Experimental studies on transitional separated boundary layers

Separated transitional boundary layers appear on key aeronautical processes such as the flow around wings or turbomachinery blades. The aim of this thesis is the study of these flows in representative scenarios of technological applications, gaining knowledge about phenomenology and physical processes that occur there and, developing a simple model for scaling them. To achieve this goal, experimental measurements have been carried out in a low speed facility, ensuring the flow homogeneity and a low disturbances level such that unwanted transitional mechanisms are avoided. The studied boundary layers have been developed on a flat plate, by imposing a pressure gradient by means of contoured walls. They generate an initial acceleration region followed by a deceleration zone. The initial region is designed to obtain at the beginning of the deceleration the Blasius profile, characterized by its momentum thickness, and an edge boundary layer velocity, defining the problem characteristic velocity. The deceleration region is designed to obtain a linear evolution of the edge velocity, thereby defining the characteristic length of the problem. Several experimental techniques, both intrusive (hot wire anemometry, total pressure probes) as nonintrusive (PIV and LDV anemometry, high-speed filming), have been used in order to take advantage of each of them and allow cross-validation of the results. Once the boundary layer at the deceleration beginning has been characterized, ensuring the desired integral parameters and level of disturbance, the evolution of the laminar boundary layer up to the point of separation is studied. It has been compared with integral methods, and numerical simulations. In view of the results a new model for this evolution is proposed. Downstream from the separation, the flow near to the wall is configured as a shear layer that encloses low momentum recirculating fluid. The region where the shear layer remains laminar tends to be positioned to compensate the adverse pressure gradient associated with the imposed deceleration. Under these conditions, the momentum thickness remains almost constant. This laminar shear layer region extends up to where transitional phenomena appear, extension that scales with the momentum thickness at separation. These transitional phenomena are of inviscid type, similar to those found in free shear layers. The transitional region analysis begins with a study of the disturbances evolution in the linear growth region and the comparison of experimental results with a numerical model based on Linear Stability Theory for parallel flows and with data from other authors. The results’ coalescence for both the disturbances growth and the excited frequencies is stated. For the transition final stages the vorticity concentration into vortex blobs is found, analogously to what happens in free shear layers. Unlike these, the presence of the wall and the pressure gradient make the large scale structures to move towards the wall and quickly disappear under certain circumstances. In these cases, the recirculating flow is confined into a closed region saying the bubble is closed or the boundary layer reattaches. From the reattachment point, the fluid shows a configuration in the vicinity of the wall traditionally considered as turbulent. It has been observed that existing integral methods for turbulent boundary layers do not fit well to the experimental results, due to these methods being valid only for fully developed turbulent flow. Nevertheless, it has been found that downstream from the reattachment point the velocity profiles are self-similar, and a model has been proposed for the evolution of the integral parameters of the boundary layer in this region. Finally, the phenomenon known as bubble burst is analyzed. It has been checked the validity of existing models in literature and a new one is proposed. This phenomenon is blamed to the inability of the large scale structures formed after the transition to overcome with the adverse pressure gradient, move towards the wall and close the bubble. El estudio de capas límites transicionales con separación es de gran relevancia en distintas aplicaciones tecnológicas. Particularmente, en tecnología aeronáutica, aparecen en procesos claves, tales como el flujo alrededor de alas o álabes de turbomaquinaria. El objetivo de esta tesis es el estudio de estos flujos en situaciones representativas de las aplicaciones