Perpendicular recording write process modeling issues

An optimal write process is essential for realizing the high-density potential of perpendicular recording. An analytic Williams-Comstock-type model of transition width is derived, which is based on a linear transition shape. This model is used to explore the effect of system parameters on transition width. In order to preserve high write field gradient during high-speed recording it is essential to have fast head switching. The role of magnon processes in providing high damping for fast switching is discussed and micromagnetic simulation results are presented.     

A 3.1–4.8-GHz direct-conversion mixer in 0.35-μm CMOS for mode-1 MB-OFDM UWB systems

This paper presents a CMOS direct-conversion mixer for TFI-OFDM receiver of UWB group #1 bands, providing a 110 Mbits/s rate and optimized for 0.35-μm technology. The proposed mixer uses the current-bleeding technique in both the driver and switching stages with wideband impedance matching, consisting of a bandpass filter embedding the RF stage. The 1/f noise of the switching pairs dominates the noise performance for down-converted frequencies below 1 MHz. Above 1 MHz, the insertion of an inductor at the tail of switching pairs reduces uniformly the noise figure by 2.2 dB. Over 3.1–4.8 GHz, the circuit drawing 6 mA from 3-V supply, shows a conversion gain of 14.0 ± 1.0 dB, IIP3 of 0 ± 2 dBm, double-sideband noise figure of 4.5–4.8 dB, and port-to-port isolation above 61.0 dB. The mixer output bandwidth is 460 MHz. The RF power and LO amplitude marginally affect these performances within, respectively, the FCC-power limits and 2.5–3.4 V range.     

High energy femtosecond supercontinuum light generation in large mode area photonic crystal fiber

A large mode area photonic crystal fiber (LMA PCF) with an effective area of 180 μm² is used to generate a high energy, micro-joule range, flat, octave spanning supercontinuum (SC) extending from ~ 600 nm to ~ 1720 nm. A train of femtosecond pulses from a widely-tunable parametric amplifier pumped by a Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier system are coupled into a 20 cm length of LMA PCF generating a SC of 1.4 μJ energy. We present an experimental study of the high energy SC as a function of the input power and the pumping wavelength. The spectrum obtained at a pump wavelength of 1260 nm presents spectral flatness variation less than 12 dB over more than 1.1 octave bandwidth. The physical processes behind the SC formation are described in the normal and the anomalous dispersion regions. Our experimental results are successfully compared with the numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation.     

Rheological studies and optimization of Herschel–Bulkley parameters of an environmentally friendly drilling fluid using genetic algorithm

The Herschel–Bulkley rheological parameters of an environmentally friendly drilling fluid formulated based on an Algerian bentonite and two polymers—hydroxyethyl cellulose and polyethylene glycol—have been optimized using a genetic algorithm. The effect of hydroxyethyl cellulose, temperature, pH and sodium chloride (NaCl) on the three-parameter Herschel-Bulkley model was also studied. The genetic algorithm technique provided improved rheological parameter characterization compared to the nonlinear regression, especially in the case of drilling fluids formulated with sodium chloride making it a better choice. Furthermore, the oscillatory test offered more reliable yield stress values. The rheological parameters were found to be very sensitive to different conditions. Yield stress and consistency index increased with increasing the hydroxyethyl cellulose concentration, reaching maximum at a temperature of 65 °C and decreased with decreasing pH and also when adding sodium chloride to the drilling fluid. The flow index changed inversely to yield stress and consistency index. The physical origins of these changes in rheological parameters were discussed and correlation between variation in rheological parameters and bentonite suspension properties were concluded. Based on these results, it is recommended to use the proposed formulation of drilling fluid at high temperature and when the formation of alkaline pH is encountered due to the gelation mechanism and to select the optimum concentration of NaCl to avoid degradation of the rheological parameters.

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Time-resolved velocity and concentration measurements in variable-viscosity turbulent jet flow

This paper addresses the ability to reliably measure the fluctuating velocity field in variable-viscosity flows (herein, a propane–air mixture), using hot-wire anemometry. Because the latter is sensitive to both velocity and concentration fluctuations, the instantaneous concentration field also needs to be inferred experimentally. To overcome this difficulty, we show that the hot-wire response becomes insensitive to the concentration of the field, when a small amount of neon is added to the air. In this way, velocity measurements can be made independently of the concentration field. Although not necessary to velocity measurements, Rayleigh light-scattering technique is also used to infer the local (fluctuating) concentration, and, therefore, the viscosity of the fluid. Velocity and concentration measurements are performed in a turbulent propane jet discharging into an air–neon co-flow, for which the density and viscosity ratios are 1.52 and 1/5.5, respectively. The Reynolds number (based on injection diameter and velocity) is 15400. These measurements are first validated: the axial decay of the mean velocity and concentration, as well as the lateral mean and RMS profiles of velocity and concentration, is in full agreement with the existing literature. The variable-viscosity flow along the axis of the round jet is then characterized and compared with a turbulent air jet discharging into still air, for which the Reynolds number (based on injection diameter and velocity) is 5400. Both flows have the same initial jet momentum. As mixing with the viscous co-flow is enhanced with increasing downstream position, the viscosity of the fluid increases rapidly for the case of the propane jet. In comparison with the air jet, the propane jet exhibits: (1) a lower local Reynolds number based on the Taylor microscale (by a factor of four); (2) a reduced range of scales present in the flow; (3) the isotropic form of the mean energy dissipation rate is first more enhanced and then drastically diminishes and (4) a progressively increasing local Schmidt number (from 1.36 to 7.5) for increasing downstream positions. Therefore, the scalar spectra exhibit an increasingly prominent Batchelor regime with a ~ k ^?1 scaling law. The experimental technique developed herein provides a reliable method for the study of variable-viscosity flows.     

