Efficient computation of natural convection in a concentric annulus between an outer square cylinder and an inner circular cylinder

In this work, the natural convection in a concentric annulus between a cold outer square cylinder and a heated inner circular cylinder is simulated using the differential quadrature (DQ) method. The vorticity‐stream function formulation is used as the governing equation, and the coordinate transformation technique is introduced in the DQ computation. It is shown in this paper that the outer square boundary can be approximated by a super elliptic function. As a result, the coordinate transformation from the physical domain to the computational domain is set up by an analytical expression, and all the geometrical parameters can be computed exactly. Numerical results for Rayleigh numbers range from 104 to 106 and aspect ratios between 1.67 and 5.0 are presented, which are in a good agreement with available data in the literature. It is found that both the aspect ratio and the Rayleigh number are critical to the patterns of flow and thermal fields. The present study suggests that a critical aspect ratio may exist at high Rayleigh number to distinguish the flow and thermal patterns. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Whitham Equations for the Defocusing Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation with Step Initial Data

The behavior of solutions of the finite-genus Whitham equations for the weak dispersion limit of the defocusing nonlinear Schrodinger equation is investigated analytically and numerically for piecewise-constant initial data. In particular, the dynamics of constant-amplitude initial conditions with one or more frequency jumps (i.e., piecewise linear phase) are considered. It is shown analytically and numerically that, for finite times, regions of arbitrarily high genus can be produced; asymptotically with time, however, the solution can be divided into expanding regions which are either of genus-zero, genus-one, or genus-two type, their precise arrangement depending on the specifics of the initial datum given. This behavior should be compared to that of the Korteweg-de Vries equation, where the solution is divided into regions which are either genus-zero or genus-one asymptotically. Finally, the potential application of these results to the generation of short optical pulses is discussed: The method proposed takes advantage of nonlinear compression via appropriate frequency modulation, and allows control of both the pulse amplitude and its width, as well as the distance along the fiber at which the pulse is produced     

Distributed feedback multipeak laser emission in Rhodamine 6G doped organic-inorganic hybrids

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials were prepared from an ureasil precursor (ureapropyltriethoxysilane designated as UPTES) and acrylic acid modified zirconium (IV) n-propoxide. Thin films containing rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) were prepared by spin-coating on glass substrates with different Zr:Si molar ratios (Zr:Si = 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75). Refractive index, thickness, number of propagating modes and attenuation coefficient were measured at 543.5, 632.8 and 1550 nm wavelengths by the prism coupling technique. Distributed feedback (DFB) laser effect was observed and studied as a function of films thickness and refractive index.     

The Linear Fokker-Planck Equation for the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Process as an (Almost) Nonlinear Kinetic Equation for an Isolated N-Particle System

It is long known that the Fokker-Planck equation with prescribed constant coefficients of diffusion and linear friction describes the ensemble average of the stochastic evolutions in velocity space of a Brownian test particle immersed in a heat bath of fixed temperature. Apparently, it is not so well known that the same partial differential equation, but now with constant coefficients which are functionals of the solution itself rather than being prescribed, describes the kinetic evolution (in the N→∞ limit) of an isolated N-particle system with certain stochastic interactions. Here we discuss in detail this recently discovered interpretation. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Constructing Invariant Fairness Measures for Surfaces

The paper proposes a rational method to derive fairness measures for surfaces. It works in cases where isophotes, reflection lines, planar intersection curves, or other curves are used to judge the fairness of the surface. The surface fairness measure is derived by demanding that all the given curves should be fair with respect to an appropriate curve fairness measure. The method is applied to the field of ship hull design where the curves are plane intersections. The method is extended to the case where one considers, not the fairness of one curve, but the fairness of a one parameter family of curves. Six basic third order invariants by which the fairing measures can be expressed are defined. Furthermore, the geometry of a plane intersection curve is studied, and the variation of the total, the normal, and the geodesic curvature and the geodesic torsion is determined.     

Relationship between chemical bond parameters and superconducting temperature in HgBa2Can−1CunO2n+2+δ (n=1, 2, 3, 4)

Bond covalency and valence of elements in HgBa₂Ca_n−1Cu_nO_2n+2+δ (n=1, 2, 3, 4) were calculated and their relationship with T_c was discussed. For both oxygen and argon annealed samples, the results indicated that with the increase of n, the trend of bond covalency of Hg-O and Cu-O was the same or opposite compared with that of superconducting temperature. This may suggest that the magnitudes of Cu-O and Hg-O bond covalency are important in governing the superconducting temperature. For the highest T_c sample, Hg had the lowest valence, implying that lower valence of Hg was preferred in order to produce higher T_c. For fixed n, the valence of Cu in oxygen annealed samples was larger than that in argon annealed samples, indicating that oxygen annealed samples produced more carriers than argon annealed samples.     

DISCRETE HUYGENS' MODELLING APPROACH TO WAVE PROPAGATIONS IN A HOMOGENEOUS ELASTIC FIELD

The application of the discrete Huygens' modelling has been discussed for acoustic wave propagation problems, in which the scalar wave field problems have been focused. The present paper extends the application of the modelling to the elastic wave propagation in a homogeneous elastic medium in which two types of waves, the longitudinal wave and the shear wave, are independent except at the boundary. Each wave can be treated like a scalar wave until the two waves reach the boundary where they couple so as to satisfy the displacement or stress boundary condition. We propose the approach confining ourselves to the two-dimensional field. Some examples are demonstrated, whose solutions are compared with the vectorial wave modelling and finite difference modelling solutions whenever they are available.     

Laser induced copper electroless plating on polyimide with Q-switch Nd:YAG laser

The results of laser induced deposition of copper on polyimide substrate from copper electrolyte solution are reported. Unlike most work reported in the literatures where CW Ar⁺ lasers were used, a second harmonic (532 nm wavelength) Q-switch Nd:YAG laser was used for our experiments. The deposition process was conducted by laser-catalyzing of the polyimide surface and subsequent photothermal-accelerated reduction of copper-complex ions in an alkaline reducing environment. The characteristics of the deposited copper line were investigated in terms of laser beam scanning speed, and the number of scans. The surface morphology and chemical composition of the deposited copper were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDX). The optimum processing conditions have been identified. The copper deposit was found to adhere well to the substrate.     

A Modified Quasi-Newton Method for Structured Optimization with Partial Information on the Hessian

This paper develops a modified quasi-Newton method for structured unconstrained optimization with partial information on the Hessian, based on a better approximation to the Hessian in current search direction. The new approximation is decided by both function values and gradients at the last two iterations unlike the original one which only uses the gradients at the last two iterations. The modified method owns local and superlinear convergence. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method is encouraging comparing with the methods proposed in [4] for structured unconstrained optimization Presented at the 6th International Conference on Optimization: Techniques and Applications, Ballarat, Australia, December 9–11, 2004