Understanding projectile acceleration.

Throwing and catching balls or other objects is a generally highly practiced skill; however, conceptual as well as perceptual understanding of the mechanics that underlie this skill is surprisingly poor. In 5 experiments, we investigated conceptual and perceptual understanding of simple ballistic motion. Paper-and-pencil tests revealed that up to half of all participants mistakenly believed that a ball would continue to accelerate after it left the thrower's hand. Observers also showed a remarkable tolerance for anomalous trajectory shapes. Perceptual judgments based on graphics animations replicated these erroneous beliefs for shallow release angles. Observers' tolerance for anomalies tended to decrease with their distance from the actor. The findings are at odds with claims of the naive physics literature that liken intuitive understanding to Aristotelian or medieval physics theories. Instead, observers seem to project their intentions to the ball itself (externalization) or even feel that they have power over the ball when it is still close. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental study on the air/water counter-current flow limitation in a model of the hot leg of a pressurized water reactor

An experimental investigation on the air/water counter-current two-phase flow in a horizontal rectangular channel connected to an inclined riser has been conducted. This test-section representing a model of the hot leg of a pressurized water reactor is mounted between two separators in a pressurized experimental vessel. The cross-section and length of the horizontal part of the test-section are (0.25 m × 0.05 m) and 2.59 m, respectively, whereas the inclination angle of the riser is 50°. The flow was captured by a high-speed camera in the bended region of the hot leg, delivering a detailed view of the stratified interface as well as of dispersed structures like bubbles and droplets. Countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL), or the onset of flooding, was found by analyzing the water levels measured in the separators. The counter-current flow limitation is defined as the maximum air mass flow rate at which the discharged water mass flow rate is equal to the inlet water mass flow rate.From the high-speed observations it was found that the initiation of flooding coincides with the formation of slug flow. Furthermore, a hysteresis was noticed between flooding and deflooding. The CCFL data was compared with similar experiments and empirical correlations available in the literature. Therefore, the Wallis-parameter was calculated for the rectangular cross-sections by using the channel height as length, instead of the diameter. The agreement of the CCFL curve is good, but the zero liquid penetration was found at lower values of the Wallis parameter than in most of the previous work. This deviation can be attributed to the special rectangular geometry of the hot leg model of FZD, since the other investigations were done for pipes.     

Experimental CFD grade data for stratified two-phase flows

Stratified two-phase flows were investigated at two test facilities with horizontal test-sections. For both, rectangular channel cross-sections were chosen to provide optimal observation possibilities for the application of optical measurement techniques. In order to show the local flow structure, high-speed video observation was applied, which delivers the high-resolution in space and time needed for CFD code validation.The first investigations were performed in the Horizontal Air/Water Channel (HAWAC), which is made of acrylic glass and allows the investigation of air/water co-current flows at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. At the channel inlet, a special device was designed for well-defined and adjustable inlet boundary conditions. For the quantitative analysis of the optical measurements performed at the HAWAC, an algorithm was developed to recognise the stratified interface in the camera frames. This allows to make statistical treatments for comparison with CFD calculation results. As an example, the unstable wave growth leading to slug flow is shown from the test-section inlet. Moreover, the hydraulic jump as the quasi-stationary discontinuous transition between super- and subcritical flow was investigated in this closed channel. The structure of the hydraulic jump over time is revealed by the calculation of the probability density of the water level. A series of experiments show that the hydraulic jump profile and its position from the inlet vary substantially with the inlet boundary conditions due to the momentum exchange between the phases.The second channel is built in the pressure chamber of the TOPFLOW test facility, which is used to perform air/water and steam/water experiments at pressures of up to 5.0 MPa and temperatures of up to 264 °C, but under pressure equilibrium with the vessel inside. In the present experiment, the test-section represents a flat model of the hot leg of the German Konvoi pressurised water reactor scaled at 1:3. The investigations focus on the flow regimes observed in the region of the elbow and of the steam generator inlet chamber, which are equipped with glass side walls. An overview of the experimental methodology and of the acquired data is given. These cover experiments without water circulation, which can be seen as test cases for CFD development, as well as counter-current flow limitation experiments, representing transient validation cases of a typical nuclear reactor safety issue.     

Experimental and theoretical studies of thermal conductivity,viscosity and heat transfer coefficient of titania and alumina nanofluids

Thermal conductivity, viscosity and heat transfer coefficient of water-based alumina and titania nanofluids have been investigated. The thermal conductivity of alumina nanofluids follow the prediction of Maxwell model, whilst that of titania nanofluids is slightly lower than model prediction because of high concentration of stabilisers. None of investigated nanofluids show anomalously high thermal conductivity enhancement frequently reported in literature. The viscosity of alumina and titania nanofluids was higher than the prediction of Einstein–Batchelor model due to aggregation. Heat transfer coefficients measured in nanofluids flowing through the straight pipes are in a very good agreement with heat transfer coefficients predicted from classical correlation developed for simple fluids. Experimental heat transfer coefficients in both nanofluids as well as corresponding wall temperatures agree within ±10% with the values obtained from numerical simulations employing homogeneous flow model with effective thermo-physical properties of nanofluids. These results clearly shows that titania and alumina nano-fluids do not show unusual enhancement of thermal conductivity nor heat transfer coefficients in pipe flow frequently reported in literature.     

