Wave dynamic processes induced by a supersonic projectile discharging from a shock tube

A numerical study on wave dynamic processes occurring in muzzle blast flows, which are created by a supersonic projectile released from the open-end of a shock tube into ambient air, is described in this paper. The Euler equations, assuming axisymmetric flows, are solved by using a dispersion-controlled scheme implemented with moving boundary conditions. Three test cases are simulated for examining friction effects on the muzzle flow. From numerical simulations, the wave dynamic processes, including two blast waves, two jet flows, the bow shock wave and their interactions in the muzzle blasts, are demonstrated and discussed in detail. The study shows that the major wave dynamic processes developing in the muzzle flow remain similar when the friction varies, but some wave processes, such as shock-shock interactions, shock-jet interactions and the contact surface instability, get more intensive, which result in more complex muzzle blast flows.

Optimization Of Off-Null Ellipsometry For Air/Solid Interfaces

The optimization of off-null ellipsometry is described with emphasis on the improvement of sample thickness sensitivity. Optimal conditions are dependent on azimuth angle settings of the polarizer, compensator, and analyzer in a polarizer-compensator-sample-analyzer ellipsometer arrangement. Numerical simulation utilized offers an approach to present the dependence of the sensitivity on the azimuth angle settings, from which optimal settings corresponding to the best sensitivity are derived. For a series of samples of SiO2 layer (thickness in the range of 1.8-6.5 nm) on silicon substrate, the theory analysis proves that sensitivity at the optimal settings is increased 20 times compared to that at null settings used in most works, and the relationship between intensity and thickness is simplified as a linear type instead of the original nonlinear type, with the relative error reduced to similar to 1/100 at the optimal settings. Furthermore the discussion has been extended toward other factors affecting the sensitivity of the practical system, such as the linear dynamic range of the detector, the signal-to-noise ratio and the intensity from the light source, etc. Experimental results from the investigation Of SiO2 layer on silicon substrate are chosen to verify the optimization. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Air flow over a mountain and the convective boundary-layer

In this paper, the analytical model coupling the convective boundary layer (CBL) with the free atmosphere developed by Qi and Fu (1992) is improved. And by this improved model, the interaction between airflow over a mountain and the CBL is further discussed. The conclusions demonstrate: (1) The perturbation potential temperatures in the free atmosphere can counteract the effect of orographic thermal forcing through entraining and mixing in the CBL. If u(M)BAR > u(F)BAR, the feedback of the perturbation potential temperatures in the free atmosphere is more important than orographic thermal forcing, which promotes the effect of interfacial waves. If u(M)BAR < u(F)BAR, orographic thermal forcing is more important, which makes the interfacial height and the topographic height identical in phase, and the horizontal speeds are a maximum at the top of the mountain. (2) The internal gravity waves propagating vertically in the free atmosphere cause a strong downslope wind to become established above the lee slope in the CBL and result in the hydraulic jump at the top of the CBL. (3) With the CBL deepening, the interfacial gravity waves induced by the potential temperature jump at the top of the CBL cause the airflow in the CBL to be subcritical.

On the dynamic readout of sub-diffraction-limit pit arrays with a silver thin film

Fast moving arrays of periodic sub-diffraction-limit pits were dynamically read out via a silver thin film. The mechanism of the dynamic readout is analysed and discussed in detail, both experimentally and theoretically. The analysis and experiment show that, in the course of readout, surface plasmons can be excited at the silver/air interface by the focused laser beam and amplified by the silver thin film. The surface plasmons are transmitted into the substrate/silver interface with a large enhancement. The surface waves at the substrate/silver interface are scattered by the sinusoidal pits of sub-diffraction-limit size. The scattered waves are collected by a converging lens and guided into the detector for the readout.

