The effect of wall compliance on the Goertler vortex instability

The stability of the flow of a viscous incompressible fluid over a curved compliant wall to longitudinal Goertler vortices is investigated. The compliant wall is modeled by a particularly simple equation relating the induced wall displacement to the pressure in the overlying fluid. Attention is restricted to the large Goertler number regime; this regime being appropriate to the most unstable Goertler mode. The effect of wall compliance on this most unstable mode is investigated

The dominant wave mode within a trailing line vortex

We identify the dominant, or most unstable, wave mode for the flow in a trailing line vortex. This dominant mode is found to reside in a wavenumber regime between that of inviscid wave modes and the viscous upper branch neutral wave modes. A reevaluation of the growth rate in the vicinity of the upper branch of the curve of neutral stability allows us to predict the neutral value of the azimuthal and axial wavenumber as a function of the imposed swirl within the trailing line vortex.James P. Denier and Jillian A. K. Stot

On the growth (and suppression) of very short-scale disturbances in mixed forced-free convection boundary layers

The two-dimensional boundary-layer flow over a cooled/heated flat plate is investigated. A cooled plate (with a free-stream flow and wall temperature distribution which admit similarity solutions) is shown to support non-modal disturbances, which grow algebraically with distance downstream from the leading edge of the plate. In a number of flow regimes, these modes have diminishingly small wavelength, which may be studied in detail using asymptotic analysis. Corresponding non-self-similar solutions are also investigated. It is found that there are important regimes in which if the temperature of the plate varies (in such a way as to break self-similarity), then standard numerical schemes exhibit a breakdown at a finite distance downstream. This breakdown is analysed, and shown to be related to very short-scale disturbance modes, which manifest themselves in the spontaneous formation of an essential singularity at a finite downstream location. We show how these difficulties can be overcome by treating the problem in a quasi-elliptic manner, in particular by prescribing suitable downstream (in addition to upstream) boundary conditions.James P. Denier, Peter W. Duck and Jian L

Parametric search and optimisation of fast displacement hull forms using rans simulations of full-scale flow

Abstract. A methodology to derive parametric hull design candidates with a specified displacement and initial stability is introduced. A gradient-free search and optimisation algorithm coupled to a RANS CFD solver is then used to identify efficient pure-displacement hull shapes with minimal hydrodynamic resistance operating in the transition speed region without relying on dynamic lift

A refinement of the emission data for Kola Peninsula based on inverse dispersion modelling

Peer reviewe

Kinetic comparison of tissue non-specific and placental human alkaline phosphatases expressed in baculovirus infected cells: application to screening for Down's syndrome

BACKGROUND: In humans, there are four alkaline phosphatases, and each form exibits a characteristic pattern of tissue distribution. The availability of an easy method to reveal their activity has resulted in large amount of data reporting correlations between variations in activity and illnesses. For example, alkaline phosphatase from neutrophils of mothers pregnent with a trisomy 21 fetus (Down's syndrome) displays significant differences both in its biochemical and immunological properties, and in its affinity for some specific inhibitors. RESULTS: To analyse these differences, the biochemical characteristics of two isozymes (non specific and placental alkaline phosphatases) were expressed in baculovirus infected cells. Comparative analysis of the two proteins allowed us to estimate the kinetic constants of denaturation and sensitivity to two inhibitors (L-p-bromotetramisole and thiophosphate), allowing better discrimination between the two enzymes. These parameters were then used to estimate the ratio of the two isoenzymes in neutrophils of pregnant mothers with or without a trisomy 21 fetus. It appeared that the placental isozyme represented 13% of the total activity of neutrophils of non pregnant women. This proportion did not significantly increase with normal pregnancy. By contrast, in pregnancies with trisomy 21 fetus, the proportion reached 60–80% of activity. CONCLUSION: Over-expression of the placental isozyme compared with the tissue-nonspecific form in neutrophils of mother with a trisomy 21 fetus may explain why the characteristics of the alkaline phosphatase in these cells is different from normal. Application of this knowledge could improve the potential of using alkaline phosphatase measurements to screen for Down's syndrome

