Reliable concentrated photovoltaic system with compound concentrator

Concentrated photovoltaic systems (CPVSs) draw more and more attention because of high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low consumption of solar cell, and low cost of power generation. However, the fallibility of the tracker in such systems has hindered their practical application for more than twenty years. The tracker is indispensable for a CPVS since only normal-incident sunlight can be focused on the solar cell chips, even a slight deviation of incident light will result in a significant loss of solar radiation, and hence a distinct decrease in electricity output. Generally, the more accurate the tracker is, the more reliable the system is. However, it is not exactly the case for a CPVS reliability, because the more accurate the tracker is, the better environment it demands. A CPVS is usually has to subjected to harsh environmental conditions, such as strong wind, heavy rain or snow, and huge changes of temperature, which leads to the invalidation of the system's high-accuracy tracker. Hence, the reliability of a CPVS cannot be improved only by enhancing the tracker's accuracy. In this paper, a novel compound concentrator, combination of Fresnel lens and photo-funnel, has been adopted in a prototype CPVS. Test results show that the compound concentrator can relax the angle tolerance from one tenth to five degrees of arc at 400 suns, which can help a CPVS endure serious environment and remain its reliability over long period. The CPVS with compound concentrator is attractive for commercial application.

青藏高原东缘高山林线乔木种群生态特征研究

青藏高原东部分布着世界最高的林线，该区域也是由欧亚北温带物种形成的林线的南界。在大面积野外踏勘的基础上，选择青藏高原东部具有典型高山林线分布的三个地点（滇西北白马雪山、川西北鹧鸪山及岷江源地区）作为研究区，从种群的结构、生存特征、分布格局及分形特征等方面对青藏高原东缘高山林线乔木种群生态学特征进行了研究，并在此基础上探讨了人类活动对林线种群生态特征及林线格局的影响。结果表明，林线区乔木树种多以单种群形式存在，林线区群落结构简单，乔木层多为单一树种组成，其生长型较之郁闭林发生了急剧的变化：树木高度急剧下降，而发展多茎多分枝的生长型。生长型的转变是高山林线乔木对恶劣自然条件的形态适应。 研究发现，在青藏高原东缘，阴坡林线乔木主要是冷杉（Abies spp.），阳坡主要由圆柏（Sabina spp.）组成，少数地方还有云杉（Picea spp.）。阴坡乔木种群结构多表现为增长型，幼苗和幼树在种群中占较大比重，种群潜在自然更新能力较强，但幼龄个体死亡率非常高，存活曲线多接近Deevey-Ⅲ型；阳坡乔木种群幼苗个体数极少，幼树相对增加。野外调查表明，人为活动较频繁的阳坡林线区幼苗数量极少甚至缺失，而受人为活动干扰较小的样地中幼苗和幼树数量明显增多，从一个侧面说明放牧等人类活动可能对林线种群的更新带来较大影响，而对卡卡沟围栏内外的样地分析也进一步证明了这一结果。 所研究林线乔木种群各龄级的空间格局在不同尺度上表现为聚集、随机和均匀分布，以聚集分布为主；各龄级在不同尺度上表现出显著的相关性，幼苗通常与另外两个龄级的关联性较密切。各龄级间显著的相关性表明不同龄级个体在空间交错分布，有利于对各种资源的充分利用，对种群的生存和发展非常有利，反映了高山生态系统恶劣生境中种群的一种适应对策。 林线乔木种群各龄级分布格局的计盒维数有差别，林线种群的计盒维数总是小于郁闭林种群的计盒维数。另外，郁闭林各龄级计盒维数通常也高于林线各龄级，表明不同海拔或者不同群落类型中的乔木树种具有不同的水平空间占据能力。林线区种群分布格局的计盒维数都很低，占据现实水平空间的程度较低，具有相对较高的生态间隙维，其潜在占据空间的能力较高，群落还可提供给种群的最大空间限度较大，但实际上由于受群落中种内、种间的竞争及林线区恶劣的生态环境条件的限制，其潜在空间占据能力可能难以表现出来。 青藏高原东缘高海拔地带以季节性游牧为主要的资源利用和生产方式，阳坡森林郁闭度低于阴坡，灌丛数量和种类较阴坡少，融雪早且积雪时间短，所以阳坡包括高山林线区成为当地牧民游牧路线的必经之地。牲畜的践踏、啃食使得幼龄乔木树种个体数量大大减少，严重阻碍了林线乔木种群的自然更新，同时种群占据空间的能力也明显降低。因此可以认为，在青藏高原东部地区，山地游牧等人为干扰叠加于恶劣的自然条件，阳坡林线的自然更新潜力受到抑制，其生存状态较之阴坡林线显著恶化，并可使阳坡林线高度逐渐降低。高山林线区森林一旦破坏在短时间内很难有效更新和恢复，因此，对于处于恶劣高山生境中的乔木种群应加强保护，同时适度控制人为干扰强度和幅度以减少其直接和间接破坏，防止阳坡林线退化并促进高山生态系统的自然恢复。 Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has the highest timberline of the world. On the basis of field surveys and literature reviews, three typical alpine timberlines were chosen for in-depth studies, i.e., Baima Snow Mountain in northwest Yunnan, Zhegu Mountain and the waterhead area of Minjiang River in west Sichuan. Using the methodologis of population ecology, we analyzed the population structure, survival characteristics, spatial point patterns and fractal dimensions of the timberline tree populations and discussed the impacts of grazing on the structure and spatial