe alloys we find that V₀, the strength of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida interaction, V(r) = (V₀ cos 2k_Fr)/r³, decreases rapidly from V₀ = 11.9 × 10^-36 erg cm³ at n = 42 ppm Fe to 1.03 × 10^-36 erg cm³ at 6050 ppm Fe. We suggest that the observed decrease of V₀ is due to self-damping of the RKKY oscillations, and discuss the significance of this decrease for the interpretation of other experiments on AuFe.     

Additional criteria for MILD coal combustion

We proposed a theoretical basis for Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) coal combustion based on the turbulent scalar energy spectra. This is motivated by the hypothesis that smallest scalar mixing length scales should be on the order of the particle size or smaller to ensure that mixing can occur to prevent formation of diffusion flames. Our proposed criterion is evaluated using several experimental datasets from the literature for coal combustion in both MILD and traditional combustion regimes. The experimental results confirm that the smallest mixing length scales should be of the order of or smaller than the particle diameter, η_mix?d_p, to breakup the heat and mass transfer boundary layers around particles in MILD coal combustion. Results indicate that poor mixing of species with small Schmidt numbers around small particles leads to the high luminous intensity in the reactor. The effects of inlet velocity and jet diameter on the mixing length scales are analyzed. Higher inlet velocity and smaller jet diameter are expected to reach MILD regime. The proposed criterion can be used to guide experimental design to achieve MILD conditions for coal combustion.     

Phase synchronization and collective interaction of multiple flamelets in a laboratory scale spray combustor

In this paper, we investigate the coupled behvior of the acoustic field in the confinement and the unsteady flame dynamics in a laboratory scale spray combustor. We study this interaction during the intermittency route to thermoacoustic instability when the location of the flame is varied inside the combustor. As the flame location is changed, the synchronization properties of the coupled acoustic pressure and heat release rate signals change from desynchronized aperiodicity (combustion noise) to phase synchronized periodicity (thermoacoustic instability) through intermittent phase synchronization (intermittency). We also characterize the collective interaction between the multiple flamelets anchored at the flame holder and the acoustic field in the system, during different dynamical states observed in the combustor operation. When the signals are desynchronized, we notice that the flamelets exhibit a steady combustion without the exhibition of a prominent feedback with the acoustic field. In a state of intermittent phase synchronization, we observe the existence of a short-term coupling between the heat release rate and the acoustic field. We notice that the onset of collective synchronization in the oscillations of multiple flamelets and the acoustic field leads to the simultaneous emergence of periodicity in the global dynamics of the system. This collective periodicity in both the subsystems causes enhancement of oscillations during epochs of amplitude growth in the intermittency signal. On the contrary, the weakening of the coupling induces suppression of periodic oscillations during epochs of amplitude decay in the intermittency signal. During phase synchronization, we notice a sustained synchronized movement of all flamelets with the periodicity of the acoustic cycle in the system.     

Combustion characteristics of a dual-mode scramjet combustor with cavity flameholder

Combustion characteristics of a laboratory dual-mode ramjet/scramjet combustor were studied experimentally. The combustor consists of a sonic fuel jet injected into a supersonic crossflow upstream of a wall cavity pilot flame. These fundamental components are contained in many dual-mode combustor designs. Experiments were performed with an isolator entrance Mach number of 2.2. Air stagnation temperatures were varied from 1040 to 1490 K, which correspond to flight Mach numbers of 4.3–5.4. Both pure hydrogen and a mixture of hydrogen and ethylene fuels were used. High speed imaging of the flame luminosity was performed along with measurements of the isolator and combustor wall pressures. For ramjet mode operation, two distinct combustion stabilization locations were found for fuel injection a sufficient distance upstream of the cavity. At low T₀, the combustion was anchored at the leading edge of the cavity by heat release in the cavity shear layer. At high T₀, the combustion was stabilized a short distance downstream of the fuel injection jet in the jet-wake. For an intermediate range of T₀, the reaction zone oscillated between the jet-wake and cavity stabilization locations. Wall pressure measurements showed that cavity stabilized combustion was the steadiest, followed by jet-wake stabilized, and the oscillatory case. For fuel injection close to the cavity, a hybrid stabilization mode was found in which the reaction zone locations for the two stabilization modes overlapped. For this hybrid stabilization, cavity fueling rate was an important factor in the steadiness of the flow field. Scramjet mode combustion was found to only exist in the cavity stabilized location for the conditions studied.     

