Investigation of liquid water heterogeneities in large area proton exchange membrane fuel cells using a Darcy two-phase flow model in a multiphysics code

Proper management of the liquid water and heat produced in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells remains crucial to increase both its performance and durability. In this study, a two-phase flow and multicomponent model, called two-fluid model, is developed in the commercial COMSOL Multiphysics® software to investigate the liquid water heterogeneities in large area PEM fuel cells, considering the real flow fields in the bipolar plate. A macroscopic pseudo-3D multi-layers approach has been chosen and generalized Darcy's relation is used both in the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and in the channel. The model considers two-phase flow and gas convection and diffusion coupled with electrochemistry and water transport through the membrane. The numerical results are compared to one-fluid model results and liquid water measurements obtained by neutron imaging for several operating conditions. Finally, according to the good agreement between the two-fluid and experimentation results, the numerical water distribution is examined in each component of the cell, exhibiting very heterogeneous water thickness over the cell surface.     

Polysorbate identity and quantity dictate the extensional flow properties of protein-excipient solutions

While protein medications are promising for treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, challenges persist in terms of development and injection stability of high-concentration formulations. Here, the extensional flow properties of protein-excipient solutions are examined via dripping-onto-substrate extensional rheology, using a model ovalbumin (OVA) protein and biocompatible excipients polysorbate 20 (PS20) and 80 (PS80). Despite similar PS structures, differences in extensional flow are observed based on PS identity in two regimes: at moderate total concentrations where surface tension differences drive changes in extensional flow behavior, and at small PS:OVA ratios, which impact the onset of weakly elastic flow behavior. Undesirable elasticity is observed in ultra-concentrated formulations, independent of PS identity; higher PS contents are required to observe these effects than in analogous polymeric excipient solutions. These studies reveal novel extensional flow behaviors in protein-excipient solutions, and provide a straightforward methodology for assessing the extensional flow stability of new protein-excipient formulations.     

基于滚动摩擦作用下玉米颗粒在模拟筒仓卸料中的力链分析（网络首发、推荐阅读）

针对颗粒滚动摩擦作用对筒仓中玉米颗粒的力链空间分布进行研究，通过EDEM离散元软件建立筒仓模型与仿真玉米颗粒模型进行卸粮仿真模拟，并与筒仓卸料实验作流态对比，验证模型与仿真结果的准确性。通过对模拟仓进行切片观察和数据处理，对比分析了不同摩擦情况下力链的细观参数随时间演化规律。模拟结果表明：颗粒间摩擦系数越大，卸粮完成的最终时间越长；颗粒间滚动摩擦系数越小，颗粒由整体流转变为管状流的时间越早。对于有漏斗的筒仓来说，减小颗粒间摩擦会改变整体流和管状流之间的极限，从而增加产生管状流的面积。标准滚动摩擦系数下玉米颗粒在卸料过程中会出现起拱-塌陷效应；减小滚动摩擦，玉米颗粒卸料较稳定，未出现起拱的应力突增、以及拱塌陷的应力衰减；增大颗粒间滚动摩擦不但会增加拱效应，且出现成拱高度距离漏斗口更高。     

Non-keyhole Friction Stir Welding for 6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy

A novel non-keyhole friction stir welding technique was proposed to weld the butt joint of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy with the thickness of 6 mm. A sound joint was obtained by this technique, simultaneously eliminating the flash, shoulder mark and keyhole defects. The sleeve directly affected zone (SDAZ) and the sleeve indirectly affected zone (SIAZ) were divided into the joint according to the plunging position of the hollow sleeve. The lack of root penetration defect was avoided when the plunging depth of the hollow sleeve was only 4.2 mm, because the hollow part inside the sleeve improved the material flow below the sleeve. An S-shaped line was left at the SIAZ, and the height of it had the minimum value of 1.47 mm at 20 mm/min. Whether the failure location of the joint was in SIAZ/SDAZ or the heat-affected zone (HAZ) depended on the height and bonding strength of the S-shaped line. The joint fracture location changed from the SIAZ/SDAZ at 35 mm/min to the HAZ at 20 and 30 mm/min. The maximum tensile strength of 224.3 MPa was obtained at 30 mm/min which was 73.7% of that of the base material. The fracture surface morphology exhibited the typical ductile fracture.     