pattern of alpine timberline. Compared with closed forests, the community structure of timberline is simpler, usually with one or two species constituting the tree layer. Differences also exist in the growth forms: the trees were significantly shorter with more stems and branches, reflecting morphological adaptation of trees to the severe conditions at timberline. In the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Abies spp. often formed alpine timberline in the north-facing slope while Sabina spp. and sometimes Picea spp. in the south- facing slope. The population structures of north-facing slope showed an increasing trend, with numerous seedlings and saplings. However, the survival curves tend to follow Deevy-III because of high dead ratio of young individuals. There are only few seedlings in the south-facing slope with heavy grazing, demonstrating that human disturbance may prevent regeneration at alpine timberline, which was confirmed by comparisons between fenced enclosures and control plots in the Kaka Valley. Depending on the spatial scales on consideration, the individuals of different age-classes showed clumping, random or even distribution, but mostly with clumping distribution. At all scales, individuals in different age-classes were all significantly correlated with each other while the seedlings were usually more correlated to two other age classes. This high degree of correlation among different age classes indicates that individuals of different age classes are spatially interlocked with each other, which helps sufficient utilization of various resources and is conducive to the survival and development of population. It is another adaptation strategy for trees at the severe environment. The spatial patterns of different age classes had different box dimension. In general, the box dimensions of total individuals and each age class at timberline are always smaller than that of closed forests, suggesting that space occupation capacity is not the same for populations at different altitude or in different communities. Populations on both the south- and the north-facing slopes had a very low box dimensions (far away from the max., 2), however, the lower the box dimension, the bigger the potential space provided by community. In fact, because of inner- and inter- competition as well as the severe conditions at timberline, this kind of potential ability can hardly be realized. Mountain pastoralism is the major type of as well as the only most effective way of resource uses in the high elevation regions of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Due to lower canopy cover, less bushes and short snow-cover time, south-facing slopes became the favorite pastures. Damages from livestock through tramping, browsing and others have greatly reduced the number of young individuals. As a result, the potential of timberline trees to regenerate and their ability to occupy more space are greatly inhitibted. We conclude that human disturbances (mountain pastoralism) as well as harsh environmental conditions co-worked to inhibit the regeneration of tree populations in the south-facing slope and made south slopes more difficult than the north-facing slopes for trees to survive and develop, resulting a gradual retreat of timberline in the north-facing slopes. Forests at alpine timberline are susceptible to disturbance and difficult to regenerate and restore once damaged and controlling human disturbances is important for protecting the forest ecosystems at the timberline area.

