Linearized and rational approximation method for solving non‐linear Burgers' equation

A new numerical method called linearized and rational approximation method is presented to solve non‐linear evolution equations. The utility of the method is demonstrated for the case of differentiation of functions involving steep gradients. The solution of Burgers' equation is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the technique for the solution of non‐linear evolution equations exhibiting nearly discontinuous solutions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of single‐ and two‐phase flows on sliding unstructured meshes using finite volume method

The paper presents an efficient finite volume method for unstructured grids with rotating sliding parts composed of arbitrary polyhedral elements for both single‐ and two‐phase flows. Mathematical model used in computations is based on the ensemble averaged conservation equations. These equations are solved for each phase and in case of single‐phase flow reduce to the transient Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes (TRANS) equations. Transient flow induced by rotating impellers is thus resolved in time. The use of unstructured grids allows an easy and flexible meshing for the entire flow domain. Polyhedral cell volumes are created on the arbitrary mesh interface placed between rotating and static parts. Cells within the rotating parts move each time step and the new faces are created on the arbitrary interfaces only, while the rest of the domain remain ‘topologically’ unchanged. Implicit discretization scheme allows a wide range of time‐step sizes, which further reduce the computational effort. Special attention is given to the interpolation practices used for the reconstruction of the face quantities. Mass fluxes are recalculated at the beginning of each time step by using an interpolation scheme, which enhances the coupling between the pressure and velocity fields. The model has been implemented into the commercially available CFD code AVL SWIFT (AVL AST, SWIFT Manual 3.1, AVL List GmbH, Graz, Austria, 2002). Single‐phase flow in a mixing vessel stirred by a six‐bladed Rushton‐type turbine and two‐phase flow in aerated stirred vessel with the four‐blade Rushton impeller are simulated. The results are compared with the available experimental data, and good agreement is observed. The proposed algorithm is proved to be both stable and accurate for single‐phase as well as for the two‐phase flows calculations. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Passive control of the flow around a square cylinder using porous media

The passive control of bluff body flows using porous media is investigated by means of the penalization method. This method is used to create intermediate porous media between solid obstacles and the fluid in order to modify the boundary layer behaviour. The study covers a wide range of two‐dimensional flows from low transitional flow to fully established turbulence by direct numerical simulation of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. A parametric study is performed to illustrate the effect of the porous layer permeability and thickness on the passive control. The numerical results reveal the ability of porous media to both regularize the flow and to reduce the drag forces up to 30%. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Grid‐free surface vorticity method applied to flow induced vibration of flexible cylinders

In order to study cross flow induced vibration of heat exchanger tube bundles, a new fluid–structure interaction model based on surface vorticity method is proposed. With this model, the vibration of a flexible cylinder is simulated at Re=2.67 × 10⁴, the computational results of the cylinder response, the fluid force, the vibration frequency, and the vorticity map are presented. The numerical results reproduce the amplitude‐limiting and non‐linear (lock‐in) characteristics of flow‐induced vibration. The maximum vibration amplitude as well as its corresponding lock‐in frequency is in good agreement with experimental results. The amplitude of vibration can be as high as 0.88D for the case investigated. As vibration amplitude increases, the amplitude of the lift force also increases. With enhancement of vibration amplitude, the vortex pattern in the near wake changes significantly. This fluid–structure interaction model is further applied to simulate flow‐induced vibration of two tandem cylinders and two side‐by‐side cylinders at similar Reynolds number. Promising and reasonable results and predictions are obtained. It is hopeful that with this relatively simple and computer time saving method, flow induced vibration of a large number of flexible tube bundles can be successfully simulated. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Letter: Some Remarks on Standing Gravitational Waves

An intuitive definition of standing gravitational waves is proposed. Some main classes of exact vacuum solutions are searched for standing gravitational waves, in most cases with a negative result. Only some Einstein–Rosen waves meet the conditions.     

