A novel single-step synthetic method for the preparation of anatase N-doped TiO"2 nanocrystalline at low temperature has been devoleped. The N-doped anatase TiO"2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sonication of the solution of tetraisopropyl titanium and urea in water and isopropyl alcohol at 80^oC for 150min. The as-prepared sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption spectrum. The product structure depends on the reaction temperature and reaction time. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared photocatalyst was evaluated via the photodegradation of an azo dye direct sky blue 5B. The results show that the N-doped TiO"2 nanocrystalline prepared via sonication exhibit an excellent photocatalytic...
Heat losses in duct flow and heat transfer enhancement are investigated through an analysis of natural convection about a horizontal cylinder with a porous or fibrous coating. The porous substrate may be used for two purposes. According to its properties, it may be employed as an insulating material or as a means to surface augmentation. An optimization study is then carried out in order to find the best conditions that allow good thermal insulation or heat transfer rate improvement. The flow motion and heat transfer coefficient are predicted for various conditions. The results show that an efficient insulation which means less than 10% in heat losses is obtained for a porous layer thickness of 0.8x tube diameter and a permeability corresponding to Da #<=# 10"-"7. Nevertheless, there is a Darcy number limit above which convection must be accounted for. Porous or fibrous materials ...
An analytical electron microscope study is presented on carbonaceous material in two chondritic porous aggregates, W7029* A and W7010* A2, from the Johnson Space Center Cosmic Dust Collection. The finding of well-ordered carbon-2H (lonsdaleite) in the two aggregates suggests that a record of hydrocarbon carbonization may be preserved in these materials. This carbon is a metastable phase resulting from hydrous pyrolysis below 300-350"0C and may be a precursor to poorly graphitized carbons in primitive extra terrestrial materials. (UK).
Nanowires, films, and membranes comprising orderedporous manganese oxide-based octahedral molecular sieves, and methods of making, are disclosed. A single crystal ultra-long nanowire includes an orderedporous manganese oxide-based octahedral molecular sieve, and has an average length greater than about 10 micrometers and an average diameter of about 5 nanometers to about 100 nanometers. A film comprises a microporous network comprising a plurality of single crystal nanowires in the form of a layer, wherein a plurality of layers is stacked on a surface of a substrate, wherein the nanowires of each layer are substantially axially aligned. A free standing membrane comprises a microporous network comprising a plurality of single crystal nanowires in the form of a layer, wherein a plurality of layers is aggregately stacked, and wherein the nanowires of each layer are substantially axially aligned.
Feasibility of depositing continuous films of nano-porous alumino-silicates, primarily zeolites and MCM-41, on metallic and non-metallic substrates was examined with an aim to develop membranes for separation of gaseous mixtures and also for application as hydrogen storage material. Mesoporous silica was deposited in-side the pores of these nano-porous disks with an aim to develop membranes for selective separations. Our study involves supported zeolite film growth on substrates using in-situ hydrothermal synthesis. Faujasite, Silicalite and Mesoporous silica have been grown on various metallic and non-metallic supports. Metallic substrates used for film growth included anodized titanium, sodium hydroxide treated Titanium, Anodized aluminum, and sintered copper. A non-metallic substrate used was nano-porous aluminum oxide. Zeolite film growth was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (AMRAY 1820) and High ...
N-doped TiO2 has been prepared by use of sol?gel systems containing titanium alkoxide, with nitric acid as the nitrogen source. The time needed for gelation of the systems was drastically reduced by ultrasonic irradiation. The peaks assigned to the nitrate and nitrous ions were observed by FT-IR measurement during the sol?gel reaction. The N-doping was confirmed by the observation of N?O peaks in the XPS spectrum of the sample heated at 400??C. The nitrate ion acted as an oxidizer of the ethanol solvent and titanium species. The TiO2 became doped with nitrogen oxide species as a result of reduction of nitrate ion incorporated into the dried gel samples. These results indicated that the added nitric acid was reduced during the sol?gel transition and heating process, and the resulting NO spe...
In the context of the special research area 561 (Thermally highly loaded, open-porous and cooled multi-layer systems for combined-cycle power stations), the actual technical and scientific realizations are to be extended and new scientific bases are to be created in order to realize total efficiencies of 65 %. In addition, innovative material solutions and new concepts must be compiled for the cooling and drainage. Under this aspect, the author of the contribution under consideration reports on the development of open-porous multi-layer systems for steam turbines of the 700 C technology. It results an efficiency potential of 12 % and a potential of 15 % with the reduction of CO{sub 2} in relation to the actual state of the art. Thereby, the potential of future combined-cycle power stations is not yet exhausted.
Soil contamination by liquid organic pollutants represents a serious threat to phreatic ground water. These organic liquids get into the ground and migrate through the porous medium until they finally reach the aquifer. After a critical study of the literature, we listed various existing multiple displacements under three-phase conditions of a disconnected polluting phase that may or not spread over water. The aim of this thesis is to model (at pore scale level) and integrate in the pore network model the various flows that occur when three phases (gas, pollutant and air) are present in a porous medium. The porous medium is supposed completely water-wet. The polluting phase may be connected or not, and the spreading coefficient of the pollutant over water may either be positive or negative. The goal of our study is to obtain macroscopic parameters such as relative permeabilities and capillary pressure. These parameters can ...
Research highlights: #-># Morphological and chemical characterization at atomic scale of porous alumina layers anodised in ordered regimes. #-># Characterization based on the use of FEG-SEM, STEM-HAADF, STEM-EELS and STEM-X-EDS. #-># Nanoscale distribution of P-, C- and S-bearing species in the pore wall. - Abstract: Orderedporous alumina layers prepared by two-step anodising in phosphoric, oxalic and sulphuric acids have been characterized at sub-nanometer scale using electron microscopy techniques. FEG-SEM and STEM-HAADF images allowed estimating the pore size, cell wall and pore wall thicknesses of the layers. Nanoanalytical characterization has been performed by STEM-EELS and STEM-X-EDS. Detailed features of the spatial distribution of anions in the pore wall of the films have been obtained. Maximum concentration of P-species occurs, approximately, at the middle of the pore wall; adjacent ...
Vulnerability to xylem embolism by freeze-thaw cycles and water stress was quantified in ring-porous (Quercus gambelii Nutt.), diffuse-porous (Populus tremuloides Michx.,...Full Text Available
By the methods of the angular distribution of photon annihilation, time distribution of photon annihilation, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier IR-spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy the detail information on relation of the structural and physical properties of the porous nano-structures is obtained. Study of pores sizes in a different nano-porous materials, such as the porous silicon, porous anode aluminium oxide, porous solids exposed to light atoms ion implantation (hydrogen, deuterium, helium) is carried out.
Preparation and electrocatalytic reactions of nano porous materials in biodegradable fluids were studied. Electrochemical etching was conducted to selectively extract metallic elements from alloys to form porous structures. Electrocatalytic properties of the porous electrodes were characterized. Comparative studies on the electrochemical activities of the nano porous metallic electrodes with bulk metallic wire catalysts were performed. It is found that the current density at the nano porous electrode is three times higher than that of the bulk electrode
The present contribution deals with the thermophoresis particle deposition and thermal radiation effects on the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics in a viscous fluid over a semi-infinite vertical porous plate. The governing boundary layer equations are written into a dimensionless form by similarity transformations. The transformed coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically by means of the fourth-order Runge?Kutta method with a shooting technique. The effects of different parameters on the dimensionless velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are shown graphically. In addition, results for the local skin-friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number, and the local Sherwood number are tabulated and discussed.
The present contribution deals with the thermophoresis particle deposition and thermal radiation effects on the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics in a viscous fluid over a semi-infinite vertical porous plate. The governing boundary layer equations are written into a dimensionless form by similarity transformations. The transformed coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically by means of the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method with a shooting technique. The effects of different parameters on the dimensionless velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are shown graphically. In addition, results for the local skin-friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number, and the local Sherwood number are tabulated and discussed.
In order to evaluate postclosure off-site doses from low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities, a computer code was developed to simulate the radionuclide released from waste form, transport through vadose zone and transport in the saturated zone. This paper describes the methodology used to model these process. The radionuclide released from the waste is calculated using a model based on first order kinetics and the transport through porous media was determined using semi-analytical solution of the mass transport equation, considering the limiting case of unidirectional convective transport with three-dimensional dispersion in an isotropic medium. The results obtained in this work were compared with other codes, showing good agreement. (author)
A "hemispheres-in-cell" geometry is provided for prediction of colloid retention during transport in porous media. This new geometry preserves the utilities provided in the Happel sphere-in-cell geometry; namely, the ability to predict deposition for a range of porosities, and representation of the influence of neighboring collectors on the fluid flow field. The new geometry, which includes grain to grain contact, is justified by the eventual goal of predicting colloid deposition in the presence of energy barriers, which has been shown in previous literature to involve deposition within grain to grain contacts for colloid:collector ratios greater than approximately 0.005. In order to serve as a platform for predicting deposition in the presence of energy barriers, the model must be shown capable of quantitatively predicting deposition in the absence of energy barriers, which is a requirement that was not met by previous grain to grain contact ...
material, and that these magnetic properties vary systematically with the diameter of the spherical pores within the films. A new oscillation effect has been observed for the coercivity of macroporous Ni sub 8 sub 0 Fe sub 2 sub 0 film with different pore layer thickness. sphere templates, the resulting films show well-formed, regular, two- and three-dimensional macroporous networks consisting of spherical pores arranged in a highly ordered face centred cubic (fee) structure. The spherical voids are interconnected by a series of smaller windows that form an open porous structure embedded in the material framework. The diameter of the spherical pores can be precisely changed over the range from 200 to 1000 nm by changing the diameter of the latex spheres used to form the templates. The resulting macroporous material structures are robust, self-supported, dense, polycrystalline, uniform and free from filling defects and contamination or problems ...
An efficient method of hydrogen storage in nano-porous carbons is its reversible sorption by electrochemical decomposition of a KOH water solution according to the following equation: C + xH{sub 2}O + xe{sup -} {yields} (CH{sub x}) + xOH{sup -} where (CH{sub x}) stands for the hydrogen inserted into the nano-porous carbon during charging and oxidized during discharging. Although various carbon materials have been investigated as hydrogen adsorbents, the information about the storage mechanism as well as the nature of the hydrogen/carbon interaction is still not sufficient. In order to extend the understanding of the process, carbon samples charged electrochemically were investigated by temperature programmed desorption (TPD). The nature of the hydrogen/carbon interaction was studied by electrochemical analysis at different temperatures. The TPD experiments consist of heating the samples from room temperature to 950 C and of ...
The diffusion of methane confined in nano-porous carbon aerogel with the average pore size 48 {angstrom} and porosity 60% was investigated as a function of pressure at T = 298 K using quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). The diffusivity of methane shows a clear effect of confinement: it is about two orders of magnitude lower than in bulk at the same thermodynamic conditions and is close to the diffusivity of liquid methane at 100 K (i.e. {approx} 90 K below the liquid-gas critical temperature T{sub C} {approx} 191 K). The diffusion coefficient (D) of methane initially increases with pressure by a factor of {approx}2.5 from 3.47 {+-} 0.41 x 10{sup -10} m{sup 2} s{sup -1} at 0.482 MPa to D = 8.55 {+-} 0.33 x 10{sup -10} m{sup 2} s{sup -1} at 2.75 MPa and starts to decrease at higher pressures. An explanation of the observed non-monotonic behavior of the diffusivity in the confined fluid is based on the results of small-angle neutron ...
A method of modeling freeze-thaw cycles of naturally deposited snowpacks is presented. The model involves the Stefan condition as an independent governing equation on the exterior moving boundary to calculate snowpack thinning, flow of water through a variably saturated layered porous medium as described by the Richards equation, and heat conduction with a phase change. The heat conduction problem was treated in two ways. Local heat conduction between a snow grain and its surrounding water film was treated by using a simple energy balance. Global heat conduction with a phase change (the Stefan problem) was introduced to calculate the space-time temperature distribution. In order to handle multiple interior moving boundaries, a specific form of the enthalpy formulation was used for heat conduction with a phase change. Changing material properties were considered according to the calculated meltwater refreezing. 48 refs., 11 figs., 2 tabs.
In this work, the thermal performance of a conventional collector is improved by inserting porous substrates at the inner walls of the collector tubes. The porous substrates improve the convective heat transfer coefficient between the tube wall and the fluid. This improvement is investigated numerically and its effects on the efficiency and the useful gain of the collector are evaluated. It is found that inserting the porous substrate may raise the collector efficiency considerably, especially at high values of the overall heat loss coefficient.
Silicon layered structures containing porous silicon modified with various thermal treatments and epitaxial layers deposited on porous layers were studied with a number of complementary X-ray diffraction methods using synchrotron source. The methods of characterization included recording of rocking curves for reflections with various asymmetry as well as projection, section and micro-Laue topography. It was found that oxidizing and sintering of porous silicon seriously modified the strains in the porous layer and in some cases even inverting the sense of strain with respect to that in initially formed porous layer. Consequently the deposited epitaxial layer usually was not laterally coherent with the substrate. Some of investigated layers were not stable in time and after few months period exhibited significant lost of coherence of porous skeleton. (author)
Corrosion of several materials including pure metals Fe, Ni, Cr and also Fe-Cr, Fe-Ni-Cr alloys, has been studied in anisothermal Pb17Li (Tmax = 500 deg C; {Delta}T = 60 deg C). The corrosion rate of pure nickel is two orders of magnitude higher than the chromium one and about three orders of magnitude higher than the iron one. Fe-Cr alloys (1.4914) suffers a dissolution rate equal to the one of its major constituent, iron. With regard to the three austenitic materials (316L and NS20 steels, alloy 800), they exhibit a porous corrosion layer mainly constituted of ferrite but containing also a small amount of {sigma} phase in the case of the alloys with higher Ni content, NS30 steel and alloy 800. Mechanism of formation of this layer is discussed.
An efficient method of hydrogen storage in nano-porous carbons is its reversible sorption by electrochemical decomposition of a KOH water solution [1-3] according to the following equation: C + xH{sub 2}O + xe{sup -} {yields} (CH{sub x}) + xOH{sup -} where (CH{sub x}) stands for the hydrogen inserted into the nano-porous carbon during charging and oxidized during discharging. Although various carbon materials have been investigated as hydrogen adsorbents, the information about the storage mechanism as well as the nature of the hydrogen/carbon interaction is still not sufficient. In order to extend the understanding of the process, carbon samples charged electrochemically were investigated by temperature programmed desorpt(TPD). The nature of the hydrogen/carbon interaction was studied by electrochemical analysis at different temperatures. The TPD experiments consist of heating the samples from room temperature to 950 C and ...
This study is devoted to the formation of high-low-level-doped selective emitter for crystalline silicon solar cells for photovoltaic application. We report here the formation of porous silicon under chemical reaction condition. The chemical mixture containing hydrofluoric and nitric acid, with de-ionized water, was used to make porous on the half of the silicon surface of size 125 x 125 cm. Porous and non-porous areas each share half of the whole silicon surface. H{sub 3}PO{sub 4}:methanol gives the best deposited layer with acceptable adherence and uniformity on the non-porous and porous areas of the silicon surface to get high- and low-level-doped regions. The volume concentration of H{sub 3}PO{sub 4} does not exceed 10% of the total volume emulsion. Phosphoric acid was used as an n-type doping source to make emitter for silicon solar cells. The measured ...
Sulfate attack of cement-based materials remains an important problem for the durability assessment of containers and disposal engineering barriers dedicated to the long-term storage of radioactive wastes since underground water which may reach these elements contains small quantities of sulfates (7-31 mmol/1). This work contributes to the study of sulfate-induced damage mechanisms, to their understanding and modelling. The experimental phases of this study aimed at the understanding of the different physico-chemical phenomena involved during an external sulfate attack at following their evolution and their impact on the transport and mechanical properties of the material. Leaching experiments in pure water and in a solution of sodium sulfate (with a sulfate content of 15 mmol/1), have been performed simultaneously on OPC paste (w/c 0,4)in order to allow a comparison of test results. The frequent analysis of the leachant has shown a consumption of sulfate ions by ...
Microwave assisted extraction (MAE) is a combination of a microwave technique and conventional solvent extraction used in the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. The effective component of medicinal herbs is mostly cellular material which can be released via solvent extraction. The material is diffused to solvents via the porous membrane wall. The structure of herb morphology and characteristics of the solute's molecular weight play an important role in the extraction process of target compounds. Astragalus pieces were chosen for this study in which an ultra-filtration membrane method was used to determine the molecular weight distribution characteristics of Astragalus water extraction liquid in the process of MAE. The fine structure of matrix materials was also characterized by scanning election microscopy (SEM). The phenomenon of mass flow and mass transfer in the plant porous media was discussed along with the enhancement ...
The ORNL high temperature isopiestic apparatus was adapted for adsorption measurements. The quantity of water retained by rock samples taken from three different wells of The Geysers was measured at 150 °C and at 200 °C as a function of pressure in the range 0.00 ≤ p/p0 ≤ 0.98, where p0 is the saturated water vapor pressure. The rocks were crushed and sieved into three fractions of different grain sizes (with different specific surface areas). Both adsorption (increasing pressure) and desorption (decreasing pressure) runs were made in order to investigate the nature and extent of the hysteresis. Additionally, BET surface area analyses were performed by Porous Materials Inc. on the same rock samples using nitrogen or krypton adsorption measurements at 77 K. Specific surface areas and pore volumes were determined. These parameters are important in estimating water ...
The preparation and performance of membranes for application to hydrogen separation from coal-derived gas is described. The membrane material investigated was dense amorphous silica deposited on a suitable support by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Two types of support materials were pursued. One type consisted of a two-layer composite, zeolite silicalite/{alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, in the form of tubes approximately 0.7 cm in diameter. The other type was porous glass tubes of diameter below 0.2 cm. The first type of support was prepared starting from {alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} tubes of 1{micro}m mean pore diameter and growing by hydrothermal reaction a zeolite silicalite layer inside the pores of the alumina at the OD side. After calcination to remove the organic template used in the hydrothermal reaction, CVD was carried out to deposit the final silica layer. CVD was carried out by alternating exposure of the surface with silicon tetrachloride and water vapor. SEM ...
Porous Nitinol (PNT) has found vast applications in the medical industry as interbody fusion devices, synthetic bone grafts, etc. However, the tendency of the PNT to corrode is anticipated to...Full Text Available
This paper describes a new idea for zinc-air battery design. The novel idea is a porous zinc electrode surrounded with a supersaturated zincate solution. 3 figs. (JDH)
This study shows that the physical conditions necessary for thermal waves to materialize in Dual-Phase-Lagging porous media conduction are not attainable in a porous slab subject to a combination of constant heat flux and temperature (Neumann and Dirichlet) boundary conditions. It is demonstrated that the approximate equivalence between Dual-Phase-Lagging (DuPhlag) heat conduction model and the Fourier heat conduction in porous media subject to Lack of Local Thermal Equilibrium (La Lotheq) that suggested the possibility of thermal oscillations and resonance reveals a condition that cannot be fulfilled because of physical constraints. (author)
There is increasing demand to functionalize meso- and nano-porous materials by coating and make the porous substrate biocompatible or environment friendly. However, coating on a meso-porous substrate poses great challenges, especially if the pore aspect ratio is high. In the current work the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method is used for coating Ni{sub 3}Al-based meso-porous membranes with diamond-like carbon (DLC) layers of high thickness homogeneity and adhesion. (orig.)
A theoretical analysis of two-dimensional unsteady flow in a porous medium bounded by a horizontal wall is presented as a perturbation on a basic flow. It is assumed that the perturbation is occasioned by a sudden suction at the wall. Even for a highly permeable medium the characteristic Reynolds number in porous media flow is usually small and asymptotic solutions are developed by the Laplace transform technique. It is observed that the perturbed shear stress at the wall decays exponentially with time. (author). 5 refs.
This paper investigates the spectral characteristics of three-dimensionally porous carbon dioxide indicators based on a porous silicate glass and phenolphthalein. The absorption spectra of the original solutions of phenolphthalein in alkaline and acid solutions are shown. The solutions were acidified by bubbling CO/sub 2/ through an alkaline phenolphthalein solution. The authors have succeeded in producing a reversible colorimetric adsorption indicator for carbon dioxide which after proper calibration enables the CO/sub 2/ content of an atmosphere to be estimated quantitatively.
Carbons derived from the phase separation of polyacrylonitrile/solvent mixtures were investigated as lithium intercalation anodes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The carbon electrodes have a bulk density of 0.35-0.5 g/cm{sup 3}, relatively low surface areas (< 10 m{sup 2}/g), and micron-size cells. Pyrolysis temperature influences the reversible lithium intercalation and the irreversible capacity (associated with the formation of the passivating layer). Carbon electrodes pyrolyzed at 600{degrees}C have first-cycle capacity as high as 550 mAh/g as well as large irreversible capacity, 440 mAh/g. Electrodes prepared at 1050{degrees}C have reversible capacities around 270 mAh/g with relatively lower capacity losses (120 mAh/g). Doping the organic precursors with phosphoric acid, prior to pyrolysis at 1050{degrees}C, leads to carbon electrodes with reversible capacities as high as 450 mAh/g. The capacity of doped carbon increased with increasing phosphorus concentration in the ...
In the course of designing a catalytic porous membrane reactor for experimental studies, both inside and outside of the non-reaction zones as well as the two ends of the membrane need to be completely sealed to ensure that there is no flow across the membrane in the non-reaction zone. Experiments show that up to 50% of the total flow across the membrane may be contributed by the axial flow along the wall of the non-reaction zones if only one side of the membrane is sealed. Another problem that cannot be solved by sealing is the capillary flow of the catalyst along the tube wall into the non-reaction zones when the catalyst is doped on the membrane. One of the best ways to avoid this axial flow of catalyst would be to use non-porous tubes in the non-reaction zones and join them with the porous membrane tube. In doing so, the cost of the membrane reactor could be reduced simply because shorter membrane tube is needed.
A numerical investigation for forced convection in a constant-temperature parallel plate channel with porous cavity and block alternately emplaced on the bottom plate is presented in this work. The Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy model, which accounts for the effects of impermeable boundary and inertia, is used to characterize the flow field inside the porous region. Solutions of the coupled governing equations are carried out through the stream function-vorticity analysis. The characteristics of fluid flow and forced convection heat transfer have been obtained by the examinations of various governing parameters, such as the Reynolds number, Darcy number, inertial parameter, Prandtl number, and two geometric parameters. Several interesting phenomena such as the heat transfer augmentation in the channel were presented and discussed. The results of this investigation indicate that the size of recirculation caused by ...
An analysis is presented for the effects of chemical reaction and thermal radiation on hydromagnetic free convection heat and mass transfer for a micropolar fluid via a porous medium bounded by a semi-infinite vertical porous plate in the presence of heat generation. The plate moves with a constant velocity in the longitudinal direction and the free stream velocity follows an exponentially small perturbation law. A uniform magnetic field acts perpendicularly to the porous surface in which absorbs the micropolar fluid with a suction velocity varying with time. Analytical expressions are computed numerically. Numerical calculations are carried out the purpose of the discussion of the results which are shown on graphs and the effects of the various dimensionless parameters entering into the p...
Porous SnO2 nanotubes were prepared via electrospinning followed by calcination in air. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the porous nanotubes delivered a high discharge capacity of 807mAhg^-^1 after 50cycles. Even after cycled at high rates, the electrode still retained a high fraction of its theoretical capacity. Such excellent performances of porous SnO2 nanotubes could be attributed to the porous and hollow structure which facilitated liquid electrolyte diffusion into the bulk materials and buffered large volume changes during lithium ions insertion/extraction. Furthermore, the nanoparticles of nanotubes provided the shorter diffusion length for lithium ions insertion which benefited in retaining the structural stability and good rate performance. Our results demonstrated t...
Field emitter devices are being developed for the gigatron, a high-efficiency, high frequency and high power microwave source. One approach being investigated is porous silicon, where a dense matrix of nanoscopic pores are galvanically etched into a silicon surface. In the present paper pore morphologies were used to characterize these materials. Using of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) images of both N-type and P-type porous layers, it is found that pores propagate along the <100> crystallographic direction, perpendicular to the surface of (100) silicon. Distinct morphologies were observed systematically near the surface, in the main bulk and near the bottom of N-type (100) silicon lift-off samples. It is seen that the pores are not cylindrical but exhibit more or less approximately square cross sections. X-ray diffraction spectra and electron diffraction patterns verified that bulk ...
We report on the possibility to prepare ZnSe porous layers with different degrees of porosity by means of electrochemical methods. The prepared porous structures were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques. The PL of the as-grown material and porous layers measured at low temperatures (10 K) was found to be dominated by an emission band at 2.796 eV as well as a band at 2.700 eV with several phonon replicas. The analysis of the dependence of these bands upon the excitation power density and temperature suggests that free-to-bound and respectively donor-acceptor electron transitions are responsible for the emission bands involved. The comparison of SEM and CL images taken from the same porous regions demonstrated that cathodoluminescence intensity from layers with small characteristic sizes of the porous ...
Aerodynamic sound derived from bluff bodies can be considerably reduced by flow control. In this paper, the authors propose a new method in which porous material covers a body surface as one of the flow control methods. From wind tunnel tests on flows around a bare cylinder and a cylinder with porous material, it has been clarified that the application of porous materials is effective in reducing aerodynamic sound. Correlation between aerodynamic sound and aerodynamic force fluctuation, and a surface pressure distribution of cylinders are measured to investigate a mechanism of aerodynamic sound reduction. As a result, the correlation between aerodynamic sound and aerodynamic force fluctuation exists in the flow around the bare cylinder and disappears in the flow around the cylinder with porous material. Moreover, the aerodynamic force fluctuation of the cylinder with porous material ...
The construction materials used in coolant systems in nuclear power plants become covered with oxide films as a result of exposure to the aqueous environment. The susceptibility of the materials to different forms of corrosion, as well as the extent of the incorporation of radioactive species on the surfaces of the primary circuit, are greatly influenced by the physical and chemical properties of these oxide films. The composition and characteristics of the oxide films in turn depend on the applied water chemistry. This work was undertaken in order to collect and evaluate the present views on the structure and behaviour of oxide films formed on iron- and nickel-based materials in aqueous environments. This survey should serve to recognise the areas in which more understanding and research effort is needed. The review begins with a discussion on the bulk oxides of iron, nickel and chromium, as well as their mixed oxides. In addition to bulk oxides, the structure and ...
Porous SnO{sub 2} nanotubes were prepared via electrospinning followed by calcination in air. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the porous nanotubes delivered a high discharge capacity of 807 mAh g{sup -1} after 50 cycles. Even after cycled at high rates, the electrode still retained a high fraction of its theoretical capacity. Such excellent performances of porous SnO{sub 2} nanotubes could be attributed to the porous and hollow structure which facilitated liquid electrolyte diffusion into the bulk materials and buffered large volume changes during lithium ions insertion/extraction. Furthermore, the nanoparticles of nanotubes provided the shorter diffusion length for lithium ions insertion which benefited in retaining the structural stability and good rate performance. Our results demonstrated that this simple method could be extended for the synthesis of porous metal ...
Nano-materials in which a large fraction of atoms resides within a few atomic layers near the surface can be designed to have novel properties by manipulating their surface parameters. We show that the effective elastic constants of nano-porous/cellular materials can be made to exceed those of the parent materials provided the pore surface elastic parameters satisfy certain conditions. These stiff nano-porous materials herald a radical breakthrough in sandwich-type construction.
Nano-materials in which a large fraction of atoms resides within a few atomic layers near the surface can be designed to have novel properties by manipulating their surface parameters. We show that the effective elastic constants of nano-porous/cellular materials can be made to exceed those of the parent materials provided the pore surface elastic parameters satisfy certain conditions. These stiff nano-porous materials herald a radical breakthrough in sandwich-type construction.
Capsulation of terbium(III) chloride in porous glass in the amount of 1.5-150 #mu#mole g"-"1 was carried out by impregnation of the glass substrate with variable concentrations of the salt aqueous solutions. Maximum luminosity of terbium(III) chloride in porous glass is found at its concentration of 120 #mu#mole g"-"1, that is close to the corresponding monolayer surface filling. Concentration dependences of terbium(III) luminescence and its quenching by adsorbed water are in agreement with the ideas of molecular fragmentation and uniform distribution of capsulated salt on the substrate surface
The Porous media approach method was applied to the MULTID component of MARS which was developed by KAERI. This method has been widely used for analysis of large regions containing only fluid and for flows in regions with immersed solids. It can calculate flow distribution more correctly in case of flow area or volume change. Application of this method to the MULTID component in MARS was evaluated and the results were compared with those of CFD code, FLUENT. As a result, the calculated flow distributions of MARS and FLUENT show similar trend, so the effect of porous media in MARS can be applied to the other cases.
The unsteady two-dimensional laminar flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting micro polar fluid via a porous medium past a semi-infinite vertical porous moving plate in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is studied. A uniform magnetic field acts perpendicularly to the porous surface in which absorbs the micro polar fluid with a suction velocity varying with time. The effects of material parameters on the velocity and temperature fields across the boundary layer are investigated. The method of solution can be applied for small perturbation approximation. Numerical results of velocity and temperature distributions of micro polar fluids are compared with the corresponding flow problems for a Newtonian fluid. (author)
Abstract in english Numerical solutions for the effects of radiation on a MHD convective heat transfer past a semi-infinite porous plate with a magnetic field are obtained. It is assumed that the porous plate moves with a constant velocity in the direction of fluid flow, and the free stream velocity follows the exponentially increasing small perturbation law. The magnetic field acts perpendicular to the porous surface which absorbs the fluid with a suction velocity varying with time. The gov (more) erning equations for the flow are transformed into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations by perturbation technique and then are solved numerically by using the shooting method. The effects of the various parameters on the velocity, temperature profiles as well as the surface skin-friction and surface heat transfer are illustrated graphically.
The structure of nano-porous carbon, obtained by means of chlorination of carbide compounds with various crystal structure (SiC, TiC, Mo_2C) is studied through the method of small-angle diffraction. The angular dependences of the scattering intensity obtained are interpreted as the result of scattering from the nanoparticles of different size. The functions of the scattering particles distribution by the m(R_g) inertia radii are determined. It is shown that in spite of the source carbide, the highest fraction of the volume in the porous carbon constitute the particles with R_g #approx# 5 A. The nanoparticles in the samples obtained from SiC, wherein the average value of the R_g"a"v < 6 A, are most uniform by size. The nanoparticles in the porous carbon, obtained from Mo_2C, are on the average by two times larger
Means of intensifying heat transfer with nucleate boiling, based on boiling under constrained conditions (in slots, on a capillary-porous surface) are the most promising since a high intensity of heat transfer is ensured. In the present work we attempt to evolve the main assumptions for the physical model of the process of vapour formation under constrained conditions and to extend them to the boiling of cryogenic liquids on surfaces with a capillary-porous deposit; also, the results are given of experimental investigations of heat transfer with the boiling of nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen at atmospheric perssures and below on capillary-porous surfaces of various metals of different structure produced by an electric arc method of gasothermal spray coating.
aerodynamic force and moment values. Only the solid and the 25 percent porous dishes were tested for the static pressure values used primarily to determine ...
This patent describes an improved zinc electrode for a rechargeable zinc-air battery comprising an outer frame and a porous foam electrode support within the frame which is treated prior to the deposition of zinc thereon to inhibit the formation of zinc dendrites on the external surface thereof. The outer frame is provided with passageways for circulating an alkaline electrolyte through the treated zinc-coated porous foam. A novel rechargeable zinc-air battery system is also disclosed.
The diffusion of alkali vapours in the anode compartment of a DIR-MCFC produces the deactivation of the internal reforming catalyst. Sets of ceramic porous membranes purposed to limit the diffusion have been manufactured by different techniques and the influence of the preparation technique and of the preparative variables on the morphological characteristics of the membranes structures has been studied.
We have examined in detail the electrochemistry of both n- and p-type single crystal (100) silicon in the porous silicon formation regime using a rotating Si disk apparatus with a Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Our findings impact the use and optimization of buried n- or p-type layer anodization for silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer synthesis. Results are briefly discussed. 3 refs.
VT6 titanium alloy long-range fibers have been extracted from the suspended melt drop with the following high-rate solidification. Formation of the structure of fibrous porous material prepared from these fibers has been studied. 7 refs.; 5 figs.; 2 tabs.
Titanium and aluminum alkoxide derivatives with polymerizable ligands such as 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethylacetoacetate (HAAEMA), oleic acid and geraniol (HOGE) have been obtained. The various compounds have been characterized by FT-IR and NMR {sup 1}H. Copolymerization with styrene and divinylbenzene affords porous doped organic materials which have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), elemental analysis, density measurements.