Effect of air annealing on the spectral properties of Ce : Y3Al5O12 single crystals grown by the temperature gradient technique

Five absorption hands, at 227, 300 340, 370 and 457nm, were observed in the optical absorption spectrum of Ce:Y3Al5O12 (Ce:YAG) crystals grown by the temperature gradient technique (TGT). The absorption bands at 227, 340, and 457 nm were identified Lis belonging to the Ce3+ -ion in the YAG crystal. A near UV optical emission band at 398nm was observed. with an excitation spectrum containing two bands, at 235 and 370nm. No fluorescence was detected under 300 nm excitation. The pair of absorption bands at 235 and 370 nm and the absorption band at 300 nm were attributed to the F- and F+-type color centers, respectively. The color centers model was also applied to explain the spectral changes in the Ce:YAG (TGT) crystal, including the reduction in the Ce 31 -ion absorption intensity, after annealing in an oxidizing atmosphere (air). (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Air temperature trends in California

"Greenhouse heating" of the atmosphere due to trace gases seems apparent to those who model with averages but not to those who examine individual temperature records. Temperature trends are on the minds of all those concerned with the environmental influence of the increasing human population. The big problem remains - where and how do we take the Earth's temperature? ... In California, there are 112 temperature records for 1910 to 1989; all of them were used here to examine trends in annual temperature.

Tree-ring records as indicators of air-sea interaction in the northeast Pacific sector

Climate conditions in land areas of the Pacific Northwest are strongly influenced by atmosphere/ocean variability, including fluctuations in the Aleutian Low, Pacific-North American (PNA) atmospheric circulation modes, and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). It thus seems likely that climatically sensitive tree-ring data from these coastal land areas would likewise reflect such climatic parameters. In this paper, tree-ring width and maximum lakewood density chronologies from northwestern Washington State and near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, are compared to surface air temperature and precipitation from nearby coastal and near-coastal land stations and to monthly sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP) data from the northeast Pacific sector. Results show much promise for eventual reconstruction of these parameters, potentially extending available instrumental records for the northeastern Pacific by several hundred years or more.

Road damage due to dynamic tyre forces measured on a public road

This paper describes a series of tests conducted on a UK trunk road, in which the dynamic tyre forces generated by over 1500 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) were measured using a load measuring mat containing 144 capacitive strip sensors. The data was used to investigate the relative road damaging potential of the various classes of vehicles, and the degree of spatial repeatability of tyre forces present in a typical highway fleet. Approximately half the vehicles tested were found to contribute to a spatially repeatable pattern of pavement loading. On average, air suspended vehicles were found to generate lower dynamic load coefficients than steel suspended vehicles. However, air suspended vehicles also generated higher mean levels of theoretical road damage (aggregate force) than steel suspended vehicles, indicating that the ranking of suspensions depends on the pavement damage criterion used.

Crystal growth of melt-textured Nd-123 under 1% oxygen partial pressure atmosphere

Crystal growth of melt-textured Nd-123 pseudo-crystals was investigated via an isothermal solidification with top-seeding technique under a 1%O2 in N2 atmosphere. Non-steady state solidification was observed at low undercooling, in contrast to an almost linear growth at higher undercooling. Similar to processing in air, the substitution of Nd/Ba was found to decrease from the seed position to the edge of the crystal. In addition, the volume fraction of Nd-422 particles decreased in the solid as solidification proceeded. As a result of these microstructural inhomogeneities, the critical temperature and the critical current density varied within the crystal even for samples processed isothermally, despite the narrow solid solution range of the Nd-123 phase under a reduced pO2 atmosphere.

Quantitative structure-property relationships for octanol-air partition coefficients of polychlorinated naphthalenes, chlorobenzenes and p,p '-DDT

The octanol-air partition coefficient (K-OA) is a key descriptor of chemicals partitioning between the atmosphere and environmental organic phases. Quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPR) are necessary to model and predict KOA from molecular structures. Based on 12 quantum chemical descriptors computed by the PM3 Hamiltonian, using partial least squares (PLS) analysis, a QSPR model for logarithms of K-OA to base 10 (log K-OA) for polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), chlorobenzenes and p,p'-DDT was obtained. The cross-validated Q(cum)(2) value of the model is 0.973, indicating a good predictive ability of the model. The main factors governing log K-OA of the PCNs, chlorobenzenes, and p,p'-DDT are, in order of decreasing importance, molecular size and molecular ability of donating/accepting electrons to participate in intermolecular interactions. The intermolecular dispersive interactions play a leading role in governing log K-OA. The more chlorines in PCN and chlorobenzene molecules, the greater the log K-OA values. Increasing E-LUMO (the energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) of the molecules leads to decreasing log K-OA values, implying possible intermolecular interactions between the molecules under study and octanol molecules. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultra-dry oxygen atmosphere to protect tellurite glass fiber from surface crystallization