Robust optical flow estimation via edge preserving filtering

It is known that optical flow estimation techniques suffer from the issues of ill-defined edges and boundaries of the moving objects. Traditional variational methods for optical flow estimation are not robust to handle these issues since the local filters in these methods do not hold the robustness near the edges. In this paper, we propose a non-local total variation NLTV-$L^1$ optical flow estimation method based on robust weighted guided filtering. Specifically, first, the robust weighted guided filtering objective function is proposed to preserve motion edges. The proposed objective function is based on the linear model which is computationally efficient and edge-preserving in complex natural scenarios. Second, the proposed weighted guided filtering objective function is incorporated into the non-local total variation NLTV-$L^1$ energy function. Finally, the novel NLTV-$L^1$ optical flow method is performed using the coarse-to-fine process. Additionally, we modify some state-of-the-art variational optical flow estimation methods by the robust weighted guided filtering objective function to verify the performance on Middlebury, MPI-Sintel, and Foggy Zurich sequences. Experimental results show that the proposed method can preserve edges and improve the accuracy of optical flow estimation compared with several state-of-the-art methods.     

Experimental investigation of gas-liquid flow in a vertical venturi installed downstream of a horizontal blind tee flow conditioner and the flow regime transition

A venturi device is commonly used as an integral part of a multiphase flowmeter (MPFM) in real-time oil-gas production monitoring. Partial flow mixing is required by installing the venturi device vertically downstream of a blind tee pipework that conditions the incoming horizontal gas-liquid flow (for an accurate determination of individual phase fraction and flow rate). To study the flow-mixing effect of the blind tee, high-speed video flow visualization of gas-liquid flows has been performed at blind tee and venturi sections by using a purpose-built transparent test rig over a wide range of superficial liquid velocities (0.3–2.4 m/s) and gas volume fractions (10–95%). There is little ‘homogenization’ effect of the blind tee on the incoming intermittent horizontal flow regimes across the tested flow conditions, with the flow remaining intermittent but becoming more axis-symmetric and predictable in the venturi measurement section. A horizontal (blind tee) to vertical (venturi) flow-pattern transition map is proposed based on gas and liquid mass fluxes (weighted by the Baker parameters). Flow patterns can be identified from the mean and variance of a fast electrical capacitance holdup measured at the venturi throat.     

Numerical Simulation of Sterilization Processes for Shear‐Thinning Food in Taylor‐Couette Flow Systems

The performance of the Taylor‐Couette flow apparatus as a heat sterilizer is numerically investigated. The destruction of Clostridium botulinum and thiamine (vitamin B1) was selected as model reaction. When Taylor vortices were formed in the annular space, the heat transfer significantly enhanced as compared to the case without vortex flow. As a result, the equivalent lethality calculated from the temperature field increased, which is regarded as a quantum leap. Conversely, the improvement of heat transfer induced destruction of thiamine. These results suggest that there is a trade‐off relationship between the enhancement of heat transfer and the avoidance of thermal destruction of nutritional components. In conclusion, the Taylor‐Couette flow sterilizer has the potential for process intensification in heat sterilization processes.     

Effect of Newtonian heating/cooling on free convection in an annular permeable region in the presence of heat source/sink

The influence of Newtonian heating/cooling in the presence of heat source/sink has been investigated on laminar free convective flow in a vertical annular permeable region. The mathematical model for the problem has been considered as a boundary value problem consisting of two simultaneous ordinary differential equations. The boundary value problem has been transformed to nondimensional form. This has given rise to a number of parameters representing both geometrical and physical features of the problem. Closed‐form analytical solutions of the governing equations have been obtained for two different cases of internal heat generation/absorption. To assess the effects of governing parameters on the fluid velocity and temperature, a number of profiles of these field variables have been presented. The efficacy of the distinct processes on the field variables has been discussed extensively. The main outcome obtained in this study is that the velocity as well as temperature is enhanced in the case of the Newtonian heating while the opposite behavior occurs in the Newtonian cooling for both cases of source and sink. Furthermore, the influence of the governing parameters has been shown on the skin friction, volume flow rate, and the Nusselt number.