A first assessment of the NEPTUNE_CFD code: Instabilities in a stratified flow comparison between the VOF method and a two-field approach

This paper presents some results concerning a first benchmark for the new European research code for thermal hydraulics computations: NEPTUNE_CFD. This benchmark relies on the Thorpe experiment to model the occurrence of instabilities in a stratified two-phase flow. The first part of this work is to create a numerical trial case with the VOF approach. The results, in terms of time of onset of the instability, critical wave-number or wave phase speed, are rather good compared to linear inviscid theory and experimental data. Additional numerical tests showed the effect of the surface tension and density ratio on the growing dynamics of the instability and the structure of the waves. In the second part, a code to code (VOF/multi-field) comparison is performed for a case with zero surface tension. The results showed some discrepancies in terms of wave amplitudes, growing rates and a time shifting in the global dynamics. Afterward, two surface tension formulations are proposed in the multi-field approach. Both formulations provided similar results. The time for onset of the instability, the most amplified wave-number and its amplitude were in rather good agreement with the linear analysis and VOF results. However, the time-shifted dynamics was still observed.     

Optimal Transport, Convection, Magnetic Relaxation and Generalized Boussinesq Equations

We establish a connection between optimal transport theory (see Villani in Topics in optimal transportation. Graduate studies in mathematics, vol. 58, AMS, Providence, 2003, for instance) and classical convection theory for geophysical flows (Pedlosky, in Geophysical fluid dynamics, Springer, New York, 1979). Our starting point is the model designed few years ago by Angenent, Haker, and Tannenbaum (SIAM J. Math. Anal. 35:61–97, 2003) to solve some optimal transport problems. This model can be seen as a generalization of the Darcy–Boussinesq equations, which is a degenerate version of the Navier–Stokes–Boussinesq (NSB) equations. In a unified framework, we relate different variants of the NSB equations (in particular what we call the generalized hydrostatic-Boussinesq equations) to various models involving optimal transport (and the related Monge–Ampère equation, Brenier in Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 64:375–417, 1991; Caffarelli in Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 45:1141–1151, 1992). This includes the 2D semi-geostrophic equations (Hoskins in Annual review of fluid mechanics, vol. 14, pp. 131–151, Palo Alto, 1982; Cullen et al. in SIAM J. Appl. Math. 51:20–31, 1991, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 185:341–363, 2007; Benamou and Brenier in SIAM J. Appl. Math. 58:1450–1461, 1998; Loeper in SIAM J. Math. Anal. 38:795–823, 2006) and some fully nonlinear versions of the so-called high-field limit of the Vlasov–Poisson system (Nieto et al. in Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 158:29–59, 2001) and of the Keller–Segel for Chemotaxis (Keller and Segel in J. Theor. Biol. 30:225–234, 1971; Jäger and Luckhaus in Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 329:819–824, 1992; Chalub et al. in Mon. Math. 142:123–141, 2004). Mathematically speaking, we establish some existence theorems for local smooth, global smooth or global weak solutions of the different models. We also justify that the inertia terms can be rigorously neglected under appropriate scaling assumptions in the generalized Navier–Stokes–Boussinesq equations. Finally, we show how a “stringy” generalization of the AHT model can be related to the magnetic relaxation model studied by Arnold and Moffatt to obtain stationary solutions of the Euler equations with prescribed topology (see Arnold and Khesin in Topological methods in hydrodynamics. Applied mathematical sciences, vol. 125, Springer, Berlin, 1998; Moffatt in J. Fluid Mech. 159:359–378, 1985, Topological aspects of the dynamics of fluids and plasmas. NATO adv. sci. inst. ser. E, appl. sci., vol. 218, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1992; Schonbek in Theory of the Navier–Stokes equations, Ser. adv. math. appl. sci., vol. 47, pp. 179–184, World Sci., Singapore, 1998; Vladimirov et al. in J. Fluid Mech. 390:127–150, 1999; Nishiyama in Bull. Inst. Math. Acad. Sin. (N.S.) 2:139–154, 2007).     

