Concurrent multiscale modelling of atomistic and hydrodynamic processes in liquids

Fluctuations of liquids at the scales where the hydrodynamic and atomistic descriptions overlap are considered. The importance of these fluctuations for atomistic motions is discussed and examples of their accurate modelling with a multi-space-time-scale fluctuating hydrodynamics scheme are provided. To resolve microscopic details of liquid systems, including biomolecular solutions, together with macroscopic fluctuations in space-time, a novel hybrid atomistic-fluctuating hydrodynamics approach is introduced. For a smooth transition between the atomistic and continuum representations, an analogy with two-phase hydrodynamics is used that leads to a strict preservation of macroscopic mass and momentum conservation laws. Examples of numerical implementation of the new hybrid approach for the multiscale simulation of liquid argon in equilibrium conditions are provided. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society.

Modelling short crack growth behaviour in nickel-base superalloys

This paper provides a description of the features and mechanisms of facetted short crack growth in Ni-base superalloys, and briefly reviews existing short crack growth models in terms of their application to Ni-base alloys. The concept of “soft barriers” is introduced to produce a new two-phase model for local microstructural effects on short crack growth in Waspaloy. This is derived from detailed observations of crack growth through individual grains. The model differs from all previous approaches in highlighting the importance of crack path perturbations within grains. Potential applications of the model in alloy development are discussed.

Thermal modelling for dynamic transformer rating in low carbon distribution network operation

Dynamic asset rating is one of a number of techniques that could be used to facilitate low carbon electricity network operation. This paper focusses on distribution level transformer dynamic rating under this context. The models available for use with dynamic asset rating are discussed and compared using measured load and weather conditions from a trial Network area within Milton Keynes. The paper then uses the most appropriate model to investigate, through simulation, the potential gains in dynamic rating compared to static rating under two transformer cooling methods to understand the potential gain to the Network Operator.

A hybrid molecular dynamics/fluctuating hydrodynamics method for modelling liquids at multiple scales in space and time

A new 3D implementation of a hybrid model based on the analogy with two-phase hydrodynamics has been developed for the simulation of liquids at microscale. The idea of the method is to smoothly combine the atomistic description in the molecular dynamics zone with the Landau-Lifshitz fluctuating hydrodynamics representation in the rest of the system in the framework of macroscopic conservation laws through the use of a single "zoom-in" user-defined function s that has the meaning of a partial concentration in the two-phase analogy model. In comparison with our previous works, the implementation has been extended to full 3D simulations for a range of atomistic models in GROMACS from argon to water in equilibrium conditions with a constant or a spatially variable function s. Preliminary results of simulating the diffusion of a small peptide in water are also reported.

A novel algorithm of posture best fit based on key characteristics for large components assembly

Measurement and variation control of geometrical Key Characteristics (KCs), such as flatness and gap of joint faces, coaxiality of cabin sections, is the crucial issue in large components assembly from the aerospace industry. Aiming to control geometrical KCs and to attain the best fit of posture, an optimization algorithm based on KCs for large components assembly is proposed. This approach regards the posture best fit, which is a key activity in Measurement Aided Assembly (MAA), as a two-phase optimal problem. In the first phase, the global measurement coordinate system of digital model and shop floor is unified with minimum error based on singular value decomposition, and the current posture of components being assembly is optimally solved in terms of minimum variation of all reference points. In the second phase, the best posture of the movable component is optimally determined by minimizing multiple KCs' variation with the constraints that every KC respectively conforms to its product specification. The optimal models and the process procedures for these two-phase optimal problems based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are proposed. In each model, every posture to be calculated is modeled as a 6 dimensional particle (three movement and three rotation parameters). Finally, an example that two cabin sections of satellite mainframe structure are being assembled is selected to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, models and algorithms. The experiment result shows the approach is promising and will provide a foundation for further study and application. © 2013 The Authors.

