Revealing the role of Ni2+ ions in inducing the synthesis of porous carbon balls: A novel substrate to enhance the Pt catalytic activity towards methanol-oxidation

Carbon-based materials have been often employed as electrocatalytic substrates because of their large surface area/highly porous structure. Similar to carbon substrates, the non-carbon related materials such as transition metals also play an important role in improving catalytic performance. However, the simultaneous synthesis and metallic functionalization of carbon substrates is a highly challenging issue. Herein, a hydrothermal method has been used for the preparation of Ni-functionalized porous carbon balls. The significant role of Ni²⁺ ions in the synthesis of porous carbon balls has been confirmed. The results of transmission electron microscopy indicate that, the as-prepared porous carbon balls were suitable for the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles with small particle size (less than 4 nm). In addition to providing the OH_ads species, the Ni can also modify the surface electronic structure of Pt. Electrochemical measurements results reveal that, under the strong interactions between Ni and Pt, the as-prepared porous carbon balls supported Pt nanoparticles (Pt/Ni-CB) catalyst possesses excellent electrocatalytic activity, stability and CO anti-poisoning capability towards methanol electrooxidation reaction (MOR). This work opens a novel idea for the construction of the metal functionalization of carbon substrates and their subsequent applications in other electrocatalytic reactions.     

Turbulent boundary layer control with a spanwise array of DBD plasma actuators

The turbulent boundary layer control on NACA 0012 airfoil with Mach number ranging from 0.3 to 0.5 by a spanwise array of dielectric barrier discharge(DBD)plasma actuators by hot-film sensor technology is investigated.Due to temperature change mainly caused through heat produced along with plasma will lead to measurement error of shear stress measured by hot-film sensor,the correction method that takes account of the change measured by another sensor is used and works well.In order to achieve the value of shear stress change,we combine computational fluid dynamics computation with experiment to calibrate the hot-film sensor.To test the stability of the hot-film sensor,seven repeated measurements of shear stress at Ma = 0.3 are conducted and show that confidence interval of hot-film sensor measurement is from-0.18 to 0.18 Pa and the root mean square is 0.11 Pa giving a relative error 0.5％over all Mach numbers in this experiment.The research on the turbulent boundary layer control with DBD plasma actuators demonstrates that the control makes shear stress increase by about 6％over the three Mach numbers,which is thought to be reliable through comparing it with the relative error 0.5％,and the value is hardly affected by burst frequency and excitation voltage.     

Turbulent explosion characteristics of stoichiometric syngas

In the present article, series of experiments were conducted to investigate turbulent explosion characteristics of stoichiometric syngas (with different hydrogen concentrations, 10%‐90% in volume fraction) in a 28.73‐L spherical turbulent premixed explosion system. The evolution of explosion pressure was recorded in different turbulent environment (with different turbulent intensity, 0.100‐1.309 m/s in root mean square value of velocity fluctuation). From the explosion pressure historic curves, the maximum pressure, lag duration, and explosion duration were obtained; the pressure rise rate and fast burn duration were derived; and deflagration index could be further calculated. The interaction effects of turbulent intensity and hydrogen addition on those explosion parameters were systematically analysed and discussed. Based on the results, an empirical formula about deflagration index of stoichiometric syngas was established.     

大尺度展向波形圆柱绕流流场结构的数值研究

针对大尺度展向波形圆柱绕流的减阻特性，通过大涡模拟（LES）研究波形振幅对圆柱体绕流流场结构的影响，获得波形圆柱体绕流气动性能曲线、尾迹时均流速分布和非定常涡量场分布，最后与直圆柱绕流的流场结构进行对比分析。结果表明，波形圆柱绕流的平均阻力系数小于直圆柱体绕流，流向涡的形成改变了圆柱近尾迹区的流场结构，因此，波形圆柱体尾迹涡系表现得更为紧凑，尾迹涡流得到拉伸与破裂。在亚临界雷诺数为3000时，最大阻力系数减少18.3%，最优振幅比为0.152；且波形圆柱体的升力波动大大减少，甚至得到抑制。由于波形表面会形成更稳定的三维自由剪切层，这样的自由剪切层在下游位置卷起漩涡，大大地改变了圆柱周围的流场结构。研究表明振幅比在确定波形圆柱后面的三维涡旋结构中起着至关重要的作用，并对升力波动和流动阻力的降低有着显著的影响。     

Structure of turbulent rich hydrogen‐air premixed flames

In the present article, series of experiments were conducted to study the structure characteristics of premixed flames in turbulent rich hydrogen‐air mixtures within a constant‐volume turbulent combustion system, 7 equivalence ratios (1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, and 2.5), and 5 turbulent intensity (0, 0.494, 0.742, 1.080, and 1.309 m/s) were studied. With the increase of turbulent intensity, the cellularity degree was obviously enhanced for turbulence promoted the formation and the development of initial cracks by wrinkling flame‐front; furthermore, the enhanced hydrodynamic instability was also one important reason. Turbulence would change the linear growth of critical radius to equivalence ratio into nonlinear, but the variation extents had limitation. The wrinkling index of flame‐front would rise as flame expanded, and the wrinkling index on flames with similar size would be increased with the increase of turbulence once the turbulent intensity was sufficiently high. From the variations of the root mean square of related oscillation on flame‐front, it could be found that the partial amount of oscillation induced by sole turbulence was declined as flame expanded for the breakup of large eddies.     