Retracts of Products of Chordal Graphs

In this article, we characterize the graphs G that are the retracts of Cartesian products of chordal graphs. We show that they are exactly the weakly modular graphs that do not contain K_{2, 3}, the 4‐wheel minus one spoke , and the k‐wheels (for as induced subgraphs. We also show that these graphs G are exactly the cage‐amalgamation graphs as introduced by Bre?ar and Tepeh Horvat (Cage‐amalgamation graphs, a common generalization of chordal and median graphs, Eur J Combin 30 (2009), 1071–1081); this solves the open question raised by these authors. Finally, we prove that replacing all products of cliques of G by products of Euclidean simplices, we obtain a polyhedral cell complex which, endowed with an intrinsic Euclidean metric, is a CAT(0) space. This generalizes similar results about median graphs as retracts of hypercubes (products of edges) and median graphs as 1‐skeletons of CAT(0) cubical complexes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Graph Theory 73: 161–180, 2013     

Sur L'equation Diophantienne (xn-1)/(x-1)=yq, III

In this paper we study the diophantine equation of the title,which was first introduced by Nagell and Ljunggren during thefirst half of the twentieth century. We describe a method whichallows us, on the one hand when n is fixed, to obtain an upperbound for q, and on the other hand when n and q are fixed, toobtain upper bounds for x and y which are far sharper than thosederived from the theory of linear forms in logarithms. We alsoshow how these bounds can be used even when they seem too largefor a straightforward enumeration of the remaining possiblevalues of x. By combining all these techniques, we are ableto solve the equation in many cases, including the case whenn has a prime divisor less than 13, or the case when n has aprime divisor which is less than or equal to 23 and distinctfrom q. 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: primary 11D41;secondary 11J86, 11Y50.     

Representing Utility Functions via Weighted Goals

We analyze the expressivity, succinctness, and complexity of a family of languages based on weighted propositional formulas for the representation of utility functions. The central idea underlying this form of preference modeling is to associate numerical weights with goals specified in terms of propositional formulas, and to compute the utility value of an alternative as the sum of the weights of the goals it satisfies. We define a large number of representation languages based on this idea, each characterized by a set of restrictions on the syntax of formulas and the range of weights. Our aims are threefold. First, for each language we try to identify the class of utility functions it can express. Second, when different languages can express the same class of utility functions, one may allow for a more succinct representation than another. Therefore, we analyze the relative succinctness of languages. Third, for each language we study the computational complexity of the problem of finding the most preferred alternative given a utility function expressed in that language (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Standardized Characterization of Electrocatalytic Electrodes

This paper investigates the utility of ‘cross–lab’ comparative analysis of electrocatalytic electrode performance using standardized modular stack cells and test protocols. Using poly(methylene green)‐modified glassy carbon electrodes as the model system, we characterized electrode fabrication and performance with respect to the catalytic oxidation of NADH at neutral pH and low overpotential. Three sets of experiments were duplicated across four independent laboratories and the experimental results from each set were analyzed and compared in terms of key electroanalytical parameters. Statistical analyses were performed at three distinct levels: 1) the standard deviation among repetitive cycles within an experiment; 2) the standard deviation among repetitive experiments in the same laboratory, and 3) the standard deviation among experiments performed across all four laboratories. Using predefined criteria of ‘reproducibility’ for each level, most parameters were found to be statistically reproducible at most levels. When a particular parameter was found to be irreproducible in a given level, commentary is given on how that information can be used diagnose what chemical/physical aspects of the process were uncontrolled or poorly understood and therefore candidates for future research. This exercise, which is presented as a ‘proof–of‐principle’ step towards the concept of standardizing electrocatalytic evaluation, illustrates the importance of executing electrochemical characterization protocols across several labs and using fixed geometry and dimensions, system configuration, and applied electrochemical conditions. Future work is under way to extend these principles to systems with fluid flow.     

Diophantine exponents for mildly restricted approximation

We are studying the Diophantine exponent μ _n,l defined for integers 1≤l<n and a vector α∈ℝ ⁿ by letting

Irreducibility criteria for compositions of polynomials with integer coefficients

We provide irreducibility criteria for some classes of compositions of polynomials with integer coefficients of the form \(F\circ G\), with F being a quadratic irreducible polynomial and G a polynomial of arbitrary degree.     

Résolution en temps court d'une équation de Hamilton–Jacobi non locale décrivant la dynamique d'une dislocation

This Note studies a nonlocal geometric Hamilton–Jacobi equation that models the motion of a planar dislocation in a crystal. Within the framework of viscosity solutions and of the level-set approach, we show that the equation has a unique solution on a small time interval when the initial curve is the graph of a Lipschitz bounded function. To cite this article: O. Alvarez et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 338 (2004).