Boundary Layer Flow over a Curved Surface Imbedded in Porous Medium

This research is made to visualize the boundary layer flow by a curved stretching sheet embedded in porous medium. The geometry is bended(curved), therefore the curvilinear coordinates are used to model the present problem.Fluid is electrically conducting with the presence of uniform magnetic field. The governing non-linear partial differential equation reduces to non-linear ordinary differential equations by using the dimensionless suitable transformations. The numerical solutions are obtained by using the method bvp4c from MATLAB. The effects of curvature parameter, nondimensional magnetic parameter, and porosity parameter on the velocity field and skin friction coefficient are examined.The skin friction profile enhances with enhancing the values of porosity and magnetic parameter. Comparison of the present results with the existing results in the literature for the flat surface is also given.     

Polyelectrolyte Nanocomposite Membranes Using Imidazole-Functionalized Nanosilica for Fuel Cell Applications

The preparation and characterization of a new type of nanocomposite polyelectrolyte membrane, based on DuPont Nafion/imidazole-modified nanosilica (Im-Si), for direct methanol fuel cell applications is described. Related to the interactions between the protonated imidazole groups, grafted on the surface of nanosilica, and negatively charged sulfonic acid groups of Nafion, new electrostatic interactions can be formed in the interface of Nafion and Im-Si which result in both lower methanol permeability and also higher proton conductivity. Physical characteristics of these manufactured nanocomposite membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, water uptake, methanol permeability, and ion-exchange capacity, as well as proton conductivity. The Nafion/Im-Si membranes showed higher proton conductivity, lower methanol permeability and, as a consequence, higher selectivity parameter in comparison to the neat Nafion or Nafion/silica membranes. The obtained results indicated that the Nafion/Im-Si membranes could be utilized as promising polyelectrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cell applications.     

Squeezing in multimode Schrödinger cat states

Multimode generalization of Schrödinger cat states of light is discussed. Two-mode Schrödinger cat states are considered as an example. Squeezing in even and odd coherent states of a two-mode field is studied.     

Estimates of B-decays into K-resonances and dileptons

Short and long distance contributions to the exclusive B-decays into various K-resonances and dileptons, i.e. $B \to K^i \ell \bar \ell (\ell = e,\mu ,\nu )$ , are examined. The heavy quark effective theory has been used to calculate the hadronic matrix elements. Substantial branching fractions are obtained for the dileptonic B-decays into some higher excited states of K-mesons. The long distance (resonance) contributions to these exclusive rare B-decay modes dominate the short distance contributions mostly by two orders of magnitude. It is pointed out that, excluding the resonance contributions, the P-wave channels are dominant, accounting for about 50% of the inclusiveB??X _s ? ⁺ ? ^? branching fraction.     

Numerical study of influence of molecular diffusion in the Mild combustion regime

In this paper, the importance of molecular diffusion versus turbulent transport in the moderate or intense low-oxygen dilution (Mild) combustion mode has been numerically studied. The experimental conditions of Dally et al. [Proc. Combust. Inst. 29 (2002) 1147–1154] were used for modelling. The EDC model was used to describe the turbulence–chemistry interaction. The DRM-22 reduced mechanism and the GRI 2.11 full mechanism were used to represent the chemical reactions of an H₂/methane jet flame. The importance of molecular diffusion for various O₂ levels, jet Reynolds numbers and H₂ fuel contents was investigated. Results show that the molecular diffusion in Mild combustion cannot be ignored in comparison with the turbulent transport. Also, the method of inclusion of molecular diffusion in combustion modelling has a considerable effect on the accuracy of numerical modelling of Mild combustion. By decreasing the jet Reynolds number, decreasing the oxygen concentration in the airflow or increasing H₂ in the fuel mixture, the influence of molecular diffusion on Mild combustion increases.     

