Pollutant emissions in common-rail diesel engines in extraurban cycle: rapeseed oils vs diesel fuel

The new energy strategy of EU (i.e., Directive 2009/28/EC) requires increasing the use of biofuels in transports up to at least 10% of the total fuel consumption. In the last years, the share of Diesel engines in automotive applications reached about 55% in EU market, thus trying to widen the alternatives to Diesel fuel is very important. In this framework straight vegetable oils (SVO) can represent one of the available possibilities at least in some specific applications (i.e., public transportation, hybrid or marine propulsion, etc.). SVO properties may be very different form Diesel fuel, thus operating a Diesel engine with SVO might result in some problems, especially in automotive configuration where the electronic unit acts as if it is working with Diesel fuel. This reflects in possible engine power and torque reduction, maintenance problems, and pollutant emissions during vehicles running. The latter aspect is the focus of the present paper. In this work, we used a turbocharged, four stroke, four cylinders, water cooled, commonrail multijet Diesel engine in automotive configuration to simulate the extraurban cycle according to the EU standard, comparing pollutant emissions in case of SVO and gasoil fuelling

Optimization of an axial fan for air cooled condensers

We report on the low noise optimization of an axial fan specifically designed for the cooling of CSP power plants. The duty point presents an uncommon combination of a load coefficient of 0.11, a flow coefficient of 0.23 and a static efficiency ηstat > 0.6. Calculated fan Reynolds number is equal to Re = 2.85 x 107. Here we present a process used to optimize and numerically verify the fan performance. The optimization of the blade was carried out with a Python code through a brute-force-search algorithm. Using this approach the chord and pitch distributions of the original blade are varied under geometrical constraints, generating a population of over 24000 different possible individuals. Each individual was then tested using an axisymmetric Python code. The software is based on a blade element axisymmetric principle whereby the rotor blade is divided into a number of streamlines. For each of these streamlines, relationships for velocity and pressure are derived from conservation laws for mass, tangential momentum and energy of incompressible flows. The final geometry was eventually chosen among the individuals with the maximum efficiency. The final design performance was then validated through with a CFD simulation. The simulation was carried out using a RANS approach, with the cubic k -  low Reynolds turbulence closure of Lien et al. The numerical simulation was able to verify the air performance of the fan and was used to derive blade-to-blade distributions of design parameters such as flow deviation, velocity components, specific work and diffusion factor of the optimized blade. All the computations were performed in OpenFoam, an open source C++- based CFD library. This work was carried out under MinWaterCSP project, funded by EU H2020 programme

Stellar Populations, Bars and Secular Evolution in Late-Type Galaxies

We have done a robust statistical analysis of UBV color profiles of 257 Sbc barred and unbarred galaxies. We found that there is an excess of barred galaxies among the objects with null or positive (bluish inward) color gradients, which seems to indicate that bars act as a mechanism of homogenization of the stellar population along galaxies. Moreover, the relationship found between total and bulge colors shows that, in the process of homogenization, the stellar population of bulges are getting bluer, whereas the total color of galaxies remains the same. These characteristics are expected in a secular evolutionary scenario, and seem incompatible with both the monolithic and the hierarchical scenarios for spiral galaxy formation.Comment: 2 pages, 1 table, no figures. To appear in ASP Conference Series, "Galaxy Disks and Disk Galaxies", J. G. Funes S. J. and E. M. Corsini, ed

First occurrence of Actaeodes tomentosus (H. Milne Edwards, 1834) (Brachyura: Xanthidae: Actaeinae) in the Mediterranean Sea

The presence of the crab Actaeodes tomentosus, native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea, is documented for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, on the basis of two specimens collected from Rhodes Island (Aegean Sea), a marine area particularly vulnerable to warm-water alien invasions. Along with the recent report of Xanthias lamarckii in similar conditions and region, the finding of another non-indigenous xanthid opens many questions regarding their occurrence in the area. Apart from the Lessepsian migration, other possible vectors of introduction are therefore examined

