Evaluation of Transport Phenomena for Removing Vanadium from Petrochemical Industry Solid Waste

Transport phenomena are investigated which are involved in the electrokinetic remediation process used for removing vanadium from deactivated catalysts from oil catalytic cracking that are currently allotted to cement plants and class-I landfills. Variables such as the concentration of electrolyte, electric potential, and applied electric current were evaluated in order to determine the effects produced by electroosmosis, diffusion, hydraulic gradient, and electromigration on the removal of vanadium from the catalyst. It was observed that migration is the most relevant phenomenon in the remediation tests, and for the best remediation condition, the migratory flow accounted for about 87 % of the vanadium removal.     

Two/three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide coating for porous flow distributor in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

There are drawbacks to use stainless-steel plates as a flow distributor plate in fuel cell, due to some of their properties being inferior to graphite flow distributor plates in terms of electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance. To overcome these problems, many researches have been conducted to improve the properties of stainless-steel flow distributor plates through coating of carbon materials. Herein, two-dimensional Web-like graphene (WG) and self-assembled three-dimensional graphene (STG) are coated through superheat vaporization of micro-droplet method. WG is coated in porous Ni–Cr foam and STG is constructed on the flat flow distributor plate, and they exhibit the feasibility to be applied in flow distributors. Compared to uncoated Ni–Cr foam, the performance of the PEMFC system with the graphene coated foam is enhanced remarkably. Furthermore, the flow distributor plate with the STG exhibits potential to be used directly to flow distributor.     

Critical state model for structured soil

Structure is an evident determinant for macroscopic behaviors of soils. However, this is not taken into account in most constitutive models, as structure is a rather complex issue in models. For this, it is important to develop and implement simple models that can reflect this important aspect of soil behavior. This paper tried to model structured soils based on well-established concepts, such as critical state and sub-loading. Critical state is the core of the classic Cam Clay model. The sub-loading concept implies adoption of an inner (sub-loading) yield surface, according to specific hardening rules for some internal strain-like state variables. Nakai and co-workers proposed such internal variables for controlling density (ρ) and structure (ω), using a modified stress space, called t_ij. Herein, similar variables are used in the context of the better-known invariants (p and q) of the Cam Clay model. This change requires explicit adoption of a non-associated flow rule for the sub-loading surface. This is accomplished by modifying the dilatancy ratio of the Cam Clay model, as a function of the new internal variables. These modifications are described and implemented under three-dimensional (3D) conditions. The model is then applied to simulating laboratory tests under different stress paths and the results are compared to experiments reported for different types of structured soils. The good agreements show the capacity and potential of the proposed model.     

Exploring the biomechanics of walking and crowd “flow”

Crowd movement simulation models are generally based on aggregated speed and flow data collected more than 50 years ago. There appears to be no validated modelling capability to include the impact of recent and future changes in population demographics, resulting from an ageing population and increasing obesity rates. New analytical approaches and data gathering are required to successfully model crowd movement and safety for current and future generations. This study carried out (a) a review of the primary components of crowd movement, demographics and analytical techniques, (b) prototype experiments to investigate age-related aspects of space and potential points of contact and (c) a new predictive model for crowd flow analysis based on pedestrian biomechanics and anthropometric data. The model uses the physical space taken up by the biomechanical walking process and the spatial buffer between points of potential contact with other pedestrians to predict the speed of movement at different levels of congestion. The new analytical model was used to predict single file speeds (for people with different demographics in congested space), which compared well with published experimental data. The next steps for model development for wider “flows” and additional experiments to provide data sets for wider demographics are also proposed.     

Probabilistic tree-based representation for solving minimum cost integer flow problems with nonlinear non-convex cost functions

The minimum cost flow problem (MCFP) is the most generic variation of the network flow problem which aims to transfer a commodity throughout the network to satisfy demands. The problem size (in terms of the number of nodes and arcs) and the shape of the cost function are the most critical factors when considering MCFPs. Existing mathematical programming techniques often assume the cost functions to be linear or convex. Unfortunately, the linearity and convexity assumptions are too restrictive for modelling many real-world scenarios. In addition, many real-world MCFPs are large-scale, with networks having a large number of nodes and arcs. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic tree-based genetic algorithm (PTbGA) for solving large-scale minimum cost integer flow problems with nonlinear non-convex cost functions. We first compare this probabilistic tree-based representation scheme with the priority-based representation scheme, which is the most commonly-used representation for solving MCFPs. We then compare the performance of PTbGA with that of the priority-based genetic algorithm (PrGA), and two state-of-the-art mathematical solvers on a set of MCFP instances. Our experimental results demonstrate the superiority and efficiency of PTbGA in dealing with large-sized MCFPs, as compared to the PrGA method and the mathematical solvers.     

