Conductance and Noncommutative Dynamical Systems

In this work, we introduce the notion of conductance in the context of Cuntz–Krieger C^∗-algebras. These algebras can be seen as a noncommutative version of topological Markov chains. Conductance is a useful notion in the theory of Markov chains to study the approach of a system to the equilibrium state. Our goal is twofold. On one hand, conductance can be used to measure the complexity of dynamical systems, complementing topological entropy. On the other hand, using C^∗-algebras, we can give a natural framework to analyze the path space of a finite graph associated to a Markov shift.     

The nonlinear analysis of horizontal oil-water two-phase flow in a small diameter pipe

Horizontal oil-water two-phase flows are frequently encountered in many industrial processes but the understanding of the dynamic behavior underlying the different flow patterns is still a challenge. In this study, we first conduct experiments of horizontal oil-water flows in a small diameter pipe, and collect the fluctuation signals from conductance probes. The multi-scale power-law correlations of the oil-water flow structures are investigated using detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) based on the magnitude and sign decomposition of the raw signals. The analysis reveals the scaling behavior of different flow structures; five conductive flow patterns are indentified based on the magnitude and sign scaling exponents at different time scales. In addition, the transfer entropy (TE) in a state space is used to study the information transferring characteristics of the oil-water mixture flowing past a conductance cross-correlation velocity probe. The results of TE indicate that the transferring information depends on the flow conditions and can be used to show changes in the flow patterns.     

On the thermal boundary layer on an electrode

In the present paper we consider the approximate calculation of the temperature distribution in a MHD channel operating in the accelerator regime with account for the dependence of the electrical conductance and thermal conductance coefficients on the temperature and with account for Joule dissipation. If the plasma temperature in the channel is about 10⁴ K, then the Prandtl number is much less than unity. Therefore the length of the inlet dynamic segment is much greater than the inlet thermal segment, and we can neglect the transverse velocity component. This permits solving the problem without imposing any constraint on the longitudinal velocity and density. Moreover, under certain conditions we can neglect the term with the pressure gradient in comparison with the Joulean dissipation in the heat transport equation, which permits separation of the thermal problem from the dynamic. In the study we investigate the length of the inlet thermal segment, the heat exchange at the channel wall as a function of the wall temperature, and we also analyze the applicability of the suggested method of calculation.     

The First Eigenvalue of the Laplacian and the Conductance of a Compact Surface

We present some results whose central theme is the phenomenon of the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian and conductance of the dynamical system. Our main tool is a method for studying how the hyperbolic metric on a Riemann surface behaves under deformation of the surface. With this model, we show that there are variation of the first eigenvalue of the laplacian and the conductance of the dynamical system, with the Fenchel–Nielsen coordinates, that characterize the surface.     

Pore-Level Modeling of Gas and Condensate Flow in Two- and Three-Dimensional Pore Networks: Pore Size Distribution Effects on the Relative Permeability of Gas and Condensate

We present a mechanistic model of retrograde condensation processes in two- and three-dimensional capillary tube networks under gravitational forces. Condensate filling-emptying cycles in pore segments and gas connection–isolation cycles are included. With the pore-level distribution of gas and condensate in hand, we determine their corresponding relative permeabilities. Details of pore space and displacement are subsumed in pore conductances. Solving for the pressure field in each phase, we find a single effective conductance for each phase as a function of condensate saturation. Along with the effective conductance for the saturated network, the relative permeability for each phase is calculated. Our model porous media are two- and three-dimensional regular networks of pore segments with distributed size and square cross-section. With a Monte Carlo sampling we find the optimum network size to avoid size effects and then we investigate the effect of network dimensionality and pore size distribution on the relative permeabilities of gas and condensate.     

