Thermohydraulics of turbulent flow through rectangular and square ducts with axial corrugation roughness and twisted-tapes with and without oblique teeth

The heat transfer and the pressure drop characteristics of turbulent flow of air (10,000 < Re < 100,000) through rectangular and square ducts with combined internal axial corrugations on all the surfaces of the ducts and with twisted-tape inserts with and without oblique teeth have been studied experimentally. The axial corrugations in combination with twisted-tapes of all types with oblique teeth have been found to perform better than those without oblique teeth in combination with axial corrugations. The heat transfer and the pressure drop measurements have been taken in separate test sections. Heat transfer tests were carried out in electrically heated stainless steel ducts incorporating uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions. Pressure drop tests were carried out in acrylic ducts. The flow friction and thermal characteristics are governed by duct aspect ratio, corrugation angle, corrugation pitch, twist ratio, space ratio, length, tooth horizontal length and tooth angle of the twisted-tape, Reynolds number and Prandtl number. Correlations developed for friction factor and Nusselt number have predicted the experimental data satisfactorily. The performance of the geometry under investigation has been evaluated. It has been found that on the basis of constant pumping power, up to 55% heat duty increase occurs for the combined axial corrugation and regularly spaced twisted-tape elements inserts with oblique teeth case compared to without oblique teeth twisted-tape inserts cases in the measured experimental parameters space. On the constant heat duty basis, the pumping power has been reduced up to 47% for the combined enhancement geometry than the individual enhancement geometries. However, full-length and short-length twisted-tapes with oblique teeth in combination with axial corrugations show only marginal improvements over the twisted-tapes without oblique teeth.     

Experimental investigation on the flow instability behavior of a multi-channel boiling natural circulation loop at low-pressures

Natural circulation as a mode of heat removal is being considered as a prominent passive feature in the innovative nuclear reactor designs, particularly in boiling-water-reactors, due to its simplicity and economy. However, boiling natural circulation system poses many challenges to designer due to occurrence of various kinds of instabilities such as excursive instability, density wave oscillations, flow pattern transition instability, geysering and metastable states in parallel channels. This problem assumes greater significance particularly at low-pressures i.e. during startup, where there is great difference in the properties of two phases. In light of this, a parallel channel loop has been designed and installed that has a geometrical resemblance to the pressure-tube-type boiling-water-reactor, to investigate into the behavior of boiling natural circulation. The loop comprises of four identical parallel channels connected between two common plenums i.e. steam drum and header. The recirculation path is provided by a single downcomer connected between steam drum and header. Experiments have been conducted over a wide range of power and pressures (1–10 bar). Two distinct unstable zones are observed with respect to power i.e. corresponding to low power (Type-I) and high power (Type-II) with a stable zone at intermediate powers. The nature of oscillations in terms of their amplitude and frequency and their evolution for Type-I and Type-II instabilities are studied with respect to the effect of heater power and pressure. This paper discusses the evolution of unstable and stable behavior along with the nature of flow oscillation in the channels and the effect of pressure on it.     

Coordination modes of 1-allyl benzotriazole: synthesis and characterization of cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II), copper(I) and silver(I) complexes

Summary The synthesis and coordination behaviour of 1-allylbenzotriazole (ABT), containing both -donating heterocyclic ring nitrogen(s) and a -bonding olefinic group, has been studied by complexation with Co^II, Ni^II, Cu^II, Cu^I and Ag^I salts. The solid complexes M(ABT)₂X₂ (M=Co, Ni or Cu and X=a counterion) and M(ABT)X (M=Cu or Ag and X=Br, I, or NO₃) have been characterised by¹H-n.m.r. (representative Cu^I species) and other physical data. Different modes coordination for the title ligand have been proposed based upon i.r. data which indicate the participation of a -donating ring nitrogen only in complexes with bivalent metal salts, and the involvement of both the ring nitrogen and the allylic olefinic component in bonding to a monovalent metal ion.¹H-n.m.r. data are qualitatively commensurate with participation of the allyl group in monovalent metal complexes.     

Separation of Leucas aspera,a medicinal plant of Bangladesh,guided by prostaglandin inhibitory and antioxidant activities

According to the traditional usage of the plant for antiinflammation and analgesia, Leucas aspera was tested for its prostaglandin (PG) inhibitory and antioxidant activities. The extract showed both activities, i.e., inhibition at 3 x 10(-4) g/ml against PGE(1)- and PGE(2)-induced contractions in guinea pig ileum and a 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging effect. The separation guided by the activities in these dual assay methods provided eight lignans and four flavonoids, LA-1- -12, among which LA-1- -7 and LA-10- -12 were identified as nectandrin B, meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid, macelignan, acacetin, apigenin 7-O-[6"-O-(p-coumaroyl)-beta-D-glucoside], chrysoeriol, apigenin, erythro-2-(4-allyl-2, 6-dimethoxyphenoxy)-1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)propan-1-ol, myristargenol B, and machilin C, respectively. LA-8 was determined to be (-)-chicanine, the new antipode of the (+) compound, by spectroscopic methods including CD and ORD. Chiral-HPLC analysis of LA-9 showed that it was a mixture of two enantiomers, (7R, 8R)- and (7S, 8S)-licarin A. All of these components were first isolated from L. aspera. PG inhibition was observed in LA-1, LA-2, and LA-5, and antioxidant activity in LA-1- -3 and LA-8- -12.     

