Extended skyrmion lattice scattering and long-time memory in the chiral magnet Fe1−x_{1-x}Cox_xSi

Small angle neutron scattering measurements on a bulk single crystal of the doped chiral magnet Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si with $x$=0.3 reveal a pronounced effect of the magnetic history and cooling rates on the magnetic phase diagram. The extracted phase diagrams are qualitatively different for zero and field cooling and reveal a metastable skyrmion lattice phase outside the A-phase for the latter case. These thermodynamically metastable skyrmion lattice correlations coexist with the conical phase and can be enhanced by increasing the cooling rate. They appear in a wide region of the phase diagram at temperatures below the $A$-phase but also at fields considerably smaller or higher than the fields required to stabilize the A-phase

A Comparative Analysis of Conductance Probes and High-Speed Camera Measurements for Interfacial Behavior in Annular Air-Water Flow

[EN] Different techniques are used to analyze annular flow, but the more interesting ones are those techniques that do not perturb the flow and provide enough resolution to clearly distinguish the interfacial phenomena that take place at the interface, especially the disturbance waves (DW) and the ripple waves (DW). The understanding of these events is important because it influences the heat and mass transfer taking place through the thin film formed near the walls in this flow regime. The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and the three-electrode conductance probe are two commonly used techniques to study experimentally annular flow phenomena. In this paper, a set of experiments at different temperatures of 20 degrees C, 30 degrees C and 40 degrees C and different liquid Reynolds numbers have been performed in the annular flow regime, the characteristic of the DW and RW as average height and frequency of these waves has been measured by both techniques LIF and conductance probes. In addition, we also measured the mean film thickness. It was found that the mean film thickness and the DW height are practically the same when measured by both techniques; however, the height of the RW is smaller when measured by the conductance probe and this difference diminishes when the temperature increases.This research was funded by the Plan Nacional de I+D, grant number ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad.Rivera, Y.; Bidon, M.; Muñoz-Cobo, JL.; Berna, C.; Escrivá, A. (2023). A Comparative Analysis of Conductance Probes and High-Speed Camera Measurements for Interfacial Behavior in Annular Air-Water Flow. Sensors. 23(20):1-33. https://doi.org/10.3390/s23208617133232

Experiments in free falling and downward cocurrent annular flows-Characterization of liquid films and interfacial waves

[EN] Falling liquid films and downward cocurrent flows in rounded shape pipes have been experimentally studied during the last decades, estimating the evolution of its major characteristics. The most important variables during the formation and growth of surface waves in falling downward flows have been measured using conductance probes. The main objective of the current research paper is to study the dependency of the characteristics of the thin liquid layer for downward cocurrent annular flows. The GEPELON experimental facility consists of a vertical pipe with 3.8 m of useful test length. Two pipe diameters have been analysed in this experimental study, 42 and 30 mm, in which the range covered by the liquid Reynolds number varies between 570 and 8500 and 800-7900 respectively, while the gas Reynolds numbers vary from 0 to 7.9.10(4) and from 0 to 1.1.10(5) respectively for the mentioned pipe diameters. Up to five conductance probes have been placed along the pipes test sections to capture the liquid film thickness fluctuations along time at different distances of the pipe entrance for both developing and fully developed regions. After the study and analysis of the experimental data, the central point of this paper has been the development of new correlations for the liquid film thicknesses and the two major properties of the interfacial waves. Their adjustment procedure has been carried out in terms of dimensionless numbers, aiming to provide more general relationships. In particular, the magnitudes that characterise the interface behavior have been measured, particularly film thicknesses, average disturbance wave amplitudes, and disturbance wave frequencies for each boundary condition. An additional part of the document contains an extensive comparison between the results obtained in this study and the data and expressions of other authors. It has been confirmed the significant dispersion existing among different researchers, especially when analysing variables related to the interfacial waves. This highlights the lack of knowledge in some aspects even today. The different correlations proposed have been calculated based on the best fit of the data from all the series of experiments carried out in this study. Comparisons of the behaviour of these correlations with data from other researchers have also been included.This research is supported by the EXMOTRANSIN project ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P included in the I + D Spanish plan. Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Politècnica de València.Rivera-Durán, Y.; Berna, C.; Muñoz-Cobo, JL.; Escrivá, A.; Córdova, Y. (2022). Experiments in free falling and downward cocurrent annular flows-Characterization of liquid films and interfacial waves. Nuclear Engineering and Design. 392:1-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2022.11176912339

