Study of rapid ionisation for simulation of soft X-ray lasers with the 2D hydro-radiative code ARWEN

We present our fast ionisation routine used to study transient soft X-ray lasers with ARWEN, a two-dimensional hydrodynamic code incorporating adaptative mesh refinement (AMR) and radiative transport.We compute global rates between ion stages assuming an effective temperature between singly-excited levels of each ion. A two-step method is used to obtain in a straightforward manner the variation of ion populations over long hydrodynamic time steps. We compare our model with existing theoretical results both stationary and transient, finding that the discrepancies are moderate except for large densities. We simulate an existing Molybdenum Ni-like transient soft X-ray laser with ARWEN. Use of the fast ionisation routine leads to a larger increase in temperature and a larger gain zone than when LTE datatables are used.     

Natural convection in vertical slots with wall temperature oscillation

Natural convection in vertical slots has been studied experimentally with oscillation of a cold wall temperature. It is found that at sufficiently large Rayleigh numbers travelling-wave instability occurs, but only in the region close to the cold wall when the hot wall is maintained at the initial temperature, and appears in both cold and hot regions when both hot and cold wall temperatures are changed simultaneously and symmetrically with the initial temperature value, although the hot wall temperature is kept constant after the change. The observed instability may be attributed to the leading-edge effect induced by the cold wall temperature oscillation, and selectively amplified by the natural convection flow.The author would like to thank Professor R. S. Tankin for his encouragement and assistance throughout this study. The financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is gratefully acknowledged.     

Influence of drag laws on pressure and bed material recirculation rate in a cold flow model of an 8 MW dual fluidized bed system by means of CPFD

A cold flow model of an 8 MW dual fluidized bed (DFB) system is simulated using the commercial computational particle fluid dynamics (CPFD) software package Barracuda. The DFB system comprises a bubbling bed connected to a fast fluidized bed with the bed material circulating between them. As the hydrodynamics in hot DFB plants are complex because of high temperatures and many chemical reaction processes, cold flow models are used. Performing numerical simulations of cold flows enables a focus on the hydrodynamics as the chemistry and heat and mass transfer processes can be put aside. The drag law has a major influence on the hydrodynamics, and therefore its influence on pressure, particle distribution, and bed material recirculation rate is calculated using Barracuda and its results are compared with experimental results. The drag laws used were energy-minimization multiscale (EMMS), Ganser, Turton–Levenspiel, and a combination of Wen–Yu/Ergun. Eleven operating points were chosen for that study and each was calculated with the aforementioned drag laws. The EMMS drag law best predicted the pressure and distribution of the bed material in the different parts of the DFB system. For predicting the bed material recirculation rate, the Ganser drag law showed the best results. However, the drag laws often were not able to predict the experimentally found trends of the bed material recirculation rate. Indeed, the drag law significantly influences the hydrodynamic outcomes in a DFB system and must be chosen carefully to obtain meaningful simulation results. More research may enable recommendations as to which drag law is useful in simulations of a DFB system with CPFD.     

Effects of information transmission delay and channel blocking on synchronization in scale-free Hodgkin-Huxley neuronal networks

In this paper,we investigate the evolution of spatiotemporal patterns and synchronization transitions in dependence on the information transmission delay and ion channel blocking in scale-free neuronal networks.As the underlying model of neuronal dynamics,we use the Hodgkin-Huxley equations incorporating channel blocking and intrinsic noise.It is shown that delays play a significant yet subtle role in shaping the dynamics of neuronal networks.In particular,regions of irregular and regular propagating excitatory fronts related to the synchronization transitions appear intermittently as the delay increases.Moreover,the fraction of working sodium and potassium ion channels can also have a significant impact on the spatiotemporal dynamics of neuronal networks.As the fraction of blocked sodium channels increases,the frequency of excitatory events decreases,which in turn manifests as an increase in the neuronal synchrony that,however,is dysfunctional due to the virtual absence of large-amplitude excitations.Expectedly,we also show that larger coupling strengths improve synchronization irrespective of the information transmission delay and channel blocking.The presented results are also robust against the variation of the network size,thus providing insights that could facilitate understanding of the joint impact of ion channel blocking and information transmission delay on the spatiotemporal dynamics of neuronal networks.     

