Nuevo Orden Mundial. Narraciones sobre el poder y superhéroes en el cómic mainstream estadounidense de Stormwatch a Black Summer (1996-2008)

Los cómics de superhéroes han sido estudiados por la crítica, sobre todo, como artefactos mitológicos de implicaciones morales y filosóficas. Pero desde finales de los noventa una parte importante del cómic de superhéroes mainstream se ha convertido en una narrativa simbólica sobre el poder en el mundo contemporáneo, alimentándose del discurso y los acontecimientos políticos, textualizando de manera sutil, política y moralmente provocadora, acontecimientos reales como el nuevo terrorismo y las respuestas militares a éste, la polarización de la vida política americana o el (des)equilibrio de poder mundial. Este estudio de la producción de Warren Ellis y Mark Millar muestra la importancia de una nueva lectura política e histórica de los cómics de superhéroes

Compressible-gas two-fluid modeling of isolated bubbles in a vertically vibrated fluidized bed and comparison with experiments

In this work the size and motion of isolated bubbles in a vertically vibrated fluidized bed are numerically investigated by means of two-fluid model simulations. The oscillations of the bed bulk and the bubble diameter and velocity are compared with experimental results of a pseudo-2D bed using an averaging of cycles method to account for the intrinsic unsteadiness caused by vibration. The effects of gas compressibility and the air plenum of the vibrated bed are also numerically investigated. The results show that the two-fluid model simulations resorting to a compressible gas model are able to reproduce both the cyclic compression and expansion of the bed bulk and the bubble oscillations observed in the experiments. In contrast, the simulations with the incompressible gas model fail to reproduce these effects. The presence of the air plenum in the numerical model diminishes the amplitude of the bed and bubble oscillations and improves their resemblance to the experiments. In the simulations with compressible gas, a phase delay is found between the bed displacement and the oscillation of bubble characteristics. In harmony with experiments, the phase delay is smaller in the lower half of the bed (i.e. close to the distributor) than in the upper half. This effect is not reproduced by the simulations with incompressible gas-phase. These results suggest that the phase delay in vibrated beds is caused by the compression of the gas phase, which leads to compression-expansion waves traveling through the bed. The simulations also confirm that the amplitude of vibration influences the magnitude of the bubble diameter and velocity oscillations, whereas the delay of the bubble characteristics is mainly affected by the bed vibration frequency.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Government (Project DPI2009-10518) and the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Project S2009/ENE-1660).Publicad

Bulk oscillation and velocity wave propagation in a vibrated fluidized bed at minimum fluidization conditions

The present work experimentally characterizes the behavior of the bed bulk and the solids velocity in a vertically vibrated pseudo-2D fluidized bed operated at minimum fluidization conditions. Measurements are undertaken combining Digital Image Analysis (DIA) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Vibration at different amplitudes and frequencies is applied to the bed by the use of two vibro-motors symmetrically disposed at both sides of the bed vessel. The results show that both the center of mass of the bed and the bed surface oscillate with a frequency equal to that of the bed vessel. The bed surface oscillates in opposition of phase with the bed vessel, which reflects a cyclic compression and expansion of the bed bulk. The average solids velocity at each oscillation phase clearly shows that there exists a compression wave, produced by the impact of the bed bulk with the gas distributor, and an expansion wave, produced by the expansion of the bed bulk. Both waves travel upwards the bed bulk perturbing the velocity of particles along the bed height The waves span all the bed width and separate the bed bulk into two clearly distinguishable regions with different relative velocities. When the particles belonging to the region under the wave move upwards, the particles in the region above the wave move downwards and vice versa. The results also reveal that the compression wave generated at the bottom of the bed propagates at a velocity similar to the reported velocity of sound inside a fluidized bed. Far from the distributor, this wave velocity resulted to be nearly independent of the vibration amplitude and frequency for the range of conditions tested. These results can be useful for the understanding of the behavior of particles and bubbles in vibrated fluidized beds

Oscillatory behavior of the bed bulk and the bubbles in a vertically vibrated pseudo-2D bed in bubbling regime