Experimental Measurements and CFD Results of Liquid Film Thickness in Vertical Downward Air-Water Annular Flow

[EN] Annular gas¿liquid flows have been extensively studied over the years. However, the nonlinear behavior of the interface is still currently the subject of study by multiple researchers worldwide. The appearance of a liquid layer on the wall and its turbulent behavior support the heat exchange of multiple systems in the industrial field. Research in this area allows the optimization of these installations as well as the analysis of possible safety problems if the liquid film disappears. This study first shows some of the most important findings obtained in the GEPELON experimental facility (GEneración de PElícula ONdulatoria or Wavy Film Generator). The facility was built in order to analyze the behavior of the liquid film in annular downward air¿water flow. The experimental range of the inlet conditions is 800¿8000 for the ReL and 0¿110,000 for the Reg. Measurements for the mean film thickness show a fairly good agreement with the empirical correlations and the measurements of other authors. One of the most demanded applications of this type of measurements is the validation of computational dynamics or CFD codes. Therefore, the experiment has been modeled using Ansys CFX software, and the simulation results have been compared with the experimental ones. This article outlines some of the reasons why two-phase flow simulations are currently challenging and how the codes are able to overcome them. Simulation predictions are fairly close to the experimental measurements, and the mean film thickness evolution when changing the boundary conditions also shows a good agreement.The authors are indebted to the plan of I+D support of the EXMOTRANSIN project ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P.Rivera-Durán, Y.; J. L. Muñoz-Cobo; A. Escrivá; C. Berna; Y. Córdova (2022). Experimental Measurements and CFD Results of Liquid Film Thickness in Vertical Downward Air-Water Annular Flow. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. 10(2):93-103. https://doi.org/10.2495/CMEM-V10-N2-93-1039310310

Universality of the helimagnetic transition in cubic chiral magnets: Small angle neutron scattering and neutron spin echo spectroscopy studies of Fe1−x_{1-x}Cox_xSi

We present a comprehensive Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) and Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy (NSE) study of the structural and dynamical aspects of the helimagnetic transition in Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si with $x$ = 0.30. In contrast to the sharp transition observed in the archetype chiral magnet MnSi, the transition in Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si is gradual and long-range helimagnetic ordering coexists with short-range correlations over a wide temperature range. The dynamics are more complex than in MnSi and involve long relaxation times with a stretched exponential relaxation which persists even under magnetic field. These results in conjunction with an analysis of the hierarchy of the relevant length scales show that the helimagnetic transition in Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si differs substantially from the transition in MnSi and question the validity of a universal approach to the helimagnetic transition in chiral magnets

Experimental Characterization of the Dimensionless Momentum Length for Submerged Jet Discharges of Air-Steam Mixtures into Stagnant Water

[EN] A very efficient method of condensing the steam in various industrial applications is the steam direct discharge into pools with subcooled water. This kind of condensation is known as Direct Contact Condensation (DCC), by providing high heat transfer and mass exchange capacity, the steam condenses quickly. In the past few decades, many experiments have been carried out on the submerged jets of non-condensable gases and pure steam in pools, supplying much information of interest, but efforts are still being made to obtain more information. In particular, the research of steam and non-condensable gas mixtures is of great interest to the chemical, energy, and nuclear industry. Consequently, this study investigates the discharge behavior of air-steam mixtures in a pool with subcooled water by direct visualization techniques using a high-speed camera. To know the behavior of the dimensionless momentum length, tests were carried out considering several initial discharge conditions such as nozzle diameter, percentage of mixture, and flow rates. After image acquisition, a series of complex processing, filtering, and post-processing procedures are applied using a subroutine in MATLAB. The momentum length of the jet was measured and found to be heavily influenced by the nozzle diameter, the jet velocity, and the mixture percentage. A correlation is obtained for the dimensionless momentum length of the horizontal jet that depends on the Froude and Mach numbers.The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided through the Spanish project EXMOTRANSIN ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P and the Santiago Grisolía Program for the training of research personnel.Y. Córdova; D. Blanco; C. Berna; J. L. Muñoz-Cobo; A. Escrivá; Rivera-Durán, Y. (2022). Experimental Characterization of the Dimensionless Momentum Length for Submerged Jet Discharges of Air-Steam Mixtures into Stagnant Water. International Journal of Computational Methods and Experimental Measurements. 10(3):195-210. https://doi.org/10.2495/CMEM-V10-N3-195-21019521010

