Mass transfer simulation of biodiesel synthesis in microreactors

A coupled nonlinear mathematical model for the mass transfer of the species involved in the transesterification reaction between soybean oil and methanol in a parallel plates geometry microreactor is presented. The set of partial differential equations that governs the concentration profile of these species were obtained from the general mass balance equation for the case of isothermal flow and steady state with constant physical properties. The velocity profile was obtained from the Navier-Stokes equations assuming fully developed stratified laminar flow for two immiscible Newtonian fluids, with a plane interface between them, based on experimental observation of this flow pattern. The second order kinetic equations for the species were developed assuming homogeneous and reversible chemical reactions and these equations were written as source terms in the main equations. The mathematical model was solved using the hybrid method known as Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT). The simulation results were critically compared with those obtained by using the COMSOL multiphysics platform, showing a good agreement between the hybrid and fully numerical simulations. The effects of governing parameters such as residence time, temperature and microreactor dimensions were investigated. It was observed that higher triglycerides conversion rates occurred at higher temperatures and residence times and lower microreactor depths.     

Modeling of a DC glow discharge in a neon–xenon gas mixture at low pressure and with metastable atom densities

The physical properties of Ne–Xe DC glow discharges at low pressure are reported for a gap length of 1 cm for the first time in the literature. The model deals specifically with the first three moments of Boltzmann's equation and includes the radiation processes and metastable atom densities. The spatio-temporal distributions of the electron and neon and xenon ion densities, the neon and xenon metastable atom densities, the electric potential and the electric field as well as the mean electron energy are presented at 1.5 Torr and 250 V. The current–voltage characteristic is shown at 3 Torr, and it is compared with previous work for pure neon gas. The model is validated theoretically and experimentally in the case of pure gas.     

From a compressible fluid model to new mass conserving cavitation algorithms

This study investigates two algorithms proposed to solve a new cavitation model. This new cavitation model is based on a compressible Reynolds equation in which the density–pressure relation is obtained from a barotropic–isentropic assumption. It can be viewed as an approximation of the Jakobson–Floberg–Olsson/Elrod Adams cavitation model. Two algorithms are proposed to solve it. The first one is explicit and needs an important number of nodes. The second is implicit and can be used for steady-state and unsteady problems. Its implementation is easy and needs only minor modifications for a computer code in which cavitation is ignored. It can also be used to compute the solution of the usual J.F.O./E.A. model. Faster convergence is obtained using a relaxation parameter.     

A high accurate static contact angle algorithm based on Hough transformation

The static contact angle for blurry drop images is more intricate to obtain. To improve the accuracy of the Hough transformation for the static contact angle calculation, the water drop images with different volumes are generated by the Laplace equation, and the influence of the volume on the accuracy of the Hough transformation is analyzed. The results reveal that the circle Hough transformation is particularly well suited to the cases with small drop volume. At the same time, the critical water drop volume value corresponding to a contact angle error of 3° is given, a modified Hough transformation algorithm in conjunction with the critical water drop volume is proposed, and at the same time, the accuracy of the static contact angle calculation for blurry water drop images is significantly improved. The proposed algorithm is a powerful approach to estimate the static contact angle for blurry water drop images.     

Analysis and design of smart mandrels using shape memory polymers

Based on the thermomechanical mechanism of shape memory polymers (SMPs), the three-dimensional thermomechanical constitutive equation that can be used in the ABAQUS finite element simulation was derived. Then this paper compiled UMAT subroutine and simulated the thermomechanical behaviors of SMP smart mandrels. In addition, the properties of shape fixity and shape recovery ratio of SMP were considered in detail. Finally, filament winding experiments were proceeded on bottle-shaped and air duct-shaped mandrels and the simple and efficient demoulding of SMP mandrels were verified. The results showed the feasibility of SMP as the smart mandrels from practical application in the future.     

设置FPS质量调谐阻尼器减振效果分析研究

根据拉格朗日方程推导了结构设置FPS调谐质量系统地震动力反应分析计算公式,并考虑了接触面滞滑效应的影响。分析与计算结果表明:设置质量调谐系统之后,结构动力反应层间位移有所减小。当接触面滑动摩擦系数为0.15左右、滑道半径为0.7 m、调谐附加质量为楼层质量的1.4倍以上时,质量调谐系统具有较好的减振效果、消能效果与复位能力。     

Evaluation of kinetics using label-free optical biosensors

Optical biosensors provide a platform for qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing various biomolecular interactions. In addition to advantages such as label-free and high-throughput detection, these devices are also capable of measuring real-time binding curves in response to changes in optical properties of biomolecules. These kinetic data may be fitted to models to extract binding affinities such as association rates, dissociation rates, and equilibrium dissociation constants. In these biosensors, one of the binding pair is usually immobilized on a solid substrate for capturing the other. Due to the nature of these surface-based methods, mass transport effects and immobilization heterogeneity may cause problems when fitting the kinetic curves with the simple one-to-one Langmuir model. Here, real-time binding curves of various antibody–antigen reactions were obtained using an ellipsometry-based biosensor, and the results were fitted to the simple one-to-one model as well as a more sophisticated approach. The results show that the one-to-two model fitted much better to the curves than the one-to-one model. The two-site model may be explained by assuming two immobilization configurations on the surface. In summary, in fitting real-time curves obtained from optical biosensors, more sophisticated models are usually required to take surface-related issues, such as immobilization heterogeneity, and mass transport effects within targets, into account.     

Quantum transport simulations of graphene nanoribbon devices using Dirac equation calibrated with tight-binding π-bond model

We present an efficient approach to study the carrier transport in graphene nanoribbon (GNR) devices using the non-equilibrium Green''s function approach (NEGF) based on the Dirac equation calibrated to the tight-binding π-bond model for graphene. The approach has the advantage of the computational efficiency of the Dirac equation and still captures sufficient quantitative details of the bandstructure from the tight-binding π-bond model for graphene. We demonstrate how the exact self-energies due to the leads can be calculated in the NEGF-Dirac model. We apply our approach to GNR systems of different widths subjecting to different potential profiles to characterize their device physics. Specifically, the validity and accuracy of our approach will be demonstrated by benchmarking the density of states and transmissions characteristics with that of the more expensive transport calculations for the tight-binding π-bond model.     

Stochastic rotational response of a parametric pendulum coupled with an SDOF system

In this paper, parametric excitation of a lumped mass pendulum is investigated when having its pivot point vertically excited. Such a system is described by a sinus type nonlinear Mathieu equation and attention is drawn to the rotational motion of the mass. A single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system is used as a base for the pendulum, floating on ocean waves and being externally excited by them thus falling into the subclass of autoparametric systems. Due to the random nature of waves, a narrow-band stochastic process is used to model the environmental excitation. The effect of dry friction is considered and the interaction between the pendulum's rotational response and the base is studied.