10,602 research outputs found
Erosion/corrosion of turbine airfoil materials in the high-velocity effluent of a pressurized fluidized coal combustor
Four candidate turbine airfoil superalloys were exposed to the effluent of a pressurized fluidized bed with a solids loading of 2 to 4 g/scm for up to 100 hours at two gas velocities, 150 and 270 m/sec, and two temperatures, 730 deg and 795 C. Under these conditions, both erosion and corrosion occurred. The damaged specimens were examined by cross-section measurements, scanning electron and light microscopy, and X-ray analysis to evaluate the effects of temperature, velocity, particle loading, and alloy material. Results indicate that for a given solids loading the extent of erosion is primarily dependent on gas velocity. Corrosion occurred only at the higher temperature. There was little difference in the erosion/corrosion damage to the four alloys tested under these severe conditions
An exactly solvable model of a superconducting to rotational phase transition
We consider a many-fermion model which exhibits a transition from a
superconducting to a rotational phase with variation of a parameter in its
Hamiltonian. The model has analytical solutions in its two limits due to the
presence of dynamical symmetries. However, the symmetries are basically
incompatible with one another; no simple solution exists in intermediate
situations. Exact (numerical) solutions are possible and enable one to study
the behavior of competing but incompatible symmetries and the phase transitions
that result in a semirealistic situation. The results are remarkably simple and
shed light on the nature of phase transitions.Comment: 11 pages including 1 figur
Collective states of the odd-mass nuclei within the framework of the Interacting Vector Boson Model
A supersymmetric extension of the dynamical symmetry group of
the Interacting Vector Boson Model (IVBM), to the orthosymplectic group
is developed in order to incorporate fermion degrees of
freedom into the nuclear dynamics and to encompass the treatment of odd mass
nuclei. The bosonic sector of the supergroup is used to describe the complex
collective spectra of the neighboring even-even nuclei and is considered as a
core structure of the odd nucleus. The fermionic sector is represented by the
fermion spin group .
The so obtained, new exactly solvable limiting case is applied for the
description of the nuclear collective spectra of odd mass nuclei. The
theoretical predictions for different collective bands in three odd mass
nuclei, namely , and from rare earth region are
compared with the experiment. The transition probabilities for the
and between the states of the ground band are also
studied. The important role of the symplectic structure of the model for the
proper reproduction of the behavior is revealed. The obtained results
reveal the applicability of the models extension.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure
Vector coherent state representations, induced representations, and geometric quantization: II. Vector coherent state representations
It is shown here and in the preceeding paper (quant-ph/0201129) that vector
coherent state theory, the theory of induced representations, and geometric
quantization provide alternative but equivalent quantizations of an algebraic
model. The relationships are useful because some constructions are simpler and
more natural from one perspective than another. More importantly, each approach
suggests ways of generalizing its counterparts. In this paper, we focus on the
construction of quantum models for algebraic systems with intrinsic degrees of
freedom. Semi-classical partial quantizations, for which only the intrinsic
degrees of freedom are quantized, arise naturally out of this construction. The
quantization of the SU(3) and rigid rotor models are considered as examples.Comment: 31 pages, part 2 of two papers, published versio
The erosion/corrosion of small superalloy turbine rotors operating in the effluent of a PFB coal combustor
Superalloy turbine rotors in a single stage turbine with 6 percent partial admittance were operated in the effluent of a pressurized fluidized bed coal combustor for up to 164 hours. Total mass flow was 300 kg/hr and average particulate loadings ranged from 600 to 2800 ppm for several coal/sorbent combinations. A 5.5 atm turbine inlet gas pressure and inlet gas temperatures from 700 to 800 C yielded absolute gas velocities at the stator exit of about 500 m/s. The angular rotation speed (40,000 rpm) of the six inch diameter rotors was equivalent to a tip speed of about 300 m/s, and average gas velocities relative to the rotating surface ranged from 260 to 330 m/s at mean radius. The rotor erosion pattern reflects heavy particle separation with severe (5 to 500 cm/yr) erosion at the leading edge, pressure side center, and suction side trailing edge at the tip. The erosion distribution pattern provides a spectrum of erosion/oxidation/deposition as a function of blade position. This spectrum includes enhanced oxidation (10 to 100 x air), mixed oxides in exposed depletion zones, sulfur rich oxides in deposition zones, and rugged areas of erosive oxide removal
Microscopic Study of the Isoscalar Giant Monopole Resonance in Cd, Sn and Pb Isotopes
The isoscalar giant monopole resonance (ISGMR) in Cd, Sn and Pb isotopes has
been studied within the self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock+BCS and
quasi-particle random phase approximation (QRPA). Three Skyrme parameter sets
are used in the calculations, i.e., SLy5, SkM* and SkP, since they are
characterized by different values of the compression modulus in symmetric
nuclear matter, namely K=230, 217, and 202 MeV, respectively. We also
investigate the effect of different types of pairing forces on the ISGMR in Cd,
Sn and Pb isotopes. The calculated peak energies and the strength distributions
of ISGMR are compared with available experimental data. We find that SkP fails
completely to describe the ISGMR strength distribution for all isotopes due to
its low value of the nuclear matter incompressibility, namely K=202 MeV. On the
other hand, the SLy5 parameter set, supplemented by an appropriate pairing
interaction, gives a reasonable description of the ISGMR in Cd and Pb isotopes.