三种豆科灌木对干旱胁迫的响应与适应

干旱胁迫是全球范围内影响植物生存、生长和分布的重要环境因子。岷江上游干旱河谷区，由于生态环境的脆弱性和长期人类活动的干扰和过度利用，导致植被严重退化，水土流失加剧，山地灾害频繁，干旱化和荒漠化趋势明显。这种趋势若不能遏制，将严重阻碍区域社会经济的快速协调发展，并且威胁成都平原地区的发展和长江中下游地区的生态安全。因而开展干旱河谷生态恢复研究成为解决这些问题的关键。水分匮乏是限制干旱河谷生态恢复的关键因子，在全球气候变化的背景下，干旱胁迫在区域尺度上可能会更加严重，并使干旱河谷的生态环境更加恶化。因此，深入研究干旱河谷乡土植物对干旱胁迫的响应和适应机理，具有非常重要的理论和实践意义。 本论文以岷江上游干旱河谷的三种乡土豆科灌木，白刺花（Sophora davidii）、小马鞍羊蹄甲（Bauhinia faberi var. microphylla）和小雀花（Campylotropics polyantha）理论和实践意义。为研究对象，在人工控制条件下设计了4-5个连续性干旱胁迫处理，系统地研究了灌木幼苗的生长、生物量积累和水分利用效率（WUE）、形态结构和生理过程等对干旱胁迫的反应，揭示了幼苗的干旱适应能力及种间差异。主要研究结论如下： 1) 灌木生长和繁殖对干旱胁迫的反应 在干旱胁迫下，幼苗生长速率显著减小，叶片衰老和脱落比率增大，这些变化随着胁迫强度的增加具有累积效应。叶片比茎对干旱胁迫的反应更敏感。在严重干旱胁迫下，幼苗的有性繁殖被限制，但在中等程度干旱胁迫下，幼苗的有性繁殖能力被提高。 2) 灌木生物量积累及其分配和WUE对干旱胁迫的反应 在干旱胁迫下，灌木各器官的生物量都显著减小，但是生物量的分配侧重于地下部分，使得根茎比在干旱条件下增大。幼苗的耗水量（WU）随着干旱胁迫的增加而显著减少。白刺花和小马鞍羊蹄甲WUE在干旱胁迫下降低；小雀花的WUE在中等干旱胁迫下升高。 3) 灌木叶片结构特征对干旱胁迫反应 白刺花叶片具有较为典型的旱生型结构，而小马鞍羊蹄甲和小雀花则为中生型结构。在1至2年的干旱胁迫下，灌木叶片结构组成未发生本质性的改变，主要是细胞大小的变化。在中等和严重干旱胁迫下，叶肉组织厚度明显减小；并且气孔和表皮细胞面积也显著减小，气孔和表皮细胞密度显著增大；叶肉细胞层数、P/S值、表皮厚度等无显著变化。 4) 灌木对干旱胁迫的生理响应 气体交换参数和叶片相对含水量（RWC）在中等干旱胁迫下发生了明显的改变，而叶绿素荧光参数和光合色素含量在严重干旱胁迫下才发生显著变化。在干旱胁迫下，净光合作用速率（Pn）、气孔导度（gs）和RWC呈下降趋势，而叶片温度（Tl）呈增加趋势，蒸腾速率（Tr）的变化不明显。除了日最大Pn减小以外，干旱胁迫对气体交换参数的日变化无显著影响，但是对光合-光响应曲线有显著的影响，使有效光合时间缩短。在严重干旱胁迫下光系统受到损害而代谢减弱，PSⅡ中心的内禀光能转换效率（Fv/Fm）、量子产量（Yield）、光化学淬灭参数（qP）显著降低，而非光化学淬灭参数（NPQ）明显增加。气孔限制和非气孔限制对Pn的影响与干旱胁迫强度有关。在中度胁迫下，气孔限制起主导作用，在严重胁迫下非气孔限制起主导作用，40% FC水分条件可能是灌木由气孔限制向非气孔限制的转折点。 5) 灌木对干旱胁迫的适应能力及其种间差异 三种灌木对干旱胁迫具有较好的适应能力，即使在20% FC，幼苗未因干旱胁迫III而死亡；80% FC适宜于幼苗生长。白刺花生长速率慢，耗水量较少，具有较强的耐旱和耐贫瘠能力，并具有干旱忍受机制，能够在较干旱的环境中定居和生长。小马鞍羊蹄甲和小雀花，生长快，水分消耗量较大，尤其是小雀花，对干旱胁迫的忍受能力较弱，具有干旱回避机制，因而适宜于在较为湿润的生境中生长。综合分析表明，生长速率较慢的物种抗旱能力较强，其更适宜于作为干旱地区植被恢复物种。 Drought is often a key factor limiting plant establishment, growth and distribution inmany regions of the world. The harsh environmental conditions and long-termanthropogenic disturbance had resulted in habitat destruction in the dry valley ofMinjiang river, southwest China. Recently, it tended to be more severe on the vegetationdegradation, soil erosion and water loss, natural disaster, as well as desertification, whichimpact on regional booming economy and harmonious development, and would be verydangerous to the environmental security in the middle and lower reaches of Yangzi River.Therefore, ecological restoration in the dry valley is one of the vital tasks in China. Waterdeficit is known to affect adversely vegetation restoration in this place. Moreover, in thecontext of climate change, an increased frequency of drought stress might occur at aregional scale in the dry valleys of Minjiang River. The selection of appropriate plantingspecies for vegetation restoration in regard to regional conditions is an important issue atpresent and in further. The research on responses of indigenous species to drought stresscould provide insights into the improvement of the vegetation restoration in the dry valleys of Minjiang River. In this paper, the responses of three indigenous leguminous shrubs, Sophora davidii,Bauhinia faberi var. microphylla and Campylotropics polyantha, to various soil watersupplies were studied in order to assess drought tolerance of seedlings, and to compare interspecific differences in seedlings’ responses to drought stress. The results were as follows: 1 Growth and reproduction of shrubs in response to drought stress Seedling growth reduced significantly while leaf senescence accelerated underdrought stress, the cumulative responses to prolonged drought were found. The capacityfor reproduction was limited by severe drought stress, and improved by moderate droughtstress. Leaf responses were more sensitive than shoot to various water supplies. 