Flow Cytometry: From Experimental Design to Its Application in the Diagnosis and Monitoring of Respiratory Diseases

Recent advances in the field of flow cytometry (FCM) have highlighted the importance of incorporating it as a basic analysis tool in laboratories. FCM not only allows the identification of cell subpopulations by detecting the expression of molecules in the cell membrane or cytoplasm, but it can also quantify and identify soluble molecules. The proper functioning of the FCM requires six fundamental systems, from those related to the transport of events to the systems dedicated to the analysis of information. In this review, we have identified the main considerations that every FCM user must know for an optimal antibody panel design, the quality systems that must govern the FCM protocols to guarantee reproducible results in research or clinical laboratories. Finally, we have introduced the current evidence that highlights the relevance of FCM in the investigation and clinical diagnosis of respiratory diseases, establishing important advances in the basic and clinical study of diseases as old as Tuberculosis along with the recent proposals for the monitoring and classification of patients infected with the new SARS-CoV2 virus.     

转向齿扇多向精密成形工艺

为了降低转向齿扇成形载荷、提高成形模具寿命,通过对转向齿扇的结构特点和工艺性分析,结合多向成形金属流动特点,提出了转向齿扇多向精密成形工艺方案。采用有限元模拟软件DEFORM-3D,对转向齿扇多向精密成形过程进行了数值模拟,对其成形过程中的金属流动规律进行了分析并预测成形载荷。结果表明,成形过程中齿扇充填均匀,角隅充填饱满,多向精密成形工艺最大成形载荷比单向闭塞挤压成形载荷降低了29%,成形时间缩短了53%,有利于提高模具的使用寿命。对多向精密成形工艺进行了成形试验,试验成形出的转向齿扇充填饱满,成形载荷与预测载荷基本一致。试验结果表明了该工艺的可行性和实用性。     

初始制动时预测湿式制动器热对流特性的积分方法

湿式制动器对重型车辆安全具有关键影响，以湿式制动器摩擦副间隙的冷却液压油（Automotive transmission fluid，ATF）为研究对象，考虑车辆初始制动阶段流体的黏性摩擦和层流流动特征，利用积分方法建立了摩擦副流体的非稳态能量方程，并获得了能同时满足轴向和径向边界条件的三维温度和热流密度显式解析表达式，通过简化动量方程和多项式分布假设也获得了径向速度和压力的理论解，与以往试验对比表明，压力和温度解析解与试验结果具有较好的一致性，理论模型有望推广用于液黏离合器等其他HVD装置的ATF速度场、温度场和热流密度场的理论预测。     

Improving basic relationships of pipe hydraulics

This communication presents the approaches set up for processing spinner flowmeter well logs in vertical wells with a single fluid phase, which is the most widely used in assessing wells productivity. These focus on improving the pipe hydraulics relationships so that the different fluid inputs throughout the well can be quantified. Since vertical flow inside wells varies with depth between laminar flows (very low Reynolds number, i.e. Re < 10³) and turbulent (Re > 4·10³) the aim has been to reduce the uncertainty in the transition interval. Starting from bibliographical data and/or well-known formulas for laminar and for turbulent flow, several continuous relationships have been developed for any regime: 1) an expression for the radial distribution of velocity inside the pipeline (velocity profile) was developed. 2) A relationship between the average velocity and the velocity at the axis (velocity factor) was created. 3) A third equation was generated to obtain the friction factor in smooth pipes (and starting from this, a new explicit equation for rough pipes). The purpose has been to have a set of empirical expressions of easy and continuous application for any regime, as an alternative to the use of computer simulations.     

A system for time-fluctuating flow rate measurements in a single-blade pump circuit

Commonly used flow rate measurement systems provide an accurate and stable output value of the quasi-stationary flow rate. In some pump types as e.g. single-blade pumps significant flow rate fluctuations may occur even in steady operation points due to rotor-stator interaction. For the analysis of the time-resolved flow rate a new measurement and evaluation method is presented based on an electromagnetic flow meter. Internal averaging of the flow meter is deactivated and the raw signal is evaluated directly with a sampling rate of 3 kHz. With ensemble-averaging in combination with an impeller position detection, interfering signals acting on the time-resolved measurement signal are filtered out. Accompanying numerical simulations of the pump flow circuit are carried out with a 1D method of characteristics and validated against well-established time-resolved pressure measurements of the pump flow. Experiment and simulation show a resembling trend of pressure as well as flow rate fluctuations over the entire operation range of the pump. Thus, by the combined utilisation of measurement and simulation technique, we assure the validity of the ensemble-averaged flow rate fluctuation results. We find that the flow rate fluctuations show a consistent phase shift to the pressure fluctuations that increases towards overload. The flow rate amplitude is an order of magnitude smaller than the amplitude of the pressure fluctuations.