Slow axial drift in three-dimensional granular tumbler flow

Models of monodisperse particle flow in partially filled three-dimensional tumblers often assume that flow along the axis of rotation is negligible. We test this assumption, for spherical and double cone tumblers, using experiments and discrete element method simulations. Cross sections through the particle bed of a spherical tumbler show that, after a few rotations, a colored band of particles initially perpendicular to the axis of rotation deforms: particles near the surface drift toward the pole, while particles deeper in the flowing layer drift toward the equator. Tracking of mm-sized surface particles in tumblers with diameters of 8-14 cm shows particle axial displacements of one to two particle diameters, corresponding to axial drift that is 1-3% of the tumbler diameter, per pass through the flowing layer. The surface axial drift in both double cone and spherical tumblers is zero at the equator, increases moving away from the equator, and then decreases near the poles. Comparing results for the two tumbler geometries shows that wall slope causes axial drift, while drift speed increases with equatorial diameter. The dependence of axial drift on axial position for each tumbler geometry is similar when both are normalized by their respective maximum values

Wideband digital phase comparator for high current shunts

A wideband phase comparator for precise measurements of phase difference of high current shunts has been developed at INRIM. The two-input digital phase detector is realized with a precision wideband digitizer connected through a pair of symmetric active guarded transformers to the outputs of the shunts under comparison. Data are first acquired asynchronously, and then transferred from on-board memory to host memory. Because of the large amount of data collected the filtering process and the analysis algorithms are performed outside the acquisition routine. Most of the systematic errors can be compensated by a proper inversion procedure. The system is suitable for comparing shunts in a wide range of currents, from several hundred of milliampere up to 100 A, and frequencies ranging between 500 Hz and 100 kHz. Expanded uncertainty (k=2) less than 0.05 mrad, for frequency up to 100 kHz, is obtained in the measurement of the phase difference of a group of 10 A shunts, provided by some European NMIs, using a digitizer with sampling frequency up to 1 MHz. An enhanced version of the phase comparator employs a new digital phase detector with higher sampling frequency and vertical resolution. This permits to decrease the contribution to the uncertainty budget of the phase detector of a factor two from 20 kHz to 100 kHz. Theories and experiments show that the phase difference between two high precision wideband digitizers, coupled as phase detector, depends on multiple factors derived from both analog and digital imprint of each sampling system.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure

MESA and NuGrid simulations of classical novae: CO and ONe nova nucleosynthesis

Classical novae are the result of thermonuclear flashes of hydrogen accreted by CO or ONe white dwarfs, leading eventually to the dynamic ejection of the surface layers. These are observationally known to be enriched in heavy elements, such as C, O and Ne that must originate in layers below the H-flash convection zone. Building on our previous work, we now present stellar evolution simulations of ONe novae and provide a comprehensive comparison of our models with published ones. Some of our models include exponential convective boundary mixing to account for the observed enrichment of the nova ejecta even when accreted material has a solar abundance distribution. Our models produce maximum temperature evolution profiles and nucleosynthesis yields in good agreement with models that generate enriched ejecta by assuming that the accreted material was pre-mixed. We confirm for ONe novae the result we reported previously, i.e.\ we found that $^3$He could be produced {\it in situ} in solar-composition envelopes accreted with slow rates (\dot{M} < 10^{-10}\,M_\odot/\mbox{yr}) by cold ($T_{\rm WD} < 10^7$ K) CO WDs, and that convection was triggered by $^3$He burning before the nova outburst in that case. In addition, we now find that the interplay between the $^3$He production and destruction in the solar-composition envelope accreted with an intermediate rate, e.g.\ \dot{M} = 10^{-10}\,M_\odot/\mbox{yr}, by the $1.15\,M_\odot$ ONe WD with a relatively high initial central temperature, e.g.\ $T_{\rm WD} = 15\times 10^6$ K, leads to the formation of a thick radiative buffer zone that separates the bottom of the convective envelope from the WD surface. (Abridged)Comment: 19 pages, 23 figures, 2 tables, accepted to publication by MNRA

High-Fidelity Simulation and Novel Data Analysis of the Bubble Creation and Sound Generation Processes in Breaking Waves

Recent increases in computing power have enabled the numerical simulation of many complex flow problems that are of practical and strategic interest for naval applications. A noticeable area of advancement is the computation of turbulent, two-phase flows resulting from wave breaking and other multiphase flow processes such as cavitation that can generate underwater sound and entrain bubbles in ship wakes, among other effects. Although advanced flow solvers are sophisticated and are capable of simulating high Reynolds number flows on large numbers of grid points, challenges in data analysis remain. Specifically, there is a critical need to transform highly resolved flow fields described on fine grids at discrete time steps into physically resolved features for which the flow dynamics can be understood and utilized in naval applications. This paper presents our recent efforts in this field. In previous works, we developed a novel algorithm to track bubbles in breaking wave simulations and to interpret their dynamical behavior over time (Gao et al., 2021a). We also discovered a new physical mechanism driving bubble production within breaking wave crests (Gao et al., 2021b) and developed a model to relate bubble behaviors to underwater sound generation (Gao et al., 2021c). In this work, we applied our bubble tracking algorithm to the breaking waves simulations and investigated the bubble trajectories, bubble creation mechanisms, and bubble acoustics based on our previous works.Comment: conferenc

Efficiency of dispersive wave generation in dual concentric core microstructured fiber

We describe the generation of powerful dispersive waves that are observed when pumping a dual concentric core microstructured fiber by means of a sub-nanosecond laser emitting at the wavelength of~1064 nm. The presence of three zeros in the dispersion curve, their spectral separation from the pump wavelength, and the complex dynamics of solitons originated by the pump pulse break-up, all contribute to boost the amplitude of the dispersive wave on the long-wavelength side of the pump. The measured conversion efficiency towards the dispersive wave at 1548 nm is as high as 50%. Our experimental analysis of the output spectra is completed by the acquisition of the time delays of the different spectral components. Numerical simulations and an analytical perturbative analysis identify the central wavelength of the red-shifted pump solitons and the dispersion profile of the fiber as the key parameters for determining the efficiency of the dispersive wave generation process.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure