A new formulation for fictitious mass of viscous dynamic relaxation method

Abstract

In this article, a new relationship is proposed for the fictitious mass of viscous dynamic relaxation (DR) method. First, incremental equations are derived for DR steps. Using transformed Gershgörin theory, a new relationship is achieved for fictitious mass of viscous DR by formulating modified time step ratio. This procedure presents a new algorithm for the viscous DR method. To evaluate the numerical efficiency of the proposed method, some 2D and 3D truss and frame structures are analyzed with elastic linear and geometrically nonlinear behaviors. Results show that by using the proposed algorithm for fictitious mass, the convergence rate of the viscous DR method is improved so that the proposed algorithm presents the structural response with lower iterations in comparison with other common DR techniques.

Communicated by Joerg Fehr.     

Mass Activated Droplet Sorting (MADS) Enables High‐Throughput Screening of Enzymatic Reactions at Nanoliter Scale

Microfluidic droplet sorting enables the high‐throughput screening and selection of water‐in‐oil microreactors at speeds and volumes unparalleled by traditional well‐plate approaches. Most such systems sort using fluorescent reporters on modified substrates or reactions that are rarely industrially relevant. We describe a microfluidic system for high‐throughput sorting of nanoliter droplets based on direct detection using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS). Droplets are split, one portion is analyzed by ESI‐MS, and the second portion is sorted based on the MS result. Throughput of 0.7 samples s^?1 is achieved with 98 % accuracy using a self‐correcting and adaptive sorting algorithm. We use the system to screen ≈15 000 samples in 6 h and demonstrate its utility by sorting 25 nL droplets containing transaminase expressed in vitro. Label‐free ESI‐MS droplet screening expands the toolbox for droplet detection and recovery, improving the applicability of droplet sorting to protein engineering, drug discovery, and diagnostic workflows.     

Synthesis and characterization of new fluorinated photoactive polyamides based on xanthene pendant: Evaluation of antibacterial and heavy metal ions removal behavior

A series of novel organosoluble polyamides (PAs) bearing different functional groups such as flexible ether, substituted imidazole, and xanthene rings and electron-withdrawing CF₃ groups were synthesized from diamines and various dicarboxylic acids. The structures of diamines and PAs were fully characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The PAs showed good solubility in aprotic and polar organic solvents, with high thermal stability exhibiting the glass transition temperatures (T_gs) and 10% weight loss temperatures (T₁₀%) in the range of 184–277°C and 410–480°C in N₂ atmosphere, respectively. These polymers showed fluorescence emission upon irradiation with UV light. Diamine compounds and two of synthesized polymers were also screened for antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and the obtained results for all four combinations showed good inhibition. Extraction capability for heavy metal ions such as Cr³⁺, Pb²⁺, Hg²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Co²⁺ from aqueous solutions was also tested at 25°C and pH 7–8.     

Energy,Exergy, Exergoeconomic and Emergy-Based Exergoeconomic (Emergoeconomic) Analyses of a Biomass Combustion Waste Heat Recovery Organic Rankine Cycle

In recent decades, there has been an increasing trend toward the technical development of efficient energy system assessment tools owing to the growing energy demand and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. Accordingly, in this paper, a comprehensive emergy-based exergoeconomic (emergoeconomic) method has been developed to study the biomass combustion waste heat recovery organic Rankine cycle (BCWHR-ORC), taking into account thermodynamics, economics, and sustainability aspects. To this end, the system was formulated in Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software, and then the exergy, exergoeconomic, and emergoeconomic analyses were conducted accordingly. The exergy analysis results revealed that the evaporator unit with 55.05 kilowatts and the turbine with 89.57% had the highest exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency, respectively. Based on the exergoeconomic analysis, the cost per exergy unit (c), and the cost rate (C˙) of the output power of the system were calculated to be 24.13 USD/GJ and 14.19 USD/h, respectively. Next, by applying the emergoeconomic approach, the monetary emergy content of the system components and the flows were calculated to evaluate the system’s sustainability. Accordingly, the turbine was found to have the highest monetary emergy rate of capital investment, equal to 5.43×1012 sej/h, and an output power monetary emergy of 4.77×104 sej/J. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the system’s overall performance characteristics from an exergoeconomic perspective, regarding the changes in the transformation coefficients (specific monetary emergy).     

Molecular dynamics simulation of gas adsorption on defected graphene

Gas sensing is one of the most promising applications for graphene. Using molecular dynamics simulation method, adsorption isotherm of xenon (Xe) gas on defected and perfect graphene is studied in order to investigate sensing properties of graphene for Xe gas. In this method, first generation of Brenner many-body potential is used to simulate the interaction of carbon–carbon (C) atoms in graphene, and Lennard–Jones two-body potential is used to simulate interaction of Xe–Xe and Xe–C atoms. In the simulated systems, adsorption coverage, radial distribution function, heat of adsorption, binding energy and specific heat capacity at constant volume are calculated for several temperatures between 90 K and 130 K, and various pressures. It was found that both of the defected and perfect graphene could be introduced as very good candidates for adsorption of Xe gas.     

Comparison of the role of new ethers and conventional alkoxysilanes as external donors in the polymerization of propylene using the industrial Ziegler-Natta catalyst

Two new ethers were synthesized using the Williamson reaction from related alcohols and were used as external donors in propylene polymerization in the presence of the industrial diisobutyl phthalate-based MgCl₂-supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst. For comparison the propylene polymerization was carried out in the presence of silane and in the absence of external donors. The produced polymers were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, xylene extraction, melt flow index, scanning electron microscopy and gel permeation chromatography. The isotacticity, molecular weight and molecular weight distribution, melt flow index, crystallinity degree and thermal properties of polypropylenes were influenced by the type of external donors.