1,154 research outputs found
Fluid modeling and simulation of the electron population in Hall Effect Thrusters with complex magnetic topologies
Mención Internacional en el título de doctorLa propulsión eléctrica es una tecnología consolidada, utilizada por vehículos espaciales para llevar
a cabo maniobras no atmosféricas. Este tipo de motores cohete ha estado presente en numerosas
aplicaciones en las últimas décadas y sus usos van desde el mantenimiento de la posición orbital
de satélites comerciales a transferencias interplanetarias en misiones de exploración. La mayor
ventaja de los numerosos tipos de propulsores eléctricos es su capacidad de proporcionar un determinado
impulso a un coste de propelente reducido, en comparación con otros tipos de propulsión.
El desarrollo de los motores de plasma, la clase más común de propulsor eléctrico, se ha visto
impedido en mayor medida que los cohetes químicos, por ejemplo, debido a la complejidad de la
interacción de los fenómenos físicos y a dificultades asociadas con las campañas experimentales.
En las últimas dos décadas se ha introducido el uso de simulaciones numéricas para ayudar a
la caracterización de estos aparatos. A pesar de que el diseño asistido por ordenador juega aún
un papel muy reducido, el incremento de recursos computacionales y la creciente exactitud de
los modelos físicos han permitido a estas simulaciones describir numerosos mecanismos físicos,
explorar el espacio de diseño de estos aparatos y complementar los ensayos experimentales.
Esta tesis está centrada en el estudio numérico de la población de electrones en descargas de
plasma poco colisionales, bajo la influencia de campos eléctricos y magnéticos. El trabajo realizado
ha contribuido al desarrollo de una nueva herramienta de simulación híbrida, cuasi-neutra, bidimensional
y axisimétrica, denominada HYPHEN; su naturaleza híbrida se debe al tratamiento
por separado de las especies pesadas, descritas a través de un conocido método de partículas, y de
la población de electrones, descrita como un fluido. Una de nuestras mayores contribuciones es la
introducciÃsn de un modelo anisotrÃspico de dos temperaturas, que permite capturar los efectos
de la falta de uniformidad del campo magnético sobre el transporte de electornes. Esta función
abre el camino para la caracterización de nuevos propulsores electromagnéticos. Actualemente,
el código está orientado hacia la simulación de las regiones del canal y de la pluma cercana en
motores de efecto Hall, en los que se enfoca esta tesis. Parte del trabajo se ha dedicado a dotar al
código de las capacidades necesarias para la simulación de topologías magnéticas complejas.
El presente documento detalla la motivación detrás de HYPHEN, su metodología de diseño y
la influencia de trabajos previos. Se ha prestado una especial atención al modelo fluido propuesto,
detallando el uso de una malla alineada con el campo magnético para el tratamiento numérico de
la población confinada de electrones, para la cual se han utilizado diversos métodos ad-hoc de discretización
temporal y espacial. Varios modelos auxiliares también se han descrito, con el objetivo
de caracterizar la respuesta de la capa límite del plasma y de los distintos procesos colisionales en
el seno del mismo. Se presenta también el estudio de los aspectos numéricos del modelo fluido,
incluyendo la sensibilidad a condiciones iniciales, a los valores del paso temporal, el refinamiento
de la malla, etc. Finalmente, HYPHEN se ha testeado para la configuración de un conocido motor
Hall. Los resultados demuestran que las propiedades físicas y las actuaciones obtenidas son comparables
con resultados provenientes de estudios experimentales. Bajo este contexto, se ha llevado a
cabo un estudio paramétrico para determinar la dependencia de la respuesta del motor con algunos
de los parámetros más relevantes del modelo, tales como el transporte anómalo de electrones o la
fracción de termalización de la capa límite, y con los diferentes modelos colisionales.Electric propulsion is an established technology used for non-atmospheric spacecraft maneuvering.
This type of rockets have been present in numerous applications in the last decades, and their
uses range from station keeping of commercial satellites to interplanetary transfers in deep space
exploration missions. While electric propulsion thrusters are multi-faceted, presenting numerous
and distinct types, their best selling point is the capability to deliver a given impulse at much
lower propellant cost, in comparison to other types of propulsion.