The effect of the bed vessel vibration on the oscillatory behavior of the bed bulk and the bubbles is experimentally studied in the present work by means of Digital Image Analysis (DIA) in a pseudo-2D bed. The bed material was three different powders of Geldart A, B and AFB classifications and was operated in bubbling regime for different superficial gas velocities and vibration amplitudes and frequencies. A tracking methodology was developed in order to follow the oscillatory motion of the bed bulk and each individual bubble in the system. This allowed the analysis of the interaction of the dense phase of the bed with the oscillations of the Nibble diameter, position and velocity. The results indicate that both the center of mass of the bed and the bubble characteristics follow the oscillation of the bed vessel with a similar frequency but with a phase delay. The amplitude and phase delay of the oscillation of the center of mass of the bed are more sensitive to variations of the vibration frequency than to variations of the vibration amplitude of the bed vessel. Both the amplitude and the frequency of the bed vessel vibration have a stronger impact on the bubble behavior of beds filled with small particles. The existence of a phase delay between the oscillations of bubble characteristics in the lower and upper sections of the bed indicates the existence of compression-expansion waves in the dense phase that modify the bubble behavior along the bed despite bubbles are interacting with each other. The presence of compression-expansion waves may shed light onto the different behaviors encountered for the mean bubble behavior in vibrated fluidized beds.This work has been partially funded by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Ayudas a la Movilidad 2014

Reversal of gulf stream circulation in a vertically vibrated triangular fluidized bed

Proceeding of: Fifteenth International Conference on Fluidization, Fluidization XV, Fluidization for Emerging Green Technologies, Montebello, Canada, May 22nd to 27th, 2016The present work experimentally assesses the effect of vibration on the dynamics of particles in a fluidized bed of triangular shape. The base of the bed is composed of two inclined walls, each one forming an angle of 45 with the horizontal. The bed has 0.206 m span and 0.01 m thickness. The bed vessel is made of antistatic PMMA in order to allow optical access with a high-speed camera. The bed is mounted on an electrodynamic shaker which produces vertical vibration. The bed material is ballotini particles with a mean diameter of 1.15 mm up to the top of the inclined walls. Air was injected through the inclined bed walls to fluidize the bed to explore whether vibration of the bed vessel together with gas injection can make the dynamics of this bed different to that found when no gas is injected. A high speed camera was used to record the motion of particles in the bed. The velocity of the particles in the bed was obtained via Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The results show that several circulation patterns are observed as a function of vibration amplitude and frequency when the fluidization velocity is just below and above the minimum fluidization velocity. Noticeably, for zero gas velocity, particles ascend close to the side walls and descend in the center of the bed. By injecting fluidization gas, the circulation pattern of the bed can be reversed (i.e. particles descending near the inclined walls and ascending in the center of the bed). Conditions for which this reversal of the gulf stream circulation of particles appears in the triangular bed are explored in this work and these include gas superficial velocities higher than the minimum fluidization velocity and sufficiently high values of the vibration strength.This work has been partially funded by the Universidad Carlos IIIde Madrid (Ayudas a la movilidad 2015) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project ENE2015/00188/001)

Lateral solids meso-mixing in pseudo-2D fluidized beds by means of TFM simulations

This work studies the solids mixing process in fluidized beds by means of numerical simulations using the two-fluid model (TFM) available in the MFIX code. The numerical results are compared with experiments conducted in a pseudo-2D fluidized bed. The experiments were performed by placing particles of the same diameter and density but of different colour in two vertical layers. To reproduce numerically the experimental results, three phases are defined: one for the gas phase and two for the solid phases, corresponding to the particles of different colours employed in the experiments, to make them separately traceable. To improve the simulation prediction, a friction model that accounts for the effect of the front and rear walls on the continuum solid phases was introduced in the TFM. Mixing times of the same order of magnitude are obtained from the simulations and the experiments when the mixing process is analysed macroscopically. Furthermore, the simulations are employed to study the solids mixing in the fluidized bed based on a more detailed mixing index. This new mixing index is determined from information of the three phases involved and it is used to predict the mixing behaviours beyond the capabilities of the experimental facility.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Fundación Iberdrola under the “Programa de Ayudas a la Investigación en Energía y Medioambiente 2016”

Experimental study on the motion of isolated bubbles in a vertically vibrated fluidized bed