2 WUE, biomass production and its partitioning of shrubs in response to drought stress Drought stress reduced significantly the total dry mass and their components ofseedlings, and altered more biomass allocation to root system, showing higher R/S ratiounder drought. Water use (WU) and water-use efficiency (WUE) of both S. davidii and B.faberi var. microphylla declined strongly with drought stress. The WU C. polyantha ofalso declined with drought stress, but WUE improved under moderate drought stress. 3 Anatomical characteristics and ultrastructures of leaves in response to drought stress There were xeromorphic for S. davidii leaves and mesomorphic for B. faberi var.microphylla and C. polyantha at the all water supplies. The foundational changes in leafstructures were not found with drought stress. However, mesophyll thickness, the areas ofstomatal and epidermis reduced slightly while the densities of stomatal and epidermisincreased under severe drought stress. Variations in these parameters could mainly be duoto cell size. Other structures did not displayed significant changes with drought stress. 4 Physiological responses of shrubs to drought stress The gas exchange parameters and leaf relative water content (RWC) were affectedby moderate stress, while chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content were onlyaffected by severe stress. Drought stress decreased net photosynthesis rate (Pn), stomatalconductance, light-use efficiency and RWC, and increased leaf temperature. Therespiration rates (Tr) were kept within a narrower range than Pn, resulting in aprogressively increased instantaneous water use effiecency (WUEi) under drought stress.Moreover, drought stress also affected the response curve of Pn to RAR, there was adepression light saturation point (Lsat) and maximum Pn (Pnmax) for moderate andsevere stressed seedling. However, diurnal changes of gas exchange parameters did notdiffer among water supplies although maximum daily Pn declined under severe stress.VISevere stress reduced Fv/Fm, Yield and qP while increased NPQ and chlorophyll content.Photosynthetic activity decreased during drought stress period due to stomatal andnon-stomatal limitations. The relative contribution of these limitations was associatedwith the severity of stress. The limitation to Pn was caused mainly by stomatal limitationunder moderate drought stress, and by the predominance of non-stomatal limitation undersevere stress. In this case, 40% FC water supply may be a non-stomatal limitation 5 Interspecific differences in drought tolerance of shrubs Three shrubs exhibited good performance throughout the experiment process, evenif at 20% FC treatment there were no any seedlings died, 80% FC water supply wassuitable for their establishment and growth. S. davidii minimized their water loss byreducing total leaf area and growth rate, as well as maintained higher RWC and Pncompared to the other two species under drought stress, thus they might be more tolerantto the drought stress than the other two species. On the contrary, it was found that C.polyantha and B. faberi var. microphylla had higher water loss because of their stomatalconductance and higher leaf area ratios. They reduced water loss with shedding theirleaves and changing leaf orientation under drought stress. Based on their responses, thestudied species could be categorized into two: (1) S. davidii with a tolerance mechanismin response to drought stress; (2) C. polyantha and B. faberi var. microphylla withdrought avoidance mechanism. These results indicated that slow-growing shrub speciesare better adapted to drought stress than intermediate or fast-growing species in present orpredicted drought conditions. Therefore, selecting rapid-growing species might leavethese seedlings relatively at a risk of extreme drought.