Online sensorless position estimation for switched reluctance motors using one current sensor

This paper proposes an online sensorless rotor position estimation technique for switched reluctance motors (SRMs) using just one current sensor. It is achieved by first decoupling the excitation current from the bus current. Two phase-shifted pulse width modulation signals are injected into the relevant lower transistors in the asymmetrical half-bridge converter for short intervals during each current fundamental cycle. Analog-to-digital converters are triggered in the pause middles of the dual pulse to separate the bus current for excitation current recognition. Next, the rotor position is estimated from the excitation current, by a current-rise-time method in the current-chopping-control mode in a low-speed operation and a current-gradient method in the voltage-pulse-control mode in a high-speed operation. The proposed scheme requires only a bus current sensor and a minor change to the converter circuit, without a need for individual phase current sensors or additional detection devices, achieving a more compact and cost-effective drive. The performance of the sensorless SRM drive is fully investigated. The simulation and experiments on a 750-W three-phase 12/8-pole SRM are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Fault diagnosis scheme for open-circuit faults in switched reluctance motor drives using fast Fourier transform algorithm with bus current detection

Reliability of power converters is of crucial importance in switched reluctance motor drives used for safety-critical applications. Open-circuit faults in power converters will cause the motor to run in unbalanced states, and if left untreated, they will lead to damage to the motor and power modules, and even cause a catastrophic failure of the whole drive system. This study is focused on using a single current sensor to detect open-circuit faults accurately. An asymmetrical half-bridge converter is considered in this study and the faults of single-phase open and two-phase open are analysed. Three different bus positions are defined. On the basis of a fast Fourier transform algorithm with Blackman window interpolation, the bus current spectrums before and after open-circuit faults are analysed in details. Their fault characteristics are extracted accurately by the normalisations of the phase fundamental frequency component and double phase fundamental frequency component, and the fault characteristics of the three bus detection schemes are also compared. The open-circuit faults can be located by finding the relationship between the bus current and rotor position. The effectiveness of the proposed diagnosis method is validated by the simulation results and experimental tests.

Automatic maintenance of category hierarchy

Category hierarchy is an abstraction mechanism for efficiently managing large-scale resources. In an open environment, a category hierarchy will inevitably become inappropriate for managing resources that constantly change with unpredictable pattern. An inappropriate category hierarchy will mislead the management of resources. The increasing dynamicity and scale of online resources increase the requirement of automatically maintaining category hierarchy. Previous studies about category hierarchy mainly focus on either the generation of category hierarchy or the classification of resources under a pre-defined category hierarchy. The automatic maintenance of category hierarchy has been neglected. Making abstraction among categories and measuring the similarity between categories are two basic behaviours to generate a category hierarchy. Humans are good at making abstraction but limited in ability to calculate the similarities between large-scale resources. Computing models are good at calculating the similarities between large-scale resources but limited in ability to make abstraction. To take both advantages of human view and computing ability, this paper proposes a two-phase approach to automatically maintaining category hierarchy within two scales by detecting the internal pattern change of categories. The global phase clusters resources to generate a reference category hierarchy and gets similarity between categories to detect inappropriate categories in the initial category hierarchy. The accuracy of the clustering approaches in generating category hierarchy determines the rationality of the global maintenance. The local phase detects topical changes and then adjusts inappropriate categories with three local operations. The global phase can quickly target inappropriate categories top-down and carry out cross-branch adjustment, which can also accelerate the local-phase adjustments. The local phase detects and adjusts the local-range inappropriate categories that are not adjusted in the global phase. By incorporating the two complementary phase adjustments, the approach can significantly improve the topical cohesion and accuracy of category hierarchy. A new measure is proposed for evaluating category hierarchy considering not only the balance of the hierarchical structure but also the accuracy of classification. Experiments show that the proposed approach is feasible and effective to adjust inappropriate category hierarchy. The proposed approach can be used to maintain the category hierarchy for managing various resources in dynamic application environment. It also provides an approach to specialize the current online category hierarchy to organize resources with more specific categories.