The maturation of plasma thrusters, the most common type of electric propulsion devices, has
faced more limitations than chemical rockets, for example, due to the complexity of the physical
interactions at play, and the difficulties associated with experimental campaigns. Over the past
two decades, numerical simulations were introduced as a novel tool in the characterization of these
devices. While true computer-aided-design is not yet a reality, the increment of computational
resources and the heightened fidelity of the physical models have allowed to describe numerous
physical mechanisms, explore the design space of these devices and complement experimental
testing.
This thesis focuses on the numerical study of the electron population in weakly collisional
plasma discharges, under the influence of applied magnetic and electric fields. The work has been
a primary contribution in the development of a new, quasi-neutral, two-dimensional, axisymmetric,
hybrid simulation tool, called HYPHEN. Its hybrid nature responds to the different treatment of
the heavy species populations, described through a well known discrete-particle approach, and the
electron population, described as a fluid. One of our main contributions has been the introduction
of a two-temperature anisotropic approach, which allows capturing of the magnetic non-uniformity
effects over electron transport; this feature paves the way for the characterization of some novel
electromagnetic propulsion technologies. Presently, the code is oriented to the simulation of the
channel and near-plume regions in Hall effect thrusters, which have been the main focal point of
the thesis. Dedicated efforts have been directed to providing the capabilities for the simulation of
the plasma under complex magnetic field topologies.
The manuscript details the motivation and design methodology behind HYPHEN, as well as
the influence of previous work. Special attention has been given to the particularities of the
proposed fluid model; this includes the use of a magnetic field aligned mesh for the numerical
treatment of the electron population under magnetic confinement, for which ad-hoc spatial and
temporal discretization methods have been proposed. Additional ancillary physical models have
also been developed, characterizing the response of plasma boundary layers and the various collisional
processes in the plasma. The numerical aspects of the model have been investigated,
including the sensitivity to initial conditions, time-step values, mesh refinement, etc. Finally,
HYPHEN has been tested in the context of a representative Hall-thruster configuration. The
results were found to be in line with experimentally reported thruster performances and plasma
discharge quantities. Additionally, a parametric investigation has been carried out in order to
investigate the dependency of the thruster response with the most relevant model parameters,
such as the anomalous electron transport or the boundary layer thermalization fraction, and the
different collisional models.This work has been partially supported by the CHEOPS project, that received funding from
the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under grant agreement No.
730135. Additional support came from Project ESP2016-75887, funded by the National research
and development program of Spain.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Plasmas y Fusión NuclearPresidente: José Javier Honrubia Checa.- Secretario: Mario Merino Martínez.- Vocal: Paul-Quentin Elia
The Burden of Health Care Costs for Working Families
Health care spending represents a growing share of our national income, and based on current projections, will increase from 16% of the gross domestic product today to 20% by 2018. What does this mean for typical working families with private health insurance, who shoulder the financial burden of maintaining the current system? In this Issue Brief, Polsky and Grande construct a typical health care budget for working families of various income levels, calculate the percentage of total compensation devoted to health care over time, and project how rising health care costs will affect standards of living in the future. Their findings remind us that what works today also has to work tomorrow. Sustainability depends critically on successful cost containment
A novel deconvolution beamforming algorithm for virtual phased arrays