A High-Performance Doubly-Balanced Mixer in 0.35-μm CMOS for Mode-1 MB-OFDM UWB Receivers

A new design of CMOS doubly-balanced down-conversion mixer intended for Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) receiver of UWB group#1 bands and optimized for 0.35-μm technology is presented. The proposed mixer uses the current-bleeding technique in both the driver and switching stages with wideband impedance matching, consisting of a bandpass filter embedding the RF stage. The mixer performances are optimized for the AMS 0.35 μm CMOS process parameters. Over 3.1–4.8 GHz, the circuit drawing 6 mA from 3-V supply, shows a conversion gain of 14.0±1.0 dB, IIP3 of 0±2 dBm, doubly-sideband noise figure of 4.5–4.8 dB, and port-to-port isolation above 61.0 dB.

Universal Star Products

One defines the notion of universal deformation quantization: given any manifold M, any Poisson structure Λ on M and any torsionfree linear connection ? on M, a universal deformation quantization associates to this data a star product on (M, Λ) given by a series of bidifferential operators whose corresponding tensors are given by universal polynomial expressions in the Poisson tensor Λ, the curvature tensor R and their covariant iterated derivatives. Such universal deformation quantization exist. We study their unicity at order 3 in the deformation parameter, computing the appropriate universal Poissoncohomology.     

Numerical Prediction of Two-Phase Flow through a Tube Bundle Based on Reduced-Order Model and a Void Fraction Correlation

Predicting the void fraction of a two-phase flow outside of tubes is essential to evaluate the thermohydraulic behaviour in steam generators. Indeed, it determines two-phase mixture properties and affects two-phase mixture velocity, which enable evaluating the pressure drop of the system. The two-fluid model for the numerical simulation of two-phase flows requires interaction laws between phases which are not known and/or reliable for a flow within a tube bundle. Therefore, the mixture model, for which it is easier to implement suitable correlations for tube bundles, is used. Indeed, by expressing the relative velocity as a function of slip, the void fraction model of Feenstra et al. and Hibiki et al. developed for upward cross-flow through horizontal tube bundles is introduced and compared. With the method suggested in this paper, the physical phenomena that occur in tube bundles are taken into consideration. Moreover, the tube bundle is modelled using a porous media approach where the Darcy–Forchheimer term is usually defined by correlations found in the literature. However, for some tube bundle geometries, these correlations are not available. The second goal of the paper is to quickly compute, in quasi-real-time, this term by a non-intrusive parametric reduced model based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition. This method, named Bi-CITSGM (Bi-Calibrated Interpolation on the Tangent Subspace of the Grassmann Manifold), consists in interpolating the spatial and temporal bases by ITSGM (Interpolation on the Tangent Subspace of the Grassmann Manifold) in order to define the solution for a new parameter. The two developed methods are validated based on the experimental results obtained by Dowlati et al. for a two-phase cross-flow through a horizontal tube bundle.     

Exact and heuristic algorithms for the Travelling Salesman Problem with Multiple Time Windows and Hotel Selection

We introduce and study the Travelling Salesman Problem with Multiple Time Windows and Hotel Selection (TSP-MTWHS), which generalises the well-known Travelling Salesman Problem with Time Windows and the recently introduced Travelling Salesman Problem with Hotel Selection. The TSP-MTWHS consists in determining a route for a salesman (eg, an employee of a services company) who visits various customers at different locations and different time windows. The salesman may require a several-day tour during which he may need to stay in hotels. The goal is to minimise the tour costs consisting of wage, hotel costs, travelling expenses and penalty fees for possibly omitted customers. We present a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model for this practical problem and a heuristic combining cheapest insert, 2-OPT and randomised restarting. We show on random instances and on real world instances from industry that the MILP model can be solved to optimality in reasonable time with a standard MILP solver for several small instances. We also show that the heuristic gives the same solutions for most of the small instances, and is also fast, efficient and practical for large instances.