tecnológicas, ganando por un lado conocimiento sobre la fenomenología y los procesos físicos que aparecen y, por otra parte, desarrollando un modelo sencillo para el escalado de los mismos. Para conseguir este objetivo se han realizado ensayos en una instalación experimental de baja velocidad específicamente diseñada para asegurar un flujo homogéneo y con bajo nivel de perturbaciones, de modo que se evita el disparo de mecanismos transicionales no deseados. La capa límite bajo estudio se ha desarrollado sobre una placa plana, imponiendo un gradiente de presión a la misma por medio de paredes de geometría especificada. éstas generan una región inicial de aceleración seguida de una zona de deceleración. La región inicial se diseña para tener en al inicio de la deceleración un perfil de capa límite de Blasius, caracterizado por su espesor de cantidad de movimiento, y una cierta velocidad externa a la capa límite que se considera la velocidad característica del problema. La región de deceleración está concebida para que la variación de la velocidad externa a la capa límite sea lineal, definiendo de esta forma una longitud característica del problema. Los ensayos se han realizado explotando varias técnicas experimentales, tanto intrusivas (anemometría de hilo caliente, sondas de presión total) como no intrusivas (anemometrías láser y PIV, filmación de alta velocidad), de cara a aprovechar las ventajas de cada una de ellas y permitir validación cruzada de resultados entre las mismas. Caracterizada la capa límite al comienzo de la deceleración, y garantizados los parámetros integrales y niveles de perturbación deseados se procede al estudio de la zona de deceleración. Se presenta en la tesis un análisis de la evolución de la capa límite laminar desde el inicio de la misma hasta el punto de separación, comparando con métodos integrales, simulaciones numéricas, y proponiendo un nuevo modelo para esta evolución. Aguas abajo de la separación, el flujo en las proximidades de la pared se configura como una capa de cortadura que encierra una región de fluido recirculatorio de baja cantidad de movimiento. Se ha caracterizado la región en que dicha capa de cortadura permanece laminar, encontrando que se posiciona de modo que compensa el gradiente adverso de presión asociado a la deceleración de la corriente. En estas condiciones, el espesor de cantidad de movimiento permanece prácticamente constante y esta capa de cortadura laminar se extiende hasta que los fenómenos transicionales aparecen. Estos fenómenos son de tipo no viscoso, similares a los que aparecen en una capa de cortadura libre. El análisis de la región transicional comienza con un estudio de la evolución de las vii viii RESUMEN perturbaciones en la zona de crecimiento lineal de las mismas y la comparación de los resultados experimentales con un modelo numérico y con datos de otros autores. La coalescencia de los resultados tanto para el crecimiento de las perturbaciones como para las frecuencias excitadas queda demostrada. Para los estadios finales de la transición se observa la concentración de la vorticidad en torbellinos, de modo análogo a lo que ocurre en capas de cortadura libres. A diferencia de estas, la presencia de la pared y del gradiente de presión hace que, bajo ciertas condiciones, la gran escala se desplace hacia la pared y desaparezca rápidamente. En este caso el flujo recirculatorio queda confinado en una región cerrada y se habla de cierre de la burbuja o readherencia de la capa límite. A partir del punto de readherencia se tiene una configuración fluida en las proximidades de la pared que tradicionalmente se ha considerado turbulenta. Se ha observado que los métodos integrales existentes para capas límites turbulentas no ajustan bien a las medidas experimentales realizadas, hecho imputable a que no se obtiene en dicha región un flujo turbulento plenamente desarrollado. Se ha encontrado, sin embargo, que pasado el punto de readherencia los perfiles de velocidad próximos a la pared son autosemejantes entre sí y se ha propuesto un modelo para la evolución de los parámetros integrales de la capa límite en esta región. Finalmente, el fenómeno conocido como “estallido” de la burbuja se ha analizado. Se ha comprobado la validez de los modelos existentes en la literatura y se propone uno nuevo. Este fenómeno se achaca a la incapacidad de la gran estructura formada tras la transición para vencer el gradiente adverso de presión, desplazarse hacia la pared y cerrar la burbuja.

