Dense granular flow down an inclined plane A comparison between the hard particle model and soft particle simulations

The granular flow down an inclined plane is simulated using the discrete element (DE) technique to examine the extent to which the dynamics of an unconfined dense granular flow can be well described by a hard particle model First, we examine the average coordination number for the particles in the flow down an inclined plane using the DE technique using the linear contact model with and without friction, and the Hertzian contact model with friction The simulations show that the average coordination number decreases below 1 for values of the spring stiffness corresponding to real materials, such as sand and glass, even when the angle of inclination is only 10 larger than the angle of repose Additional measures of correlations in the system, such as the fraction of particles with multibody contact, the force ratio (average ratio of the magnitudes of the largest and the second largest force on a particle), and the angle between the two largest forces on the particle, show no evidence of force chains or other correlated motions in the system An analysis of the bond-orientational order parameter indicates that the flow is in the random state, as in event-driven (ED) simulations V Kumaran, J Fluid Mech 632, 107 (2009), J Fluid Mech 632, 145 (2009)] The results of the two simulation techniques for the Bagnold coefficients (ratio of stress and square of the strain rate) and the granular temperature (mean square of the fluctuating velocity) are compared with the theory V Kumaran, J Fluid Mech 632, 107 (2009), J Fluid Mech 632, 145 (2009)] and are found to be in quantitative agreement In addition, we also conduct a comparison of the collision frequency and the distribution of the precollisional relative velocities of particles in contact The strong correlation effects exhibited by these two quantities in event-driven simulations V Kumaran, J Fluid Mech 632, 145 (2009)] are also found in the DE simulations (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics doi 10 1063/1 3504660]

Evolution in the time series of vortex velocity fluctuations across different regimes of vortex flow

Investigations of vortex velocity fluctuation in time domain have revealed a presence of low frequency velocity fluctuations which evolve with the different driven phases of the vortex state in a single crystal of 2H-NbSe2. The observation of velocity fluctuations with a characteristic low frequency is associated with the onset of nonlinear nature of vortex flow deep in the driven elastic vortex state. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Elliptic flow of thermal photons in heavy-ion collisions at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and Large Hadron Collider

We calculate the thermal photon transverse momentum spectra and elliptic flow in $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC and in $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76$ TeV Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC, using an ideal-hydrodynamical framework which is constrained by the measured hadron spectra at RHIC and LHC. The sensitivity of the results to the QCD-matter equation of state and to the photon emission rates is studied, and the photon $v_2$ is discussed in the light of the photonic $p_T$ spectrum measured by the PHENIX Collaboration. In particular, we make a prediction for the thermal photon $p_T$ spectra and elliptic flow for the current LHC Pb+Pb collisions.

A simple method for potential flow simulation of cascades

A simple method using a combination of conformal mapping and vortex panel method to simulate potential flow in cascades is presented. The cascade is first transformed to a single body using a conformal mapping, and the potential flow over this body is solved using a simple higher order vortex panel method. The advantage of this method over existing methodologies is that it enables the use of higher order panel methods, as are used to solve flow past an isolated airfoil, to solve the cascade problem without the need for any numerical integrations or iterations. The fluid loading on the blades, such as the normal force and pitching moment, may be easily calculated from the resultant velocity field. The coefficient of pressure on cascade blades calculated with this methodology shows good agreement with previous numerical and experimental results.

Transient Flow of a Compressible Viscous Fluid Near an Infinite Disk

We have consider ed the transient motion of art electrically conducting viscous compressible fluid which is in contact with an insulated infinite disk. The initial motion is considered to be due to the uniform rotation of the disk in an otherwise stationary fluid or due to the uniform rigid rotation of the fluid over a stationary disk. Different cases of transient motion due to finite impulse imparted either to the disk or to the distant fluid have been investigated. Effects of the imposed axial magnetic field and the disk temperature on the transient flow are included. The nonlinear partial differential equations governing the motion are solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme along with the Newton's linearisation technique.

Anomalies in free flux-flow hall effect

The low-T-c layered superconductor 2H-NbSe2 shows remarkable results for free flux-flow Hall effect. At low magnetic fields, the Nozieres-Vinen result of a field-independent Hall angle appears to hold. At larger fields, a marked departure occurs leading to an extremely sharp and pronounced minimum slightly below H-c2, unaccounted for in the standard theoretical models. The results suggest the existence of collective dynamics and phase transitions (such as melting) in a clean flux line lattice.

