5,368 research outputs found

    Interaction of an Eulerian flue gas plume with wind turbines

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    The reduced availability of sites with the requisite wind resource, planning permission and public acceptance for the placement of wind turbines poses a significant challenge to future expansion of the wind energy industry. Developers increasingly wish to site large turbines in close proximity to industrial plants, but there is uncertainty amongst environmental protection agencies on how best to measure and regulate the impact that wind turbines may have on the dispersion of the gases that are often emitted into the atmosphere from such plants. Several simplified wind turbine-flue stack configurations have been simulated using the Vorticity Transport Model. This model provides a high-fidelity representation of the vortical flow structure within both the wind turbine wake and the plume, and is able to capture the re-direction and dispersion of the plume that occurs due to interaction with the wind turbine. The impingement of the plume on the wind turbine is shown to disrupt the wake structure downwind of the wind turbine, and may induce additional unsteady loading on the turbine rotor. The velocity deficit downwind of the wind turbine influences the rate at which the plume propagates downwind, and results in an increase in the concentration of plume material (which may include pollutant gas and particulates) around the wind turbine. This localized increase in plume concentration is shown to be sensitive to the thrust coefficient at which the wind turbine is operated. The results presented in this paper show that environmental protection agencies are justified in their concerns regarding the placement of wind turbines near to industrial plants, and suggests strongly that the interaction between wind turbines and gas plumes should be investigated further

    Numerical simulation of liquid sloshing in a partially filled container with inclusion of compressibility effects

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    A numerical scheme of study is developed to model compressible two-fluid flows simulating liquid sloshing in a partially filled tank. For a two-fluid system separated by an interface as in the case of sloshing, not only a Mach-uniform scheme is required, but also an effective way to eliminate unphysical numerical oscillations near the interface. By introducing a preconditioner, the governing equations expressed in terms of primitive variables are solved for both fluids (i.e. water, air, gas etc.) in a unified manner. In order to keep the interface sharp and to eliminate unphysical numerical oscillations in unsteady fluid flows, the non-conservative implicit Split Coefficient Matrix Method (SCMM) is modified to construct a flux difference splitting scheme in the dual time formulation. The proposed numerical model is evaluated by comparisons between numerical results and measured data for sloshing in an 80% filled rectangular tank excited at resonance frequency. Through similar comparisons, the investigation is further extended by examining sloshing flows excited by forced sway motions in two different rectangular tanks with 20% and 83% filling ratios. These examples demonstrate that the proposed method is suitable to capture induced free surface waves and to evaluate sloshing pressure loads acting on the tank walls and ceiling

    Keck Echellette Spectrograph and Imager Observations of Metal-poor Damped Lyα Systems

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    We present the first results from a survey of SDSS quasars selected for strong H I damped Lyα (DLA) absorption with corresponding low equivalent width absorption from strong low-ion transitions (e.g., C II λ1334 and Si II λ1260). These metal-poor DLA candidates were selected from the SDSS fifth release quasar spectroscopic database, and comprise a large new sample for probing low-metallicity galaxies. Medium-resolution echellette spectra from the Keck Echellette Spectrograph and Imager spectrograph for an initial sample of 35 systems were obtained to explore the metal-poor tail of the DLA distribution and to investigate the nucleosynthetic patterns at these metallicities. We have estimated saturation corrections for the moderately underresolved spectra, and systems with very narrow Doppler parameters (b ≀ 5 km s^(–1)) will likely have underestimated abundances. For those systems with Doppler parameters b > 5 km s^(–1), we have measured low-metallicity DLA gas with [X/H] < –2.4 for at least one of C, O, Si, or Fe. Assuming non-saturated components, we estimate that several DLA systems have [X/H] < –2.8, including five DLA systems with both low equivalent widths and low metallicity in transitions of both C II and O I. All of the measured DLA metallicities, however, exceed or are consistent with a metallicity of at least 1/1000 of solar, regardless of the effects of saturation in our spectra. Our results indicate that the metal-poor tail of galaxies at z ~ 3 drops exponentially at [X/H] ≟ –3. If the distribution of metallicity is Gaussian, the probability of identifying interstellar medium gas with lower abundance is extremely small, and our results suggest that DLA systems with [X/H] < –4.0 are extremely rare, and could comprise only 8 × 10^(–7) of DLA systems. The relative abundances of species within these low-metallicity DLA systems are compared with stellar nucleosynthesis models, and are consistent with stars having masses of 30 M_⊙ < M * < 100 M_⊙. The observed ratio of [C/O] for values of [O/H] < –2.5 exceeds values seen in moderate metallicity DLA systems, and also exceeds theoretical nucleosynthesis predictions for higher mass Population III stars. We also have observed a correlation between the column density N(C IV) with [Si/H] metallicity, suggestive of a trend between mass of the DLA system and its metallicity