Sudden transition to chaos in plasma wave interactions

The coherent three-wave interaction, with linear growth in the higher frequency wave and damping in the two other waves, is reconsidered; for equal dampings, the resulting three-dimensional (3-D) flow of a relative phase and just two amplitudes behaved chaotically, no matter how small the growth of the unstable wave. The general case of different dampings is studied here to test whether, and how, that hard scenario for chaos is preserved in passing from 3-D to four-dimensional flows. It is found that the wave with higher damping is partially slaved to the other damped wave; this retains a feature of the original problem an invariant surface that meets an unstable fixed point, at zero growth rate! that gave rise to the chaotic attractor and determined its structure, and suggests that the sudden transition to chaos should appear in more complex wave interactions.

Mahogany (mg) stimulates feeding and increases basal metabolic rate independent of its suppression of agouti

The mahogany (mg) locus originally was identified as a recessive suppressor of agouti, a locus encoding a skin peptide that modifies coat color by antagonizing the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor or MC1-R. Certain dominant alleles of agouti cause an obesity syndrome when ectopic expression of the peptide aberrantly antagonizes the MC4-R, a related melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor expressed in hypothalamic circuitry and involved in the regulation of feeding behavior and metabolism. Recent work has demonstrated that mg, when homozygous, blocks not only the ability of agouti to induce a yellow coat color when expressed in the skin of the lethal yellow mouse (AY), but also the obesity resulting from ectopic expression of agouti in the brain. Detailed analysis of mg/mg AY/a animals, presented here, demonstrates that mg/mg blocks the obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and increased linear growth induced by ectopic expression of the agouti peptide. Remarkably, however, mg/mg did not reduce hyperphagia in the AY/a mouse. Furthermore, mg/mg induced hyperphagia and an increase in basal metabolic rate in the C57BL/6J mouse in the absence of AY. Consequently, although mahogany is broadly required for agouti peptide action, it also appears to be involved in the control of metabolic rate and feeding behavior independent of its suppression of agouti.

Compression, gain, and nonlinear distortion in an active cochlear model with subpartitions

The propagation of inhomogeneous, weakly nonlinear waves is considered in a cochlear model having two degrees of freedom that represent the transverse motions of the tectorial and basilar membranes within the organ of Corti. It is assumed that nonlinearity arises from the saturation of outer hair cell active force generation. I use multiple scale asymptotics and treat nonlinearity as a correction to a linear hydroelastic wave. The resulting theory is used to explain experimentally observed features of the response of the cochlear partition to a pure tone, including: the amplification of the response in a healthy cochlea vs a dead one; the less than linear growth rate of the response to increasing sound pressure level; and the amount of distortion to be expected at high and low frequencies at basal and apical locations, respectively. I also show that the outer hair cell nonlinearity generates retrograde waves.

Selective adsorption of l- and d-amino acids on calcite: Implications for biochemical homochirality

The emergence of biochemical homochirality was a key step in the origin of life, yet prebiotic mechanisms for chiral separation are not well constrained. Here we demonstrate a geochemically plausible scenario for chiral separation of amino acids by adsorption on mineral surfaces. Crystals of the common rock-forming mineral calcite (CaCO3), when immersed in a racemic aspartic acid solution, display significant adsorption and chiral selectivity of d- and l-enantiomers on pairs of mirror-related crystal-growth surfaces. This selective adsorption is greater on crystals with terraced surface textures, which indicates that d- and l-aspartic acid concentrate along step-like linear growth features. Thus, selective adsorption of linear arrays of d- and l-amino acids on calcite, with subsequent condensation polymerization, represents a plausible geochemical mechanism for the production of homochiral polypeptides on the prebiotic Earth.

Targeted overexpression of parathyroid hormone-related peptide in chondrocytes causes chondrodysplasia and delayed endochondral bone formation.

Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) was initially identified as a product of malignant tumors that mediates paraneoplastic hypercalcemia. It is now known that the parathyroid hormone (PTH) and PTHrP genes are evolutionarily related and that the products of these two genes share a common receptor, the PTH/PTHrP receptor. PTHrP and the PTH/PTHrP receptor are widely expressed in both adult and fetal tissues, and recent gene-targeting and disruption experiments have implicated PTHrP as a developmental regulatory molecule. Apparent PTHrP functions include the regulation of endochondral bone development, of hair follicle formation, and of branching morphogenesis in the breast. Herein, we report that overexpression of PTHrP in chondrocytes using the mouse type II collagen promoter induces a novel form of chondrodysplasia characterized by short-limbed dwarfism and a delay in endochondral ossification. This features a delay in chondrocyte differentiation and in bone collar formation and is sufficiently marked that the mice are born with a cartilaginous endochondral skeleton. In addition to the delay, chondrocytes in the transgenic mice initially become hypertrophic at the periphery of the developing long bones rather than in the middle, leading to a seeming reversal in the pattern of chondrocyte differentiation and ossification. By 7 weeks, the delays in chondrocyte differentiation and ossification have largely corrected, leaving foreshortened and misshapen but histologically near-normal bones. These findings confirm a role for PTHrP as an inhibitor of the program of chondrocyte differentiation. PTHrP may function in this regard to maintain the stepwise differentiation of chondrocytes that initiates endochondral ossification in the midsection of endochondral bones early in development and that also permits linear growth at the growth plate later in development.

