Non-Newtonian mixed convection flow from a horizontal circular cylinder with uniform surface heat flux

Mixed convection laminar two-dimensional boundary-layer flow of non-Newtonian pseudo-plastic fluids is investigated from a horizontal circular cylinder with uniform surface heat flux using a modified power-law viscosity model, that contains no unrealistic limits of zero or infinite viscosity; consequently, no irremovable singularities are introduced into boundary-layer formulations for such fluids. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed into a non-dimensional form and the resulting nonlinear systems of partial differential equations are solved numerically applying marching order implicit finite difference method with double sweep technique. Numerical results are presented for the case of shear-thinning fluids in terms of the fluid temperature distributions, rate of heat transfer in terms of the local Nusselt number.

Linear and weakly nonlinear stability analyses of cooperative car-following models

Stability analyses have been widely used to better understand the mechanism of traffic jam formation. In this paper, we consider the impact of cooperative systems (a.k.a. connected vehicles) on traffic dynamics and, more precisely, on flow stability. Cooperative systems are emerging technologies enabling communication between vehicles and/or with the infrastructure. In a distributed communication framework, equipped vehicles are able to send and receive information to/from other equipped vehicles. Here, the effects of cooperative traffic are modeled through a general bilateral multianticipative car-following law that improves cooperative drivers' perception of their surrounding traffic conditions within a given communication range. Linear stability analyses are performed for a broad class of car-following models. They point out different stability conditions in both multianticipative and nonmultianticipative situations. To better understand what happens in unstable conditions, information on the shock wave structure is studied in the weakly nonlinear regime by the mean of the reductive perturbation method. The shock wave equation is obtained for generic car-following models by deriving the Korteweg de Vries equations. We then derive traffic-state-dependent conditions for the sign of the solitary wave (soliton) amplitude. This analytical result is verified through simulations. Simulation results confirm the validity of the speed estimate. The variation of the soliton amplitude as a function of the communication range is provided. The performed linear and weakly nonlinear analyses help justify the potential benefits of vehicle-integrated communication systems and provide new insights supporting the future implementation of cooperative systems.

The effects of gas and air flow distributions on the performance of the Farleigh No. 3 boiler

As more raw sugar factories become involved in the manufacture of by-products and cogeneration, bagasse is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity. However, in most factories, most of the bagasse produced is used to generate steam in relatively old and inefficient boilers. Efficient bagasse fired boilers are a high capital cost item and the cost of supplying the steam required to run a sugar factory by other means is prohibitive. For many factories a more realistic way to reduce bagasse consumption is to increase the efficiency of existing boilers. The Farleigh No. 3 boiler is a relatively old low efficiency boiler. Like many in the industry, the performance of this boiler has been adversely affected by uneven gas and air flow distributions and air heater leaks. The combustion performance and efficiency of this boiler have been significantly improved by making the gas and air flow distributions through the boiler more uniform and repairing the air heater. The estimated bagasse savings easily justify the cost of the boiler improvements.

Flow pattern analysis in a highly stenotic patient-specific carotid bifurcation model using a turbulence model

The aim of this study is to investigate the blood flow pattern in carotid bifurcation with a high degree of luminal stenosis, combining in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A newly developed two-equation transitional model was employed to evaluate wall shear stress (WSS) distribution and pressure drop across the stenosis, which are closely related to plaque vulnerability. A patient with an 80% left carotid stenosis was imaged using high resolution MRI, from which a patient-specific geometry was reconstructed and flow boundary conditions were acquired for CFD simulation. A transitional model was implemented to investigate the flow velocity and WSS distribution in the patient-specific model. The peak time-averaged WSS value of approximately 73Pa was predicted by the transitional flow model, and the regions of high WSS occurred at the throat of the stenosis. High oscillatory shear index values up to 0.50 were present in a helical flow pattern from the outer wall of the internal carotid artery immediately after the throat. This study shows the potential suitability of a transitional turbulent flow model in capturing the flow phenomena in severely stenosed carotid arteries using patient-specific MRI data and provides the basis for further investigation of the links between haemodynamic variables and plaque vulnerability. It may be useful in the future for risk assessment of patients with carotid disease.

A pilot study in different unstable designs on the biomechanical effect of gait characteristics

The purpose of this study was to compare kinematics and kinetics during walking for healthy subjects using unstable shoes with different designs. Ten subjects participated in this study, and foot biomechanical data during walking were quantified using motion analysis system and a force plate. Data were collected for unstable shoes condition after accommodation period of one week. With soft material added in the heel region, the peak impact force was effectively reduced when compared among similar shapes. In addition, the soft material added in the rocker bottom showed more to be in dorsiflexed position during the initial stance. The shoe with three rocker curves design reduced the contact area in the heel strike, which may result in increasing human body forward speed. Further studies shall be carried out after adapting to long periods of wearing unstable shoes.

