Calculation of the dynamic temperature characteristics of a heated graphite tube used in electrothermal atomic absorption measurements

A method and computer program were developed for calculating the temperature of any part of a graphite furnace tube at any instant of time after onset of the heating cycle. Results for tubes of the Massman design show large differences in spatial temperature distributions during and at the end of the heating cycle when equilibrium is reached. When constant current is applied to contoured tubes, greater heating rates at the tube centres are obtained than with standard tubes.     

Diffraction by a corrugated interface of media: The influence of the corrugation shape and losses in the medium on total transformation regimes

We study regimes of total reflection of a plane wave to the diffraction lobe in the case where the wave is incident on a corrugated metal surface or a corrugated interface of two dielectric media. The purpose is to analyze the influence of both the corrugation shape and losses in the medium on the characteristics of the regimes of total reflection to the diffraction lobe. We consider a number of corrugation profiles differing from the sinusoid by the resonance-region width and the presence of additional elements, namely, (i) the profiles having pair resonance regions with scale of the order of the wavelength, for which qualitatively new diffraction regimes compared with those observed for the sinusoidal interface can be realized due to interaction of waves, and (ii) the profiles comprising small-scale deviations, which can be a model of actual gratings. To study the influence of losses in the problem of scattering from a corrugated interface of dielectrics, the dielectric permittivity is assumed complex. We compare the obtained results with data for a sinusoidal profile and loss-free media. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 391–405, May 2006.     

High-energy gamma-rays accompanying the spontaneous fission of 252Cf

The γ-ray spectrum of ²⁵²Cf(sf) was measured in the Darmstadt-Heidelberg Crystal Ball spectrometer, with a double ionization chamber mounted inside to detect the fission fragments. The measurement was aimed at a better understanding of an unusual component found in the high-energy region between 3 and 8 MeV, with fragment mass splits near symmetry. This component was proved to be predominantly emitted by the heavier fragment, to reach its highest intensity at a fragment mass split of 132:120, and to have an almost isotropic angular distribution. Calculations with the statistical code CASCADE could reproduce the main features.     

Computational modelling of bubbles,droplets and particles in metals reduction and refining

A multi-phase framework is typically required for the CFD modelling of metals reduction processes. Such processes typically involve the interaction of liquid metals, a gas (often air) top space, liquid droplets in the top space and injection of both solid particles and gaseous bubbles into the bath. The exchange of mass, momentum and energy between the phases is fundamental to these processes. Multi-phase algorithms are complex and can be unreliable in terms of either or both convergence behaviour or in the extent to which the physics is captured. In this contribution, we discuss these multi-phase flow issues and describe an example of each of the main “single phase” approaches to modelling this class of problems (i.e., Eulerian–Lagrangian and Eulerian–Eulerian). Their utility is illustrated in the context of two problems – one involving the injection of sparging gases into a steel continuous slab caster and the other based on the development of a novel process for aluminium electrolysis. In the steel caster, the coupling of the Lagrangian tracking of the gas phase with the continuum enables the simulation of the transient motion of the metal–flux interface. The model of the electrolysis process employs a novel method for the calculation of slip velocities of oxygen bubbles, resulting from the dissolution of alumina, which allows the efficiency of the process to be predicted.     

New numerical methods and some applied aspects of the p-regularity theory

The theory of p-regularity is applied to optimization problems and to singular ordinary differential equations (ODE). The special variant of the method of the modified Lagrangian function proposed by Yu.G. Evtushenko for constrained optimization problems with inequality constraints is justified on the basis of the 2-factor transformation. An implicit function theorem is given for the singular case. This theorem is used to show the existence of solutions to a boundary value problem for a nonlinear differential equation in the resonance case. New numerical methods are proposed including the p-factor method for solving ODEs with a small parameter.     

Effect of radon on SAGE results

A method for estimating the systematic uncertainty associated with radon in the SAGE experiment¹⁾ aimed at observing the solar-neutrino flux is described. For the gallium target used in this experiment, the systematic uncertainty in the measured neutrino-capture rate of 75 SNU²⁾ is below 0.3 SNU.     

Experimental investigation of highly excited states of the 5,6He and 5,6Li nuclei in the (6Li, 7Be) and (6Li, 7Li) one-nucleon pickup reactions

The (⁶Li, ⁷Be) and (⁶Li, ⁷Li) reactions on ⁶Li and ⁷Li nuclei were investigated in the angular interval 0°–20° in the laboratory system at a ⁶Li energy of 93 MeV. In addition to low-lying states of the ^5,6He and ^5,6Li nuclei, broad structures were observed near the t(³He)+d and t(³He)+t thresholds at the excitation energies of 16.75 (3/2⁺) and ～20 MeV (for ⁵He), 16.66 (3/2⁺) and ～20 MeV (⁵Li), 14.0 and 25 MeV (⁶He), and ～20 MeV (⁶Li). The angular distributions measured in the ⁷Li(⁶Li, ⁷Be)⁶He reaction for transitions to the ground state (0⁺) and excited states at E _x=1.8 MeV (2⁺) and 14.0 MeV of the ⁶He nucleus were analyzed by the finite-range distorted-wave method assuming the 1p-and 1s-proton pickup mechanism. The (⁶Li, ⁷Be) and (⁶Li, ⁷Li) reactions were shown to proceed predominantly through the one-step pickup mechanism, and the broad structures observed at high excitation energies are considered as quasimolecular states of the t(³He)+d and t(³He)+t types.