A study on the correlation between the thermal contact conductance and effective factors in fin–tube heat exchangers with 9.52 mm tube

The thermal contact resistance is a principal parameter interfering with heat transfer in a fin–tube heat exchanger. However, the thermal contact resistance in the interface between tubes and fins has not been clearly investigated. The objective of the present study is to examine the thermal contact conductance for various fin–tube heat exchangers with tube diameter of 9.52 mm and to find a correlation between the thermal contact conductance and effective factors such as expansion ratio, fin type, fin spacing and hydrophilic coating. In this study, experiments have been conducted only to measure heat transfer rate between hot and cold water. To minimize heat loss to the ambient air by the natural convection fin–tube heat exchangers have been placed in an insulated vacuum chamber. Also, a numerical scheme has been employed to calculate the thermal contact conductance with the experimental data. As a result, a new correlation including the influences of expansion ratio, slit of fin and fin coating has been introduced, and the portion of each thermal resistance has been estimated in the fin–tube heat exchangers with 9.52 mm tube.     

Laminar Flow Through Irregularly-Shaped Pores in Sedimentary Rocks

Steady-state, laminar flow of an incompressible fluid through prismatic tubes of irregular but constant cross-section is investigated. Several approximations for the hydraulic conductance (Saint-Venant, Aissen, hydraulic radius), some of which were originally proposed for the mathematically analogous problem of torsion of a prismatic elastic bar, are examined and tested for regular geometric shapes for which analytical solutions exist. For such shapes, the Saint-Venant and Aissen approximations are typically within 15% of the exact conductance, whereas the hydraulic radius approximation may be in error by as much as 50%. Conformal mapping and the boundary element method are then used to study the hydraulic conductance of sandstone pores from SEM images of Berea and Massilon sandstone. For these irregular shapes, the hydraulic radius approximation is much more accurate than either the Saint-Venant or Aissen approximation. Moreover, the errors in the hydraulic radius approximation may be of either sign, and thereby partially cancel out when large numbers of pores are considered, whereas the other two methods tend always to overestimate the hydraulic conductance of rock pores.     

考虑摩擦系数和微凸体相互作用的粗糙表面接触热导分形模型

基于三维分形理论,建立了考虑摩擦系数和微凸体相互作用的粗糙表面接触热导分形模型,并且考虑了微凸体的弹性变形、弹塑性变形和完全塑性变形. 通过该模型,分析了摩擦系数、分形维数、分形粗糙度和接触载荷对热接触热导的影响. 研究结果表明:接触热导随着摩擦系数和分形粗糙度的增大而减小,随着分形维数和接触载荷的增大而增大. 该研究为开展接合面的热传递提供了一定的理论基础.      

Maximum thermal conductance for a micro-channel,utilising Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid

This paper investigates the thermal behaviour of two micro-channel elements cooled by Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, with the objective to maximise thermal conductance subject to constraints. This is done firstly for a two-dimensional duct micro-channel and secondly for a three-dimensional complex micro-channel. A numerical model is used to solve the governing equations relating to flow and temperature fields for both cases. The geometric configuration of each cooling channel is optimised for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid at a fixed inlet velocity and heat flux. In addition, the effect of porosity on thermal conductance is investigated. It was found, in both cases, that the non-Newtonian fluid characteristics result in a significant variation in thermal conductance as inlet velocity is increased. The characteristics of a dilatant fluid greatly reduce thermal conductance on account of shear thickening on the boundary surface. In contrast, a pseudoplastic fluid shows increased thermal conductance. A comparison of the complex micro-channel and the duct micro-channel shows the improved thermal conductance resulting from greater flow access to the conductive area, achieved by the complex micro-channel.     

A nonlinear inverse problem for the prediction of local thermal contact conductance in plate finned-tube heat exchangers

A nonlinear inverse problem utilizing the Conjugate Gradient Method (CGM) of minimization is used successfully to estimate the temporally and circumferentially varying thermal contact conductance of a plate finned-tube heat exchanger by reading the simulated transient temperature measurement data from the thermocouples located on the plate. The thermal properties of the fin and tube are assumed to be functions of temperature, and this makes the problem nonlinear. It is assumed that no prior information is available on the functional form of the unknown thermal contact conductance in the present study, thus, it is classified as the function estimation in the inverse calculation. The accuracy of the inverse analysis is examined by using the simulated temperature measurements. Finally the inverse solutions with and without the consideration of temperature-dependent thermal properties are compared. Results show that when the nonlinear inverse calculations are performed an excellent estimation on the thermal contact conductance can be obtained with any arbitrary initial guesses within a couple of minute's CPU time on a HP-730 workstation.     