End-plate for noise-by-flow control in axial fans

The paper presents a design procedure for anti-vortex end-plates that are fitted to tip limited blades of the subsonic axial fans utilised in compact cooling units. The authors study the impact of tip leakage vortex bursting on the performance of the studied class of fans. The vortex breakdown occurs in the swirling flows at a blade's tip, and is found to be a flow feature associated with the production of fan acoustic emissions. The link between aerodynamic flow features in the blade tip region and fan acoustic emissions is exploited through a design process that aims to control the blade tip flow with the specific objective of reducing fan acoustic emissions. This noise-by-flow flow control design process is implemented by reconfiguring the end-plate at the blade tip using a multiple-vortex-breakdown criterion for the design of the end-plates. The aerodynamic and acoustic performance of the newly conceived end-plate design has been assessed and is compared with the performance of a fan with blades fitted with base-line end-plate geometry. The assessment of aerodynamic and acoustic performance utilises both numerical simulations of the flow-field in the blade tip region plus an experimental assessment of fan aerodynamic and acoustic performance. The reported research verified the technical merit of the developed passive noise control strategy, demonstrating that the control of blade tip leakage flow can result in a reduction in blade tip flow generated noise

Temperature - Emissivity separation assessment in a sub-urban scenario

In this paper, a methodology that aims at evaluating the effectiveness of different TES strategies is presented. The methodology takes into account the specific material of interest in the monitored scenario, sensor characteristics, and errors in the atmospheric compensation step. The methodology is proposed in order to predict and analyse algorithms performances during the planning of a remote sensing mission, aimed to discover specific materials of interest in the monitored scenario. As case study, the proposed methodology is applied to a real airborne data set of a suburban scenario. In order to perform the TES problem, three state-of-the-art algorithms, and a recently proposed one, are investigated: Temperature-Emissivity Separation'98 (TES-98) algorithm, Stepwise Refining TES (SRTES) algorithm, Linear piecewise TES (LTES) algorithm, and Optimized Smoothing TES (OSTES) algorithm. At the end, the accuracy obtained with real data, and the ones predicted by means of the proposed methodology are compared and discussed

Statistical analysis of hyper-spectral data: a non-Gaussian approach

We investigate the statistical modeling of hyper-spectral data. The accurate modeling of experimental data is critical in target detection and classification applications. In fact, having a statistical model that is capable of properly describing data variability leads to the derivation of the best decision strategies together with a reliable assessment of algorithm performance. Most existing classification and target detection algorithms are based on the multivariate Gaussian model which, in many cases, deviates from the true statistical behavior of hyper-spectral data. This motivated us to investigate the capability of non-Gaussian models to represent data variability in each background class. In particular, we refer to models based on elliptically contoured (EC) distributions. We consider multivariate EC-t distribution and two distinct mixture models based on EC distributions. We describe the methodology adopted for the statistical analysis and we propose a technique to automatically estimate the unknown parameters of statistical models. Finally, we discuss the results obtained by analyzing data gathered by the multispectral infrared and visible imaging spectrometer (MIVIS) sensor

Estimation of directional sea wave spectra from radar images: a Mediterranean sea case study

An inversion technique for estimating sea wave directional spectra from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is applied to a set of ERS-1 data relevant to selected Mediterranean areas. The approach followed is based on the analytical definition of the transform which maps the sea wave spectrum onto the corresponding SAR image spectrum. The solution of the inverse problem is determined through a numerical procedure which minimises a proper functional. A suitable iterative scheme is adopted, involving the use of the above transform. Although widely applied to the ocean case, the method has not been yet extensively tested in smaller scale basins, as for instance the Mediterranean sea. The results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the numerical procedure discussed for retrieving the sea wave spectrum from SAR images. This work provides new experimental data relevant to the Mediterranean Sea, discusses the results obtained by the above inversion technique and compares them with buoy derived sea truth measurements