Roughness and turbulence intensity effects on the induced flow oscillation of a single cylinder

The effects of the surface roughness and the turbulence intensity on the dynamic characteristics of the flow induced oscillations of an elastically supported single circular cylinder in a cross flow in the vortex shedding and fluid elastic regions were experimentally investigated. The results of these experiments indicate that, for the vortex shedding region, increasing the surface roughness results in a reduction of the amplitude of oscillation, while in the fluid elastic region, increasing the surface roughness tends to enhance the oscillations. A similar trend for the dynamic response of the cylinder in the vortex shedding region was also observed when the free stream turbulence intensity was varied, while in the fluid elastic region variations in the free stream turbulence intensity were observed to have no drastic effect on the dynamic response of the cylinder.     

Synthesis of Carbon–Metal Multi-Strand Nanocomposites by Discharges in Heptane Between Two Metallic Electrodes

We studied composite wires assembled from electric field-driven nanoparticles in a dielectric liquid (heptane) to elucidate the exact processes and controlling factors involved in the synthesis of the multi-phase nanocomposites. Filamentary wires are synthesized by a two-step process: (1) abundant nanoparticle production, mostly of carbonaceous types, from heptane decomposition by spark discharge and of metal nanoparticles by electrode erosion and (2) assembly of hydrogenated amorphous carbonaceous nano-clusters with incorporated metal nanoparticles forming wires by dielectrophoretic transport while maintaining a high electric field between electrodes kept sufficiently separated to avoid breakdown. Four types of nanocomposites products are identified to form at different steps in distinctive zones of the setup. The black carbonaceous agglomerates with metal spherules made by electrode erosion represent the pyrolytic residues of heptane decomposition by spark discharge during step 1. The filamentary wires grown in the interelectrode gap during step 2 get assembled by dielectrophoretic transport and chaining forces. Their great stability is shown to express the concurrent effect of polymerization favoured by the abundance of metal catalysts. The nature, abundance, and transformation of solid particles from the source materials versus discharge conditions control the morphological and compositional diversity of the wires. The production of mineral and metal nano-particles traces the efficiency of dielectrophoresis to separate compound particle mixtures by size and to co-synthesize nanostructured microcrystals and nanocomposites. The link between impurities and the variability from nano- to micro-scales of the synthesized products provides an innovative contribution to the knowledge of nanocomposite synthesis triggered by electric field.     

Dehydration and dehydrogenation of cyclohexanol over AlPO4-5 based molecular sieves

The role of incorporated divalent metal (Mn, Mg, Co and Zn) incorporated into the framework of AlPO₄-5 in conversion of cyclohexanol has been examined. The influence of these metals to cyclohexene and cyclohexanone selectivities was correlated to the acidity and basicity properties of these molecular sieves. Possible mechanism for the dehydration and dehydrogenation for cyclohexanol was proposed.     

Thermodynamic analytical model of a loop heat pipe

A thermodynamics analytical model is developed to explore different parameters effects on a loop heat pipe (LHP). The LHP is a two-phase device with extremely high effective thermal conductivity that utilizes the thermodynamic pressure difference to circulate a cooling fluid. The effects of pipe length, pipe diameter, condenser temperature, and heat load are reported. As pipe length increases and/or pipe diameter decreases, a higher temperature is expected in the evaporator.     

Production of SiC Nanoparticles in Carbon Network by Pulsed Electrical Discharges in Liquid Hexamethyldisilazane with Gaseous Bubbles

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Discharges in liquid can efficiently produce nanoparticles via electrode erosion and (or) liquid decomposition. Although in-liquid spark discharges promote...     

Photo-physical properties and quantum yield of some laser dyes in new polymer host

The field of laser dyes-active solid polymer materials is a promising field and quite competitive with liquid dye lasers. This paper investigates some photo-physical parameters of pyromethene (PM-567, PM-597) and Rhodamine B dyes incorporated into glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) promising polymeric host matrix. These parameters are: absorption and emission cross-sections, fluorescence lifetime and quantum yield, in addition to FT-Raman spectra as an indication for binding the dye molecules with the backbones of GMA polymeric chain.     

Gallium(III) selective sensors based on 2-amino-3-(α-N-phenylmethyl-2′-amino-1′,4′-naphthoquinonyl)-1,4 naphthoquinones in poly (vinyl chloride)

Synthesis and application of 2-amino-3-(α-N-phenylmethyl-2′-amino-1′,4′-naphthoquinonyl)-1,4 naphthoquinone (S) as a neutral ionophore for the determination of gallium(III) in PVC-based membrane sensors has been described. The sensor based on membrane composition (w/w, mg%); 5.0 (S):30.0 (PVC):5.0 (KTpClPB):60.0 (o-NPOE) is the best and showed a working range of 2.3 × 10⁻⁷ to 1.0 × 10⁻² M with detection limit of 1.2 × 10⁻⁷ M. It can tolerate non-aqueous media up to 15% with a slope of 19.7 mV decade⁻¹ of activity. The sensor has been used to assess the Ga(III) concentration in different natural samples (peach and tomato leaves, coal-fly-ash and river sediments). It can be used for 2.5 months without any distortion in results, after which, leaching of ionophore was observed from the membrane phase. The proposed sensor has shown a good dynamic response time of 11 s.