Methodology and Application of Statistical Techniques to Evaluate the Reliability of Electrical Systems Based on the Use of High Variability Generation Sources

[EN] This study presents a new methodology, based on Monte-Carlo techniques to evaluate the reliability of a carbon-free electricity generation system based on renewable sources; it uses as inputs the variation of the electricity demand and the fluctuations in the renewable supply and provides the renewable system to be installed to guarantee a specific supply reliability level. Additionally, looking for a reduction of this renewable system, the methodology determines the improvements by the incorporation of nuclear power and electricity storage. The methodology is of general application, its implementation being possible under different contexts, such as different time horizons and different future energy scenarios, both for developing, emerging, and developed countries. The only requirement is to have a sufficient database from which to make predictions for future scenarios of electrical generation-demand balances. As an example of practical implementation, the electrical system reliability for the particular case of Spain in 2040 has been forecasted. When considering the fluctuations in solar and wind power contributions, very high values of the installed power from these renewable sources are needed to reach a high reliability of the system. These values decrease substantially if contributions from nuclear and storage technologies are included.Berna-Escriche, C.; Pérez-Navarro, Á.; Escrivá, A.; Hurtado-Perez, E.; Muñoz-Cobo, JL.; Moros, MC. (2021). Methodology and Application of Statistical Techniques to Evaluate the Reliability of Electrical Systems Based on the Use of High Variability Generation Sources. Sustainability. 13(18):1-26. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810098S126131

Characterization of the gas-liquid interfacial waves in vertical upward co-current annular flows

[EN] For more than fifty years, hundreds of research works have focused on the study of annular flow because of its huge importance in many industrial processes, for instance, chemical, petroleum, etc., being of particular interest in nuclear industry. Specifically, interfacial waves play a vital role in the mass, momentum and energy transference processes between gas and liquid phases. This paper describes the new experimental measurements of vertical upward co-current two-phase gas-liquid flow carried out in a tube with an inner diameter of 44 mm. The liquid film thickness and the major characteristics of the interfacial waves have been measured using a non-intrusive instrument, a conductance probe. The physical phenomenon in which this device is based is the change in the electrical conductivity between air and water, i.e., the electrical signal collected in the sensor receiver depends on the thickness of the liquid film layer. The experimental measurements range from 2000 to 3500 l/min for the gas volumetric flow rate, and from 4 to 10 l/min for the liquid volumetric flow rate. Correlation of the experimental measurements of liquid film thickness and the major properties of the interfacial waves have been analyzed using non-dimensional numbers. An important part of the document focuses on the comparison of the experimental data and the fitting correlations against several of the most widely used expressions. Throughout this paper, in addition to present all the available correlations, the existing scattering found when comparing against other expressions have been also confirmed, underlining the existence of gaps of knowledge even today. Emphasize that the proposed correlations are the ones that better fit the data of all experimental series carried out under the present study for the analyzed variables, with almost all the experimental points covered by the +/- 10% error bands of the new correlations.The authors are indebted to the plan of I+D support of the EXMOTRANSIN project ENE2016-79489-C2-1-P.Cuadros-Orón, JL.; Rivera-Durán, Y.; Berna, C.; Escrivá, A.; Muñoz-Cobo, JL.; Monrós-Andreu, G.; Chiva, S. (2019). Characterization of the gas-liquid interfacial waves in vertical upward co-current annular flows. Nuclear Engineering and Design. 346:112-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.03.008S11213034

The interactome of the atypical phosphatase Rtr1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The phosphatase Rtr1 has been implicated in dephosphorylation of the RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) C-terminal domain (CTD) during transcription elongation and in regulation of nuclear import of RNAPII. Although it has been shown that Rtr1 interacts with RNAPII in yeast and humans, the specific mechanisms that underlie Rtr1 recruitment to RNAPII have not been elucidated. To address this, we have performed an in-depth proteomic analysis of Rtr1 interacting proteins in yeast. Our studies revealed that hyperphosphorylated RNAPII is the primary interacting partner for Rtr1. To extend these findings, we performed quantitative proteomic analyses of Rtr1 interactions in yeast strains deleted for CTK1, the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of the CTD kinase I (CTDK-I) complex. Interestingly, we found that the interaction between Rtr1 and RNAPII is decreased in ctk1Δ strains. We hypothesize that serine-2 CTD phosphorylation is required for Rtr1 recruitment to RNAPII during transcription elongation