若尔盖高原花湖湖滨湿地甲烷排放研究

若尔盖高原湿地位于青藏高原东北部地区，平均海拔3,400-3,600m，是长江和黄河的自然分水区，区内发育了大面积的草本沼泽以及高寒沼泽化草甸、高寒湖泊。由于它所处的位置海拔高、气候波动较大，并处于我国三大自然区的交错过渡带，因而被认为是我国最为典型的脆弱湿地生态系统之一。由于地处偏远、自然环境条件恶劣等多方面的原因，针对若尔盖湿地的科学研究资料一直以来还非常缺乏。本文对国内外近年来在湿地生态系统甲烷排放过程、研究方法，以及关于湿地生态系统甲烷排放的影响因素进行了综述，并采用静态箱－气相色谱法，从湿地环境格局、湿地甲烷排放等方面，对若尔盖高原典型高寒湖泊湖滨不同类型湿地甲烷排放特征进行了研究，并进一步探讨了影响若尔盖高原高寒湖泊湖滨带甲烷排放的因素。得到如下结果：1．若尔盖高原花湖湖滨湿地在植物生长季（6 至8 月），甲烷排放平均速率为0.315 mg·m-2·h-1；不同月份间甲烷排放速率存在差异，分别为：-0.054、0.471、0.493 mg·m-2·h-1。不同类型湿地甲烷排放速率亦表现出差异，两栖蓼（Polygonum amphibium）湿地、滩涂和藏嵩草（Kobresia tibetica）草甸甲烷排放速率分别为：0.464、0.477、0.005mg·m-2·h-1。2．若尔盖高原花湖湖滨湿地甲烷排放速率与土壤10cm 温度显著相关。土壤温度是影响若尔盖高原花湖湖滨不同类型湿地甲烷排放的重要因素之一。随着土壤温度的升高，土壤微生物活性增强，使土壤中的氧消耗加快，氧化还原电位下降，有利于产甲烷菌的生长，从而增加土壤的甲烷产生量。3．地表水位与若尔盖高原花湖湖滨湿地甲烷排放速率相关性不显著。地表水覆盖，使得湿地土壤缺氧状况得到加强，增强了土壤中产甲烷菌的活性，促进甲烷形成，再通过植物、气泡或扩散的形式释放出土壤。但水层的加深，也使土壤中已产生的甲烷在通过气泡或扩散形式穿越水层时，被氧化的量增加，从而减少了甲烷向大气中的排放。4．植被高度以及植被地上生物量与若尔盖高原花湖湖滨带甲烷排放速率的相关性不显著。植物主要通过凋落物以及根系分泌物的输入为产甲烷菌提供基质，并作为土壤与大气之间的甲烷气体交换的传输途径；与其他环境因素共同影响湿地生态系统甲烷排放。The Zoige wetland on the eastern fringe of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, with averagealtitude between 3,400 and 3,600m, is the watershed of Yangtze River and YellowRiver. There are large area of peatland, subalpine meadow and lakes in this region.Due to its high elevation, transitional topology and high fluctuation of climate, theZoige wetlands represent one of the most fragile wetland ecosystems in China. And asa result of remote location and harsh environment conditions, the researches on theZoige wetland are relatively rare, especially the researches on the methane emissionfrom littoral zone of alpine lakes. Variations of methane emission rates as measuredby the method of static chamber – gas chromatography (GC) were detected fromlittoral zone of alpine lake on the Zoige Plateau. Relationships between methaneemission rates and environmental factors were analyzed. It is concluded that:1．The average methane emission rate in the littoral zone of Huahu Lake, ZoigePlateau is 0.315 mg·m-2·h-1, with evident spatial and temporal variations. The littoralzone has different methane effluxes with -0.054, 0.471, and 0.493 mg·CH4·m-2·h-1in June, July and August respectively. Different types of wetland have differentmethane emission rates, with value of 0.464, 0.477, and 0.005 mg·CH4·m-2·h-1 forPolygonum amphibium wetland ( PA ), Shoal ( S ) and Kobresi tibetica meadow ( KT ), respectively.2． The soil temperature at 10cm is significantly correlated with the methane effluxesin littoral zone of Huahu Lake, Zoige Plateau, and which is one of the most important factors influencing the methane emission from this region. The activities of soilmicroorganisms rise under higher soil temperature and increases oxygen consumptionand decreases Eh, which is in favor of the methanogensis, and enhances theproduction of methane in soil.3． The correlation between the standing water and methane effluxes from littoralzone of Huahu Lake is not significant. Because of the standing water, the anaerobicconditions of wetland soil have been enhanced, and are favor to the decomposition oforganic matter. And the anaerobic conditions strengthen the methanogensis’ activities,thus the methane production, which release to the atmosphere by diffusion, ebullitionand aerenchymal plants. With the water level’s increase, more methane produced insoil which is transferred by ebullitions or diffusion are oxidated, thus reduce themethane release to the atmosphere.4． The height and aboveground biomass of vegetation are not significant related tothe methane effluxes from littoral zone of Huahu Lake, Zoige Plateau. The vegetationprovides substrates for methanogensis by litter and root exudates; act as thetransportation way of methane between soil and atmosphere; influence the methaneemission of wetland ecosystems with other environment factors.