Beamforming techniques using phased microphone arrays are one of the most common tools for localizing and quantifying noise sources. However, the use of such devices can result in a series of well-known disadvantages regarding, for instance, their very high cost or transducer mismatch. Virtual Phased Arrays (VPAs) have been proposed as an alternative solution to prevent these difficulties provided the sound field is time stationary. Several frequency domain beamforming techniques can be adapted to only use the relative phase between a fixed and a moving transducer. Therefore the results traditionally obtained using large arrays can be emulated by applying beamforming algorithms to data acquired from only two sensors. This paper presents a novel beamforming algorithm which uses a deconvolution approach to strongly reduce the presence of side lobes. A series of synthetic noise sources with negative source strength are introduced in order to maximize the dynamic range of the beamforming deconvolved map. This iterative sidelobe cleaner algorithm (ISCA) does not require the of use of the covariance matrix of the array, hence it can also be applied to a VPA. The performance of ISCA is compared throughout several simulations with conventional deconvolution algorithms such as DAMAS and NNLS. The results support the robustness and accuracy of the proposed approach, providing clear localization maps in all the conditions evaluated
UBathy (v2.0): a software to obtain the bathymetry from video imagery
UBathy is an open source software developed for bathymetry estimation from video images. The proposed scheme is based on extracting the wave modes from videos of the nearshore surface wave propagation. These videos can be formed either from raw camera images, which must have been previously calibrated, or from georeferenced planviews. For each wave mode extracted from the videos, the wave frequency and the spatially dependent wavenumbers are obtained. The frequencies and wavenumbers from different videos are used to estimate the bathymetry by adjusting the dispersion relationship for linear surface water waves. The bathymetry at different times can further be weighted and aggregated using the Kalman filter. The new software is suitable for Argus-type video monitoring stations and for moving cameras mounted on drones or satellites, and it is meant for users familiar with coastal image processing and suitable for non-experienced users. The software and an application example are available on the GitHub platform.Postprint (author's final draft
Electrospinning and Electrospraying Techniques for Designing Antimicrobial Polymeric Biocomposite Mats
Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary area in which polymeric nanofibers have been exploited either as scaffolds or wound dressings. This chapter overviews the use of versatile electro-hydrodynamic processing techniques for developing antimicrobial nanofibrous mats derived from polymeric biocomposites. The influence of well-known antimicrobial nanoparticles on the physical properties of precursory polymeric solution is discussed, and the consequences of their variations on several important morphological parameters, namely average fiber diameter and orientation, porosity, pore size, among others, are considered. Moreover, other specific properties of composite fibers conferred by the nanoparticles are reviewed as well as their use toward the design of multifunctional polymeric mats
The effects of coaching in employees and organizational performance: the Spanish Case
Purpose: The expansion of coaching in firms reflects its potential use as a tool to
improve the development of human capital and of the firm itself. Nevertheless, research
into the effects of coaching is lagging some way behind practice and there is a need to
establish a theoretical framework capable of explaining how the coaching process
proceeds and its outcomes. The goal of this research is to analyze the effects of
coaching in both, employees development, and organizational performance. Thus, we
extend Joo’s (2005) conceptual model by adding social exchange theory and the
resource-based view, so as to to develop a model that allow us to investigate coaching.
Design/methodology/approach: We test our model on a sample of 498 Spanish
firms. The hypotheses were analyzed using structural equations modeling.
Findings: Our results confirm that coaching has an influence on both individual
performance and organizational performance indicators. Besides, social exchange
theory and the resource-based view, are a proper frameworks so as to study the effects
of coaching.
Practical implications: Coaching also helps firms to improve their competitive
position. maximise benefits and minimise costs. We highlight several tips for
practitioners in order to develop properly coaching processes. Originality/value: Coaching helps firms improve their competitive position via effects
on organisational performance, sales increases and productivity growth.Peer Reviewe
Trajectory dependence of electronic energy-loss straggling at keV ion energies
We have measured the electronic energy-loss straggling of protons, helium,
boron and silicon ions in silicon using a transmission time-of-flight approach.