Experimental investigation of combustion instabilities of a mesoscale multinozzle array in a lean-premixed combustor

Self-excited combustion instabilities in a mesoscale multinozzle array, also referred to as a micromixer-type injector, have been experimentally investigated in a lean-premixed tunable combustor operating with preheated methane and air. The injector assembly consists of sixty identical swirl injectors of 6.5 mm inner diameter, which are evenly distributed across the combustor dump plane. Their flow paths are divided into two groups – inner and outer stages – to form radially stratified reactant stoichiometry for the control of self-excited instabilities. OH PLIF measurements of stable flames reveal that the presence of radial staging has a remarkable influence on stabilization mechanisms, reactant jet penetration/merging, and interactions between adjacent flame fronts. In an inner enrichment case, two outer (leaner) streams merge into a single jet structure, whereas the inner (richer) reactant jets penetrate far downstream without noticeable interactions between neighboring flames. The constructed stability map in the 〈?_i, ?_o〉 domain indicates that strong self-excited instabilities occur under even split and outer enrichment conditions at relatively high global equivalence ratios. This is attributed to large-scale flame surface deformation in the streamwise direction, as manifested by vigorous detachment/attachment movements. The use of the inner fuel staging method was found, however, to limit the growth of large-amplitude heat release rate fluctuations, because the center flames are securely anchored during the whole period of oscillation, giving rise to a moderate lateral motion. We demonstrate that the collective motion of sixty flames – rather than the individual local flame dynamics – play a central role in the development of limit cycle oscillations. This suggests that the distribution pattern of the injector array, in combination with the radial fuel staging scheme, is the key to the control of the instabilities.     

Physical adsorption for non-planar geometries

We propose an approximation V_a(r) for the Van der Waals interaction V(r) between an atom and a non-planar solid. V_a(r) is both simpler to compute than V(r) and of considerably more convenient form. The approximation is found to be quite good except for very large z (the atom-surface separation). In the latter case, our comparison of V_a and V permits one to estimate corrections to V_a.     

Quantum oscillations of the velocity of sound in zinc

Large amplitude quantum oscillations of the longitudinal sound velocity, |ΔV/V| ～ 10^-3, were observed in single crystal zinc. The effective masses associated with the ‘cigar’ and ‘butterfly’ were determined from the temperature dependence of the amplitudes of the oscillations in the region 1.5?T?4.2K. The experimental data are compared with the results of theoretical treatments.     

A comparison of 2D and 3D PIV measurements in an oblique jet

A stereo PIV (SPIV) acquisition and analysis system was developed to measure three velocity components in planar flow fields. The analysis software is based on a third order mapping function method. The system was calibrated by imaging a square grid in three measurement planes with two Kodak Megaplus cameras oriented at 30 to the bisector between them. The camera images were dewarped into real coordinates by employing a set of transform matrices computed for each calibration plane. Bias and rms errors were determined by comparing displacements measured directly with displacements estimated from the dewarping and recombination algorithm. The bias errors in the directions parallel with the measurement plane were negligible while the bias in thez direction was about 0.6 pixel. The rms errors, 0.2–0.3 pixels, were largest in thez direction. These errors were thought to result from limitations in the calibration method. The SPIV system was tested in a two-dimensional oblique jet with Reynolds number of 1800. The three dimensional results were taken in a vertical (x, y) plane parallel with the jet span. The SPIV results were compared with LDV data and two-dimensional PIV data obtained in a vertical (y, z) plane of the same jet. The SPIV measurements yielded accurate values for the in-plane mean and rms velocity components. The measured out-of-plane mean component was underestimated due to the bias error mentioned above. The rms component was accurate in part of the field but overestimated in another part due to local variations in rms error. It is expected that in the future, the out-of-plane errors can be minimized by improving the calibration and transformation procedures.     

A theorem on the order of levels in confining potentials

We prove that in a two-body, non-relativistic system interacting via a potential V = ?g²/r + V_c(r), where V_c is a confining potential non-singular at the origin, the 2S level is above the 2P level if V_c satisfies the following sufficient condition: This covers the well-known cases of linear potentials or harmonic oscillator potentials, which were considered in charmonium models, but also more generally, for instance, V_c(r) = r^α, α >0.     