Simulation of the interaction between blood flow and atherosclerotic plaque

It has been well accepted that over 50% of cerebral ischemic events are the result of rupture of vulnerable carotid atheroma and subsequent thrombosis. Such strokes are potentially preventable by carotid interventions. Selection of patients for intervention is currently based on the severity of carotid luminal stenosis. It has been, however, widely accepted that luminal stenosis alone may not be an adequate predictor of risk. To evaluate the effects of degree of luminal stenosis and plaque morphology on plaque stability, we used a coupled nonlinear time-dependent model with flow-plaque interaction simulation to perform flow and stress/strain analysis for stenotic artery with a plaque. The Navier-Stokes equations in the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation were used as the governing equations for the fluid. The Ogden strain energy function was used for both the fibrous cap and the lipid pool. The plaque Principal stresses and flow conditions were calculated for every case when varying the fibrous cap thickness from 0.1 to 2mm and the degree of luminal stenosis from 10% to 90%. Severe stenosis led to high flow velocities and high shear stresses, but a low or even negative pressure at the throat of the stenosis. Higher degree of stenosis and thinner fibrous cap led to larger plaque stresses, and a 50% decrease of fibrous cap thickness resulted in a 200% increase of maximum stress. This model suggests that fibrous cap thickness is critically related to plaque vulnerability and that, even within presence of moderate stenosis, may play an important role in the future risk stratification of those patients when identified in vivo using high resolution MR imaging.

How critical is fibrous cap thickness to carotid plaque stability? A flow-plaque interaction model

Background and Purpose Acute cerebral ischemic events are associated with rupture of vulnerable carotid atheroma and subsequent thrombosis. Factors such as luminal stenosis and fibrous cap thickness have been thought to be important risk factors for plaque rupture. We used a flow-structure interaction model to simulate the interaction between blood flow and atheromatous plaque to evaluate the effect of the degree of luminal stenosis and fibrous cap thickness on plaque vulnerability. Methods A coupled nonlinear time-dependent model with a flow-plaque interaction simulation was used to perform flow and stress/strain analysis in a stenotic carotid artery model. The stress distribution within the plaque and the flow conditions within the vessel were calculated for every case when varying the fibrous cap thickness from 0.1 to 2 mm and the degree of luminal stenosis from 10% to 95%. A rupture stress of 300 kPa was chosen to indicate a high risk of plaque rupture. A 1-sample t test was used to compare plaque stresses with the rupture stress. Results High stress concentrations were found in the plaques in arteries with >70% degree of stenosis. Plaque stresses in arteries with 30% to 70% stenosis increased exponentially as fibrous cap thickness decreased. A decrease of fibrous cap thickness from 0.4 to 0.2 mm resulted in an increase of plaque stress from 141 to 409 kPa in a 40% degree stenotic artery. Conclusions There is an increase in plaque stress in arteries with a thin fibrous cap. The presence of a moderate carotid stenosis (30% to 70%) with a thin fibrous cap indicates a high risk for plaque rupture. Patients in the future may be risk stratified by measuring both fibrous cap thickness and luminal stenosis.

Probabilistic load flow for distribution systems with uncertain PV generation

Large integration of solar Photo Voltaic (PV) in distribution network has resulted in over-voltage problems. Several control techniques are developed to address over-voltage problem using Deterministic Load Flow (DLF). However, intermittent characteristics of PV generation require Probabilistic Load Flow (PLF) to introduce variability in analysis that is ignored in DLF. The traditional PLF techniques are not suitable for distribution systems and suffer from several drawbacks such as computational burden (Monte Carlo, Conventional convolution), sensitive accuracy with the complexity of system (point estimation method), requirement of necessary linearization (multi-linear simulation) and convergence problem (Gram–Charlier expansion, Cornish Fisher expansion). In this research, Latin Hypercube Sampling with Cholesky Decomposition (LHS-CD) is used to quantify the over-voltage issues with and without the voltage control algorithm in the distribution network with active generation. LHS technique is verified with a test network and real system from an Australian distribution network service provider. Accuracy and computational burden of simulated results are also compared with Monte Carlo simulations.

Integrated lean six sigma approach for patient flow improvement in hospital emergency department

This research aims to develop an Integrated Lean Six Sigma approach to investigate and resolve the patient flow problems in hospital emergency departments. It was proposed that the voice of the customer and the voice of the process should be considered simultaneously to investigate the current process of patient flow. Statistical analysis, visual process mapping with A3 problem solving sheet, and cause and effect diagrams have been used to identify the major patient flow issues. This research found that engaged frontline workers, long-term leadership obligation, an understanding of patients' requirements and the implementation of a systematic integration of lean strategies could continuously improve patient flow, health care service and growth in the emergency departments.

Information flow, trading activity and commodity futures volatility

Based on unique news data relating to gold and crude oil, we investigate how news volume and sentiment, shocks in trading activity, market depth and trader positions unrelated to information flow covary with realized volatility. Positive shocks to the rate of news arrival, and negative shocks to news sentiment exhibit the largest effects. After controlling for the level of news flow and cross-correlations, net trader positions play only a minor role. These findings are at odds with those of [Wang (2002a). The Journal of Futures Markets, 22, 427–450; Wang (2002b). The Financial Review, 37, 295–316], but are consistent with the previous literature which doesn't find a strong link between volatility and trader positions.