The feasibility of using a thermoplastic-powder metallurgy technique for the fabrication of porous niobium rods was investigated. Some early problems were overcome to successfully extrude the polymer coated niobium powder into long lengths. The effects of certain process variables were investigated. Residual porosity and extrusion pressure were found to be regulated by the polymer fraction. The procedures for taking the extruded polystyrene--niobium rods through the heat treatments to the final, tin infiltrated stage are explained.
Analytical solutions are derived for a flow in a semi-infinite vertical porous medium with heat and mass transfer. When the temperature and mass concentration are uniform a constant pressure is possible and sustains a fully developed flow. Thereafter there is a small perturbation on the wall temperature and concentration and the subsequent two-dimensional problem is tackled for a large Prandtl number, free convection parameters and small Reynolds number. The heat transfer rate at the wall is discussed quantitatively.
In this work, porous TiO2 hollow spheres with an average diameter of 100 nm and shell thickness of 20 nm were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method with NH4HCO3...Full Text Available
A reliability approach for probabilistic modeling of one-dimensional non-reactive and reactive transport in porous media provides two important quantitative results: (1) an estimate of the probability that dimensionless concentration equals or exceeds some specified level and, (2) the sensitivity of the probabilistic outcome to likely changes in each uncertain variable. The reliability approach is particularly attractive because it can incorporate various marginal probability density functions (PDF) for any of the uncertain variables. In this work uncertain variables include: groundwater flow velocity, diffusion coefficient, dispersivity, distribution coefficient, porosity and bulk density. The primary objective is to examine how the probabilistic outcome is influenced by choice of marginal PDF, correlation and magnitude of uncertainty for the variables. Because little information exists concerning the statistical characteristics of these uncertain variables, the ...
A bottom-up approach is used here to combine carbon nanotubes synthesized by CVD and organically capped platinum nanoparticles electrocatalyst exhibiting a direct electrochemical activity towards oxygen reduction. Both nano-objects are handled in liquid suspension and are associated together in a controlled way. The nanocomposite liquid dispersions can be precisely controlled in terms of platinum nanoparticles to carbon nanotubes weight ratios (NP/NT) which correspond to different coverages of nanotubes by nanoparticles. Electrodes with low to ultra-low platinum loadings can then be prepared on porous fuel cell carbon supports by filtration. The direct electrochemical activity towards aqueous oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of electrodes with platinum loadings ranging from about 1 to 60 {mu}g/cm{sup 2} is reported without any activation step in order to keep the features of the nanoparticles intact. Before that, we studied the responses ...
Computation of effective flow properties of fluids in porous media based on three dimensional (3D) pore structure information has become more successful in the last few years, due to both improvements in the input data and the network models. Computed X-ray microtomography has been successful in 3D pore imaging at micron scale, which is adequate for many sandstones. For other rocks of economic interest, such as chalk and diatomite, submicron resolution is needed in order to resolve the 3D-pore structure. To achieve submicron resolution, a new method of sample serial sectioning and imaging using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technology has been developed and 3D pore images of the pore system for diatomite and chalk have been obtained. FIB was used in the milling of layers as wide as 50 micrometers and as thin as 100 nanometers by sputtering of atoms from the sample surface. The focused ion beam, consisting of gallium ions (Ga+) accelerated by ...
After being pre-plated a zinc layer, an amorphous Al-Mn alloy coating was applied onto the surface of AZ31B magnesium alloy with a bath of molten salts. Then the corrosion performance of the coated magnesium alloy was examined in 3.5% NaCl solution by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed that the single Zn layer was active in the test solution with a high corrosion rate while the Al-Mn alloy coating could effectively protect AZ31B magnesium alloy from corrosion in the solution. The high corrosion resistance of Al-Mn alloy coating was ascribed to an intact and stable passive film formed on the coating. The performances of the passive film on Al-Mn alloy were further investigated by Mott-Schottky curve and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. It was confirmed that the passive film exhibited n-type semiconducting behavior in 3.5% NaCl solution with a carrier density two orders of magnitude less ...
The advantages offered by green roofs range from improvement in architectural and landscape aesthetics to reductions in building energy costs. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is encouraging sustainable community development through new policies and regulations that promote green roof installation on public and commercial rooftops in Seattle's urban center. An understanding of climate-specific green roof performance is required in order to develop an accurate representation of the stormwater benefits of green roofs. This paper explored the relative importance of green roofs in storm water management and low impact development (LID) in various areas of Seattle. It also examined the relative effectiveness and applicability of green roofs under various conditions and in various parts of the city compared to other LID strategies such as Seattle's natural drainage systems (NDS) designs, swales and ponds, rain gardens, rainwater harvesting, and ...
The release of {sup 14}C as {sup 14}CO{sub 2} from partly failed spent fuel containers has been analyzed by the flow of gases into and out of the containers. This flow of gases is driven by pressure differences, which are in turn caused by heating by the spent fuel. In this analysis, the timing and size of holes in the containers are assumed to be given. A better means of predicting the time distribution and sizes of penetrations in nuclear waste containers is needed. For the purposes of far-field transport calculations, we have adopted release rates that are shown to be bonding for the large range of hole sizes studied. The transport of released {sup 14}CO{sub 2} has been analyzed by transport in equivalent porous medium. The peak {sup 14}CO{sub 2} concentration in pore gas at 350 m above the repository does not depend on the time of hole occurrence, although the time of penetration obviously affects the arrival and duration of exposure to {sup 14}C. Nor does ...
A 3-D hydrodynamic dispersion model for tracer transport is developed and implemented into the TOUGH2 EOS3 (T2R3D) module. The model formulation incorporates a full dispersion tensor, based on a 3-D velocity field with a 3-D, irregular grid in a heterogeneous geological system. Two different weighting schemes are proposed for spatial average of 3-D velocity fields and concentration gradients to evaluate the mass flux by dispersion and diffusion of a tracer or a radionuclide. This new module of the TOUGH2 code is designed to simulate processes of tracer/radionuclide transport using an irregular, 3-D integral finite difference grid in non-isothermal, three-dimensional, multiphase, porous/fractured subsurface systems. The numerical method for this transport module is based on the integral finite difference scheme, as in the TOUGH2 code. The major assumptions of the tracer transport module are: (a) a tracer or a radionuclide is present and transported only within the ...
In this study, a high-resolution characteristic-based finite-volume (FV) method on unstructured grids [Int. J. Numer. Method Eng. 50 (2001) 11; Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow 21 (2000) 432] is extended by a matrix-free implicit dual-time stepping scheme for the numerical simulation of steady and unsteady flow and heat transfer with porous media. The method has been used to study the characteristics of a complex problem: flow and heat transfer in a channel with multiple discrete porous blocks, which was originally proposed by Huang and Vafai [J. Thermophys. Heat Transfer 8 (3) (1994) 563]. In addition, flow and heat transfer in a channel partially or fully filled with porous layers and containing solid protruding blocks with constant heat flux on its lower surface are also investigated in details. Hydrodynamic and heat transfer results are reported for both steady and transient flow cases. In particular, the effects of Darcy and ...
The present study numerically investigates the enhancement of forced convective heat transfer from a single circular cylinder embedded in a packed bed of spherical particles confined by two impermeable parallel plates. The heat transfer results from the heated cylinder, with and without the presence of a porous medium, are compared. The results show that the presence of the porous particles enhances the heat transfer from the cylinder; however, the significant heat transfer augmentation is produced at high Re due to the effect of thermal dispersion. In addition, the effect of Re on Nut is much greater than that of kr and Bi in the porous channel. It is also found that the %?p is much higher than %HTE producing from packing the empty channel.
In this article, we studied the effects of variable viscosity and thermal conductivity on an unsteady two-dimensional laminar flow of a viscous incompressible conducting fluid past a semi-infinite vertical porous moving plate taking into account the effect of a magnetic field in the presence of variable suction. The fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as an inverse linear function of temperature but the thermal conductivity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. It is assumed that the porous plate moves with a constant velocity in the direction of fluid flow, and the free stream velocity follows the exponentially increasing small perturbation law. The governing equations for the flow are transformed into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations by perturbation ...
The understanding of transport processes that occur in naturally fractured geothermal systems is far from being complete. Often, evaluation and numerical simulations of fractured geothermal reservoirs, are carried out by assuming equivalent porous media and homogeneous petrophysical properties within big matrix blocks. The purpose of this paper, is to present a comparison between results obtained from numerical studies of a naturally fractured reservoir treated as a simple porous medium and the simulation of some real aspects of the fractured reservoir. A general conclusion outlines the great practical importance of considering even approximately, the true nature of such systems. Our results show that the homogeneous simplified evaluation of the energy resource in a fractured system, could result in unrealistic estimates of the reservoir capacity to generate electricity.
The understanding of transport processes that occur in naturally fractured geothermal systems is far from being complete. Often, evaluation and numerical simulations of fractured geothermal reservoirs, are carried out by assuming equivalent porous media and homogeneous petrophysical properties within big matrix blocks. The purpose of this paper, is to present a comparison between results obtained from numerical studies of a naturally fractured reservoir treated as a simple porous medium and the simulation of some real aspects of the fractured reservoir. A general conclusion outlines the great practical importance of considering even approximately, the true nature of such systems. Our results show that the homogeneous simplified evaluation of the energy resource in a fractured system, could result in unrealistic estimates of the reservoir capacity to generate electricity.
Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) with 8 mol% Y was deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering onto oxidized (100) silicon substrates. It was possible to switch film texture from (111) to (200) by applying a strong RF substrate bias. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the film deposited under bias is porous and exhibits nanoscaled grains, whereas the film deposited without bias is dense and columnar. The ionic conductivity as a function of temperature revealed an activation energy of 1.04 eV. The mechanical stress could be tuned to low values by thermal post-annealing. Using the dense (111) film as electrolyte layer, and the porous (200) film as an interlayer to a porous Pt anode, an open circuit voltage of 0.85 V was obtained in a micro machined fuel cell structure.
The present volume on modeling of batteries and fuel cells discusses the significance of the effectiveness factor for flooded porous electrodes, active pore distribution spectroscopy for characterizing porous battery electrodes, the agglomerate model for porous electrodes, and dynamic-performance measurements of battery cells for electric vehicles and other applications. Attention is given to mathematical modeling of a primary zinc/air battery, mathematical modeling of Grace Li-TiS2 cells, modeling of electrocrystallization processes in battery systems, and rotating disk electrode studies in molten Li/K carbonate eutectic. Topics addressed include the variability of nickel oxide cathode dissolution in molten carbonate fuel cells, water transport properties of fuel cell ionomers, modeling water content effects in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, and computer algebra applied in electrochemistry and fuel cell modeling.
A new fuel-cell electrocatalyst based on highly porous carbonized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microcellular foam with platinum particles was prepared recently in this laboratory. Its surface morphology, one of the most important aspects of a practical electrocatalyst, has been examined in terms of fractal theory and methods. The fractal dimension of the platinum particles dispersed in porous carbonized PAN foam was determined by using chronometric and rotating-disk-electrode methods in oxygen-saturated solutions. A fractal dimension smaller than 2 was obtained, which was attributed to the partially active nature of the surface of this electrocatalytic material. This value of fractal dimension is also proposed to be considered as a reaction dimension. A reaction dimension smaller than 2 may indicate that not all of the platinum particle surface is accessible to the incoming oxygen molecules.
Laser-induced phase-separation polymerization of a porous acrylate polymer is used for in-situ fabrication of dialysis membranes inside glass microchannels. A shaped 355 nm laser beam is used to produce a porous polymer membrane with a thickness of about 15 .mu.m, which bonds to the glass microchannel and forms a semi-permeable membrane. Differential permeation through a membrane formed with pentaerythritol triacrylate was observed and quantified by comparing the response of the membrane to fluorescein and fluorescently tagging 200 nm latex microspheres. Differential permeation was observed and quantified by comparing the response to rhodamine 560 and lactalbumin protein in a membrane formed with SPE-methylene bisacrylamide. The porous membranes illustrate the capability for the present technique to integrate sample cleanup into chip-based analysis systems.
Existing oil reservoirs might be more fully exploited if the properties of the flow of oil and water in porous media were better known. In laboratory experiments it is important to collect as much information as possible to make a descriptive model of the system, including position imaging and chemical binding information. This thesis develops nuclear methods for obtaining position image and chemical binding information from flow experiments of porous media. A combined positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography system to obtain position images, and a time-differential perturbed angular correlation system to obtain chemical binding information, have been built and thoroughly tested. 68 refs., 123 figs., 14 tabs.
Apparatus for solid-phase antibody separation techniques used in radioimmunoassays is described in this invention. It consists of a rectangular prism tray with multiple wells protruding into its interior from one side. Near the base of the tray is an orifice used for creating evacuated condition within the structure. At the base of each well there is an orifice of such size and shape as to retain an aqueous liquid under given pressure conditions but permit the evacuation of this liquid at reduced pressure. The outlet of these orifices is in the shape of an inverted conical frustrum. Each of the wells contains an antibody coated disc of porous cellulose paper surrounded by a plastic support. The porous nature of the cellulose paper ensures contact between the antibody coating and the antigen. The use of antibody coated porous cellulose paper in combination with the vacuum operated apparatus simplifies the manipulative steps ...
In this work, ZnO thin films have been grown on glass substrates by using a solution of propanol (C{sub 3}H{sub 8}O), water (H{sub 2}O) and zinc acetate (Z{sub n}(CH{sub 3}CO{sub 2}){sub 2}) in acidified medium (pH 5). The obtained films were ndoped with ytterbium (Yb) at the rates of 100, 200 and 300 ppm. The structural features of the doped films were investigated using XRD, atomic force microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy techniques. XRD analysis shows a strong (0 0 2) X-ray diffraction line for increasing Yb-doping amounts. This c-axis preferential orientation of ZnO crystallites is naturally required to use this oxide as transparent conductor in optoelectronic applications. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis shows an enhancement in the surface roughness of the doped ZnO:Yb thin films. Optical measurements were performed in 300-1800 nm domain via transmittance T(lambda) and reflectance R(lambda) spectra. Conjoint optical and ...
In this work, ZnO thin films have been grown on glass substrates by using a solution of propanol (C3H8O), water (H2O) and zinc acetate (Zn(CH3CO2)2) in acidified medium (pH 5). The obtained films were ndoped with ytterbium (Yb) at the rates of 100, 200 and 300 ppm. The structural features of the doped films were investigated using XRD, atomic force microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy techniques. XRD analysis shows a strong (0 0 2) X-ray diffraction line for increasing Yb-doping amounts. This c-axis preferential orientation of ZnO crystallites is naturally required to use this oxide as transparent conductor in optoelectronic applications. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis shows an enhancement in the surface roughness of the doped ZnO:Yb thin films. Optical measurements were performed in 300-1800 nm domain via transmittance T(?) and reflectance R(?) spectra. Conjoint optical and thermal properties were deduced from the optical ...
Described herein are the results of the FY1994 research program for structural defects of silicon-based amorphous materials for solar cells. The study on light generation defects of the a-Si:H system and rejuvenation process by annealing establishes the effects of light irradiation time on changed neutral dangling bond density as a result of light irradiation at varying temperature of 77K, room temperature and 393K. The study on annealing to rejuvenate light generation defects of various types of a-Si-H systems establishes the activation energy distribution with respect to annealing to remove light-induced defects, showing that hydrogen affects the distribution of light-induced defects. The study on decaying process of light-induced ESR for undoped and N-doped a-Si:H systems observes the decaying process of light-induced ESR, after light is cut off, extending for a period of several seconds to several hours at 77K for the a-Si-H systems containing N in a range from ...
Experimental results are presented for a new and unique heat transfer augmentation technique in tubes. The technique consists of inserting a porous mesh structure into the flow passage of the tube. Due to the increased degree of turbulence, both the singl...
Porous carbon with high surface area and pore volume was prepared by a reverse replication process and its toluene equilibrium adsorption behavior was investigated. The preparation process of the porous carbon was composed of following sub-processes in series: synthesis and template preparation of silica gel, impregnation and polymerization of DVB monomer in silica template, carbonization of DVB polymer in a silica-polymer composite, and HF-assisted selective etching of silica in carbon-silica composite, The prepared porous carbon was nano porous and had ultrahigh specific surface area (2007 m{sup 2}/g) and large pore volume (3.07cm{sup 3}/g). The nanoporous carbon showed rapid toluene adsorption rate and good toluene adsorption capacity, compared with a commercial Y-type zeolite, In the present study, a reverse replication process to prepare nanoporous carbons will be introduced and its application ...
Systemic chemotherapy has been relatively ineffective in the treatment of malignant brain tumors even though systemic chemotherapy drugs are small molecules that can readily extravasate across the porous...Full Text Available
The invention comprises an improved rechargeable zinc-air cell/battery having recirculating alkaline electrolyte and a zinc electrode comprising a porous foam support material which carries the active zinc electrode material. 5 figs.
A new method for computing petroleum reserves which takes into account the volumetric elasticity of stratal petroleum and a porous medium of a collector is examined based on the example of developing petroleum beds of Cretaceous horizon of the Groznenskiy region.
The effect of transverse magnetic field parameter (Hartmann number, Ha) Reynolds number (Re) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the mixed convection flow past a semi-infinite vertical porous plate in a non-Darcian porous medium with variable viscosity and porosity, viscous dissipation and fluid-solid thermal conductivity ratio in the presence of plate transpiration (lateral mass flux) is investigated theoretically and numerically using Keller`s implicit finite difference scheme. It is shown that the Harmann number acts as a retarding force and increases the momentum boundary layer thickness, analogous to the flow against a positive pressure gradient, simultaneously decreasing local skin friction (shear stress). The heat transfer rate is however enhanced by the magnetic field (for positive values of the Eckert number) since the fluid is heated and temperature gradients become reduced between the fluid and the plate, with important potential applications ...
Information is presented concerning solute concentration in a porous layer; solute concentration in a packed crevice; corrosion of a packed carbon steel crevice in NaCl-O"2 solutions; and effect of copper on corrosion in NaCl-O"2 solutions.
... In recent years workers in this field have focused on nucleation by nano-porous materials . This was in part motivated by a theoretical study by Page and Sear (2006) who proposed a two step model for nucleation in pores which suggest that there is ...
The objective of our research was to obtain fundamental information regarding the functional dependence of the diffusion coefficient of coal molecules on the ratio of molecule to pore diameter. That is, the objective of our study was to examine the effect of molecule size and configuration on hindered diffusion of coal macromolecules through as porous medium. To best accomplish this task, we circumvented the complexities of an actual porous catalyst by using a well defined porous matrix with uniform capillaric pores, i.e., a track-etched membrane. In this way, useful information was obtained regarding the relationship of molecular size and configuration on the diffusion rate of coal derived macromolecules through a pore structure with known geometry. Similar studies were performed using a pellet formed of porous alumina, to provide a link between the idealized membranes and the actual complex pore ...
A simplified approach has been proposed to model the drying of capillary-porous materials with small geometric parameters for practical purposes. Luikov`s theory of mass and heat transfer for capillary-porous bodies was applied to drying of biological materials and it was shown that the thermo diffusion effect can be neglected if the thermal gradient remains small during the whole period of drying. The resulting simplified equations can then be solved using available mathematical software. The simplified equations were applied to drying of wood and a peanut pod
Electrochemical properties of thermally structurized polyacrylonitrile (TSPAN) have been investigated as a function of the preparation conditions. The best charge storage capacity has been found for highly porous semiconducting materials with specific surface areas of about 1000-1200 m{sup 2}/g and a specific conductivity of 0.1-0.2 S/cm. This material can be both oxidized and reduced with high reversibility, effectivity and cycle life and is suitable for application in various charge storage devices. (orig.).
Analytical solutions are derived for a flow in a semi-infinite vertical porous medium with heat and mass transfer. When the temperature and mass concentration are uniform a constant pressure is possible and sustains a fully developed flow. Thereafter there is a small perturbation on the wall temperature and concentration and the subsequent two-dimensional problem is tackled for a large Prandtl number, free convection parameters and small Reynolds number. The heat transfer rate at the wall is discussed quantitatively. (author). 4 refs.
We demonstrate the possibility to fabricate arrays of pores oriented perpendicular and parallel to the top surface of the ZnSe nanotemplate. The control of material conductivity allows one to produce porous ZnSe samples with the mean pore diameter and characteristic skeleton wall thickness from several hundreds of nanometers to about 15 nm. In addition, electrochemical treatment of ZnSe single crystals using photoresist masks allows one to prepare buried porous structures with pores directed parallel to the top template surface, which is especially important for photonic applications.
This paper is devoted to investigate the influences of thermal dispersion and magnetic field on a hot semi-infinite vertical porous plate embedded in a saturated Darcy-Forchheimer-Brinkman porous medium. The coefficient of thermal diffusivity has been assumed to be the sum of the molecular diffusivity and the dynamic diffusivity due to mechanical dispersion. The effects of transverse magnetic field parameter (Hartmann number Ha), Reynolds number Re (different velocities), Prandtl number Pr (different types of fluids) and dispersion parameter on the wall shear stress and the heat transfer rate are discussed.
The chemical reaction effect on an unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow past a semi-infinite vertical porous plate with viscous dissipation is analyzed. The governing equations of motion, energy, and species are transformed into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using the time dependent similarity parameter. The resultant ODEs are then solved numerically by a finite element method. The effects of various parameters on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are presented graphically, and the values of the skin-friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number for various values of physical parameters are presented through tables.
To prepare porous carbons with high adsorption capacity from rice straws, two different kinds of precursors, i.e. one as the raw rice straws (one-stage process) and the other as pre-carbonized rice straws (two-stage process), were active with KOH of various impregnation ratios. The two-stage process was found very effective for manufacturing porous carbons with high surface area and adsorption capacities for MB and I{sub 2}. For example, the porous carbon that was carbonized at 700{sup o}C and subsequently activated at 900{sup o}C exhibited the surface area of 2410 m{sup 2}/g, the adsorption capacities of 800 and 1720 mg/g for MB and I{sub 2}, respectively, and the total pore volume of 1.4 ml/g. In the two-stage method, there was a preferential optimum impregnation ratio of KOH to a precursor carbon, i.e. 4:1, with which high surface area of porous carbons could be achieved. The formation of uni- and ...
The objective of this work is to determine the ability of indigenous bacteria from a Venezuelan oil field to grow under reservoir conditions inside a porous media, and to produce metabolites capable of recovering residual crude oil. For this purpose, samples of formation waters from a central-eastern Venezuelan oil reservoir were enriched with different carbon sources and a mineral basal media. Formation water was used as a source of trace metals. The enrichments obtained were incubated at reservoir temperature (71{degrees}C), reservoir pressure (1,200 psi), and under anaerobic conditions for both outside and inside porous media (Berea core). Growth and metabolic activity was followed outside porous media by measuring absorbance at 660 nm, increases in pressure, and decreases in pH. Inside porous media bacterial activity was determined by visual examination of the produced waters (gas bubbles and ...
The thermodynamic aspects of indium-face InN growth by radio frequency plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (rf-MBE) and the nucleation of InN on gallium-face GaN (0001) surface were investigated. The rates of InN decomposition and indium desorption from the surface were measured in situ using reflected high-energy electron diffraction and the rf-MBE 'growth window' of In-face InN (0001) was identified. It is shown that sustainable growth can be achieved only when the arrival rate of active nitrogen species on the surface is higher than the arrival rate of indium atoms. The maximum substrate temperature permitting InN growth as a function of the active nitrogen flux was determined. The growth mode of InN on Ga-face GaN (0001) surface was investigated by reflected high-energy electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It was found to be of the Volmer-Weber-type for substrate temperatures less than 350 deg. C and of the Stranski-Krastanov for substrate temperatures between 350 ...
The performance of a geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste will be influenced to a large degree by thermohydrologic phenomena created by the emplacement of heat-generating radioactive waste. The importance of these phenomena is manifest in that they can greatly affect the movement of moisture and the resulting transport of radionuclides from the repository. Thus, these phenomena must be well understood prior to a definitive assessment of a potential repository site. An investigation has been undertaken along three separate avenues of analysis: (i) laboratory experiments, (ii) mathematical models, and (iii) similitude analysis. A summary of accomplishments to date is as follows. (1) A review of the literature on the theory of heat and mass transfer in partially saturated porous medium. (2) A development of the governing conservation and constitutive equations. (3) A development of a dimensionless form of the governing equations. (4) A numerical study of ...
When liquids are confined in nano-scopic dimensions, their properties differ from the corresponding bulk liquid, due to their reduced dimensionality and surface effects. Phase transition temperatures and pressures are often shifted from the bulk values and new phases can appear due to the strong interactions of the molecules with the confining walls. We have studied the structural and dynamical properties of aromatic liquids such as benzene, toluene, and ortho-terphenyl confined in nano-porous materials, MCM-41 and SBA-15, synthesized and characterized in our laboratory. A non-trivial dependence of the glass transition temperature, Tg, on the pore size and surface treatment of nano-porous materials is confirmed and interpreted as resulting from a competition between the fluid-wall and fluid-fluid intermolecular interactions. An increase of Tg is observed for small pore sizes and attractive surface while Tg decreases for non attractive surface, ...
Neutron radiography (NR) is a useful non-destructive method for determination of hydrogen content in various building and technical materials. Monitoring of transport processes of moisture and hydrogenous liquids in porous building materials is enabled by fast, quasi-real-time NR methods based on novel imaging plate neutron detectors (IP-NDs). Hydrogen content in the samples is determined by quantitative analysis of measured profiles of neutron attenuation in the samples. Detailed description of quantitative NR method is presented by the authors in another accompanying contribution at this conference. Deterioration of building materials is originated by different processes that all require presence of water therefore it is essential to limit or prevent the transport of water through the porous material. In this presentation, results of a study of clay brick impregnation by silicone based hydrophobic agents will be presented. Quantitative ...
For the purpose of digging up themes of the joint research which develop the R and D in the industrial technology field in Japan to a new stage, researchers were sent to the world representing research institutes to conduct the research survey of 'Nano-structured carbon and hydrogen absorption' and 'Development of the creation technology of nano-porous materials.' As to the former, an experiment on electrochemical hydrogen absorption of carbon materials including nanotubes was conducted by researchers dispatched, but the large absorption amount was not observed. As to the latter, visits were paid to Fraunhofer Institute and the related facilities in Germany, Princeton University, MIT, GIT and Naval Research Laboratories in the U.S., Orleans University in France, AO Research Institute (bone repair study) in Switzerland, Cambridge University and University of Bristol in the U.K., etc., and the research survey was made on the ...
A porous tooling system was selected for the processing of Graphite/PMR-15 Polyimide laminates in thickness up to 3.2 mm. (0.125 inch). This tool system must have a reasonable strength, permeability dimensional stability, and thermal conductivity to accomplish curing at 600 F and 200 psi and 200 psi autoclave temperature and pressure. A permeability measuring apparatus was constructed and permeability vs. casting water level determined to produce tools at three different permeability levels. On these tools, laminates of 5, 11, and 22 plies (.027, .060, and 0.121 inch) were produced and evaluated by ultrasonic, mechanical, and thermal tests to determine the effect of the tool permeability on the cured laminates. All tools produced acceptable laminates at 5 and 11 plies but only the highest permeability produced acceptable clear ultrasonic C-Scans. Recommendations are made for future investigations of design geometry, and strengthening techniques for ...
The Energy crisis happens to be one of the greatest challenges we are facing today. In this view, much effort has been made in developing new, cost effective, environmentally friendly energy conversion and storage devices. The performance of such devices is fundamentally related to material properties. Hence, innovative materials engineering is important in solving the energy crisis problem. One such innovation in materials engineering is porous materials for energy storage. Porous electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) offer a high degree of electrolyte-electrode wettability, thus enhancing the electrochemical activity within the material. Among the porous materials, mesoporous materials draw special attention, owing to shorter diffusion lengths for Li+ and electronic movement. Nanostructured mesoporous materials also offer better packing density compared to their nanostructured counterparts such as ...
In this study, adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) were cocultured with nucleus pulposus (NP) cells using a porous membrane to investigate the effect of NP cell phenotype on ASC chondrogenic differentiation. Human NP cells were collected from 14 patients and classified into two groups (normal vs. degenerative) depending on the level of type II collagen, aggrecan (AGG), type I collagen, and bax gene expression. Human ASCs were then cocultured with each group of NP cells on porous membranes in the absence of chondrogenic supplements. After 2 weeks, real-time-polymerase chain reaction results showed that ASCs cocultured with normal NP cells had much higher type II collagen and AGG gene expression than ASCs cocultured with degenerative NP cells. The production of AGG was also observed only in th...
This invention relates to the production method of composite electrode substrate for fuel cell. An impermeable material is used for edge sealant. The sealant is put in the clearance between two electrodes consisting of porous carbon material via thermoplastic resin sheet, and heated while being pressed. This production method increases the adherence between the porous carbon bodies and reduces the contact resistivity at the joint interface. Consequently, it becomes possible to produce the composite electrode for fuel cell without separator, resulting in simplification of assembly work, weight reduction, and downsizing. The preferable porous carbon body is made from shrinkage-treated fiber. After sheet forming, the thermosetting resin is impregnated, and then it is burnt to carbonization. Or mixed sheet of rayon and acrylic fiber is laminated to be heated and pressed without impregnating the resin. The pressed resin is then ...
A single particle micro-electrode technique has been applied, to study adsorption and mass transport phenomena of a TEABF{sub 4}/acetonitrile solution in a nano-porous carbon. The nano-porous carbon, which is obtained from SiC, has a very small and narrow pore size distribution around 8 Angstrom. Therefore, it is a good model material for studying adsorption processes in micropores. The results from cyclic voltammetry showed that a higher specific capacitance was obtained in the positive potential interval (vs Ag/AgNO{sub 3}). Upon activation cycling the mass transport inside the nano-porous particle becomes drastically hindered, probably by TEA{sup +} that is adsorbed and is partially blocking the micropores. Effective diffusion coefficients, Deff, were determined from potential step experiments. At positive potentials Deff was 1.5 {+-} 0.5 x 10{sup -8} cm{sup 2}s{sup -1}, whereas at more negative potentials Deff decreased ...
A simple one-step method to fabricate hierarchically porous TiO2/Pd composite hollow spheres without any template was developed by using solvothermal treatment. Pd nanoparticles (2-5 nm) were well dispersed in the mesopores of the TiO2 hollow spheres via in-situ reduction. In our experiment, polyvinylpyrrolidone played an important role in the synthetic process as the reducing agent and the connective material between TiO2 and Pd nanoparticles. HF species generated from solvothermal reaction leaded to the formation of TiO2 hollow spheres and Ostwald ripening was another main factor that affected the size and structure of the hollow spheres. The as-prepared TiO2/Pd composite hollow spheres exhibited high electrocatalytic activity towards the reduction of H2O2. The sensitivity was about 226.72 ?A mM-1 cm-2 with a detection limit of 3.81 ?M at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. These results made the hierarchically porous TiO2/Pd composite a promising ...
The stability of a couple stress fluid saturated horizontal porous layer heated from below and cooled from above when the fluid and solid phases are not in local thermal equilibrium is investigated. The Darcy model is used for the momentum equation and a two-field model is used for energy equation each representing the solid and fluid phases separately. The linear stability theory is employed to obtain the condition for the onset of convection. The effect of thermal non-equilibrium on the onset of convection is discussed. It is shown that the results of the thermal non-equilibrium Darcy model for the Newtonian fluid case can be recovered in the limit as couple stress parameter C?0. We also present asymptotic analysis for both small and large values of the inter phase heat transfer coefficient H. We found an excellent agreement between the exact solutions and asymptotic solutions when H is very small.
In this article, a method of producing elastic ferromagnetic composite containing particles of chemical pure iron with sizes of 0.10-0.15 mm was described. The particles were dispersed in an elastic matrix of an elastic silicone rubber. The filling factor of composite by ferromagnetic particles and porous factors were changed in the range from 0.15 to 0.45. The samples of the obtained composite were placed in the magnetic field with induction of 0-8 T, produced by the Bitter-type magnet. The longitudinal magnetostriction of samples was measured by using a coaxial capacitor with a movable plate. It was found that the maximal relative elongation of samples was 4.81% and hysteresis of magnetostriction and also remanent magnetostriction amounted to 1.08%. A slow decay of remanent magnetostriction up to 0.14% in 10{sup 5} s was also observed.
The double diffusive convection in a horizontal couple stress fluid saturated anisotropic porous layer, which is heated and salted from below, is studied analytically. The modified Darcy equation that includes the time derivative term is used to model the momentum equation. The critical Rayleigh number, wavenumber for stationary and oscillatory modes, and frequency of oscillations are obtained analytically using linear theory. The effect of anisotropy parameter, solute Rayleigh number, Lewis number, couple stress parameter, and Vadasz number on the stationary, oscillatory, and finite amplitude convection is shown graphically. It is found that the thermal anisotropy parameter, couple stress parameter, and solute Rayleigh number have stabilizing effect on the stationary, oscillatory, and fin...
