Feasibility study of silicon nitride regenerators

The feasibility of silicon nitride as a regenerator matrix material for applications requiring inlet temperatures above 1000 C is examined. The present generation oxide ceramics are used as a reference to examine silicon nitride from a material characteristics, manufacturing, thermal stress and aerothermodynamic viewpoint

Ceramic regenerator systems development program

The DOE/NASA Ceramic Regenerator Design and Reliability Program aims to develop ceramic regenerator cores that can be used in passenger car and industrial/truck gas turbine engines. The major cause of failure of early gas turbine regenerators was found to be chemical attack of the ceramic material. Improved materials and design concepts aimed at reducing or eliminating chemical attack were placed on durability test in Ford 707 industrial gas turbine engines late in 1974. Results of 53,065 hours of turbine engine durability testing are described. Two materials, aluminum silicate and magnesium aluminum silicate, show promise. Five aluminum silicate cores attained the durability objective of 10,000 hours at 800 C (1472 F). Another aluminum silicate core shows minimal evidence of chemical attack after 8071 hours at 982 C (1800 F). Results obtained in ceramic material screening tests, aerothermodynamic performance tests, stress analysis, cost studies, and material specifications are included

Interplay of p-d and d-d charge transfer transitions in rare-earth perovskite manganites

We have performed both theoretical and experimental study of optical response of parent perovskite manganites RMnO_3 with a main goal to elucidate nature of clearly visible optical features. Starting with a simple cluster model approach we addressed the both one-center (p-d) and two-center (d-d) charge transfer (CT) transitions, their polarization properties, the role played by structural parameters, orbital mixing, and spin degree of freedom. Optical complex dielectric function of single crystalline samples of RMnO_3 (R=La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu) was measured by ellipsometric technique at room temperature in the spectral range from 1.0 to 5.0 eV for two light polarizations: E \parallel c and E \perp c. The comparative analysis of the spectral behavior of \varepsilon _1 and \varepsilon _2 is believed to provide a more reliable assignment of spectral features. We have found an overall agreement between experimental spectra and theoretical predictions based on the theory of one-center p-d CT transitions and inter-site d-d CT transitions. Our experimental data and theoretical analysis evidence a dual nature of the dielectric gap in nominally stoichiometric matrix of perovskite manganites RMnO_3, it is formed by a superposition of forbidden or weak dipole allowed p-d CT transitions and inter-site d-d CT transitions. In fact, the parent perovskite manganites RMnO_3 should rather be sorted neither into the CT insulator nor the Mott-Hubbard insulator in the Zaanen, Sawatzky, Allen scheme.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

The eigenspectra of Indian musical drums

In a family of drums used in the Indian subcontinent, the circular drum head is made of material of non-uniform density. Remarkably, and in contrast to a circular membrane of uniform density, the low eigenmodes of the non-uniform membrane are harmonic. In this work we model the drum head by a non-uniform membrane whose density varies smoothly between two prescribed values. Using a Fourier-Chebyshev spectral collocation method we obtain the eigenmodes and eigenvalues of the drum head. For a suitable choice of parameters, which we find by optimising a cost function, the eigenspectra obtained from our model are in excellent agreement with experimental values. Our model and the numerical method should find application in numerical sound synthesis

Influence of Exogenous Glycinebetaine on Hot Pepper under Water Stress

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of exogenous application of glycinebetaine (GB) on physiological response in hot-pepper (Capsicum annuum L. vs. Arka Lohit and Pusa Jwala) under water stress. Glycinebetaine was applied to seeds as well as plants through foliar applications. Water stress affected considerably the morphophysiological parameters in both the cultivars. However, in glycinebetaine (GB) treated plants, plant height, leaf area (LA), flower and fruit number and total dry matter (TDM) were greater compared to the untreated stress plants (T4) under water stress. Glycinebetaine application enhanced the photosynthesis (PN) in water deficit experiencing plants, mostly due to a greater stomatal conductance (gs) and carboxylation efficiency of CO2 assimilation. In both the cultivars after 12 day of stress, the PN decreased from 10.1 to 1.0-1.3 μ mol m-2 s-1 in untreated stressed plants (T4), while in the treated stressed plants PNhad reduced to 2.0 - 3.0 μ mol m-2 s-1 (T1 - T3). The application of GB increased the WUE in both the cultivars. The better WUE in treated plants of hot-pepper under stress was attributed to the improved PN. The higher per plant yield in the GB applied plants under stress in both the cultivars associated with higher PNrate, gs and WUE in treated plants. Though there was an increase in PN rate, WUE and plant yield in the treated plants (T1 - T3), the better results were found in the plants (T2) where seeds were treated and foliar application was given at the time of imposing stress

Solitary Dust--Acoustic Waves in a Plasma with Two-Temperature Ions and Distributed Grain Size

The propagation of weakly nonlinear dust--acoustic waves in a dusty plasma containing two ion species with different temperatures is explored. The nonlinear equations describing both the quadratic and cubic plasma nonlinearities are derived. It is shown that the properties of dust--acoustic waves depend substantially on the grain size distribution. In particular, for solitary dust--acoustic waves with a positive potential to exist in a plasma with distributed grain size, it is necessary that the difference between the temperatures of two ion species be large that that in the case of unusized grains.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure