Modeling Intermittent Drying of Wood under Rapidly Varying Temperature and Humidity Conditions with the Lumped Reaction Engineering Approach (L-REA)

For improving product quality and minimizing energy consumption during drying, intermittent drying is often recommended. The mathematical models that are used to describe intermittent drying are usually transport phenomena based, complex models. In this study, the lumped reaction engineering approach (L-REA) is implemented to model wood drying under rapid periodically changed drying air temperature and humidity with high number of cycles of intermittency. The equilibrium activation energy (ΔE _v,b ), an important parameter for REA approach, is evaluated according to the corresponding drying air temperature and humidity in each drying section. The results of modeling suggest the L-REA works well with the experimental data. The simplicity of the L-REA is obvious and is hoped to be used in an industrial setting more readily. The L-REA can be used for sustainable processing in industries to assist in energy audit and management.     

New Indices: An Application of Measuring the Aging Process of Some Asian Countries with Special Reference to Bangladesh

Commonly used aging measures such as the proportion of older people, the proportion of people aged less than 15 years, and the aging index (aged-child ratio) are based on a simple head count ratio (HCR). The HCR is a crude measure as it fails to give any idea about the tail distribution of the population age. Here an attempt has been made to develop new aging indices (age gap, age distribution sensitive and generalized) taking into account both tails of the population age distribution i.e., distribution of the population aged under fifteen and over sixty. These new indices have been applied to the Bangladesh population based on data collected from secondary sources: the international data base, US Census Bureau and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), for the years 1961, 1981 and 2001 and for some selected Asian countries for 1960, 1980 and 2000 using data from the international UN data base. Conventional aging indices have also been calculated and compared with new ones. Cross-country analysis has also been performed to study the sensitivity of aging indices. Analysis shows an increasing in the speed of aging and new indices indicate the process is faster than conventional ones. For example, relative increases in the speed of aging in 2001 compared to 1981 for conventional and new aging indices (aged-young age gap and aged-young distribution sensitive) are 28.97, 39.19 and 42.04% respectively. The findings also indicate that population aging at the peak is not clear but at the base it is evident. Again the aging process with respect to sex and urban-rural dwelling is also different. From cross-country analysis it is found that the new indices are more sensitive than conventional ones.     

Unsteady two-dimensional and axisymmetric MHD boundary-layer flows

Summary Nonsimilar solution of the unsteady laminar incompressible magneto-hydrodynamic boundary layer flow and heat transfer for an electrically conducting fluid over two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies in the presence of an applied magnetic field has been obtained. The effects of surface mass transfer, Joule heating and viscous dissipation are included in the analysis. Numerical computation have been carried out for the flow over a circular cylinder and a sphere using an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with a quasi-linearization technique. It is observed that magnetic field and suction cause the location of vanishing skin friction to move downstream while, the effect of injection is just the opposite. The effect of magnetic field on the skin friction is more pronounced as compared to its effect on the heat transfer. On the other hand, the heat transfer is strongly affected by the viscous dissipation and the effect is more for larte times. However, heat transfer responds comparatively less to the fluctuations of the free stream than the skin friction.     

Development of pitch-based carbon–copper composites

Carbon–copper composites with varying copper to carbon ratio of 0.66–1.5 (by weight) were developed from coal-tar-pitch-derived green coke (as such or modified with natural graphite) as carbon source and electrolytic grade copper powder at different heat treatment temperatures (HTTs) of 1000–1400 °C. The physical, mechanical, and electrical properties differ depending upon the HTT and also on copper to carbon ratio (Cu/C). The composites prepared at HTT of 1100 °C having Cu/C ratio of 0.66 and 0.9 exhibited a high bending strength of 150 and 140 MPa, bulk density of 2.63 and 2.81 gm/cm³, electrical resistivity of 1.6 and 0.96 m Ω cm and shore hardness of 88 and 84, respectively, in spite of well-known inadequate wettability between copper and carbon. Increasing the temperature from 1100 °C for processing of the composites deteriorated the properties mainly due to the loss of copper through melting above 1100 °C as revealed by X-ray, scanning electron microscopy, thermal analysis and EDAX studies.     

Study of Au, Ni-(n)ZnSe Thin Film Schottky Barrier Junctions

Schottky barrier junctions of Al-doped n-type Zinc selenide (ZnSe) thin films of doping concentrations up to 9.7 × 10¹⁴ cm ^?3 have been fabricated with Au and Ni electrodes on glass substrates by sequential thermal evaporation. All of the junctions of different doping concentrations exhibited rectifying current-voltage characteristics with a non-saturating reverse current. From the current-voltage characteristics, the different junction parameters such as ideality factor, saturation current density, series resistance, etc., were measured. Both types of junctions were found to possess a high ideality factor and a high series resistance. The barrier heights of the junctions were measured from Richardson plots and found to be around 0.8 eV. The structures were found to exhibit a poor photovoltaic effect with a fill factor not greater than 0.4. The diode quality as well as the photovoltaic performance of the diodes were improved following a short heat treatment in vacuum.     

An Improved Pinchoff Equivalent Circuit Model for Determining PHEMT Model Parameters for Millimeterwave Application

An improved equivalent circuit model under pinchoff condition for extracting parasitic model parameters for Double Heterojunction δ-doped PHEMTs is presented. Good prediction for S parameters and noise performance are obtained up to 40GHz. A modified parameter extraction technique based on this new model was use to determine a PHEMT equivalent circuit model. Signification improvements of the accuracy of S parameters are obtained by using the new pinchoff model.     

Unsteady mixed convection flow of a thermomicropolar fluid on a long thin vertical cylinder

The unsteady laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow of a thermomicropolar fluid over a long thin vertical cylinder has been studied when the free stream velocity varies with time. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations with three independent variables governing the flow have been solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. The results show that the buoyancy, curvature and suction parameters, in general, enhance the skin friction, heat transfer and gradient of microrotation, but the effect of injection is just opposite. The skin friction and heat transfer for the micropolar fluid are considerably less than those for the Newtonian fluids. The effect of microrotation parameter is appreciable only on the microrotation gradient. The effect of the Prandtl number is appreciable on the skin friction, heat transfer and gradient of microtation.     

Forced convection along a longitudinal cylinder embedded in a saturated porous medium

The thermal boundary layer along an isothermal cylinder in a porous 3edium is studied numerically by a finite difference scheme and also using the method of extended perturbation series. The series in terms of the transverse curvature parameter ξ extended to seven terms and is subsequently improved by applying the Shanks transformation twice and thrice, respectively. Results for heat transfer characteristics are found in very good agreement.     

Effect of Alumina Reactivity on the Densification and Properties of Al2O3–Cr2O3 Refractories

Alumina‐chrome (Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃) refractories with Al₂O₃:Cr₂O₃ molar ratio 1:1 were synthesized in the temperature range of 1400–1700°C by conventional solid–oxide reaction route. The effect of different aluminas (viz., hydrated and calcined) on the densification, microstructure, and properties of Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃ refractories was investigated without changing the Cr₂O₃ source. The starting materials were analyzed to determine the chemical composition, mineralogy, density, surface area, and particle size. Sintered materials were characterized in terms of densification, phase assemblage, and mechanical strength at room temperature and at higher temperatures. Microstructural evolution at different sintering temperature was correlated with sintering characteristics. It can be concluded that the Al₂O₃–Cr₂O₃ refractories prepared with hydrated alumina as Al₂O₃ source show better densification and hot mechanical strength than corresponding calcined variety.