Electrochemical biosensing in extreme environment

This review presents recent developments of electrochemical biosensors in extreme working environments. After a brief introduction to the electrochemical biosensor, the applications of biocatalytic biosensors and bioaffinity biosensors in harsh working conditions, in organic solvent, in gas-phase, in vivo measurement and in toxic environments, are discussed by means of several examples. Methods for improving the stability and extending the biosensor application scope are suggested, and new trends about biosensor development are also discussed.

Visualization of dust explosion under microgravity conditions

The objective of this work was to apply visualization methods to the experimental study of cornstarch dust-air mixture combustion in a closed vessel volume under microgravity conditions. A dispersion system with a small scale of turbulence was used in the experiments. A gas igniter initiated combustion of the dust-air mixture in the central or top part of the vessel. Flame propagation through the quiescent mixture was recorded by a high-speed video camera. Experiments showed a very irregular flame front and irregular distribution of the regions with local reactions of re-burning behind the flame front. at a later stage of combustion. Heat transfer from the hot combustion products to the walls is shown to have an important role in the combustion development. The maximum pressure and maximum rate of pressure rise were higher for flame propagation from the vessel center than for flame developed from the top pan of the vessel. The reason for smaller increase of the rate of pressure rise, for the flame developed from the top of the vessel. in comparison with that developed from the vessel center, was much faster increase of the contact surface of the combustion gases with the vessel walls. It was found that in dust flames only small part of hear was released at the flame front, the remaining part being released far behind it.

Magnetron Sputtering Growth of InAs0.3Sb0.7 Films on (100) GaAs Substrates: Strong Effect of Growth Conditions on Film Structure

The growth of highly lattice-mismatched InAs0.3Sb0.7 films on (100) GaAs Substrates by magnetron Sputtering has been investigated and even epitaxial lnAs(0.3)Sb(0.7) films have been successfully obtained. A strong effect of the growth conditions on the film structure was observed, revealing that there was a growth mechanism transition from three-dimensional nucleation growth to epitaxial layer-by-layer growth mode when increasing the substrate temperature. A qualitative explanation for that transition was proposed and the critical conditions for the epitaxial layer-by-layer growth mode were also discussed.

Influence of the Processing Conditions on the Characteristics of the Clad Layers Produced with Laminar Plasma Technology

Laminar plasma technology was used to produce ceramic hardened layers of Al2O3-40% mass Ni composite powders on stainless steel substrates. In order to investigate the influences of processing conditions on the morphologies of the surface modified layers, two different powder-feeding methods were tested, one with carrier gas called the powder injection method, and the other without carrier gas called powder transfers method. The microscopic investigations demonstrate that the cross-section of the clad layers consists of two distinct microstructural regions, in which the Al2O3 phases exhibit different growth mechanisms. When the powder transfers method is adopted, the number density and volume fraction of the Al2O3 particles increase considerably and their distributions exhibit zonal periodical characteristics. When the powder-feeding rate increases, the microstructure of the Al2O3 phases changes from a small globular to a long needle shape. Finite element simulations show that the transient thermo-physical features of the pool substances, such as solidification rate and cooling rate, influence strongly the mechanisms of the nucleation and the directional growth of the Al2O3 phases in the thermal processing.

