Numerical analysis of the onset of droplet entrainment in annular two-phase flow by hybrid method

A particle-grid hybrid method for simulating the onset of droplet entrainment is described. The air and liquid phases are expressed by grid and particle separately. The effects of surface tension and wall adhesion are calculated by the continuum surface force model. The fluid film variation and the droplet disengaging process are analyzed. The onset of entrainment criterion is obtained which has a good agreement with the correlation of Ishii and Grolmes (AIChE J., 21, 308–318). The influences of surface tension and gas phase density on the criterion are also studied. Several simulation flow fields are given for illustrating the efficiency of the method.     

Safety analysis of a supercritical-pressure water-cooled fast reactor under supercritical pressure

The supercritical-pressure water-cooled fast reactor (SWFR) is a fast spectrum supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) studied by the University of Tokyo. The SWFR is designed as a two-pass core with an outlet temperature 500 °C. The SWFR has fuel channels cooled by downward flow, higher power density, and smaller coolant density reactivity feedback compared with Super LWR. This paper describes the safety analyses of abnormal events for the SWFR. SPRAT-F code is used for the safety analysis at supercritical pressure considering the downward flow cooled seed fuel channel. This code is based on a 1-D node junction model with point kinetics and decay heat calculations. Flow redistribution among parallel paths is calculated by pressure-loss balance and momentum conservation. The initiating events are selected from those of LWRs. For the safety analysis, nine abnormal transients and four accidents are selected with considering types of abnormality. By the numerical analyses, it was found that the loss of flow events can be mitigated by the “water source” effect of the downward flow blanket channels in the abnormal transients and accidents. All the abnormal events satisfy the criteria with margin.     

Numerical Simulation on Collapse of Vapor Bubble Using Particle Method

In this paper, the collapse of a void bubble filled with vapor content is numerically investigated using a novel moving particle semi-implicit with meshless advection by flow-directional local grid (MPS-MAFL) method. The interfacial velocity, collapse time, bubble shape variation, peak pressure, rebound bubble radius, and other interesting parameters were obtained and are discussed profoundly. The vapor bubble undergoes several cycles of oscillation with reduced amplitude during the whole collapse process, which is similar to cavitation bubble collapse. The computational results show that the bubble collapse time is linearly proportional to the initial bubble size, which agrees with the Rayleigh equation. The minimum rebound bubble radius ratio is less affected by initial bubble size for a large bubble. Comparison work was also conducted against experimental data by Board and Kimpton. The comparison revealed that the MPS method supplied with an adiabatic compression assumption for vapor content is more suitable to evaluate the collapse behaviors of a low-pressure vapor bubble. This work is helpful for further application of the moving particle semi-implicit with meshless advection using flow-directional local grid (MPS-MAFL) method to solving complicated bubble dynamics.     

Novel potential-function-based control scheme for non-holonomic multi-agent systems to prevent the local minimum problem

In this paper, we consider a control problem of a non-holonomic multi-agent system. We assume that agents and obstacles are in a circular shaped work area. We propose a novel potential-function-based control scheme that drives agents from the initial to the goal configuration while avoiding collision with other agents, obstacles, and the boundary of the work area. The control scheme enables agents to avoid being trapped at local minima by forcing them to exit from the regions that may contain local minima. A numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed control scheme.     