Particle Size Analysis by Transmission Fluctuation Spectrometry: Experimental Results Obtained with a Gaussian Beam and Analog Signal Processing

Transmission fluctuation spectrometry (TFS) is a method for the analysis of particle size distributions based on the statistical fluctuations of a transmission signal. Complete information on the PSD and particle concentration can be retrieved by a special transformation of the transmission signal, whereby the expectancy of the transmission square (ETS) is determined after the signal has been subjected to a procedure of spatial and temporal averaging. By varying the averaging parameters over a wide range, a spectrum of ETSs is obtained and introduced into a linear equation system, which yields the PSD. In the experimental realization presented here, variable temporal averaging is realized in the frequency domain with a series of low pass filters at different cutoff frequencies while spatial averaging inevitably occurs as the particles pass through a focused Gaussian beam of finite cross section. Experimental results on spherical particles (glass beads) and non‐spherical particles (SiC) are presented. The PSDs are resolved in 30 intervals within a particle size range from 1–1000 μm, employing a modified Chahine inversion algorithm. So far, the measurements are limited to moderate particle concentrations. Some influences affecting the measurements, especially for higher particle concentrations, are discussed in detail.     

Efficient discretization of pressure‐correction equations on non‐orthogonal grids

An alternative discretization of pressure‐correction equations within pressure‐correction schemes for the solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is introduced, which improves the convergence and robustness properties of such schemes for non‐orthogonal grids. As against standard approaches, where the non‐orthogonal terms usually are just neglected, the approach allows for a simplification of the pressure‐correction equation to correspond to 5‐point or 7‐point computational molecules in two or three dimensions, respectively, but still incorporates the effects of non‐orthogonality. As a result a wide range (including rather high values) of underrelaxation factors can be used, resulting in an increased overall performance of the underlying pressure‐correction schemes. Within this context, a second issue of the paper is the investigation of the accuracy to which the pressure‐correction equation should be solved in each pressure‐correction iteration. The scheme is investigated for standard test cases and, in order to show its applicability to practical flow problems, for a more complex configuration of a micro heat exchanger. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two dimensional, experimental study on the evolution of the detachment and its time-behavior in filled rubber

Summary The detachment of a rubber matrix from a rigid inclusion under monotonic loading and at subsequent relaxation is investigated within two dimensional analysis. Examined are stress–strain experimental data acquired with the help of a test bed equipped with a digital image-acquisition device. The influence of the interfacial bonding strength and the particle size on the detachment process is analyzed. The influence of the interfacial bonding strength is visible in the stress–strain diagram of loading and in the recorded images. The relaxation test reveals no influence of the bonding strength on the stress-relaxation. However, the image analysis indicates a secondary transient creep of the contour of detachment, which depends on the interfacial bonding.     

Synthesis and characterization of wholly aromatic poly(azomethine)s containing donor–acceptor triphenylamine moieties

N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐4′,4″‐bisformyl‐diphenylamine was synthesized from N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐diphenylamine by the Vilsmeier‐Haack reaction. Soluble aromatic poly(azomethine)s (PAMs) were prepared by the solution polycondensation of N‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐4′,4″‐bisformyl‐diphenylamine and aromatic diamine in N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (NMP) at room temperature under reduced pressure. All the PAMs are highly soluble in various organic solvents, such as N,N‐dimethylacetamide (DMAc), chloroform (CHCl₃), and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that these PAMs had glass‐transition temperatures (T_gs) in the range of 170–230 °C, and a 10% weight‐loss temperatures in excess of 490 °C with char yield at 800 °C in nitrogen higher than 60%. These PAMs in NMP solution showed UV‐Vis charge‐transfer (CT) absorption at 405–421 nm and photoluminescence peaks around 462–466 nm with fluorescence quantum efficiency (Φ_F) 0.10–0.99%. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of these PAMs can be determined from cyclic voltammograms as 4.86–5.43 and 3.31–3.34 eV, respectively. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 4921–4932, 2007     

Maximal σ‐polynomials of connected 3‐chromatic graphs

In the set of graphs of order n and chromatic number k the following partial order relation is defined. One says that a graph G is less than a graph H if c_i(G) ≤ c_i(H) holds for every i, k ≤ i ≤ n and at least one inequality is strict, where c_i(G) denotes the number of i‐color partitions of G. In this paper the first ? n/2 ? levels of the diagram of the partially ordered set of connected 3‐chromatic graphs of order n are described. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 43: 210–222, 2003