Influence of a partially oxidized calcium cathode on the performance of polymeric light emitting diodes

We investigated the influence of the presence of oxygen during the deposition of the calcium cathode on the structure and on the performance of polymeric light emitting diodes (pLEDs). The oxygen background pressure during deposition of the calcium cathode of polymeric LEDs was varied. Subsequently, the oxygen depth distribution was measured and correlated with the performance of the pLEDs. The devices have been fabricated in a recently built ultraclean setup. The polymer layers of the pLEDs have been spincoated in a dry nitrogen atmosphere and transported directly into an ultrahigh vacuum chamber where the metal electrodes have been deposited by evaporation. We used indium–tin–oxide as anode, OC1C10 PPV as electroluminescent polymer, calcium as cathode, and aluminum as protecting layer. We achieved reproducibility of about 15% in current and brightness for devices fabricated in an oxygen atmosphere of less than or equal to 10 -9 mbar. For further investigations the calcium deposition was carried out in an oxygen atmosphere from 10 -8 to 10 -5 mbar. We determined the amount of oxygen in the different layers of the current–voltage-light characterized pLEDs with elastic recoil detection analysis and correlated it with the characteristics of the devices. The external efficiency of the pLEDs decreases continuously with increasing oxygen pressure, the current shows a pronounced minimum. The brightness mostly decreases with increasing oxygen with an indication of a slight minimum. PLEDs with completely oxidized calcium are not operational. The first contact of the pLEDs with the dry glove box environment leads to an immediate reduction of current and brightness which is caused by the cooling of the devices by several degrees. Determining reproducible characteristics of pLEDs in the vacuum requires the measurement of their temperature

Modelling the chemically aged and mixed aerosols over the eastern central Atlantic Ocean – potential impacts

Detailed information on the chemical and physical properties of aerosols is important for assessing their role in air quality and climate. This work explores the origin and fate of continental aerosols transported over the Central Atlantic Ocean, in terms of chemical composition, number and size distribution, using chemistry-transport models, satellite data and in situ measurements. We focus on August 2005, a period with intense hurricane and tropical storm activity over the Atlantic Ocean. A mixture of anthropogenic (sulphates, nitrates), natural (desert dust, sea salt) and chemically aged (sulphate and nitrate on dust) aerosols is found entering the hurricane genesis region, most likely interacting with clouds in the area. Results from our modelling study suggest rather small amounts of accumulation mode desert dust, sea salt and chemically aged dust aerosols in this Atlantic Ocean region. Aerosols of smaller size (Aitken mode) are more abundant in the area and in some occasions sulphates of anthropogenic origin and desert dust are of the same magnitude in terms of number concentrations. Typical aerosol number concentrations are derived for the vertical layers near shallow cloud formation regimes, indicating that the aerosol number concentration can reach several thousand particles per cubic centimetre. The vertical distribution of the aerosols shows that the desert dust particles are often transported near the top of the marine cloud layer as they enter into the region where deep convection is initiated. The anthropogenic sulphate aerosol can be transported within a thick layer and enter the cloud deck through multiple ways (from the top, the base of the cloud, and by entrainment). The sodium (sea salt related) aerosol is mostly found below the cloud base. The results of this work may provide insights relevant for studies that consider aerosol influences on cloud processes and storm development in the Central Atlantic region

Roughening of close-packed singular surfaces

An upper bound to the roughening temperature of a close-packed singular surface, fcc Al (111), is obtained via free energy calculations based on thermodynamic integration using the embedded-atom interaction model. Roughening of Al (111) is predicted to occur at around 890 K, well below bulk melting (933 K), and it should therefore be observable, save for possible kinetic hindering.Comment: RevTeX 4 pages, embedded figure