Numerical approaches to new particle formation and growth in the atmosphere

Aerosols impact the planet and our daily lives through various effects, perhaps most notably those related to their climatic and health-related consequences. While there are several primary particle sources, secondary new particle formation from precursor vapors is also known to be a frequent, global phenomenon. Nevertheless, the formation mechanism of new particles, as well as the vapors participating in the process, remain a mystery. This thesis consists of studies on new particle formation specifically from the point of view of numerical modeling. A dependence of formation rate of 3 nm particles on the sulphuric acid concentration to the power of 1-2 has been observed. This suggests nucleation mechanism to be of first or second order with respect to the sulphuric acid concentration, in other words the mechanisms based on activation or kinetic collision of clusters. However, model studies have had difficulties in replicating the small exponents observed in nature. The work done in this thesis indicates that the exponents may be lowered by the participation of a co-condensing (and potentially nucleating) low-volatility organic vapor, or by increasing the assumed size of the critical clusters. On the other hand, the presented new and more accurate method for determining the exponent indicates high diurnal variability. Additionally, these studies included several semi-empirical nucleation rate parameterizations as well as a detailed investigation of the analysis used to determine the apparent particle formation rate. Due to their high proportion of the earth's surface area, oceans could potentially prove to be climatically significant sources of secondary particles. In the lack of marine observation data, new particle formation events in a coastal region were parameterized and studied. Since the formation mechanism is believed to be similar, the new parameterization was applied in a marine scenario. The work showed that marine CCN production is feasible in the presence of additional vapors contributing to particle growth. Finally, a new method to estimate concentrations of condensing organics was developed. The algorithm utilizes a Markov chain Monte Carlo method to determine the required combination of vapor concentrations by comparing a measured particle size distribution with one from an aerosol dynamics process model. The evaluation indicated excellent agreement against model data, and initial results with field data appear sound as well.

Irradiation of silicon particle detectors with MeV-protons

Silicon particle detectors are used in several applications and will clearly require better hardness against particle radiation in the future large scale experiments than can be provided today. To achieve this goal, more irradiation studies with defect generating bombarding particles are needed. Protons can be considered as important bombarding species, although neutrons and electrons are perhaps the most widely used particles in such irradiation studies. Protons provide unique possibilities, as their defect production rates are clearly higher than those of neutrons and electrons, and, their damage creation in silicon is most similar to the that of pions. This thesis explores the development and testing of an irradiation facility that provides the cooling of the detector and on-line electrical characterisation, such as current-voltage (IV) and capacitance-voltage (CV) measurements. This irradiation facility, which employs a 5-MV tandem accelerator, appears to function well, but some disadvantageous limitations are related to MeV-proton irradiation of silicon particle detectors. Typically, detectors are in non-operational mode during irradiation (i.e., without the applied bias voltage). However, in real experiments the detectors are biased; the ionising proton generates electron-hole pairs, and a rise in rate of proton flux may cause the detector to breakdown. This limits the proton flux for the irradiation of biased detectors. In this work, it is shown that, if detectors are irradiated and kept operational, the electric field decreases the introduction rate of negative space-charges and current-related damage. The effects of various particles with different energies are scaled to each others by the non-ionising energy loss (NIEL) hypothesis. The type of defects induced by irradiation depends on the energy used, and this thesis also discusses the minimum proton energy required at which the NIEL-scaling is valid.

Vector Evaluated Particle Swarm Optimization (VEPSO) of Supersonic Ejector for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Fuel cells are emerging as alternate green power producers for both large power production and for use in automobiles. Hydrogen is seen as the best option as a fuel; however, hydrogen fuel cells require recirculation of unspent hydrogen. A supersonic ejector is an apt device for recirculation in the operating regimes of a hydrogen fuel cell. Optimal ejectors have to be designed to achieve best performances. The use of the vector evaluated particle swarm optimization technique to optimize supersonic ejectors with a focus on its application for hydrogen recirculation in fuel cells is presented here. Two parameters, compression ratio and efficiency, have been identified as the objective functions to be optimized. Their relation to operating and design parameters of ejector is obtained by control volume based analysis using a constant area mixing approximation. The independent parameters considered are the area ratio and the exit Mach number of the nozzle. The optimization is carried out at a particularentrainment ratio and results in a set of nondominated solutions, the Pareto front. A set of such curves can be used for choosing the optimal design parameters of the ejector.

