Effect of natural ventilation on the boundary layer separation and near-wake vortex shedding characteristics of a sphere

Experiments were conducted in water and wind tunnels on spheres in the Reynolds number range 6 x 10(3) to 6.5 x 10(5) to study the effect of natural ventilation on the boundary layer separation and near-wake Vortex shedding characteristics. In the subcritical range of Re (<2 x 10(5)), ventilation caused a marginal downstream shift in the location of laminar boundary layer separation; there was only a small change in the vortex shedding frequency. In the supercritical range (Re > 4 x 10(5)), ventilation caused a downstream shift in the mean locations of boundary layer separation and reattachment; these lines showed significant axisymmetry in the presence of venting. No distinct vortex shedding frequency was found. Instead, a dramatic reduction occurred in the wake unsteadiness at all frequencies. The reduction of wake unsteadiness is consistent with the reduction in total drag already reported. Based on the present results and those reported earlier, the effects of natural ventilation on the flow past a sphere can be categorized in two broad regimes, viz., weak and strong interaction regimes. In the weak interaction regime (subcritical Re), the broad features of the basic sphere are largely unaltered despite the large addition of mass in the near wake. Strong interaction is promoted by the closer proximity of the inner and outer shear layers at supercritical Re. This results in a modified and steady near-wake flow, characterized by reduced unsteadiness and small drag.

Optimal Sleep-Wake Policies for an Energy Harvesting Sensor Node

We study a sensor node with an energy harvesting source. In any slot,the sensor node is in one of two modes: Wake or Sleep. The generated energy is stored in a buffer. The sensor node senses a random field and generates a packet when it is awake. These packets are stored in a queue and transmitted in the wake mode using the energy available in the energy buffer. We obtain energy management policies which minimize a linear combination of the mean queue length and the mean data loss rate. Then, we obtain two easily implementable suboptimal policies and compare their performance to that of the optimal policy. Next, we extend the Throughput Optimal policy developed in our previous work to sensors with two modes. Via this policy, we can increase the through put substantially and stabilize the data queue by allowing the node to sleep in some slots and to drop some generated packets. This policy requires minimal statistical knowledge of the system. We also modify this policy to decrease the switching costs.

Exact path-integral evaluation of the heat distribution function of a trapped Brownian oscillator

Using path integrals, we derive an exact expression-valid at all times t-for the distribution P(Q,t) of the heat fluctuations Q of a Brownian particle trapped in a stationary harmonic well. We find that P(Q, t) can be expressed in terms of a modified Bessel function of zeroth order that in the limit t > infinity exactly recovers the heat distribution function obtained recently by Imparato et al. Phys. Rev. E 76, 050101(R) (2007)] from the approximate solution to a Fokker-Planck equation. This long-time result is in very good agreement with experimental measurements carried out by the same group on the heat effects produced by single micron-sized polystyrene beads in a stationary optical trap. An earlier exact calculation of the heat distribution function of a trapped particle moving at a constant speed v was carried out by van Zon and Cohen Phys. Rev. E 69, 056121 (2004)]; however, this calculation does not provide an expression for P(Q, t) itself, but only its Fourier transform (which cannot be analytically inverted), nor can it be used to obtain P(Q, t) for the case v=0.

Flap‐Lag Damping in Hover and Forward Flight with a Three‐Dimensional Wake

Prediction of lag damping is difficult owing to the delicate balance of drag, induced drag and Coriolis forces in the in‐plane direction. Moreover, induced drag” is sensitive to dynamic wake, bath shed and trailing components, and thus its prediction requires adequate unsteady‐wake representation. Accordingly, rigid‐blade flap‐lag equations are coupled with a three‐dimensional finite‐state wake model; three isolatcd rotor canfigurations with three, four and five blades are treated over a range of thrust levels, tack numbers, lag frequencies and advance ratios. The investigation includes convergence characteristics of damping with respect to the number of radial shape functions and harmonics of the wake model for multiblade modes of low frequency (< 1/ rev.) to high frequency (> 1/rev.). Predicted flap and lag damping levels are then compared with similar predictions with 1) rigid wake (no unsteady induced now), 2) Loewy lift deficiency and 3) dynamic inflow. The coverage also includes correlations with the measured lag regressive‐mode damping in hover and forward flight and comparisons with similar correlations with dynamic inflow. Lag‐damping predictions with the dynamic wake model are consistently higher than the predictions with the dynamic inflow model; even for the low frequency lag regressive mode, the number of wake harmonics should at least be equal to twice the number of blades.

A comparative-study of vapor-compression refrigeration working fluids, in the wake of the montreal protocal

A comparative study has been carried out of R-12, 22, 125, 134a, 152a, 218, 245, 500, 502, 507 and 717 as working fluids in a vapour-compression refrigeration system. Two performance parameters were defined, which are expressed in reduced quantities for a corresponding-states comparison of these refrigerants in the temperature range -20 to 50-degrees-C. One is based on the product of temperature drop to pressure penalty ratio and the available volumetric heat of vaporisation at the evaporator; the other considers the effect of isentropic compression in the ideal gas state. It was shown that R-125, 507 and 218 could be better alternatives to R-12 than R-134a. Among these, R-218 has a lower maximum cycle pressure.