Three-dimensional porous Sn thin film electrodes were prepared by electroless deposition on copper foam, then its morphology and electrochemical property were studied by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electrochemical cycling test and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The porous framework and micro-holes have shown a great structure advantage in restricting severe volume changes when the Sn thin film was employed as anode for lithium-ion battery. The film electrode of sample C with an initial capacity of 676 mAh g{sup -1} showed good cycle performance displayed by retaining a capacity of 313 mAh g{sup -1} after 100 cycles.
Mobility reduction induced by the growth and metabolism of bacteria in high-permeability layers of heterogeneous reservoirs is an economically attractive technique to improve sweep efficiency. This paper describes an experimental study conducted in sandpacks using an injected bacterium to investigate the strength and stability of microbial plugs in porous media. Successful convective transport of bacteria is important for achieving sufficient initial bacteria distribution. The chemotactic and diffusive fluxes are probably not significant even under static conditions. Mobility reduction depends upon the initial cell concentrations and increase in cell mass. For single or multiple static or dynamic growth techniques, permeability reduction was approximately 70% of the original permeability. The stability of these microbial plugs to increases in pressure gradient and changes in cell physiology in a nutrient-depleted environment needs to be improved.
A non-similar boundary layer analysis is presented to study the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics of non-Darcian mixed convection of a non-Newtonian fluid from a vertical isothermal plate embedded in a homogeneous porous medium with the effect of Soret and Dufour and in the presence of either surface injection or suction. The value of the mixed-convection parameter lies between 0 and 1. In addition, the power-law model is used for non-Newtonian fluids with exponent n1 for dilatant fluids. Furthermore, the coordinates and dependent variables are transformed to yield computationally efficient numerical solutions that are valid over the entire range of mixed convection, from the pure forced-convection limit to the pure free-conve...
Polyethylene (UHMWPE) wear in current knee prosthesis causes prosthesis loosening after no more than 15 years. In this work, a steady state one-dimensional lubrication model with non- Newtonian fluid, porous elastic layer on tibial component, ultra-filtration mechanism of fluid and some features of the surface roughness is studied through a numerical technique based on the Finite Element Method. The results show that the UHMWPE stiffness makes difficult the lubrication mechanism of the artificial joint and promotes abrasive and fatigue wear. Nevertheless, the use of compliant porous materials on the tibial component could reduce friction and wear. Moreover, the ultra-filtration mechanism promotes efficiency on the joint.
Porous flow occurs in a wide range of materials and applies to many commercially relevant applications such as oil recovery, chemical reactors and contaminant transport in soils. Typically, breakthrough and pressure curves of column floods are used in the laboratory characterization of these materials. These characterization methods lack the detail to easily and unambiguously resolve flow mechanisms with similar effects at the core scale that can dominate at the aquifer or oil field scale, as well as the effects of geometry that control the flow at interfaces as in a perforated well or the inlet of an improperly designed column. Non-invasive imaging techniques such as MRI have been shown to provide a far more detailed characterization of the properties of the solid matrix and flow, but usu...
Porous ?-SiAlON ceramics are synthesized by reaction bonded method using hollow alumina spheres (HASs) as both sintering aids and pore-forming agents. Both micropores and macropores, which are constructured by SiAlON grains with different morphologies, are formed in the final SiAlON samples. The micropores are three-dimentional, and are built by equiaxial grains. While the hollow macropores, which have the similar morphology to hollow alumina sphere, are packed by elongated grains. In the sintering process, the solid dissolution process takes place, giving rise to the different alumina concentration of liquid phase, and thus resulting in the formation of two kinds of grains, the equiaxial grain and the elongated grain.
The effects of thermal radiation and viscous dissipation on magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) unsteady free-convection flow over a semi-infinite vertical porous plate are analysed. The fluid considered is non-gray (absorption coefficient dependent on wave length). The Network Simulation Method is used to solve the boundary-layer equations based on the finite-difference formulation; only discretization of the spatial co-ordinates is necessary, while time remains as a real continuous variable. This method provides a solution for both transient and steady-state problems at the same time, and programming does not require manipulation of the sophisticated mathematical software that is inherent in other numerical methods. The velocity, temperature, local skin-friction and local Nusselt number are studi...
An ion processing element employing composite media disposed in a porous substrate, for facilitating removal of selected chemical species from a fluid stream. The ion processing element includes a porous fibrous glass substrate impregnated by composite media having one or more active components supported by a matrix material of polyacrylonitrile. The active components are effective in removing, by various mechanisms, one or more constituents from a fluid stream passing through the ion processing element. Due to the porosity and large surface area of both the composite medium and the substrate in which it is disposed, a high degree of contact is achieved between the active component and the fluid stream being processed. Further, the porosity of the matrix material and the substrate facilitates use of the ion processing element in high volume applications where it is desired to effectively process a high volume flows.
Abstract Hybrid power plants consisting of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a gas turbine show high electrical efficiencies, however require pressurisation of the SOFC to several bar. This paper presents a theoretical investigation of the pressure influence on SOFC performance and durability. A two-dimensional elementary kinetic model is used to predict the performance of a single cell in the pressure range of 1-20-bar. The influence of pressure on thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, porous electrode diffusion, channel transport and efficiency is assessed. It was found that polarisation resistance decreases with increasing pressure due to increased diffusion through porous electrodes and a higher electrode surface coverage with reactant species. Furthermore, open-circuit voltage increases...
This paper is concerned with the study of the Electrorheological RayleighTaylor instability (ERTI) at the interface between a densely packed saturated poorly conducting couple stress porous layer accelerated by a lighter poorly conducting couple stress fluid in a thin shell in the presence of a transverse electric field and laser radiation. A simple theory based on fully developed flow approximations is used to derive the dispersion relation for the growth rate of ERTI. The cutoff and the maximum wave numbers and the corresponding maximum frequencies are obtained. It is shown that the effects of couple stress parameter and the electric field reduce the growth rate considerably compared to a non-conducting fluid in the absence of an electric field. These are favorable to control the surface...
Nanosized CaSnO{sub 3} is synthesized by a hydrothermal process and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM observation shows the sample has a porous flowerlike morphology. The electrochemical results exhibit that the stable and reversible capacity of 547 mAh g{sup -1} is obtained after 50 cycles at 60 mA g{sup -1} (0.1 C) and the corresponding charge capacity is determined to be 316 mAh g{sup -1} at the current density of 2.5 C. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data are analyzed to complement the galvanostatic results. The observed excellent performance is attributed to the porous structure and large surface area of flowerlike CaSnO{sub 3}.
The production method of the elastic composite containing ferrous particles and titanium barium particles dispersed in the porous silicone matrix is described in this article. Since it contains ferrous and titanium barium particles, this composite shows magnetorheological and also electrorheological properties. The electrostriction of composite samples in the electric field with maximal intensity 1.5x10{sup 6} V/m was investigated. The magnetostriction in the magnetic field with maximal induction 1 T was also investigated. It was found that samples elongate with increased electric field intensity, and the magnetic field induction was detected. By increasing the samples' elongation with increase of ferrous particles, titanium barium particles and pores number were also detected. In the investigated division of the electric and magnetic field the elongation changed in a linear way. The maximal elongation achieved was 1.59%.
New technologies are needed to reduce the current high rate of well abandonment. Improved sweep efficiency, reservoir conformance, and permeability modification can have a significant impact on oil recovery processes. Microorganisms can be used to selectively plug high-permeability zones to improve sweep efficiency and impart conformance control. Studies of a promising microbial system for polymer production were conducted to evaluate reservoir conditions in which this system would be effective. Factors which can affect microbial growth and polymer production include salinity, pH, temperature, divalent ions, presence of residual oil, and rock matrix. Flask tests and coreflooding experiments were conducted to optimize and evaluate the effectiveness of this system. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) was used to visualize microbial polymer production in porous media. Changes in fluid distribution within the pore system of the core were detected.
A one-dimensional, steady-state, two-phase direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) model is developed to precisely investigate complex physiochemical phenomena inside DMFCs. In this model, two-phase species transport through the porous components of a DMFC is formulated based on Maxwell-Stefan multi-component diffusion equations, while capillary-induced liquid flow in the porous media is described by Darcy's equation. In addition, the model fully accounts for water and methanol crossover through the membrane, which is driven by the effects of electro-osmotic drag, diffusion, and the hydraulic pressure gradient. The developed model is validated against readily available experimental data in the literature. Then, a parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of the operating temperat...
In this paper, the unsteady MHD free convection heat and mass transfer of viscous fluid flowing through a Darcian porous regime adjacent to a moving vertical semi-infinite plate under Soret and Dufour effect have been examined. Viscous dissipation effects are included in the energy equation. A uniform magnetic field is applied transversely to the direction of the flow. The differential equations governing the problem have been transformed by a similarity transformation into a system of non-dimensional differential equations which are solved numerically by element free Galerkin method. The influence of Grashof number (Gr), magnetic parameter (M), heat absorption parameter (Q), permeability parameter (K), Schmidt number (Sc), Soret number (Sr), and Dufour number (Du) on the velocity, tempera...
In recent years, interest in the development of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) has considerably increased due to its advantages (e.g., high power density) compared with other fuel cell systems, and its potentials to become the power plant for the next generation, nonpolluting automobile engine. For large scale application of fuel cells, low platinum loading electrode structures are necessary. An electrode based on a highly porous carbonized polyacrylonitrile foam material with very low platinum loading ({approximately} 13 {micro}g/cm{sup 2}) was prepared. The performance of this electrode for oxygen reduction was evaluated and compared with bulk platinum and glassy carbon electrodes.
A method is proposed for making a filtering material (FM) through applying bitumen or tar to a porous substance and subsequent roasting. Blast furnace slag, pumice and other inorganic substances are used as the porous substance. The method makes it possible to acquire an inexpensive filtering material with a developed surface (Pv), which replaces activated charcoal. Example. Blast furnace slag is heated to 200 to 300 degrees and with mixing is impregnated by 5 to 15 percent bitumen or tar. The impregnated slag is roasted at 800 to 1,000 degrees until full carbonization of the bitumen or tar, acquiring in this way a filtering material, which is characterized by a specific surface of 700 to 1,000 square centimeters per gram and suitable as a replacement for activated charcoal for removing organic components and heavy metals from gaseous and liquid phases. The cost of the filtering material is one eighth to one tenth of that of activated charcoal.
Constructive and combinatorial relationships between order-isomorphisms and order-equivalence classes within the generalized genetic code are presented, not only for the biologically relevant groups of order 4, but also for finite groups of arbitrary order. The main result is the derivation of the number (and types) or order-equivalence classes for a group of order n. Finally, an extension of this work to all biologically admissible alternative codes is discussed.
The state of lithium electrode surface after contact with triethylamine-modified propylene carbonate solutions of lithium perchlorate was studied using the pulse galvanostatic technique as well as methods of SIMS and electron microscopy. It was shown that amine added into the solutions stabilizes the state of lithium and prevents the formation of a secondary porous passive film on the lithium surface. Chemical composition of the primary film remains unchanged. Certain properties of passive films formed in electrolyte solutions studied were evaluated.
The following methods of quartz ceramics alloying were considered: alloying of initial quartz glass; introduction of alloying additive into water slip of quartz glass; porous materials impregnation with salt aqueous solutions and subsequent salt thermal decomposition with formation of stable oxides in pores of ceramics. Oxygen free compounds BN, SiB_4, SiC, Si_3N_4, REM oxides and transition metal oxides were used as alloying additives. Main properties of the materials and compositions obtained are presented.
In the area of seasonally thawing soil, porous or broken coatings cannot significantly retard the process of pile metal destruction, since it will occur through electroosmotic penetration of the base electrolyte to the metal surface. Such processes can be prevented by electrochemical protective methods. Systems based on grid cathode stations with power control and distribution units are recommended for use for cathode protection of steel pile foundations.
... Electro-Osmotic Pulse (EOP) technology forces moisture to flow through concrete surfaces against the hydraulic gradient when an electric field is applied to an embedded anode system. This flow is initiated by the movement of cations (positively charged ions) present in a porous medium such as concrete toward the negative earth. Water surrounding the cations moves with them. The Corps of Engineers owns and maintains many buried ...
This report is a brief review of biological and medical applications of ion-track membranes. The review aims at informing nuclear physicists about alternative (i.e. non-fundamental-science) use of heavy ion accelerators such as production of micro- and nano-porous materials. The ion-track membranes produced this way are employed in life sciences and numerous technological applications. The author focuses on recent results from the Flerov laboratory in co-operation with other scientific institutions and industrial partners.
A gas diffusion semiconductor electrode and solar cell and a process for gaseous fixation, such as nitrogen photoreduction, CO/sub 2/ photoreduction and fuel gas photo-oxidation are described. The gas diffusion photosensitive electrode has a central electrolyte porous matrix with an activated semiconductor material on one side adapted to be in contact with an electrolyte and a hydrophobic gas diffusion region on the opposite side adapted to be in contact with a supply of molecular gas.
The purpose of this DOE-funded effort is to develop continuous processes for solvent extraction of coal for the production of carbon products. These carbon products include materials used in metals smelting, especially in the aluminum and steel industries, as well as porous carbon structural material referred to as ''carbon foam'' and carbon fibers. During this reporting period, efforts have focused on the facility modifications for continuous hydrotreating, as well as developing improved protocols for producing synthetic pitches.
The objective of this work was to identify methods of improving the performance of gas-fired radiant burners through the use of Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composites (CFCCs). Methods have been identified to improve the price and performance characteristics of the porous surface burner. Results are described.
A zinc-air battery in a case including a zinc particle bed supported adjacent the current feeder and diaphragm on a porous support plate which holds the particles but passes electrolyte solution. Electrolyte is recycled through a conduit between the support plate and top of the bed by convective forces created by a density of differential caused by a higher concentration of high density discharge products in the interstices of the bed than in the electrolyte recycle conduit.
A zinc-air battery in a case is described including a zinc particle bed supported adjacent the current feeder and diaphragm on a porous support plate which holds the particles but passes electrolyte solution. Electrolyte is recycled through a conduit between the support plate and top of the bed by convective forces created by a density of differential caused by a higher concentration of high density discharge products in the interstices of the bed than in the electrolyte recycle conduit. 7 figures.
We present in this paper the computer code BACCHUS, to analyze the thermal-hydraulics in a rod bundle in single or two-phase flow regime. The model is 2-D and uses the porous body approach. The two-phase model is an extension of the classical homogeneous model, and includes a differential non-equilibrium equation. Results are shown for the extension of the boiling region in a 19-pin bundle.
We present in this paper the computer code BACCHUS, to analyze the thermal-hydraulics in a rod bundle in single or two-phase flow regime. The model is 2-D and uses the porous body approach. The two-phase model is an extension of the classical homogeneous model, and includes a differential non-equilibrium equation. Results are shown for the extension of the boiling region in a 19-pin bundle. (orig.).
Particle shape is an important parameter in numerous civil, environmental, and petroleum engineering applications. In ground-water flow, the shape of individual particles comprising the soil affects the soil`s pore size distribution and, hence, the important flow characteristics such as hydraulic conductivity and headloss. A model for delineating the relative importance of particle size, particle shape, and porosity, (and their interactions), in explaining the variability of hydraulic conductivity of a granular porous medium is developed and tested. Three types of porous media are considered in this work: spherical glass beads; granular sand; and irregularly shaped, shredded glass particles. A reliable method for quantifying the three-dimensional shape and packing of large samples of irregular particles based on their angle of repose is presented. The results of column experiments indicate that in the size range examined (i.e., 149 {micro}m to ...
System identification is a necessity in control theory. Classical control theory usually considers processes with integer order transfer functions. Real processes are usually of fractional order as opposed to the ideal integral order models. A simple and elegant scheme is presented for approximation of such a real world fractional order process by an ideal integral order model. A population of integral order process models is generated and updated by PSO technique, the fitness function being the sum of squared deviations from the set of observations obtained from the actual fractional order process. Results show that the proposed scheme offers a high degree of accuracy.
In this paper nickel acetate catalyzed sodium borohydride cartridges have been prepared and hydrolyzed with water for hydrogen production. Two technological solutions have been tested to increase the overall hydrogen yield, namely a porous water diffuser and a hydrophobic membrane. The first was used to improve water diffusion inside the hydride while the second to confine water inside the cartridge. The generated hydrogen flow showed a very reproducible behavior. Hydrogen promptly evolved just after water was pumped into the cartridge. After some initial peaks, a constant hydrogen flow has been recorded for the whole reaction time. The constant flow was related to the presence of the porous diffuser. The use of a hydrophobic membrane to confine the water inside the cartridge allowed to increase the overall hydrogen yield: about 6 water molecules per mol of hydride were required to complete the reaction. The reaction product was identified by ...
Mixed-convection phenomena can occur within liquid-dominated geothermal reservoirs due to interactions of injected flows, or ground-water flows, with the buoyancy-induced fluid motion. This problem was studied experimentally and numerically for the case of opposing flows about a vertical heat source in a liquid-saturated porous medium. The ratio of the Rayleigh number (Ra) to the Peclet number (Pe) was identified as the nondimensional parameter which characterizes the relative influence of buoyancy-driven to pressure-gradient-driven fluid motion. The transition from mixed to forced convection was numerically determined to be (Ra/Pe) approx. = -0.5, where the minus sign denotes superimposed downflow. Agreement between measured and predicted thermal-field results showed that the finite-element code of Gartling and Hickox (1982 a,b) can be used to model low-temperature (single-phase) geothermal reservoirs throughout the natural, mixed, and forced convection regimes. 9 ...
A cylindrical coordinate mathematical model to calculate "2"2"2Rn flux and movement was developed considering "2"2"2Rn production, decay, and diffusion in a multilayered, porous, permeable matrix. Air movement, transporting radon through the media, satisfies Darcy's law and is influenced by the air (barometric) pressure applied at the surface. Two zones of porous material have been defined, one with a "2"2"2Rn production term (the uranium ore zone) and the other without this term to simulate shotcrete or concrete ground support. A provision is made to evaluate the effect of a pinhole in an otherwise impermeable sealant. Comparisons are made between field measurements and predicted values. Specific examples are given of "2"2"2Rn flux from a finite ore-body model versus steady and periodic changes in barometric pressure. Also examined are "2"2"2Rn losses through pinholes for cases of linearly varying and static barometric pressures. The results ...
The stability of a couple stress fluid saturated horizontal porous layer heated from below and cooled from above when the fluid and solid phases are not in local thermal equilibrium is investigated. The Darcy model is used for the momentum equation and a two-field model is used for energy equation each representing the solid and fluid phases separately. The linear stability theory is employed to obtain the condition for the onset of convection. The effect of thermal non-equilibrium on the onset of convection is discussed. It is shown that the results of the thermal non-equilibrium Darcy model for the Newtonian fluid case can be recovered in the limit as couple stress parameter C{yields}0. We also present asymptotic analysis for both small and large values of the inter phase heat transfer coefficient H. We found an excellent agreement between the exact solutions and asymptotic solutions when H is very small.
The investigated hybrid nanocomposite consists of a porous silicon template with electrochemically embedded Ni or Co nanostructures and offers magnetic characteristics which can be tailored by the electrochemical process parameters during fabrication. A twofold magnetic behaviour can be observed, a first one due to the spinmagnetism at magnetic fields below the saturation magnetization of the deposited metals and a second non-saturating term at higher fields (>1 T up to 7 T) above the saturation magnetization. In case of Ni deposited within the pores this non-saturating term shows a paramagnetic characteristic and follows exactly the Curie-Weiss law, whereas for Co/porous silicon samples the temperature dependent magnetization shows some deviations from the Curie Weiss law. In this high field region a difference in the temperature dependence between Ni and Co is observed whereas the non-saturating term does not depend on the geometry of ...
Single-electrode transient behavior was measured mainly during the discharging process for a model cell of electric double layer capacitor with nano-porous carbon electrodes and reference electrode. Apparent conductivity in the cell, which we call `effective conductivity,` is determined with approximation of current in transient behavior to a one-dimensional electrophoretic model. A comparison of effective conductivity with conductivity of bulk solution suggests an interesting mechanism of transfer of electrolyte ions. The difference in transient behavior between various electrolyte ions was not conspicuous in spite of distinctive differences in conductivity of each bulk solution. The large pore diameter of the carbon electrode results in rapid transient behavior and such an electrode should be suitable for rapid charge and discharge. The effect of origin of carbon electrode is found to be significant to bring considerable differences in discharge rate. However, ...
The single-electrode capacitance of a nano-porous carbon electrode used as an electric double layer capacitor was measured. The charged state of the electrolyte ion was discussed from the results. Single-electrode capacitance was not proportional to the specific surface area of the electrode. This implies that the whole surface of the electrode is not effective for the formation of an electric double layer. It is considered that edge orientation of the carbon structure would give a dominant contribution to capacitance. For measurements with aqueous solutions of various electrolytes, capacitance was about the same value for each salt compound. For aqueous acid solution, on the other hand, capacitance was twice to three times as large as that for salt compounds. This difference, however, became negligibly small if the concentration of electrolyte solution was lowered. Taking account of the hydrated ionic radius of each ion, it was considered that ions in salt ...
Operating PWR units in the USA have experienced very severe corrosion of the tube support plate at the crevice between the tube and the support. This results in distortion of the plate and crushing of the tube (denting). The first task of this project required that currently available computational methods to estimate the pH attained by concentrating boiler water under various fault conditions such as condenser leakage of river waters and faulty operation of condensate polishing plant. Particular attention has been paid to systems in which sulfate predominates. In the second task, the mechanisms are discussed by which solutions become concentrated in porous deposits on a boiling heat transfer surface. It is concluded that more experimental data are needed to test the validity of existing models. High solution concentrations in the deposit may occur at a heat flux close to the critical value for drying out the base of the deposit. The pore to bulk concentration ...
Onset of convection in a layer of couple-stress fluid-saturated porous medium is investigated for different types of basic temperature gradients. The boundaries are considered to be adiabatically insulated to temperature perturbations. The eigenvalue equations of the perturbed state obtained from the normal mode analysis are solved analytically using a regular perturbation technique with wave number as a perturbation parameter and also numerically using the Galerkin technique. The critical stability parameters obtained from these two techniques are in excellent agreement and an increase in the value of couple-stress parameter is found to delay the onset of convection. The results also indicate that the piecewise linear temperature profile hastens the onset of convection when compared to linear, parabolic, and inverted parabolic temperature profiles. In addition, the influence of thermal depth on the critical conditions is assessed in the case of piecewise linear ...
The formation of porous structures of nanometre size (nanoporous structures) on germanium (Ge) surfaces by focused ion beam (FIB) irradiations was investigated using various FIB conditions such as ion species, irradiation energies, total fluences, fluence rates, and incident angles. FIB-irradiated regions were observed using a scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. It is found that, using a focused Ga ion beam (Ga FIB) at an energy of 100 keV, the irradiated Ge surface swelled up to ion fluence of 2 x 10"1"7 cm"-"2 with nanoporous structures and then was etched for larger fluences. The shape of swollen nanoporous structures depended on the fluence rate and the incident angle of the Ga FIB. However, such porous structures were observed neither for low-energy (15-30 keV) FIB irradiations using Si and Au ions nor for high-energy (200 keV), heavy ion (Au) irradiation. These observations might be helpful in discussing the ...
Porous phosphate heterostructures (PPH), functionalized with different ratios of aminopropyl and mercaptopropyl groups, labelled as Nx=5,25,50-PPH and Sx=5,25,50-PPH, respectively, were tested as adsorbents for Ni(II) and Hg(II) found in industrial sewage from electroplating processes and button battery recycling. X-ray diffraction was used to study the structures. The specific surface area of the pristine material (PPH) was 620m^2g^-^1, whereas the specific surface areas of the modified mercaptopropyl (S5-PPH) and aminopropyl (N5-PPH) were 472 and 223m^2g^-^1, respectively. The adsorption data were fitted to a Langmuir isotherm model. The S5-PPH material was saturated by 120mmol Hg(II) per 100g of material, whereas for Ni(II) adsorption, N25-PPH material displayed the highest adsorption w...
Substantial thermal performance improvement in ice-on-tube cold thermal energy storage systems (TES) is possible by making use of porous copper mesh as a Heat Conducting Enhancement Device (HCED). HCEDs are inexpensive heat transfer augmentation devices that can result in faster rate of ice growth and larger final steady state ice build volume by reducing the controlling thermal conduction resistance of the ice layer. This improves the competitiveness of external ice-on-tube systems as compared to other TES systems, such as dynamic ice harvesters and static internal melt systems. In this study the amount of ice growth enhancement is predicted theoretically, by performing simplified 1-D calculations, and is then validated in the laboratory through carefully controlled experiments. This study shows that ice volume increase between 50 and 90% is possible by using HCEDs of the type tested. (author)
An experimental investigation of premixed methane-air combustion within the one-dimensional porous ceramic burners for various burner configurations is presented. The burner is nonhomogeneous because of different pore size ceramic block used in different section of the burner. Therefore, the thermophysical and transport properties are nonuniform along the burner core length. The burners are constructed of partially stabilized zirconia. The CO and NO{sub x} emissions, flame speed, and flame stability are examined and compared at lean equivalence ratios for five different burner configurations. The sandwich-structured burner has very favorable flame stabilizing characteristic due to the radiation reflecting region. While the combustion proceeds at faster rate than other burner configurations, the radiation reflecting region and the exit surface have low temperature. Thus the NO{sub x} emission can be kept at the same low level as the other burner configurations ...
Nanoporous materials have become indispensable in many fields ranging from photonics, catalysis and semiconductor processing to biosensor infrastructure. Rapid and energy efficient process fabrication of these materials is, however, nontrivial. In this communication, we describe a simple method for the rapid fabrication of these materials from colloidal dispersions of Polymethyl Silsesquioxane nanoparticles. Nanoparticle-polymer composites above the decomposition temperature of the polymer are examined and the entropic gain experienced by the nanoparticles in this rubric is harnessed to fabricate novel highly porous films composed of nanoparticles. Optically smooth, hydrophobic films with low refractive indices (as low as 1.048) and high surface areas (as high as 1325 m2 g-1) have been achieved with this approach. In this communication we address the behavior of such systems that are both temperature and substrate surface energy dependent. The method is applicable, ...
We used light confinement in optical microcavities to achieve a strong enhancement and a precise wavelength tunability of the electrical photoconductance of nanostructured porous silicon (PS). The devices consist of a periodic array of alternating PS layers, electrochemically etched to have high and low porosities - and therefore distinct dielectric functions. A central layer having a doubled thickness breaks up the symmetry of the one-dimensional photonic structure, producing a resonance in the photonic band gap that is clearly observed in the reflectance spectrum. The devices were transferred to a glass coated with a transparent SnO{sub 2} electrode, while an Al contact was evaporated on its back side. The electrical conductance was measured as a function of the photon energy. A strong enhancement of the conductance is obtained in a narrow (17nm FWHM) band peaking at the resonance. We present experimental results of the angular dependence of this photoconductance ...
The onset of double-diffusive convection in a couple-stress fluid-saturated horizontal porous layer is studied using linear and weak nonlinear stability analyses. The modified Darcy equation that includes the time derivative term and the inertia term is used to model the momentum equation. The expressions for stationary, oscillatory and finite-amplitude Rayleigh number are obtained as a function of the governing parameters. The effect of couple-stress parameter, solute Rayleigh number, Vadasz number and diffusivity ratio on stationary, oscillatory and finite-amplitude convection is shown graphically. It is found that the couple-stress parameter and the solute Rayleigh number have a stabilizing effect on stationary, oscillatory and finite-amplitude convection. The diffusivity ratio has a destabilizing effect in the case of stationary and finite-amplitude modes, with a dual effect in the case of oscillatory convection. The Vadasz number advances the onset of ...
The onset of double-diffusive convection in a couple-stress fluid-saturated horizontal porous layer is studied using linear and weak nonlinear stability analyses. The modified Darcy equation that includes the time derivative term and the inertia term is used to model the momentum equation. The expressions for stationary, oscillatory and finite-amplitude Rayleigh number are obtained as a function of the governing parameters. The effect of couple-stress parameter, solute Rayleigh number, Vadasz number and diffusivity ratio on stationary, oscillatory and finite-amplitude convection is shown graphically. It is found that the couple-stress parameter and the solute Rayleigh number have a stabilizing effect on stationary, oscillatory and finite-amplitude convection. The diffusivity ratio has a destabilizing effect in the case of stationary and finite-amplitude modes, with a dual effect in the case of oscillatory convection. The Vadasz number advances the onset of ...
The concept of relative permeability is the key concept in extending Darcy's law for single phase flow through porous media to the two-phase flow regime. Relative permeability functions are needed for simulation studies of two-phase geothermal reservoirs. These are poorly known inspite of considerable theoretical and experimental investigations during the last decade. Since no conclusive results exist, many investigators use ad hoc parametrization, or adopt results obtined from flow of oil and gas (Corey, 1954). It has been shown by Reda and Eaton (1980) that this can lead to serious deficiencies. Sensitivity of the relative permeability curves for prediction of mass flow rate and flowing enthalpy into geothermal wells has been studied by many investigators (e.g. Eaton and Reda (1980), Bodvarsson et al (1980), Sun and Ershagi (1979) etc.). It can be concluded from these studies that the beehavior of a two-phase steam/water reservoir depends greatly on the ...
Both linear and weakly nonlinear stability analyses are performed to study thermal convection in a rotating couple-stress fluid-saturated rigid porous layer. In the case of linear stability analysis, conditions for the occurrence of possible bifurcations are obtained. It is shown that Hopf bifurcation is possible due to Coriolis force, and it occurs at a lower value of the Rayleigh number at which the simple bifurcation occurs. In contrast to the nonrotating case, it is found that the couple-stress parameter plays a dual role in deciding the stability characteristics of the system, depending on the strength of rotation. Nonlinear stability analysis is carried out by constructing a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations using truncated representation of Fourier series. Sub-critical finite amplitude steady motions occur depending on the choice of physical parameters but at higher rotation rates oscillatory convection is found to be the preferred ...
This study presents a dynamic analysis of a flexible rotor supported by two porous squeeze couple stress fluid film journal bearings with non-linear suspension. The dynamics of the rotor center and bearing center are studied. The analysis of the rotor-bearing system is investigated under the assumptions of non-Newtonian fluid and a short bearing approximation. The spatial displacements in the horizontal and vertical directions are considered for various non-dimensional speed ratios. The dynamic equations are solved using the Runge-Kutta method. The analysis methods employed in this study is inclusive of the dynamic trajectories of the rotor center and bearing center, power spectra, Poincare maps and bifurcation diagrams. The maximum Lyapunov exponent analysis is also used to identify the onset of chaotic motion. The numerical results show that the stability of the system varies with the non-dimensional speed ratios, the non-dimensional parameter l* and the ...
This study presents a dynamic analysis of a flexible rotor supported by two porous squeeze couple stress fluid film journal bearings with non-linear suspension. The dynamics of the rotor center and bearing center are studied. The analysis of the rotor-bearing system is investigated under the assumptions of non-Newtonian fluid and a short bearing approximation. The spatial displacements in the horizontal and vertical directions are considered for various non-dimensional speed ratios. The dynamic equations are solved using the Runge-Kutta method. The analysis methods employed in this study is inclusive of the dynamic trajectories of the rotor center and bearing center, power spectra, Poincare maps and bifurcation diagrams. The maximum Lyapunov exponent analysis is also used to identify the onset of chaotic motion. The numerical results show that the stability of the system varies with the non-dimensional speed ratios, the non-dimensional parameter l* and the ...
10%Pt/C catalysts were prepared by liquid reduction method. PTFE and Pt/ C catalysts were adhered to porous metal and hydrophobic Pt/C/PTFE catalysts were prepared. The structure and size of Pt crystal particles of Pt/C catalysts were analyzed by XRD, and their mean size was 3.1 nm. The dispersion state of Pt/C and PTFE was analyzed by SEM, and they had good dispersion mostly, but PTFE membrane could be observed on local parts of Pt/C/PTFE surface. Because of low hydrophobicity, Pt/C/ PTFE catalysts have low activity when the mass ratio of PTFE and Pt/C is 0.5: 1, and their catalytic activity increases markedly when the ratio is 1:1. When the ratio increases again, more Pt active sites would be covered by PTFE and interior diffusion effect would increase, which result in the decrease of catalytic activity of Pt/C/PTFE. By PTFE pretreatment of porous metal carrier, the activity of Pt/C/PTFE catalysts decreases when the mass ratio of PTFE and ...
Extra-fine powdered activated charcoal has been used as stationary phase (coating layer) in solid-phase microextraction (SPME). The efficiency and reliability of the prepared device have been investigated for the extraction of some volatile organic compounds such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers (BTEX) from the headspace of water samples. Monitoring of the extracted compounds and further quantitative analysis of the real samples have been performed by capillary GC-FID. Effects of several factors such as temperature, addition of salt, and stirring speed on extraction efficiency and exposure time have been studied. Under optimum conditions, extraction recoveries for these compounds from 50 mL water were >95%. The calibration graphs were linear in the range 5 to 10{sup 4} pg mL{sup -1} and the detection limit for each BTEX compound was 1.5-2 pg mL{sup -1}. The results obtained by use of this porous layer activated charcoal (PLAC)-coated fiber ...
