Copper‐catalyzed Clauson–Kass pyrroles synthesis in aqueous media

An efficient and convenient copper‐catalyzed Clauson–Kass reaction of 2,5‐dimethoxytetrahydrofuran with amines in aqueous media has been developed, providing a wide range of N‐substituted pyrroles in good yields. It is noteworthy that the Clauson–Kass reaction of 2,5‐dimethoxytetrahydrofuran with p‐phenylenediamine or m‐phenylenediamine proceeds smoothly to afford the corresponding monopyrroles and bispyrroles with high selectivity in impressive yields. A plausible mechanism for the formation of N‐substituted pyrroles has been proposed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of alkoxide in catalytic transfer hydrogenation of unsaturated nitrogen compounds

Alcoholate was utilized in catalytic transfer hydrogenation of unsaturated nitrogen compounds. In the reduction of nitro compounds, oximes and imines, alkoxide was used as the promoter, with alcohol as the hydrogen source, while in the reduction of nitriles, alkoxide was used as the hydrogen source.     

An anti‐diffusive volume of fluid method for interfacial fluid flows

A volume of fluid (VOF) method is developed combining a first‐order limited downwind scheme with higher order accurate schemes. The method is characterized by retaining a sharp fluid interface and a reduction in numerical diffusion near the interface, but avoids complicated geometrical reconstruction as occurs in most volume tracing algorithms. To demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the method, a selection of numerical experiments are presented involving a pure advection problem, a water wave impact caused by a dam breaking and liquid sloshing in a partially filled tank. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dual‐weighted trust‐region adaptive POD 4‐D Var applied to a finite‐volume shallow water equations model on the sphere

In this paper we study solutions of an inverse problem for a global shallow water model controlling its initial conditions specified from the 40‐yr ECMWF Re‐analysis (ERA‐40) data sets, in the presence of full or incomplete observations being assimilated in a time interval (window of assimilation) with or without background error covariance terms. As an extension of the work by Chen et al. (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 2009), we attempt to obtain a reduced order model of the above inverse problem, based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), referred to as POD 4D‐Var for a finite volume global shallow water equation model based on the Lin–Rood flux‐form semi‐Lagrangian semi‐implicit time integration scheme. Different approaches of POD implementation for the reduced inverse problem are compared, including a dual‐weighted method for snapshot selection coupled with a trust‐region POD adaptivity approach. Numerical results with various observational densities and background error covariance operator are also presented. The POD 4‐D Var model results combined with the trust‐region adaptivity exhibit similarity in terms of various error metrics to the full 4D Var results, but are obtained using a significantly lesser number of minimization iterations and require lesser CPU time. Based on our previous and current work, we conclude that POD 4‐D Var certainly warrants further studies, with promising potential of its extension to operational 3‐D numerical weather prediction models. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EFFECTIVE SPECIFIC HEATS OF MULTI-PHASE THERMOELASTIC COMPOSITES

This paper studies the effective properties of multi-phase thermoelastic composites. Based on the Helmholtz free energy and the Gibbs free energy of individual phases, the effective elastic tensor, thermal-expansion tensor, and specific heats of the multi-phase composites are derived by means of the volume average of free-energies of these phases. Particular emphasis is placed on the derivation of new analytical expressions of effective specific heats at constant-strain and constant-stress situations, in which a modified Eshelby’s micromechanics theory is developed and the interaction between inclusions is considered. As an illustrative example, the analytical expression of the effective specific heat for a three-phase thermoelastic composite is presented.     

DETERMINATION OF QUADRICEPS FORCES IN SQUAT AND ITS APPLICATION IN CONTACT PRESSURE ANALYSIS OF KNEE JOINT

While the quadriceps muscles of human body are quite important to the daily activities of knee joints,the determination of quadriceps forces poses significant challenges since it cannot be measured in ...     

Mode I fatigue of the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic—concrete interface bond

Experimental Techniques - As the reinforced concrete infrastructure continues to decline, the engineering community is turning to rehabilitative methods as cost effective alternatives to...     

管线钢管局部屈曲应变分析与计算

针对基于应变的管线设计所使用的管线钢管进行变形能力评价,为基于应变设计地区用的钢管产品标准的指标制订提供技术基础。本文以精确建模的数值仿真计算作为钢管全尺寸弯曲变形试验的有效补充,对钢管进行了屈曲变形行为的研究;针对钢管产品试制中不同的材料性能进行了仿真计算,最终提出:两个与钢管临界屈曲应变相关的应力比指标Rt5.0/Rt1.0和Rt2.0/Rt1.0分别为1.04和1.08。该研究结果为基于应变设计地区使用的钢管标准的制订提供了技术支持。