In this work the motion of isolated bubbles in a pseudo-2D fluidized bed subjected to vertical sinusoidal vibration is experimentally studied by means of Digital Image Analysis (DIA). The oscillatory behavior of the bed bulk as well as the bubble position, equivalent diameter and velocity, is studied using an averaging of cycles method that takes into account the intrinsic unsteadiness produced by the bed vibration. The results indicate that the bed is compressed and expanded by the system vibration, the movement of the bed surface being opposed to that of the bed vessel. Besides, the bubble diameter, centroid position and velocity oscillate with similar frequency as the bed vessel vibration. A phase delay was found between these bubble characteristics and the bed vessel displacement. This delay grows with the distance between the bubble centroid and the bed bottom, which suggests that the oscillation of the bubble characteristics is caused by compression-expansion waves traveling upwards through the bed. Both the phase delay and the amplitude of the oscillation of the bubble characteristics are affected differently by the frequency and the amplitude of vibration. The experimental results show that the amplitude of the vibration has an important role on the link between the average bubble diameter and velocity. In particular, increasing the amplitude of vibration produces a decrease of the average rising velocity of a bubble for a given bubble diameter.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Government (Project DPI2009-10518) and the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Project S2009/ENE-1660)

Experimental study on the motion of solids around an isolated bubble rising in a vertically vibrated fluidized bed

The motion of solids around isolated bubbles rising in a vertically vibrated pseudo-2D bed is experimentally studied in this work by combining Digital Image Analysis (DIA) and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The bed material is Geldart B spherical particles. Different vibration amplitudes and frequencies are applied to the bed vessel while the bed is fluidized with air at minimum fludization conditions and isolated bubbles are sequentially injected in the bed. An averaging of bubbles method is presented and used to statistically characterize the average motion of solids around the bubbles. The results show that the presence of a bubble in the system perturbs the cyclic compression and expansion behavior of the bed bulk and, in particular, influences the velocity of the expansion wave front traveling upwards the bed. Analogously, the motion of solids around the bubble and, specially, in the bubble wake region, are strongly affected by the cyclic compression and expansion of the bed bulk. However, direct comparisons of the experimental results with the Davidson & Harrison potential flow model reveal that this model is still applicable for the prediction of the solids velocity around the bubble in a vertically vibrated fluidized bed

Thermo-economic optimization of a novel confined thermal energy storage system based on granular material

Concentrated solar power is a suitable technology for production of green electricity. However, to attain a uniform electricity production, concentrated solar power should be coupled with large Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems. Among the different technologies of TES systems, storage of sensible heat in granular material is widely used due to its simple operation. These TES systems store energy as an increase of temperature of a large mass of small solid particles, through which a fluid circulates exchanging heat. TES systems are typically operated in a fixed bed regime, maximizing their exergy output, thus limiting the maximum allowable velocity of the fluid flow. In this work, a novel confined bed is proposed to mechanically prevent the motion of the solid particles conforming the TES system even for high fluid velocities, to guarantee that the exhaust temperature of the fluid is maximum during a discharge process. In this novel confined bed, a thermocline evolves from bottom to top of the system, separating the low and high temperature of the bed during the discharge process. An analytical model was applied to describe the evolution of the thermocline and the effect of the different operating parameters on the thermocline thickness. The effect of the thermocline thickness was combined with a thermo-economic analysis of a confined bed TES system proposed for a case of study. The new confined bed here proposed was optimized considering thermodynamics aspects, namely the fluid exergy increment in the bed, and economic factors, specifically the total investment cost of the TES system. The optimization resulted in low values of the fluid velocity, between 0.2 and 0.4 m/s, but still higher than the minimum fluidization velocity of sand particles of 750 mum, justifying the requirement of a confined bed, and low bed aspect ratios, between 0.25 and 0.9, to prevent excessively high fluid pressure drops. However, the bed aspect ratio increases significantly for higher granular material particle sizes, up to a ratio of bed height to diameter of 3 for a particle size of 10 mm and a TES demand time of 6 h.This research was funded by the Spanish Government under the project STORESOL, reference number PID2019-109224RA-100. Eduardo Cano-Pleite also acknowledges support from the CONEX-Plus program funded by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union's Horizon 2020 program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801538.Publicad