Numerical study of the effect of turbulence on rate of reactions in the MILD combustion regime

In this paper, the importance of fluctuations in flow field parameters is studied under MILD combustion conditions. In this way, a turbulent non-premixed CH₄+H₂ jet flame issuing into a hot and deficient co-flow air is modeled using the RANS Axisymmetric equations. The modeling is carried out using the EDC model to describe the turbulence-chemistry interaction. The DRM-22 reduced mechanism and the GRI2.11 full mechanism are used to represent the chemical reactions of H₂/methane jet flame. Results illustrate that although the fluctuations in temperature field are small and the reaction zone volume are large in the MILD regime, the fluctuations in temperature and species concentrations are still effective on the flow field. Also, inappropriate dealing with the turbulence effect on chemistry leads to errors in prediction of temperature up to 15% in the present flame. By decreasing of O₂ concentration of hot co-flow air, the effect of fluctuations in flow field parameters on flame characteristics are still significant and its effect on species reaction rates does not decrease. On the other hand, although decreasing of jet inlet Reynolds number at constant inlet turbulence intensity addresses to smaller fluctuations in flow filed, it does not lead to lower the effect of turbulence on species distribution and temperature field under MILD combustion conditions.     

Influence of Compatibilizer-Type and Processing Approach on the Dispersion of OMMT in High-Density Polyethylene Matrix

High-density polyethylene/organoclay nanocomposites were prepared via melt intercalation in an internal mixer using both a direct mixing and master batching method. Two types of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene, high-density polyethylene grafted maleic anhydride, and linear low-density polyethylene grafted maleic anhydride, (HDPE-g-MA, LLDPE-g-MA) were used as compatibilizers to enhance the dispersibility of nanoclay in HDPE. Dispersion of organoclay in the nanocomposites was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and rheological mechanical spectroscopy (RMS). Effects of clay content and degree of clay dispersion on the rheological and tensile properties were also investigated. Furthermore, the effect of order of mixing on the dispersion and distribution of the clay layers was studied. The obtained results showed that organoclay in the nanocomposites were dispersed homogeneously and exfoliated better when HDPE-g-MA and the direct mixing route were used. Although in the master batching method clay intercalated better, clay layers chiefly remain in compatibilizer rich areas. On the other hand, direct mixing was observed to lead to clay particles being dispersed in the HDPE matrix or at the interface of the matrix and compatibilizer and, consequently, better improvement in the tensile modulus was achieved. It was determined that the compatibilizer with the higher miscibility with the matrix was the key factor for achieving better exfoliation of clay sheets.     

Measuring persistence in a stationary time series using the complex network theory

A growing interest exists currently in the analysis of time series by the complex network theory. Here we present a simple and quick way for mapping time series to complex networks. Using a simple rule allows us to transform time series into a textual sequence then we divide it into words with fixed size. Distinct words are nodes of the network, and we have complete control on the network scale by adjusting the word size. Two nodes are linked if their associated words co-occur in sequence. We show that the network topological measures quantify the persistence and the long range correlations in fractional Brownian processes. For a particular word size we assume some relations between the topological measures and the Hurst exponent which characterised the persistence in fractional Brownian processes.     

An alytical and numerical study of peristaltic transport of a Johnson-Segalman fluid in an endoscope

In the present study, we discuss the peristaltic flow of a Johnson-Segalman fluid in an endoscope. Perturbation, homotopy, and numerical solutions are found for the non-linear differential equation. The comparative study is also made to check the validity of the solutions. The expressions for pressure rise frictional forces, pressure gradient, and stream lines are presented to interpret the behavior of various physical quantities of the Johnson-Segalman fluid.     

Faraday rotation in a two-dimensional photonic crystal with a magneto-optic defect

We study the magneto-optic (MO) Faraday rotation in a two-dimensional square-lattice photonic crystal with a central MO defect layer in the optical wavelength range. We show that when a TM plane wave is incident upon a photonic crystal, an enhancement of Faraday rotation takes place in a region where a resonance peak appears in the photonic bandgap. In this region the mode conversion is high.