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been conducted on a new fuel cell electrocatalytic material based on a highly porous carbonized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microcellular foam with very low platinum loading ({approximately}13 to 23 {micro}g/cm{sup 2}). TEM images of this material clearly show the existence of nanometer size platinum particles which are homogeneously distributed in the highly porous carbonized PAN matrix. An XPS study of Pt-loaded PAN indicates that C 1s, O 1s, and N 1s peaks shift to lower binding energies, compared to virgin PAN. It was concluded that special metal-support interaction exists, through the formation of a charge-transfer complex between platinum and pyridine-type nitrogen atoms of PAN support. This interaction leads to the enhancement of the catalytic activity, and the improvement of the long-time stability of this electrocatalyst.
In the present study, electrically conducting carbon nanofiber (CNF) mats were produced by incorporating tetraethoxy orthosilicate (TEOS) into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) via electrospinning. A simple thermal treatment was applied to the electrospun nanofibers to create ultramicropores that could accommodate a large number of ions were formed on the surface of the CNFs, removing the need for a time-consuming activation step. The Si/CNF composites showed high capacitance and energy/power density values due to the formation of ultramicropores and the introduction of heteroatoms.
Reinforced (heterogel) silicate materials containing an amorphous and a crystalline phase are being used more and more industry. Such systems are energetically unsaturated and therefore promising for use in catalysts. The authors used two reinforced materials as supports: an aluminosilicate containing a zeolite (the cracking catalyst, tseokar) and asbestos-containing aluminosilicate. The active component was introduced by impregnation, and this was followed by heat treatment during which the chemical composition and porous structure were formed. The impregnating mixture consisted of solutions of potassium sulfate and vanadate of the required concentrations. The testing shows that reinforced heterogel systems are promising as support materials for sulfuric acid catalysts.
A compliant cantilevered three-dimensional micromold is provided. The compliant cantilevered micromold is suitable for use in the replication of cantilevered microparts and greatly simplifies the replication of such cantilevered parts. The compliant cantilevered micromold may be used to fabricate microparts using casting or electroforming techniques. When the compliant micromold is used to fabricate electroformed cantilevered parts, the micromold will also comprise an electrically conducting base formed by a porous metal substrate that is embedded within the compliant cantilevered micromold. Methods for fabricating the compliant cantilevered micromold as well as methods of replicating cantilevered microparts using the compliant cantilevered micromold are also provided.
In PWR steam-generators, the crevice between tube and tube-support plate tends to fill with porous deposits during operation and acts as a concentration site for chemicals in the boiler water, which may lead to corrosion of the tube and tube-support-plate. The rate of concentration, the magnitude of the concentration factor and the rate of release of solute when conditions change are important parameters for devising strategies to minimize corrosion. Values of these parameters for salt concentration have therefore been measured in a laboratory simulation of the crevice and are used to formulate a model of the concentrating process.
We have developed EOS7M, a ferrofluid flow and transport module for TOUGH2. EOS7M calculates the magnetic forces on ferrofluid caused by an external magnetic field and allows simulation of flow and advective transport of ferrofluid-water mixtures through porous media. Such flow problems are strongly coupled and well suited to the TOUGH2 framework. Preliminary applications of EOS7M to some simple pressure and flow problems for which experiments were carried out in the lab show good qualitative agreement with the laboratory results.
The development of new electro-optical instrumentation for studying the annular dispersed two-phase flow regime is described. The system measures the thickness of the water film and droplet size and velocity distributions which would be encountered in such a flow regime. The water film thickness is measured by an improved capacitance method with a short time constant using newly developed sensor electrodes. The electrodes are made flush with the inner wall of a cylindrical tube and do not disturb the flow. In the test equipment, steady, laminar flow of water along the inner wall of the tube is controlled by appropriate valves and a porous jacket while droplets are introduced by means of a special spray nozzle.
A compliant cantilevered three-dimensional micromold is provided. The compliant cantilevered micromold is suitable for use in the replication of cantilevered microparts and greatly simplifies the replication of such cantilevered parts. The compliant cantilevered micromold may be used to fabricate microparts using casting or electroforming techniques. When the compliant micromold is used to fabricate electroformed cantilevered parts, the micromold will also comprise an electrically conducting base formed by a porous metal substrate that is embedded within the compliant cantilevered micromold. Methods for fabricating the compliant cantilevered micromold as well as methods of replicating cantilevered microparts using the compliant cantilevered micromold are also provided.
A review of chemical decontamination methods for coatings indicates the following: the ease of both contamination and decontamination is a function of the radionuclide and the pH of the environment; the coating type is important in determining whether the contamination is loosely adsorbed, complexed, or contained in porous filler material; the condition of the coating is important to the decontamination factor obtained. Thus coatings can be decontaminated provided the solvent is sufficiently acid to solubilize the radionuclide and the complexant strength of the solvent is greater than that of the coating. Difficulties arise if the contamination is associated with fillers. Furthermore, though nothing has been said about temperature, decontamination of metal goes faster and, usually, with better efficiency at high temperatures. 11 references, 3 figures.
Suspension direct current plasma spraying allows achieving finely structured coatings whose thickness is between few tens and few hundreds of micrometres. Drops (200-300 ?m in diameter) or liquid jets are mechanically injected in the plasma jet. With radial injection they are rapidly (a few ?s) fragmented into droplets (a few ?m in diameter). The latter are vaporized (in a few ?s) and the solid particles contained in suspension droplets are accelerated and melted by the plasma jet. As in conventional plasma spraying (CPS), much smaller splats (with diameters between 0.2 and 3 ?m and thicknesses between 30 and 200 nm) are arranged in layers up to form the coating. The low inertia of particles requires spray distances between 40 and 60 mm which induces plasma heat fluxes up to 22 MW m-2 participating in coating densification. Even more than in CPS, the plasma jet fluctuations, particularly for plasmas containing di-atomic gases, perturb drops penetration and fragmentation. It has been ...
When liquids are confined in nano-scopic dimensions, their properties differ from the corresponding bulk liquid, due to their reduced dimensionality and surface effects. Phase transition temperatures and pressures are often shifted from the bulk values and new phases can appear due to the strong interactions of the molecules with the confining walls. We have studied the structural and dynamical properties of aromatic liquids such as benzene, toluene, and ortho-terphenyl confined in nano-porous materials, MCM-41 and SBA-15, synthesized and characterized in our laboratory. A non-trivial dependence of the glass transition temperature, T{sub g}, on the pore size and surface treatment of nano-porous materials is confirmed and interpreted as resulting from a competition between the fluid-wall and fluid-fluid intermolecular interactions. An increase of T{sub g} is observed for small pore sizes and attractive surface while T{sub g} decreases for non ...
This document is a user`s manual for the Rn3D finite element code. Rn3D was developed to simulate gas flow and radon transport in variably saturated, nonisothermal porous media. The Rn3D model is applicable to a wide range of problems involving radon transport in soil because it can simulate either steady-state or transient flow and transport in one-, two- or three-dimensions (including radially symmetric two-dimensional problems). The porous materials may be heterogeneous and anisotropic. This manual describes all pertinent mathematics related to the governing, boundary, and constitutive equations of the model, as well as the development of the finite element equations used in the code. Instructions are given for constructing Rn3D input files and executing the code, as well as a description of all output files generated by the code. Five verification problems are given that test various aspects of code operation, complete with example input ...
A three-dimensional, three-phase, multiple-component numerical simulator was developed to investigate transport and growth of microorganisms in porous media and the impacts of microbial activities on oil recovery. The microbial activities modeled in this study included: (1) growth, retention, chemotaxis, and end product inhibition of growth, (2) the formation of metabolic products, and (3) the consumption of nutrients. Major mechanisms for microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) processes were modeled as follows: (1) improvement in sweep efficiency of a displacement process due to in situ plugging of highly-permeable production zones by cell mass or due to improved mobility control achieved by increasing the viscosity of the displacing fluid with a biopolymer, and (2) solubilization and mobilization of residual oil in porous media due to the reduction of the interfacial tension between oleic and aqueous phases by the production of a ...
Formaldehyde, a well-identified indoor pollutant, was recently classified as carcinogenic. New regulations for the air quality are expected and therefore there is a need for low-cost sensors, sensitive and selective with a fast response time for the detection of formaldehyde at ppb level. In the present work, we had developed a chemical sensor based on nano-porous matrices doped with Fluoral-P and optical methods of detection. The nano-porous matrices, elaborated via the Sol-Gel process, display nano-pores whose cavity is tailored for the trapping of the targeted pollutant. They provide a first selectivity with the discrimination of the pollutants by their size. A second selectivity is obtained with a molecular probe, Fluoral-P, which reacts specifically with formaldehyde leading to the 3,5- di-acetyl-1,4-dihydro-lutidine (DDL). The kinetics of formation of DDL was studied as function of many parameters such as the concentration of Fluoral-P in ...
Previous investigations have shown that both the early biological response and the mechanical properties of a porous hydroxyapatite bone graft substitute are highly sensitive to its pore structure. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the pore structure continued to influence bone integration in the medium to long term. Two screened batches of porous hydroxyapatite (PHA) designated as batch A and batch B, with porosities of approximately 60 and 80%, respectively, were selected for this study and implanted for periods of 5, 13, and 26 weeks into the lower femur of New Zealand White rabbits. Histomorphometric analysis of the absolute volume of bone ingrowth within batch A and B implants from 5 to 26 weeks showed that the absolute volume of bone ingrowth was consistently lower in batch A (10-21%), compared to batch B implants (24-31%). However, when the volume of bone ingrowth was normalised for the available pore space, this ...
Production of porous membranes using heavy ion bombardment and subsequent chemical etching of poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) films has been reported several years ago. However, porous membranes with pore diameter in the nanometer scale requires a better understanding of the chemical etching mechanism. In this work PVDF foils irradiated with Sn ions (2.85 MeV per nucleon) were exposed to several etching conditions which involved permanganate oxidation in different alkaline environments. The solution of KOH 9 mol L{sup -1} and saturated in KMnO{sub 4} was the best etching reactant for PVDF. Functional groups created in the alkaline and oxidative attack by permanganate were studied by FT-IR and UV-vis spectroscopy. The spectroscopic data reveals that the formation of pores occurs by a two-step mechanism: (i) double bonds as a result of dehydrofluorination induced by alkaline media and (ii) oxidation of these double bonds in permanganate ...
Gadolinium nitrate has been employed in Indian nuclear reactors for the first time as soluble neutron poison in the heavy water moderators of the 540 MWe PHWRs TAPS 3 and 4, as a fast acting secondary shut down system (SDS-2); and also for reactivity shim. For this purpose, the moderator purification system is currently equipped with special ion-exchange columns/schemes, developed by present authors. However, for gadolinium removal from moderator in the post SDS-2 scenario, the two stage ion-exchange - cation bed operation followed by mixed bed operation - results in low pH conditions persisting in the moderator for a few hours, which gives rise to certain operational problems. The present paper describes a mixed bed ion-exchange scheme employing macro-porous strong acid cation and macro-porous weak base anion resins, which has been developed to eliminate acidic conditions and gives a better pH control. The cation to anion capacity ratio in the ...
Coupled modeling of subsurface multiphase fluid and heat flow, solute transport and chemical reactions can be used for the assessment of acid mine drainage remediation, mineral deposition, waste disposal sites, hydrothermal convection, contaminant transport, and groundwater quality. Here they present a numerical simulation model, TOUGHREACT, which considers non-isothermal multi-component chemical transport in both liquid and gas phases. A wide range of subsurface thermo-physical-chemical processes is considered. The model can be applied to one-, two- or three-dimensional porous and fractured media with physical and chemical heterogeneity. The model can accommodate any number of chemical species present in liquid, gas and solid phases. A variety of equilibrium chemical reactions is considered, such as aqueous complexation, gas dissolution/exsolution, cation exchange, and surface complexation. Mineral dissolution/precipitation can proceed either subject to local ...
The use of standard cementitious material creates pulses of pH in the magnitude of 12-13 in the leachates and release alkalis. Such a high pH is detrimental and also unnecessarily complicates the safety analysis of the repository. As no reliable pH-plume models exist, the use of products giving a pH below 11 in the leachates facilitates the safety analysis. Also, according to current understanding, the use of low-pH cement (pH = 11) will not disturb the functioning of the bentonite, although limiting the amount of low-pH cement is recommended. A result of the project is that there are both low-pH cementitious material for grouting larger fractures (= 100 {mu}m) and non-cementitious material for grouting smaller fractures (< 100 {mu}m) that will, after further optimisation work, be recommended for grouting of deep repositories. This project concentrated on the technical development of properties for the low pH grouts. Long-term safety and environmental aspects and durability of ...
Solid molecular orthohydrogen exhibits orientational order at low temperatures. The orthohydrogen molecules, which are quadrupoles, order in the Pa3 structure. We have simulated this ordering, and explored the behaviour under dilution by spherical parahydrogen molecules.
Deduction modulo is a paradigm which consists in applying the inference rules of a deductive system (such as for instance natural deduction) modulo a rewrite system over terms and propositions. It has been shown that higher-order logic can be simulated into the first-order natural deduction modulo. However, a theorem stated by Goedel and proved by Parikh expresses that proofs in second-order arithmetic may be unboundedly shorter than proofs in first-order arithmetic, even when considering only formulae provable in first-order arithmetic. We investigate how deduction modulo can be used to translate proofs of higher-order arithmetic into first-order proofs without inflating their length. First we show how higher orders can be encoded through a quite simple (finite, terminating, confluent, left-linear) rewrite system. Then, ...
...2010-10-01 false Ordering from Government supply sources. 51.103 Section 51.103...CONTRACTORS Contractor Use of Government Supply Sources 51.103 Ordering from Government supply sources. (a) Contractors placing...
New partial differential equations (PDEs) for the full order weak schemes of the Langevin simulations are formulated. They are solved recursively in full order series solutions with respect to {radical}(t) (the full order weak Taylor schemes). Arbitrariness involved in the solutions is analyzed and clarified in detail. Specific solutions within some orders are presented as examples of the weak Taylor schemes. These PDEs and their solutions will serve for further developments of efficient higher order Runge-Kutta-like schemes. The similar formulation is possible for the imaginary time Hamiltonian evolution kernels as well. (orig.). 9 refs.
Full text of publication follows: A porous media solution PORFLO has been developed for the 3-dimensional two-phase flow by describing the process facility in Cartesian or cylindrical coordinates. The local porosity fraction is applied for distinguishing the fluid filled volumes from the solid structures. The solid structure contribute the two-phase flow through the wall friction, flow area and heat transfer. Optionally the solid structure may contain primary liquid of steam generators, steam in the higher temperature and pressure to be condensed or electrical heating power. By using these optional boundary conditions three different process facilities have been analysed. The thermohydraulic solution based on 5-equation approach, where the conservation equations are solved for the liquid and gas (vapour) mass, mixture momentum (giving the velocity only for the mixture), liquid and gas energy, is described shortly. In addition to that the principles modelling ...
Thermal-fluid flow analysis and demonstration test were performed for a spent fuel storage system. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT was used for the numerical analysis. Effective thermal conductivities of a spent fuel assembly and a fuel basket were derived to optimize a thermal analysis model. Also, a porous model, which can simplify a complex configuration of a fuel assembly, was used in the thermal analysis. Demonstration test were performed to verify the thermal analysis method and procedure using a half scaled-down model and an electrically heated dummy fuel. The numerical analysis results were compared with the experimental data. Thermal analyses of the storage system were carried out for normal and off-normal conditions by using the verified analysis method.
The project is focused on the thermal hydraulic analyses of nuclear power plants. Specific areas of research have been the modelling of heat transfer in horizontal steam generator in presence of non-condensable gas, and the development of tools for multidimensional two-phase flow simulations. The effect of non-condensable gas on the heat transfer in the horizontal steam generator (SG) has been studied by calculating with APROS the PACTEL experiments NCG-1 (air injection) and NCG-3 (helium injection). The work done for the two-phase flow model development consists of two parts; improving the solution algorithm of porous media code PORFLO, and adding a homogeneous two-phase model to the commercial CFD code Fluent. (orig.)
The effect of swelling of crystalline Ge irradiated at room temperature with 30 keV Ga"+ focused ion beam (FIB) was studied by means of in situ FIB imaging, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The swelling occurred in the surface region of amorphous damage layer which was formed during ion irradiation. The degree of swelling reaches values up to 10 times for an implantation dose of #approx#10"1"7 ions/cm"2. Cross-secitonal TEM examination showed that the swelling is due to formation of a porous layer with a honeycomb structure. (author). 8 refs., 4 figs.
In this article, the authors analyzed the effect of thermal conductivity on unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) free convection in a micro-polar fluid past a semi-infinite vertical porous plate. The fluid thermal conductivity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. By using the Chebyshev collocation method in the spatial direction and the Crank-Nicolson method in the time direction, the boundary layer equations are transformed into a linear algebraic system. There are several material parameters whose affect on the flow have been studied, for instance, thermal conductivity, radiation, magnetic, micro-polar, suction (or injection) parameters, and Prandtl number. Boundary layer and Boussineq approximations have been introduced together to describe the flow field. The domain of...
Supercritical CO2 is used as a new solvent for immersion deposition, a galvanic displacement process traditionally carried out in aqueous HF solutions containing metal ions, to selectively develop metal films on featured or non-featured silicon substrates. Components of supercritical fluid immersion deposition (SFID) solutions for fabricating Cu and Pd films on silicon substrates are described along with the corresponding experimental setup and procedure. Only silicon substrates exposed and reactive to SFID solutions can be coated. The highly pressurized and gas-like supercritical CO2, combined with the galvanic displacement property of immersion deposition, enables the SFID technique to selectively deposit metal films in small features. SFID may also provide a new method to fabricate palladium silicide in small features or to metallize porous silicon.
Abstract A facile and efficient single-step mineralization approach was exploited for achieving nanoscopic hydroxyapatite (HAP) crystal layer in chitosan porous matrix, wherein a mixed water-ethanol solvent was used to control the growth of minerals. The crystallographic structure, morphology, and mechanical properties of the scaffold were analyzed with XRD, FTIR, environmental scanning electric microscopy (ESEM), TEM, and compression tests. The behaviors and responses of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblast cells on the scaffolds were studied as well. The results showed that the scaffolds kept woodpile structure with predefined and controlled hierarchical structure after mineralization. The inorganic phase in the mineralized chitosan scaffolds was determined as pure rod-like HAP, which settled densely...
Indium sulfide thin films consisting of porous network of nanoplatelets, have been deposited using chemical bath deposition (CBD) method onto the tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate. Aqueous solutions of indium sulfate and thioacetamide have been used as indium and sulfur precursors. As a complexing agent, acetic acid was used. The chemically deposited indium sulfide thin films were examined for their structural, surface morphological and optical characterizations. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the formation of the cubic b-In2S3 onto the substrate. From scanning electron micrograph, it is observed that the surface of substrate is covered by nanoporous platelets type morphology. The optical studies showed a direct band gap of 2.84eV for indium sulfide platelets. Ph...
We report the fabrication and characterization of glucose-tolerant Raney-platinum cathodes for oxygen reduction in potentially implantable glucose fuel. Fabricated by extraction of aluminum from 1mm thin platinum-aluminum bi-layers annealed at 300^oC, the novel cathodes show excellent resistance against hydrolytic and oxidative attack. This renders them superior over previous cathodes fabricated from hydrogel-bound catalyst particles. Annealing times of 60, 120, and 240min result in approximately 400-550nm thin porous films (roughness factors ~100-150), which contain platinum and aluminum in a ratio of ~9:1. Aluminum release during electrode operation can be expected to have no significant effect on physiological normal levels, which promises good biocompatibility. Annealing time has a dis...
We present a novel fabrication route yielding Raney-platinum film electrodes intended as glucose oxidation anodes for potentially implantable fuel cells. Fabrication roots on thermal alloying of an extractable metal with bulk platinum at 200^oC for 48h. In contrast to earlier works using carcinogenic nickel, we employ zinc as potentially biocompatible alloying partner. Microstructure analysis indicates that after removal of extractable zinc the porous Raney-platinum film (roughness factor ~2700) consists predominantly of the Pt3Zn phase. Release of zinc during electrode operation can be expected to have no significant effect on physiological normal levels in blood and serum, which promises good biocompatibility. In contrast to previous anodes based on hydrogel-bound catalyst particles the ...
We present a numerical model of vapor-dominated reservoirs which is based on the well-known conceptual model of White, Muffler, and Truesdell. Computer simulations show that upon heat recharge at the base, a single phase liquid-dominated geothermal reservoir in fractured rock with low matrix permeability will evolve into a two-phase reservoir with B.P.D. (boiling point-for-depth) pressure and temperature profiles. A rather limited discharge event through cracks in the caprock, involving loss of only a few percent of fluids in place, is sufficient to set the system off to evolve a vapor-dominated state. The attributes of this state are discussed, and some features requiring further clarification are identified. 26 refs., 5 figs.
SummaryPermeable pavement functions as a porous infrastructure interface allowing the infiltration and evaporation of rainfall-runoff while functioning as a relatively smooth load-bearing surface for vehicular transport. Hydraulic conductivity (k) of permeable pavement is an important hydraulic property and is a function of the pore structure. This study examines k for a cementitious permeable pavement (CPP) through a series of pore-structure models. Measurements utilized include hydraulic head as well as total porosity, (t), effective porosity (e), tortuosity (Le/L) and pore size distribution (PSD) indices generated through X-ray tomography (XRT). XRT results indicate that the permeable pavement pore matrix is hetero-disperse, with high tortuosity and t!=e. Power law models of k-t and k-e...
A three-dimensional mathematical thermo-fluid model coupling the electrochemical kinetics with fluid dynamics was developed to simulate the heat and mass transfer in planar anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The internal reforming reactions and electrochemical reactions of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the porous anode layer were analyzed. The temperature, species mole fraction, current density, overpotential loss and other performance parameters of the single cell unit were obtained by a commercial CFD code (Fluent) and external sub-routine. Results show that the current density produced by electrochemical reactions of carbon monoxide cannot be ignored, the cathode overpotential loss is the biggest one among the three overpotential losses, and that the proper decrease of the operating voltage leads to the increase of the current density, PEN structure temperature, fuel utilization factor, fuel efficiency and power output of the SOFC. (author)
This paper presents a mathematical model for simultaneous heat and moisture transfer under freezing-thawing in porous hygroscopic material. Even below O{sup o}C, unfrozen liquid water exists in the material which plays an important role in the processes. The model takes into account the existence of unfrozen liquid water. The system is treated as a three-(gas, liquid and solid) phase system of water. Moisture chemical potential is used as a moisture potential. Under freezing, moisture chemical potential is a unique function of local temperature. So, during freezing, two unknown variables to be solved are solid water content and moisture potential or temperature. A simple example of simulation for freezing processes is shown. (author)
Part of the crushed activated charcoal (about 20-50%) designed for manufacture of electrodes is made water repellant with the help of an aqueous suspension of water repelling agent containing 3-15% (preferably 10%) dry substance. After this the remaining part of the activated charcoal and the other additives are mixed with the water repelling part. The plates or tape which is rolled to an assigned thickness are pressed from the obtained mixture. The electrodes obtained by this method have a thin active layer and a porous structure and have good diffusion properties. They can be loaded by currents up to 80 mA/cm/sup 2/ without causing excessive polarization losses, and their service life is greater than or equal to 100 h.
A numerical study has been conducted to examine the heat transfer from a metal foam-wrapped solid cylinder in cross-flow. Effects of the key parameters including the free stream velocity and characteristics of metal foam such as porosity, permeability, and form drag coefficient on heat and fluid flow are examined. Being a determining factor in pressure drop and heat transfer increment, the porous layer thickness is changed systematically to observe that there is an optimum layer thickness beyond which the heat transfer does not improve while the pressure drop continues to increase. This has been verified by the application of Bejan?s Intersection of Asymptotes method. Results have been compared to those of a finned-tube heat exchanger to observe much higher heat transfer rate with reasonab...
Analytical and numerical methods have been used in this investigation to model the behavior of geothermal systems under exploitation. The work is divided into three parts: (1) development of a numerical code, (2) theoretical studies of geothermal systems, and (3) field applications. A new single-phase three-dimensional simulator, capable of solving heat and mass flow problems in a saturated, heterogeneous porous or fractured medium has been developed. The simulator uses the integrated finite difference method for formulating the governing equations and an efficient sparse solver for the solution of the linearized equations. In the theoretical studies, various reservoir engineering problems have been examined. These include (a) well-test analysis, (b) exploitation strategies, (c) injection into fractured rocks, and (d) fault-charged geothermal reservoirs.
Radon migration in porous, earthen materials is characterized by diffusion in both the air and water components of the system as well as by the interaction of the radon between the air and water. The size distribution and configuration of the pore spaces and their moisture distributions are key parameters in determining the radon diffusion coefficient for the bulk material. A mathematical model is developed and presented for calculating radon diffusion coefficients solely from the moisture content and pore size distribution of a soil, reducing the need for resorting to radon diffusion measurements. The resulting diffusion coefficients increase with the median pore diameter of the soil and decrease with increasing widths of the pore size distribution. The calculated diffusion coefficients are suitable for use in simple homogeneous-medium diffusion expressions for predicting radon transport and compare well with measured diffusion coefficients and with empirical ...
Abstract Within the framework of the CRC 799 -TRIP-Matrix-Composites- at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg new composite materials consisting of TRIP steel and zirconium dioxide ceramics are designed in a powder route and a casting route. To manufacture faultless samples basic investigations of the feeding and infiltration behaviour within macro porous ceramics such as filters were needed. The effects of bottom pouring and top pouring were investigated as well as the effects of different preheating temperatures, contents of phosphorous in the steel and flow trough rates. Bottom pouring corrupts the feeding mainly of filters with high ppi (pores per inch). Top pouring improves the feeding, but generates inhomogeneous infiltration qualities, which can affected and enhanced by a increasing preheat...
Strut lattice structures of reaction-bonded silicon infiltrated silicon carbide ceramics (RB-SiSiC) for air-fuel mixture formation and for nonstationary lean-burn under pressure applications were fabricated. The lattice design with a high porosity >80% was shaped by indirect three-dimensional printing. It was shown that pre-ignition processes in the porous reactor are much faster than in a free combustion, especially at lower temperatures. Interaction of high velocity diesel jets with cylindrical strut ligaments of the SiSiC lattice structure offers a new possibility for quick and efficient fuel distribution (multi-jet splitting) in space.
Cold spray was employed as a novel low temperature approach to deposit titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}) photocatalytic film. The film microstructure was characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The photocatalytic performance was examined through acetaldehyde degradation under ultraviolet illumination. Results showed that TiO{sub 2} film was successfully deposited on substrate surface through cold spray. The film thickness reached up to 15 {mu}m. The film presented a rough surface and porous structure. Owing to the low temperature of spray powder, no phase and particle size changes occurred to TiO{sub 2} during deposition. It was found that the cold-sprayed TiO{sub 2} film was active for photodegradation of acetaldehyde.
This paper reports the results of leaching experiments conducted with and without Thiobacillus ferroxidans at the same conditions in solution. The extent of leaching of ZnS with Bacteria is significantly higher than that without bacteria at high concentrations of ferrous ions. A porous layer of elemental sulfur is present on the surfaces of the chemically leached particles, which no sulfur is present on the surfaces of the bacterially leached particles. The analysis of the data using the shrinking-core model shows that the chemical leaching of ZnS is limited by the diffusion of ferrous ions through the sulfur product layer at high concentrations of ferrous ions. The analysis of the data shows that diffusion through the product layer does not limit the rate of dissolution when bacteria are present. This suggests that the action of T.ferroxidans in oxidizing the sulfur formed on the particle surface is to remove the barrier to diffusion by ferrous ions.
Tests using reconstituted samples have been performed to assess the diffusive transport of 137Cs and 60Co through natural regolith materials from a region in South Australia being considered for a radioactive waste repository. A double diffusion cell apparatus made of polycarbonate resin was developed to estimate the effective diffusion (De) and sorption coefficients (Kd) that allowed large withdrawals from the source and collector cells and has enabled tests with low concentrations of radioactivity. An alternative to porous stainless steel filter plates has also been used to reduce uncertainty in test interpretation. Analysis of the transient data used a staged method of the Laplace transform to take into consideration the volume of the samples withdrawn from the apparatus during testing....
In this study we discuss an unsteady free convection MHD flow past semi-infinite vertical porous plate. We have considered the flow in the presence of a strong magnetic field and therefore the electromagnetic force is very large. This brings in the phenomenon of Hall and Ion-slip currents. The effects of these two parameters together with that of viscous dissipation and radiation absorption among others on velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are presented. The profiles are presented graphically. As the partial differential equations governing this problem are highly non-linear they are solved numerically by a finite difference method. It is found that in presence of heating of the plate by free convection current the velocity boundary layer thickness decreases.
In this study we discuss an unsteady free convection MHD flow past semi-infinite vertical porous plate. We have considered the flow in the presence of a strong magnetic field and therefore the electromagnetic force is very large. This brings in the phenomenon of Hall and Ion-slip currents. The effects of these two parameters together with that of viscous dissipation and radiation absorption among others on velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are presented. The profiles are presented graphically. As the partial differential equations governing this problem are highly non-linear they are solved numerically by a finite difference method. It is found that in presence of heating of the plate by free convection current the velocity boundary layer thickness decreases.
This report summarizes the results of a research programme which involves the development of a laboratory experimental facility for the simulation and study of hydro-thermo-mechanical processes in saturated geomaterials with low permeability. The experimentation involves a synthetic cement based porous material made of cement grout which possesses permeabilities in the range of dense unfractured sandstones or shale. Specially manufactured pore-pressure transducers were installed within the cylindrical block at locations adjacent to a plane free boundary. The block was saturated with the periodic application of a vacuum. In its saturated state the plane boundary of the block was subjected to heating via a circular heater the temperature of which was maintained constant. The resulting pore pressure generation along with temperature at these locations was monitored continuously. The results of a series of experiments are documented and further extensions to the ...
Present paper is performed to investigate the heat and exergy transfer characteristics of forced convection flow through a horizontal rectangular channel where open-cell metal foams of different pore densities such as 10, 20 and 30PPI (per pore inches) were situated. All of the bounding walls of the channel are subjected to various uniform heat fluxes. The pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics are presented by two important parametric values, Nusselt number (NuH) and friction factor (f), as functions of Reynolds number (ReH) and the wall heat flux (q). The Reynolds number (ReH) based on the channel height of the rectangular channel is varied from 600 to 33 000, while the Grashof number (GrDh) ranged from approximately 105-107 depending on q. Based on the experimental data, new em...
A new stem cell-scaffold construct based on poly-l-lactide (PLLA) nanofibers grafted with collagen (PLLA-COL) and cord blood-derived unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSC) were proposed to hold promising characteristics for bone tissue engineering. Fabricated nanofibers were characterized using SEM, ATR-FTIR, tensile and contact angle measurements. The capacity of PLLA, plasma-treated PLLA (PLLA-pl) and PLLA-COL scaffolds to support proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of USSC was evaluated using MTT assay and common osteogenic markers such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium mineral deposition and bone-related genes. All three scaffolds showed nanofibrous and porous structure with suitable physical characteristics. Higher proliferation and viability of USSC was observe...
A linear diffusion model serves as the basis for determination of an effective radon diffusion coefficient in concrete. The coefficient was needed to later allow quantitative prediction of radon accumulation within and behind concrete walls after application of an impervious radon barrier. A resolution of certain discrepancies noted in the literature in the use of an effective diffusion coefficient to model diffusion of a radioactive gas through a porous medium is suggested. An outline of factors expected to affect the concrete physical structure and the effective diffusion coefficient of radon through it is also presented. Finally, a field method for evaluating effective radon diffusion coefficients in concrete is proposed and results of measurements performed on a concrete foundation wall are compared with similar published values of gas diffusion coefficients in concrete. (author).
Injections of fuel-grade ethanol (95% v/v ethanol, 5% v/v hydrocarbon mixture as a denaturant) near the water table were conducted in two-dimensional physical models tightly packed with fine sands under varying water-table conditions. As the fuel migrated in the porous media following injection, the denaturant phase separated leaving a residual Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (LNAPL) phase that occupied a region with a volume similar to that of an equal-sized spill of 100% LNAPL without ethanol. When the water table was raised, as may be expected following a catastrophic release that reaches groundwater, most of the ethanol-fuel mixture was mobilized and the vertical distribution of the generated LNAPL was increased. The lower boundary of the residual LNAPL was established during the initia...
