Teracluster LSSC-II - Its Designing Principles and Applications in Large Scale Numerical Simulations

The teracluster LSSC-II installed at the State Key Laboratory of Scientific and Engineering Computing, Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of the most powerful PC clusters in China. It has a peek performance of 2Tflops. With a Linpack performance of 1.04Tflops, it is ranked at the 43rd place in the 20th TOP500 List (November 2002), 51st place in the 21st TOP500 List (June 2003), and the 82nd place in the 22nd TOP500 List (November 2003) with a new Linpack performance of 1.3Tflops. In this paper, we present some design principles of this cluster, as well as its applications in some largescale numerical simulations.

Improved Analysis Method for Wave-Induced Pipeline Stability on Sandy Seabed

The existing Det Norske Veritas DNV Recommended Practice RP E305 for pipeline on-bottom stability is mainly based on the pipe–soil interaction model reported by Wagner et al. in 1987, and the wake model reported by Lambrakos et al. in 1987, to calculate the soil resistance and the hydrodynamic forces upon pipeline, respectively. Unlike the methods in the DNV Practice, in this paper, an improved analysis method is proposed for the on-bottom stability of a submarine pipeline, which is based on the relationships between Um/ gD 0.5 and Ws / D2 for various restraint conditions obtained by the hydrodynamic loading experiments, taking into account the coupling effects between wave, pipeline, and sandy seabed. The analysis procedure is illustrated with a detailed flow chart. A comparison is made between the submerged weights of pipeline predicted with the DNV Practice and those with the new method. The proposed analysis method may provide a helpful tool for the engineering practice of pipeline on-bottom stability design.

Experimental study on the microstructure and nanomechanical properties of the wing membrane of dragonfly

Detailed investigations on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the wing membrane of the dragonfly are carried out. It is found that in the direction of the thickness the membrane was divided into three layers rather than a single entity as traditionally considered, and on the surfaces the membrane displays a random distribution rough microstructure that is composed of numerous nanometer scale columns coated by the cuticle wax secreted. The characteristics of the surface structure are measured and described. The mechanical properties of the membranes taken separately from the wings of live and dead dragonflies are investigated by the nanoindentation technique. The Young's moduli obtained here are approximately two times greater than the previous result, and the reasons that yield the difference are discussed.

Coflow jets with large velocity difference - a new aerodynamic principle of flame stabilization and combustion intensification

A new aerodynamic principle of flame stabilization and combustion intensification, the coflow jets with large velocity difference, is described. One or more small high-velocity jets of air or steam, injected off the axis and in the same direction as the low-velocity main fuel-air flow into the combustor, create a large recirculation zone of high turbulence intensity in which the combustibles and high temperature gases are effectively mixed, so that stable and intensive combustion can be maintained even for fuels with poor ignition. A pulverized coal combustor based on the principle mentioned above is shown to be characteristic of excellent combustoom and a simple structure. A number of precombustors of this type are in operation at some power stations and industrial boilers of China. Using such precombustor, successtul startups and part-load operation of the boilers have become available under conditions of unpreheated air and low-grade coal with volatiles as low as 15% and ash content as high as 30%. This principle shows good promise as an attractive new technology of combustion.