Meteorological data, stem radius measurements (SR) and derivates of SR of the three Swiss forest sites Visp, Davos and Lägeren

. Separating continuously measured stem radius (SR) fluctuations into growth-induced irreversible stem expansion (GRO) and tree water deficit-induced reversible stem shrinkage (TWD) requires a concept to decide on potential growth processes during periods of shrinking and expanding SR below a precedent maximum. Here we investigated two physiological concepts: the linear growth (LG) concept assuming linear growth vs. the zero growth (ZG) concept assuming no growth during periods of shrunken stems. . We evaluated the physiological mechanisms underlying these two concepts and assessed the respective plausibility with SR data obtained from 15 deciduous and evergreen trees. . The LG concept showed steady growth rates, whereas the ZG concept showed strongly varying growth rates over time, more in accordance with mechanistic expectations. Further, growth increased for maximally 120 min after periods of shrunken stems, indicating limited growth activity during that period. However, the fraction of this extra growth was found to be small. Furthermore, TWD of the ZG concept was better explained by a hydraulic plant model than TWD of the LG concept. . We conclude that periods of shrunken stems allow for very little growth in the four tree species investigated. However, further studies should focus on obtaining independent growth data to ultimately validate these findings.

Putting teeth into the developmental origins hypothesis: A longitudinal study of early childhood malnutrition, enamel hypoplasia and adolescent health in Amazonian Bolivia

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Solid bridge formation between spray-dried sodium carbonate particles

Moisture migration caking of pharmaceutical excipients in the absence of load is a significant quality and stability issue. This study uses Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to examine a solid bridge formed between two 20µm spray-dried sodium carbonate particles. The bridge is grown by repeatedly exposing the system to 70% RH and 30% RH cycles at 25?C. A comparison is made with the idealised bridge model developed by Tanaka (1978) which was previously verified using crystalline systems. The resulting system was found to be more complex and grew in two stages. The first stage consisted of linear growth to 5 cycles, followed by a more gradual expansion and the appearance of crystalline structures.

Recent Results for Supercritical Controlled Branching Processes with Control Random Functions

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 60J80, 60F05

Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa mass and 210Pb-226Ra chronology, Røst Reef, Norway, 2011

Here we show the use of the 210Pb-226Ra excess method to determine the growth rate of corals from one of the world's largest known cold-water coral reef, the Røst Reef off Norway. Two large branching framework-forming cold-water coral specimens, one Lophelia pertusa and one Madrepora oculata were collected alive at 350 m water depth from the Røst Reef at ~67° N and ~9° E. Pb and Ra isotopes were measured along the major growth axis of both specimens using low level alpha and gamma spectrometry and the corals trace element compositions were studied using ICP-QMS. Due to the different chemical behaviors of Pb and Ra in the marine environment, 210Pb and 226Ra were not incorporated the same way into the aragonite skeleton of those two cold-water corals. Thus to assess of the growth rates of both specimens we have here taken in consideration the exponential decrease of initially incorporated 210Pb as well as the ingrowth of 210Pb from the decay of 226Ra. Moreover a~post-depositional 210Pb incorporation is found in relation to the Mn-Fe coatings that could not be entirely removed from the oldest parts of the skeletons. The 226Ra activities in both corals were fairly constant, then assuming constant uptake of 210Pb through time the 210Pb-226Ra chronology can be applied to calculate linear growth rate. The 45.5 cm long branch of M. oculata reveals an age of 31 yr and a~linear growth rate of 14.4 ± 1.1 mm yr-1, i.e. 2.6 polyps per year. However, a correction regarding a remaining post-depositional Mn-Fe oxide coating is needed for the base of the specimen. The corrected age tend to confirm the radiocarbon derived basal age of 40 yr (using 14C bomb peak) with a mean growth rate of 2 polyps yr-1. This rate is similar to the one obtained in Aquaria experiments under optimal growth conditions. For the 80 cm-long specimen of L. pertusa a remaining contamination of metal-oxides is observed for the middle and basal part of the coral skeleton, inhibiting similar accurate age and growth rate estimates. However, the youngest branch was free of Mn enrichment and this 15 cm section reveals a growth rate of 8 mm yr-1 (~1 polyp every two to three years). However, the 210Pb growth rate estimate is within the lowermost ranges of previous growth rate estimates and may thus reflect that the coral was not developing at optimal growth conditions. Overall, 210Pb-226Ra dating can be successfully applied to determine the age and growth rate of framework-forming cold-water corals, however, removal of post-depositional Mn-Fe oxide deposits is a prerequisite. If successful, large branching M. oculata and L. pertusa coral skeletons provide unique oceanographic archive for studies of intermediate water environmentals with an up to annual time resolution and spanning over many decades.