Advances of nanofluids in heat exchangers—A review

Recently, many researchers have focused on their studies on the analysis of nanofluid flows due to their participation in the enhancement of heat transfer rates in industrial processes. The ordinary fluids, such as water, mineral oils, and so on, are known for their low thermal conductivity in heat transfer processes. A significant enhancement in the thermal properties of ordinary fluid may be obtained by adding nanoparticles having a diameter of less than 100 nm or suspension of fibers. Better spreading, wetting, dispersion, and stability and with acceptable viscosity are the main advantageous properties of nanofluids on a solid surface. The nanofluids are encountered in various thermal engineering systems such as in heat exchangers, refrigeration, thermal management of fuel cells, cooling of nuclear reactors, microelectromechanical systems, and others. In particular, the thermal conversion is known as a great application of nanotechnology, and many studies have been achieved with such fluids in heat exchangers. Therefore, this paper aims to present a global insight into the different applications of nanofluids in various heat exchangers, that is, heat pipe and plate-fin heat exchangers. All research works have been summarized into three main parts: laminar, transition, and turbulent nanofluid flow regimes.     

Effect of shock structure on stabilization and blow-off of hydrogen jet flames

Under-expanded hydrogen jet has characteristic shock structure immediately downstream of the nozzle exit. The shock structure depends on the ratio p_EX/p_A, i.e. the ratio of nozzle exit to ambient pressure, and the distributions of velocity and concentration in an under-expanded hydrogen jet depend on characteristics of the shock structure. Therefore, the shock structure should affect the blow-off behaviour of under-expanded hydrogen jet flame. Since this issue has not been investigated in detail, this study aims to close this knowledge gap. The effect of changes in shock structure on lift-off length and blow-off conditions for non-premixed turbulent hydrogen free jet flame has been experimentally investigated. The shock structure was varied by using three types of nozzles: convergent, straight and divergent nozzles. Inlet diameters of nozzles change from 0.31 to 1.04 mm and outlet diameters from 0.34 to 1.7 mm. The static pressure and the ratio of cross-section area at the nozzle inlet to that at the outlet were varying parameters in this study. Hydrogen was horizontally spouted through a nozzle to atmosphere. The maximum static pressure in a nozzle was 13.2 MPa. The experiments revealed that when the hydrogen jet had sequential shock cell structures, which occurred in the range of p_EX/p_A smaller than 2.45, a higher mass flow rate of hydrogen was needed for the stabilization of a jet flame than that for p_EX/p_A larger than 2.45 and that when closed to the ideal expansion (p_EX/p_A = 1), the mass flow rate for stable flame became maximum. In addition, it was observed that the lift-off length of stable flames followed with sequential shock cell structures were almost the same when the minimum cross-section area of used nozzles was constant. However, when hydrogen jet had a shock structure with single Mach disk, the lift-off lengths and the minimum mass flow rate required for the stable jet flame were decreasing with the decrease of the cross-sectional area ratio of the nozzle exit to inlet.     

Research on the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement in microchannel heat sinks with micropin fins

In this paper, the pressure drop and heat transfer features of a microchannel applying micropin fins are investigated by numerical simulations and experiments. The microchannel, which is 20-mm long, 2.7-mm wide, and 0.3-mm deep, is fabricated with copper and consisted of staggered diamond micropin fins. The visualization experiments, by means of the advanced technology micro-particle image velocimetry (PIV), are conducted to discuss the mechanism of heat transfer by analysing the flow regimes. Meanwhile, 3D-coupled numerical simulations are applied for the combination with experiments in this research. It is found that the vortex-wake flow is stable at Reynolds number (Re) = 0 to 300, and a steady recirculating zone can be observed in the wake, where a pair of symmetrical vortices is formed. All the time, the vortex-wake flow is unstable at Re = 300 to 650. Under this situation, it is due to the decrease of vorticity that the Nusselt number (Nu) is not significantly increased as it was expected. Thus, when Nu in the pin fin microchannel is predicted, the vorticity should be considered as well as turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Furthermore, comparative study was carried out based on the mechanism proposed in this study among three kinds of microchannel with different fins, including staggered circular pin fins (CPF), square pin fins (SPF), and diamond pin fins (DPF).     

Experimental and numerical investigation of a direct injection spark ignition hydrogen engine for heavy-duty applications

The H₂ internal combustion engine is gaining increasing interest especially for commercial vehicles. Regarding the optimization of the combustion process, results of experimental investigations on a H₂ heavy-duty single-cylinder engine in combination with numerical 3D-CFD investigations are presented. In addition to a Direct Injection (DI) Spark Ignited (SI) configuration, Port Fuel Injection (PFI) is explored to provide a reference with near homogeneous cylinder charge. The main objective is to assess a 3D-CFD-RANS framework based on ECFM and state-of-the art sub-models to describe the most important phenomena occurring in H₂ spark ignition engines and to support the experimental analysis. Experimental results show that the PFI configuration provides efficiency and emissions benefits at the expense of volumetric efficiency. The proposed CFD model demonstrates the ability to successfully simulate different engine operating conditions for both PFI and DI systems. In particular, it is shown that the charge stratification typical for DI systems is not beneficial for the studied configuration as it increases wall heat losses and NOx formation.     

磨矿介质对钼精矿碳含量影响研究

分析研究了低铬合金铸球和复相球墨铸球中碳的赋存状态及其对普通钼精矿、57钼精矿和二硫化钼粉碳含量的影响,指出用浮选法生产低碳57钼精矿,一段磨矿介质不宜使用复相球墨铸球.