The velocity profile of laminar MHD flows in circular conducting pipes

We present numerical simulations without modeling of an incompressible, laminar, unidirectional circular pipe flow of an electrically conducting fluid under the influence of a uniform transverse magnetic field. Our computations are performed using a finite-volume code that uses a charge-conserving formulation [called current-conservative formulation in references (Ni et al J Comput Phys 221(1):174–204, 2007, Ni et al J Comput Phys 227(1):205–228, 2007)]. Using high resolution unstructured meshes, we consider Hartmann numbers up to 3000 and various values of the wall conductance ratio c. In the limit c << Ha^-1{c{\ll}{\rm Ha}^{-1}} (insulating wall), our results are in excellent agreement with the so-called asymptotic solution (Shercliff J Fluid Mech 1:644–666, 1956). For higher values of the wall conductance ratio, a discrepancy with the asymptotic solution is observed and we exhibit regions of velocity overspeed in the Roberts layers. We characterise these overspeed regions as a function of the wall conductance ratio and the Hartmann number; a set of scaling laws is derived that is coherent with existing asymptotic analysis.     

Pore Scale Modeling of Rate Effects in Imbibition

We use pore scale network modeling to study the effects of flow rate and contact angle on imbibition relative permeabilities. The model accounts for flow in wetting layers that occupy roughness or crevices in the pore space. Viscous forces are accounted for by solving for the wetting phase pressure and assuming a fixed conductance in wetting layers. Three-dimensional simulations model granular media, whereas two-dimensional runs represent fracture flow.We identify five generic types of displacement pattern as we vary capillary number, contact angle, and initial wetting phase saturation: flat frontal advance, dendritic frontal advance, bond percolation, compact cluster growth, and ramified cluster growth. Using phase diagrams we quantify the range of physical properties under which each regime is observed. The work explains apparently inconsistent experimental measurements of relative permeability in granular media and fractures.     

Conductance of rough random profiles

Recently, the real contact area and the compliance and electrical resistance for a rough surface defined with a Weierstrass series have been studied under the assumption that superposed self-affine sine waves had well separated wavelengths, extending the celebrated procedures pioneered by Archard [Archard, J.F., 1957. Elastic deformation and the laws of friction. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 243, 190–205]. Here, more realistic fractal rough surface profiles are considered, by using the Weierstrass series with random phases, and with much lower separation of the various scales, using a full or a hybrid numerical/analytical technique. A non-linear layer algorithm is developed which is a very efficient approximate tool to study this problem, avoiding the need for averaging over various realizations of profiles with random phases. The multiscale problem is solved by a cascade of 2-scales problems, each of which is solved with a few elements for an imposed contact area, deriving load as a function of indentation and the conductance by differentiation using Barber’s analogy theorem.Dimensionless results for the conductance as a function of applied pressures show that the conductance seems to be close to a power law at low loads, and is nearly linear at intermediate loads (following the normalized single sinusoidal case except at the origin). At high loads, the conductance becomes strongly dependent on fractal dimension because of weak dependence on the contribution of small wavelength scales (higher order terms in the series). Since roughness tends to be squeezed out, the conductance tends to increase more than linearly (more so, the smaller is the fractal dimension). However, another limit could be found in terms of the finite size of the specimen, which may suggest reaching a finite limit. The resulting curves could then be sigmoidal, as confirmed by qualitative comparisons with experiments in the literature.     

Estimating Dirichlet's integral and electrical conductance for systems which are not self-adjoint

In simple electrical flow problems the Dirichlet integral of the potential function gives the electrical conductance. Moreover the Dirichlet integral of an arbitrary function satisfying the boundary condition gives an upper bound for the conductance. This last property (Dirichlet's principle) does not hold if the boundary value problem is not self-adjoint. This paper develops new algorithms for estimating the conductance. The proof of these algorithms replaces the Dirichlet principle with the elliptic maximum principle. There is an analogous discrete problem for conductance of electrical networks of the non-reciprocal type. The conductance problem both for continuous bodies and discrete networks can be treated by a single postulational theory.     