Ions with velocities between 0.25 and 1.6 times the Bohr velocity were
transmitted through single-crystalline Si(100) nanomembranes in either
channelling or random geometry to study the impact parameter dependence of
energy-loss straggling. Nuclear and path length contributions to the straggling
were determined with the help of Monte Carlo simulations. Our results exhibit
an increase in straggling with increasing ion velocity for channelled
trajectories for all projectiles as well as for protons and helium in random
geometry. In contrast for heavier ions, electronic straggling at low velocities
does not decrease further but plateaus and even seems to increase again. We
compare our experimental results with transport cross section calculations. The
satisfying agreement for helium shows that electronic stopping for light ions
is dominated by electron-hole pair excitations, and that the previously
observed trajectory dependence can indeed be attributed to a higher mean charge
state for random trajectories. No agreement is found for boron and silicon
indicating that local electron-promotion and charge-exchange events
significantly contribute to energy loss at low velocities
PARENTAL DEPENDENCE OF A JUVENILE BLACK-AND-CHESTNUT EAGLE (SPIZAETUS ISIDORI) IN THE EASTERN ANDES, COLOMBIA
Abstract · The Black‐and‐chestnut Eagle (Spizaetus isidori) is one of the least known Neotropical birds of prey, with scarce information about its basic biology throughout its entire distribution range. Information on the duration of its parental dependence is inexistent, although this is a key period in the natural history of birds which will impact the subsequent probability of survival, development of natal dispersion and finally reproduction. Here, we provide information on parental dependence, and report focal observation data describing behaviors, post‐fledging movements and home range of a Black‐and‐chestnut Eagle fledgling in the eastern Andes of Colombia. We monitored fledgling development from ca. 6 to 32 weeks of age. The young eagle left the nest at 13 weeks and the dependence period lasts until at least 28 weeks old. The home range estimated (kernel 95) reached 48.1 ha and the intensively used area (kernel 50) reached 4.0 ha. Further studies, using new tracking technology and focal observations will be needed to improve our understanding of the species’ post‐fledging period. Resumen · Dependencia parental de un juvenil de Águila Crestada (Spizaetus isidori) en la cordillera oriental de los Andes de Colombia El Águila Crestada (Spizaetus isidori) es una de las rapaces menos conocidas del Neotrópico, con escasa información sobre aspectos básicos de su biología a través de todo el rango de distribución. Entre otras cosas, se desconoce información relacionada con la dependencia parental de los juveniles de la especie. La dependencia parental se considera clave en la historia de vida de las aves, ya que su desarrollo en este estado puede afectar subsecuentemente su probabilidad de supervivencia y el desarrollo de los procesos asociados a la dispersión natal y la reproducción. En este trabajo proveemos información relacionada con el tiempo de duración de la dependencia parental de un juvenil de la especie, además de datos de observaciones focales sobre comportamiento, movimientos y rango de acción. Se monitoreó el desarrollo de un juvenil entre las 6–32 semanas de edad aproximadamente. El volantón abandonó del nido a las 13 semanas y la dependencia parental se prolongó, por lo menos, hasta las 28 semanas de edad. El rango de acción estimado (kernel 95) fue de 48.1 ha y el área núcleo (kernel 50) fue de 4.0 ha. Es necesario que se realicen futuros estudios usando tecnologías de telemetría y observaciones focales para obtener una mejor comprensión del periodo de dependencia parental de los juveniles de la especie
Analysis of the numerical diffusion in anisotropic mediums: benchmarks for magnetic field aligned meshes in space propulsion simulations
This manuscript explores numerical errors in highly anisotropic diffusion problems. First, the paper addresses the use of regular structured meshes in numerical solutions versus meshes aligned with the preferential directions of the problem. Numerical diffusion in structured meshes is quantified by solving the classical anisotropic diffusion problem; the analysis is exemplified with the application to a numerical model of conducting fluids under magnetic confinement, where rates of transport in directions parallel and perpendicular to a magnetic field are quite different. Numerical diffusion errors in this problem promote the use of magnetic field aligned meshes (MFAM). The generation of this type of meshes presents some challenges; several meshing strategies are implemented and analyzed in order to provide insight into achieving acceptable mesh regularity. Second, Gradient Reconstruction methods for magnetically aligned meshes are addressed and numerical errors are compared for the structured and magnetically aligned meshes. It is concluded that using the latter provides a more correct and straightforward approach to solving problems where anisotropicity is present, especially, if the anisotropicity level is high or difficult to quantify. The conclusions of the study may be extrapolated to the study of anisotropic flows different from conducting fluids.This work has been supported by Spain’s R&D National Plan, grant number ESP2013-41052-P.Publicad
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