Unsteady response of hydrogen and methane flames to pressure waves

Recent measurements of the direct response of premixed hydrocarbon flames to acoustic pressure fluctuations have shed doubt on the validity of analytical models that use irreversible one-step chemistry (Wangher et al., 2008) [1], and suggest that more realistic chemical kinetic models are needed to fully describe the unsteady dynamics of premixed flames. In this paper we present experimental results and numerical simulations for planar hydrogen flames which have simpler chemical kinetics than hydrocarbon flames. The simulations employ detailed chemical kinetics, including OH¹ chemiluminescence chemistry, so that the validity of using the emission from the excited OH¹ radical as a marker of the reaction rate can be assessed. By comparing our numerical results with measurements on hydrogen, and with previous measurements on methane, we show that OH¹ chemiluminescence does not always provide a reliable measure of heat release rate in the presence of a pressure driven interaction. Finally, our results are compared to the predictions of an analytical model for two-step chemistry with a chain-branching and a chain-breaking reaction (Clavin and Searby, 2008) [2]. We conclude that multi-step chemistry must be taken into account when evaluating the unsteady response of flames to pressure waves.     

Gas pressure measurements during continuous hot pressing of particleboard

Knowledge about the development of the internal gas pressure during hot pressing of wood-based composites is important for the optimization of panel properties and production speed. The gas pressure heavily affects the thermodynamic conditions inside the wood furnish mat, and a too high maximum value at press opening might cause an impairment of the panel properties. In this paper, gas pressure and temperature measurements inside a particle mat while passing through a continuous hot press are presented for the first time. The measurements were performed with a transportable system, consisting of a steel tube attached to a miniature pressure transducer and a data logger. The particleboards had a target thickness of mainly 16 mm, but also of 28 mm and 38 mm, respectively. The measurements show a distinct horizontal gas pressure distribution in both directions, in production direction and across the mat’s width. In contrast, cross-sectional gas pressure gradients were only visible inside the panels after leaving the press. By comparing the gas pressure curves measured for particleboard with those for medium density fiberboard (MDF), characteristic differences became evident. Overall, the gas pressure is higher in MDF compared to particleboard. Finally, a comparison between the gas pressure levels measured for three different panel thicknesses showed a clear relation between panel thickness and gas pressure, with a decreasing panel thickness resulting in an increase in gas pressure. The results of this paper will contribute to our understanding about the events inside wood furnish mats during continuous hot pressing.     

Processing and flexural properties of surface reinforced flat pressed WPC panels

While extrusion and injection molding are the common technologies to produce wood-plastic composites (WPC), pressing may be an alternative, particularly when flat products are striven for. In this study, flat pressed WPC panels were surface-reinforced by two different types of thermoplastic face layers to improve flexural properties. The two face materials applied were a commingled fabric made of glass and polypropylene filaments (TWINTEX^®) and a glass fabric reinforced polypropylene laminate (S-TEX^®). Combination of face layers and WPC panels was achieved in a single and a two stage flat pressing process. Besides studying the effects of reinforcing material and number of process stages, the influence on flexural properties of the reinforced panels was identified. Unreinforced WPC panels were tested for comparison. The reinforced WPC panels exhibited greatly improved flexural properties, with MOE (MOR) values up to nearly 10,000 N/mm² (90 N/mm²).     

Defect Imaging in Laser Diodes by Mapping Their Near-Infrared Emission

We report additional infrared (IR) emission bands at about 1.0 eV and 1.4 eV from GaAs-based diode lasers that have their primary emission at 808 nm (1.53 eV). Four long-wavelength bands are observed. They are assigned to bandtail-related luminescence from the quantum wells (QW) as well as to interband- and deep-level-related luminescences from the GaAs substrates. Thermal radiation is detected below 0.4 eV as well. By using a thermocamera, the defect-related emission was mapped for different types of high-power diode lasers. The mechanisms causing enhanced IR emission from the devices and potential applications of this type of monitoring are addressed.     

Multiferroic Clusters: A New Perspective for Relaxor‐Type Room‐Temperature Multiferroics

Multiferroics are promising for sensor and memory applications, but despite all efforts invested in their research no single‐phase material displaying both ferroelectricity and large magnetization at room‐temperature has hitherto been reported. This situation has substantially been improved in the novel relaxor ferroelectric single‐phase (BiFe_0.9Co_0.1O₃)_0.4–(Bi_1/2K_1/2TiO₃)_0.6, where polar nanoregions (PNR) transform into static‐PNR as evidenced by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and simultaneously enable congruent multiferroic clusters (MFC) to emerge from inherent strongly magnetic Bi(Fe,Co)O₃ rich regions as verified by magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The material's exceptionally large Néel temperature T_N = 670 ± 10 K, as found by neutron diffraction, is proposed to be a consequence of ferrimagnetic order in MFC. On these MFC, exceptionally large direct and converse magnetoelectric (ME) coupling coefficients, α ≈ 1.0 × 10^?5 s m^?1 at room‐temperature, are measured by PFM and MFM, respectively. It is expected that the non‐ergodic relaxor properties which are governed by the Bi_1/2K_1/2TiO₃ component to play a vital role in the strong ME coupling, by providing an electrically and mechanically flexible environment to MFC. This new class of non‐ergodic relaxor multiferroics bears great potential for applications. Especially the prospect of a ME nanodot storage device seems appealing.