A better description of ISGMR in Sn isotopes is achieved by the SkM*
interaction, that has a somewhat softer value of the nuclear incompressibility.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Investigation of synthetic aperture methods in ultrasound surface imaging using elementary surface types
Synthetic aperture imaging methods have been employed widely in recent research in non-destructive testing (NDT), but uptake has been more limited in medical ultrasound imaging. Typically offering superior focussing power over more traditional phased array methods, these techniques have been employed in NDT applications to locate and characterise small defects within large samples, but have rarely been used to image surfaces. A desire to ultimately employ ultrasonic surface imaging for bone surface geometry measurement prior to surgical intervention motivates this research, and results are presented for initial laboratory trials of a surface reconstruction technique based on global thresholding of ultrasonic 3D point cloud data. In this study, representative geometry artefacts were imaged in the laboratory using two synthetic aperture techniques; the Total Focusing Method (TFM) and the Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) employing full and narrow synthetic apertures, respectively. Three high precision metallic samples of known geometries (cuboid, sphere and cylinder) which featured a range of elementary surface primitives were imaged using a 5MHz, 128 element 1D phased array employing both SAFT and TFM approaches. The array was manipulated around the samples using a precision robotic positioning system, allowing for repeatable ultrasound derived 3D surface point clouds to be created. A global thresholding technique was then developed that allowed the extraction of the surface profiles, and these were compared with the known geometry samples to provide a quantitative measure of error of 3D surface reconstruction. The mean errors achieved with optimised SAFT imaging for the cuboidal, spherical and cylindrical samples were 1.3 mm, 2.9 mm and 2.0 mm respectively, while those for TFM imaging were 3.7 mm, 3.0 mm and 3.1 mm, respectively. These results were contrary to expectations given the higher information content associated with the TFM images. However, it was established that the reduced error associated with the SAFT technique was associated with significant reductions in side lobe levels of approximately 24dB in comparison to TFM imaging, although this came at the expense of reduced resolution and coverage
Richardson-Gaudin integrability in the contraction limit of the quasispin
Background: The reduced, level-independent, Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer
Hamiltonian is exactly diagonalizable by means of a Bethe Ansatz wavefunction,
provided the free variables in the Ansatz are the solutions of the set of
Richardson-Gaudin equations. On the one side, the Bethe Ansatz is a simple
product state of generalised pair operators. On the other hand, the
Richardson-Gaudin equations are strongly coupled in a non-linear way, making
them prone to singularities. Unfortunately, it is non-trivial to give a clear
physical interpretation to the Richardson-Gaudin variables because no physical
operator is directly related to the individual variables. Purpose: The purpose
of this paper is to shed more light on the critical behavior of the
Richardson-Gaudin equations, and how this is related to the product wave
structure of the Bethe Ansatz. Method: A pseudo-deformation of the quasi-spin
algebra is introduced, leading towards a Heisenberg-Weyl algebra in the
contraction limit of the deformation parameter. This enables an adiabatic
connection of the exact Bethe Ansatz eigenstates with pure bosonic multiphonon
states. The physical interpretation of this approach is an adiabatic
suppression of the Pauli exclusion principle. Results: The method is applied to
a so-called "picket-fence" model for the BCS Hamiltonian, displaying a typical
critical behavior in the Richardson-Gaudin variables. It was observed that the
associated bosonic multiphonon states change collective nature at the critical
interaction strengths of the Richardson-Gaudin equations. Conclusions: The
Pauli exclusion principle is the main responsible for the critical behavior of
the Richardson-Gaudin equations, which can be suppressed by means of a pseudo
deformation of the quasispin algebra.Comment: PACS 02.30.Ik, 21.10.Re, 21.60.Ce, 74.20.F
RPA approach to rotational symmetry restoration in a three-level Lipkin model
We study an extended Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model that permits a transition to
a deformed phase with a broken continuous symmetry. Unlike simpler models, one
sees a persistent zero-frequency Goldstone mode past the transition point into
the deformed phase. We found that the RPA formula for the correlation energy
provides a useful correction to the Hartree-Fock energy when the number of
particle N satisfies N > 3, and becomes accurate for large N. We conclude that
the RPA correlation energy formula offers a promising way to improve the
Hartree-Fock energy in a systematic theory of nuclear binding energies.Comment: RevTex, 11 pages, 3 postscript figure
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