Two-Phase Flow In Fuel Cells In Short-Term Microgravity Condition

A visual observation of liquid-gas two-phase flow in anode channels of a direct methanol proton exchange membrane fuel cells in microgravity has been carried out in a drop tower. The anode flow bed consisted of 2 manifolds and 11 parallel straight channels. The length, width and depth of single channel with rectangular cross section was 48.0 mm, 2.5 mm and 2.0 mm, respectively. The experimental results indicated that the size of bubbles in microgravity condition is bigger than that in normal gravity. The longer the time, the bigger the bubbles. The velocity of bubbles rising is slower than that in normal gravity because buoyancy lift is very weak in microgravity. The flow pattern in anode channels could change from bubbly flow in normal gravity to slug flow in microgravity. The gas slugs blocked supply of reactants from channels to anode catalyst layer through gas diffusion layer. When the weakened mass transfer causes concentration polarization, the output performance of fuel cells declines.

Nanoindentation of thin-film-substrate system: Determination of film hardness and Young's modulus

In the present paper, the hardness and Young's modulus of film-substrate systems are determined by means of nanoindentation experiments and modified models. Aluminum film and two kinds of substrates; i.e. glass and silicon, are studied. Nanoindentation XP II and continuous stiffness mode are used during the experiments. In order to avoid the influence of the Oliver and Pharr method used in the experiments, the experiment data are analyzed with the constant Young's modulus assumption and the equal hardness assumption. The volume fraction model (CZ model) proposed by Fabes et al. (1992) is used and modified to analyze the measured hardness. The method proposed by Doerner and Nix (DN formula) (1986) is modified to analyze the measured Young's modulus. Two kinds of modified empirical formula are used to predict the present experiment results and those in the literature, which include the results of two kinds of systems, i.e., a soft film on a hard substrate and a hard film on a soft substrate. In the modified CZ model, the indentation influence angle, phi, is considered as a relevant physical parameter, which embodies the effects of the indenter tip radius, pile-up or sink-in phenomena and deformation of film and substrate.

Simple phenomenological determination of contact stiffness and elastic modulus of Ce-based bulk metallic glasses through nanoindentation

The viscoelastic deformation of Ce-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) with low glass transition temperature is investigated at room temperature. Contact stiffness and elastic modulus of Ce-based BMGs cannot be derived using the conventional Oliver-Pharr method [W. C. Oliver and G. M. Pharr, J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992)]. The present work shows that the time dependent displacement of unloading segments can be described well by a generalized Kelvin model. Thus, a modified Oliver-Pharr method is proposed to evaluate the contact stiffness and elastic modulus, which does, in fact, reproduce the values obtained via uniaxial compression tests. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

The motion of a small bubble in waves

The motion of a single spherical small bubble due to buoyancy in the ideal fluid with waves is investigated theoretically and experimentally in this article. Assuming that the bubble has no effect on the wave field, equations of a bubble motion are obtained and solved. It is found that the nonlinear effect increases with the increase of the bubble radius and the rising time. The rising time and the motion orbit are given by calculations and experiments. When the radius of a bubble is smaller than 0.5mm and the distance from the free surface is greater than the wave height, the results of the present theory are in close agreement with measurements.

宏观深度测量压入仪器的研制

基于深度测量压入方法,以材料试验机Instron 5848 Microtester作为加载平台,外接高分辨力位移传感器,设计专用夹具,开发出该材料试验机的宏观压入功能.研究发现:对于机架柔度,无需再进行修正;对于压针接触面积,可用相关的方法计算.采用Oliver-Pharr方法处理测试数据,可获得材料的硬度和弹性模量.为了验证试验的可靠性,选用5种典型金属材料,将宏观压入测试结果与MTS Nano Indenter(R) XP测试结果进行对比,二者基本一致,其分散性均在10%以内.显示了开发传统材料试验机宏观压入测试功能的可行性

纳米压痕仪接触投影面积标定方法的研究

基于Oliver与Pharr方法的纳米压痕实验以其简单方便获得广泛的应用,但众多因素对压痕实验结果的影响范围并无明确的结论.其中压痕接触面积的确定是一个重要环节,该因素对实验结果,特别是小深度下的实验结果具有重要影响.仔细分析了Oliver与Pharr方法并进行了几种材料的纳米压痕实验,针对该方法在接触深度确定、不同深度范围下方法的适用性进行了说明.分析结果表明,对所有的材料使用统一的面积公式,只有在大压痕深度时才是适用的,而在小压痕深度时可能带来较大的误差.因此,应慎重使用由Oliver与Pharr方法得到的小压痕深度的硬度数据.