The hard-particle model for a dense granular flow down an inclined plane

Perfectly hard particles are those which experience an infinite repulsive force when they overlap, and no force when they do not overlap. In the hard-particle model, the only static state is the isostatic state where the forces between particles are statically determinate. In the flowing state, the interactions between particles are instantaneous because the time of contact approaches zero in the limit of infinite particle stiffness. Here, we discuss the development of a hard particle model for a realistic granular flow down an inclined plane, and examine its utility for predicting the salient features both qualitatively and quantitatively. We first discuss Discrete Element simulations, that even very dense flows of sand or glass beads with volume fraction between 0.5 and 0.58 are in the rapid flow regime, due to the very high particle stiffness. An important length scale in the shear flow of inelastic particles is the `conduction length' delta = (d/(1 - e(2))(1/2)), where d is the particle diameter and e is the coefficient of restitution. When the macroscopic scale h (height of the flowing layer) is larger than the conduction length, the rates of shear production and inelastic dissipation are nearly equal in the bulk of the flow, while the rate of conduction of energy is O((delta/h)(2)) smaller than the rate of dissipation of energy. Energy conduction is important in boundary layers of thickness delta at the top and bottom. The flow in the boundary layer at the top and bottom is examined using asymptotic analysis. We derive an exact relationship showing that the a boundary layer solution exists only if the volume fraction in the bulk decreases as the angle of inclination is increased. In the opposite case, where the volume fraction increases as the angle of inclination is increased, there is no boundary layer solution. The boundary layer theory also provides us with a way of understanding the cessation of flow when at a given angle of inclination when the height of the layer is decreased below a value h(stop), which is a function of the angle of inclination. There is dissipation of energy due to particle collisions in the flow as well as due to particle collisions with the base, and the fraction of energy dissipation in the base increases as the thickness decreases. When the shear production in the flow cannot compensate for the additional energy drawn out of the flow due to the wall collisions, the temperature decreases to zero and the flow stops. Scaling relations can be derived for h(stop) as a function of angle of inclination.

Symmetry Properties of the Large-Deviation Function of the Velocity of a Self-Propelled Polar Particle

A geometrically polar granular rod confined in 2D geometry, subjected to a sinusoidal vertical oscillation, undergoes noisy self-propulsion in a direction determined by its polarity. When surrounded by a medium of crystalline spherical beads, it displays substantial negative fluctuations in its velocity. We find that the large-deviation function (LDF) for the normalized velocity is strongly non-Gaussian with a kink at zero velocity, and that the antisymmetric part of the LDF is linear, resembling the fluctuation relation known for entropy production, even when the velocity distribution is clearly non-Gaussian. We extract an analogue of the phase-space contraction rate and find that it compares well with an independent estimate based on the persistence of forward and reverse velocities.

The production of AlN-rich matrix composites by the reactive infiltration of Al alloys in nitrogen

Aluminium nitride (AlN)-Al matrices reinforced with Al2O3 particulate have been fabricated by reactive infiltration of Al-2% Mg alloy into Al2O3 preforms in N-2 in the temperature range of 900-1075 degreesC. The growth of composites of useful thickness was facilitated by the presence of a Mg-rich external getter, in the absence of which composite growth is self-limiting and terminates prematurely. Successful growth of composites has been attributed to the reduction in residual oxygen partial pressure brought about by the reaction with oxygen of highly volatile Mg in the getter alloy. The microstructure of the matrix consists of AlN-rich regions contiguous with the particulate with metal-rich channels in-between, thereby suggesting that nitridation initiates by preferential wicking of alloy along the particle surfaces. The increase in nitride content of the matrix with temperature is consistent with hardness values that vary between similar to3 and 10 GPa. (C) 2002 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transverse Single Spin Asymmetries and Charmonium Production

We estimate transverse spin single spin asymmetry(TSSA) in the process e + p(up arrow) -> J/psi + X using color evaporation model of charmonium production. We take into account transverse momentum dependent(TMD) evolution of Sivers function and parton distribution function and show that the there is a reduction in the asymmetry as compared to our earlier estimates wherein the Q(2) - evolution was implemented only through DGLAP evolution of unpolarized gluon densities.

