A Proof-of-Concept Study for an Elastohydrodynamic Seal Design

Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles are superior to traditional water based, air-breathing, direct-fired, open Brayton cycles or indirect-fired, closed Rankine cycles in terms of efficiency and equipment size. They hold great potential in fossil fuel power plants, nuclear power production, solar power, geothermal power, and ship propulsion. To unlock the potential of sCO2 power cycles, utilized technology must withstand 10–600 MWe and at sCO2 temperatures and pressures of 350–700℃ and 20–35 MPa for nuclear industries. Amongst many challenges at the component level, the lack of suitable shaft seals for sCO2 operating conditions needs to be addressed. So far, conventional seals all suffer from the incapability of handling sCO2 pressures and temperatures in one way or another. These seals suffer from high leakage rates, bristle wear, and scalability constraints. There is a worldwide effort to develop effective sealing technologies for sCO2 turbomachinery. This research focuses on creating a proof-of-concept alternative seal design that can potentially be used in sCO2 turbomachinery. The seal will be demonstrated on a larger scale; utilizing water flowing through a chamber and studying how the pressure gradient and seal deflection affects the performance of the seal. Under these conditions, if the pressures at the top and bottom of the seal are constant and decreasing along the flow path, respectively, then the seal will deform in a way that forms a throat towards the root of the seal. In this work, an experimental methodology has been developed, including the instrumentation and fabrication of the components

Double-averaged velocity and stress distributions for hydraulically-smooth and transitionally-rough turbulent flows

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Kadison-Kastler stable factors

A conjecture of Kadison and Kastler from 1972 asks whether sufficiently close operator algebras in a natural uniform sense must be small unitary perturbations of one another. For n≥3 and a free, ergodic, probability measure-preserving action of SL<sub>n</sub>(Z) on a standard nonatomic probability space (X,μ), write M=(L<sup>∞</sup>(X,μ)⋊SL<sub>n</sub>(Z))⊗¯¯¯R, where R is the hyperfinite II1-factor. We show that whenever M is represented as a von Neumann algebra on some Hilbert space H and N⊆B(H) is sufficiently close to M, then there is a unitary u on H close to the identity operator with uMu∗=N. This provides the first nonamenable class of von Neumann algebras satisfying Kadison and Kastler’s conjecture. We also obtain stability results for crossed products L<sup>∞</sup>(X,μ)⋊Γ whenever the comparison map from the bounded to usual group cohomology vanishes in degree 2 for the module L<sup>2</sup>(X,μ). In this case, any von Neumann algebra sufficiently close to such a crossed product is necessarily isomorphic to it. In particular, this result applies when Γ is a free group

A remark on the similarity and perturbation problems

In this note we show that Kadison's similarity problem for C*-algebras is equivalent to a problem in perturbation theory: must close C*-algebras have close commutants?Comment: 6 Pages, minor typos fixed. C. R. Acad. Sci. Canada, to appea

Rearrangement of {α-P2W15} to {PW6} moieties during the assembly of transition-metal-linked polyoxometalate clusters

We report the formation of two polyoxotungstates of the general formula [M6(PW6O26)(α-P2W15O56)2(H2O)2]23− (M = CoII or MnII), which contain {PW6} fragments generated from the [P2W15O56]12− precursor, which demonstrates for the first time the transformation of a Dawson lacunae into a Keggin lacunary building block. Solution analysis of the clusters has been conducted via electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry

On application of empirical mode decomposition for turbulence analysis in open-channel flows

The study has been supported by the EPSRC/UK grants: “Bed friction in rough-bed free-surface flows: a theoretical framework, roughness regimes, and quantification” (EP/K041088/1) and “Secondary currents in turbulent flows over rough walls” (EP/V002414/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Hydraulic resistance in open-channel flows over self-affine rough beds

Acknowledgements The authors wish to express their gratitude to Stephan Spiller for advice regarding the silicone moulds, to Cameron Scott for assisting with manufacturing of the roughness elements and Davide Collautti for help with conducting experiments.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Flow development in rough-bed open channels : mean velocities, turbulence statistics, velocity spectra, and secondary currents

Acknowledgements: The authors wish to express their gratitude to Roy Gillanders for the help provided in the laboratory and to the School of Engineering of the University of Aberdeen for the support. The comments and suggestions of the Associate Editor and two anonymous reviewers helped to improve the final version of the paper and are much appreciated. Funding The study has been supported by three Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council/UK grants: “High-resolution numerical and experimental studies of turbulence-induced sediment erosion and near-bed transport” (EP/G056404/1), “Bed friction in rough-bed free-surface flows: a theoretical framework, roughness regimes, and quantification” (EP/K041088/1) and “Secondary currents in turbulent flows over rough walls” (EP/V002414/1). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Friction factor decomposition for rough-wall flows : theoretical background and application to open-channel flows

Financial support was provided by the EPSRC/UK project ‘Bed friction in rough-bed free-surface flows: a theoretical framework, roughness regimes, and quantification’ (grants EP/K041088/1 and EP/K04116/1). I.M. acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council (grant FL120100017). The large-eddy simulations were carried out at Cardiff University’s high performance computer, which is part of the Supercomputing Wales project. Useful and stimulating discussions with M. Fletcher (Arup), P. Samuels (HR Wallingford), T. Schlicke (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) and J. Wicks (Jacobs) have been instrumental for this project and are gratefully acknowledged. The editor and three reviewers provided insightful comments and helpful suggestions that have been gratefully incorporated in the final version.Peer reviewedPublisher PD