Mass transfer characteristics of two-aqueous-phase liquid-liquid mixtures

Mass transfer rates were studied using the falling drop method. Cibacron Blue 3 GA dye was the transferring solute from the salt phase to the PEG phase. Measurements were undertaken for several concentrations of the dye and the phase-forming solutes and with a range of different drop sizes, e.g. 2.8, 3.0 and 3.7 mm. The dye was observed to be present in the salt phase as finely dispersed solids but a model confirmed that the mass transfer process could still be described by an equation based upon the Whitman two-film model. The overall mass transfer coefficient increased with increasing concentration of the dye. The apparent mass transfer coefficient ranged from 1 x 10-5 to 2 x 10 -4 m/s. Further experiments suggested that mass transfer was enhanced at high concentration by several mechanisms. The dye was found to change the equilibrium composition of the two phases, leading to transfer of salt between the drop and continuous phases. It also lowered the interfacial tension (i.e. from 1.43 x 10-4 N/m for 0.01% w/w dye concentration to 1.07 x 10-4 N/m for 0.2% w/w dye concentration) between the two phases, which could have caused interfacial instabilities (Marangoni effects). The largest drops were deformable, which resulted in a significant increase in the mass transfer rate. Drop size distribution and Sauter mean drop diameter were studied on-line in a 1 litre agitated vessel using a laser diffraction technique. The effects of phase concentration, dispersed phase hold-up and impeller speed were investigated for the salt-PEG system. An increase in agitation speed in the range 300 rpm to 1000 rpm caused a decrease in mean drop diameter, e.g. from 50 m to 15 m. A characteristic bimodal drop size distribution was established within a very short time. An increase in agitation rate caused a shift of the larger drop size peak to a smaller size.

Atomic structure of the two intermediate phase glasses SiSe4 and GeSe4

The microscopic origin of the intermediate phase in two prototypical covalently bonded AxB1-x network glass forming systems, where A=Ge or Si, B=Se, and 0=x=1, was investigated by combining neutron diffraction with first-principles molecular-dynamics methods. Specifically, the structure of glassy GeSe4 and SiSe4 was examined, and the calculated total structure factor and total pair-correlation function for both materials are in good agreement with experiment. The structure of both glasses differs markedly from a simple model comprising undefective AB4 corner-sharing tetrahedra in which all A atoms are linked by B2 dimers. Instead, edge-sharing tetrahedra occur and the twofold coordinated Se atoms form three distinct structural motifs, namely, Se-Se2, Se-SeGe (or Se-SeSi), and Se-Ge2 (or Se-Si2). This identifies several of the conformations that are responsible for the structural variability in GexSe1-x and SixSe1-x glasses, a quantity that is linked to the finite width of the intermediate phase window.

Characteristics of the upper phase of bio-oil obtained from co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge with wood, rapeseed and straw

Sewage sludge was pyrolysed with 40% mixed wood, 40% rapeseed and 40% straw. The reason for the mixture of different biomass is to investigate the impact of co-pyrolysis on the upper phase of bio-oil in terms of changes to composition, elemental analysis, viscosity, water content, pH, higher heating value and acid number that could impact on their applications. The biomass was pyrolysed in a laboratory at 450 °C and bio-oil was collected from two cooling traps. The bio-oil obtained from co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge with wood, rapeseed and straw was analysed for composition using the gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The upper phase from the co-pyrolysis process was also characterised for ultimate analysis, higher heating values, water content, viscosity, pH and acid number. There was an increase in the amount of upper phase produced with co-pyrolysis of 40% rapeseed. It was also found that the upper phase from sewage sludge with mixed wood has the highest viscosity, acid number and lowest pH. The bio-oil containing 40% straw was found to have a pH of 6.5 with a very low acid number while the 40% rapeseed was found to have no acid number. Sewage sludge with 40% rapeseed was found to have the highest energy content of 34.8 MJ/kg, 40% straw has 32.5 MJ/kg while the 40% mixed wood pyrolysis oil has the lowest energy content of 31.3 MJ/kg. The 40% rapeseed fraction was found to have the highest water content of 8.2% compared to other fractions.

A practical phase sensitive amplification scheme for two channel phase regeneration

A "black-box" phase sensitive amplifier is presented achieving simultaneous suppression of deterministic phase distortion on two independent 42.66 Gbit/s DPSK modulated signal wavelengths.

Phase synchronization of a two-channel phase-sensitive amplifier based on optical injection-locking of InP quantum-dash mode-locked lasers

A synchronization scheme for a two-channel phase sensitive amplifier is implemented based on the injection-locking of single InP quantum-dash mode-locked laser. Error free performance with penalty <1 dB is demonstrated for both channels. © 2011 Optical Society of America.