3,780 research outputs found
Weak disorder: anomalous transport and diffusion are normal yet again
Particles driven through a periodic potential by an external constant force
are known to exhibit a pronounced peak of the diffusion around a critical force
that defines the transition between locked and running states. It has recently
been shown both experimentally and numerically that this peak is greatly
enhanced if some amount of spatial disorder is superimposed on the periodic
potential. Here we show that beyond a simple enhancement lies a much more
interesting phenomenology. For some parameter regimes the system exhibits a
rich variety of behaviors from normal diffusion to superdiffusion, subdiffusion
and even subtransport.Comment: Substantial improvements in presentatio
An analytical approach to sorting in periodic potentials
There has been a recent revolution in the ability to manipulate
micrometer-sized objects on surfaces patterned by traps or obstacles of
controllable configurations and shapes. One application of this technology is
to separate particles driven across such a surface by an external force
according to some particle characteristic such as size or index of refraction.
The surface features cause the trajectories of particles driven across the
surface to deviate from the direction of the force by an amount that depends on
the particular characteristic, thus leading to sorting. While models of this
behavior have provided a good understanding of these observations, the
solutions have so far been primarily numerical. In this paper we provide
analytic predictions for the dependence of the angle between the direction of
motion and the external force on a number of model parameters for periodic as
well as random surfaces. We test these predictions against exact numerical
simulations
From subdiffusion to superdiffusion of particles on solid surfaces
We present a numerical and partially analytical study of classical particles
obeying a Langevin equation that describes diffusion on a surface modeled by a
two dimensional potential. The potential may be either periodic or random.
Depending on the potential and the damping, we observe superdiffusion,
large-step diffusion, diffusion, and subdiffusion. Superdiffusive behavior is
associated with low damping and is in most cases transient, albeit often long.
Subdiffusive behavior is associated with highly damped particles in random
potentials. In some cases subdiffusive behavior persists over our entire
simulation and may be characterized as metastable. In any case, we stress that
this rich variety of behaviors emerges naturally from an ordinary Langevin
equation for a system described by ordinary canonical Maxwell-Boltzmann
statistics
Phase Separation Driven by External Fluctuations
The influence of external fluctuations in phase separation processes is
analysed. These fluctuations arise from random variations of an external
control parameter. A linear stability analysis of the homogeneous state shows
that phase separation dynamics can be induced by external noise. The spatial
structure of the noise is found to have a relevant role in this phenomenon.
Numerical simulations confirm these results. A comparison with order-disorder
noise induced phase transitions is also made.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures included in text. LaTeX (with Revtex
macros
Diffusion on a solid surface: Anomalous is normal
We present a numerical study of classical particles diffusing on a solid
surface. The particles' motion is modeled by an underdamped Langevin equation
with ordinary thermal noise. The particle-surface interaction is described by a
periodic or a random two dimensional potential. The model leads to a rich
variety of different transport regimes, some of which correspond to anomalous
diffusion such as has recently been observed in experiments and Monte Carlo
simulations. We show that this anomalous behavior is controlled by the friction
coefficient, and stress that it emerges naturally in a system described by
ordinary canonical Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics
Simulation of PID control applied to irrigation channels
Open-channel flow usually includes many hydraulic elements to help with the regulation of water supply in terms of automatic control. On the other hand, the one-dimensional Shallow Water Equations (SWE) are widely used to model and predict the flow dynamics in this kind of configurations. In this work, the unsteady SWE are used to model the water motion and they are solved using a finite volume upwind scheme able to cope with all flow regimes. Furthermore, the regulation of hydraulic structures at channels is frequently based on the PID controller. In this work, the implementation and coupling of the channel flow simulation with hydraulic elements and PID regulation is performed
Thermo-physical properties of paraffin wax with iron oxide nanoparticles as phase change material for heat storage applications
Phase change materials (PCMs) are growing in importance in many thermal applications as heat storage or to smooth the energy peak demand in many technological fields in industrial as well as in civil applications. Conductive nanoparticles can be added to phase change material to improve their thermo-physical properties. In this work, Iron oxide nanoparticles (IOx-NPs) were synthesized using a simple and green synthesis method, free of toxic and harmful solvents, using the extract of a plant as a reducer and stabilizer at two different temperatures of calcination 500°C and 750°C. The metallic oxide was used as an additive with 2% wt. compositions to paraffin wax to prepare a nanocomposite. The variation in thermal properties of paraffin wax in the composite was experimentally investigated. The biosynthesized IOx-NPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) techniques. The thermal properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by a thermal conductivity analyzer and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The FTIR spectra showed a bond at 535 cm-1, which confirms the Fe-O vibration. The XRD powder analysis revealed the formation of the cubic phase of Fe3O4 with an average particle size of 11 nm at 500°C and the presence of the phase α-Fe2O3 with Fe3O4 at 750°C. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed that the obtained oxide was made up of particles of nanoscale size. Experimental measurements showed that the presence of nanoparticles can improve the latent heat capacity by a maximum of 16.16 % and the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites by a maximum of 16.99%
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