Computation of unsteady viscous flow and aeroacoustic noise of cross flow fans

Time-accurate viscous flow solutions are sought for the prediction of unsteady flow characteristics and associated aeroacoustic blade tonal noise of a cross flow fan. The two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a moving coordinate are time-accurately solved by an unstructured finite-volume method on triangular meshes, and a sliding mesh technique is utilized at the interface between the domain rotating with blades and the stationary one for allowing the unsteady interactions. An accuracy assessment of the present method is made by comparing the fan performances with experimental data for a rotational speed at 1000 rpm and the Reynolds number 5300 based on blade tip speed and chord length. With the computed unsteady viscous flow solutions, sound pressure is predicted using Curle’s equation and narrow-band noise characteristics of three impellers with a uniform and two random pitch (type-A and -B) blades are compared by their sound pressure level spectra. Also, the frequency modulations of the blade passing frequency noise by random pitch fans are discussed.     

Performance of traveling-wave electroabsorption modulators depending on microwave properties of waveguides calculated using the FDTD method

We present a method to analyze electrical and optical characteristics of traveling-wave electroabsorption modulators (TW-EAMs) using the finite-difference time-domain method. We consider the interaction between electromagnetic fields and optical powers in waveguides in time domain to model electrical and optical behaviors of TW-EAMs. The effects of microwave properties of waveguides on modulation response and output optical power of TW-EAMs are analyzed by the proposed method. The characteristic impedance of TW-EAMs is more important than microwave index to obtain large modulation bandwidth of TW-EAMs when impedance matching techniques are not used. However, effective refractive index match between microwave and lightwave becomes important as the waveguide length increases. The microwave property closely related to the extinction ratio of output optical powers is the microwave loss. When impedance match is achieved by low-impedance termination, the velocity matching between microwave and lightwave becomes important.     

An approximate nonlinear observer with polynomial coordinatetransformation maps

The state equivalence condition to the nonlinear observer form is stated in terms of the exactness of one-form. Using the definition of the approximate closedness, we relax the equivalence condition, thereby obtaining a necessary and sufficient condition for the approximate observer error linearizability. This approximate observer theory extends the realm of applications. Another great advantage of this approximation method is that the coordinate transformation is directly obtainable as vectors of polynomials, while it is, in general, not possible with the existing method,     

Exact static element stiffness matrices of non‐symmetric thin‐walled curved beams

An evaluation procedure of exact static stiffness matrices for curved beams with non‐symmetric thin‐walled cross section are rigorously presented for the static analysis. Higher‐order differential equations for a uniform curved beam element are first transformed into a set of the first‐order simultaneous ordinary differential equations by introducing 14 displacement parameters where displacement modes corresponding to zero eigenvalues are suitably taken into account. This numerical technique is then accomplished via a generalized linear eigenvalue problem with non‐symmetric matrices. Next, the displacement functions of displacement parameters are exactly calculated by determining general solutions of simultaneous non‐homogeneous differential equations. Finally an exact stiffness matrix is evaluated using force–deformation relationships. In order to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of this method, displacements and normal stresses of cantilever thin‐walled curved beams subjected to tip loads are evaluated and compared with those by thin‐walled curved beam elements as well as shell elements. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study on a generalized parametric interpolator with real-time jerk-limited acceleration

The impossibility of exact arc length computation for ‘standard’ parametric curves such as Bézier/B-spline curves makes it difficult to generate a feedrate profile with desired accelerations in real-time. This paper presents a new recursive trajectory generation method that estimates an admissible path increment and determines the initiation of the final deceleration stage according to the distance left to travel estimated at every sampling time, resulting in exact feedrate trajectory generation through jerk-limited acceleration profiles for the parametric curves. The proposed approach allows the feedrate profile to be dynamically adjusted according to geometrical path constraints for the curved path. The simulation result has been also provided to illustrate the generation of smooth feedrate profile encompassing a sequence of mixed NC blocks including traditional linear and circular blocks.     

