A computational fluid dynamic analysis of gas and particle flow in flame spraying

The flame spraying process, which is a common industrial thermal spraying application, has been analyzed by means of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The process used at the Volvo Aero Corporation for the coating of fan and compressor housings has been modeled. The process uses the Metco 6P torch (Metco, Westbury, NY), which ejects a mixture of acetylene and oxygen at high speed through a ring of 16 orifices to form the flame. A stream of argon gas flowing through an orifice in the center of the ring carries a powder of nickel-covered bentonite through the flame to the spray substrate. The torch is cooled by a flow of air through an outer ring of 9 orifices. The simulation emulated reality closely by including the individual inlets for fuel, cooling air, and injected particles. The gas combustion was simulated as a turbulent, multicomponent chemically reacting flow. The standard, two-equation k-ε turbulence model was used. The chemical reaction rates appeared as source terms in the species transport equations. They were computed from the contributions of the Arrhenius rate expressions and the Magnussen and Hjertager eddy dissipation model. The first simulations included several intermediate chemical substances whose predicted concentration agreed favorably with measurements. Later, more simplified simulations incorporated only the global chemical reaction involving the initial and the final products, with corrections to the thermal properties being made to account for the missing intermediaries. The gas velocity and temperature fields predicted by the later simulations compared satisfactorily to those predicted by the earlier, more elaborate, ones. Therefore, the final simulations, which incorporated injected particles, were conducted employing the simplified model with only the global reaction. An in-house finite difference code was developed to calculate particle properties. Allowance was made for elliptical shapes, phase changes, and internal heat transfer with regard to the composite material. The particle velocities and temperatures predicted by the final simulations compared fairly well with experimental results obtained with the optical DPV2000 system.     

Coordinate descent with arbitrary sampling I: algorithms and complexity†

We study the problem of minimizing the sum of a smooth convex function and a convex block-separable regularizer and propose a new randomized coordinate descent method, which we call ALPHA. Our method at every iteration updates a random subset of coordinates, following an arbitrary distribution. No coordinate descent methods capable to handle an arbitrary sampling have been studied in the literature before for this problem. ALPHA is a very flexible algorithm: in special cases, it reduces to deterministic and randomized methods such as gradient descent, coordinate descent, parallel coordinate descent and distributed coordinate descent—both in nonaccelerated and accelerated variants. The variants with arbitrary (or importance) sampling are new. We provide a complexity analysis of ALPHA, from which we deduce as a direct corollary complexity bounds for its many variants, all matching or improving best known bounds.     

Note: The intermodulation lockin analyzer

Nonlinear systems can be probed by driving them with two or more pure tones while measuring the intermodulation products of the drive tones in the response. We describe a digital lockin analyzer which is designed explicitly for this purpose. The analyzer is implemented on a field-programmable gate array, providing speed in analysis, real-time feedback, and stability in operation. The use of the analyzer is demonstrated for intermodulation atomic force microscopy. A generalization of the intermodulation spectral technique to arbitrary drive waveforms is discussed.     

The vehicle routing problem with restricted mixing of deliveries and pickups

The vehicle routing problem with deliveries and pickups is one of the main problems within reverse logistics. This paper focuses on an important assumption that divides the literature on the topic, namely the restriction that all deliveries must be completed before pickups can be made. A generalised model is presented, together with a mathematical formulation and its resolution. The latter is carried out by adopting a suitable implementation of the reactive tabu search metaheuristic. Results show that significant savings can be achieved by allowing a mixture of delivery and pickup loads on-board and yet not incurring delays and driver inconvenience.     

P distribution in different sediment fraction of a constructed wetland

The aim of this work was to study the accumulation and fractionation of P in the inlet and outlet sediment of a constructed wetland for the wastewater treatment of a metallurgic plant in Argentina. It was important to predict whether P could be released into the water again by changing environmental conditions or retained over time. P-fractionation was performed using a sequential extraction method. Sediment cores were sliced at depths of: 0-3; 3-7 and 7-10 cm. Sediment showed high pH values and anoxic conditions. In the inlet area, P was principally bound to the carbonate fraction, whereas in the outlet area, it was mainly bound in the residual fraction. This behavior was justified by the effluent composition, which is rich in Ca2+ and Fe3+ and presents high values of pH and conductivity. These conditions favor CaCO3 and Fe(OOH)n precipitation and the subsequent sorption of P to their surface. The sediment active layer involved in the exchange reactions was the superficial one (0-3 cm). The wetland is highly efficient in P retention. P was retained by sediment in fractions that will not release it to the water while chemical and environmental conditions of the system are maintained.     

Distributed Latency-Energy Minimization and interference avoidance in TDMA Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents Latency-Energy Minimization Medium Access (LEMMA), a new TDMA-based MAC protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), specially suited to extend the lifetime of networks supporting alarm-driven, delay-sensitive applications characterized by convergecast traffic patterns and sporadic traffic generation. Its cascading time-slot assignment scheme conciliates low end-to-end latency with a low duty-cycle, while supporting multi-sink WSN topologies. Unlike most of the current solutions, LEMMA’s time-slot allocation protocol makes decisions based on the interference actually experienced by the nodes, instead of following the simple but potentially ineffective n-hop approach. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the n-hop time-slot allocation in comparison with LEMMA, as well as to evaluate the performance of LEMMA against L-MAC, T-MAC and Low Power Listening. The results show that under the target scenario conditions, LEMMA presents lower interference between assigned time-slots and lower end-to-end latency, while matching its best contender in terms of energy-efficiency.     

Optimum design of long-span suspension bridges considering aeroelastic and kinematic constraints

Cable supported bridges are wind prone structures. Therefore, their aerodynamic behaviour must be studied in depth in order to guarantee their safe performance. In the last decades important achievements have been reached in the study of bridges under wind-induced actions. On the other hand, non-conventional design techniques such as sensitivity analysis or optimum design have not been applied although they have proved their feasibility in the automobile or aeronautic industries. The aim of this research work is to demonstrate how non-conventional design techniques can help designers when dealing with long span bridges considering their aeroelastic behaviour. In that respect, the comprehensive analytical optimum design problem formulation is presented. In the application example the optimum design of the challenging Messina Strait Bridge is carried out. The chosen initial design has been the year 2002 design proposal. Up to a 33% deck material saving has been obtained after finishing the optimization process.