Relationships between Initial Unloading Slope, Contact Depth, and Mechanical Properties for Spherical Indentation in Linear Viscoelastic Solids

Using analytical and finite element modeling, we examine the relationships between initial unloading slope, contact depth, and mechanical properties for spherical indentation in viscoelastic solids with either displacement or load as the independent variable. We then investigate whether the Oliver-Pharr method for determining the contact depth and contact radius, originally proposed for indentation in elastic and elastic-plastic solids, is applicable to spherical indentation in viscoelastic solids. Finally, the analytical and numerical results are used to answer questions raised in recent literature about measuring viscoelastic properties from instrumented spherical indentation experiments.

Two-phase Flow in Fuel Cells in Short-term Microgravity Condition

A visual observation of liquid-gas two-phase flow in anode channels of a direct methanol proton exchange membrane fuel cells in microgravity has been carried out in a drop tower. The anode flow bed consisted of 2 manifolds and 11 parallel straight channels. The length, width and depth of single channel with rectangular cross section was 48.0 mm, 2.5 mm and 2.0 mm, respectively. The experimental results indicated that the size of bubbles in microgravity condition is bigger than that in normal gravity. The longer the time, the bigger the bubbles. The velocity of bubbles rising is slower than that in normal gravity because buoyancy lift is very weak in microgravity. The flow pattern in anode channels could change from bubbly flow in normal gravity to slug flow in microgravity. The gas slugs blocked supply of reactants from channels to anode catalyst layer through gas diffusion layer. When the weakened mass transfer causes concentration polarization, the output performance of fuel cells declines.

Effects of temperature on the threshold of phosphorus for algal blooms

Algal blooms, worsening marine ecosystems and causing great economic loss, have been paid much attention to for a long time. Such environmental factors as light penetration, water temperature, and nutrient concentration are crucial in blooms processes. Among them, only nutrients can be controlled. Therefore, the threshold of nutrients for algal blooms is of great concern. To begin with, a dynamic eutrophication model has been constructed to simulate the algal growth and phosphorus cycling. The model encapsulates the essential biological processes of algal growth and decay, and phosphorus regeneration due to algal decay. The nutrient limitation is based upon commonly used Monod's kinetics. The effects of temperature and phosphorus limitation are particularly addressed. Then, we have endeavored to elucidate the threshold of phosphorus at different temperature for algal blooms. Based on the numerical simulation, the isoquant contours of change rate of alga as shown in the figure are obtained, which obviously demonstrate the threshold of nutrient at an arbitrary reasonable temperature. The larger the change rate is, the more rapidly the alga grows. If the phosphorus concentration at a given temperature remains larger than the threshold the algal biomass may increase monotonically, leading to the algal blooming. With the rising of temperature, the threshold is apparently reduced, which may explain why likely red tide disasters occur in a fine summer day. So, high temperature and sufficient phosphorus supply are the major factors which result in algal growth and blowout of red tide.

微尺度压痕实验的数值模拟及相关问题研究

目前国际上占主导地位的纳米压痕技术是由Oliver与Pharr提出并发展,目前的纳米压痕可以给出整个加、卸载过程的载荷—位移曲线以及硬度与弹性模量随压痕深度变化的曲线,从而提供了丰富的、比较精确的信息,为利用它探索材料比较完整的力学特性提供了可能.为达到该目的,就必须对压痕实验的加、卸过程进行较为深入的研究.作为主要的研究工具,有限元方法模拟微压痕过程在探讨通过实验数据得到更多、更准确的材料表层力学性能参数以及解释实验现象等方面发挥着重要作用.基于计算机速度与容量的原因,较早进行微压痕过程有限元模拟的BhattacharyaandNix、LaursenandSino都使用圆锥压头模拟维氏显微硬度标准正四棱锥Vicker压头与纳米压痕仪标准正三棱锥Berkovich压头,因为圆锥压头具有旋转对称性,可用二维旋转对称单元(二维实体单元)进行计算从而降低计算规模.即便如此,以当时大型计算机的水平,对规模为400~2000个四节点矩形单元的有限元模型进行一次完整的加、卸载过程也需要1~2天.到目前为止,微尺度压痕实验的数值模拟沿用二维模型.事实上,由于加工工艺的限制,微尺度压痕仪的压头如Berkovich与Vicker压头均不个旋转对称性;就微观尺度而言,实际的表层材料都是非均匀的.这些特征均不能由二维模拟体现,所以该文首先建立三维有限元模型,模拟带滑动接触的微尺度压痕加、卸载过程.在此基础上重点讨论了压头几何效应的问题,如二维模拟与三维模拟的关系、显微硬度与纳米的压痕硬度的关系、不同压头下材料的应力应变场、压痕间距与压痕边界的效应等,最后针对微尺度压痕实验中出现的压痕硬度随压痕深度减小而升高的现象,讨论了影响不同压痕深度硬度值的因素.