Abstract Nanocomposites based on SnO2 with carbon scaffold were used as highly porous anode films on Ni substrates. The films were obtained by in situ deposition of the particles without any binder or excess carbon black avoiding any secondary treatment. Compared to similarly prepared uncoated SnO2 nanoparticles as well as conventionally prepared powder samples the capacity loss of the in situ deposited nanocomposite films is significantly reduced. Thus, this newly developed anode material combined with in situ film formation is a promising approach for high capacity anodes in Li-ion batteries. SEM-micrograph of a SnO2/C nanoparticle film.
The development of new electro-optical instrumentation for studying the annular dispersed two-phase flow regime is described. The system measures the thickness of the water film and droplet size and velocity distributions which would be encountered in such a flow regime. The water film thickness is measured by an improved capacitance method with a short time constant using newly developed sensor electrodes. The electrodes are made flush with the inner wall of a cylindrical tube and do not disturb the flow. In the test equipment, steady, laminar flow of water along the inner wall of the tube is controlled by appropriate valves and a porous jacket while droplets are introduced by means of a special spray nozzle.
The deterioration of AA2024, AA6061 and AA7475 anodised in an environmentally-compliant tartaric acid/sulphuric acid electrolyte has been examined as a function of the immersion time in the electrolyte after termination of anodising. By transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, degradation of the porous oxide film was qualitatively observed on AA2024. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that AA2024 and AA7075 were more sensitive to prolonged immersion in the anodising electrolyte compared with AA6061, due to increased barrier layer thinning rates and increased susceptibility to localized corrosion. Salt spray tests confirmed the previous, indicating decay of anticorrosion performance for AA2024 and AA7075.
Problems are discussed of heat exchange tubes of Westinghouse type vertical steam generators exhibiting corrosion damage such as point corrosion, planar corrosion, tube denting, corrosion stress cracking, crevice corrosion, fretting corrosion and intergranular corrosion. Attention is also paid to problems of WWER-440 type horizontal steam generators, where the level fluctuation area is critical; noncompact porous deposits of the corrosion products give rise to crevice effects and cause significant concentration of chloride ions and other additions. This problem can be partly resolved by a modification of the collector design at the level variation area. An additional measure is the production of steel 08Kh18N10T with a very low level of harmful elements and inclusions. (Z.M.). 3 figs., 11 refs.
Humans are exposed to chemicals in contaminated groundwaters that are used as sources of drinking water. Chemicals contaminate groundwater resources as a result of waste disposal methods for toxic chemicals, overuse of agricultural chemicals, and leakage of chemicals into the subsurface from buried tanks used to hold fluid chemicals and fuels. In the process, both the solid portions of the subsurface and the groundwaters that flow through these porous structures have become contaminated. Restoring these aquifers and minimizing human exposure to the parent chemicals and their degradation products will require the identification of suitable biomarkers of human exposure; better understandings of how exposure can be related to disease outcome; better understandings of mechanisms of transport of pollutants in the heterogeneous structures of the subsurface; and field testing and evaluation of methods proposed to restore and cleanup contaminated aquifers. In this review, ...
Using methods of the Moessbauer spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thermodynamic analysis of phase formation in silicate multi-component melts, the detailed study of composition, morphology, and properties of fly ash microspheres resulting from combustion of three coals (Irsha-Borodinskii, Kuznetskii and Ekibastuzskii) was carried out. About 60 microspherical products with an iron content of 2-94 wt.% Fe_2O_3 were obtained. The ranges of microsphere composition, suitable for liquid radioactive waste solidification in the forms of iron phosphate (36-94 wt.% Fe_2O_3) and aluminosilicate (2-20 wt.% Fe_2O_3) ceramics were determined. The possibility of producing porous materials and specific microspherical sorbents, based on coal fly ash cenospheres and their application for mobilisation of liquid radioactive waste solidification was demonstrated. (author)
The fully developed electrically conducting micropolar fluid flow and heat transfer along a semi-infinite vertical porous moving plate is studied including the effect of viscous heating and in the presence of a magnetic field applied transversely to the direction of the flow. The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model which includes the effects of boundary and inertia forces is employed. The differential equations governing the problem have been transformed by a similarity transformation into a system of non-dimensional differential equations which are solved numerically by element free Galerkin method. Profiles for velocity, microrotation and temperature are presented for a wide range of plate velocity, viscosity ratio, Darcy number, Forchhimer number, magnetic field parameter, heat absorption ...
Coir pith (CP), an abundantly available lignocellulosic agricultural waste from the local coir industry has been found to be an effective biosorbent for removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions. Transition metal hexacyanoferrates, in particular nickel hexacyano ferrate (NiHCF) also referred to as Prussian blue analogue (PBA), is known to be highly selective for removal of cesium from aqueous solutions. A novel method for the synthesis of PBA inside the porous matrix of coir pith and use of this composite material for the sorption of cesium is described in this paper. Equilibrium experiments showed that the sorption capacity of coir pith nearly doubled due to the modification. Owing to its low cost and rapid sorption kinetics, this hybrid material seems to be one of the most promising compounds for the recovery of cesium from liquid nuclear wastes. (author)
The formation of a porous coating is the decisive feature for the bio-compatibility of silica-free calcium phosphate glass ceramics on alloy surfaces like the #beta#-Ti structured Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr used in this work. The ceramic composition is highly important: 50CaO-40P_2O_5-7Na_2O-3TiO_2 glass powder produces a pore-free coating unable to bind hydroxyapatite, whereas 60CaO-30P_2O_5-7Na_2O-3TiO_2 glass incorporates pores from which a crystalline hydroxyapatite phase can grow over the surface from simulated body fluid (see Figure). (Abstract Copyright [2003], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)
MINC stands for Multiple INteracting continua.'' It is an approximate method for modeling fluid and heat flow in fractured- porous media, developed by Pruess and Narasimhan (1982, 1985) at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. The method is applicable to flow processes in which an important aspect is the exchange of fluid, heat, or chemical species between fractures and unfractured rock. Examples include production and injection operations in fractured geothermal reservoirs, water-flooding, steamflooding, and other methods for enhanced oil recovery from fractured reservoirs, as well as chemical transport and contaminant migration in fractured rock. MINC can only be applied to media in which the fractures are sufficiently well connected so that a continuum treatment of flow in the fracture network can be made.
Bacterial cellulose produced by the gram-negative bacterium Gluconacetobacter xylinum was found to be an excellent native starting material for preparing shaped ultra-lightweight cellulose aerogels. The procedure comprises thorough washing and sterilization of the aquogel, quantitative solvent exchange and subsequent drying with supercritical carbon dioxide at 40 degreeC and 100 bar. The average density of the obtained dry cellulose aerogels is only about 8 mg cm-3 which is comparable to the most lightweight silica aerogels and distinctly lower than all values for cellulosic aerogels obtained from plant cellulose so far. SEM, ESEM and nitrogen adsorption experiments at 77 K reveal an open-porous network structure that consists of a comparatively high percentage of large mesopores and small...
In this study, a novel graphene nanosheets (GNSs) coated solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was prepared by immobilizing microwave synthesized GNSs on a stainless steel wire. Microwave synthesized GNSs were verified by X-ray diffraction, field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). GNS-SPME fiber was characterized using FE-SEM and the results showed the GNS coating was homogeneous, porous, and highly adherent to the surface of the stainless steel fiber. The performance and feasibility of the GNS-SPME fiber was evaluated under one-step microwave assisted (MA) headspace (HS) SPME followed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection for five organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in aqueous samples. Parameters influencing the extra...
A novel liquid phase alkylation of aniline with methanol over Zn/Cu salts modified kaolin assisted with a pair of porous carbon electrode in slurry-bed reactor under constant current intensity, room temperature and atmospheric pressure was reported. The Zn/Cu salts modified kaolin catalysts were synthesized and characterized by infrared spectrometer (IR), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which showed that the transition metals were completely supported on kaolins structure and formed a pored one. The effect parameters, such as initial pH, electrolysis time, metal ratio with kaolin and salts composition in this electrochemical catalytic system, were studied. The procedure was inspected by ultraviolet-visible spectrum (UV-vis), and the product distributi...
A model is described for simulating thermal hydraulic and chemical conditions within fuel crud deposits. Heat transfer takes place by wick boiling in which water flows through the porous deposit and evaporates into steam at the surface of chimneys. The transport and chemistry of dissolved species within the deposit is also modelled. This chemistry includes the equilibrium chemistry of Li/boric acid species, the equilibrium chemistry of Fe/Ni species and the radiolysis chemistry of water. The unique feature of this model is that the chemistry is coupled to the thermal hydraulics via the increase in the saturation temperature with the concentration of dissolved species. This has a profound effect on evaporative heat transfer within thick deposits, leading to conditions that explain the precipitation of LiBO{sub 2} and the possible formation of bonaccordite. The model helps understand several crud scrape observations, including why AOA is observed to occur for a crud ...
The thermal decrease of the order parameter can empirically be described by a single T{sup {epsilon}} power law with an exponent {epsilon} which depends on the dimensionality of the magnetic interactions and on whether the spin quantum number is integral or half-integral. We present experimental examples in which the order parameter shows a crossover between different T{sup {epsilon}} power laws as a function of temperature. This indicates that the magnetic interactions can change their dimensionality as a function of temperature. (orig.)
Determining which kinds of roots are likely to be consumed by root herbivores may improve our understanding of the mechanistic control on fine root dynamics. Here, we tested the hypothesis that root herbivores prefer to consume the distal lower order roots in their branching networks. Insecticide was applied to soil to quantify effects of root herbivores on root biomass and production in the first five orders (the distal roots numbered as first-order) in Fraxinus mandshurica and Larix gmelinii plantations from May 2008 to July 2009. Root morphology, chemistry, anatomy and physiology were measured simultaneously across branching orders. Among the first five order roots, significant consumptions by herbivores were found only for the two distal lower order roots throughout growing seasons, wi...
Using ultra-high-frequency data extracted from the order flows of 23 stocks traded on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, we study the empirical regularities of order placement in the opening call auction, cool period and continuous auction. The distributions of relative logarithmic prices against reference prices in the three time periods are qualitatively the same with quantitative discrepancies. The order placement behavior is asymmetric between buyers and sellers and between the inside-the-book orders and outside-the-book orders. In addition, the conditional distributions of relative prices in the continuous auction are independent of the bid-ask spread and volatility. These findings are crucial to build an empirical behavioral microscopic model based on order flows for Chinese stocks.
Better understanding and modelling of three-phase flow through porous media is of great interest, especially for improved oil recovery methods such as gas injection processes. Early theoretical and experimental studies have already demonstrated that the wettability characteristics of the solid surface and the spreading characteristics of the fluid system hold the key roles. This observation is confirmed by our theoretical results using DLP theory on the stability and the thickness of static oil films. In most of the works related to three-phase flow processes, homogeneous wettability is assumed. There exist only a few studies demonstrating the tremendous impact of the wettability heterogeneities on gas injection. The objective of the present work is twofold: to demonstrate the effect of small scale wettability heterogeneities on gas injection efficiency, and to develop a tool to predict this impact for various patterns and spatial distributions. To this end an ...
The classical Stefan problem describes the motion of a solidification front through a uniform half-space in response to a step change in temperature on its boundary. The predictions of such a model can be applied quite accurately to the freezing of water in a porous medium so long as the pore geometry remains unaltered by the passing solidification front. It is observed, however, that in fine-grained porous media, ice has a tendency to form in segregated horizontal bands, known as ice lenses, that disrupt the regular pattern of heat flow through their enhanced consumption of latent heat. This process, known as frost heave, causes significant ground deformation in regions subject to prolonged freezing, and is one of the most important weathering processes in polar and alpine regions. Recent improvements to our understanding of the mechanics of ice lens nucleation and growth are applied here to predict the conditions and characteristics of frost ...
Our institute has been investigating laser-produced tin, lithium and xenon plasma for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source of EUV lithography system, and found the highest conversion efficiency of 3% at 13.5 nm in 2% bandwidth. In the present paper, we introduce fabrication methods of density-controlled tin targets to generate relatively monochromatic EUV, and higher conversion efficiency than bulk tin. The first method is the nano-template method, where liquid tin solution was immersed into a polymer film with monodispersed size nano-particle. The density can be controlled by tin concentration of the solution. The target can be classified into mass-limited target. We have shown a tendency of monochromatic EUV emission around 13.5 nm with decreasing of tin density. The intensity was higher than tin foil with bulk density. The tendency has a merit to mitigate heat effect of the first EUV mirror. The fabrication method has another merit to control not only density but also the pore ...
Our institute has been investigating laser-produced tin, lithium and xenon plasma for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source of EUV lithography system, and found the highest conversion efficiency of 3% at 13.5 nm in 2% bandwidth. In the present paper, we introduce fabrication methods of density-controlled tin targets to generate relatively monochromatic EUV, and higher conversion efficiency than bulk tin. The first method is the nano-template method, where liquid tin solution was immersed into a polymer film with monodispersed size nano-particle. The density can be controlled by tin concentration of the solution. The target can be classified into mass-limited target. We have shown a tendency of monochromatic EUV emission around 13.5 nm with decreasing of tin density. The intensity was higher than tin foil with bulk density. The tendency has a merit to mitigate heat effect of the first EUV mirror. The fabrication method has another merit to control not only density but also the pore ...
porous silica ceramics were prepared(with HCL catalyst)using H{sub 2}O/TEOS molar ratios of 2.6-59.0, with the EtOH/TEOS ratio fixed. After preparing 9 kinds of sol, the followings were investigated; measurement of the gelation time, thermal analyses by TG/DTA, property analyses of the intermediates by FT-IR and X-ray diffractometry with dried samples, analyses of SiO{sub 2} polymer by FT-IR, the investigation of specific surface area and pore size distribution by N{sub 2}-adsorption isotherm, and structural change of SiO{sub 2} polymer and pore morphology by TEM observation, with samples heat-treated to 500 deg. C. In the concentrations of investigated compositions and catalyst, gelation time showed a minimum at ca. 11 moles of water per one mole of TEOS, the highest degree of polymerization at ca.8-18 moles, and the largest specific surface area at ca. 11 moles, which means that the polymerization proceeded fastest at ca. 11 moles of water. In conclusion, the ...
The overall goal of the proposed project is to explore the use of partitioning tracers to characterize dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) in aquifer systems. Bulk-phase partitioning tracers will be investigated to detect and determine DNAPL saturation, while interface partitioning tracers will be investigated to measure the area of the DNAPL-water interface. The specific objectives that will be addressed to accomplish this goal are: (1) Investigate the use of partitioning tracers to detect and determine both the saturation and interfacial area of DNAPLs in saturated porous media. (2) Investigate the effect of rate-limited mass transfer on the transport behavior of partitioning tracers. (3) Investigate the effect of porous-media heterogeneity on the transport behavior of partitioning tracers. (4) Develop and evaluate mathematical models capable of simulating the transport of partitioning tracers in complex systems. This proposal outlines an ...
The modification of polymers by radiation grafting has been utilized for several decades. The penetrability of gamma rays allows to modify the internal surfaces of porous materials retaining its mechanical properties. In recent years applications of these materials to obtain chromatographic supports and biocatalysts have been reported. In this work, we described the grafting of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto a macroporous polysulfone polymer. Reproducible amount of grafting, from 10% to 60% was obtained by choosing favourable monomer concentration and gamma radiation doses from 6 kGy up. Afterwards, iminodiacetic acid (IDA) and amino phenyl arsine oxide (PAO) were covalently attached to the grafted polyGMA, in correspondence with the grafting degree. Later on, a recombinant histidin-patch thioredoxin protein (HP-rTrx) was immobilized onto this surface by two different ways, involving specific protein orientations. The first one involves an IDA-Ni{sup 2+} complex ...
In this dissertation, we design and analyze efficient numerical methods for obtaining accurate solutions to model problems arising in fuel cells. A basic fuel cell model consists of five principles of conservation, namely, mass, momentum, species, charges (electrons and ions), and thermal energy. Overall, transport equations couple with electrochemical processes through source terms to describe reaction kinetics and electro-osmotic drag in the polymer electrolyte. To model multiphase species transport in the porous media and the gas channel of fuel cells, we consider a multiphase mixture model framework. The diffusivity of the two-phase mixture water conservation equation in this model is nonlinear, discontinuous, and degenerate. To handle this difficulty, we developed efficient and fast nonlinear iterative solvers based on the Kirchhoff transformation and nonlinear Dirichlet-Neumann domain decomposition methods. To model the coupling between the multiphase flow in ...
Simulation and experimental results on the transport of microbes and nutrients in one-dimensional cores are presented, and the development of a three-dimensional, three-phase, multiple-component numerical model to describe the microbial transport and oil recovery in porous media is described. The change of rock's wettability and associated relative permeability values after microbial treatments were accounted for in the model for additional oil recovery. Porosity and permeability reductions due to cell clogging have been considered and the production of gas by microbial metabolism has been incorporated. Governing equations for microbial and nutrient transport are coupled with continuity and flow equations under conditions appropriate for a black oil reservoir. The computer simulator has been used to determine the effects of various transport parameters on microbial transport phenomena. The model can accurately describe the observed transport of microbes, ...
Simulation and experimental results on the transport of microbes and nutrients in one-dimensional cores are presented, and the development of a three-dimensional, three-phase, multiple-component numerical model to describe the microbial transport and oil recovery in porous media is described. The change of rock`s wettability and associated relative permeability values after microbial treatments were accounted for in the model for additional oil recovery. Porosity and permeability reductions due to cell clogging have been considered and the production of gas by microbial metabolism has been incorporated. Governing equations for microbial and nutrient transport are coupled with continuity and flow equations under conditions appropriate for a black oil reservoir. The computer simulator has been used to determine the effects of various transport parameters on microbial transport phenomena. The model can accurately describe the observed transport of microbes, nutrients, ...
A Norwegian Research Program on Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) in North Sea reservoirs was launched in 1992. Microbial methods, applied in this context, is a part of this program. The scope, the methodological approach, and results from the three first years are presented. Water profile control, using biomass to block high permeable zones of a reservoir, has been investigated using nitrate-reducing bacteria in the injected sea water as plugging agents. Emphasis has been put on developing a process that does not have disadvantages secondary to the process itself, such as souring and impairment of the overall injectivity of the field. Data from continuous culture studies indicate that souring may successfully be mitigated by adding nitrite to the injected seawater. The morphology and size of generic-nitrate-reducing seawater bacteria have been investigated. Screening of growth-promoting nutrients has been carried out, and some sources were detected as favorable. Transport and penetration of ...
A laboratory model of a TPV generator in the kilowatt range was developed and tested. It was based on methane/oxygen combustion and a spectrally matched selective emitter/collector pair (ytterbia emitter-silicon PV cell). The system demonstrated a power output of 2.4 kilowatts at an overall efficiency of 4.5{percent} without recuperation of heat from the exhaust gases. Key aspects of the effort include: (1) process development and fabrication of mechanically strong selective emitter ceramic textile materials; (2) design of a stirred reactor emitter/burner capable of handling up to 175,000 Btu/hr fuel flows; (3) support to the developer of the production silicon concentrator cells capable of withstanding TPV environments; (4) assessing the apparent temperature exponent of selective emitters; and (5) determining that the remaining generator efficiency improvements are readily defined combustion engineering problems that do not necessitate breakthrough technology. The fiber matrix ...
We have successfully incorporated high surface area particles of titanate ion exchange materials (monosodium titanate and crystalline silicotitanate) with acceptable particle size distribution into porous and inert support membrane fibrils consisting of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon(reg_sign)), polyethylene and cellulose materials. The resulting membrane sheets, under laboratory conditions, were used to evaluate the removal of surrogate radioactive materials for cesium-137 and strontium-90 from high caustic nuclear waste simulants. These membrane supports met the nominal requirement for nonchemical interaction with the embedded ion exchange materials and were porous enough to allow sufficient liquid flow. Some of this 47-mm size stamped out prototype titanium impregnated ion exchange membrane discs was found to remove more than 96% of dissolved cesium-133 and strontium-88 from a caustic nuclear waste salt simulants. Since in traditional ion ...
The Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller is widely used in industries for process control applications. Fractional-order PID controllers are known to outperform their integer-order counterparts. In this paper, we propose a new technique of fractional-order PID controller synthesis based on peak overshoot and rise-time specifications. Our approach is to construct an objective function, the optimization of which yields a possible solution to the design problem. This objective function is optimized using two popular bio-inspired stochastic search algorithms, namely Particle Swarm Optimization and Differential Evolution. With the help of a suitable example, the superiority of the designed fractional-order PID controller to an integer-order PID controller is affirmed and a comparative study of the efficacy of the two above algorithms in solving the optimization problem is also ...
We investigate ordering properties of two-dimensional granular materials using several shapes created by welding ball bearings together. Ordered domains form much more easily in two than in three dimensions, even when configurations lack long-range order. The onset of ordered domains occurs near a packing density of 0.8, a phenomenon observed previously for disks. One of our shapes, the trapezoid, has packings that remain disordered and near the transition density even after annealing by shaking. Although random packings are unstable for disks and many other shapes in two dimensions, trapezoid packings provide an approach to studying two-dimensional randomness. We also find that the rotational symmetry of a shape is an excellent predictor of how easily it orders, and a potential guide to identifying two-dimensional shapes that remain random after annealing.
Our group has developed a physician-operated inpatient order-entry system (BICS-OE). Mindful of the problems inherent in bringing a radical cultural change such as this to the hospital, we conducted...Full Text Available
ObjectiveComputerized physician order entry with clinical decision support has been shown to improve medication safety in adult inpatients, but few data are available regarding its...Full Text Available
We show that the recently constructed complete and ''minimal'' third-order meson-baryon effective chiral Lagrangian can be further reduced from 84 to 78 independent operators. (orig.)
A process is described for covering methane to a higher order hydrocarbon comprising contacting a gaseous reactant consisting of methane with a phosphate-containing catalyst for a sufficient period of time and at an effective temperature to provide the phosphate-containing catalyst consisting essentially of the higher order hydrocarbon. The catalyst is represented by a formula.
In this paper, the authors first describe a fourth order accurate finite difference discretization for both the Laplace equation and the heat equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions on irregular domains. In the case of the heat equation, they use an i...
In Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Image (DT-MRI) processing a 2ndorder tensor has been commonly used to approximate the diffusivity function at each lattice...Full Text Available
BackgroundThe order Tetraodontiformes consists of approximately 429 species of fishes in nine families. Members of the order exhibit striking morphological diversity and radiated...Full Text Available
Incorporation of clinical decision support (CDS) capabilities is required to realize the greatest benefits from computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. Discussions at a conference on CDS in...Full Text Available
The sharp, temperature induced, continuous valence transition in EuPd/sub 2/Si/sub 2/ is drastically changed by doping with Sn at the Si site up to 5 at.%. Only a first order valence transition occurs for a 3% Sn doped sample and the 2/sup +/ component which survives the valence transition orders magnetically at 4.2 K. No valence transition at all occurs for a 5% Sn doped sample right up to 1.9 K and magnetic ordering sets in around 30 K.
Dec 15, 2010 ... If applicable to the agreement, that the market based pricing ...... reduce the price in order to comply with market-based pricing, ...
This paper reports on high resolution electron microscopy used to investigate the effect of electron irradiation induced oxygen loss on the states of partial order in YBa_2Cu_3O_z. Contrast effects visible in the [001] zone image as a result of the degree of the out-of-plane correlation of these ordered states are investigated. Using statistical simulations to aid in the analysis of the HREM images, an interpretation based on a kinetically limited evolution of the variation of long range [001] ordering is proposed.
Particle Swarm Optimization technique offers optimal or suboptimal solution to multidimensional rough objective functions. In this paper, this optimization technique is used for designing fractional order PID controllers that give better performance than their integer order counterparts. Controller synthesis is based on required peak overshoot and rise time specifications. The characteristic equation is minimized to obtain an optimum set of controller parameters. Results show that this design method can effectively tune the parameters of the fractional order controller.
A set of Maple V R.3/4 computer algebra routines for the analytical solving of 1st. order ODEs, using Lie group symmetry methods, is presented. The set of commands includes a 1st. order ODE-solver and routines for, among other things: the explicit determination of the coefficients of the infinitesimal symmetry generator; the construction of the most general invariant 1st. order ODE under given symmetries; the determination of the canonical coordinates of the underlying invariant group; and the testing of the returned results.
... order probabilistic modelling, multisensor monitoring of ... object recognition, image registration and point ... of the Berkeley Continuous Media Toolkit. ...
A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) must maintain a balance between the hydration level required for efficient proton transfer and excess liquid water that can impede the flow of gases to the electrodes where the reactions take place. Therefore, it is critically important to understand the two-phase flow of liquid water combined with either the hydrogen (anode) or air (cathode) streams. In this paper, we describe the design of an in situ test apparatus that enables investigation of two-phase channel flow within PEMFCs, including the flow of water from the porous gas diffusion layer (GDL) into the channel gas flows; the flow of water within the bipolar plate channels themselves; and the dynamics of flow through multiple channels connected to common manifolds which maintain a uniform pressure differential across all possible flow paths. These two-phase flow effects have been studied at relatively low operating temperatures under steady-state conditions and ...
The microbial transport simulator (MTS) is a three-dimensional, three-phase, multiple-component numerical model that permits the study of the transport of microorganisms and nutrients in porous media. Microbial parameters incorporated into MTS include: Microbial growth and decay, microbial deposition, chemotaxis, diffusion, convective dispersion, tumbling, and nutrient consumption. Governing equations for microbial and nutrient transport are coupled with continuity and flow equations under conditions appropriate for a black oil reservoir. The model`s mathematical formulations and preparation procedures of data files for conducting simulations using MTS are described. A general background of microbial transport simulation is given in Section I and the governing equations, mechanisms, and numerical solutions of MTS are given in Section II. Explanations for preparing an input data file with reservoir and microbial transport data are described in Section III, and ...
This report summarizes the findings of a five-month LDRD project funded through Sandia's NTM Investment Area. The project was aimed at providing the foundation for the development of advanced functional materials through the application of ultrathin coatings of microporous or mesoporous materials onto the surface of substrates such as silicon wafers. Prior art teaches that layers of microporous materials such as zeolites may be applied as, e.g., sensor platforms or gas separation membranes. These layers, however, are typically several microns to several hundred microns thick. For many potential applications, vast improvements in the response of a device could be realized if the thickness of the porous layer were reduced to tens of nanometers. However, a basic understanding of how to synthesize or fabricate such ultra-thin layers is lacking. This report describes traditional and novel approaches to the growth of layers of microporous materials on silicon wafers. The ...
A surplus USN 40 mm ammunition can was subjected to a variety of tests. Pressure tests were carried out with nitrogen gas, followed by the venting of actual Li/SO/sub 2/ cells and batteries inside the can. A fire test was also conducted on a can packed with 10 each 10-cell batteries surrounded by vermiculite. Test results indicate the US Navy (USN) 40-mm ammunition can is suitable as a shipping container for Li/SO/sub 2/ batteries on passenger aircraft. To provide a further measure of safety, a sulfur dioxide getter was incorporated into the can. Studies indicated a commercial material, ASC carbon, is suitable for this purpose. The granular material was packaged in porous paper desiccant bags and placed in the can with the batteries and vermiculite. The batteries were vented inside the sealed can and the internal pressure monitored. Pressure returned to normal within several minutes, indicating that this arrangement should prevent sulfur dioxide (SO/sub 2/) gas ...
Accelerated aging tests on tin-oxide-coated anodized aluminium selective absorber surfaces have been performed. It is shown that the tin oxide layer provides excellent protection for the anodized surface. The thermal stability of the double layer is equal to, or better than, the stability of the bare anodized surface. Both surfaces degrade very slowly at 450deg C. The anodic layer is porous and therefore not very scratch resistant and it degrades when exposed to humidity, both acidic and alcaline. It is shown that the tin oxide film, which is hard and chemically very stable, almost completely protects the anodized surface from chemical degradation. The mechanical wear resistance is also considerably improved. The optical selectivity does not quite match that of the the anodized surface, but the remarkable stability together with the solar parameters of {alpha}=0.91 and hemispherical emittance {epsilon}= 0.16 (normal emittance {epsilon}{sub n}=0.12) make this ...
The effect of temperature (60-280{sup o}C) on the properties of the oxide films formed on Alloy 800 in 0.1 M NaCl and 0.1 M Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4} aqueous solutions was studied by in situ AC impedance spectroscopy and polarization in the Fe(CN{sub 6}){sup -3}/Fe(CN){sub 6}{sup -4} redox system. The anodic behavior under the same experimental conditions was examined by potentiodynamic polarization techniques. In both solutions the passive film was found to become more porous, and hence less protective, with increasing temperature. However, at temperatures above 150{sup o}C, the loss of film protectiveness is more pronounced in chloride solutions, in which pitting occurs. Pitting morphology was found to be strongly temperature dependent: isolated and deep pits were found up to 200{sup o}C whereas at higher temperatures a broad, shallow and more generalized type of attack was detected. No effect of temperature on the defect structure of the semiconductor oxide film was ...
Water transport in conifers occurs through single-celled tracheids that are connected to one another via intertracheid pit membranes. These membranes have two components: the porous margo, which allows water to pass through the membrane, and the impermeable torus, which functions to isolate gas-filled tracheids. During drought, tracheids can become air filled and thus hydraulically dysfunctional, a result of air entering through the pit membrane and nucleating cavitation in the water column. What are the hydraulic tradeoffs associated with cavitation resistance at the pit level, and how do they vary within the structural components of the intertracheid pit? To address these questions, we examined pit structure in 15 species of Cupressaceae exhibiting a broad range of cavitation resistances. Across species, cavitation resistance was most closely correlated to the ratio of the torus to pit aperture diameter but did not vary systematically with margo porosity. ...
Silica and bridged polysilsesquioxane aerogels are low-density materials that are attractive for applications such as thermal insulation, porous separation media or catalyst supports, adsorbents, and cometary dust capture agents. However, aerogels are notoriously weak and brittle making it difficult to handle and machine monoliths into desired forms. This complication prevents the development of many applications that would otherwise benefit from the use of the low-density materials. Here, we will describe our efforts to chemically modify and mechanically enhance silica-based aerogels using chemical vapor techniques without sacrificing their characteristic low densities. Monolithic silica and organic-bridged polysilsesquioxane aerogels were prepared by sol-gel polymerization of the respective methoxysilane monomers followed by supercritical carbon dioxide drying of the gels. Then the gels were reactively modified with silylating agents to demonstrate the viability ...
Thin, lightweight, and flexible gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) based on freestanding entangled networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) decorated with Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) are tested as the air-breathing cathode in a zinc-air battery. The SWNT networks provide a highly porous surface for active oxygen absorption and diffusion. The high conductivity of SWNTs coupled with the catalytic activity of AgNPs for oxygen reduction leads to an improvement in the performance of the zinc-air cell. By modulating the pH value and the reaction time, different sizes of AgNPs are decorated uniformly on the SWNTs, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. AgNPs with sizes of 3-5 nm double the capacity and specific energy of a zinc-air battery as compared with bare SWNTs. The simplified, lightweight architecture shows significant advantages over conventional carbon-based GDEs in terms of weight, thickness and conductivity, and hence ...
Based on information contained in literature, patents and catalogs a review is presented of powder-rolling metallurgy abroad. Statistics are given on the output of powder metallurgy in several countries. In the USA both the dense type of rolled metal for manufacturing various machine parts and the porous variety for making filters are produced. Four main types of technological processes are analysed: the usual flow chart for cold rolling, rolling of preheated powder, rolling in free-flowing state, and rolling with heated rollers. Of these four processes the first is most widely used. Fowders consisting of spherical particles (heat-stable alloys from nickel or high titanium alloys), which are difficult to work with, have not yet found wide practical application in powder metallurgy abroad. Literature data show that granulated heat-resistant alloys can be cold-treated under pressure only after they are powdered. The best methods for pulverizing are: cold-stream ...
Most palladium thin film based hydrogen gas sensors have response and recovery times that are too long to make them useful in vehicular and stationary gas leak detection applications. In contrast, a palladium-silver thin film based microcantilever (MC) hydrogen gas microsensor is reported herein with near ideal response characteristics for use in these hydrogen economy related applications. Specifically, 3-10 second response and recovery times have been measured for these sensors in contrast to previous sensor response measurements of several to tens of minutes using Pd thin film and MC based sensing techniques. The much reduced response times observed in the present study are attributed to a wet chemical Pd-Ag thin film deposition technique and a gas conditioning protocol that produces a highly nanostructured, porous film that rapidly adsorbs and desorbs H2, allowing rapid equilibration with the H2 concentration in the surrounding air. The wet chemical process and ...
Current bioartificial extra-corporeal systems are bioreactors where cells are separated from the surrounding media by porous polymeric membranes. The present work focuses on the design of membranes that allow the differential diffusion of plasma metabolites and proteins such as immunoglobulin (IgG). This design will improve catabolites removal and reduce possible immune response and virus infection. We demonstrate the feasibility to synthesize the hydrogels confined to the macroporous structure of membranes by radiation-induced in situ polymerization. The hollow-fiber membranes were soaked in aqueous monomeric solution, rinsed and irradiated while submerged in oil. This procedure confined the hydrogel to the void internal volume of the pores of the membrane. Hydrogels of polyacrylamide and polyHEMA were synthesized this way by irradiation at 10 kGy. Hydraulic permeability and diffusion of glucose, albumin and IgG were measured in these hydrogel-filled membranes. ...
