1,123 research outputs found
Experimental Study of Isothermal Wake-Flow Characteristics of Various Flame-Holder Shapes
An investigation of the isothermal wake-flow characteristics of several flame-holder shapes was carried out in a 4- by 4-inch flow chamber. The effects of flame-holder-shape changes on the characteristics of the Karman vortices and thus on the recirculation zones to which experimenters have related the combustion process were obtained for several flame holders. The results may furnish a basis of correlation, of combustion efficiency and stability for similarly shaped flame holders in combustion studies. Values of the spacing ratio-(ratio of lateral spacing to longitudinal spacing of vortices] obtained for the various shapes approximated the theoretical value of 0.36 given by the Karman stability analysis. Variations in vortex strength of more than 200 percent and in frequency of more than 60 percent were accomplished by varying flame-holder shape. A maximum increase in the recirculation parameter of 56 percent over that for a conventional V-gutter was also obtained. Varying flameholder shape and size enables the designer to select many schedules of variations in vortex strength and frequency- not obtainable by changing size only and may make it possible to approach theoretical maximum vortex strength for any given frequency
Groundwater reinjection and heat dissipation: lessons from the operation of a large groundwater cooling system in Central London
The performance of a large open-loop groundwater cooling scheme in a shallow alluvial aquifer at a prominent public building in Central London has been monitored closely over its first 2 years of operation. The installed system provided cooling to the site continuously for a period of 9 months between June 2012 and April 2013. During this period, c. 131300 m3 of groundwater was abstracted from a single pumping well and recharged into a single injection borehole. The amount of heat rejected in this period amounts to c. 1.37 GWh. A programme of hydraulic testing was subsequently undertaken over a 3 month period between July and October 2013 to evaluate the performance of the injection borehole. The data indicate no significant change in injection performance between commissioning trials undertaken in 2010 and the most recent period of testing, as evidenced by comparison of injection pressures for given flow rates in 2010 and 2013. Continuous temperature monitoring of the abstracted water, the discharge and a number of observation wells demonstrates the evolution of a heat plume in the aquifer in response to heat rejection and subsequent dissipation of this heat during the 18 month planned cessation
Sticky surface: sphere - sphere adhesion dynamics
Special Issue: Selected Papers from the The Fourth International Conference on Mathematical Modeling and Analysis of Populations in Biological Systems (ICMA IV), Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA, 4-6 October 2013We present a multi-scale model to study the attachment of spherical particles with a rigid core, coated with binding ligands and suspended in the surrounding, quiescent fluid medium. This class of fluidimmersed adhesion is widespread in many natural and engineering settings, particularly in microbial surface adhesion. Our theory highlights how the micro-scale binding kinetics of these ligands, as well as the attractive/repulsive surface potential in an ionic medium affects the eventual macro-scale size distribution of the particle aggregates (flocs). The bridge between the micro-macro model is made via an aggregation kernel. Results suggest that the presence of elastic ligands on the particle surface lead to the formation of larger floc aggregates via efficient inter-floc collisions (i.e. non-zero sticking probability, g). Strong electrolytic composition of the surrounding fluid favours large floc formation as well. The kernel for the Brownian diffusion for hard spheres is recovered in the limit of perfect binding effectiveness (g -> 1) and in a neutral solution with no dissolved salts.Sarthok Sircara, John G.Younger and David M. Bort
Cosmological Simulations of the Preheating Scenario for Galaxy Cluster Formation: Comparison to Analytic Models and Observations
We perform a set of non--radiative cosmological simulations of a preheated
intracluster medium in which the entropy of the gas was uniformly boosted at