    Quasinormal ringing of acoustic black holes in Laval nozzles: Numerical simulations

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    Quasinormal ringing of acoustic black holes in Laval nozzles is discussed. The equation for sounds in a transonic flow is written into a Schr\"{o}dinger-type equation with a potential barrier, and the quasinormal frequencies are calculated semianalytically. From the results of numerical simulations, it is shown that the quasinormal modes are actually excited when the transonic flow is formed or slightly perturbed, as well as in the real black hole case. In an actual experiment, however, the purely-outgoing boundary condition will not be satisfied at late times due to the wave reflection at the end of the apparatus, and a late-time ringing will be expressed as a superposition of "boxed" quasinormal modes. It is shown that the late-time ringing damps more slowly than the ordinary quasinormal ringing, while its central frequency is not greatly different from that of the ordinary one. Using this fact, an efficient way for experimentally detecting the quasinormal ringing of an acoustic black hole is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

    Application of density dependent parametrization models to asymmetric nuclear matter

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    Density dependent parametrization models of the nucleon-meson effective couplings, including the isovector scalar \delta-field, are applied to asymmetric nuclear matter. The nuclear equation of state and the neutron star properties are studied in an effective Lagrangian density approach, using the relativistic mean field hadron theory. It is known that the introduction of a \delta-meson in the constant coupling scheme leads to an increase of the symmetry energy at high density and so to larger neutron star masses, in a pure nucleon-lepton scheme. We use here a more microscopic density dependent model of the nucleon-meson couplings to study the properties of neutron star matter and to re-examine the \delta-field effects in asymmetric nuclear matter. Our calculations show that, due to the increase of the effective \delta coupling at high density, with density dependent couplings the neutron star masses in fact can be even reduced.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

    The formation and disintegration of magnetic bright points observed by Sunrise/IMaX

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    The evolution of the physical parameters of magnetic bright points (MBPs) located in the quiet Sun (mainly in the interwork) during their lifetime is studied. First we concentrate on the detailed description of the magnetic field evolution of three MBPs. This reveals that individual features follow different, generally complex, and rather dynamic scenarios of evolution. Next we apply statistical methods on roughly 200 observed MBP evolutionary tracks. MBPs are found to be formed by the strengthening of an equipartition field patch, which initially exhibits a moderate downflow. During the evolution, strong downdrafts with an average velocity of 2.4 km/s set in. These flows, taken together with the concurrent strengthening of the field, suggest that we are witnessing the occurrence of convective collapses in these features, although only 30% of them reach kG field strengths. This fraction might turn out to be larger when the new 4 m class solar telescopes are operational as observations of MBPs with current state of the art instrumentation could still be suffering from resolution limitations. Finally, when the bright point disappears (although the magnetic field often continues to exist) the magnetic field strength has dropped to the equipartition level and is generally somewhat weaker than at the beginning of the MBP's evolution. Noteworthy is that in about 10% of the cases we observe in the vicinity of the downflows small-scale strong (exceeding 2 km/s) intergranular upflows related spatially and temporally to these downflows.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures; final version published in "The Astrophysical Journal

    Binary neutron-star mergers with Whisky and SACRA: First quantitative comparison of results from independent general-relativistic hydrodynamics codes

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    We present the first quantitative comparison of two independent general-relativistic hydrodynamics codes, the Whisky code and the SACRA code. We compare the output of simulations starting from the same initial data and carried out with the configuration (numerical methods, grid setup, resolution, gauges) which for each code has been found to give consistent and sufficiently accurate results, in particular in terms of cleanness of gravitational waveforms. We focus on the quantities that should be conserved during the evolution (rest mass, total mass energy, and total angular momentum) and on the gravitational-wave amplitude and frequency. We find that the results produced by the two codes agree at a reasonable level, with variations in the different quantities but always at better than about 10%.Comment: Published on Phys. Rev.