The variation of metallic particle size and sample porosity significantly alters the dynamic mechanical properties of high density granular composite materials processed using a cold isostatically pressed mixture of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), aluminum (Al), and tungsten (W) powders. Quasistatic and dynamic experiments are performed with identical constituent mass fractions with variations in the size of the W particles and pressing conditions. The relatively weak polymer matrix allows the strength and fracture modes of this material to be governed by the granular type behavior of agglomerated metal particles. A higher ultimate compressive strength was observed in relatively high porosity samples with small W particles compared to those with coarse W particles in all experiments. Mesoscale granular force chains of the metallic particles explain this unusual phenomenon as observed in hydrocode simulations of a drop-weight test. Macrocracks forming below the critical failure strain ...
Using the transfer matrix method we calculate the omni-directional band gap of a 1-D photonic crystal consisting of alternating layers of two dielectric materials A and B with refractive index n{sub A} and n{sub B}, respectively. The refractive index of layer A is constant and the refractive index of layer B varies according to the envelope of a Gaussian function. We find that under certain circumstances it is possible to obtain 100% reflectivity for both polarizations and any value of the incident angle of the electromagnetic waves. Although the structure considered does not posses a higher omni-directional band gap than the periodic sequence of low and high constant refractive indexes, it can be used to produce a new type of omni-directional mirrors without abrupt interfaces. (copyright 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)
Two computational problems were worked on for this study. The first chapter examines the option of coal combustion using oxygen feed with carbon dioxide recycle to control the adiabatic flame temperature. Computer simulations using an existing state-of-the-art 3-dimensional computer code for turbulent reacting flows with reacting particles were employed to study the effects of increased carbon dioxide mole fraction on the char burnout, radiant heat transfer, metal partitioning, and NOx formation. The second chapter compares assumptions for the CO/CO{sub 2} ratio at the surface of mineral inclusions made in previous studies to predictions obtained from a pseudo-steady state kinetic model (SKIPPY) for a single porous particle. The detailed kinetic simulations from SKIPPY for varying particle sizes and bulk gas compositions were used to develop algebraic expressions for the CO/CO{sub 2} ratio that can be incorporated into metal vaporization sub-models run as a post ...
Many metal extraction operations, such as leaching of copper, leaching of precious metals, and reduction of metal oxides to metal in high-temperature furnaces, require agglomeration of ore to ensure that reactive liquids or gases are evenly distributed throughout the ore being processed. Agglomeration of ore into coarse, porous masses achieves this even distribution of fluids by preventing fine particles from migrating and clogging the spaces and channels between the larger ore particles. Binders are critically necessary to produce agglomerates that will not break down during processing. However, for many important metal extraction processes there are no binders known that will work satisfactorily at a reasonable cost. A primary example of this is copper heap leaching, where there are no binders currently encountered in this acidic environment process. As a result, operators of many facilities see a large loss of process efficiency due to their inability to take ...
Mullite long fibres, which are a candidate for high temperature applications were prepared by sol-gel method from water solvent systems. They were synthesized from three different combinations of raw materials as follows: (1):Al(O{sub 1}C{sub 3}H{sub 7}){sub 3}, Al-nitrate and Si(OC{sub 2}H{sub 5}){sub 4} (TEOS), (2):Al metal, Al-chloride and TEOS, (3):Al metal, Al-nitrate and TEOS. In the methods (1) and (2), very fine SiO{sub 2} aerosol particles were also used partially replacing TEOS. The prepared solutions were condensed and examined the spinability by a hand drawing method. Dense and crack free mullite fibres were prepared from the methods (1) and (3) by firing up to 1100 C. Whereas the fibres prepared from the method (2) were less SiO{sub 2} than mullite composition and were porous by the firing due to evaporation of residual Cl ions at high temperature. (orig.) 10 refs.
We show that the morphology and the luminescence properties of ZnO layers produced by magnetron sputtering can be controlled by technological parameters of sputtering, particularly by the ratio of argon to oxygen gases in the gas flow during the growth process. Smooth and flat layers were produced with a high Ar/O ratio, while porous layers with various morphologies were obtained with a low Ar/O ratio. The layers produced with O/Ar ration equal to 10 exhibit extremely high near-bandgap luminescence intensity even higher in comparison with bulk ZnO single crystals. The free carrier density estimated from the analysis of photoluminescence spectra is also very high in these samples suggesting that these technological conditions promote both optical and electrical activation of the doping Al impurity. The samples grown with high Ar/O ratios exhibit strong visible emission which is controlled by the technological conditions.
Spray depositing allows the production of steels having a structure which is free of any macro-segregation, homogeneous and equiaxed. Nevertheless the spray deposition of steels shows some effects that have to be regarded as disadvantages. A porous region at the billet border and a rather coarse-grained microstructure can be noticed. As a result, in the presented work the influence of a subsequent hot rolling and a following heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties has been investigated. For this purpose the bearing steel SAE 52100 has been used as master material. The initial microstructure has been transformed to a homogeneous equiaxed fine-grained pearlitic microstructure without any remaining porosity. To get use of the characteristic properties of this high-strength steel an isothermal bainitic hardening has been carried out. Information about the mechanical properties of this material has been gained by tensile and fatigue tests. For fatigue ...
A radio frequency sputtering apparatus with a pair of targets has been developed for depositing a film of uniform thickness onto a complex-geometric specimen such as the retainer of a ball bearing. The deposition characteristics of the apparatus were compared with those of the conventional sputtering apparatus. Lubrication properties of MoS/sub 2/ films made by these devices were also compared under a variety of conditions. Finally, friction and wear of MoS/sub 2/ films applied to angular-contact type ball bearings of 20 mm bore were studied in air, nitrogen and vacuo. The two-target sputtering has an advantage mentioned above. However, the films deposited by the method exhibited a rather short wear life because of the temperature rise of the substrate during ion bombardment and during the sputtering process. This temperature dependence was observed in films on those substrates that had been heated with a built-in heater during sputtering. The film thickness measurement and the ...
A technique for following sialon formation in situ by high temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) was developed. The composition chosen for study was an yttrium #alpha#-sialon with x=0.4. Powder compacts containing silicon nitride, aluminum nitride and yttria powders were pre-sintered at 1350 C and then studied by HT-XRD at temperatures between 1450 and 1580 C and nitrogen pressures of 0.11 MPa. The furnace was made from graphite coated with porous silicon nitride/silicon carbide. The coating prevented silicon carbide formation in the sample up to 1600 C. X-ray diffraction results show the formation of a Y_1_0Al_2Si_3O_1_8N_4 phase at 1350 C, which dissolved to form #alpha#-sialon and other phases at higher temperatures. The amounts of #alpha#-sialon formed are similar to the amounts reported by other authors. An empirical method was used for the calculation of activation energy for the silicon nitride to #alpha#-sialon transformation and resulted in a value of 330 ...
Faulting the feedwater for a 19-tube, model steam generator with 10 ppM of caustic once a week produced widespread shallow 25 to 75 micrometers (1 to 3 mils) intergranular attack (IGA) on alloy 600 tubes and an axial tube rupture at the steam-water interface after 4.8 years. An extensive investigation of the IGA damage found little correlation with major test variables beyond the indication that mill-annealed tubing was more susceptible to attack than stress-relieved tubing. The most likely cause of the tube rupture was caustic that concentrated to high levels in a porous scale on the tube at the liquid-vapor interface where there was a high available superheat. Nondestructive examination (NDE) eddy current probes underestimated the depth of IGA and were not sensitive to circumferential cracks less than 152 micrometers (6 mils) deep that were above and below the roll transition zones of tubes in the tubesheet.
A single plasma process involving three consecutive steps has been developed for producing high gas flow catalytic nanostructures on the electrodes of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells (FC). Using a high density helicon radio frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma, nickel is sputtered onto a porous carbon support. Changing the background gas from argon to methane/hydrogen allowed 2 ?m long, 37 nm diameter carbon nanofibres (CNFs) to be grown by diffusion through the nickel clusters in a 'tip growth' mechanism at the relatively low temperature of 400 deg. C. The third step involves plasma sputtering of platinum onto the CNFs, resulting in nanoclusters (3-8 nm) being formed on the periphery of the CNFs. Four FC cathodes were synthesized on carbon paper and PTFE/carbon loaded cloth (known as gas diffusion layer, GDL), both with and without CNFs, with the Pt/CNFs nanostructures grown on PTFE/carbon loaded cloth having the best FC performances. Compared with conventional ...
Nine coals from Spanish, British, German and American mining basins were hydrogenated using Fe catalyst precursors (red mud and FeSO{sub 4}), without solvent at 300, 350, and 400 {degree}C and 10 MPa of H{sub 2}. Overall conversion and product distribution are related to the textural characteristics of the original coals and are studies throughout the distinct hydrogenation processes. Results reveal that with FeSO{sub 4} as a catalyst precursor, conversions increase with coal surface area. However, when red mud (RM) is used, conversions are independent of coal textural characteristics. Higher conversions are obtained with FeSO{sub 4} than with RM at 300 and 350 {degree}C whereas at 400 {degree}C higher conversions are obtained with RM. This different catalytic activity is also reflected in the changes of the textural characteristics observed in each case. Up to 350 {degree}C, the residues from FeSO{sub 4}-catalyzed processes reveal increased microporosity destruction and a greater ...
AGNES is a chopper spectrometer installed at the top of the C3 cold guide of JRR-3 (JAERI, Tokai). In 2004 - 2006, this spectrometer was greatly improved by installing (1) 208 new detectors to make the detector bank complete, (2) new radiation shields composed of Fe (14 mm), polyethylene (50 mm), B4C rubber (10 mm), and Cd (0.5 mm) sheets, (3) a new control system for the anti-frame-overlap chopper rotating simultaneously with the Fermi chopper, (4) a monitor counter at the space between the chopper and monochromator, (5) a neutron guide tube (50 cm) before the monochromator, (6) a new instrument control (monochromators, choppers, beam narrowers, etc.) and measurement control (real-time data monitoring, sample temperature control, etc.) systems, (7) a top-loading type cryostat workable at a wide temperature range of 6 - 480 K. As the results of these improvements, the signal intensity has been increased by 3.3 and the background has been reduced by 1/10 both compared with the data ...
This patent describes a process for preparing of an ion exchanger, comprising: treating an ionically inert activated charcoal porous support with an aqueous solution of metal oxychloride selected from the group consisting of zirconium and titanium oxychlorides so as to impregnate the pores of the support with the solution; separating the treated support from excess metal oxychloride solution; converting the metal oxychloride to a hydrous metal oxide precipitate in the pores of the support at a pH above 8 and above the pH whereat the hydrous metal oxide and activated charcoal support have opposite zeta potentials and sufficient to hydrolyze the metal oxychloride. It also describes a process for preparing an ion exchanger comprising: treating granulated activated charcoal with a concentrated solution of a metal oxychloride from the group consisting of zirconium and titanium oxychlorides, degassing the mixture; and treating the resultant mixture with a base selected ...
Magnetic particles have become very promising materials for drug delivery. However, preparation of magnetite particles with high surface area, biocompatibility, strong magnetic response, and suitable particle size still remains a major challenge. In this report, magnetite nanocrystal clusters with high surface areas were fabricated through a solvothermal process by introducing ammonium acetate as a porogen and trisodium citrate as a surface modification agent. The porosity, which was controlled by the reactant concentration, has been investigated in detail. The surface area of the nanocrystal clusters was as high as 141?m(2) g(-1) . Ibuprofen, as a model drug, was entrapped into the magnetite carriers. The interfacial interaction between the carboxylic groups on the drug molecules and the carboxylate groups on the carriers enhanced the loading efficiency. Low cytotoxicity in MCF-7 cell and in vitro constant drug release behavior combined with the high drug loading efficiency and high ...
Highly swollen nanoporous layers produced in material surfaces by He implantation are of special interest for applications such as catalysis. Here we investigate whether nanoporous layers can be produced in the covalently bonded insulating ceramic, SiAlON. The retention of highly swollen porous structures in thinned TEM sections prepared from such hard brittle materials is particularly challenging. We have successfully prepared such sections both parallel to, and perpendicular to, the implanted surface. At intermediate doses the bubble structures are very similar to those found in metals. At high helium doses local swellings at depths around the mean projected range of the He ions (#approx#360 nm) are estimated to be well in excess of 200%. Bubble structures are stable under heating to temperatures up to 1200 deg. C. It is found that the highly cavitated layer is buried below a crystalline overlayer of compact SiAlON. This overlayer is sufficiently compact to ...
Field corrosion tests for a low chromium steel were carried out at a superheater area of a 100 MW pulverized coal-fired boiler for various times up to 500 h, when three coals having different chlorine contents were combusted. The low chromium steel had obvious metal loss due to corrosion, and comparison of the metal loss and corrosion scale structure was made among the three coals in respect to chlorine contents as well as other elements affecting its corrosion. Corrosion scales of the low chromium steel had a general two-layer structure: an inner layer containing iron, chromium, oxygen and sulfur, and an outer layer made of porous iron oxide and fly ash particles. Distinct molten phase formation, which is an indication of severe corrosion, was observed for the coal containing only the middle high chlorine, and it initiated in the outer layer of the corrosion scales. (author)
Proof-of-principle experiments are reported for a new concept in electrically rechargeable zinc-air battery. The zinc electrode is a porous flow-thru type using a copper foam metal substrate with zinc deposition onto the foam metal from concentrated zincate electrolyte (as used in zinc-slurry type batteries). The bifunctional air electrode employs low-cost materials, being fabricated entirely from carbon-based precursors and small amounts of nickel and/or cobalt oxide. Corrosion measurements on the graphite materials in the air electrode indicate sufficient corrosion resistance for 8000 h life on charge. A prototype single cell was constructed having 1.5 Ah capacity producing 1.2 V discharge -2.0 charge at the three hour rate and has produced stable voltages for more than 150 cycles. Based on the 1.5 Ah prototype characteristics, design calculations for a 32 kWh battery project an energy density of about 110 Wh/kg, peak power density of 140 W/kg, electrical ...
This paper reports on an experimental investigation of premixed methane/air combustion stabilized within a reticulated partially stabilized zirconia foam burner that was performed. A flame holder was used to extend the stability range to allow a stable flame to be maintained for a variety of flow rate and equivalence ratio combinations. The stability range, temperature distributions, and emissions were examined over a range of equivalence ratios and flow rates. The flame was found to be axisymmetric for all conditions in which the reactants were sufficiently well mixed and the flow distribution was sufficiently uniform. Burning speeds were measured that were well in excess of the laminar flame speed. The axial temperature distribution (measured around the burner annulus) in the postflame zone was found to be relatively insensitive to flow rate but dependent upon the burner core length. Very low concentrations of NO_x were found for fuel/air equivalence ratios of less than about 0.9. ...
Synthesis of highly anisotropic rod-like b-Si3N4 particles with different morphological characteristics was accomplished using commercial a-Si3N4. A number of powder mixtures were prepared with additions of various oxides (Al2O3+RE2O3, being RE=Y, La or Yb) that were subsequently heat treated in a loose powder state in the temperature range of 1750-1950degreeC and dwell times from 10 to 180min under high pressure of N2 (60MPa) in a hot isostatic press. The obtained aggregated porous bodies were lightly crushed by hand using an alumina mortar and pestle and subsequently subjected to sequential chemical treatments to eliminate the glassy phases and possible residual crystalline compounds, and to separate the synthesized b-Si3N4 particles. Resulting b-Si3N4 particles were characterized by X-r...
Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been a very powerful tool to study nanoscale (1-100 nm) bulk structures in various materials such as polymer, self assembled materials, nano-porous materials, nano-magnetic materials, metal and ceramics. Understanding the importance of the SANS instrument, the 8m SANS instrument was installed at the CN beam port of HANARO in 2001. However, without having a cold neutron source, the beam intensity is fairly low and the Q-range is rather limited due to short instrument length. In July 1, 2003, therefore, the HANARO cold neutron research facility project was launched and a state of the art 40m SANS instrument was selected as top-priority instrument. The development of the 40m SANS instrument was completed as a joint project between Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and the HANARO in 2010. Here, we report the specification of a state of art 40m SANS instrument at HANARO
Experience at SRS, ORNL, BNL, and Georgia Institute of Technology involving irradiated aluminum clad fuel and target elements, as well as studies of non-irradiated aluminum indicate that some types of aluminum assemblies can be kept in a continually well-deionized water atmosphere for up to 25 years without problems. SRS experience ranges from 2.75 years for the L-1.1 charge kept in deionized D[sub 2]O[sup 1] to greater than 10 years for assemblies stored in the Receiving Basin for Off-site Fuel (RBOF)[sup 2]. Experience at Georgia Institute of Technology reactor in Atlanta yielded the longest value of 25 years without problems. The common denominators in all of the reports is that the water is continually deionized to approximately 2 M[Omega] (2 [times] 10[sup 6]ohms) resistivity and the containers for the water are stainless steel or other non-porous material. This resistivity value is equivalent to a value of 0.5 micromhos or microSiemens conductivity and is ...
Experience at SRS, ORNL, BNL, and Georgia Institute of Technology involving irradiated aluminum clad fuel and target elements, as well as studies of non-irradiated aluminum indicate that some types of aluminum assemblies can be kept in a continually well-deionized water atmosphere for up to 25 years without problems. SRS experience ranges from 2.75 years for the L-1.1 charge kept in deionized D{sub 2}O{sup 1} to greater than 10 years for assemblies stored in the Receiving Basin for Off-site Fuel (RBOF){sup 2}. Experience at Georgia Institute of Technology reactor in Atlanta yielded the longest value of 25 years without problems. The common denominators in all of the reports is that the water is continually deionized to approximately 2 M{Omega} (2 {times} 10{sup 6}ohms) resistivity and the containers for the water are stainless steel or other non-porous material. This resistivity value is equivalent to a value of 0.5 micromhos or microSiemens conductivity and is ...
Primary objective was to investigate the effects of pore structure on capacity of porous metal oxides for removal of SO[sub 2] from power plant fuel gas and H[sub 2]S from hot coal gas. During this period, a comparative study was carried out on the direct reaction with H[sub 2]S and SO[sub 2] of the three limestones used as CaO precursors: Greer limestone, Georgia marble, and Iceland spar calcite. Sulfation was carried out at 750 and 850 C in a thermogravimetric analysis system under simulated high pressure (enough CO[sub 2] to prevent decomposition of CaCO[sub 3]). Results are presented as conversion vs time graphs. Mercury penetration and gas adsorption were used to analyze the structure. Activation energies and effective diffusivities were determined. A variable diffusivity shrinking-core model was used to analyze the data. In the future, this limestone study will be completed, and a study on supported CuO sorbent will be started.
Laboratory characterization of Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) collected in the lower stratosphere represents a concrete analysis of cosmic dust properties which played a fundamental role in the origin and evolution of Solar System. The IDPs were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) analyses and by InfraRed (IR) micro-spectroscopy. We present the FESEM images of six IDPs: three smooth grains, two porous and one a compact sphere. We also show the results of micro-IR transmission measurements on four IDPs that allowed us to identify their spectral class according to the criteria defined by Sandford and Walker. Only three of the analyzed particles show IR transmission spectra with a dominant "silicate absorption feature" so that they could be assigned to the three IR spectral classes: one has been classified as "amorphous olivine", one appears to be a mixture of "olivines" and "pyroxenes" and one belongs to the "layer-lattice ...
We investigated the effect of pretreatment on the physicochemical characteristics-crystallinity, bed porosity, and volumetric specific surface of soybean hulls and production of cellulolytic enzymes in solid-state fermentation of Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus oryzae cultures. Mild acid and alkali and steam pretreatments significantly increased crystallinity and bed porosity without significant change inholocellulosic composition of substrate. Crystalline and porous steam-pretreated soybean hulls inoculated with T. reesei culture had 4 filter paper units (FPU)/g-ds, 0.6?IU/g-ds ?-glucosidase, and 45?IU/g-ds endocellulase, whereas untreated hulls had 0.75?FPU/g-ds, 0.06?IU/g-ds ?-glucosidase, and 7.29?IU/g-ds endocellulase enzyme activities. In A. oryzae steam-pretreated soybean hulls had 47.10?IU/g-ds endocellulase compared to 30.82?IU/g-ds in untreated soybean hulls. Generalized linear statistical model fitted to enzyme activity data showed that effects of ...
Recently, the capabilities of the CORMLT code, which was designed to predict heatup, degradation, and meltdown of core and Reactor Pressure VEssel (RPV) internals during postulated severe accidents, were enhanced to enable tracking of individual fission product species during core meltdown. In addition, a mechanistic treatment of the release and flow of molten materials was developed to replace the engineering models developed earlier. In the present paper, the improved models are described and predictions of melt progression for a postullated accident sequence (TMLB') are discussed. A key issue in the new modeling is the mechanical behavior of fuel pellet stacks during run-off of molten cladding. One view is that capillary forces result in ''welding'' of porous fuel, thereby promoting free-standing pellet stacks; another is that rubblization and slumping of fuel take place. Results are reported for the first view point ...
The Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) study was conducted to assess the new design concept introduced to solve the issues on the flow deviation between SG cassettes and the supporting structure design of the flow distributing plate subjected to the flow induced vibration. Flow field from MCP to the bottom of SG was modeled for 2-dimensional(2D) CFD analysis and then sensitivity analysis on major design parameters was conducted using commercial CFD code, Fluent. The cases for detailed 3D analysis were selected based on the result of 2D analysis and the detailed 3-dimensional(3D) analysis was conducted for these selected cases using Fluent code. Flow field was modeled by RNG model and wall function, 2nd upwind scheme, porous model, structured or hybrid grid. The analysis result shows that the maximum deviation of flow distribution between SG cassettes was reduced upto about 0.1% and the pressure loss from the SG header to SG orifice was also reduced up to about 30% ...
This report documents the activities by Rogers and Associates Engineering Corporation personnel in the second year of a grant from the Office of Health and Environmental Research at the US Department of Energy. The project objective is to integrate theories of all significant radon generation and transport mechanisms into a unified, self-consistent theory. During the second year of the project, the following activities were performed. Several field permeabilities were measured to develop a soils data base for a simple permeability correlation. Simple soil gas permeability and radon diffusion coefficient correlations were developed from the RAE data base. A methodology was developed to characterize the air permeabilities and radon diffusion coefficients of soils in general, and the Soil Conservation Service soil classifications in particular. The RAETRAN code was benchmarked against two different sets of measurements. Using RAETRAD, a multidimensional code that was developed with ...
Neutron radiography and neutron radioscopy are rapidly becoming the valuable tools for nondestructive testing and basic research. The Phoenix Memorial Laboratory has developed a neutron facility capable of both film neutron radiography and real time neutron radioscopy, and has used this facility to study several phenomena of interest to the researchers in many areas. Neutrons can be used for imaging the phenomena that X-ray cannot image, such as the presence, absence or movement of hydrogenous materials inside metals such as aluminum or steel. There are three basic methods for obtaining images using neutrons: high resolution film neutron radiography, real-time neutron radioscopy and transfer film neutron radiography. The neutron radiography facility at Phoenix Memorial Laboratory, the neutron radioscopic imaging systems, the neutron radiographic detectors, lubrication studies, spray imaging, flow in porous media, three-dimensional computer-reconstructed neutron ...
Niobium carbide can be used to inhibit WC grain growth in hardmetal. The performance of a NbC powder produced at low temperature by solid-gas reaction (an experimental powder) as WC grain growth inhibitor is compared with that of a commercial NbC powder. It is verified that NbC effectively inhibits heterogeneous WC coarsening. This results in an increase in hardness. The commercial and experimental NbC powders exhibit a comparable performance in inhibiting the WC grain coarsening, in spite of a significant difference in particle size and shape. The commercial NbC powder is very fine while the experimental one is coarse and porous, but its crystallites are finer than those of the commercial product. The milling procedure used to prepare the alloys is able to reduce the particle size of the experimental NbC, and thus guarantee a dispersion of the particles with a quality level comparable to that found for the alloy prepared with the commercial NbC. (orig.)
The second-order spatial subwavelength interference pattern is observed in a modified Michelson interferometer with single-mode continuous-wave laser beams. By analyzing our subwavelength interference experiment based on Feynman's path integral theory, a unified interpretation for all the second-order subwavelength interference is suggested.
How far can a stack of $n$ identical blocks be made to hang over the edge of a table? The question dates back to at least the middle of the 19th century and the answer to it was widely believed to be of order $\\log n$. Recently, Paterson and Zwick constructed $n$-block stacks with overhangs of order $n^{1/3}$, exponentially better than previously thought possible. We show here that order $n^{1/3}$ is indeed best possible, resolving the long-standing overhang problem up to a constant factor.
This paper describes a simple analysis procedure that transforms a set of beamline orbit data into a set of harmonic orbits of first, second, and third order or higher. Each harmonic orbit can be studied individually to identify errors of the specific order with minimum interference from other orders. Effectively these are orbits caused by kicks, due to harmonic errors, propagated through linear lattice. Examples from accelerator study will be presented. The application and inherent limitations of this analysis procedure are discussed.
An update of the ODEtools Maple package, for the analytical solving of 1st and 2nd order ODEs using Lie group symmetry methods, is presented. The set of routines includes an ODE-solver and user-level commands realizing most of the relevant steps of the symmetry scheme. The package also includes commands for testing the returned results, and for classifying 1st and 2nd order ODEs.
In this paper we present a new efficient sixth-order scheme for nonlinear equations. The method is compared to several members of the family of methods developed by Neta (1979) [B. Neta, A sixth-order family of methods for nonlinear equations, Int. J. Comput. Math. 7 (1979) 157-161]. It is shown that the new method is an improvement over this well known scheme.
A relationship between partial derivatives of the associated Legendre function of the first kind with respect to its degree, Formula Not Shown , and to its order, Formula Not Shown , is established for Formula Not Shown . This relationship is used to deduce four new closed-form representations of Formula Not Shown from those found recently for Formula Not Shown by the author [R. Szmytkowski, On the derivative of the associated Legendre function of the first kind of integer degree with respect to its order (with applications to the construction of the associated Legendre function of the second kind of integer degree and order), J. Math. Chem. 46 (2009) 231]. Several new expressions for the associated Legendre function of the second kind of integer degree and order, Formula Not Shown , suita...
Multiple Reggeon exchange supplies subleading logarithms that may be used to restore unitarity to the Low-Nussinov Pomeron, provided it can be proven that the sum of Feynman diagrams to all orders gives rise to such multiple Regge exchanges. This question cannot be easily tackled in the usual way except for very low-order diagrams, on account of delicate cancellations present in the sum which necessitate individual Feynman diagrams to be computed to subleading orders. Moreover, it is not clear that sums of high-order Feynman diagrams with complicated crisscrossing of lines can lead to factorization implied by the multi-Regge scenario. Both of these difficulties can be overcome by using the recently developed non-Abelian cut diagrams. We are then able to show that the sum of s-channel-ladder diagrams to all orders does lead to such multiple Reggeon exchanges. copyright 1997 The ...
Limiters are nonlinear hybridization techniques that are used to preserve positivity and monotonicity when numerically solving hyperbolic conservation laws. Unfortunately, the original methods suffer from the truncation-error being first-order accurate at all extrema despite the accuracy of the higher-order method. To remedy this problem, higher-order extensions were proposed that relied on elaborate analytic and geometric constructions. Since extremum-preserving limiters are applied only at extrema, additional computational cost is negligible. Therefore, extremum-preserving limiters ensure higher-order spatial accuracy while maintaining simplicity. This report presents higher-order limiting for (i) computing van Leer slopes and (ii) adjusting parabolic profiles. This limiting preserves monotonicity and accuracy at smooth extrema, maintains stability in the presence of ...
The optical birefringence of rod-like nematogens (7CB, 8CB), imbibed in parallel silica channels with 10 nm diameter and 300 micrometer length, is measured and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational order of the confined liquid crystals, quantified by the uniaxial nematic ordering parameter, evolves continuously between paranematic and nematic states, in contrast to the discontinuous isotropic-to-nematic bulk phase transitions. A Landau-de Gennes model reveals that the strength of the orientational ordering fields, imposed by the silica walls, is beyond a critical threshold, that separates discontinuous from continuous paranematic-to-nematic behavior. Quenched disorder effects, attributable to wall irregularities, leave the transition temperatures affected only marginally, despite the strong ordering fields in the channels.
This paper deals with a robust H{sub -} power system stabilizer (HPSS) design using reduced-order models to improve the damping oscillation in power systems. The stabilizer is dynamic, low order and robust. In order to obtain a reduced-order controller, the method of balanced truncation is used. Sufficient conditions in the form of two algebraic Riccati equations (AREs) and an upper bound explicitly characterize an H{sub -} controller of lower dimensions. Furthermore, the bilinear transformation has been used to the design to prevent the pole-zero cancellation of the poorly damped poles and to improve the control system performance. The proposed technique is illustrated with applications to the design of stabilizer for a multi-machine power system. Simulation results under various operation conditions are given which show that the proposed HPSS damps the low-frequency oscillation in an efficient manner. ...
This contribution deals with identification of fractional-order dynamical systems. System identification, which refers to estimation of process parameters, is a necessity in control theory. Real processes are usually of fractional order as opposed to the ideal integral order models. A simple and elegant scheme of estimating the parameters for such a fractional order process is proposed. This method employs fractional calculus theory to find equations relating the parameters that are to be estimated, and then estimates the process parameters after solving the simultaneous equations. The said simultaneous equations are generated and updated using particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique, the fitness function being the sum of squared deviations from the actual set of observations. The data used for the calculations are intentionally corrupted to simulate real-life conditions. Results show that the ...
We report the results of neutron-diffraction experiments on CeM_2Si_2 (M = Ag,Au,Pd,Rh) which were performed to explore the role of valence fluctuations and 4f hybridization in the magnetic ordering of cerium compounds. All four order antiferromagnetically, the first three exhibiting structures consisting of ferromagnetic layers with moments perpendicular to the layers, which are believed to be characteristic of 4f-4f interactions mediated through hybridization with conduction electrons. CePd_2Si_2 has an anomalously small moment (0.62#mu#/sub B/) in the ordered state. CeAg_2Si_2 exhibits an incommensurate longitudinal, static magnetization wave with moment and propagation direction along the a axis. The fourth compound, CeRh_2Si_2, has the highest known transition temperature (39 K) reported for cerium ordering; it exhibits another second-order transition at 27 K to a complex ...
We report the results of neutron-diffraction experiments on CeM/sub 2/Si/sub 2/ (M = Ag,Au,Pd,Rh) which were performed to explore the role of valence fluctuations and 4f hybridization in the magnetic ordering of cerium compounds. All four order antiferromagnetically, the first three exhibiting structures consisting of ferromagnetic layers with moments perpendicular to the layers, which are believed to be characteristic of 4f-4f interactions mediated through hybridization with conduction electrons. CePd/sub 2/Si/sub 2/ has an anomalously small moment (0.62..mu../sub B/) in the ordered state. CeAg/sub 2/Si/sub 2/ exhibits an incommensurate longitudinal, static magnetization wave with moment and propagation direction along the a axis. The fourth compound, CeRh/sub 2/Si/sub 2/, has the highest known transition temperature (39 K) reported for cerium ordering; it exhibits another ...
In machine condition monitoring many fault-related vibration signals are highly non-stationary. Time-frequency representations comprise the natural signal-processing tool traditionally used for representing such non-stationary signals. The methods used in this analysis are based on the second order statistics of a signal. This paper discusses the use of higher order time frequency methods in the context of a condition monitoring application. The paper outlines the two classes of higher order representations: the L-Wigner distribution and the sliced Wigner higher order distribution. The use of higher order distributions introduces the possibility of non-oscillating cross-terms, a problem not encountered in conventional bilinear time-frequency methods. Techniques for reducing these cross-terms are presented. The paper compares the performance of bilinear and higher ...
We show how to obtain a fast component-by-component construction algorithm for higher order polynomial lattice rules. Such rules are useful for multivariate quadrature of high-dimensional smooth functions over the unit cube as they achieve the near optimal order of convergence. The main problem addressed in this paper is to find an efficient way of computing the worst-case error. A general algorithm is presented and explicit expressions for base~2 are given. To obtain an efficient component-by-component construction algorithm we exploit the structure of the underlying cyclic group. We compare our new higher order multivariate quadrature rules to existing quadrature rules based on higher order digital nets by computing their worst-case error. These numerical results show that the higher order polynomial lattice rules improve upon the known constructions of quasi-Monte Carlo rules ...
