Dynamic responses of a pair of circular tubes subjected to liquid cross flow

This paper presents the results of two experimental investigations of a pair of circular tubes subjected to liquid cross flow: (1) two tubes in a plane normal to the flow stream; and (2) two tubes in tandem. Tube response characteristics, including natural frequencies, damping, displacements and vibration orbits, are measured and reported. Results of this study provide additional insight into the interaction of pairs of tubes in liquid flow, including such phenomena as flow velocity-dependent damping and the frequency “lock-in” region of tube motion in the drag direction.     

Selective Homogeneous Palladium(0)-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Alkynes to (Z)-Alkenes

Zero-valent palladium precatalysts containing rigid bidentate bis(arylimino)acenaphthene ligands (shown schematically) facilitate the highly stereoselective homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of alkynes to (Z)-alkenes. Internal, terminal, aryl-substituted, and cyclic alkynes are suitable substrates, as are some enynes, which are chemoselectively hydrogenated to dienes. E=CO(2)Me; R(1), R(2)=4-OCH(3), 4-CH(3), 2,6-(CH(3))(2).     

A critical investigation of the effects of the radio frequency potential on the trapping of externally injected ions in ion trap mass spectrometry

The sensitivity of all ion trap mass spectrometry (ITMS) methods is dependent on the trapping efficiency of the instrument. For ITMS instruments utilizing external ion sources, such as laser desorption, trapping efficiency is known to depend on the phase and amplitude of the radio frequency (RF) potential applied to the ring electrode at the time of ion introduction. It is remarkable that, in a considerable body of literature, no consensus exists regarding the effects of these parameters on the efficacy of trapping externally generated ions. In this paper, a summary of the literature is presented in order to highlight significant discrepancies. New laser desorption ion trap mass spectrometry (LD-ITMS) data are also presented, from which conclusions are drawn in our effort to clarify some of the confusion. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tube vibration in a half-scale sector model of a helical tube steam generator

This paper presents the experimental technique and results of tests on a half-scale sector model of a steam generator helical coil tube bank. A series of tests was performed: (1) bench tests of a single helical tube in air; (2) tests of the sector model in air; (3) tests of the sector model in stationary water to determine natural frequencies and damping; (4) tests in flow. The experimental results reveal the general characteristics of the sector model and provide the information for the design evaluation of a helical tube array to avoid detrimental fluidelastic instability.     

Photoelastic determination of stresses in multiple-pin connectors

The design, fabrication, and testing of photoelastic models of double-lap, multiple-pin connectors are discussed. Interest is in the stresses in the inner laps. These stresses are determined by constructing models with photoelastic inner laps and transparent-acrylic outer laps. The connectors have two pins, in tandem, parallel to the load direction. A photoelastic-isotropic point is shown to permit the evaluation of load sharing between the two pins. A numerical scheme, utilizing the isochromatic- and isoclinic-photoelastic data and a finite-difference representation of the planestress equilibrium equations, is used to compute the stresses around the two pins. Representative stress distributions and stress-concentration factors are shown.     

Quasar microlensing

Quasar microlensing deals with the effect of compact objects along the line of sight on the apparent brightness of the background quasars. Due to the relative motion between quasar, lenses and observer, the microlensing magnification changes with time which results in uncorrelated brightness variations in the various images of multiple quasar systems. The amplitudes of the signal can be more than a magnitude with time scales of weeks to months to years. The effect is due to the “granular” nature of the gravitational microlenses—stars or other compact objects in the stellar mass range. Quasar microlensing allows to study the quasar accretion disk with a resolution of tens of microarcseconds, hence quasar microlensing can be used to explore an astrophysical field that is hardly accessible by any other means. Quasar microlensing can also be used to study the lensing objects in a statistical sense, their nature (compact or smoothly distributed, normal stars or dark matter) as well as transverse velocities. Quasar microlensing light curves are now being obtained from monitoring programs across the electromagnetic spectrum from the radio through the infrared and optical range to the X-ray regime. Recently, spectroscopic microlensing was successfully applied, it provides quantitative comparisons with quasar/accretion disk models. There are now more than a handful of systems with several-year long light curves and significant microlensing signal, lending to detailed analysis. This review summarizes the current state of the art of quasar microlensing and shows that at this point in time, observational monitoring programs and complementary intense simulations provide a scenario where some of the early promises of quasar microlensing can be quantitatively applied. It has been shown, e.g., that smaller sources display more violent microlensing variability, first quantitative comparison with accretion disk models has been achieved, and quasar microlensing has been used to determine the fraction of dark matter in a lensing galaxy for the first time. This is the quantitative beginning. The future of quasar microlensing is bright.     

The effect of trailing end geometry on the vibration of a circular cantilevered rod in nominally axial flow

The effect of “trailing end” geometry on the vibration of a circular cantilevered rod in nominally axial water flow is reported. Eleven different trailing end geometries were tested. For each end geometry, rms displacement response and damping were measured and are presented as functions of mean axial flow velocity. The various geometric end shapes are ordered according to their effectiveness in attenuating rod vibration. The results, which are in qualitative agreement with similar experimental results from tests on flat plates, provide the designer with empirical information that allows selecting a trailing end geometry that minimizes response to parallel flow excitation. The results have application in the design of nuclear reactor fuel pins and certain instrumentation probes.