Tunable Locally-Optimal Geographical Forwarding in Wireless Sensor Networks with Sleep-Wake Cycling Nodes

We consider a wireless sensor network whose main function is to detect certain infrequent alarm events, and to forward alarm packets to a base station, using geographical forwarding. The nodes know their locations, and they sleep-wake cycle, waking up periodically but not synchronously. In this situation, when a node has a packet to forward to the sink, there is a trade-off between how long this node waits for a suitable neighbor to wake up and the progress the packet makes towards the sink once it is forwarded to this neighbor. Hence, in choosing a relay node, we consider the problem of minimizing average delay subject to a constraint on the average progress. By constraint relaxation, we formulate this next hop relay selection problem as a Markov decision process (MDP). The exact optimal solution (BF (Best Forward)) can be found, but is computationally intensive. Next, we consider a mathematically simplified model for which the optimal policy (SF (Simplified Forward)) turns out to be a simple one-step-look-ahead rule. Simulations show that SF is very close in performance to BF, even for reasonably small node density. We then study the end-to-end performance of SF in comparison with two extremal policies: Max Forward (MF) and First Forward (FF), and an end-to-end delay minimising policy proposed by Kim et al. 1]. We find that, with appropriate choice of one hop average progress constraint, SF can be tuned to provide a favorable trade-off between end-to-end packet delay and the number of hops in the forwarding path.

Flap-lag-torsion stability in hover and forward flight with three-dimensional wake

The contributions of full-wake dynamics in trim analysis are demonstrated for finding the control inputs and periodic responses simultaneously, as well as in Floquet eigenanalysis for finding the damping levels. The equations of flap bending, lag bending, and torsion are coupled with a three-dimensional, finite state wake, and low-frequency (<1/rev) to high frequency (>1/rev) multiblade modes are considered. Full blade-wake dynamics is used in trim analysis and Floquet eigenanalysis. A uniform cantilever blade in trimmed flight is investigated over a range of thrust levels, advance ratios, number of blades, and blade torsional frequencies. The investigation includes the convergence characteristics of control inputs, periodic responses, and damping levels with respect to the number of spatial azimuthal harmonics and radial shape functions in the wake representation. It also includes correlation with the measured lag damping of a three-bladed untrimmed rotor. The parametric study shows the dominant influence of wake dynamics on control inputs, periodic responses, and damping levels, and wake theory generally improves the correlation.

Turbulent near-wake development behind a flat plate

An asymptotic analysis of the two-dimensional turbulent near-wake flow behind a Rat plate with sharp trailing edge has been formulated, The feature that the near-wake, which is dominated by the mixing of the oncoming turbulent boundary layers retains, to a large extent, the memory of the turbulent structure of the upstream boundary layer has been exploited to develop the analysis. This analysis leads to two regions of the near-wake flow (the inner near-wake and the outer near-wake) for which the governing equations are derived. The matching conditions among these regions lead to a logarithmic variation in the normal direction in the overlapping region surrounding the inner near-wake. These features are validated by the available experimental data. Similarity solutions for the velocity distribution (which satisfy the required matching conditions) in the inner near-wake and outer near-wake regions have been obtained by making the appropriate eddy-viscosity assumptions, Uniformly valid solutions for velocity distribution have been constructed for the near-wake. The solutions show good agreement with available experimental data. (C) Elsevier, Paris.

Turbulent near-wake studies behind an infinitely swept wing

The three-dimensional asymmetric turbulent near-Rake behind an infinitely swept wing with GAW(2) airfoil has been investigated at low speeds. The near-wake in the present study is asymmetric because the boundary layers on the top and bottom surfaces of the model develop under different streamwise pressure gradients. Distributions of mean velocity, three turbulent normal stresses, and two important Reynolds shear stresses have been measured using hot-wire anemometry. The profiles of mean velocity and Reynolds shear stress exhibit asymmetry near the trailing edge and seem to have become symmetric within a short distance of 6 trailing edge momentum thicknesses. Results of computation using K-epsilon turbulence model with a simple scheme to predict the near-wake behind the swept wing have also been presented and compared with the experimental data. The agreement of the predicted mean How development with the experiment is fair considering the simplicity of the scheme.