Nuclear facilities of the Department of Energy (DOE) located at the Savannah River Site must comply with DOE orders as implemented at DOE-SR. The DOE orders cover safety criteria, design criteria, environmental protection, occupational health and safety. The program applies to DOE and contractors. In this section, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) criteria and industry codes and standards are addressed as well as DOE orders. Specific DOE orders which add additional criteria have also been noted. A program for assessing and implementing contractor applicable DOE orders has been established. This program ensures that compliance is achieved through developing and implementing policies, programs, and procedures. The primary emphasis is placed on safe, efficient reactor restart and operation. DOE has classified orders applicable to restart as Level I, Category ...
The present guidelines supplement the 'VGB guidelines for the reduction of noise in thermal power plants' with indications for the ordering and quality assurance of the individual noise-producing machines and equipment of power plant operation. These guides are to simplify the commissioning and delivering for the orderer and deliverer. In addition, these guidelines are to lead to a successful cooperation of all parties in the reduction of the sound radiation. A precondition for this is an explanation of the sound technical demands which must be made on the single machines or mechanical equipment in power plant systems. A protection of the neighbourhood as well as operational personnel against noise according to the state of technology is to be achieved by a clear form of ordering and quality assurance. The ordering and assurance procedure for all aggregates in the region of the grounds of a power plant ...
Muonic-atom energy levels and wave functions are calculated. The results are corrected for nearly all important static effects, including finite nuclear size as produced by a user-specified nuclear charge distribution. Fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration of the radial Dirac equations, with the secant method determining the eigenvalues. Corrections are either included as potentials in the Dirac equations or computed as first-order perturbations. The code assumes spherical symmetry, so that effects of nuclear deformation may be treated only as static first-order perturbations. Dynamic muon-electron and muon-nuclear effects are neglected (the latter are calculated by RURP). (Auth.).
We present a recent study of the QCD corrections to dilepton production near partonic threshold in transversely polarized {bar p}p scattering, We analyze the role of the higher-order perturbative QCD corrections in terms of the available fixed-order contributions as well as of all-order soft-gluon resummations for the kinematical regime of proposed experiments at GSI-FAIR. We find that perturbative corrections are large for both unpolarized and polarized cross sections, but that the spin asymmetries are stable. The role of the far infrared region of the momentum integral in the resummed exponent and the effect of the NNLL resummation are briefly discussed.
We studied the optimum plasma conditions that are required for efficient high-order harmonic generation in platinum plume. Harmonics up to the 49th order (?=16.32 nm) are analyzed under various conditions of laser-plasma interaction. Time-resolved ultraviolet spectra of platinum plasma at both optimum and nonoptimum conditions of harmonic generation are presented. We calculated the ionization states of the plasma, free electron density, and singly charged ion density at different prepulse intensities and compared them with experimental results.
The results obtained from the magnetization, specific heat and electrical resistivity measurements on a polycrystalline sample of Pr_2Pd_3Si_5 are reported. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility at low field (0.01 T) exhibits pronounced anomaly below 7 K due to antiferromagnetic ordering. The electrical resistivity and specific heat data also exhibit sharp transition at 6.6 K evidencing the onset of antiferromagnetic order. A fit to the electrical resistivity data below 6 K suggests the presence of an energy gap in magnon spectrum in the ordered state. (author)
In the context of the shock-initiation problem, we study analytically the first effects of chemistry, treating a small chemical heat release as a perturbation on an inert flow. Specifically, we study the initial transient in plane-shock initiation in a dilute explosive, where the chemical energy is small relative to the mechanical-thermal energy. The vehicle for the study is the mathematical analog for reactive flow. The solution resembles a double refraction: to first order, the pressure or density is a superposition of two forward-going waves, both originating at the rear boundary, and carrying the same function, but running at different velocities. Surprisingly, this first-order solution is independent of the sensitivity of the reaction rate to the state, which appears only at second order.
Heavy quark production in $\\gamma\\gamma$ collisions is analyzed within the approach to hard collisions of photons recently proposed by the author. In this approach evaluating the cross section $\\sigma(\\gamma\\gamma\\to Q\\bar{Q})$ in the ``next-to-leading order of QCD'' requires the inclusion of direct photon contributions up to the order $\\alpha^2\\alpha_s^2$, whereas in the standard approach direct photon terms only up to the order $\\alpha^2\\alpha_s$ are taken into account. Phenomenological consequences of this difference are discussed.
Intermetallic compounds are regarded as highly promising for applications as high temperature structural materials. However, recent studies have demonstrated that a number of ordered alloys exhibit environmental embrittlement when tested in various environments at ambient temperature. When exposed to hydrogen gas or electrolytically charged with hydrogen, a significant ductility loss has been reported. The reaction of water vapor with reactive elements in the crack tip results in the generation of atomic hydrogen which diffuses from the surface to the interior and causes embrittlement. In this paper, the authors try to analyze the sensitivity of hydrogen embrittlement of ordered alloys based upon energetical considerations.
The electron momentum density is measured applying positron annihilation and Compton spectroscopy in order to get information about electron wave functions. Compton spectroscopic measurements of Pd-Ag and Cu-Zn alloy systems are carried out taking into account crystal structure, mixability, and order state. Three-dimensional momentum densities of silicon are determined in order to get better information about its electronic structure. The momentum density and the spin density of ferromagnetic nickel are investigated using angular correlation curves.
In the present work we introduce a novel multi-agent model with the aim to reproduce the dynamics of a double auction market at microscopic time scale through a faithful simulation of the matching mechanics in the limit order book. The agents follow a noise decision making process where their actions are related to a stochastic variable, the market sentiment, which we define as a mixture of public and private information. The model, despite making just few basic assumptions over the trading strategies of the agents, is able to reproduce several empirical features of the high-frequency dynamics of the market microstructure not only related to the price movements but also to the deposition of the orders in the book.
In order to investigate the role of mononuclear cells in infiltrates during the initial stages of atherogenesis, the authors have studied by immunohistochemical methods the aortas and coronary vessels...Full Text Available
When one uses the Coleman-Weinberg renormalization condition, the effective potential $V$ in the massless $\\phi_4^4$ theory with O(N) symmetry is completely determined by the renormalization group functions. It has been shown how the $(p+1)$ order renormalization group function fix the N$^{p}$LL order contribution to $V$. We discuss here how, in addition to fixing the N$^{p}$LL contribution to $V$, the $(p+1)$ order renormalization group functions also can be used to determine portions of the N$^{p+n}$LL contributions to $V$. When these contributions are summed to all orders, the singularity structure of \\mcv is altered. An alternate approach to fixing \\mcv in terms of the renormalization group functions is shown to eliminate dependence on the background field if spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs.
Standardization of herbal formulations is essential in order to assess the quality of drugs, based on the concentration of their active principles. This article reports on standardization of Ajmodadi...Full Text Available
missionaries and cannibals puzzle. He noted that in order to be able to use a boat to cross a river one would need ... a quali cation that the vertical exhaust stack ...
As controlled clinical vocabularies assume an increasing role in modern clinical information systems, so the issue of their quality demands greater attention. In order to meet the resulting stringent...Full Text Available
In order to provide a rational basis for the development of new insecticides, a thorough understanding of resistance mechanisms is necessary and this presupposes a detailed knowledge of the normal...Full Text Available
Brains are usually described as input/output systems: they transform sensory input into motor output. However, the motor output of brains (behavior) is notoriously variable, even under identical sensory...Full Text Available
In this work we investigate the multivariate statistical description of the matter distribution in the nonlinear regime. We introduce the multivariate Edgeworth expansion of the lognormal distribution to model the cosmological matter field. Such a technique could be useful to generate and reconstruct three-dimensional nonlinear cosmological density fields with the information of higher order correlation functions. We explicitly calculate the expansion up to third order in perturbation theory making use of the multivariate Hermite polynomials up to sixth order. The probability distribution function for the matter field includes at this level the two-point, the three-point and the four-point correlation functions. We use the hierarchical model to formulate the higher order correlation functions based on combinations of the two-point correlation function. This permits us to find compact expressions for the ...
In order to clarify the taxonomic status and to preserve the stability of the species, a neotype is designated for the tuliptree scale: Coccus liriodendri Gmelin (now Toumeyella...Full Text Available
Level set method based segmentation provides an efficient tool for topological and geometrical shape handling. Conventional level set surfaces are only $C^0$ continuous since the level set evolution involves linear interpolation to compute derivatives. Bajaj et al. present a higher order method to evaluate level set surfaces that are $C^2$ continuous, but are slow due to high computational burden. In this paper, we provide a higher order GPU based solver for fast and efficient segmentation of large volumetric images. We also extend the higher order method to multi-domain segmentation. Our streaming solver is efficient in memory usage.
The forward modelling and the prestack reverse time migration of seismic P-SV wave field was carried out in 2-D models of isotropic and anisotropic media which allow separation of P-SV and SH motion. The P-SV wave field can be described by a system of hyperbolic, first order differential equations in terms of particle velocity and stress. The system of five equations and five unknowns, namely horizontal (U) and vertical (V) velocity components, and three components of stress (T{sub xx}, T-z{sub z} and T{sub xz}) was solved numerically using second order space and forth order time finite differences operators. In order to attenuate numerical dispersion, a staggered grid was used. (author). 48 refs., 5 figs
... these features and yields results which are two orders of magnitude faster than those available using conventional numerical ray tracing techniques ...
We present interactive computer programs for the analysis of nucleic acid sequences. In order to handle these programs, minimum computer experience is sufficient. The nucleotide sequence of the human...Full Text Available
Heat-capacity (0.5--20 K) and magnetic-susceptibility (4--300 K) measurements have been made on two cerium sulfide samples having compositions as CeS/sub 1.393/ and CeS/sub 1.457/. These materials follow the Curie-Weiss law above 100 K, and become ferromagnetically ordered near 6 and 3 K, respectively. Shift of the ordering to higher temperatures under applied magnetic fields is also observed in CeS/sub 1.457/. The estimated effective magnetic moment and entropy associated with the ordering are consistent with the paramagnetic nature of Ce/sup 3 +/ (4f/sup 1/) in a crystalline environment.
The nitric oxide molecule is being studied in order to understand the energetics and chemistry of initiation and detonation in liquid NO at the molecular level. An overview is presented of the work being done. (DLC)
... perennials; the dominant species included, in order of their relative importance, Polygonum lapathifolium (C = 0 Heartsease), Arctium minus (C = 0 ...
According to empirical observations, some pattern formation phenomena in driven many-particle systems are more pronounced in the presence of a certain noise level. We investigate this phenomenon of fluctuation-driven ordering with a cellular automaton model of interactive motion in space and find an optimal noise strength, while order breaks down at high(er) fluctuation levels. Additionally, we discuss the phenomenon of noise- and drift-induced self-organization in systems that would show disorder in the absence of fluctuations. In the future, related studies may have applications to the control of many-particle systems such as the efficient separation of particles. The rather general formulation of our model in the spirit of game theory may allow to shed some light on several different kinds of noise-induced ordering phenomena observed in physical, chemical, biological, and socio-economic systems (e.g., attractive and ...
Specialized olfactory lobe glomeruli relating to sexual or caste differences have been observed in at least five orders of insects, suggesting an early appearance of this trait in insect evolution....Full Text Available
The intensity of superstructure reflections and associated diffuse scattering from In_0_._5Ga_0_._5P and In_0_._5Al_0_._5P epitaxic layers grown on (001) GaAs substrates was mapped in reciprocal space. The Warren-Cowley short-range-order parameters were obtained through the usual process for evaluating Fourier coefficients. Varying values for the correlation length in different directions indicate how group III atoms stack up in ordered states. The resultant structure with long-range order confirms the hypothesis made on the basis of electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy studies. (orig.).
... The three meteorological rocket systems, in order of ... IC3 and IC4 divides the incoming clock pulses f ... at the junction of the temperature sensor and R ...
SUMMARYIncreasingly multiple outcomes are collected in order to characterize treatment effectiveness or to evaluate the impact of large policy initiatives. Often the multiple...Full Text Available
It is shown numerically that on a time scale of order 1 msec a neutron star with pion condensation will undergo separation into a core and an envelope with a sharp interface. The envelope will not, however, be ejected.
OBJECTIVE: To review the body of international literature regarding lung surfactant supplements in order to determine: 1) the current knowledge of the antenatal routes of administration of surfactant...Full Text Available
Training of health professionals commonly involves multiple sites in order to best utilize the available clinical material. However, this makes it difficult to achieve continuity in the presentation...Full Text Available
System identification refers to estimation of process parameters and is a necessity in control theory. Physical systems usually have varying parameters. For such processes, accurate identification is particularly important. Online identification schemes are also needed for designing adaptive controllers. Real processes are usually of fractional order as opposed to the ideal integral order models. In this paper, we propose a simple and elegant scheme of estimating the parameters for such a fractional order process. A population of process models is generated and updated by particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique, the fitness function being the sum of squared deviations from the actual set of observations. Results show that the proposed scheme offers a high degree of accuracy even when the observations are corrupted to a significant degree. Additional schemes to improve the accuracy still further are also proposed and ...
BackgroundMitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is being analyzed by an increasing number of laboratories in order to investigate its potential role as an active marker of tumorigenesis...Full Text Available
The performance of four different organic coating systems applied to carbon and weathering steel coupons has been assessed in this investigation. applied on the surface of carbon steel and weathering steel coupons. The coupons have been evaluated using five different tests, three field tests and two accelerated tests. The field tests were carried out at three atmospheric stations, located at COSIPA in Cubatao-SP, at Alto da Serra in Cubatao-SP and at Paula Souza in Sao Paulo city. The accelerated tests consisted of (a) exposure to alternate cycles of ultraviolet radiation/condensation combined with salt spray cycles (UVCON combined with Salt Spray) and of (b) exposure to alternate cycles of ultraviolet radiation/condensation combined with the Prohesion test. The performance of the coatings was assessed by visual observation and photographs, using a method based on ASTM D-610, ASTM D-714 and ASTM-1654 standards to rank them. The oxide phases formed on the surfaces of the non-coated ...
The transport of radon in concrete takes place through the complicated network of interconnected pores that is, at any time, the result of the process of hydration of cement and of moisture distribution and transport. Initially the microstructure of concrete depends on the mix proportions and curing conditions, its time-evolution being conditioned by its surrounding environment. Radon transport will be consequently a function of time, as it is influenced by the changing microstructure (total porosity and its distribution) and by the amount and distribution of the moisture contained in the pore system. A selection of information from the large amount of literature available on concrete is presented in chapter 2. A model that describes the process of hydration, of microstructure development and of moisture transport is presented in chapter 3. The physics of radon diffusion in homogeneous porous materials is outlined in chapter 4. The coupling of the numerical ...
The transport of radon in concrete takes place through the complicated network of interconnected pores that is, at any time, the result of the process of hydration of cement and of moisture distribution and transport. Initially the microstructure of concrete depends on the mix proportions and curing conditions, its time-evolution being conditioned by its surrounding environment. Radon transport will be consequently a function of time, as it is influenced by the changing microstructure (total porosity and its distribution) and by the amount and distribution of the moisture contained in the pore system. A selection of information from the large amount of literature available on concrete is presented in chapter 2. A model that describes the process of hydration, of microstructure development and of moisture transport is presented in chapter 3. The physics of radon diffusion in homogeneous porous materials is outlined in chapter 4. The coupling of the numerical ...
Attempts to synthesize YPd[sub 2]Si-type representatives LnPd[sub 2]Al were successful only with Ln triple bond Ce, Pr, Nd. This orthorhombic structure (oP16; space group Pnma) is an ordered variant of the Fe[sub 3]C type. Only NdPd[sub 2]Al undergoes magnetic ordering above 2 K. (orig.)
Sixteen spectra of the symbiotic star BF Cygni covering the period 1965-- 1970 were investigated. Variations of the line intensities, the Balmer decrements, the color, and electronic temperatures are given. Approximate values of the electron density were deduced in order to derive an order of magnitude for the sizes of the emitting regions of BF Cygni. A crude stratification and evolution model is proposed. (auth)
A network of second-generation low-temperature gravitational radiation detectors is nearing completion. These detectors, sensitive to mechanical strains of order 10"-"1"8, are possible because of a variety of technical innovations that have been made in cryogenics, low-noise superconducting instrumentation, and vibration isolation techniques. Another five orders of magnitude improvement in energy sensitivity of resonant-mass detectors is possible before the linear amplifier quantum limit is encountered. 33 references, 3 figures, 1 table.
Hamiltonians of Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson type are constructed for order parameters which are bases for certain high-dimensional irreducible or physically irreducible representations in A-15 structure. These are all the representations with wave vectors ?, X, and R and encompass cases of dimension 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. A renormalization-group analysis was performed on each new distinct Hamiltonian using the Wilson-Fisher "? expansion" method to order ?, in order to determine fixed points and stability, and critical exponents. For representations of R wave-vector symmetry, only the two-dimensional R(1) has a stable fixed point and may produce a second-order phase transition; for all other R wave vector representations, fluctuations prevent second-order transition. No X point representation gives a second-order transition. Representations at ? which are permitted to be ...
Substantial changes in the radial distribution function of amorphous Si films have been observed in neutron-diffraction studies. The spectra indicate changes in short-range order associated with an approx.11% modification in the bond-angle distribution width. The results allow the first direct comparison of structural and vibrational Raman probes of variations in local order in thin-film amorphous solids. Good agreement is obtained between the measured bond-angle variation and that based on Raman estimates.
By using a low-resolution macrorestriction map as the foundation (R. Majumder et al., J. Bacteriol. 176:1105–1112, 1996), an ordered cloned DNA map of the 3.2-Mb chromosome of the hypertoxinogenic...Full Text Available
In this paper, we study the existence and uniqueness of periodic solutions of the differential equation of the form . Here, we obtain some sufficient conditions which guarantee the existence of periodic solutions. This equation is a quite general third- order nonlinear vector differential equation, and one example is given for illustration of the subject.
We study heavy physics effects on the Higgs production in #gamma##gamma# fusion using the effective Lagrangian approach. We find that the effects coming from new physics may enhance the standard model predictions for the number of events expected in the final states b-barb, WW, and ZZ up to one order of magnitude, whereas the corresponding number of events for the final state t-bart may be enhanced up to two orders of magnitude.
An inner-city development with pile foundations as well as the proximity to the river Neckar with a groundwater flow offered ideal conditions for this new building in Mannheim in order to heat and cool geothermally. Already with the planning phase, detailed numerical flow computations were necessary in order to prove the functionality of the energy concept.
We prove a uniqueness result for limit cycles of the second order ODE $\\ddot x + \\sum_{j=1}^{J}f_{j}(x)\\dot x^{j} + g(x) = 0$. We extend a uniqueness result proved in \\cite{CRV}. The main tool applied is an extension of Massera theorem proved in \\cite{GS}.
X-ray diffraction was used to monitor the {ital in} {ital situ} reaction of Pd deposited on Si(111) at room temperature. An ordered silicide forms spontaneously beneath a poorly ordered overlayer. It is commensurate and strained at low coverage, but relaxes to an unstrained state above a critical thickness of 18 A. During both phases of growth sustained intensity oscillations are seen that correspond to a layerwise consumption of the substrate at the buried interface.
The Lagrange functions are a family of analytical, complete, and orthonormal basis sets that are suitable for efficient, accurate, real-space, order-N electronic-structure calculations. Convergence is controlled by a single monotonic parameter, the dimension of the basis set, and computational complexity is lower than that of conventional approaches. In this paper we review their construction and applications in linearscaling electronic-structure calculations.
Resistivity measurements were performed on Fe40 Ni40 B20 and Pd80 Si20 in order to improve the understanding of structural relaxation in amorphous metals. A model describing structural relaxation as a combination of chemical short range ordering (CSRO) an...
Experimentally it is found that at constant temperature the order-parameter relaxation time, tausub(..delta..), decreases with increasing power of the microwaves, coupled into a superconducting strip. If the same increase in critical current, that corresponds with a given power of the microwaves, is obtained by lowering the temperature, the decrease in tausub(..delta..) is smaller. This reflects the fact that quasiparticles are removed more efficiently from the gap edge by microwaves than by lowering the temperature in equilibrium. A modified time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation is shown to describe these results adequately.
Geothermal heat pump systems necessitate a comprehensive approach to geology and building facilities in order to be energetically useful and efficient. Cooperation with geothermal experts should be sought at an early projecting stage in order to obtain reliable data. Geothermal data and the technical facilities of the building must be matched for the project to be both effective and efficient. (orig.)
This booklet familiarizes the reader with DOE's Quality Assurance Rule and Order. Underlying this Training Briefing is the premise that the Rule and Order have antecedents going back to the original Quality Assurance Programs that were written when nuclear power was just being developed for commercial purposes. While a lot has changed since then, much has not.
The possible existence of preferential B-site disorder in A-15 compounds recently claimed on the basis of x-ray powder diffraction data but questioned from the viewpoint of known phase diagrams is examined for some Nb-based compounds of this type. It is concluded that x-ray powder data do not allow the determination of both order and compositional variables as suggested, and the latter must therefore be determined by some other method. (author).
We show that the chaotic dynamical behaviour displayed by diagonal Bianchi type IX metrics in general relativity does not occur on approach to the singularity in higher-order lagrangian theories of gravity. However, chaotic behaviour does occur in the more general non-diagonal type IX models in these theories. An interpretation of these results in terms of the hamiltonian potential picture of the type IX evolution is given. (orig.).
We show that the chaotic dynamical behaviour displayed by diagonal Bianchi type IX metrics in general relativity does not occur on approach to the singularity in higher-order lagrangian theories of gravity. However, chaotic behaviour does occur in the more general non-diagonal type IX models in these theories. An interpretation of these results in terms of the hamiltonian potential picture of the type IX evolution is given. (orig.).
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is establishing a local chapter of the University of California Energy Institute (UCEI). In order to most effectively contribute to the Institute, LLNL sponsored a workshop on energy and environmental issues in transportation. This workshop took place in Livermore on August 10 and brought together researchers from throughout the UC systems in order to establish a joint LLNL-UC research program in transportation, with a focus on energy and environmental impacts.
This is an executive summary of a final subcontract report that describes the successful completion of a closed-loop demonstration of a regenerative thermoelectromechanical device using solar heat input for the production of electricity. The full report, which contains a detailed description of the two-year effort, is currently subject to a government secrecy order which precludes public release of the information. Copies of the full report will be made available for general release whenever the secrecy order is lifted.
The entrapment of proteins using the sol-gel route provides a means to retain its native properties and artificially reproduce the molecular crowding and confinement experienced by proteins in the cell allowing investigation of the physico-chemical and structural properties of biomolecules at the biotic/abiotic interface. The biomolecules are spatially separated and 'caged' in the gel structure but solutes can freely permeate the matrix. Thus, properties such as the folding of ensembles of individual molecules can be examined in the absence of aggregation effects that can occur in solution studies. Green fluorescent protein from Aequorea coerulescens was used as a model protein to examine the unfolding/re-folding properties of protein in silica gels. The recombinant protein was isolated and purified from Escherichia coli extracts by cell lysis, three-phase partitioning, dialysis, and anion exchange chromatography. The purity of the protein was greater than 90% as ...
Textured silicon nitride (Si_3N_4) has been intensively studied over the past 15 years because of its use for achieving its superthermal and mechanical properties. In this review we present the fundamental aspects of the processing and anisotropic properties of textured Si_3N_4, with emphasis on the anisotropic and abnormal grain growth of #beta#-Si_3N_4, texture structure and texture analysis, processing methods and anisotropic properties. On the basis of the texturing mechanisms, the processing methods described in this article have been classified into two types: hot-working (HW) and templated grain growth (TGG). The HW method includes the hot-pressing, hot-forging and sinter-forging techniques, and the TGG method includes the cold-pressing, extrusion, tape-casting and strong magnetic field alignment techniques for #beta#-Si_3N_4 seed crystals. Each processing technique is thoroughly discussed in terms of theoretical models and experimental data, including the texturing mechanisms ...
Porous nanostructured LiFePO{sub 4} powder with a narrow particle size distribution (100-300nm) for high rate lithium-ion battery cathode application was obtained using an ethanol based sol-gel route employing lauric acid as a surfactant. The synthesized LiFePO{sub 4} powders comprised of agglomerates of crystallites <65nm in diameter exhibiting a specific surface area ranging from 8m{sup 2}g{sup -1} to 36m{sup 2}g{sup -1} depending on the absence or presence of the surfactant. The LiFePO{sub 4} obtained using lauric acid resulted in a specific capacity of 123mAhg{sup -1} and 157mAhg{sup -1} at discharge rates of 10C and 1C with less than 0.08% fade per cycle, respectively. Structural and microstructural characterization were performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis while electronic conductivity and specific surface area ...
Research over a three year time span involved the study of multiphase flow useful to understanding the scaleup of coal liquefaction reactors. We attempted to establish the flow patterns and their boundaries in which a direct coal liquefaction, large diameter, bubble column operates. A flow map has been proposed in which coal slurry properties can be input to determine the flow pattern boundaries at reactor operating conditions. Gas holdup and bubble diameters have been measured under different conditions of gas and liquid flow rate. These have been used to determine interfacial area in bubble columns. An equation for the estimation of interfacial area in the bubble-slug flow pattern has been proposed. It has also been established that gas holdup and thus interfacial area depends strongly on the gas distribution in the column. Porous plate gas distributors can yield gas holdups twice as large as sieve plate distributors. Measurements using aqueous solutions (carboxy ...
This report documents a one-dimensional numerical model, SAMFT1D, developed to simulate single-phase and multiphase fluid flow and solute transport in variably saturated porous media. The formulation of the governing equations and the numerical procedures used in the code for single-phase and multiphase flow and transport are presented. The code is constructed to handle single-phase as well as two or three-phase flow conditions using two integrated sets of computational modules. The fully implicit scheme is used in the code for both single-phase and multiphase flow simulations. Either the Crank-Nicholson scheme or the fully implicit scheme may be used in the transport simulation. The single-phase modules employ the Galerkin and upstream weighted residual finite element techniques to model flow and transport of water (aqueous phase) containing dissolved single-species contaminants concurrently or sequentially, and include the treatment of various boundary conditions ...
The theoretical and experimental investigation of the mechanism of SO2 and H2S removal by CaCO3 -based sorbents (limestones and dolomites) in pressurized uidized-bed coal combustors (PFBC) and high pressure gasiers, respectively, is the main objective of this study. It is planned to carry out reactivity evolution experiments under simulated high pressure conditions or in high pressure thermogravimetric and, if needed, uidized- bed reactor (high pressure) arrangements. The pore structure of fresh, heat-treated, and half-calcined solids (dolomites) will be analyzed using a variety of methods. Our work will focus on limestones and dolomites whose reaction with SO2 or H2S under atmospheric conditions has been studied by us or other research groups in past studies. Several theoret- ical tools will be employed to analyze the obtained experimental data including a variable diusivity shrinking-core model and models for diusion, reaction, and structure evolution in chemically reacting ...
Recent work on the St. Louis Limestone in southwestern Kansas has demonstrated that these units contain a significant eolian facies component (up to 80-90% of total unit thickness). Reservoir intervals within the St. Louis are confined to relatively thin subtidal grainstones that, in turn, are capped by a muddy carbonate and shale facies. Critical to exploration and development of these grain-shoal reservoirs is an understanding of their spatial and stratigraphic distribution. Core through the St. Louis and St. Genevieve limestones has been examined and features have been recognized at the top of the eolianites. These surfaces are interpreted as long-term exposure surfaces. The contact between the subtidal grainstone shoals and the overlying muddy carbonate and shale facies is relatively sharp and is interpreted as representing a flooding surface separating shoal from muddy-open shelf facies. In the St. Louis Limestone, the subtidal carbonate grainstone reservoir intervals consist of ...
The purpose of the workshop was to determine the status of the field, to define instrumental and computational requirements, and to establish minimum specifications required by possible users. The most important message sent by implementers was the remainder that CMT is a tool. It solves a wide spectrum of scientific problems and is complementary to other microscopy techniques, with certain important advantages that the other methods do not have. High-resolution CMT can be used non-invasively and non-destructively to study a variety of hierarchical three-dimensional microstructures, which in turn control body function. X-ray computed microtomography can also be used at the frontiers of physics, in the study of granular systems, for example. With high-resolution CMT, for example, three-dimensional pore geometries and topologies of soils and rocks can be obtained readily and implemented directly in transport models. In turn, these geometries can be used to calculate fundamental physical ...
Current dewatering methods for ultra-fine coal suspensions are inadequate and usually require subsequent expensive thermal drying. This unique dewatering method is based on pressurized electroosmosis, the movement of water by an electrical field through a porous medium, under modest pressure, e.g., 110 psi. More ultra-fine coal can be utilized since an effective dewatering process can be realized by combining known filtration techniques with electroosmosis. The dewatering efficiency can be significantly improved, the residual moisture of the cake can be substantially reduced and handling problems can be eliminated. Bench-scale testing is being used to optimize the parameters which influence pressurized electroosmotic dewatering (PED) of ultra-fine coal suspensions. Particle size distribution is being addressed to obtain a maximum density for a given pressure such that pore saturation is maintained allowing electroosmosis to be effective for a longer period. The ...
The performance of PAN-based composite absorbers was evaluated in dynamic experiments at flow rates ranging from 25--100 bed volumes (BV) per hour. Composite absorbers with active components of ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP) PAN and K-Co ferrocyanide (KCoFC) PAN were used for separating Cs from a 1 M HNO{sub 3} + 1 M NaNO{sub 3} + 2 {times} 10{sup {minus}5} M CsCl acidic simulant solution. KCoFC-PAN and two other FC-based composite absorbers were tested for separating Cs from alkaline simulant solutions containing 0.01 M to 1 M NaOH and 1 M NaNO{sub 3} + x {times} 10{sup {minus}4} M CsCl. The efficiency of the Cs sorption on the AMP-PAN absorber from acidic simulant solutions was negatively influenced by the dissolution of the AMP active component. At flow rates of 50 BV/hr, the decontamination factor of about 10{sup 3} could be maintained for treatment of 380 BV of the feed. With the KCoFC-PAN absorber, the decontamination factor of about 10{sup 3} could be maintained for a feed ...
This work is a theoretical investigation on the physical properties of semiconductor-based two-dimensional photonic crystals, in particular for what concerns systems embedded in planar dielectric waveguides (GaAs/AlGaAs, GaInAsP/InP heterostructures, and self-standing membranes) or based on macro-porous silicon. The photonic-band structure of photonic crystals and photonic-crystal slabs is numerically computed and the associated light-line problem is discussed, which points to the issue of intrinsic out-of-lane diffraction losses for the photonic bands lying above the light line. The photonic states are then classified by the group theory formalism: each mode is related to an irreducible representation of the corresponding small point group. The optical properties are investigated by means of the scattering matrix method, which numerically implements a variable-angle-reflectance experiment; comparison with experiments is also provided. The analysis of surface ...
The optical, electromagnetic and mechanical properties of thin films (TFs) are directly correlated to their morphology at the nanoscale. This, in concert with the fact that new deposition techniques are enabling the growth of thin films with very complex morphologies, there is an increasing interest in model-based simulation (MBS) for the design of engineering structures (including nanostructures), and increasing computer speeds are beginning to make MBS an effective design tool capable of bridging the nanoscale with the continuum scale, has made it increasingly important to understand how the nanostructure of a thin film impacts its properties at all length scales. The authors have developed the capability to determine the mechanical properties of thin films with amorphous nanostructure by combining molecular dynamics, i.e., position of particles (e.g., atoms or molecules) and their interatomic potential(s), with continuum mechanics principles. This work concerns the application of ...
The dissolution of NiO cathodes during cell operation is a limiting factor to the successful commercialization of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs). Lithium cobalt oxide coating onto the porous nickel electrode has been adopted to modify the conventional MCFC cathode which is believed to increase the stability of the cathodes in the carbonate melt. The material used for surface modification should possess thermodynamic stability in the molten carbonate and also should be electro catalytically active for MCFC reactions. Two approaches have been adopted to get a stable cathode material. First approach is the use of LiNi{sub 0.8}Co{sub 0.2}O{sub 2}, a commercially available lithium battery cathode material and the second is the use of tape cast electrodes prepared from cobalt coated nickel powders. The morphology and the structure of LiNi{sub 0.8}Co{sub 0.2}O{sub 2} and tape cast Co coated nickel powder electrodes were studied using scanning electron microscopy and ...
A modified accumulator was devised to measure surface radon flux from porous media. It consists of a collector hood accumulator with a homogenizer pump and a pressure balancer. The latter was used to compensate for any pressure changes produced during sample withdrawl and hence eliminate additional radon transport from media. Errors resulting from radon back diffusion due to decreasing concentration gradient with time across the interface were eliminated by measuring radon concentrations in the accumulator for two different periods of time and calculating the true radon flux, J(o), from the solution of a time-dependent radon transport equation. Core samples from the observation site were withdrawn for laboratory determination of porosity, moisture content, bulk and grain densities, Ra-226 source concentration and the fraction of Rn-222 produced in the void volume. The data were used to calculate the radon diffusion coefficient for the media. Using the present ...