In this study we report on surface crystallization phenomena and propose a solution for the fabrication of long and robust tellurite glass fibers. The bulk tellurite glasses of interest were prepared by melting and quenching techniques. Tellurite glass preforms and fibers were fabricated by suction casting and rod-in-tube drawing methods, respectively. The surfaces of the tellurite bulk glass samples and of the drawn fibers prepared under different controlled atmospheres were examined by X-ray diffraction. When the tellurite glass fibers were drawn in ambient air containing water vapor, four primary kinds of small crystals were found to appear on the fiber surface, alpha-TeO(2), gamma-TeO(2), Zn(2)Te(3)O(8) and Na(2)Zn(3)(CO(3))(4)center dot 3H(2)O. A mechanism for this surface crystallization is proposed and a solution described, using an ultra-dry oxygen gas atmosphere to effectively prevent surface crystallization during fiber drawing. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of treatment in different atmosphere on Pt3Sn/C electrocatalysts for ethanol electro-oxidation

Pt3Sn/C catalyst was prepared by a modified polyol process and treated in air, H-2/Ar, and Ar atmosphere, respectively. XRD analyses indicate that all of these catalysts have face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structure. Temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) experiments show that more Sn exists in zero-valence in the Ar-treated PtSn catalyst than in the others. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) experiments, and the performance tests of direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) indicate that the catalytic activity of PtSn/C for ethanol oxidation was affected significantly by the chemical state of Sn in catalyst particles. The as-prepared PtSn/C gives the higher power density, while Ar-treated PtSn/C shows the lower cell performance. It seems that the multivalence Sn rather than the zero-valence Sn in the PtSn catalyst is the favorable form for ethanol oxidation. Energy dispersion X-ray analysis (EDX) of the PtSn/C-as prepared and PtSn/C (after stability test) shows the active species (platinum, tin, and oxygen) composition changed to a different extent. Further attempt to improve the catalyst stability is needed.

Gas-aerosol partitioning of semi volatile carbonyls in polluted atmosphere in Hachioji, Tokyo

Gaseous and particulate semi volatile carbonyls have been measured in urban air using an annular denuder sampling system. Three dicarbonyls, five aliphatic aldehydes and two hydroxy carbonyls were observed. Concentrations of other biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), SO2, CO, NO2 and particle concentration were also measured. Estimated gas-aerosol equilibrium constants for the carbonyls showed an inverse correlation with the concentrations of anthropogenic pollutants such as benzene, isopentane and SO2. This suggests that the increase in the fraction of non-polar anthropogenic particles in the atmosphere could change the average property of the ambient aerosols and drive the gas particle equilibrium of the carbonyls to the gas phase. This trend is uncommon in remote forest air. In this study, we examined the factors controlling the equilibrium in the polluted atmosphere and show that there is a difference in gas-aerosol partition between polluted and clean air.

Reduction from Eu3+ to Eu2+ in BaAl2O4 : Eu phosphor prepared in an oxidizing atmosphere and luminescent properties of BaAl2O4 : Eu

A reduction phenomenon of Eu3+ -> Eu2+ was observed for the first time when Eu3+ ions were doped into an AlO4-tetrahedron-containing compound BaAl2O4 in an oxidizing atmosphere of air by high-temperature solid-state reaction. X-ray powder diffraction patterns and photoluminescent spectra are used to confirm the compound structure and detect the simultaneous existence of both divalent and trivalent europium ions, respectively. The abnormal Eu3+ -> Eu2+ reduction is explained by a charge compensation model. Spectroscopic properties of BaAl2O4:Eu are discussed and Eu2+ emission spectrum shows consistence with the results reported by Katsumata et a]. [J. Cryst. Growth 198/199 (1999) 869.] and Lin et al. [Mater. Chem. Phys. 70 (2001) 156.].