两圆柱体结合面的接触热导分形模型研究

基于三维分形理论,在考虑微凸体的弹性变形、弹塑性变形和塑性变形的基础上,建立了两圆柱体结合面接触热导分形模型。通过数值仿真,分析了分形维数,分形尺度参数、圆柱体曲率半径和接触类型对接触热导的影响。研究结果表明：接触热导随着分形维数的增大而增大,随着分形尺度参数的增大而减小;相同参数下,内接触比外接触的接触热导要大;此外,当固定其中一个圆柱体的曲率半径时,随着另一个圆柱体曲率半径的增大,接触热导增大。该模型为开展齿轮等曲面接触热导的研究提供了理论基础。     

Velocity measurements in slow flow by the conductance-tracer method

The conductance tracer velocity measurement method, which is usually employed for determination of mean velocity, is extended to point velocity measurement of the order of a few millimeters per second with accuracies of the order of 10%. Velocity is determined by the time required for a conducting solution to travel between two measuring stations. At each station the conductance between two electrodes is sampled and the resulting conductance time trace is analysed numerically. Cross talk and electrolysis problems are overcome by AC current, alternate switching conductance measurements. The leading edge criteria, suggested in this work, seem to be best suited for travel time determination in such flows. The existence of shear does not seem to have an influence on the validity or the accuracy of the measurement.     

Dynamic film thickness between bubbles and wall in a narrow channel

The present paper describes a novel technique to characterize the behavior of the liquid film between gas bubbles and the wall in a narrow channel. The method is based on the electrical conductance. Two liquid film sensors are installed on both opposite walls in a narrow rectangular channel. The liquid film thickness underneath the gas bubbles is recorded by the first sensor, while the void fraction information is obtained by measuring the conductance between the pair of opposite sensors. Both measurements are taken on a large two-dimensional domain and with a high speed. This makes it possible to obtain the two-dimensional distribution of the dynamic liquid film between the bubbles and the wall. In this study, this method was applied to an air–water flow ranging from bubbly to churn regimes in the narrow channel with a gap width of 1.5 mm.     

Thermal contact conductance for cylindrical and spherical contacts

A prediction methodology based on Monte-Carlo simulation model, developed for flat conforming surfaces in contact, is modified and extended to predict contact conductance between curvilinear surfaces like cylinders and spheres. Experiments are also conducted in vacuum for the measurement of contact conductance between stainless steel and aluminium cylindrical contacts and stainless steel spherical contacts over a range of contact pressures. The contact conductance between cylindrical and spherical bodies is, in general, about an order of magnitude lower than for flat surfaces in contact. Increase of surface roughness and decrease in contact pressure lowers the contact conductance. However, the influence of these parameters is larger than those obtained for flat surfaces. The prediction for different parametric conditions agree closely with those measured in the experiments.     

Fluid flow in a porous medium containing partially closed fractures

The model of Snow, in which a fracture is represented by two parallel channel walls, has frequently been used to study the flow of fluid in fractured reservoirs. Although this model gives important insight into the flow in fractures, very few naturally occurring fractures have smooth parallel faces. In this paper, a simple model of partially contacting and en-echelon fractures frequently found in geological materials is presented. In this model, a fracture is viewed as a planar region where separation and contact zones both exist. To analyse the fluid flow in a porous medium containing fractures of this type, a planar array of periodically spaced fracture segments is analysed. The flow through a single fracture is deduced by taking the limit as the spacing between neighbouring fractures becomes large. The hydraulic conductivity parallel to the fractures is found to be the parallel combination of the conductivity of the porous matrix and the system of parallel fractures, the individual fracture conductance being a series combination of the hydraulic conductance of the separation and contact zones. This interpretation enables the conductance of the contact zones to be evaluated and the results to be generalised to the case in which the material in the contact regions has a hydraulic conductivity different to that of the matrix. This may arise, for example, from grain-size reduction during fracturing or may result from a partial mineralisation or cementation of the fracture.