Visualization of turbulent spots and unsteady wake-induced boundary-layer transition with thermochromic liquid crystals

A method of using thermochromic liquid crystals has been developed to visualize the thermal footprints of turbulent spots convecting downstream in an otherwise laminar boundary layer over a heated surface. This technique has been employed to visualize the development of turbulent spots under the influence of adverse pressure gradients. It has also been used to visualize the transitional events that occur during unsteady wake-induced boundary layer transition typically of those occurring in multi-stage turbomachines. The results show that liquid crystal is not only capable of providing quantitative information about the growth and development of individual spots but also allows a detailed study of formation of turbulent spots occurring naturally during a complicated transition process.     

Gårding's Theory of Hyperbolic Polynomials

This paper presents a simple, self‐contained account of Gårding's theory of hyperbolic polynomials, together with a recent convexity result of Bauschke‐Güler‐Lewis‐Sendov and an inequality of Gurvits. This account begins by establishing some new results. The first concerns the existence of a pointwise arrangement of the eigenvalues so that they become global real analytic functions. The second asserts that the associated “branches” are independent of the choice of hyperbolic direction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Coreflooding Studies to Investigate the Potential of Carbonated Water Injection as an Injection Strategy for Improved Oil Recovery and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Storage

Carbonated water injection (CWI) is a CO₂-augmented water injection strategy that leads to increased oil recovery with added advantage of safe storage of CO₂ in oil reservoirs. In CWI, CO₂ is used efficiently (compared to conventional CO₂ injection) and hence it is particularly attractive for reservoirs with limited access to large quantities of CO₂, e.g. offshore reservoirs or reservoirs far from large sources of CO₂. We present the results of a series of CWI coreflood experiments using water-wet and mixed-wet Clashach sandstone cores and a reservoir core with light oil (n-decane), refined viscous oil and a stock-tank crude oil. The experiments were carried out to assess the performance of CWI and to quantify the level of additional oil recovery and CO₂ storage under various experimental conditions. We show that the ultimate oil recovery by CWI is higher than the conventional water flooding in both secondary and tertiary recovery methods. Oil swelling as a result of CO₂ diffusion into the oil and the subsequent oil viscosity reduction and coalescence of the isolated oil ganglia are amongst the main mechanisms of oil recovery by CWI that were observed through the visualisation experiments in high-pressure glass micromodels. There was also evidence of a change in the rock wettability that could also influence the oil recovery. The coreflood test results also reveal that the CWI performance is influenced by oil viscosity, core wettability and the brine salinity. Higher oil recovery was obtained with the mixed-wet core than the water-wet core, with light oil than with the viscous oil and low salinity carbonated brine than high-salinity carbonated brine. At the end of the flooding period, an encouraging amount of the injected CO₂ was stored in the brine and the remaining oil in the form of stable dissolved CO₂. The experimental results clearly demonstrate the potential of CWI for improving oil recovery as compared with the conventional water flooding (secondary recovery) or as a water-based EOR (enhanced oil recovery) method for watered out reservoirs.     

Multiband processing of multimode light: combining 3D photonic lanterns with waveguide Bragg gratings

The first demonstration of narrowband spectral filtering of multimode light on a 3D integrated photonic chip using photonic lanterns and waveguide Bragg gratings is reported. The photonic lanterns with multi‐notch waveguide Bragg gratings were fabricated using the femtosecond direct‐write technique in boro‐aluminosilicate glass (Corning, Eagle 2000). Transmission dips of up to 5 dB were measured in both photonic lanterns and reference single‐mode waveguides with 10.4‐mm‐long gratings. The result demonstrates efficient and symmetrical performance of each of the gratings in the photonic lantern. Such devices will be beneficial to space‐division multiplexed communication systems as well as for units for astronomical instrumentation for suppression of the atmospheric telluric emission from OH lines.     

连续波锁模Pr3+:YLF激光器

本文报导了采用氩离子激光器来泵浦Pr³⁺:YLF晶体,应用声光调制器实现了主动锁模;同时应用振动─高反射平面镜也实现了被动锁模,两种锁模均得到了ps光脉冲.据作者了解这是这种晶体材料的第一次锁模运转.     

Miniaturized protein microsequencer with PTH amino acid identification by capillary electrophoresis II. A syringe-pump-based system for covalent sequencing

A miniaturized protein and peptide microsequencer consisting of a fused silica capillary reaction chamber is described. Extremely small volumes of reagents, 2 mul or less, were delivered directly to the reaction chamber through individual fused silica capillary lines using low pressure syringe pumps. Other than an argon gas controller, no values were used in the delivery system. The short flow path and very low dead volume were achieved by directly connecting the narrow-bore capillaries to the reaction chamber. This configuration minimized side reactions. The elimination of valves, as well as the use of capillaries for the reaction chamber and delivery lines, greatly simplified the construction of the sequencer. The performance of the sequencer was evaluated by sequencing 8-33 picomoles of myoglobin and insulin chain B that were covalently attached to Sequelon-DITC and Sequelon-AA membranes.