Optimal Sleep-Wake Scheduling for Quickest Intrusion Detection using wireless sensor Networks

We consider the problem of quickest detection of an intrusion using a sensor network, keeping only a minimal number of sensors active. By using a minimal number of sensor devices,we ensure that the energy expenditure for sensing, computation and communication is minimized (and the lifetime of the network is maximized). We model the intrusion detection (or change detection) problem as a Markov decision process (MDP). Based on the theory of MDP, we develop the following closed loop sleep/wake scheduling algorithms: 1) optimal control of Mk+1, the number of sensors in the wake state in time slot k + 1, 2) optimal control of qk+1, the probability of a sensor in the wake state in time slot k + 1, and an open loop sleep/wake scheduling algorithm which 3) computes q, the optimal probability of a sensor in the wake state (which does not vary with time),based on the sensor observations obtained until time slot k.Our results show that an optimum closed loop control onMk+1 significantly decreases the cost compared to keeping any number of sensors active all the time. Also, among the three algorithms described, we observe that the total cost is minimum for the optimum control on Mk+1 and is maximum for the optimum open loop control on q.

An experimental study of boundary layer transition induced by a cylinder wake

Boundary layer transition induced by the wake of a circular cylinder in the free stream has been investigated using the particle image velocimetry technique. Some differences between simulation and experimental studies have been reported in the literature, and these have motivated the present study. The appearance of spanwise vortices in the early stage is further confirmed here. Lambda spanwise vortex appears to evolve into a Lambda/hairpin vortex; the flow statistics also confirm such vortices. With increasing Reynolds number, based on the cylinder diameter, and with decreasing cylinder height from the plate, the physical size of these hairpin-like structures is found to decrease. Some mean flow characteristics, including the streamwise growth of the disturbance energy, in a wake-induced transition resemble those in bypass transition induced by free stream turbulence. Streamwise velocity streaks that are eventually generated in the late stage often undergo sinuous-type oscillations. Similar to other transitional flows, an inclined shear layer in the wall-normal plane is often seen to oscillate and shed vortices. The normalized shedding frequency of these vortices, estimated from the spatial spacing and the convection velocity of these vortices, is found to be independent of the Reynolds number, similar to that in ribbon-induced transition. Although the nature of free stream disturbance in a wake-induced transition and that in a bypass transition are different, the late-stage features including the flow breakdown characteristics of these two transitions appear to be similar.

The force distribution function of an oscillator model of polymer stretching at constant velocity

Recent simulations of the stretching of tethered biopolymers at a constant speed v (Ponmurugan and Vemparala, 2011 Phys. Rev. E 84 060101(R)) have suggested that for any time t, the distribution of the fluctuating forces f responsible for chain deformation is governed by a relation of the form P(+ f)/ P(- f) = expgamma f], gamma being a coefficient that is solely a function of v and the temperature T. This result, which is reminiscent of the fluctuation theorems applicable to stochastic trajectories involving thermodynamic variables, is derived in this paper from an analytical calculation based on a generalization of Mazonka and Jarzynski's classic model of dragged particle dynamics Mazonka and Jarzynski, 1999 arXiv:cond-\textbackslashmat/9912121v1]. However, the analytical calculations suggest that the result holds only if t >> 1 and the force fluctuations are driven by white rather than colored noise; they further suggest that the coefficient gamma in the purported theorem varies not as v(0.15)T-(0.7), as indicated by the simulations, but as vT(-1).

Relay Selection for Geographical Forwarding in Sleep-Wake Cycling Wireless Sensor Networks

Our work is motivated by geographical forwarding of sporadic alarm packets to a base station in a wireless sensor network (WSN), where the nodes are sleep-wake cycling periodically and asynchronously. We seek to develop local forwarding algorithms that can be tuned so as to tradeoff the end-to-end delay against a total cost, such as the hop count or total energy. Our approach is to solve, at each forwarding node enroute to the sink, the local forwarding problem of minimizing one-hop waiting delay subject to a lower bound constraint on a suitable reward offered by the next-hop relay; the constraint serves to tune the tradeoff. The reward metric used for the local problem is based on the end-to-end total cost objective (for instance, when the total cost is hop count, we choose to use the progress toward sink made by a relay as the reward). The forwarding node, to begin with, is uncertain about the number of relays, their wake-up times, and the reward values, but knows the probability distributions of these quantities. At each relay wake-up instant, when a relay reveals its reward value, the forwarding node's problem is to forward the packet or to wait for further relays to wake-up. In terms of the operations research literature, our work can be considered as a variant of the asset selling problem. We formulate our local forwarding problem as a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) and obtain inner and outer bounds for the optimal policy. Motivated by the computational complexity involved in the policies derived out of these bounds, we formulate an alternate simplified model, the optimal policy for which is a simple threshold rule. We provide simulation results to compare the performance of the inner and outer bound policies against the simple policy, and also against the optimal policy when the source knows the exact number of relays. Observing the good performance and the ease of implementation of the simple policy, we apply it to our motivating problem, i.e., local geographical routing of sporadic alarm packets in a large WSN. We compare the end-to-end performance (i.e., average total delay and average total cost) obtained by the simple policy, when used for local geographical forwarding, against that obtained by the globally optimal forwarding algorithm proposed by Kim et al. 1].