Numerical simulation of thermally and chemically nonequilibrium flows and heat transfer in underexpanded induction plasmatron jets

The results of numerical simulation are presented for thermally and chemically nonequilibrium air plasma flows in a plasmatron discharge channel and underexpanded dissociated and partially ionized air jets flowing past a cylindrical model with a blunt leading edge and cooled copper surface under the experimental conditions realized in a VGU-4 100 kW induction plasmatron (Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) (see, for example, [1, 2]). The nonequilibrium excitation of the vibrational degrees of freedom of the molecules in the modal approximation and the difference between the electron and translational heavy-particle temperatures are taken into account in the calculations. The calculated data on the heat transfer and pressure at the stagnation point are compared with the results obtained within the framework of the thermally equilibrium model. Comparison with the experimental data obtained in the Institute for Problem in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Laboratory for interaction between plasma and radiation and materials) and kindly provided for comparison purposes gives satisfactory agreement.     

A numerical and experimental investigation of the interactions between a non‐uniform planar array of incompressible free jets

The interaction between multiple incompressible air jets has been studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical predictions have been first validated using experimental data for a single jet configuration. The spreading features of five unequal jets in the configuration of one larger central jet surrounded by four smaller equi‐distant jets, have been studied, for different lateral spacing ratios of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 and a central jet Reynolds number of 1.24×105 (corresponding to a Mach number of 0.16). Flow of five equal jets has also been simulated, for the sake of comparison. The jet interactions commence at an axial distance of about 3–4 diameters and complete by an axial distance of about 10 diameters for the lowest spacing ratio of 1.5. For larger spacing ratios, the length required for the start and completion of jet interaction increase. Peripheral jets bend more towards the central jet and merge at a smaller distance, when their sizes are smaller than that of the central jet. The entrainment ratio for multiple jets is higher than that for a single jet. Excellent agreement is observed between the experimental data and theoretical predictions for both mean flow field and turbulent quantities, at regions away from the jet inlet. The potential core length and initial jet development, however, are not predicted very accurately due to differences in the assumed and actual velocity profiles at the jet inlet. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Computation of confined coflow jets with three turbulence models

A numerical study of confined jets in a cylindrical duct is carried out to examine the performance of two recently proposed turbulence models: an RNG-based K-? model and a realizable Reynolds stress algebraic equation model. The former is of the same form as the standard K-? model but has different model coefficients. The latter uses an explicit quadratic stress-strain relationship to model the turbulent stresses and is capable of ensuring the positivity of each turbulent normal stress. The flow considered involves recirculation with unfixed separation and reatachment points and severe adverse pressure gradients, thereby providing a valuable test of the predictive capability of the models for complex flows. Calculations are performed with a finite volume procedure. Numerical credibility of the solutions is ensured by using second-order-accurate differencing schemes and sufficiently fine grids. Calculations with the standard K-? model are also made for comparison. Detailed comparisons with experiments show that the realizable Reynolds stress algebraic equation model consistently works better than does the standard K-? model in capturing the essential flow features, while the RNG-based K-? model does not seem to give improvements over the standard K-? model under the flow conditions considered.     

Investigation of laminar plasma remelting/cladding processing

Investigation of remelting and cladding processing with laminar plasma jets on several metals has been conducted looking for possible development of a new surface modification technique. The remelting tests illustrated that the new method could evidently improve the material microstructure and properties of cast iron. The cladding was done with Al₂O₃ ceramic powder on stainless steel. The energy dispersive spectra (EDS) analysis was used to determine the distribution of the major cladding element in the plasma-processed layers, for which the microstructure observations and hardness measurements were also performed.     

Quark mass corrections to the perturbative thrust and its effect on the determination of αs

We consider the effects of quark masses to the perturbative thrust in e ⁺ e ⁻ annihilation. In particular we show that perturbative power corrections resulting from non-zero quark masses considerably alters the size of the non-perturbative power corrections and consequently, significantly changes the fitted value of α_s.     

