A Globally Convergent and Efficient Method for Unconstrained Discrete-Time Optimal Control

Shift schemes are commonly used in non-convex situations when solving unconstrained discrete-time optimal control problems by the differential dynamic programming (DDP) method. However, the existing shift schemes are inefficient when the shift becomes too large. In this paper, a new method of combining the DDP method with a shift scheme and the steepest descent method is proposed to cope with non-convex situations. Under certain assumptions, the proposed method is globally convergent and has q-quadratic local conve rgence. Extensive numerical experiments on many test problems in the literature are reported. These numerical results illustrate the robustness and efficiency of the proposed method.     

Comparative Study of Plasma Spray Flow Fields and Particle Behavior Near to Flat Inclined Substrates

Numerical models have been developed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis program FLUENT V6.02^© to investigate the effect of the substrate on the behavior of the plasma flow fields and in-flight particles. Simulations are performed for cases where flat substrates are either present or absent, for the former, the substrate is oriented perpendicularly or inclined to the torch axis. It is shown that although the presence of perpendicular or inclined substrate significantly influences the plasma flow fields at the vicinity of the substrate, the particle behavior remain relatively unaffected. The insignificant effect of the substrate on particle behavior is qualitatively verified by experimental observation using SprayWatch^© imaging diagnostics equipment. Images captured by the equipment confirm that the particles travel through the plasma plume with high momentum and show no sudden change in theirtrajectories right before impacting the substrate. Both the numerical and experimental findings show that the freestream model is sufficiently detailed for future work of this nature.     

On best restricted range approximation in continuous complex-valued function spaces

To provide a Kolmogorov-type condition for characterizing a best approximation in a continuous complex-valued function space, it is usually assumed that the family of closed convex sets in the complex plane used to restrict the range satisfies a strong interior-point condition, and this excludes the interesting case when some Ω_t is a line-segment or a singleton. The main aim of the present paper is to remove this restriction by virtue of a study of the notion of the strong CHIP for an infinite system of closed convex sets in a continuous complex-valued function space.     

Inclusive fragment production in84Kr +197Au atE/A=35 MeV

Inclusive cross sections of intermediate mass fragments from the reaction⁸⁴Kr+¹⁹⁷Au atE/A=35 MeV were measured over the range 8°≦Θ _lab≦70° with a low detection threshold. A moving-source parameterization was used to fit the double-differential cross sections. The integrated cross section for fragment production exceeds the total reaction cross section thus indicating a large probability for multi-fragment processes. The deduced large temperature parameters can be explained by assuming emission from a rotating source. From the comparison to reactions with¹²C and⁴⁰Ar projectiles at E/A=30 MeV a systematics of inclusive fragment production as a function of the projectile mass is obtained.     

Investigation on the isotherm of silica gel+water systems

This article presents results of the experimental investigation on the adsorption of the water vapor on silica gel. Two independent experimental methods has been used, viz. the constant-volume-variable-pressure (CVVP) system and variable pressure thermogravimetry (TG). Results from these two methods are compared with each other. Also the isosteric heat of adsorption of this system has been determined from the equilibrium data. The silica gels investigated here are Fuji Davison type 'A' and type 'RD'. Adsorption isotherm of water vapor have been measured under a variety of conditions all referring to chiller operation cycles, i.e. temperatures from 303 to 358 K and pressures from 500 to 7000 Pa. The data collected from the two independent experiments compare very favorably with each other and their trends are consistent with those of the adsorption chiller manufacturer. This lends significant weight to our experimental data on silica gel+water systems as being valuable to the adsorption chiller manufacturers and the scientific community. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.