Wall-Resolved Large Eddy Simulations of the Transient Turbulent Fluid Mixing in a Closed System Replicating a Pressurized Thermal Shock

The isothermal mixing of a heavy and a light liquid of different physical properties is numerically investigated by means of Large Eddy Simulations. The validation is based on experimental data held in a system reproducing various components of a pressurized water nuclear reactor, during a scenario of cold water injection at a low Atwood number of 0.05. The flow has two distinct stages: first a buoyancy-driven phase is characterized by a fluid front development in the cold leg and gives rise to Kelvin–Helmholtz whorls under the action of density changes. Then, the heavy liquid discharges into the downcomer filled with light liquid, which causes a turbulent mixing. These phenomena are analyzed through a single-phase approach where the density of the working fluid is either variable or modeled by the Boussinesq approximation. The influence of grid refinement is deeply examined, which shows that the mesh convergence is well achieved for the main flow quantities, unlike the low-magnitude spanwise components. Overall, the numerical solutions are found to reproduce the experimental measurements with a fair accuracy for both physical models used. These latter exhibit similar trends, due to the small density difference under consideration. The predictions in the downcomer appear to be more challenging owing to a strongest turbulence than in the cold leg, some flow features being not properly captured. However, the experimental data in the downcomer are found to be incomplete and somewhat dubious for a strict validation of the numerical simulations. Lastly, the flow distribution in the dowcomer is investigated, providing further insight on the mixing process.

     

Palladium-catalyzed borylation of phenyl bromides and application in one-pot Suzuki-Miyaura biphenyl synthesis

The coupling reaction of pinacolborane with various aryl bromides in the presence of a catalytic amount of Pd(OAc)(2) together with DPEphos as ligand and Et(3)N as base provided arylboronates. High yields were obtained in the case of electron-donor substituted aryl bromides. The direct preparation of arylboronates allowed the one-pot, two-step synthesis of unsymmetrical biaryls in high yields. [reaction: see text]     

Engineering of Silicon Core-Shell Structures for Li-ion Anodes

The amount of silicon in anode materials for Li-ion batteries is still limited by the huge volume changes during charge-discharge cycles. Such changes lead to the loss of electrical contacts, as well as mechanical and surface electrolyte interphase (SEI) instabilities, strongly reducing the cycle life. Core-shell structures have attracted a vast research interest due to the possibility of modifying some properties with a judicious choice of the shell. It is, for example, possible to improve the electronic conductivity and ionic diffusion, or buffer volume variations. This review gives a comprehensive overview of the recent developments and the different strategies used for the design, synthesis and electrochemical performance of silicon-based core-shells. It is based on a selection of the main types of silicon coatings reported in the literature, including carbon, inorganic, organic and double-layer coatings, Finally, a summary of the advantages and drawbacks of these different types of core-shells as anode materials for Li-ion batteries and some insightful suggestions in regards to their use are provided.     

Convergence to equilibrium in competitive Lotka–Volterra and chemostat systems

We study a generalized system of ODE's modeling a finite number of biological populations in a competitive interaction. We adapt the techniques in Jabin and Raoul [8] and Champagnat and Jabin (2010) [2] to prove the convergence to a unique stable equilibrium.     

Comments on the measurements of vibrational intensity in the photoelectron spectra of N2 and CO,for the ionic ground state

Over 50 experimental values of the photoelectron intensity I(v′ = 1) (normalized to I(v′ = 0) equal to 100) for the N₂⁺, X²Σ_g⁺ photoelectron band, as well as 17 values of I(v′ = 1) for CO⁺, X²Σ⁺, are gathered or calculated from literature data, compared and discussed. Differences in the types of analyzer used, the instrumental conditions, the character of the UV light employed and the type of possible intensity corrections make such a comparison difficult, leave unexplained discrepancies and show the necessity of more systematic experimental investigations.     

Clustering and asymptotic behavior in opinion formation

We investigate the long time behavior of models of opinion formation. We consider the case of compactly supported interactions between agents which are also non-symmetric, including for instance the so-called Krause model. Because of the finite range of interaction, convergence to a unique consensus is not expected in general. We are nevertheless able to prove the convergence to a final equilibrium state composed of possibly several local consensus. This result had so far only been conjectured through numerical evidence. Because of the non-symmetry in the model, the analysis is delicate and is performed in two steps: First using entropy estimates to prove the formation of stable clusters and then studying the evolution in each cluster. We study both discrete and continuous in time models and give rates of convergence when those are available.     

Locally normal subgroups of simple locally compact groups

We announce various results concerning the structure of compactly generated simple locally compact groups. We introduce a local invariant, called the structure lattice, which consists of commensurability classes of compact subgroups with open normaliser, and show that its properties reflect the global structure of the ambient group.     

The HeI photoelectron spectra of methyl-substituted 1,2,4-pentatrienes (vinylallene)

The HeI photoelectron spectra of trans-1,2,4-hexatriene(1), 4-methyl-1,2,4-pentatriene(2), 3-methyl-1,2,4-pentatriene(3), 1,3,4-hexatriene(4) and 3,4-dimethyl-1,2,4-pentatriene(5) have been obtained and interpreted. LCBO and CNDO/S calculations indicate for the highest energy orbitals a π,π,π,σ sequence as in 1,2,4-pentatriene. The effect of methyl substitution on the three π orbitals is analyzed.     

On the measurements of vibrational intensity in the photoelectron spectra of NO for the ionic ground state

Over 50 series of experimental values of photoelectron intensity I(υ′), with υ′ = 0–6, (normalized to I(υ′ = 1) equal to 100) for     

Ionization energy values for the transitions NO+,X1Σ+(v′ = 0—34) ← NO,X2 φ (v″, = 0) and molecular constan

High resolution Ne(I)(73.6nm) photoelectron spectroscope measurements provide values of the ionization energies to the first 35 vibrational levels of N