Postponing the choice of the barrier parameter in Mehrotra-type predictor–corrector algorithms

Recently Salahi et al. have considered a variant of Mehrotra’s celebrated predictor–corrector algorithm. By a numerical example they showed that this variant might make very small steps in order to keep the iterate in a certain neighborhood of the central path, that itself implies the inefficiency of the algorithm. This observation motivated them to incorporate a safeguard in their algorithmic scheme that gives a lower bound for the step size at each iteration and thus imply polynomial iteration complexity. In this paper we propose a different approach that enables us to have control on the iterates.     

A fast non-iterative numerical algorithm to predict unsteady partial cavitation on hydrofoils

A new algorithm to predict partial sheet cavity behavior on hydrofoils is proposed. The proposed algorithm models the unsteady partial cavitation using Boundary Element Method (BEM). In the proposed method the spatial iterative scheme is removed by means of a new approach determining the instantaneous cavity length. This iterative scheme is required in conventional algorithms to obtain the cavity length at each time step. Performance of the new algorithm for various unsteady cavitating flows with different reduced frequencies, cavitation numbers, hydrofoil geometries and inflow conditions are investigated. Comparison between the obtained results using the proposed method and those of conventional ones indicates that the present algorithm works well with sufficient accuracy. Moreover, it is shown that the proposed method is computationally more efficient than the conventional one for unsteady sheet cavitation analysis on hydrofoils.     

An investigation into the effect of electric field on the performance of Dielectric Barrier Discharge plasma actuators

The influence of the inter-electrode electric field of a single Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) actuator on the performance of the device was investigated. The electric field of the actuator was manipulated through the variation of the angle between the electrodes of the actuators. Response forces generated by the plasma actuators were used as performance indicators for these devices. These forces were measured directly utilizing a highly sensitive balance scale. It was verified that depending on the orientation of the variation of the angle between the electrodes, the performance of the actuator may be decreased or increased when compared to a DBD on a flat dielectric plate more commonly investigated in literature. The manner in which the ionic wind flows over the actuators was also explored in the effort to elucidate the influence of the variation of the angle between the electrodes on the response force generated by the device. Results demonstrated that the response forces generated by the actuators may be improved by up to 50% compared to the actuator configuration on a flat dielectric plate commonly investigated. These results indicate the potential available to advance plasma technology by physically manipulating these devices to increase the performances of the actuators.     

Thermodynamic potential of a high-concentration hybrid photovoltaic/thermal plant for co-production of steam and electricity

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - A thermodynamic model was developed to assess the energetic performance of a dual receiver concentrated photovoltaic/thermal plant for the...     

The Complexity of Self-Regular Proximity Based Infeasible IPMs

Primal-Dual Interior-Point Methods (IPMs) have shown their power in solving large classes of optimization problems. In this paper a self-regular proximity based Infeasible Interior Point Method (IIPM) is proposed for linear optimization problems. First we mention some interesting properties of a specific self-regular proximity function, studied recently by Peng and Terlaky, and use it to define infeasible neighborhoods. These simple but interesting properties of the proximity function indicate that, when the current iterate is in a large neighborhood of the central path, large-update IIPMs emerge as the only natural choice. Then, we apply these results to design a specific self-regularity based dynamic large-update IIPM in large neighborhood. The new dynamic IIPM always takes large-updates and does not utilize any inner iteration to get centered. An worst-case iteration bound of the algorithm is established. Finally, we report the main results of our computational experiments.     

Quiescent crystallization of polypropylene: Experiments and modeling

The quiescent crystallization of several polypropylenes (PPs) was examined using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM). The half‐times of crystallization were obtained from the DSC thermographs employing the Avrami/Nakamura equation to fit and predict crystallization kinetics under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. The induction times under nonisothermal conditions were estimated from isothermal crystallization data and used in conjunction with the Nakamura model in order to capture the crystallization behavior of the studied PPs. The Avrami/Nakamura model is found to fit and predict the nonisothermal crystallization data of the various PPs well over a range of cooling rates supporting its use in the simulation of polymer processes of industrial relevance. POM was used in line with parallel plate rheometry (Anton Paar, MCR 502) under no flow conditions to study the shape and growth rate of crystals of various PP resins at different temperatures or cooling rates. The growth rate of crystals is impeded exponentially with increase of temperature. The various PP resins of different molecular architecture have shown different nucleation and growth rate characteristics behavior under similar processing conditions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014 , 52, 1259–1275     

Investigating Bulk Waves in Orthotropic Rectangular Nanoplates Based on Three Dimensional Elasticity Theory and Nonlocal Elasticity Theory

The propagation of bulk waves in rectangular nanoplates is studied on the basis of nonlocal three-dimensional elasticity theory. The nonlocal theory applies to both thin and thick rectangular orthotropic nanoplates. The dispersion relation for the waves is derived analytically. Our results are checked against data for macroplates. The influence of nonlocality and other parameters on the wave frequency and phase velocity is discussed.     

DFT study on [4+2] and [2+2] cycloadditions to [60] fullerene

The functionalisation of C₆₀ fullerene with 2,3-dimethylene-1,4-dioxane (I) and 2,5-dioxabicyclo [4.2.0]octa-1(8),6-diene (II) was investigated by the use of density functional theory calculations in terms of its energetic, structural, field emission, and electronic properties. The functionalisation of C₆₀ with I was previously reported experimentally. The I and II molecules are preferentially attached to a C—C bond shared and located between two hexagons of C₆₀ via [4+2] and [2+2] cycloadditions bearing reaction energies of ?15.9 kcal mol^?1 and ?72.4 kcal mol^?1, respectively. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap and work function of C₆₀ are significantly reduced following completion of the reactions. The field electron emission current of the C₆₀ surface will increase after functionalisation of either the I or II molecule.