Qualitative estimation of camera motion parameters from the linear composition of optical flow

In this paper, we propose a new method for estimating camera motion parameters based on optical flow models. Camera motion parameters are generated using linear combinations of optical flow models. The proposed method first creates these optical flow models, and then linear decompositions are performed on the input optical flows calculated from adjacent images in the video sequence, which are used to estimate the coefficients of each optical flow model. These coefficients are then applied to the parameters used to create each optical flow model, and the camera motion parameters implied in the adjacent images can be estimated through a linear composition of the weighted parameters.We demonstrated that the proposed method estimates the camera motion parameters accurately and at a low computational cost as well as robust to noise residing in the video sequence being analyzed.     

Evaluation of fracture toughness degradation of CrMoV rotor steels based on ultrasonic nonlinearity measurements

The objective of this paper is to develop a nondestructive method for estimating the fracture toughness (K _IC) of CrMoV steels used as the rotor material of steam turbines in power plants. To achieve this objective, a number of CrMoV steel samples were heat-treated, and the fracture appearance transition temperature (FATT) was determined as a function of aging time. Nonlinear ultrasonics was employed as the theoretical basis to explain the harmonic generation in a damaged material, and the nonlinearity parameter of the second harmonic wave was the experimental measure used to be correlated to the fracture toughness of the rotor steel. The nondestructive procedure for estimating theK _IC consists of two steps. First, the correlations between the nonlinearity parameter and the FATT are sought. The FATT values are then used to estimateK _IC, using theK _IC versus excess temperature (i.e.,T-FATT) correlation that is available in the literature for CrMoV rotor steel.     

Development of advanced x-ray imaging crystal spectrometer utilizing a large area segmented proportional counter for KSTAR

An advanced x-ray imaging crystal spectrometer (XICS) for KSTAR tokamak has been developed by utilizing a segmented two dimensional (2D) position-sensitive multiwire proportional counter. The XICS for the KSTAR tokamak provides time-resolved measurements of the radial ion and electron temperature profiles, toroidal plasma rotation velocity, and ionization equilibrium. The segmented 2D detector with delay-line readout and supporting electronics has been adopted to improve the photon count rate capability. The current fabrication status of the XICS for the KSTAR tokamak and the first performance test results of the prototype segmented 2D detector are presented.     

NiFe (Oxy) Hydroxides Derived from NiFe Disulfides as an Efficient Oxygen Evolution Catalyst for Rechargeable Zn–Air Batteries: The Effect of Surface S Residues

A facile H₂O₂ oxidation treatment to tune the properties of metal disulfides for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity enhancement is introduced. With this method, the degree of oxidation can be readily controlled and the effect of surface S residues in the resulted metal (oxy)hydroxides for the OER is revealed for the first time. The developed NiFe (oxy)hydroxide catalyst with residual S demonstrates an extraordinarily low OER overpotential of 190 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm^?2 after coupling with carbon nanotubes, and outstanding performance in Zn–air battery tests. Theoretical calculation suggests that the surface S residues can significantly reduce the adsorption free energy difference between O* and OH* intermediates on the Fe sites, which should account for the high OER activity of NiFe (oxy)hydroxide catalysts. This work provides significant insight regarding the effect of surface heteroatom residues in OER electrocatalysis and offers a new strategy to design high‐performance and cost‐efficient OER catalysts.     

Plasmon Enhanced Fluorescence Based on Porphyrin–Peptoid Hybridized Gold Nanoparticle Platform

A porphyrin–peptoid‐hybridized silica‐coated gold nanoparticle is developed, which is inspired by the protein–chlorophyll ensemble found in photosynthetic antenna. In the natural antenna, chlorophylls are integrated into dense assemblies that are supported by frameworks of proteins, which ensure optimal pigment arrangement for effective light harvesting. In the subject platform, porphyrins are conjugated to the peptoid helix scaffold in a structurally well‐defined alignments and subsequently immobilized on the surface of nanoparticles. This prevents intermolecular aggregation among porphyrins and allows high resolution analysis of the effect of porphyrin configuration on the optical properties of the system. Interestingly, under the influence of plasmon from the gold nanoparticle core, the fluorescence of porphyrin is enhanced up to 24‐fold at the wavelength where the plasmon resonance matches the porphyrin excitation wavelength. In addition, differences in porphyrin configuration result in spectral modification of their fluorescence emissions. Particularly, the peptoid bearing two porphyrins at a distance of 6 Å shows the most significant alteration in fluorescence. The platform can facilitate extensive studies on the relationship between porphyrin arrangement design and their photophysical interaction in antenna complexes.