Reinterpretation of the South Florida basin reveals that it was a keep-up carbonate shelf during the Lower Cretaceous. Until the Cenomanian, it was connected to the Bahamas and the Cay Sal Bank north of Cuba. The Cenomanian sea level rise was at least partially responsible for the formation of the Florida Straits, isolating the platform. The combination of an abrupt worldwide rise in sea level and subsidence caused the South Florida platform to founder, ending shallow-water and evaporitic sedimentation over the majority of the shelf. The Cay Sal and Bahamian platforms remained as active shallow shelves separated by the Old Bahamas Channel. The Lower Cretaceous sediments are characterized by shallow shelf limestones, dolomites, and evaporites (mostly anhydrite). The evaporite-rich sections, originally thought to represent basinal facies, are reinterpreted as supratidal to shallow subtidal evaporites, based on examination of core and cuttings. Influx of normal marine waters over rudist ...
The objective of this project is to develop a pellet formulation which is capable of achieving low sulfur partial pressures and a high capacity for sulfur, loaded from a hot fuel gas and which is readily regenerable. Furthermore the pellet must be strong for potential use in a fluidized bed and regenerable over many cycles of loading and regeneration. Regeneration should be in air or oxygen-depleted air to produce a high-concentration sulfur dioxide. Fixed-bed tests were conducted with several formulations of manganese sesquioxide and titania, and alumina They were subject to a simplified fuel gas of the oxygen-blown Shell type spiked with a 30,000ppmv concentration of H{sub 2}S. Pellet crush strengths for 4 and 2mm diameter pellets was typically 12 lbs per pellet and 4 lbs per pellet, respectively. For the most favorable of the formulations tested and under the criteria of break-through at less than 100ppmv H2S and loading temperatures of 500{degrees}C and an empty-bed space velocity ...
To heighten durability and safety of materials/parts for undersea oil drilling, the development of ceramic base materials was made by developing function harmony type process technology which harmonizes on a high grade contrary characteristics and various functions. The paper summed up the fiscal 1997 results. In the design of system formation, computational simulation technology was developed to the composite process and the diploid system. The development of multifunction simultaneous manifestation materials was trially made by the higher nano structure process. A study was made of control of microstructures of porous materials and matrix filling by the gas phase precipitation control. Proposed were selective control of grain growth from species crystals and the columnar particle orientation laminated structure of simultaneous manifestation of strength and toughness. By composite precipitation reaction control, studied were simultaneous dispersion of whisker and ...
Alloy 600 is used as a material for steam generator tubing in pressurized water reactors(PWR) due to its high corrosion resistance under PWR environment. In spite of its corrosion resistance, stress corrosion cracking(SCC) has occurred on the primary side as well as the secondary side of the tubing. Oxide on steel surfaces in aqueous solution above 100 .deg. C is composed of duplex film structure. Inner layer of the oxide is dense and less porous, which is formed by growth of oxide layer on metal surface. Outer layer of the oxide is loose adhesive, which is formed by dissolution precipitation mechanism. Growth processes occur at the metal/oxide and oxide/electrolyte interfaces and are controlled by transport of the layer forming species through the layer, i.e. by the inward diffusion of oxygen including electrolyte species and the outward diffusion of metal cations. Understanding of basic electrochemical behaviors about anodic dissolution and passivation of bare ...
Alloy 600 is commonly used in the primary systems of PWR plants because of its excellent resistance to a stress corrosion cracking and pitting. But a stress corrosion cracking and pitting corrosion are occasionally observed under PWR conditions, which may be correlated with the passive film on the Alloy 600 surface. There is little information on the composition of films growing on the surface of Alloy 600 at high temperature. Therefore, an understanding of the basic electrochemical behaviors about an anodic dissolution and the passivation of the bare surface of metals and alloys provides important information about localized corrosions like a SCC and pitting. Oxide on the steel surfaces in an aqueous solution above 100 .deg. C is composed of a duplex film structure. The inner layer of the oxide is dense and less porous, which is formed by a growth of the oxide layer on the metal surface. Outer layer of the oxide is less adhesive, which is formed by a dissolution ...
Alloy 600 is commonly used in the primary systems of PWR plants because of its excellent resistance to a stress corrosion cracking and pitting. But a stress corrosion cracking and pitting corrosion are occasionally observed under PWR conditions, which may be correlated with the passive film on the Alloy 600 surface. There is little information on the composition of films growing on the surface of Alloy 600 at high temperature. Therefore, an understanding of the basic electrochemical behaviors about an anodic dissolution and the passivation of the bare surface of metals and alloys provides important information about localized corrosions like a SCC and pitting. Oxide on the steel surfaces in an aqueous solution above 100 .deg. C is composed of a duplex film structure. The inner layer of the oxide is dense and less porous, which is formed by a growth of the oxide layer on the metal surface. Outer layer of the oxide is less adhesive, which is formed by a dissolution ...
The decrease mechanic effect on loads being transported, shock load limiters (dampers) are being widely used today. Usually, the materials having 'stress-strain' diagrams (#sigma#-#epsilon#) of compression with a substantial portion, where #sigma# = const., are used as dampers. Most widely used are dampers made of foam polystyrene having just the same compression diagram. Similar strain diagrams can be enlisted for some porous materials, timber under cross compression, perforated metallic crushers and some others. By selecting damper material, the level of transmitted to the protected object pressures can be varied from several to hundreds MPa. Timber, as being widely used and featuring good technologic properties together with low cost, becomes an attractive material to be used as the limiter of shock loads. This paper presents the results of stress-strain sequoia properties (USA deliverable) and birch properties (Volgo-Vyatski region) at dynamic (v = 10 m/s) and ...
Extracellular matrix (ECM) comprises a rich meshwork of proteins and proteoglycans, which not only contains biological cues for cell behavior, but is also a reservoir for binding growth factors and controlling their release. Here we aimed to create a suitable bony microenvironment with cell-derived ECM and biodegradable ?-tricalcium phosphate (?-TCP). More specifically, we investigated whether the ECM produced by bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSC) on a ?-TCP scaffold can bind bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and control its release in a sustained manner, and further examined the effect of ECM and the BMP-2 released from ECM on cell behaviors. The ECM was obtained through culturing the hBMSC on a ?-TCP porous scaffold and performing decellularization and sterilization. SEM, XPS, FTIR, and immunofluorescent staining results indicated the presence of ECM on the ?-TCP and the amount of ECM increased with the incubation time. BMP-2 was loaded onto ...
The burning characteristics of fuel droplets containing nano and micron-sized aluminum particles were investigated. Particle size, surfactant concentration, and the type of base fluid were varied. In general, nanosuspensions can last much longer than micron suspensions, and ethanol-based fuels were found to achieve much better suspension than n-decane-based fuels. Five distinctive stages (preheating and ignition, classical combustion, microexplosion, surfactant flame, and aluminum droplet flame) were identified for an n-decane/nano-Al droplet, while only the first three stages occurred for an n-decane/micron-Al droplet. For the same solid loading rate and surfactant concentration, the disruption and microexplosion behavior of the micron suspension occurred later with much stronger intensity. The intense droplet fragmentation was accompanied by shell rupture, which caused a massive explosion of particles, and most of them were burned during this event. On the contrary, for the ...
The hemispheres-in-cell model for colloid transport and deposition in simple granular filtration media preserves the utilities provided in the Happel sphere-in-cell but also incorporates features (e.g., grain-to-grain contact) that are shown to drive colloid deposition from experiments and simulations when colloid-surface repulsion exists (Ma, H.; Pedel, J.; Fife, P.; Johnson, W. P. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, in press). The capability of the hemispheres-in-cell model to predict colloid deposition in the absence of repulsive energy barriers for different particle sizes and fluid flow velocities was previously examined (Ma, H.; Pedel, J.; Fife, P.; Johnson, W. P. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2009, in press). In this article, we examine the influence of porosity on colloid deposition in terms of theoretical (simulated) collector efficiencies from the hemispheres-in-cell model, as well as existing models, to examine whether expected trends in porosity are similar among the different models. ...
Several steam generator tube rupture accidents have occurred at plants in the past. In this paper the Computational Multi-Fluid Dynamics (CMFD) investigation of the horizontal steam generator thermal-hydraulics during the tube rupture accident is performed. A guillotine of a steam generator U-tube is assumed with choked flow from the primary to the secondary side of the steam generator. We have computed water and steam velocity fields, steam volume fraction distribution on the steam generator secondary (shell) side, as well as the swell level increase. The simulation results are a support to the safety analyses of the steam generator tube rupture accident. Numerical simulation is performed with the multidimensional multi-fluid modelling approach. The two-phase flow around steam generator tubes in the bundle is modelled by the porous media approach. Interfacial mass, momentum and energy transfer are modelled with the closure laws. The governing equations are solved ...
In this study, the cytocompatibility of new 'iron-modified/alpha-tricalcium phosphate (IM/alpha-TCP) and calcium sulfate dihydrate (CSD)' bone cement (IM/alpha-TCP/CSD-BC) intended for spinal applications has been approached. The objective was to investigate by direct-contact osteoblast-like cell cultures (from 1 to 14 days) the in vitro cell adhesion, proliferation, morphology and cytoskeleton organization of MG-63 cells seeded onto the new cements. The results were as follows: (a) quantitative MTT-assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that cell adhesion, proliferation and viability were not affected with time by the presence of iron in the cements; (b) double immunofluorescent labeling of F-actin and alpha-tubulin showed a dynamic interaction between the cell and its porous substrates sustaining the locomotion phenomenon on the cements' surface, which favored the colonization, and confirming the biocompatibility of the ...
Alloy 690 and Alloy600 are used as a material for the steam generator tubing in the pressurized water reactor(PWR) of nuclear power plants due to its high corrosion resistance. Although those are a highly corrosion resistance material, their stress corrosion cracking(SCC) have been found on occasion, which are deeply related to a surface oxide film on a base material which have occurred on the primary side as well as the secondary side of a tubing. And The SCC is accelerated in the existing Pb which is the impurity of secondary steam generator components. The Oxide on a steel surface in an aqueous solution above 100 .deg. C is composed of a duplex film structure. The inner layer of the oxide is dense and less porous, which is formed by a growth of the oxide layer on the metal surface. The outer layer of the oxide is less adhesive, which is formed by a dissolution and precipitation mechanism. Growth processes of the inner layer and the outer layer occur at the ...
Alloy 690 and Alloy600 are used as a material for the steam generator tubing in the pressurized water reactor(PWR) of nuclear power plants due to its high corrosion resistance. Although those are a highly corrosion resistance material, their stress corrosion cracking(SCC) have been found on occasion, which are deeply related to a surface oxide film on a base material which have occurred on the primary side as well as the secondary side of a tubing. And The SCC is accelerated in the existing Pb which is the impurity of secondary steam generator components. The Oxide on a steel surface in an aqueous solution above 100 .deg. C is composed of a duplex film structure. The inner layer of the oxide is dense and less porous, which is formed by a growth of the oxide layer on the metal surface. The outer layer of the oxide is less adhesive, which is formed by a dissolution and precipitation mechanism. Growth processes of the inner layer and the outer layer occur at the ...
The diffusion coefficient of radioactive radon (Rn) through buffer materials from low-level radwaste disposal site was determined in this present study by measuring the time-dependent diffusion of radon through a thin slab of the material. The diffusion process was required to reach a steady state so as to obtain a good estimate of the diffusion coefficient. A numerical method using the nonlinear least-squares and Marquardt`s method (NLSM method) was proposed for characterizing the diffusion coefficient of Rn so as to determine whether the process has reached steady-state or not. Natural mordenite, a potential buffer material of LLW disposal facility, was selected as testing porous material. The NLSM method was shown by the results to be able to estimate the diffusion coefficient even if the process was in transient period. Additionally, this method was also demonstrated to agree well with the results by the conventional method while the process has already reached ...
A modified accumulator was devised to measure surface radon flux from porous media. It consists of a collector hood accumulator with a homogenizer pump and a pressure balancer. The latter was used to compensate for any pressure changes produced during sample withdrawl and hence eliminate additional radon transport from media. Errors resulting from radon back diffusion due to decreasing concentration gradient with time across the interface were eliminated by measuring radon concentrations in the accumulator for two different periods of time and calculating the true radon flux, J(o), from the solution of a time-dependent radon transport equation. Core samples from the observation site were withdrawn for laboratory determination of pkrosity, moisture content, bulk and grain densities, Ra-226 source concentration and the fraction of Rn-222 produced in the void volume. The data were used to calculate the radon diffusion coefficient for the media. Using the present ...
Experimental investigations are presented which demonstrate that the weak ferromagnets are special materials of a larger group of magnets which exhibit two magnetic ordering structures. In weak ferromagnets the main order is antiferromagnetic with a small ferromagnetic component existing in addition. On the other hand, materials in which other combinations of the two basic ordering structures coexist are also known. Common to all these non-collinear spin structures is that the moment components of the two magnetic structures are orthogonal. In the weak ferromagnets this orthogonality manifests already in the paramagnetic phase as a crossover from an isotropic to an anisotropic susceptibility with respect to the applied magnetic field: at high temperatures the antiferromagnetic Curie-Weiss law of the total moment is observed while for T->Tc crossover to a second Curie-Weiss law due to the weak ferromagnetic component ...
Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is extensively used for real parameter optimization in diverse fields of study. This paper describes an application of PSO to the problem of designing a fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative (FOPID) controller whose parameters comprise proportionality constant, integral constant, derivative constant, integral order (lambda) and derivative order (delta). The presence of five optimizable parameters makes the task of designing a FOPID controller more challenging than conventional PID controller design. Our design method focuses on minimizing the Integral Time Absolute Error (ITAE) criterion. The digital realization of the deigned system utilizes the Tustin operator-based continued fraction expansion scheme. We carry out a simulation that illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach especially for realizing fractional-order plants. This paper also ...
We compare experimental data for temperature dependence of the magnetic order parameter and the magnetic excitations (spin waves) in materials with a quenched orbital moment and a well-defined spin quantum number. It is observed that the thermal decrease of the two quantities proceeds according to the same analytical function of the type y(T)=1-cT"#epsilon# with an identical exponent #epsilon#. This power function applies not only asymptotically for T->0 but holds over a wide temperature range. The exponent #epsilon# is universal, i.e. independent of spin order type and lattice symmetry and depends only on the dimensionality of the relevant interactions and on whether the spin quantum number is integer or half-integer. The different T"#epsilon# functions are identified as representations of stable universality classes. The fact that order parameter and magnetic excitations follow the same T"#epsilon# function shows that ...
The authors apply the nonlinear WENO (Weighted Essentially Nonoscillatory) scheme to the spatial discretization of the Boltzmann Transport Equation modeling linear particle transport. The method is a finite volume scheme which ensures not only conservation, but also provides for a more natural handling of boundary conditions, material properties and source terms, as well as an easier parallel implementation and post processing. It is nonlinear in the sense that the stencil depends on the solution at each time step or iteration level. By biasing the gradient calculation towards the stencil with smaller derivatives, the scheme eliminates the Gibb's phenomenon with oscillations of size O(1) and reduces them to O(h{sup r}), where h is the mesh size and r is the order of accuracy. The current implementation is three-dimensional, generalized for unequally spaced meshes, fully parallelized, and up to fifth order accurate (WENO5) in space. For ...
US Department of Energy (DOE) Order 5820.2A was promulgated in final form on September 26, 1988. The order requires heads of field organizations to prepare and to submit updates on the waste management plans for all operations under their purview according to the format in Chap. 6, {open_quotes}Waste Management Plan Outline.{close_quotes} These plans are to be submitted by the DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office (DOE-ORO) in December of each year and distributed to the DP-12, ES&H-1, and other appropriate DOE Headquarters (DOE-HQ) organizations for review and comment. This document was prepared in response to this requirement for fiscal year (FY) 1994. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) waste management mission is reduction, collection, storage, treatment, and disposal of DOE wastes, generated primarily in pursuit of ORNL missions, in order to protect human health and safety and the environment. In carrying out this ...
We have examined the theory of NMR multiple echoes developed for solid {sup 3}He to determine whether multiple echoes could be observed in solid hydrogen. We were particularly interested in the possibility of testing for low frequency quantum tunneling motions in solid hydrogen by the observation of multiple echoes. We find that for easily accessible nuclear spin polarizations, P > 12%, multiple echoes would be observed for HD impurities in solid parahydrogen if motional narrowing is effective in increasing the HD nuclear spin-spin relaxation time T{sub 2} to the order of 1 msec. These values for T{sub 2}, which have been observed for HD impurity concentrations of the order of 1%, are larger than the calculated rigid lattice values and can be attributed to quantum tunneling at frequencies of the order of 1kHz.
We have computed the next-next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the Gross-Llewellyn Smith sum rule for deep inelastic neutrino-nucleon scattering and to the Bjorken sum rule for polarized electron-nucleon scattering. This involved the proper treatment of #gamma#_5 inside the loop integrals within dimensional regularization. We find that the difference between the two sum rules are entirely due to a class of six three-loop graphs and is of the order of 1% of the leading QCD term (O(#alpha#_s)). Hence the Q"2 behavior of both sum rules should be nearly the same if the physics is described adequately by the lower order terms of perturbative QCD. (orig.).
We introduce a weak order ideal property that suffices for establishing the Evans-Griffith Syzygy Theorem. We study this weak order ideal property in settings that allow for comparison between homological algebra over a local ring R versus a hypersurface ring R =R/(x^n). Consequently we solve some relevant cases of the Evans-Griffith syzygy conjecture over local rings of unramified mixed characteristic p, with the case of syzygies of prime ideals of Cohen-Macaulay local rings of unramified mixed characteristic being noted. We reduce the remaining considerations to modules annihilated by p^s, s>0, that have finite projective dimension over a hypersurface ring.
SZI global distribution due to biogeochemical cycle in environment reservoirs has been studied. It is shown that during the operation of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and at a modern level of the decontamination factor the SZI concentration in some natural media (soil, the Earth biosphere, ocean mixing layer) will increase by 4-5 orders. Recommended gradual increase of the decontamnation factor in time for conserving the SZI concentration level not exceeding one order in comparison with modern one is given. At that to the end of the century the decontamination factor must be of an order of 1 x 10U in the case of SZI intake to the ocean mixing layer and of 1 x 10V in the case of its intake to the atmosphere.
"1"2"9I global distribution due to biogeochemical cycle in environment reservoirs has been studied. It is shown that during the operation of nuclear fuel cycle facilities and at a modern level of the decontamination factor the "1"2"9I concentration in some natural media (soil, the Earth biosphere, ocean mixing layer) will increase by 4-5 orders. Recommended gradual increase of the decontamnation factor in time for conserving the "1"2"9I concentration level not exceeding one order in comparison with modern one is given. At that to the end fof the centary the decontamination factor must be of an order of 1x10"4 in the case of "1"2"9I intake to the ocean mixing layer and of 1x10"5 in the case of its intake to the atmosphere.
In this study, Nylon 66/Polyester (Ny 66/PET) hybrid cord design and production was investigated to obtain new cord with better performance than conventional cord. The factors affecting cord properties and cord production process were examined. Taguchi design of experiment method was implemented in order to minimize the required number of experiments. Different sets of 4 reference cords conventionally used in tyre industry were prepared and resorcinol-formaldehyde-latex (RFL) treated in order to make a comparison of performance. Mechanical and thermal properties of hybrid cords were measured and compared with the values of reference cords. It was found that the twist level of high modulus PET component in the hybrid cords should be the same or above of the nylon in order to obtain maximum ...
The problem in perturbation theory in general relativity is finding a natural gauge which simplifies the equations considerably. We solved the first and second order perturbation equations in the ''Lorentz gauge'' using the two-timing method. The equations were deduced from the equations of Einstein in the presence of a matter energy-momentum tensor of a perfect fluid with equation of state p = (#gamma#-1) rho. It is found that the 0--0 component of the first order equations together with the gauge conditions are consistent with the Bianchi type V model, without axial symmetry. It represents a ''ground state'' situation of the Bianchi type IX model (Mixmaster model.) The second order equations, describing the reaction back of the gravitational waves on the slowly varying background, give rise to rotation and will disturb the isotropization mechanism. The numerical solutions show all the features which are expected to ...
Magnetization, specific heat, and electrical resistivity measurements were made on single crystals of the filled skutterudite compound PrOs{sub 4}As{sub 12}. Specific heat measurements indicate an electronic specific heat coefficient {gamma} {approx} 50-200 mJ/mol K{sup 2} at temperatures 10 K {le} T {le} 18 K, and {approx} 1 J/mol K{sup 2} for t {le} 1.6 K. Magnetization, specific heat, and electrical resistivity measurements reveal the presence of two, or possibly three, ordered phases at temperatures below {approx} 2.3 K and in fields below {approx} 3 T. The low temperature phase displays antiferromagnetic characteristics, while the nature of the ordering in the other phase(s) has yet to be determined.
The compound GdPd{sub 2}Si, which is reported to order antiferromagnetically at 13 K, has been investigated by heat capacity and electrical resistivity measurement in the presence of external magnetic fields. In contrast to an earlier report, the zero-field heat capacity and resistivity data indicate two magnetic transitions at 13 and 17 K. The external magnetic field substantially influences the resistivity and heat capacity of the compound around the magnetic ordering temperature. The magnetocaloric effect, which is calculated from in-field heat capacity data, is quite large around the magnetic transition temperature. The magnetoresistance is also large near the magnetic ordering temperature. The metamagnetic transition is observed for 10 kOe magnetic field both in magnetocaloric and in magnetoresistance data. The metamagnetic transition strongly influences the magnetocaloric effect and magnetoresistance, which is large ...
The compound GdPd_2Si, which is reported to order antiferromagnetically at 13 K, has been investigated by heat capacity and electrical resistivity measurement in the presence of external magnetic fields. In contrast to an earlier report, the zero-field heat capacity and resistivity data indicate two magnetic transitions at 13 and 17 K. The external magnetic field substantially influences the resistivity and heat capacity of the compound around the magnetic ordering temperature. The magnetocaloric effect, which is calculated from in-field heat capacity data, is quite large around the magnetic transition temperature. The magnetoresistance is also large near the magnetic ordering temperature. The metamagnetic transition is observed for 10 kOe magnetic field both in magnetocaloric and in magnetoresistance data. The metamagnetic transition strongly influences the magnetocaloric effect and magnetoresistance, which is large in ...
The cross-over from a magnetically ordered to a non-magnetic spin liquid state has been investigated in a series of resistance measurements under hydrostatic pressures of up to 30 kbar and at temperatures down to below 200 mK in the heavy fermion antiferromagnet CePd{sub 2}Si{sub 2}. The electrical resistivity changes dramatically with increasing pressure. Near the critical pressure, at which the magnetic ordering temperature is extrapolated to zero, it exhibits a quasi-linear variation over two orders of magnitude in temperature. This non-Fermi liquid form of {rho}(T) extends down to the onset of a new superconducting transition below 430 mK. (orig.).
The cross-over from a magnetically ordered to a non-magnetic spin liquid state has been investigated in a series of resistance measurements under hydrostatic pressures of up to 30 kbar and at temperatures down to below 200 mK in the heavy fermion antiferromagnet CePd_2Si_2. The electrical resistivity changes dramatically with increasing pressure. Near the critical pressure, at which the magnetic ordering temperature is extrapolated to zero, it exhibits a quasi-linear variation over two orders of magnitude in temperature. This non-Fermi liquid form of #rho#(T) extends down to the onset of a new superconducting transition below 430 mK. (orig.).
We consider low-energy nucleons at next-to-next-to-leading order in lattice chiral effective field theory. Three-body interactions first appear at this order, and we discuss several methods for determining three-body interaction coefficients on the lattice. We compute the energy of the triton and low-energy neutron-deuteron scattering phase shifts in the spin-doublet and spin-quartet channels using Luescher's finite-volume method. In the four-nucleon system we calculate the energy of the {alpha}-particle using auxiliary fields and projection Monte Carlo. (orig.)
An unprecedented mobilization at all levels is being established in order to fight against the effects of climate change and announcements are increasing each week with proposals of ever more ambitious plans of action. A new landscape is beginning to take shape from a more varied energy supply with less carbon. This new order highlights several central R/D areas which are to be developed and which re described in the first part of this article. How are these plans of action going to be put into practice in the field, within the dynamics of the great unifying project 'Grenoble University of Innovation'? How can the innovation process be speeded up to quickly find answers to all these questions? How can all scientific disciplines be incorporated in this run-up and how can the different players be brought to interact? The new PREDIS centre in Grenoble, described in the second part of the article, is intended to answer these questions. (authors)
The paper presents an alternative approach for the studies of high voltage transmission lines based on artificial intelligence and more specifically artificial neural networks (ANNs). In contrast to the existing conventional-analytical techniques and simulations which are using in the calculations empirical and/or approximating equations, this approach is based only on actual field data and actual measurements. The proposed approach is applied on high voltage transmission lines in order to calculate the lightning outages, on grounding systems in order to assess the grounding resistance and on high voltage transmission lines' polluted insulators in order to estimate the critical flashover voltage. The obtained results are very close to the actual ones for all three case studies, something which clearly implies that the ANN approach is well working and has an acceptable accuracy, constituting an additional tool of ...
First-principles density functional theory (DFT) based calculations were performed to study the electronic and cohesive properties of all the intermediate ordered phases appearing in the transformation from bcc-based #beta# to hexagonal ordered #omega# phase in Zr_3Al alloy. Full-potential linear augmented plane wave (FPLAPW) method under the GGA was employed to establish the stability hierarchy and structure-property correlations. Further, effective pair potentials upto the fourth nearest neighbours were extracted, which, subsequently, were used for the thermodynamics analysis of the thermally-induced #beta##->##omega# transformation. The lattice collapse mechanism involving the concept of the onset of a displacement wave where the extent of collapse is viewed as an amplification of the displacement wave was employed for further analysis. (author)
The magnetic susceptibility and high-field magnetization have been measured for the intermediate valence system Eu(Pd_1_-_xPt_x)_2Si_2 with 0#<=#x#<=#0.15. A first-order valence transition is observed for all the compounds under high field of 100 T at low temperatures. This valence transition is of first order accompanied with a large hysteresis, which is in contrast to a continuous valence change against temperature. Based on the interconfigurational fluctuation (ICF) model, the temperature- and field-induced valence transitions are discussed. It is found that a first-order valence transition can be induced by magnetic field, even if the system shows a continuous valence transition against temperature. Metamagnetic behavior at finite temperatures is also understood qualitatively by the ICF model. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society.
The first member of the Qingshankou Formation recovered by CCSD-SK-Is borehole (China Cretaceous Continental Scientific Drilling-SongkeI-the south borehole) is 81.41 m long, and the recovery of cores is 100%. The age of the member is approximately Turonian. The sequence and process of lithology-lithofacies and cyclic stratigraphy were revealed by a detailed core description. 6 rock types (mudstone, dolomite, marl, limestone, ostracode limestone, and volcanic ash) comprise the sedimentary strata. Deposition occurred in a deep lake, including 6 sedimentary microfacies: mudstone, sandy turbidite, dolomite, marl, limestone, and volcanic ash microfacies. The first member of the Qingshankou Formation represents 81 meter-scale cycles (sixth-order cycle), 25 fifth-order cycles, 6 fourth-order cycl...
CuPt-type ordering in In{sub 0.49}Al{sub 0.51}P is studied by TEM. The lattice-matched film was grown by MOCVD on a GaAs substrate oriented 10{sup o} off (001) towards [110], at 650 C and 25 nm/min. TEM [110] and [1{bar 1}0] cross-sections (XS) were made by wedge polishing and 2 kV Ar ion milling. In CuPt-type ordering of In{sub 0.52}Ga{sub 0.48}P, alternating In-Ga-In-Ga {l_brace}111{r_brace} planes of group III atoms produce 1/2 {bar 1}11 and 1/2 1{bar 1}1 order spots in the 110 SADP, while the [1{bar 1}0] SADP shows no order spots [1-3]. A few studies have reported this type of order in In{sub 0.49}Al{sub 0.51}P [4]. The 004 BF image of the [1{bar 1}0] XS in Fig. 1 shows uneven light/dark contrast modulation due to phase separation often observed in In{sub 0.52}Ga{sub 0.48}P. There are also light/dark layers marked ML parallel to the film growth plane; such unintentional ...
In the dehydrodesulfurization of ethanethiol at 400/sup 0/C, the activities of sodium X, Y, and A zeolites decreased in the order given as did the activities of nickel, cobalt, zinc, cadmium, copper, silver, lead, manganese, barium, calcium, sodium, and iron Y zeolite catalysts. A volcano-shape order was observed between the catalytic activity and the electronegativity of the metal ions. The changes in the activity of hydrogen Y zeolite catalyst in ethanethiol dehydrodesulfurization and cumene dealkylation by calcination agreed with the decrease in the Broensted acidity but were independent of Lewis acidity. For hydrodesulfurization of thiophene, the activities of nickel, cobalt, copper, and silver Y zeolite catalysts decreased in the order given and were greater than for a commercial hydrodesulfurization catalyst; reduced and presulfided catalysts showed selective hydrodesulfurization activity. Addition of 5% of nickel or ...
We consider 4-dimensional space-times which are asymptotically flat at spatial infinity and show that, in the first order framework, action principle is well-defined \\emph{without the need of infinite counter terms.} It naturally leads to a covariant phase space in which the Hamiltonians generating asymptotic symmetries provide the total energy-momentum and angular momentum of the space-time. We address the subtle but important problems that arise because of logarithmic translations and super-translations both in the Langrangian and Hamiltonian frameworks. As a forthcoming paper will show, the treatment of higher dimensions is considerably simpler. Our first order framework also suggests a new direction for generalizing the spectral action of non-commutative geometry.
This research aims to develop a simulation approach based on system dynamics modelling (SDM) and adaptive network based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for quantifying and reducing the bullwhip effect in a multi-product, multi-stage supply chain. The proposed model is comprised of three groups of variables influencing the bullwhip effect, namely the structure of a supply chain network, supply chain contributions (ordering process in regular situation or when a supplier has a promotion or shortage gaming) and supply chain performances (the number of defects and ordering lead time). As a result, a two layer simulation model is developed with three generic models. The flexibility of this proposed approach is its ability to model various types of ordering policies which are basic inventory poli...
The concentration decay curves for the adsorption of phenol on organobentonite were obtained in an agitated tank batch adsorber. The experimental adsorption rate data were interpreted with diffusional models as well as first-order, second-order and Langmuir kinetic models. The surface diffusion model adjusted the data quite well, revealing that the overall rate of adsorption was controlled by surface diffusion. Furthermore, the surface diffusion coefficient increased raising the mass of phenol adsorbed at equilibrium and was independent of the particle diameter in the range 0.042-0.0126cm. It was demonstrated that the overall rate of adsorption was essentially not affected by the external mass transfer. The second-order and the Langmuir kinetic models fitted the experimental data quite well; however, the kinetic constants of both models varied without any physical meaning while increasing the particle size and the mass of ...
Although hydrogen is the simplest of atoms, it does not form the simplest of solids or liquids. Quantum effects in these phases are considerable (a consequence of the light proton mass) and they have a demonstrable and often puzzling influence on many physical properties, including spatial order. To date, the structure of dense hydrogen remains experimentally elusive. Recent studies of the melting curve of hydrogen indicate that at high (but experimentally accessible) pressures, compressed hydrogen will adopt a liquid state, even at low temperatures. In reaching this phase, hydrogen is also projected to pass through an insulator-to-metal transition. This raises the possibility of new state of matter: a near ground-state liquid metal, and its ordered states in the quantum domain. Ordered quantum fluids are traditionally categorized as superconductors or superfluids; these respective systems feature dissipationless electrical ...
A theoretical framework for the hierarchical multiscale modeling of inelastic response of heterogeneous materials has been presented. Within this multiscale framework, the second gradient is used as a non local kinematic link between the response of a material point at the coarse scale and the response of a neighborhood of material points at the fine scale. Kinematic consistency between these scales results in specific requirements for constraints on the fluctuation field. The wryness tensor serves as a second-order measure of strain. The nature of the second-order strain induces anti-symmetry in the first order stress at the coarse scale. The multiscale ISV constitutive theory is couched in the coarse scale intermediate configuration, from which an important new concept in scale transitions emerges, namely scale invariance of dissipation. Finally, a strategy for developing meaningful kinematic ISVs and the proper free ...
Product-sum property states that an ordered pair (s"n,p"n) is unique for any ordered set a"1,a"2,...,a"n where a"i,n@?N, and s"n and p"n are the sum and product of the elements of the set, respectively. This fact has been exploited to develop an O(log(M)) time complexity algorithm for pattern searching in a large dataset, where M is the number of records in the dataset. Two potential applications (from databases and computational biology) of this property have been demonstrated to show the effectiveness and working of the proposed algorithm. The space complexity of the algorithm rises to the quadratic order.