On-demand Aerodynamics in Integrally Actuated Membranes with Feedback Control

This paper is a numerical investigation on model reduction and control system design of integrally actuated membrane wings. A high-fidelity electro-aeromechanical model is used for the simulation of the dynamic fluid-structure interaction between a low-Reynolds-number flow and a dielectric elastomeric wing. Two reduced-order models with different levels of complexity are then derived. They are based on the projection of the fullorder discretisation of fluid and structure on modal shapes obtained from eigenvalue analysis and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition. The low-order systems are then used for the design of Proportional-Integral-Derivative and Linear Quadratic Gaussian feedback schemes to control wing lift. When implemented in the full-order model, closed-loop dynamics are in very good agreement with the reduced-order model for both tracking and gust rejection, demonstrating the suitability of the approach. The control laws selected in this work were found to be effective only for low-frequency disturbances due to the large phase delay introduced by the fluid convective time-scales, but results demonstrate the potential for the aerodynamic control of membrane wings in outdoor flight using dielectric elastomers

Impact of internal gravity waves on the rotation profile inside pre-main sequence low-mass stars

We study the impact of internal gravity waves (IGW), meridional circulation, shear turbulence, and stellar contraction on the internal rotation profile and surface velocity evolution of solar metallicity low-mass pre-main sequence stars. We compute a grid of rotating stellar evolution models with masses between 0.6 and 2.0Msun taking these processes into account for the transport of angular momentum, as soon as the radiative core appears and assuming no more disk-locking from that moment on.IGW generation along the PMS is computed taking Reynolds-stress and buoyancy into account in the bulk of the stellar convective envelope and convective core (when present). Redistribution of angular momentum within the radiative layers accounts for damping of prograde and retrograde IGW by thermal diffusivity and viscosity in corotation resonance. Over the whole mass range considered, IGW are found to be efficiently generated by the convective envelope and to slow down the stellar core early on the PMS. In stars more massive than ~ 1.6Msun, IGW produced by the convective core also contribute to angular momentum redistribution close to the ZAMS. Overall, IGW are found to significantly change the internal rotation profile of PMS low-mass stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A (15 pages

Orbital eigenchannel analysis for ab-initio quantum transport calculations

We show how to extract the orbital contribution to the transport eigenchannels from a first-principles quantum transport calculation in a nanoscopic conductor. This is achieved by calculating and diagonalizing the first-principles transmission matrix reduced to selected scattering cross-sections. As an example, the orbital nature of the eigenchannels in the case of Ni nanocontacts is explored, stressing the difficulties inherent to the use of non-orthogonal basis sets and first-principles Hamiltonians.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figurs; replaced with final version, introduction revised; to be published in PR

Evolution of small-scale magnetic elements in the vicinity of granular-size swirl convective motions

Advances in solar instrumentation have led to a widespread usage of time series to study the dynamics of solar features, specially at small spatial scales and at very fast cadences. Physical processes at such scales are determinant as building blocks for many others occurring from the lower to the upper layers of the solar atmosphere and beyond, ultimately for understanding the bigger picture of solar activity. Ground-based (SST) and space-borne (Hinode) high-resolution solar data are analyzed in a quiet Sun region displaying negative polarity small-scale magnetic concentrations and a cluster of bright points observed in G-band and Ca II H images. The studied region is characterized by the presence of two small-scale convective vortex-type plasma motions, one of which appears to be affecting the dynamics of both, magnetic features and bright points in its vicinity and therefore the main target of our investigations. We followed the evolution of bright points, intensity variations at different atmospheric heights and magnetic evolution for a set of interesting selected regions. A description of the evolution of the photospheric plasma motions in the region nearby the convective vortex is shown, as well as some plausible cases for convective collapse detected in Stokes profiles.Comment: 9 figure

Metastability and paramagnetism in superconducting mesoscopic disks

A projected order parameter is used to calculate, not only local minima of the Ginzburg-Landau energy functional, but also saddle points or energy barriers responsible for the metastabilities observed in superconducting mesoscopic disks (Geim et al. Nature {\bf 396}, 144 (1998)). We calculate the local minima magnetization and find the energetic instability points between vortex configurations with different vorticity. We also find that, for any vorticity, the supercurrent can reverse its flow direction on decreasing the magnetic field before one vortex can escape.Comment: Modified version as to appear in Phys. Rev. Let