252 research outputs found
Study of combustion experiments in space
The physical bases and scientific merits were examined of combustion experimentation in a space environment. For a very broad range of fundamental combustion problems, extensive and systematic experimentation at reduced gravitational levels (0 g 1) are viewed as essential to the development of needed observations and related theoretical understanding
Ultrasonic in-situ determination of the regression rate of the melting interface in burning metal rods
Results of tests in which metallic rods are burned in oxygen enriched atmospheres often include the determination of the regression rate of the melting interface for the burning test specimen. This regression rate is used as an indication of a metallic material's relative flammability and its general ability to sustain burning under the test conditions. This paper reports on the development and first application of an ultrasonic measurement system that enables in situ measurement of the regression rate of the melting interface in burning metal rods. All other methods currently used for determining this parameter are based on posttest, visual interrogation, which is costly and often inaccurate. The transducer and associated equipment used to drive and record the transducer's output signal are described and typical results for iron rods burning in pure oxygen at different gauge pressures are given along with a comparison of these results with regression gates obtained from visual interrogation. The excellent sensitivity, accuracy and reliability of the new ultrasonic transducer are demonstrated, thus indicating the transducer's great potential. (C) 1999 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(99)00702-X]
Nonlinear equation for curved stationary flames
A nonlinear equation describing curved stationary flames with arbitrary gas
expansion , subject to the
Landau-Darrieus instability, is obtained in a closed form without an assumption
of weak nonlinearity. It is proved that in the scope of the asymptotic
expansion for the new equation gives the true solution to the
problem of stationary flame propagation with the accuracy of the sixth order in
In particular, it reproduces the stationary version of the
well-known Sivashinsky equation at the second order corresponding to the
approximation of zero vorticity production. At higher orders, the new equation
describes influence of the vorticity drift behind the flame front on the front
structure. Its asymptotic expansion is carried out explicitly, and the
resulting equation is solved analytically at the third order. For arbitrary
values of the highly nonlinear regime of fast flow burning is
investigated, for which case a large flame velocity expansion of the nonlinear
equation is proposed.Comment: 29 pages 4 figures LaTe
Hydrodynamic Stability Analysis of Burning Bubbles in Electroweak Theory and in QCD
Assuming that the electroweak and QCD phase transitions are first order, upon
supercooling, bubbles of the new phase appear. These bubbles grow to
macroscopic sizes compared to the natural scales associated with the Compton
wavelengths of particle excitations. They propagate by burning the old phase
into the new phase at the surface of the bubble. We study the hydrodynamic
stability of the burning and find that for the velocities of interest for
cosmology in the electroweak phase transition, the shape of the bubble wall is
stable under hydrodynamic perturbations. Bubbles formed in the cosmological QCD
phase transition are found to be a borderline case between stability and
instability.Comment: preprint # SLAC-PUB-5943, SCIPP 92/56 38 pages, 10 figures (submitted
via `uufiles'), phyzzx format minor snafus repaire
Anomalous roughness with system size dependent local roughness exponent
We note that in a system far from equilibrium the interface roughening may
depend on the system size which plays the role of control parameter. To detect
the size effect on the interface roughness, we study the scaling properties of
rough interfaces formed in paper combustion experiments. Using paper sheets of
different width \lambda L, we found that the turbulent flame fronts display
anomalous multi-scaling characterized by non universal global roughness
exponent \alpha and the system size dependent spectrum of local roughness
exponents,\xi_q, whereas the burning fronts possess conventional multi-affine
scaling. The structure factor of turbulent flame fronts also exhibit
unconventional scaling dependence on \lambda These results are expected to
apply to a broad range of far from equilibrium systems, when the kinetic energy
fluctuations exceed a certain critical value.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figure
The Thermonuclear Explosion Of Chandrasekhar Mass White Dwarfs
The flame born in the deep interior of a white dwarf that becomes a Type Ia
supernova is subject to several instabilities. We briefly review these
instabilities and the corresponding flame acceleration. We discuss the
conditions necessary for each of the currently proposed explosion mechanisms
and the attendant uncertainties. A grid of critical masses for detonation in
the range - g cm is calculated and its
sensitivity to composition explored. Prompt detonations are physically
improbable and appear unlikely on observational grounds. Simple deflagrations
require some means of boosting the flame speed beyond what currently exists in
the literature. ``Active turbulent combustion'' and multi-point ignition are
presented as two plausible ways of doing this. A deflagration that moves at the
``Sharp-Wheeler'' speed, , is calculated in one dimension
and shows that a healthy explosion is possible in a simple deflagration if the
front moves with the speed of the fastest floating bubbles. The relevance of
the transition to the ``distributed burning regime'' is discussed for delayed
detonations. No model emerges without difficulties, but detonation in the
distributed regime is plausible, will produce intermediate mass elements, and
warrants further study.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures included, uses aaspp4.sty. Submitted to Ap
Resolvent methods for steady premixed flame shapes governed by the Zhdanov-Trubnikov equation
Using pole decompositions as starting points, the one parameter (-1 =< c < 1)
nonlocal and nonlinear Zhdanov-Trubnikov (ZT) equation for the steady shapes of
premixed gaseous flames is studied in the large-wrinkle limit. The singular
integral equations for pole densities are closely related to those satisfied by
the spectral density in the O(n) matrix model, with n = -2(1 + c)/(1 - c). They
can be solved via the introduction of complex resolvents and the use of complex
analysis. We retrieve results obtained recently for -1 =< c =< 0, and we
explain and cure their pathologies when they are continued naively to 0 < c <
1. Moreover, for any -1 =< c < 1, we derive closed-form expressions for the
shapes of steady isolated flame crests, and then bicoalesced periodic fronts.
These theoretical results fully agree with numerical resolutions. Open problems
are evoked.Comment: v2: 29 pages, 6 figures, some typos correcte
Finite size effects near the onset of the oscillatory instability
A system of two complex Ginzburg - Landau equations is considered that applies at the onset of the oscillatory instability in spatial domains whose size is large (but finite) in one direction; the dependent variables are the slowly modulated complex amplitudes of two counterpropagating wavetrains. In order to obtain a well posed problem, four boundary conditions must be imposed at the boundaries. Two of them were already known, and the other two are first derived in this paper. In the generic case when the group velocity is of order unity, the resulting problem has terms that are not of the same order of magnitude. This fact allows us to consider two distinguished limits and to derive two associated (simpler) sub-models, that are briefly discussed. Our results predict quite a rich variety of complex dynamics that is due to both the modulational instability and finite size effects
Geometry-controlled kinetics
It has long been appreciated that transport properties can control reaction
kinetics. This effect can be characterized by the time it takes a diffusing
molecule to reach a target -- the first-passage time (FPT). Although essential
to quantify the kinetics of reactions on all time scales, determining the FPT
distribution was deemed so far intractable. Here, we calculate analytically
this FPT distribution and show that transport processes as various as regular
diffusion, anomalous diffusion, diffusion in disordered media and in fractals
fall into the same universality classes. Beyond this theoretical aspect, this
result changes the views on standard reaction kinetics. More precisely, we
argue that geometry can become a key parameter so far ignored in this context,
and introduce the concept of "geometry-controlled kinetics". These findings
could help understand the crucial role of spatial organization of genes in
transcription kinetics, and more generally the impact of geometry on
diffusion-limited reactions.Comment: Submitted versio
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