New Group 6 metal carbonyl derivatives of 2-(2'(-pyridyl)benzimidazole: synthesis and spectroscopic studies

Reaction of Cr(CO)(6) with 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole (pbiH) under reduced pressure resulted in the formation of the dinuclear complex [Cr(2)(CO)(6)(pbiH)(2)]. Infra-red (IR) spectroscopy revealed the presence of terminal and bridge Cr-CO bonds. Interaction of M(CO)(6), M=Cr, Mo and W, with pbiH in the presence of 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) gave the tetracarbonyl complexes [M(CO)(4)(pbiH)].bpy. Spectroscopic studies of the complexes indicated the presence of hydrogen bonding between the bpy nitrogen and the NH group of pbiH. Reactions of M(CO)(6) with pbiH in the presence of PPh(3) gave the tricarbonyl monosubstituted derivatives [M(CO)(3)(PPh(3))(pbiH)]. The spectroscopic studies of the complexes suggested the proposed structures.     

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes coated by multi-layer silica for improving thermal conductivity of polymer composites

Silica has been non-covalently coated on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using the sol–gel chemistry, where tetraethoxy silane (TEOS) was used to form an inorganic silica layer immediately next to surface of MWCNTs and octyl triethoxy silane was coated over the TEOS. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements show that the diameter of MWCNTs increases with increasing the number of coating layer, indicating that the silica has been coated on MWCNTs. Quantitative analysis from thermogravimetric analysis (TG) also indicates that the inorganic and organic silica has been successfully coated on MWCNTs. Further, quantitative analysis found that the amount of silica measured by TG agrees well with the increase of thickness of coated MWCNTs obtained from TEM, indicating that little or no free silica exists in the system. The thermal conductivity of epoxy/MWCNTs composite was studied and the results show that the thermal conductivity of the composite is improved by coating MWCNTs in this manner and increases with increasing the number of coatings.     

Synthesis,mesomorphic, photophysical and computational studies of new achiral four-ring unsymmetrical bent-core mesogens and their Copper(II) complexes

New achiral four-ring unsymmetrical bent-core mesogens derived from 2,5-dihydroxybenzaldehyde and their copper(II) complexes have been synthesised as a new design with an imine and ester linkage. These new bent-core molecules resemble hockey-stick shape, which possesses 4-n-alkyloxy chain (4-n-hexyloxy and 4-n-decyloxy) at one end and methyl or methoxy group at the other end of the molecule. The synthesis, spectroscopic characterisation, phase transition temperature and characterisation of phase behaviour are reported. The bent-core molecules exhibited monotropic nematic and smectic A phase depending on the terminal chain length. Interestingly, copper(II) complexes of bent-core molecules displayed monotropic nematic phase. This is the first report on copper(II) complexes of bent-core molecules that exhibited nematic phase. The four-ring bent-core molecule exhibited fluorescence with large stoke shift. The density functional theory calculations of bent-core molecules and their copper(II) complexes are carried out using Gaussian 09 program at B3LYP level to obtain the stable molecular conformation, dipole moment, highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies and bending angle of the compounds. The natural atomic charges and electronic configurations of the atoms of free ligands as well as the complexes have been evaluated.     

Basic alumina supported one-pot synthesis of structurally diverse pyridine/quinolinine-fused novel diazepanium, diazocanium, imidazodilinium and tetrahydro-pyrimidiniums

Basic alumina supported solvent-free one-pot synthesis of pyridine-fused polycyclic diazepaniums was achieved under microwave irradiation. The process was successfully extended to the synthesis of pyridine-fused bicyclic imidazolidiniums and tetrahydro-pyrimidiniums and also of tri- and tetracyclic diaza-heterocycle-fused quinoliniums. The dual characteristic of basic alumina, a solid support as well as a base, was successfully employed in the current investigation. The method emerged to be an effective route in terms of product yield, reaction time, and ease of purification and most importantly for environment friendly protocols.     

“Dial-In” Emission from a Unique Flexible Material with Polarization Tuneable Spectral Intensity

The development of organic photoluminescent materials, which show promising roles as catalysts, sensors, organic light-emitting diodes, logic gates, etc., is a major demand and challenge for the global scientific community. In this context, a photoclick polymerization method is adopted for the growth of a unique photoluminescent three-dimensional (3D) polymer film, E, as a model system that shows emission tunability over the range 350–650 nm against the excitation range 295–425 nm. The DFT analysis of energy calculations and π-stacking supports the spectroscopic observations for the material exhibiting a broad range of emission owing to newly formed chromophoric units within the film. Full polarization spectroscopic Mueller matrix studies were employed to extract and quantify the molecular orientational order of both the ground (excitation) and excited (emission) state anisotropies through a set of newly defined parameters, namely the fluorescence diattenuation and fluorescence polarizance. The information contained in the recorded fluorescence Mueller matrix of the organic polymer material provided a useful way to control the spectral intensity of emission by using pre- and post-selection of polarization states. The observation was based on the assumption that the longer lifetime of the excited dipolar orientation is attributed to the compactness of the film.