Microwave-accelerated Claisen rearrangements of allyl tetronates and tetramates

[3,3]-Sigmatropic rearrangements of allyl tetronates and allyl tetramates to give 3-allyltetronic or -tetramic acids, respectively, proceed within 20-60 min under microwave irradiation (300 W, 130-190 °C). Consecutive (homo)sigmatropic [1,5] H-shifts such as oxa-ene reactions are promoted less effectively, which allows the isolation of Claisen intermediates of sigmatropic domino sequences, in contrast to conventional heating.     

FAST ACCURATE PREDICTION OF BLANK SHAPE IN SHEET METAL FORMING

By using the Finite Element Inverse Approach based on the Hill quadratic anisotrop-ically yield criterion and the quadrilateral element, a fast analyzing software-FASTAMP for the sheet metal forming is developed. The blank shapes of three typical stampings are simulated and compared with numerical results given by the AUTOFORM software and experimental results, respectively. The comparison shows that the FASTAMP can predict blank shape and strain distribution of the stamping more precisely and quickly than those given by the traditional methods and the AUTOFORM.     

Numerical simulations of a filament in a flowing soap film

Experiments concerning the properties of soap films have recently been carried out and these systems have been proposed as experimental versions of theoretical two‐dimensional liquids. A silk filament introduced into a flowing soap film, was seen to demonstrate various stable modes, and these were, namely, a mode in which the filament oscillates and one in which the filament is stationary and aligns with the flow of the liquid. The system could be forced from the oscillatory mode into the non‐ oscillatory mode by varying the length of the filament. In this article we use numerical and computational techniques in order to simulate the strongly coupled behaviour of the filament and the fluid. Preliminary results are presented for the specific case in which the filament is seen to oscillate continuously for the duration of our simulation. We also find that the filament oscillations are strongly suppressed when we reduce the effective length of the filament. We believe that these results are reminiscent of the different oscillatory and non‐oscillatory modes observed in experiment. The numerical solutions show that, in contrast to experiment, vortices are created at the leading edge of the filament and are preferentially grown in the curvature of the filament and are eventually released from the trailing edge of the filament. In a similar manner to oscillating hydrofoils, it seems that the oscillating filaments are in a minimal energy state, extracting sufficient energy from the fluid to oscillate. In comparing numerical and experimental results it is possible that the soap film does have an effect on the fluid flow especially in the boundary layer where surface tension forces are large. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A time‐accurate pseudo‐compressibility approach based on an unstructured hybrid finite volume technique applied to unsteady turbulent premixed flame propagation

A preconditioning approach based on the artificial compressibility formulation is extended to solve the governing equations for unsteady turbulent reactive flows with heat release, at low Mach numbers, on an unstructured hybrid grid context. Premixed reactants are considered and a flamelet approach for combustion modelling is adopted using a continuous quenched mean reaction rate. An overlapped cell‐vertex finite volume method is adopted as a discretisation scheme. Artificial dissipation terms for hybrid grids are explicitly added to ensure a stable, discretised set of equations. A second‐order, explicit, hybrid Runge–Kutta scheme is applied for the time marching in pseudo‐time. A time derivative of the dependent variable is added to recover the time accuracy of the preconditioned set of equations. This derivative is discretised by an implicit, second‐order scheme. The resulting scheme is applied to the calculation of an infinite planar (one‐dimensional) turbulent premixed flame propagating freely in reactants whose turbulence is supposed to be frozen, homogeneous and isotropic. The accuracy of the results obtained with the proposed method proves to be excellent when compared to the data available in the literature. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of two‐equation turbulence modelling for high Reynolds number hydrofoil flows

This paper presents an evaluation of the capability of turbulence models available in the commercial CFD code FLUENT 6.0 for their application to hydrofoil turbulent boundary layer separation flow at high Reynolds numbers. Four widely applied two‐equation RANS turbulence models were assessed through comparison with experimental data at Reynolds numbers of 8.284×106 and 1.657×107. They were the standard k–εmodel, the realizable k–εmodel, the standard k–ωmodel and the shear‐stress‐transport (SST) k–ωmodel. It has found that the realizable k–εturbulence model used with enhanced wall functions and near‐wall modelling techniques, consistently provides superior performance in predicting the flow characteristics around the hydrofoil. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation and theoretical modeling of liquid entrainment in a horizontal tee with a vertical-up branch

This article describes a comprehensive literature review of liquid entrainment in horizontal pipes with vertical-up branches. Deficiencies in the available data and correlations were identified. The Air–water Test Loop for Advanced Thermal–hydraulic Studies (ATLATS) was constructed and entrainment onset and steady-state data were collected for a wide range of flow conditions. Using new insights gained from experimental testing, the authors developed a model for predicting the onset of entrainment and steady-state entrainment rate. Previously published correlations, along with the new model, are compared against all available data. The new model shows very good agreement with the onset data, but is not very good at predicting branch quality at high liquid flow rates.     

Mesoscopic details of crack tip deformation field by application of differential interference contrast method

An experimental method is developed to examine the near tip deformation at the mesoscopic scale level. The differential interference contrast (DIC) method is used by application of the Nomarski prism in polarized microscope for measuring the out of surface deformation. The method is very sensitive to small height changes detected by different interference color. Discussed are results for the crack tip deformation field.