high redshift. The results of these simulations are used first to test the
current analytic techniques of preheating via entropy input in the smooth
accretion limit. When the unmodified profile is taken directly from
simulations, we find that this model is in excellent agreement with the results
of our simulations. This suggests that preheated efficiently smoothes the
accreted gas, and therefore a shift in the unmodified profile is a good
approximation even with a realistic accretion history. When we examine the
simulation results in detail, we do not find strong evidence for entropy
amplification, at least for the high-redshift preheating model adopted here. In
the second section of the paper, we compare the results of the preheating
simulations to recent observations. We show -- in agreement with previous work
-- that for a reasonable amount of preheating, a satisfactory match can be
found to the mass-temperature and luminosity-temperature relations. However --
as noted by previous authors -- we find that the entropy profiles of the
simulated groups are much too flat compared to observations. In particular,
while rich clusters converge on the adiabatic self--similar scaling at large
radius, no single value of the entropy input during preheating can
simultaneously reproduce both the core and outer entropy levels. As a result,
we confirm that the simple preheating scenario for galaxy cluster formation, in
which entropy is injected universally at high redshift, is inconsistent with
observations.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The ASTRA Spectrophotometer: A July 2004 Progress Report
A cross-dispersed spectrophotometer with CCD detector and its automated 0.5-m
telescope at the Fairborn Observatory, now under construction, should begin
observations in 6 to 9 months. The Citadel ASTRA Telescope will be able to
observe Vega the primary standard, make rapid measurements of the naked-eye
stars, use 10 minutes per hour to obtain photometric measurements of the
nightly extinction, and obtain high quality observations of V=10.5 mag. stars
in an hour. The approximate wavelength range is 3300-9000A with a resolution of
14A in first and 7A in second order. Filter photometric magnitudes and indices
will be calibrated in part for use as quality checks.
Science observations for major projects such as comparisons with model
atmospheres codes and for exploratory investigations should also begin in the
first year. The ASTRA team realizes to deal with this potential data flood that
they will need help to make the best scientific uses of the data. Thus they are
interested in discussing possible collaborations. In less than a year of normal
observing, all isolated stars in the Bright Star Catalog that can be observed
can have their fluxes well measured. Some A Star related applications are
discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Poster presented at IAU Symposium 224 "The A
Star Puzzle", 7-13 July 2004, Poprad, Slovaki
AzTEC Millimetre Survey of the COSMOS Field - II. Source Count Overdensity and Correlations with Large-Scale Structure
We report an over-density of bright sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) in the
0.15 sq. deg. AzTEC/COSMOS survey and a spatial correlation between the SMGs
and the optical-IR galaxy density at z <~ 1.1. This portion of the COSMOS field
shows a ~ 3-sigma over-density of robust SMG detections when compared to a
background, or "blankfield", population model that is consistent with SMG
surveys of fields with no extragalactic bias. The SMG over-density is most
significant in the number of very bright detections (14 sources with measured
fluxes S(1.1mm) > 6 mJy), which is entirely incompatible with sample variance
within our adopted blank-field number densities and infers an over-density
significance of >> 4. We find that the over-density and spatial correlation to
optical-IR galaxy density are most consistent with lensing of a background SMG
population by foreground mass structures along the line of sight, rather than
physical association of the SMGs with the z <~ 1.1 galaxies/clusters. The SMG
positions are only weakly correlated with weak-lensing maps, suggesting that
the dominant sources of correlation are individual galaxies and the more
tenuous structures in the region and not the massive and compact clusters.
