Granular discharge and clogging for tilted hoppers

We measure the flux of spherical glass beads through a hole as a systematic function of both tilt angle and hole diameter, for two different size beads. The discharge increases with hole diameter in accord with the Beverloo relation for both horizontal and vertical holes, but in the latter case with a larger small-hole cutoff. For large holes the flux decreases linearly in cosine of the tilt angle, vanishing smoothly somewhat below the angle of repose. For small holes it vanishes abruptly at a smaller angle. The conditions for zero flux are discussed in the context of a {\it clogging phase diagram} of flow state vs tilt angle and ratio of hole to grain size

A simple thermodynamic model of diluted hydrogen gas/plasma for CFD applications

This work describes a simple thermodynamic model of the hydrogen gas at low densities and for temperatures going from those involving quantum rotations of ortho- and para-hydrogen up to the fully ionized state. The closed-form energy levels of Morse rotating oscillator given [D.C. Harris, M.D. Bertolucci, Symmetry and Spectroscopy (Dover, New York, 1989)] (but not those in Morse’s original paper) are shown to provide an internal partition function of H2 that is a sufficiently accurate representation of that exploiting the state-of-the-art spectrum of roto-vibrational levels calculated by Pachucki and Komasa [K. Pachucki, J. Komasa, J. Chem. Phys. 130, 164113 (2009)]. A system of two coupled quadratic equations for molecular dissociation and atomic ionization at thermodynamical and chemical equilibrium is derived according to the statistical mechanics by assuming that the system is an ideal mixture containing molecules, neutral atoms and noninteracting protons and electrons. The system of two equations reduces to a single quartic equation for the ionization unknown, with the coefficients dependent on the temperature and the specific volume. Explicit relations for specific energy and entropy of the hydrogen ideal gas/plasma model are derived. These fully compatible equations of state provide a complete thermodynamic description of the system, uniformly valid from low temperatures up to a fully ionized state, with electrons and ions relaxed to one and the same temperature. The comparison with results of other models developed in the framework of the physical and chemical pictures shows that the proposed elementary model is adequate for computational fluid dynamics purposes, in applications with the hydrogen gas under diluted conditions and when the dissociation and ionization can be assumed at thermodynamical and chemical equilibrium

Workshop report: USP workshop on advancements in in vitro performance testing of drug products

In December 2019, The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) organized a 2-day workshop to explore new approaches to assess in vitro performance of drug products. Experts from around the globe presented processes, techniques, systems that can be used to evaluate and model in vitro performance of different pharmaceutical dosage forms. The following is a summary of most of the presentations and the highlights of the discussions that ensued. © 2020, Dissolution Technologies Inc. All rights reserved