Visualization of the flow structure in a vortex tube

The temperature separation in a vortex tube has been investigated for the purpose of exploring the phenomenon and improving the tube performance. Different explanations for the temperature separation have been proposed. However, there has not been a consensus in the hypothesis.This paper reports on a study in progress exploring the flow structure in a vortex tube. Flow visualization, using water as a working fluid, is used to reveal the existence of multiple circulation regions within the vortex tube and a new hypothesis describes the temperature separation mechanism. This research contributes to the understanding of the flow behavior in a vortex tube and supports the previous works that show the generation of the cold component of the flow is the result of the expansion near the cold nozzle and the hot component is produced due to the friction between the layers of flow.     

Production of periodically modulated laser-driven blast waves in a clustering gas

To study hydrodynamic behavior on thin shell high Mach number blast waves, experiments have been performed in which spatially tailored shock waves have been launched in a gas of clusters using an intense 35 fs laser pulse. The target medium was first modified by destroying clusters in specific locations using a spatially modulated laser focus. Under subsequent intense laser irradiation, the efficient absorption properties of the remaining clustered regions compared to those regions with no clusters led to a pattern of hot and cold plasma resulting in a cylindrical blast wave with a periodic modulation imprinted on the shock front. This technique may provide a method for studying thin shell instabilities in strongly radiative blast waves.     

Fully Compressible Low-Mach Number Simulations of Carbon-dioxide at Supercritical Pressures and Trans-critical Temperatures

This work investigates fully developed turbulent flows of carbon-dioxide close to its vapour-liquid critical point in a channel with a hot and a cold wall. Two direct numerical simulations are performed at low Mach numbers, with the trans-critical transition near the channel centre and the cold wall, respectively. An additional simulation with constant transport properties is used to selectively investigate the effect of the non-linear equation of state on turbulence. Compared to the case where the pseudo-critical transition occurs in the channel center, the case with the pseudo-critical transition close to the cold wall reveals that compressibility effects can exist in the near-wall region even at low Mach numbers. An analysis of the velocity streaks near the hot and the cold walls also indicates a greater degree of streak coherence near the cold wall. A comparison between the constant and variable viscosity cases at the same Reynolds number, Mach number and having the same isothermal wall boundary conditions reveals that variable viscosity increases turbulence near the cold wall and also causes higher velocity gradients near the hot wall. We also show that the extended van Driest transformation results in a better agreement of the velocity profile with the log-law of the wall compared to the standard van Driest transformation. The semi-locally scaled turbulent velocity fluctuations and the turbulent kinetic energy budgets on the hot and the cold sides of the channel collapse on top of each other, thereby establishing the validity of Morkovin’s hypothesis.     

侧加热腔体内重力波演化过程的数值模拟

利用二维数值模拟的方法研究了侧加热腔体内的自然对流．基于数值模拟结果,描述了水平热入侵流(intrusion)的整个演化过程,并对该过程的物理机制进行了讨论．结果表明：当热入侵流抵达腔体冷壁后,由于冷壁无法卷入所有的热入侵流,热入侵流在冷上角堆积并产生一个反向流动,在冷壁边界层附近形成一个顺时针涡,该涡在浮力效应驱动下可返回热壁,并在腔体的冷热壁之间形成了腔体尺度的流体振荡,即内重力波．     

Integrated microthermoelectric cooler for microfluidic channels

Precise fluid temperature control in microfluidic channels is a requirement for many lab-on-a-chip and microreactor devices, especially in biotechnology where most processes are highly temperature sensitive. We demonstrate the concept of a microthermoelectric cooler integrated into a microfluidic channel in order to give rapid and localised fluid cooling. The key aspect of this concept is the use of a second imbedded microfluidic channel that is used as a miniature heat sink. An analytical thermal model has been derived that couples thermoelectric effects with fluid heat-transfer rates from both the hot and cold connections. Using this model, the effect on cooling performance of varying the thermal resistance between the hot and cold connections and the fluid has been quantified, as well as the effect of substrate thermal conductivity. If the substrate thermal conductivity is too high, heat leakage renders the thermoelectric cooler ineffective. The optimum electrical current for cooling has been shown to be a function of the thermal resistance of the heat sink. For thermoelectric coolers there is competition between temperature reduction and cooling power. Using this fact, based on the final fluid temperature required, we have calculated the maximum flow rate that will achieve this. Finally, a prototype integrated microthermoelectric cooler has been fabricated and tested.     