Shear Layer Dynamics in a Reacting Jet in Crossflow

This study explores the effect of heat release on the growth of the shear layer vortical structures in a reacting jet in crossflow. Jets composed of mixtures of hydrogen, helium and nitrogen were used to independently vary the momentum flux ratio (J), jet to crossflow density ratio (S) and heat release. Velocity fields were obtained from 10?kHz high-speed stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) and regions of elevated temperature/combustion products from simultaneous OH planar laser induced fluorescence (OH-PLIF). The shear layer vortices (SLV) originating from instabilities in the windward and leeward shear layers were identified using vortex identification indicator functions in order to track their spatial location and strength. The results show that the asymmetries in shear layer strength between the windward and leeward shear layers are dependent primarily on J, for both reacting and non-reacting flow-fields. The SLV growth rate dependencies on J and S is found to match trends noted by previous studies for non-reacting jets, where SLV growth rates increase with degree of global instability of the JICF. Heat release is also shown to suppress the SLV growth rates relative to non-reacting cases with the same jet parameters. Related to this point, the degree of lifting of the flame also has a significant impact on SLV growth. As flame lifting is directly related to autoignition times, this point shows strong coupling between kinetic rates and jet hydrodynamic stability.     

Dynamic behavior of a freely-propagating turbulent premixed flame under global stretch-rate oscillations

Dynamic features of a freely propagating turbulent premixed flame under global stretch rate oscillations were investigated by utilizing a jet-type low-swirl burner equipped with a high-speed valve on the swirl jet line. The bulk flow velocity, equivalence ratio and the nominal mean swirl number were 5 m/s, 0.80 and 1.23, respectively. Seven velocity forcing amplitudes, from 0.09 to 0.55, were examined with a single forcing frequency of 50 Hz. Three kinds of optical measurements, OH-PLIF, OH^* chemiluminescence and PIV, were conducted. All the data were measured or post-processed in a phase-locked manner to obtain phase-resolved information. The global transverse stretch rate showed in-phase oscillations centering around 60 (1/s). The oscillation amplitude of the stretch rate grew with the increment of the forcing amplitude. The turbulent flame structure in the core flow region varied largely in axial direction in response to the flowfield oscillations. The flame brush thickness and the flame surface area oscillated with a phase shift to the stretch rate oscillations. These two properties showed a maximum and minimum values in the increasing and decreasing stretch periods, respectively, for all the forcing amplitudes. Despite large variations in flame brush thickness at different phase angles, the normalized profiles collapse onto a consistent curve. This suggests that the self-similarity sustains in this dynamic flame. The global OH^* fluctuation response (i.e. response of global heat-release rate fluctuation) showed a linear dependency to the forcing velocity oscillation amplitudes. The flame surface area fluctuation response showed a linear tendency as well with a slope similar to that of the global OH^* fluctuation. This indicated that the flame surface area variations play a critical role in the global flame response.     

Dependence on substrate bias of the effective mass and dingle temperature of electrons in the surface inversion layer of silicon

The amplitude of the quantum oscillations in the magnetoconductance of a silicon inversion layer has been studied as a function of gate voltage V_g, for different values of the temperature T, applied magnetic field strength H and substrate bias V_s. By analyzing the amplitude of the oscillations at fixed V_g and V_g as a function of T and H, the dependence of the cyclotron effective mass m¹ and the Dingle temperature T_D on V_g and V_s can be obtained. The dependence of m¹ on V_g for different values of V_s is compared with the prediction of theory.     

“Crystal fields” for magnetic ions in metals from itinerant electrons

The interaction of conduction electrons with host ions are shown to give rise to “crystal fields”, V_C, which act on the magnetic ion in some dilute magnetic alloys. Crystal fields, V_N, arising directly from ions neighbouring the magnetic ion have been compared with V_C to show that the overall crystal field splitting from all 3d magnetic ions in axial symmetries is enhanced by the p-like character of V_C. A⁰₄〈r⁴〉 from V_N is also increased by the d-component of V_C. The angular properties of itinerant electron states give rise to the above results. For all rare-earth ions in fcc symmetry the radial and angular components of conduction-electron states with mainly d, but also f character, are shown to give rise to a reversal in sign of A⁰₄〈r⁴〉 from V_N. A⁰₆〈r⁶〉 is enhanced by the f component of the conduction electrons.