Inviscid,laminar and turbulent opposed flows

This paper attempts to reproduce numerically previous experimental findings with opposed flows and extends their range to quantify the effects of upstream pipes and nozzles with inviscid, laminar and turbulent flows. The choice of conservation equations, boundary conditions, algorithms for their solution, the degree of grid dependence, numerical diffusion and the validity of numerical approximations are justified with supporting calculations where necessary. The results of all calculations on the stagnation plane show maximum strain rates close to the annular exit from the nozzles and pipes for lower separations and it can be expected that corresponding reacting flows will tend to extinguish in this region with the extinction moving towards the axis. With laminar flows, the maximum strain rate increased with Reynolds number and the maximum values were generally greater than with inviscid flows and smaller than with turbulent flows. With large separations, the strain rates varied less and this explains some results with reacting flows where the extinction appeared to begin on the axis. The turbulent‐flow calculations allowed comparison of three common variants of a two‐equation first‐moment closure. They provided reasonable and useful indications of strain rates but none correctly represented the rms of velocity fluctuations on the axis and close to the stagnation plane. As expected, those designed to deal with this problem produced results in better agreement with experiment but were still imperfect. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tevatron: Recent results and prospects at the upgrade

In this article, we review some of the recent results from CDF and DØ experiments at the Tevatron and their prospects at the upgrade. Among the topics discussed are top quark physics, electroweak physics, qcd physics and new physics beyond standard model.     

Particle dynamics and particle heat and mass transfer in thermal plasmas. Part III. Thermal plasma jet reactors and multiparticle injection

Thermal plasma processing involves complex interactions of particulates with plasmas. In previous studies (see Parts I and II of this series), an assessment of different effects has been made considering the dynamics and heat and mass transfer of a single particle immersed into a thermal plasma. The last paper of this sequence is concerned with the simulation of thermal plasma jet reactors and the effects caused by multiparticle injection.A mathematical model is proposed for the simulation of thermal plasma jet reactors, including the mixing phenomena between the jet and the surrounding gases by generalizing the governing equations for simple mixing flows. Also included is the density fluctuation effect by extending the K- model to a four-equation turbulence model combined with a probability density function. This model is internally consistent covering additional physical phenomena which are not covered by existing models. Unfortunately, its expected higher accuracy cannot be proven because of the present uncertainties associated with the input.For multiparticle injection, the simulation repeats calculations for single-particle injection, but with different initial conditions correcting the solutions by considering the coupling effects between particles and the plasma.The results indicate that (i) thermal plasmas show different mixing behavior in different gases; (ii) the density fluctuation effect is important since it causes large differences between the mass-weighted and unweighted time-averaged temperatures of thermal plasma jets; (iii) coupling effects become important when the particle loading rate exceeds half of the plasma mass flow rate; (iv) there are 16 constraints imposed on the modeling work which have to be considered for establishing a base for comparison with future experimental studies.     

Modeling of plasma jets with superimposed vortex flow

This work is concerned with analytical studies of thermal plasma jets, which are finding increasing interest for thermal plasma processing. A two-dimensional model for turbulent plasma jets with superimposed vortex flow has been developed, incorporating multiple time scales for velocity and temperature fluctuations and a density-weighted averaging for the density fluctuation effect. Results show that adding swirl to the flow field for confined and free jets induces strong axial and radial pressure gradients near the nozzle exit, causing a rapid decay of the axial velocity with increasing distance from the nozzle. Comparisons with cold flow show similar trends close to the nozzle exit, but further downstream, the axial velocities increase again, especially for larges swirl numbers. Comparisons of theoretical predictions based on the present model with available experimental data are, in general, in reasonable agreement.     

A RELATION BETWEEN THE APPARENT VELOCITY AND THE SPECTRAL POWER OF SUPERLUMINAL RADIO SOURCES

It is proved that the apparent transverse velocities β_(app) and the spectral powers at 10GHz P_(10) of the cores of known superluminal sources are correlated. An interpretation ofthis result within the framework of the relativistic jet model shows that the jet Lorentzfactor γ depends on the intrinsic luminosity of the sources. The probable existence of twosubpopulations of the superluminal sources is shown by a linear regression analysis. "Small"sources f i.e. the sources without extended emission or with a distance from the core tothe outer edge of the lobe<20 kpc, show lower β_(app) than the "large" objects; this can beinterpreted as an orientation effect. Since all BL Lac objects belong to the "small" class,this result sheds new light on such a question as why these sources have lower apparent ve-locities than the "classical" superluminal quasars.