Non-localness of Excess Potentials and Boundary Value Problems of Poisson–Nernst–Planck Systems for Ionic Flow: A Case Study

Poisson–Nernst–Planck (PNP) type systems are basic primitive models for ionic flow through ion channels. Important properties of ion channels, such as current-voltage relations, permeation and selectivity, can be extracted from solutions of boundary value problems (BVP) of PNP type models. Many issues of BVP of PNP type systems with local excess potentials (including particularly classical PNP systems that treat ions as point-charges) are extensively examined analytically and numerically. On the other hand, for PNP type systems with nonlocal excess potentials, even the issue of well-posedness of BVP is poorly understood. In fact, the formulation of correct boundary conditions seems to be overlooked, even though complications of ionic behavior near the boundaries (locations of applied electrodes) have been long experienced in experiments and simulations. PNP type systems with nonlocal excess potentials can be viewed as functional differential systems and, for many approximation models of nonlocal excess potentials, as differential equations with both delays and advances. Thus PNP type systems with nonlocal excess potentials have infinite degree of freedoms and BVP with the traditional “two-point-boundary-conditions” would be severely under determined. The mathematical theory for PNP with nonlocal excess potential would be significantly different from that for PNP with local excess potentials. Taking into considerations of experimental designs of ionic flow through ion channels and in a relatively simple setting, we present a form of natural “boundary conditions” so that the corresponding BVP of PNP type systems with nonlocal excess potentials are generally well-posed. This work, at an early stage toward a better understanding of related issues, provides some insights on interpretations of experimental designs of imposing boundary conditions and for correct formulations of numerical simulations, and hopefully, will stimulate further mathematical analysis on this important issue.     

A feasible neuron for estimating the magnetic field effect

Biological neurons are capable of encoding a variety of stimuli, and the synaptic plasticity can be enhanced for activating appropriate firing modes in the neural activities. Artificial neural circuits are effective to reproduce the main biophysical properties of neurons when the nonlinear circuits composed of reliable electronic components with distinct physical properties are tamed to generate similar firing patterns as biological neurons. In this paper, a simple neural circuit is proposed to estimate the effect of magnetic field on the neural activities by incorporating two physical electronic components. A magnetic flux-controlled memristor and an ideal Josephson junction in parallel connection are used to percept the induction currents induced by the magnetic field. The circuit equations are obtained according to the Kirchhoff’s theorem and an equivalent neuron model is acquired by applying scale transformation on the physical variables and parameters in the neural circuit. Standard bifurcation analysis is calculated to predict possible mode transition and evolution of firing patterns. The Hamilton energy is also obtained to find its dependence on the mode selection in electronic activities. Furthermore, External magnetic field is applied to estimate the mode transition of neural activities because the phase error and the junction current across the Josephson junction can be adjusted to change the dynamics of the neural circuit. It is found that the biophysical functional neuron can present rapid and sensitive response to external magnetic field. Nonlinear resonance is obtained when stochastic phase error is induced by external time-varying magnetic field. The neural circuit can be suitable for further calculating the collective behaviors of neurons exposed to magnetic field.

     

Mathematical Modeling and Parameter Identification of a Planar Servo-Pneumatic Test Facility. Part II: Experimental Identification

The main objective of this paper is the identification of the inertia parameters of a rigid body under planar motion using a planar servo-pneumatic test facility designed for vibration tests. The hardware realization of the test facility used is discussed. The pneumatic components as well as the mechanical components of the test facility are described by linear and by nonlinear mathematical models, derived in Part I [1] of this paper. These model equations are used as identification hypotheses in the identification process. A comparison of time histories obtained by computer simulations of the nonlinear test facility model and by laboratory experiments shows that this nonlinear test facility model provides a realistic identification hypothesis for the estimation experiments. Based on different model hypotheses the inertia parameters of the test table and of the payload have been successfully identified from laboratory experiments. The relative estimation errors of the identified parameters are less than 10%.     

Simulating hydrodynamics of hot and large Group A particle systems at cold conditions to obtain data for scale-up

Scaling laws based on the concept of dimensional similitude are proposed to simulate the hydrodynamics of hot and large particle systems at conditions of cold and small particle systems. This technique uses the concept of dimensional similitude to accomplish this by maintaining certain dimensional groups constant in the large, hot and small, cold systems. However, there are certain limitations with this technique. One of them is that the particle size in the small, cold system is usually smaller than in the large, hot system. Because particle size is such a dominant parameter in fluidized systems, this can certainly affect the simulation.
An alternative method of simulating hot hydrodynamics in ambient-temperature Group A particle systems has been proposed. In this method, the same calculated drag force is maintained between the two systems. The drag force is varied by changing the gas density of the cold system so that it matches the drag force in the hot system.     

