Diamondoid diacids ('O4' species) in oil sands process-affected water.

RATIONALE: As a by-product of oil sands extraction, large volumes of oil sands process water (OSPW) are generated, which are contaminated with a large range of water-soluble organic compounds. The acids are thought to be derived from hydrocarbons via natural biodegradation pathways such as α- and β-oxidation of alkyl substituents, which could produce mono- and diacids, for example. However, while several monoacids ('O2' species) have been identified, the presence of diacids (i.e. 'O4' species) has only been deduced from results obtained via Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance high-resolution mass spectrometry (FTICR-HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H-NMR) spectroscopy and the structures have never been confirmed. METHODS: An extract of an OSPW from a Canadian tailings pond was analysed and the retention times and the electron ionization mass spectra of some analytes were compared with those of bis-methyl esters of authentic diacids by gas chromatography × gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GCxGC/TOFMS) in nominal and accurate mass configurations. RESULTS: Two diamondoid diacids (3-carboxymethyladamantane-1-carboxylic acid and adamantane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid) were firmly identified as their bis-methyl esters by retention time and mass spectral matching and several other structural isomers were more tentatively assigned. Diacids have substantially increased polarity over the hydrocarbon and monoacid species from which they probably derive: as late members of biodegradation processes they may be useful indicators of weathering and ageing, not only of OSPW, but potentially of crude oil residues more generally. CONCLUSIONS: Structures of O4 species in OSPW have been identified. This confirms pathways of microbial biodegradation, which were only postulated previously, and may be a further indication that remediation of OSPW toxicity can occur by natural microbial action. The presence and abundance of these diacids might therefore be useful as a measure of biodegradation and weathering

Inherent and model-form uncertainty analysis for CFD simulation of synthetic jet actuators

A mixed aleatory (inherent) and epistemic (model-form) uncertainty quantification (UQ) analysis method was applied to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling problem of synthetic jet actuators. A test case, (Case 3, flow over a hump model with synthetic jet actuator control) from the CFDVAL2004 workshop was selected to apply the Second-Order Probability framework implemented with a stochastic response surface obtained from Quadrature-Based Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC). Three uncertainty sources were considered: (1) epistemic uncertainty in turbulence model, (2) aleatory uncertainty in free stream velocity and (3) aleatory uncertainty in actuation frequency. Uncertainties in both long-time averaged and phase averaged quantities were quantified using a fourth order polynomial chaos expansion (PCE). Results were compared with experimental data available. A global sensitivity analysis with Sobol indices was utilized to rank the importance of each uncertainty source to the overall output uncertainty. The results indicated that for the long-time averaged separation bubble size, the uncertainty in turbulence model had a dominant contribution, which was also observed in the long-time averaged skin friction coefficients at three selected locations. For long-time averaged pressure coefficient, the contributions from free stream velocity and turbulence model are depending on the locations. The mixed UQ results for phase averaged x-velocity distributions at three selected locations showed that the 95% confidence intervals (CI) could generally envelope the experimental data. The Sobol indices showed that near the wall, the turbulence model had a main influence on the x-velocity, while approaching the main stream, the uncertainty in free stream velocity became a larger contributor. The uncertainty in frequency was found to have a very small contribution to both long-time averaged and phase averaged quantities with the range of variance considered --Abstract, page iii

A minimal U(1)′U(1)^\prime extension of MSSM in light of the B decay anomaly

Motivated by the $R_K$ and $R_{K^*}$ anomalies from B decays, we extend the minimal supersymmetric model with a non-universal anomaly-free $U(1)^\prime$ gauge symmetry, coupling non-universally to the lepton sector as well as the quark sector. In particular, only the third generation quarks are charged under this $U(1)^\prime$, which can easily evade the dilepton bound from the LHC searches. An extra singlet is introduced to break this $U(1)^\prime$ symmetry allowing for the $\mu$-term to be generated dynamically. The relevant constraints of $B_s-\bar{B}_s$ mixing, $D^0-\bar{D}^0$ mixing and the LHC dilepton searches are considered. We find that in the allowed parameter space this $U(1)^\prime$ gauge interaction can accommodate the $R_K$ and $R_{K^*}$ anomalies and weaken considerably the $Z^\prime$ mass limits while remaining perturbative up to the Planck scale.Comment: 12 pages,2 figure

Inherent and Model-Form Uncertainty Analysis for CFD Simulation of Synthetic Jet Actuators

A mixed (aleatory and epistemic) uncertainty quantification (UQ) method was applied to computational uid dynamics (CFD) modeling of a synthetic jet actuator. A test case, (ow over a hump model with synthetic jet actuator control) from the CFDVAL2004 work-shop was selected to apply the Second-Order Probability framework implemented with a stochastic response surface obtained from Quadrature-Based Non-Intrusive Polynomial Chaos (NIPC). Three uncertainty sources were considered: (1) epistemic (model-form) uncertainty in turbulence model, (2) aleatory (inherent) uncertainty in free stream veloc-ity and (3) aleatory uncertainty in actuation frequency. Uncertainties in both long-time averaged and phase averaged quantities were quantified using a fourth order polynomial chaos expansion (PCE). A global sensitivity analysis with Sobol indices was utilized to rank the importance of each uncertainty source to the overall output uncertainty. The results indicated that for the long-time averaged separation bubble size, the uncertainty in turbulence model had a dominant contribution, which was also observed in the long-time averaged skin friction coeficients at three selected locations. The mixed uncertainty results for phase averaged x-velocity distributions at three selected locations showed that the 95% confidence interval (CI) could generally envelope the experimental data. The Sobol indices showed that near the wall, the uncertainty in turbulence model had a main inuence on the x-velocity, while approaching the main stream, the uncertainty in free stream velocity be-came a larger contributor. The mixed uncertainty quantification approach demonstrated in this study can also be applied to other computational uid dynamics problems with inherent and model-form input uncertainities

Pressurization System Modeling for a Generic Bimese Two- Stage-to-Orbit Reusable Launch Vehicle

A pressurization system model was developed for a generic bimese Two-Stage-to-orbit Reusable Launch Vehicle using a cross-feed system and operating with densified propellants. The model was based on the pressurization system model for a crossfeed subscale water test article and was validated with test data obtained from the test article. The model consists of the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen pressurization models, each made up of two submodels, Booster and Orbiter tank pressurization models. The tanks are controlled within a 0.2-psi band and pressurized on the ground with ambient helium and autogenously in flight with gaseous oxygen and gaseous hydrogen. A 15-psi pressure difference is maintained between the Booster and Orbiter tanks to ensure crossfeed check valve closure before Booster separation. The analysis uses an ascent trajectory generated for a generic bimese vehicle and a tank configuration based on the Space Shuttle External Tank. It determines the flow rates required to pressurize the tanks on the ground and in flight, and demonstrates the model's capability to analyze the pressurization system performance of a full-scale bimese vehicle with densified propellants

Numerical Simulations of Surface Charging at the Lunar Terminator

A full-particle particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation model is developed to perform fully-kinetic simulations of surface-plasma interactions at the lunar terminator region. This model uses a non-homogeneous immersed-finite-element (IFE) solver to calculate the electric field discontinuity (flux jump) at the plasma-surface interface and surface charging for realistic lunar surface terrain. The simulation includes all plasma species, including the solar wind electrons and ions, as well as photoelectrons with real proton-to-electron mass ratio so the kinetic properties in the mesothermal flow are resolved. We present simulation results of surface charging around a lunar hill at the lunar terminator region