Epidometria de Calophyllum brasiliense Camb. em plantios comerciais

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Tecnologia, Departamento de Engenharia Florestal, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Florestais, 2016.

A linear-elastic model of anisotropic tumour growth

This paper examines the effect of anisotropic growth on the evolution of mechanical stresses in a linear-elastic model of a growing, avascular tumour. This represents an important improvement on previous linear-elastic models of tissue growth since it has been shown recently that spatially-varying isotropic growth of linear-elastic tissues does not afford the necessary stress-relaxation for a steady-state stress distribution upon reaching a nutrient-regulated equilibrium size. Time-dependent numerical solutions are developed using a Lax-Wendroff scheme, which show the evolution of the tissue stress distributions over a period of growth until a steady-state is reached. These results are compared with the steady-state solutions predicted by the model equations, and key parameters influencing these steady-state distributions are identified. Recommendations for further extensions and applications of this model are proposed.

Linear stability, transient growth and the role of viscosity stratification in compressible Couette flow

Linear stability and the nonmodal transient energy growth in compressible plane Couette flow are investigated for two prototype mean flows: (a) the uniform shear flow with constant viscosity, and (b) the nonuniform shear flow with stratified viscosity. Both mean flows are linearly unstable for a range of supersonic Mach numbers (M). For a given M, the critical Reynolds number (Re) is significantly smaller for the uniform shear flow than its nonuniform shear counterpart; for a given Re, the dominant instability (over all streamwise wave numbers, α) of each mean flow belongs to different modes for a range of supersonic M. An analysis of perturbation energy reveals that the instability is primarily caused by an excess transfer of energy from mean flow to perturbations. It is shown that the energy transfer from mean flow occurs close to the moving top wall for “mode I” instability, whereas it occurs in the bulk of the flow domain for “mode II.” For the nonmodal transient growth analysis, it is shown that the maximum temporal amplification of perturbation energy, Gmax, and the corresponding time scale are significantly larger for the uniform shear case compared to those for its nonuniform counterpart. For α=0, the linear stability operator can be partitioned into L∼L̅ +Re2 Lp, and the Re-dependent operator Lp is shown to have a negligibly small contribution to perturbation energy which is responsible for the validity of the well-known quadratic-scaling law in uniform shear flow: G(t∕Re)∼Re2. In contrast, the dominance of Lp is responsible for the invalidity of this scaling law in nonuniform shear flow. An inviscid reduced model, based on Ellingsen-Palm-type solution, has been shown to capture all salient features of transient energy growth of full viscous problem. For both modal and nonmodal instability, it is shown that the viscosity stratification of the underlying mean flow would lead to a delayed transition in compressible Couette flow.

Linear spatio-temporal instability analysis of ice growth under a falling water film

A linear spatio-temporal stability analysis is conducted for the ice growth under a falling water film along an inclined ice plane. The full system of linear stability equations is solved by using the Chebyshev collocation method. By plotting the boundary curve between the linear absolute and convective instabilities (AI/CI) of the ice mode in the parameter plane of the Reynolds number and incline angle, it is found that the linear absolute instability exists and occurs above a minimum Reynolds number and below a maximum inclined angle. Furthermore, by plotting the critical Reynolds number curves with respect to the inclined angle for the downstream and upstream branches, the convectively unstable region is determined and divided into three parts, one of which has both downstream and upstream convectively unstable wavepackets and the other two have only downstream or upstream convectively unstable wavepacket. Finally, the effect of the Stefan number and the thickness of the ice layer on the AI/CI boundary curve is investigated.