Numerical Simulation of Particle Separation in An Oil-Sand Separator

The gathering systems of crude oil are greatly endangered by the fine sand and soil in oil. Up to now , how to separate sand from the viscid oil is still a technical problem for oil production home or abroad. Recently , Institute of Mechanics in Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new type of oil-sand separator , which has been applied successfully in oil field in situ. In this paper, the numerical method of vortex-stream function is used to predict the liquid-solid separating course and the efficiency for this oil-sand separator. Results show that the viscosity and particle diameter have much influence on the particle motion. The calculating separating efficiency is compared with that of experiment and indicates that this method can be used to model the complex two-phase flow in the separator.

Studies of Zγ production and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV

In this thesis, we test the electroweak sector of the Standard Model of particle physics through the measurements of the cross section of the simultaneous production of the neutral weak boson Z and photon γ, and the limits on the anomalous Zγγ and ZZγ triple gauge couplings h3 and h4 with the Z decaying to leptons (electrons and muons). We analyze events collected in proton-proton collisions at center of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 inverse femtobarn. The analyzed events were recorded by the Compact Muon Solenoid detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011.

The production cross section has been measured for hard photons with transverse momentum greater than 15 GeV that are separated from the the final state leptons in the eta-phi plane by Delta R greater than 0.7, whose sum of the transverse energy of hadrons over the transverse energy of the photon in a cone around the photon with Delta R less than 0.3 is less than 0.5, and with the invariant mass of the dilepton system greater than 50 GeV. The measured cross section value is 5.33 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.25 (syst.) +/- 0.12 (lumi.) picobarn. This is compatible with the Standard Model prediction that includes next-to-leading-order QCD contributions: 5.45 +/- 0.27 picobarn.

The measured 95 % confidence-level upper limits on the absolute values of the anomalous couplings h3 and h4 are 0.01 and 8.8E-5 for the Zγγ interactions, and, 8.6E-3 and 8.0E-5 for the ZZγ interactions. These values are also compatible with the Standard Model where they vanish in the tree-level approximation. They extend the sensitivity of the 2012 results from the ATLAS collaboration based on 1.02 inverse femtobarn of data by a factor of 2.4 to 3.1.

I. Application of multi-Regge theory to production processes. II. High energy model for proton-proton scattering

This dissertation consists of two parts. The first part presents an explicit procedure for applying multi-Regge theory to production processes. As an illustrative example, the case of three body final states is developed in detail, both with respect to kinematics and multi-Regge dynamics. Next, the experimental consistency of the multi-Regge hypothesis is tested in a specific high energy reaction; the hypothesis is shown to provide a good qualitative fit to the data. In addition, the results demonstrate a severe suppression of double Pomeranchon exchange, and show the coupling of two "Reggeons" to an external particle to be strongly damped as the particle's mass increases. Finally, with the use of two body Regge parameters, order of magnitude estimates of the multi-Regge cross section for various reactions are given.

The second part presents a diffraction model for high energy proton-proton scattering. This model developed by Chou and Yang assumes high energy elastic scattering results from absorption of the incident wave into the many available inelastic channels, with the absorption proportional to the amount of interpenetrating hadronic matter. The assumption that the hadronic matter distribution is proportional to the charge distribution relates the scattering amplitude for pp scattering to the proton form factor. The Chou-Yang model with the empirical proton form factor as input is then applied to calculate a high energy, fixed momentum transfer limit for the scattering cross section, This limiting cross section exhibits the same "dip" or "break" structure indicated in present experiments, but falls significantly below them in magnitude. Finally, possible spin dependence is introduced through a weak spin-orbit type term which gives rather good agreement with pp polarization data.

Gas-phase production of gold-decorated silica nanoparticles.

Gold-decorated silica nanoparticles were synthesized in a two-step process in which silica nanoparticles were produced by chemical vapor synthesis using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and subsequently decorated using two different gas-phase evaporative techniques. Both evaporative processes resulted in gold decoration of the silica particles. This study compares the mechanisms of particle decoration for a production method in which the gas and particles remain cool to a method in which the entire aerosol is heated. Results of transmission electron microscopy and visible spectroscopy studies indicate that both methods produce particles with similar morphologies and nearly identical absorption spectra, with peak absorption at 500-550 nm. A study of the thermal stability of the particles using heated-TEM indicates that the gold decoration on the particle surface remains stable at temperatures below 900 °C, above which the gold decoration begins to both evaporate and coalesce.

