Composition surveys of test gas produced by a hydrogen-oxygen-air burner

As a result of the need for a uniform hot gas test stream for fuel injector development for hydrogen fueled supersonic combustion ramjet engines, an experimental study of injector configuration effect on exit flow uniformity of a hydrogen fueled oxygen replenished, combustion burner was made. Measurements used to investigate the burner nozzle exit profiles were pitot and gas sample measurements. Gas composition and associated temperature profiles were reduced to an acceptable level by burner injector modifications. The effect of the injector modifications was to redistribute the hydrogen fuel, increase the air pressure drop, promote premixing of the oxygen and air, and establish a uniform flow pattern where the oxygen-air mixture comes into contact with the hydrogen fuel. The most sensitive phenomenon which affected the composition profiles was the uniformity of the air distribution supplied to the combustion chamber

Impact of forestry practices on fitness correlates and population productivity in an open-nesting bird species

In the boreal forests of Fennoscandia, over 99% of the forest area has been altered by forestry practices, which has created forests of differing age structures and stand characteristics than primary forest stands. Although many researchers have investigated how forestry affects species abundance, few have assessed how forestry affects fitness correlates of species living in altered habitats, and this has negatively affected management efforts. We experimentally addressed the effect of standard forestry practices on fitness correlates of an open-nesting, long-lived bird species typical to boreal forests of Eurasia, the Siberian Jay (Perisoreus infaustus L.). Using a before-after comparison of reproductive data on the level of territories, we found that standard forestry practices had a strong negative effect on the breeding success of jays. Both partial thinning of territories and partial clearcutting of territories reduced future breeding success by a factor of 0.35. Forestry practices reduced territory occupancy. Thus, over the 15 years of the study the productivity of the affected population declined over 50% as a result of territory abandonment and reduced breeding success. Results of previous studies on Siberian Jays suggest that the strong effect of forest thinning on fitness is explained by the fact that most common predators of nests and adults are visually oriented, and thinning makes prey and nests more visible to predators. The consequences of thinning we observed are likely to apply to a wide range of species that rely on understory to provide visual protection from predators. Thus, our results are important for the development of effective conservation management protocols and for the refinement of thinning practices

An experimental investigation of the mixing of compressible-air jets in a coaxial configuration

Turbulent mixing of compressible air in supersonic and subsonic coaxial jet flow

A critical review of the experimental data for developed free turbulent shear layers

Experimental shear layer data are reviewed and the results are compared to numerical predictions for three test cases. It was concluded from the study that many, if not most, of the apparent inconsistencies which exist in the interpretation of the experimental data for free shear layers result from confusing data taken in developed turbulent flows with those taken in transitional or developing flows. Other conclusions drawn from the study include the following: (1) The effects of Mach number are more uncertain primarily because of limited data and the absence of any turbulence measurements for supersonic shear layers. (2) The data available for heterogeneous shear layers are not sufficient to clearly establish the effect of density ratio on mixing rate

Self-similar breakup of polymeric threads as described by the Oldroyd-B model

When a drop of fluid containing long, flexible polymers breaks up, it forms threads of almost constant thickness, whose size decreases exponentially in time. Using an Oldroyd-B fluid as a model, we show that the thread profile, rescaled by the thread thickness, converges to a similarity solution. Using the correspondence between viscoelastic fluids and non-linear elasticity, we derive similarity equations for the full three-dimensional axisymmetric flow field in the limit that the viscosity of the solvent fluid can be neglected. A conservation law balancing pressure and elastic energy permits to calculate the thread thickness exactly. The explicit form of the velocity and stress fields can be deduced from a solution of the similarity equations. Results are validated by detailed comparison with numerical simulations

Higher Order Bose-Einstein Correlations test the Gaussian Density Matrix Approach

A multiparticle system produced by a large number of independent sources is described by a gaussian density matrix W. All theoretical approach to Bose-Einstein Correlatios Cn in high energy physics use this form for W. One of the most salient consequences of this form is the fact that all higher order (n>2) moments of the current distribution can be expressed in terms of the first two. We test this property by comparing the data on C2(Q^2), C3(Q^2) and C4(Q^2) from pion-p and K-p reactions at 250 GeV/c with the predictions of a general quantum statistical space-time approach. Even a simplified version of such approach can account for the data. Previous attempts along these lines, which did not use the space-time approach, met with difficulties.Comment: 17 pages (including one Table) and 2 figures. To appear in Physics Letters B (PLB 13397