These results highlight the important roles cosmic variance and large-scale
structure can play in the study of SMGs.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
Evolution of the Cluster Mass and Correlation Functions in LCDM Cosmology
The evolution of the cluster mass function and the cluster correlation
function from z = 0 to z = 3 are determined using 10^6 clusters obtained from
high-resolution simulations of the current best-fit LCDM cosmology (\Omega_m =
0.27, \sigma_8 = 0.84, h = 0.7). The results provide predictions for
comparisons with future observations of high redshift clusters. A comparison of
the predicted mass function of low redshift clusters with observations from
early Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, and the predicted abundance of massive
distant clusters with observational results, favor a slightly larger amplitude
of mass fluctuations (\sigma_8 = 0.9) and lower density parameter (\Omega_m =
0.2); these values are consistent within 1-\sigma with the current
observational and model uncertainties. The cluster correlation function
strength increases with redshift for a given mass limit; the clusters were more
strongly correlated in the past, due to their increasing bias with redshift -
the bias reaches b = 100 at z = 2 for M > 5 x 10^13 h^-1 M_sun. The
richness-dependent cluster correlation function, represented by the correlation
scale versus cluster mean separation relation, R0-d, is generally consistent
with observations. This relation can be approximated as R_0 = 1.7 d^0.6 h^-1
Mpc for d = 20 - 60 h^-1 Mpc. The R0-d relation exhibits surprisingly little
evolution with redshift for z < 2; this can provide a new test of the current
LCDM model when compared with future observations of high redshift clusters.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Self-Regulated Growth of Supermassive Black Holes
We present a series of simulations of the self--regulated growth of
supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galaxies via three different fueling
mechanisms: major mergers, minor mergers, and disk instabilities. The SMBHs in
all three scenarios follow the same black hole fundamental plane (BHFP) and
correlation with bulge binding energy seen in simulations of major mergers, and
observed locally. Furthermore, provided that the total gas supply is
significantly larger than the mass of the SMBH, its limiting mass is not
influenced by the amount of gas available or the efficiency of black hole
growth. This supports the assertion that SMBHs accrete until they reach a
critical mass at which feedback is sufficient to unbind the gas locally,
terminating the inflow and stalling further growth. At the same time, while
minor and major mergers follow the same projected correlations (e.g., the
and Magorrian relations), SMBHs grown via disk instabilities do
not, owing to structural differences between the host bulges. This finding is
supported by recent observations of SMBHs in pseudobulges and bulges in barred
systems, as compared to those hosted by classical bulges. Taken together, this
provides support for the BHFP and binding energy correlations as being more
"fundamental" than other proposed correlations in that they reflect the
physical mechanism driving the co-evolution of SMBHs and spheroids.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Unveiling the Nature of Submillimeter Galaxy SXDF850.6
We present an 880 micron Submillimeter Array (SMA) detection of the
submillimeter galaxy SXDF850.6. SXDF850.6 is a bright source (S(850 micron) = 8
mJy) detected in the SCUBA Half Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES), and has
multiple possible radio counterparts in its deep radio image obtained at the
VLA. Our new SMA detection finds that the submm emission coincides with the
brightest radio emission that is found ~8" north of the coordinates determined
from SCUBA. Despite the lack of detectable counterparts in deep UV/optical
images, we find a source at the SMA position in near-infrared and longer
wavelength images. We perform SED model fits to UV-optical-IR photometry (u, B,
V, R, i', z', J, H, K, 3.6 micron, 4.5 micron, 5.8 micron, and 8.0 micron) and
to submm-radio photometry (850 micron, 880 micron, 1100 micron, and 21 cm)
independently, and we find both are well described by starburst templates at a
redshift of z ~= 2.2 (+/- 0.3). The best-fit parameters from the UV-optical-IR
SED fit are a redshift of z = 1.87 (+0.15/-0.07), a stellar mass of M_star =
2.5 +2.2/-0.3 x 10^11 M_sun, an extinction of A_V = 3.0 (+0.3/-1.0) mag, and an
age of 720 (+1880/-210) Myr. The submm-radio SED fit provides a consistent
redshift of z ~ 1.8-2.5, an IR luminosity of L_IR = (7-26) x 10^12 L_sun, and a
star formation rate of 1300-4500 M_sun/yr. These results suggest that SXDF850.6
is a mature system already having a massive amount of old stellar population
constructed before its submm bright phase and is experiencing a dusty
starburst, possibly induced by major mergers.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
Stark Broadening of the B III 2s-2p Lines
We present a quantum-mechanical calculation of Stark line widths from
electron-ion collisions for the , lambda = 2066 and 2067
A, resonance transitions in B III. The results confirm the previous
quantum-mechanical R-matrix calculations but contradict recent measurements and
semi-classical and some semi-empirical calculations. The differences between
the calculations can be attributed to the dominance of small L partial waves in
the electron-atom scattering, while the large Stark widths inferred from the
measurements would be substantially reduced if allowance is made for
hydrodynamic turbulence from high Reynolds number flows and the associated
Doppler broadening.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.
- …