Experimental and numerical investigation of Helmholtz resonators and perforated liners as attenuation devices in industrial gas turbine combustors

This paper reports upon developments in the simulation of the passive control of combustion dynamics in industrial gas turbines using acoustic attenuation devices such as Helmholtz resonators and perforated liners. Combustion instability in gas turbine combustors may, if uncontrolled, lead to large-amplitude pressure fluctuations, with consequent serious mechanical problems in the gas turbine combustor system. Perforated combustor walls and Helmholtz resonators are two commonly used passive instability control devices. However, experimental design of the noise attenuation device is time-consuming and calls for expensive trial and error practice. Despite significant advances over recent decades, the ability of Computational Fluid Dynamics to predict the attenuation of pressure fluctuations by these instability control devices is still not well validated. In this paper, the attenuation of pressure fluctuations by a group of multi-perforated panel absorbers and Helmholtz resonators are investigated both by experiment and computational simulation. It is demonstrated that CFD can predict the noise attenuation from Helmholtz resonators with good accuracy. A porous material model is modified to represent a multi-perforated panel and this perforated wall representation approach is demonstrated to be able to accurately predict the pressure fluctuation attenuation effect of perforated panels. This work demonstrates the applicability of CFD in gas turbine combustion instability control device design

Increasing food familiarity without the tears. A role for visual exposure?

Research has established the success of taste exposure paradigms as a means of increasing children’s acceptance, and liking, of previously unfamiliar or disliked foods. Yet, parents report that they tend to avoid the stress associated with repeatedly offering their children foods that are likely to be rejected. Given that successful taste exposure programmes often enhance children’s familiarity with a food’s appearance, as well as its taste, this article reviews the potential for exposure interventions that do not require repeated tastings to bring about positive attitude changes towards healthy foods. Recent evidence from studies that expose toddlers to picture books about fruit and vegetables suggest that familiarity with the origins and appearance of unfamiliar foods might increase children’s willingness to accept these into their diets

Leisure Travel Market Potential for a High Speed Civil Transport

A second-generation supersonic airliner, known as the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT), is now on the drawing boards to replace mid-life Concorde and to expand into longer-range markets beginning early next century. Passenger interviews conducted in May 1994 at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands, evaluated the largely unknown habits and attitudes of specifically leisure travelers, expected to be a significant segment of a successful HSCT market. In addition to establishing value of time, ticket purchasing habits, and general airline traveling attitudes of leisure travelers, results also indicate that HSCT marketers may have to dispel lingering Concorde stereotypes to win public acceptance

Communication and Citizen Participation in Southern Local Politics: A Disconnect Between Municipalities and Constituents

Despite the fact that 96 percent of all political contests in the United States are for local offices, citizens are far more likely to participate in national elections and forgo exercising their voice in local politics. And, although academic literature has focused extensively on citizen participation at the national level, local-level democracy has often been neglected. This neglect may be caused by a lack of interaction between constituencies and city mayors and managers. Without effective communication between both groups, citizens will be unaware of opportunities to affect social and fiscal policies in their communities. Scholars know little about the perceptions of local government officials concerning citizen participation and the media. By analyzing survey data from 221 local municipalities in the South, this study focuses on understanding Southern city mayors\u27 and managers\u27 views on media reporting about government and citizen interest in local politics. This study finds that a majority of Southern city mayors and managers do not put emphasis on increasing citizen engagement in their cities and do not see a connection between the media and citizen participation

Laboratory measurements of forward and backward scattering of laser beams in water droplet clouds

Many aspects of the forward and backward scattering in dense water droplet clouds were studied using a laboratory scattering facility. This system is configured in a lidar geometry to facilitate comparison of the laboratory results to current lidar oriented theory and measurements. The backscatter measurements are supported with simultaneous measurements of the optical density, mass concentration, and droplet size distribution of the clouds. Measurements of the extinction and backscatter coefficients at several important laser wavelength have provided data on the relationship between these quantities for laboratory clouds at .633, 1.06, and 10.6 microns. The polarization characteristics of the backscatter of 1.06 microns were studied using several different types of clouds. More recently, the laboratory facility was modified to allow range-resolved backscatter measurements at 1.06 microns. Clouds made up of 3 layers, each with its own density, can be constructed. This allows the study of the effect of cloud inhomogeneity on the forward and backscatter

Application LANDSAT imagery to geologic mapping in the ice-free valleys of Antarctica

The author has identified the following significant results. Studies in the Ice-Free Valleys are resulted in the compilation of a sizeable library of maps and publications. Rock reflectance measurements were taken during the Antarctic summer of 1973. Spectral reflectance of rocks (mostly mafic lava flows) in the McMurdo and Ice-Free Valleys areas were measured using a filter wheel photometer equipped to measure reflectances in the four Landsat bands. A series of samples were collected at regular intervals across a large differentiated, mafic sill near Lake Vida. Chemical analyses of the sample suggest that the tonal variations in this sill are controlled by changes in the iron content of the rock. False color images were prepared for a number of areas by the diazo method and with an optical multispectral biviewer. These images were useful in defining boundaries of sea ice, snow cover, and in the study of ablating glaciers, but were not very useful for rock discrimination

Technology development: A partnership that makes sense

Discussed here is an approach to how academic institutions, government entities, and industrial organizations can work effectively to utilize their relative strengths to more effectively meet common goals. The discussion relates to the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) Research Institute for Computing and Information Systems (RICIS) Program to bring about this type of triad in the Clear Lake area. It is concluded that the interfaces among these groups must remain independent to maintain a healthy counterbalance to their respective entities. However, each entity can and must understand the entire mechanism to exploit each interface to the fullest. Only through such cooperation can the continued technical success of the NASA/Clear Lake area be assured

Some illustrations of the advantages of improved resolution in geologic studies

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Expression patterns of chondrocyte genes cloned by differential display in tibial dyschondroplasia

AbstractTibial dyschondroplasia (TD) appears to involve a failure of the growth plate chondrocytes within growing long bones to differentiate fully to the hypertrophic stage, resulting in a mass of prehypertrophic chondrocytes which form the avascular TD lesion. Many biochemical and molecular markers of chondrocyte hypertrophy are absent from the lesion, or show reduced expression, but the cause of the disorder remains to be identified. As differentiation to the hypertrophic state is impaired in TD, we hypothesised that chondrocyte genes that are differentially expressed in the growth plate should show altered expression in TD. Using differential display, four genes, B-cadherin, EF2, HT7 and Ex-FABP were cloned from chondrocytes stimulated to differentiate to the hypertrophic stage in vitro, and their differential expression confirmed in vivo. Using semi-quantitative RT-PCR, the expression patterns of these genes were compared in chondrocytes from normal and TD growth plates. Surprisingly, none of these genes showed the pattern of expression that might be expected in TD lesion chondrocytes, and two of them, B-cadherin and Ex-FABP, were upregulated in the lesion. This indicates that the TD phenotype does not merely reflect the absence of hypertrophic marker genes, but may be influenced by more complex developmental mechanisms/defects than previously thought

Long term variability of the cosmic ray intensity

In a previous paper Bhat, et al., assess the evidence for the continuing acceleration of cosmic rays in the Loop I supernova remnant. The enhanced gamma-ray emission is found consistent with the Blandford and Cowie model for particle acceleration at the remnant shock wave. The contributions of other supernovae remnants to the galactic cosmic ray energy density are now considered, paying anisotropy of cosmic rays accelerated by local supernovae ( 100 pc). The results are compared with geophysical data on the fluctuations in the cosmic ray intensity over the previous one billion years