Efficient simulation of unsaturated flow in heterogeneous soils using an exponential integrator

- Provided a practical variable-stepsize implementation of the exponential Euler method (EEM). - Introduced a new second-order variant of the scheme that enables the local error to be estimated at the cost of a single additional function evaluation. - New EEM implementation outperformed sophisticated implementations of the backward differentiation formulae (BDF) of order 2 and was competitive with BDF of order 5 for moderate to high tolerances.

Flow field and traverse times for fan forced injection of fumigant via circular or annular inlet into stored grain

Fan forced injection of phosphine gas fumigant into stored grain is a common method to treat infestation by insects. For low injection velocities the transport of fumigant can be modelled as Darcy flow in a porous medium where the gas pressure satisfies Laplace's equation. Using this approach, a closed form series solution is derived for the pressure, velocity and streamlines in a cylindrically stored grain bed with either a circular or annular inlet, from which traverse times are numerically computed. A leading order closed form expression for the traverse time is also obtained and found to be reasonable for inlet configurations close to the central axis of the grain storage. Results are interpreted for the case of a representative 6m high farm wheat store, where the time to advect the phosphine to almost the entire grain bed is found to be approximately one hour.

Mathematical modelling and numerical simulation of phosphine flow during grain fumigation in leaky cylindrical silos

The phosphine distribution in a cylindrical silo containing grain is predicted. A three-dimensional mathematical model, which accounts for multicomponent gas phase transport and the sorption of phosphine into the grain kernel is developed. In addition, a simple model is presented to describe the death of insects within the grain as a function of their exposure to phosphine gas. The proposed model is solved using the commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT, together with our own C code to customize the solver in order to incorporate the models for sorption and insect extinction. Two types of fumigation delivery are studied, namely, fan- forced from the base of the silo and tablet from the top of the silo. An analysis of the predicted phosphine distribution shows that during fan forced fumigation, the position of the leaky area is very important to the development of the gas flow field and the phosphine distribution in the silo. If the leak is in the lower section of the silo, insects that exist near the top of the silo may not be eradicated. However, the position of a leak does not affect phosphine distribution during tablet fumigation. For such fumigation in a typical silo configuration, phosphine concentrations remain low near the base of the silo. Furthermore, we find that half-life pressure test readings are not an indicator of phosphine distribution during tablet fumigation.

Evaluation of k-epsilon and RNG turbulence models for confined swirling and non-swirling flow

In a very recent study [1] the Renormalisation Group (RNG) turbulence model was used to obtain flow predictions in a strongly swirling quarl burner, and was found to perform well in predicting certain features that are not well captured using less sophisticated models of turbulence. The implication is that the RNG approach should provide an economical and reliable tool for the prediction of swirling flows in combustor and furnace geometries commonly encountered in technological applications. To test this hypothesis the present work considers flow in a model furnace for which experimental data is available [2]. The essential features of the flow which differentiate it from the previous study [1] are that the annular air jet entry is relatively narrow and the base wall of the cylindrical furnace is at 90 degrees to the inlet pipe. For swirl numbers of order 1 the resulting flow is highly complex with significant inner and outer recirculation regions. The RNG and standard k-epsilon models are used to model the flow for both swirling and non-swirling entry jets and the results compared with experimental data [2]. Near wall viscous effects are accounted for in both models via the standard wall function formulation [3]. For the RNG model, additional computations with grid placement extending well inside the near wall viscous-affected sublayer are performed in order to assess the low Reynolds number capabilities of the model.

Computation of confined swirling flow using RNG and k-epsilon turbulence models

In this work we numerically model isothermal turbulent swirling flow in a cylindrical burner. Three versions of the RNG k-epsilon model are assessed against performance of the standard k-epsilon model. Sensitivity of numerical predictions to grid refinement, differing convective differencing schemes and choice of (unknown) inlet dissipation rate, were closely scrutinised to ensure accuracy. Particular attention is paid to modelling the inlet conditions to within the range of uncertainty of the experimental data, as model predictions proved to be significantly sensitive to relatively small changes in upstream flow conditions. We also examine the characteristics of the swirl--induced recirculation zone predicted by the models over an extended range of inlet conditions. Our main findings are: - (i) the standard k-epsilon model performed best compared with experiment; - (ii) no one inlet specification can simultaneously optimize the performance of the models considered; - (iii) the RNG models predict both single-cell and double-cell IRZ characteristics, the latter both with and without additional internal stagnation points. The first finding indicates that the examined RNG modifications to the standard k-e model do not result in an improved eddy viscosity based model for the prediction of swirl flows. The second finding suggests that tuning established models for optimal performance in swirl flows a priori is not straightforward. The third finding indicates that the RNG based models exhibit a greater variety of structural behaviour, despite being of the same level of complexity as the standard k-e model. The plausibility of the predicted IRZ features are discussed in terms of known vortex breakdown phenomena.