Factors influencing colour production from the sugar medium used for the rapid approximation of bacterial counts in fishery products

Results of the studies carried out to elucidate the factors influencing colour production from the sugar medium used for the rapid approximation of bacterial counts in fishery products are reported. The effect of particle size, trace elements, salt soluble protein and non-protein fractions, rate of multiplication of bacteria, in the medium, surface bacteria and the rate of colour production by individual strains of bacteria were studied. It is observed that the best results are obtained when a sea-water homogenate is used.

Gas-phase production of multifunctional composite nanoparticles by photoinduced chemical vapor deposition

As these results indicate, photo-CVD coating is a robust process that allows for the creation of core-shell nanoparticles. In the present work we demonstrated that photo-CVD can effectively coat Fe2O3 particles with silica for purposes of biological applications. TDMA results combined with TEM images indicate that all particles are effectively coated and that particle coating thicknesses can be tuned to desired thickness depending on the application. In addition, the ability to vary coating properties and to coat high concentrations of particles makes this technique of interest for industrial production where uniform properties are needed for large quantities of particles [2]. Copyright © 2010 by ASME.

Techniques to improve the shear strength of impacted bone graft: the effect of particle size and washing of the graft.

BACKGROUND: When fresh morselized graft is compacted, as in impaction bone-grafting for revision hip surgery, fat and marrow fluid is either exuded or trapped in the voids between particles. We hypothesized that the presence of incompressible fluid damps and resists compressive forces during impaction and prevents the graft particles from moving into a closer formation, thus reducing the graft strength. In addition, viscous fluid such as fat may act as an interparticle lubricant, thus reducing the interlocking of the particles. METHODS: We performed mechanical shear testing in the laboratory with use of fresh-frozen human femoral-head allografts that had been passed through different orthopaedic bone mills to produce graft of differing particle-size distributions (grading). RESULTS: After compaction of fresh graft, fat and marrow fluid continued to escape on application of normal loads. Washed graft, however, had little lubricating fluid and better contact between the particles, increasing the shear resistance. On mechanical testing, washed graft was significantly (p < 0.001) more resistant to shearing forces than fresh graft was. This feature was consistent for different bone mills that produced graft of different particle-size distributions and shear strengths. CONCLUSIONS: Removal of fat and marrow fluid from milled human allograft by washing the graft allows the production of stronger compacted graft that is more resistant to shear, which is the usual mode of failure. Further research into the optimum grading of particle sizes from bone mills is required.

Techniques to improve the shear strength of impacted bone graft: The effect of particle size and washing of the graft

Background: When fresh morselized graft is compacted, as in impaction bone-grafting for revision hip surgery, fat and marrow fluid is either exuded or trapped in the voids between particles. We hypothesized that the presence of incompressible fluid damps and resists compressive forces during impaction and prevents the graft particles from moving into a closer formation, thus reducing the graft strength. In addition, viscous fluid such as fat may act as an interparticle lubricant, thus reducing the interlocking of the particles. Methods: We performed mechanical shear testing in the laboratory with use of fresh-frozen human femoral-head allografts that had been passed through different orthopaedic bone mills to produce graft of differing particle-size distributions (grading). Results: After compaction of fresh graft, fat and marrow fluid continued to escape on application of normal loads. Washed graft, however, had little lubricating fluid and better contact between the particles, increasing the shear resistance. On mechanical testing, washed graft was significantly (p < 0.001) more resistant to shearing forces than fresh graft was. This feature was consistent for different bone mills that produced graft of different particle-size distributions and shear strengths. Conclusions: Removal of fat and marrow fluid from milled human allograft by washing the graft allows the production of stronger compacted graft that is more resistant to shear, which is the usual mode of failure. Further research into the optimum grading of particle sizes from bone mills is required. Clinical Relevance: Understanding the mechanical properties of milled human allograft is important when impaction grafting is used for mechanical support. A simple means of improving the mechanical strength of graft produced by currently available bone mills, including an intraoperative washing technique, is described.