Simulations of radiative effects on the Rayleigh–Taylor instability using the CRASH code

Future experiments at the National Ignition Facility will be able to generate diagnosable Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth in the presence of locally generated, high radiation fluxes. This interplay of radiative energy transfer and hydrodynamic instability is relevant to many astrophysical systems, such as core-collapse red supergiant supernovae. Previous simulations of high-energy-density Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in the presence of a hot environment near a radiative shock demonstrate behavior that differs from that found in non-radiative cases. However, these simulations considered only 1D or single wavelength cases. Here we report simulations of an entire experimental system using the CRASH code. These simulations lead to modified predictions, attributed to the effects of radial energy losses.     

生物神经网络系统动力学与功能研究

生物神经系统是由数量极其巨大的神经元相互联结的信息网络系统,在生物体的感觉、认知和运动控制中发挥关键性的作用.首先介绍神经元、大脑和一些生物神经网络的生理结构和理论模型,然后分别介绍其放电活动和网络动态特性的一些重要问题,包括神经元的复杂放电模式、耦合神经元网络系统的同步活动和时空动力学、大脑联合皮层神经微回路的网络结构特征,以及工作记忆和抉择过程的动力学机制等. 最后对今后研究给出一些展望.      

Effects of internal noise on the spiking regularity of a clustered Hodgkin-Huxley neuronal network

Spiking regularity in a clustered Hodgkin–Huxley (HH) neuronal network has been studied in this letter. A stochastic HH neuronal model with channel blocks has been applied as local neuronal model. Effects of the internal channel noise on the spiking regularity are discussed by changing the membrane patch size. We find that when there is no channel blocks in potassium channels, there exist some intermediate membrane patch sizes at which the spiking regularity could reach to a higher level. Spiking regularity increases with the membrane patch size when sodium channels are not blocked. Namely, depending on different channel blocking states, internal channel noise tuned by membrane patch size could have different influence on the spiking regularity of neuronal networks.     

Evaporative cooling and the Mpemba effect

The Mpemba effect is popularly summarized by the statement that “hot water can freeze faster than cold”, and has been observed experimentally since the time of Aristotle; however, there exist almost no theoretical models that predict the effect. With a view to initiating rigorous modelling activity on this topic, this paper analyzes in some depth the only available model in literature, which considers the potential role of evaporative cooling and treats the cooling water as a lumped mass. Certain omissions in the original work are highlighted and corrected, and results are obtained for a wide range of operating conditions—in particular, initial liquid temperature and cooling temperature. The implications and importance of the results of the model for experimental design are discussed, as are extensions of the model to handle more realistic 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional configurations.     

Quasi-isochoric ion beam heating using dynamic confinement in spherical geometry for X-ray scattering experiments in WDM regime

Extreme states of matter such as Warm Dense Matter “WDM” and Dense Strongly Coupled Plasmas “DSCP” play a key role in many high energy density experiments, however, creating WDM and DSCP in a manner that can be quantified is not readily feasible. In this paper, isochoric heating of matter by intense heavy ion beams in spherical symmetry is investigated for WDM and DSCP research: the heating times are long (100 ns), the samples are macroscopically large (millimeter-size) and the symmetry is advantageous for diagnostic purposes. A dynamic confinement scheme in spherical symmetry is proposed which allows even ion beam heating times that are long on the hydrodynamic time scale of the target response. A particular selection of low-Z target tamper and X-ray probe radiation parameters allows to identify the X-ray scattering from the target material and use it for independent charge state measurements Z* of the material under study.     

Effect of viscous dissipation on fully developed combined convection in a horizontal double-passage channel

 Fully developed combined convection in a horizontal double-passage channel has been investigated by taking into account the effect of viscous dissipation. Uniform wall temperatures with asymmetric and symmetric heating have been considered. The results showed that the increase in Brinkman number decreases the Nusselt number on the hot wall and increases that on the cold wall specially when the baffle becomes near the hot wall or the cold wall, respectively. Received on 20 February 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Spatio-temporal chaos in colloid convection

The gravity convection in a plane horizontal colloid layer heated from below has been investigated experimentally and numerically. The temperatures and heat fluxes were measured using thermocouples. The flows were visualized using a thermosensitive liquid-crystal film. The Fourier and wavelet spectra of the thermal signals have been calculated. The numerical calculations were based on the model of a two-phase mixture of rigid particles with a carrier fluid. It was found that in colloids the branching-off of convective flows from mechanical equilibrium is hard and has an hysteresis. On the investigated interval up to four supercriticalities the spatio-temporal structures are irregular and wavy, which can be attributed to the competition between thermally and barometrically induced density drops.