16,049 research outputs found
A Computational Study of the Distribution of Particles in a Lab-Scale CFB Boiler
When two-fluid modeling is used to predict riser flows there have been difficulties in predicting the solids hold up in risers represented by the correct pressure drop profile. A way of encountering this inherent problem in current Eulerian-Eulerian CFD modeling is to approximate the actual particle size distribution by using more particle phases instead of the current practice of using one mean diameter. For the lab-scale CFB investigated, CFD simulations show that a mal-distribution occurs in the CFB; the larger particles are retained in the riser, whereas the intermediate and small particles are distributed both in the return leg and the riser. Simulations using an altered particle size distribution, i.e. a larger amount of large particles, show significant improvements in the pressure profile in the bottom part of the riser
Increased traffic exposure and negative birth outcomes: a prospective cohort in Australia
Background: Pregnant women exposed to traffic pollution have an increased risk of negative birth outcomes. We aimed to investigate the size of this risk using a prospective cohort of 970 mothers and newborns in Logan, Queensland. ----- ----- Methods: We examined two measures of traffic: distance to nearest road and number of roads around the home. To examine the effect of distance we used the number of roads around the home in radii from 50 to 500 metres. We examined three road types: freeways, highways and main roads.----- ----- Results: There were no associations with distance to road. A greater number of freeways and main roads around the home were associated with a shorter gestation time. There were no negative impacts on birth weight, birth length or head circumference after adjusting for gestation. The negative effects on gestation were largely due to main roads within 400 metres of the home. For every 10 extra main roads within 400 metres of the home, gestation time was reduced by 1.1% (95% CI: -1.7, -0.5; p-value = 0.001).----- ----- Conclusions: Our results add weight to the association between exposure to traffic and reduced gestation time. This effect may be due to the chemical toxins in traffic pollutants, or because of disturbed sleep due to traffic noise
Statistically derived contributions of diverse human influences to twentieth-century temperature changes
The warming of the climate system is unequivocal as evidenced by an increase in global temperatures by 0.8 °C over the past century. However, the attribution of the observed warming to human activities remains less clear, particularly because of the apparent slow-down in warming since the late 1990s. Here we analyse radiative forcing and temperature time series with state-of-the-art statistical methods to address this question without climate model simulations. We show that long-term trends in total radiative forcing and temperatures have largely been determined by atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and modulated by other radiative factors. We identify a pronounced increase in the growth rates of both temperatures and radiative forcing around 1960, which marks the onset of sustained global warming. Our analyses also reveal a contribution of human interventions to two periods when global warming slowed down. Our statistical analysis suggests that the reduction in the emissions of ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol, as well as a reduction in methane emissions, contributed to the lower rate of warming since the 1990s. Furthermore, we identify a contribution from the two world wars and the Great Depression to the documented cooling in the mid-twentieth century, through lower carbon dioxide emissions. We conclude that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are effective in slowing the rate of warming in the short term.F.E. acknowledges financial support from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (http://www.conacyt.gob.mx) under grant CONACYT-310026, as well as from PASPA DGAPA of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. (CONACYT-310026 - Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia; PASPA DGAPA of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Dynamic Mean-Field Glass Model with Reversible Mode Coupling and Trivial Hamiltonian
Often the current mode coupling theory (MCT) of glass transitions is compared
with mean field theories. We explore this possible correspondence. After
showing a simple-minded derivation of MCT with some difficulties we give a
concise account of our toy model developed to gain more insight into MCT. We
then reduce this toy model by adiabatically eliminating rapidly varying
velocity-like variables to obtain a Fokker-Planck equation for the slowly
varying density-like variables where diffusion matrix can be singular. This
gives a room for nonergodic stationary solutions of the above equation.Comment: 9 pages, contribution to the Proceedings of the Merida Satellite
Meeting to STATPHYS21 (Merida, Mexico, July 9-14, 2001). To appear in J.
Phys. Condens. Matte
Numerical simulation of the thermal fragmentation process in fullerene C60
The processes of defect formation and annealing in fullerene C60 at
T=(4000-6000)K are studied by the molecular dynamics technique with a
tight-binding potential. The cluster lifetime until fragmentation due to the
loss of a C2 dimer has been calculated as a function of temperature. The
activation energy and the frequency factor in the Arrhenius equation for the
fragmentation rate have been found to be Ea = (9.2 +- 0.4) eV and A = (8 +-
1)10^{19} 1/s. It is shown that fragmentation can occur after the C60 cluster
loses its spherical shape. This fact must be taken into account in theoretical
calculations of Ea.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Rotational Diffusion in a Chain of Particles
We study the coupled rotational diffusion in a two-particle chain on the
basis of a Smoluchowski equation and calculate time-correlation functions that
are measurable in an experiment. This might be used to explore hydrodynamic
interactions in the limit where lubrication theory is valid.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte
Molecular Hydrodynamics: Vortex Formation and Sound Wave Propagation
In the present study, quantitative feasibility tests of the hydrodynamic
description of a two-dimensional fluid at the molecular level are performed,
both with respect to length and time scales. Using high-resolution fluid
velocity data obtained from extensive molecular dynamics simulations, we
computed the transverse and longitudinal components of the velocity field by
the Helmholtz decomposition and compared them with those obtained from the
linearized Navier-Stokes (LNS) equations with time-dependent transport
coefficients. By investigating the vortex dynamics and the sound wave
propagation in terms of these field components, we confirm the validity of the
LNS description for times comparable to or larger than several mean collision
times. The LNS description still reproduces the transverse velocity field
accurately at smaller times, but it fails to predict characteristic patterns of
molecular origin visible in the longitudinal velocity field. Based on these
observations, we validate the main assumptions of the mode-coupling approach.
The assumption that the velocity autocorrelation function can be expressed in
terms of the fluid velocity field and the tagged particle distribution is found
to be remarkably accurate even for times comparable to or smaller than the mean
collision time. This suggests that the hydrodynamic-mode description remains
valid down to the molecular scale
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