Two-Phase Flow In Anode Flow Field Of A Small Direct Methanol Fuel Cell In Different Gravities

An in-situ visualization of two-phase flow inside anode flow bed of a small liquid fed direct methanol fuel cells in normal and reduced gravity has been conducted in a drop tower. The anode flow bed consists of 11 parallel straight channels. The length, width and depth of single channel, which had rectangular cross section, are 48.0, 2.5 and 2.0 mm, respectively. The rib width was 2.0 mm. The experimental results indicated that when the fuel cell orientation is vertical, two-phase flow pattern in anode channels can evolve from bubbly flow in normal gravity into slug flow in microgravity. The size of bubbles in the reduced gravity is also bigger. In microgravity, the bubbles rising speed in vertical channels is obviously slower than that in normal gravity. When the fuel cell orientation is horizontal, the slug flow in the reduced gravity has almost the same characteristic with that in normal gravity. It implies that the effect of gravity on two-phase flow is small and the bubbles removal is governed by viscous drag. When the gas slugs or gas columns occupy channels, the performance of liquid fed direct methanol fuel cells is failing rapidly. It infers that in long-term microgravity, flow bed and operating condition should be optimized to avoid concentration polarization of fuel cells.

Generation of intense extreme supercontinuum radiation via resonant propagation effects

Confinement of electromagnetic energy into a single well-controlled oscillation of light is very important for generation of intense supercontinuum radiation. We find that the pulse breakup of few-cycle ultrashort laser pulses via resonant propagation effects can achieve this aim. By extracting such pulses and then focusing them to drive the He atoms, about 200 eV intense supercontinuum radiation can be generated, which is capable of supporting similar to 20 attosecond isolated pulse generation.

Influence of target thickness on the generation of high-density ion bunches by ultrashort circularly polarized laser pulses

Ion acceleration by ultrashort circularly polarized laser pulse in a solid-density target is investigated using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. The ions are accelerated and compressed by the continuously extending space-charge field created by the evacuation and compression of the target electrons by the laser light pressure. For a sufficiently thin target, the accelerated and compressed ions can reach and exit from the rear surface as a high-density high-energy ion bunch. The peak ion energy depends on the target thickness and reaches maximum when the compressed ion layer can just reach the rear target surface. The compressed ion layer exhibits lateral striation which can be suppressed by using a sharp-rising laser pulse. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Ionization suppression of diatomic molecules in strong laser fields

The ionization rate of molecules in intense laser fields may be much lower than that of atoms with similar binding energy. This phenomenon is termed the ionization suppression of molecules and is caused by the molecular inner structure. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive study of the ionization suppression of homonuclear diatomic molecules in intense laser fields of linear and circular polarizations. We find that for linear polarization the total ionization rate and the ionization suppression depend greatly on the molecular alignment, and that for circular polarization the ionization suppression of molecules in the antibonding (bonding) shells disappears (appears) for laser intensities around 10(15) W/cm(2). We also find that the molecular photoelectron energy spectra are greatly changed by the interference effect, even though the total ionization rate of molecules remains almost the same as that of their companion atoms.

Phase control of higher spectral components in the presence of a static electric field

We investigate the higher spectral component generations driven by a few-cycle laser pulse in a dense medium when a static electric field is present. Our results show that, when assisted by a static electric field, the dependence of the transmitted laser spectrum on the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) is significantly increased. Continuum and distinct peaks can be achieved by controlling the CEP of the few-cycle ultrashort laser pulse. Such a strong variation is due to the fact that the presence of the static electric field modifies the waveform of the combined electric field, which further affects the spectral distribution of the generated higher spectral components.