Determination of Proper Processing Conditions of Material Surface Heat Treatment Through Finite Element Method

A two-dimensional model has been developed based on the experimental results of stainless steel remelting with the laminar plasma technology to investigate the transient thermo-physical characteristics of the melt pool liquids. The influence of the temperature field, temperature gradient, solidification rate and cooling rate on the processing conditions has been investigated numerically. Not only have the appropriate processing conditions been determined according to the calculations, but also they have been predicted with a criterion established based on the concept of equivalent temperature area density (ETAD) that is actually a function of the processing parameters and material properties. The comparison between the resulting conditions shows that the ETAD method can better predict the optimum condition.

Concentration distribution in solution crystal growth: effect of moving interface conditions

The linear diffusion-reaction theory with finite interface kinetics is employed to describe the dissolution and the growth processes. The results show that it is imperative to consider the effect of the moving interfaces on the concentration distribution at the growth interface for some cases. For small aspect ratio and small gravity magnitude, the dissolution and the growth interfaces must be treated as the moving boundaries within an angle range of 0 degrees < gamma < 50 degrees in this work. For large aspect ratio or large gravity magnitude, the effect of the moving interfaces on the concentration distribution at the growth interface can be neglected except for gamma < - 50 degrees.

Experimental study on two-phase gas-liquid flow patterns at normal and reduced gravity conditions

Experimental studies have been performed for horizontal two-phase air-water flows at normal and reduced gravity conditions in a square cross-section channel. The experiments at reduced gravity are conducted on board the Russian IL-76 reduced gravity airplane. Four flow patterns, namely bubble, slug, slug-annular transition and annular flows, are observed depending on the liquid and gas superficial velocities at both conditions. Semi-theoretical Weber number model is developed to include the shape influence on the slug-annular transition. It is shown that its prediction is in reasonable agreement with the experimental slug-annular transition under both conditions. For the case of two-phase gas-liquid flow with large value of the Froude number, the drift-flux model can predict well the observed boundary between bubble and slug flows.

Damage analysis of tetragonal perovskite structure ceramics implicated by asymptotic field solutions and boundary conditions

Cracking of ceramics with tetragonal perovskite grain structure is known to appear at different sites and scale level. The multiscale character of damage depends on the combined effects of electromechanical coupling, prevailing physical parameters and boundary conditions. These detail features are exhibited by application of the energy density criterion with judicious use of the mode I asymptotic and full field solution in the range of r/a = 10(-4) to 10(-2) where r and a are, respectively, the distance to the crack tip and half crack length. Very close to the stationary crack tip, bifurcation is predicted resembling the dislocation emission behavior invoked in the molecular dynamics model. At the macroscopic scale, crack growth is predicted to occur straight ahead with two yield zones to the sides. A multiscale feature of crack tip damage is provided for the first time. Numerical values of the relative distances and bifurcation angles are reported for the PZT-4 ceramic subjected to different electric field to applied stress ratio and boundary conditions that consist of the specification of electric field/mechanical stress, electric displacement/mechanical strain, and mixed conditions. To be emphasized is that the multiscale character of damage in piezoceramics does not appear in general. It occurs only for specific combinations of the external and internal field parameters, elastic/piezoelectric/dielectric constants and specified boundary conditions. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Effects of entry conditions on cracked kerosene-fueled supersonic combustor performance

Supersonic combustion of thermally cracked kerosene was experimentally investigated in two model supersonic combustors with different entry cross-section areas. Effects of entry static pressure, entry Mach number, combustor entry geometry, and injection scheme on combustor performance were systematically investigated and discussed based on the measured static pressure distribution and specific thrust increment due to combustion. In addition, the methodology for characterizing flow rate and composition of cracked kerosene was detailed. Using a pulsed Schlieren system, the interaction of supercritical and cracked kerosene jet plumes with a Mach 2.5 crossflow was also visualized at different injection temperatures. The present experimental results suggest that the use of a higher combustor entry Mach number as well as a larger combustor duct height would suppress the boundary layer separation near the combustor entrance and avoid the problem of inlet un- start.