Devulcanization of nitrile butadiene rubber in nitrobenzene

Sulfur‐crosslinked nitrile butadiene rubber (s‐NBR) was found to be devulcanized when it was heated with nitrobenzene at 200°C for 3 h. The tetrahydrofuran (THF)‐soluble fraction from s‐NBR heated with nitrobenzene was purified by reprecipitation with THF/n‐hexane, chloroform/n‐hexane, and THF/n‐hexane systems and was then characterized by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ¹H‐NMR, gel permeation chromatography, dynamic thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (DTA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). FTIR and ¹H‐NMR results revealed that the THF‐soluble fraction contained aromatic rings derived from nitrobenzene. Furthermore, the molecular weight of the THF‐soluble fraction was much lower than that of the parent noncrosslinked poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐butadiene). Although the weight loss of THF‐soluble fraction began at a lower temperature than that of the nonheated original nitrile butadiene rubber, the residual weight at 700°C tended to be higher for the former. This tendency became more marked with increasing time of heat treatment with nitrobenzene. The DSC‐determined glass‐transition temperature of the THF‐soluble fraction was higher than that of the original s‐NBR. To elucidate the devulcanization mechanism, we investigated two types of model reactions; one was the reaction of diphenyl disulfide with nitrobenzene, and the other was the reaction of polybutadiene with nitrobenzene. The former reaction, carried out at 250°C in diphenyl ether, yielded diphenyl sulfide with a loss of diphenyl disulfide and nitrobenzene. The use of a higher molar ratio of nitrobenzene to diphenyl disulfide resulted in a depression of diphenyl sulfide formation. The reaction of p‐chloronitrobenzene with diphenyl disulfide also gave diphenyl sulfide. The reaction of polybutadiene with nitrobenzene at 200°C resulted in the backbone scission of the polymer. The THF‐soluble solid product of the latter model reaction was found by FTIR and ¹H‐NMR to contain aromatic rings derived from nitrobenzene. The devulcanization mechanism is discussed on the basis of a comparison of the results of the model reactions with those of the s‐NBR devulcanization. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 3342–3353, 2004     

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of La(Sr)Ga(Mg)O3−δ for electrolyte of solid oxide fuel cells

This paper describes self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) of an electrolyte for solid oxide fuel (SOFC), in comparison to a conventional solid-state reaction method (SRM). Doped-lanthanum gallate: La_0.9Sr_0.1Ga_0.8Mg_0.2O_3−δ (LSGM9182) and LSGM9173 as the SOFC electrolyte, was prepared by the SHS and sintered at different temperatures, for measuring the electrical conductivity of the sintered LSGM and the power generating performance at 1073 K, in comparison to the SRM. In the SHS, the LSGM powders with smaller size were obtained and easily sintered at the 100 K-lower temperature, 1673 K, than in the SRM. Most significantly, the electrical conductivity of the sintered LSGM9182 was as high as 0.11 S cm⁻¹ and its maximum power density was a value of 245 mW cm⁻² in the cell configuration of Ni/LSGM9182 (0.501 mm in thickness)/Sm_0.5Sr_0.5CoO₃. The conclusion was that the proposed SHS-sintering method with many benefits of minimizing the energy requirement and the processing time in the production, easing temperature restriction for the sintering, and improving the electrolyte performance up to a conventional level is practicable for producing the LSGM-electrolyte of SOFC at an intermediate-temperature application.     

Effect of Ageing of Pipe and Lining Materials on Elemental Composition of Suspended Particles in a Water Distribution System

Water samples collected from a drinking water supply system were assessed for elemental composition (Al, Si, Ca, Mn, Fe and Zn) of suspended particles. Particulate Fe, Mn and Al concentrations were significantly correlated even though their origins are considered to be different. The results of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis revealed that elemental compositions can vary according to pipe and lining materials and service ages. Differences in concentrations of the particulate elements were calculated between upstream and downstream sites and then subjected to further PCA. In PC1, Fe, Mn and Al exhibited high factor loadings, whereas only Ca was a high contributor for PC2. This implies that ageing-related corrosion and degradation of mortar lining can affect the elemental composition of suspended particles in water distribution systems. We concluded that the elemental composition of suspended particulates can be used to detect ageing pipes in water distribution systems.     

Screening and Analysis of Spices with Ability to Suppress Verocytotoxin Production by Escherichia coli O157

ABSTRACT:  To reduce the amounts of verocytotoxin (VT) produced by  Escherichia coli  O157:H7, various spices were screened for their ability to suppress VT production. Extracts of these spices were prepared with 70% ethyl alcohol. When  E. coli  O157:H7 cells were grown to the stationary phase at 37 °C in Luria-Bertani medium supplemented with 0.02% allspice extract, the production of both VT1 and VT2 was significantly reduced. Neither growth inhibition nor a delay in the lag phase was observed when the cells were cultured in the presence of 0.02% allspice extract. An active component of the allspice extract was purified by HPLC and was identified as eugenol. When we examined the suppressive effect of eugenol on VT production by  E. coli  O157:H7, the amounts of both intracellular and extracellular VTs were found to decrease with an increase in eugenol concentration. Our results suggest that eugenol is useful for reducing the virulence of  E. coli  O157:H7.