Study of Pulsed Plasma in a Crossed Flow Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor for Improvement of NOx Removal in Raw Diesel Engine Exhaust

Improved performance of plasma in raw engine exhaust treatment is reported. A new type of reactor referred to as of cross-flow dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was used, in which the gas flow is perpendicular to the corona electrode. In raw exhaust environment, the cross-flow (radial-flow) reactor exhibits a superior performance with regard to NOX removal when compared to that with axial flow of gas. Experiments were conducted at different flow rates ranging from 2 L/min to 25 L/min. The plasma assisted barrier discharge reactor has shown encouraging results in NOx removal at high flow rates.

Conjugate MHD flow past a flat plate

A boundary layer solution for the conjugate forced convection flow of an electrically conducting fluid over a semi-infinite flat plate in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is presented. The governing nonsimilar partial differential equations are solved numerically using the Keller box method. Values of the temperature profiles of the plate are obtained for various values of the parameters entering the problem and are given in a table and shown on graphs.

Unsteady three-dimensional boundary layer flow due to a stretching surface

In this numerical study, the unsteady laminar incompressible boundary-layer flow over a continuously stretching surface has been investigated when the velocity of the stretching surface varies arbitrarily with time. Both the nodal and the saddle point regions of flow have been considered for the analysis. Also, constant wall temperature/concentration and constant heat/mass flux at the stretching surface have been taken into account. The quasilinearisation method with an implicit finite-difference scheme is used in the nodal point region (0 less-than-or-equal-to c less-than-or-equal-to 1) where c denotes the stretching ratio. This method fails in the saddle point region (-1 less-than-or-equal-to c less-than-or-equal-to 0) due to the occurrence of reverse flow in the y-component of velocity. In order to overcome this difficulty, the method of parametric differentiation with an implicit finite-difference scheme is used, where the values at c = 0 are taken as starting values. Results have been obtained for the stretching velocities which are accelerating and decelerating with time. Results show that the skin friction, the heat transfer and the mass transfer parameters respond significantly to the time dependent stretching velocities. Suction (A > 0) is found to be an important parameter in obtaining convergent solution in the case of the saddle point region of flow. The Prandtl number and the Schmidt number strongly affect the heat and mass transfer of the diffusing species, respectively.

Unsteady free convection flow under the influence of a magnetic field

The unsteady free convection boundary layer at the stagnation point of a two-dimensional body and an axisymmetric body with prescribed surface heat flux or temperature has been studied. The magnetic field is applied parallel to the surface and the effect of induced magnetic field has been considered. It is found that for certain powerlaw distribution of surface heat flux or temperature and magnetic field with time, the governing boundary layer equations admit a self-similar solution locally. The resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equations have been solved using a finite element method and a shooting method with Newton's corrections for missing initial conditions. The results show that the skin friction and heat transfer coefficients, and x-component of the induced magnetic field on the surface increase with the applied magnetic field. In general, the skin friction, heat transfer and x-component of the induced magnetic field for axisymmetric case are more than those of the two-dimensional case. Also they change more when the surface heat flux or temperature decreases with time than when it increases with time. The skin friction, heat transfer and x-component of the induced magnetic field are significantly affected by the magnetic Prandtl number and they increase as the magnetic Prandtl number decreases. The skin friction and x-component of the magnetic field increase with the dissipation parameter, but heat transfer decreases.

Flow Instabilities and fracture in Ti-6Al-4V deformed in compression at 298 K to 673 K

Uniaxial compression tests were conducted on Ti-6Al-4V specimens in the strain-rate range df 0.001 to 1 s(-1) and temperature range of 298 to 673 K. The stress-strain curves exhibited a peak flow stress followed by flow softening. Up to 523 K, the specimens cracked catastrophically after the flow softening started. Adiabatic shear banding was observed in this regime. The fracture surface exhibited both mode I and II fracture features. The state of stress existing in a compression test specimen when bulging occurs is responsible for this fracture. The instabilities observed in the present tests are classified as ''geometric'' in nature and are state-of-stress dependant, unlike the ''intrinsic'' instabilities, which are dependant on the dynamic constitutive behavior of the material.