    Helicopter tail rotor thrust and main rotor wake coupling in crosswind flight

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    The tail rotor of a helicopter with a single main rotor configuration can experience a significant reduction in thrust when the aircraft operates in crosswind flight. Brown’s vorticity transport model has been used to simulate a main rotor and tail rotor system translating at a sideslip angle that causes the tail rotor to interact with the main rotor tip vortices as they propagate downstream at the lateral extremities of the wake. The tail rotor is shown to exhibit a distinct directionally dependent mode during which tail rotors that are configured so that the blades travel forward at the top of the disk develop less thrust than tail rotors with the reverse sense of rotation. The range of flight speeds over which this mode exists is shown to vary considerably with the vertical location of the tail rotor. At low flight speeds, the directionally dependent mode occurs because the tail rotor is immersed within not only the downwash from the main rotor but also the rotational flow associated with clusters of largely disorganized vorticity within the main rotor wake. At higher flight speeds, however, the tail rotor is immersed within a coherent supervortex that strongly influences the velocity field surrounding the tail rotor

    Friction and Roughness of a Melting Rock Surface

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    Under extreme conditions like those encountered during earthquake slip, frictional melt is likely to occur. It has been observed on ancient faults that the melt is mostly extruded toward local extensional jogs or lateral tension cracks. In the case of laboratory experiments with a rotary shear apparatus, melt is extruded from the sample borders. When this happens, a thin and irregular melt layer is formed whereby the normal load is still in part supported by contact asperities under an incipient yield condition (as in dry friction models), but also, in the interstices between asperities, by the pressure of the viscous fluid wetting the interface. In addition, roughness of the surface is dynamically reshaped by the melting process of an inhomogeneous material (polymineralic rock). In particular, we argue that the roughness of the melting surface decreases with melting rate and temperature gradient perpendicular to the fault. Taking into account the above conditions, we obtain an expression for the average melt layer thickness and viscous pressure that may be used in estimates of friction in the presence of melt. We argue that the ratio of melt thickness to roughness depends on sliding velocity; such a ratio may be used as a gauge of slip-rate during fossil earthquakes on faults bearing pseudotachylite (solidified melt). Finally, we derive an improved analytical solution for friction in the presence of melt including the effect of roughness evolution

    Slender Ca II H fibrils mapping magnetic fields in the low solar chromosphere

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    S. Jafarzadeh et. al.©2017 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.A dense forest of slender bright fibrils near a small solar active region is seen in high-quality narrowband Ca ii H images from the SuFI instrument onboard the Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory. The orientation of these slender Ca ii H fibrils (SCF) overlaps with the magnetic field configuration in the low solar chromosphere derived by magnetostatic extrapolation of the photospheric field observed with Sunrise/IMaX and SDO/HMI. In addition, many observed SCFs are qualitatively aligned with small-scale loops computed from a novel inversion approach based on best-fit numerical MHD simulation. Such loops are organized in canopy-like arches over quiet areas that differ in height depending on the field strength near their roots.The German contribution to Sunrise and its reflight was funded by the Max Planck Foundation, the Strategic Innovations Fund of the President of the Max Planck Society (MPG), DLR, and private donations by supporting members of the Max Planck Society, which is gratefully acknowledged. The Spanish contribution was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Projects ESP2013-47349-C6 and ESP2014-56169-C6, partially using European FEDER funds. The HAO contribution was partly funded through NASA grant number NNX13AE95G. This work was partly supported by the BK21 plus program through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education of Korea. S.J. receives support from the Research Council of Norway. T.W. acknowledges support by DFG-grant WI 3211/4-1. M.S. acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme / ERC Grant agreement nr. 291058.Peer reviewe
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