Combined buoyancy and viscous effects in liquid–liquid flows in a vertical pipe

This paper presents experimental and numerical results of interfacial dynamics of liquid–liquid flows when an immiscible core liquid is introduced into a continuous liquid flow. The fully developed flow model predicts multiple solutions of the jet diameter over a range of dimensionless numbers: flow rate ratio, viscosity ratio, Bond and Capillary numbers. Experiments have been carried out using Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) and Canola oil to investigate the realizability of the three possible solutions predicted by the fully developed flow model. The measured values of inner fluid radii agree very well with the lower branch of the three branched solution while deviating from the top branch beyond a critical flow ratio value. This deviation is attributed to the fact that the flow develops a non-axisymmetric solution at this critical point. Computational fluid dynamics simulations have also been performed to examine the developing core annular flow and to compare the analytical solution results of liquid jet radius. The results predicted by numerical simulations agree very well with both the lower and upper branches of solution predicted by the analytical theory.     

Effect of substrate temperature on the photoelectrochemical responses of Ga and N co-doped ZnO films

Ga–N co-doped ZnO thin films with reduced bandgaps were deposited on F-doped tin-oxide-coated glass by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures in mixed N₂ and O₂ gas ambient. We found that Ga–N co-doped ZnO films exhibited enhanced crystallinity when compared to undoped ZnO films grown under the same conditions. Furthermore, Ga–N co-doping ensured enhanced N-incorporation ZnO thin films as the substrate temperature is increased. As a result, Ga–N co-doped ZnO thin films exhibited much improved photoelectrochemical (PEC) response, compared to ZnO thin films. Our results therefore suggest that the passive co-doping approach could be a means to improve PEC response for bandgap-reduced wide-bandgap oxides through impurity incorporation.     

High-performance phosphate supported on HZSM-5 catalyst for dehydration of glycerol to acrolein

The purpose of this study is to increase acrolein yield and capability of coking resistance in the reaction of glycerol dehydration to acrolein by assembling metal phosphate supported on HZSM-5 catalyst.The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD,SEM,EDS,BET,NH3-TPD,CO2-TPD and Py-IR techniques.It was found that metal phosphate species were incorporated into the porous structure of HZSM-5 zeolites,thus influencing the surface and textural physico-chemical properties of the supporters.The alkaline-treated HZSM-5 catalyst promoted the dispersion of phosphate species on the carriers.Moreover,the amount of strong aridity was tremendously improved by adding the different metal hydrophosphates and the catalysts show high catalytic activity.In this present work,the Sn1/4H2PO4/HZSM-5 catalyst exhibited good performance in the catalytic activity and coking resistant ability,which resulted in a high acrolein yield of 83％ initially and acrolein yield of 68％ after 30 h.The aridity,especially the ratio of strong to weak acid,plays an important role in promoting acrolein yield and stability simultaneously.     

Containment capsule stresses for encapsulated phase change materials

The encapsulation of a phase change material to store thermal energy is considered here for concentrated solar power systems. The stress distribution in a spherical nickel shell of 250 μ thickness formed around a ball of zinc by the electroless deposition process and a stainless steel cylindrical shell containing zinc are considered. The effect of external forces and imperfections within the shell structure that could affect the deformation are also modeled. The aim of the simulations performed is to establish a suitable thickness for the encapsulating material. It is concluded that while the shell can deform and safely withstand the anticipated expansion of the zinc, the added effects from point loads caused by the weight of the surrounding encapsulated capsules and other possible imperfections in the capsule structure could cause failure. A three-dimensional finite element model is used to establish the stresses in cylinders of different aspect ratio caused by the expansion of zinc as it melts inside of the encapsulation. The amount of void space that must be left inside of the capsule, so that the expansion of the zinc during phase change and the increase in gas pressure inside of the vessel will not cause failure of the shell, is determined from simulations. Results indicate that the cylinder with welded ends could easily contain up to 86% of the initial volume full of zinc with only a very small amount of plastic deformation, less than 0.5% strain, corresponding to an internal pressure of 2.03 MPa.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of vortex‐induced flame propagation in a biomass furnace with tangential over fire registers

The tangentially fired furnaces have evolved because of rapid contacting of the fuel and air flame impingement, and the increased particulate residence time due to vortex motion. Tangentially fired units have a good record in being able to meet emission regulation on NOx as a result of their flexibility and the ability to control the heat release rate. Yet, the flow inside the tangentially fired furnaces is known to have its own peculiar aerodynamics; it is quite complicated in such a way that it is not easy to reach a satisfactory model to describe it. The drawbacks with the traditional tangentially fired furnaces are burner velocities. Low velocities are not suitable for fuels having high volatile contents, as ignition occurs in or near the burner causing slugging and distortion problems. Very high velocities on the other hand are undesirable as fuel particles can centrifuge out of the main combustion zone as unburnt carbon. The test boiler used in this work has tangential over fire registers located in the side walls, which are directed to form an imaginary circle at the centre to aid the suspension burning. The vortex formed by these jets, is then induced by the under grate air in reaching the higher levels in the furnace. In the test furnace, the fuel is not coming along with the tangential over fire air, but enters the furnace through the bagasse spreaders and carried by the distributor air. The combustion of bagasse and the propagation of the flame within the furnace are influenced by the tangential over fire air and the under grate air. In the present work, the furnace is simulated and analyzed for the propagation of flame and the patterns at various heights of the furnace supported by the measurements.     

Chemoselective Hydrogenation of the Olefinic Bonds Using a Palladium/Magnesium‐Lanthanum Mixed Oxide Catalyst

A palladium/magnesium‐lanthanum mixed oxide catalyst is found to be an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the chemoselective hydrogenation of olefinic double bonds in the presence of various functional groups. The catalyst was recovered by centrifugation and reused for several cycles with consistent activity and selectivity.     

Simultaneous nonrigid registration, segmentation, and tumor detection in MRI guided cervical cancer radiation therapy

External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) for the treatment of cancer enables accurate placement of radiation dose on the cancerous region. However, the deformation of soft tissue during the course of treatment, such as in cervical cancer, presents significant challenges for the delineation of the target volume and other structures of interest. Furthermore, the presence and regression of pathologies such as tumors may violate registration constraints and cause registration errors. In this paper, automatic segmentation, nonrigid registration and tumor detection in cervical magnetic resonance (MR) data are addressed simultaneously using a unified Bayesian framework. The proposed novel method can generate a tumor probability map while progressively identifying the boundary of an organ of interest based on the achieved nonrigid transformation. The method is able to handle the challenges of significant tumor regression and its effect on surrounding tissues. The new method was compared to various currently existing algorithms on a set of 36 MR data from six patients, each patient has six T2-weighted MR cervical images. The results show that the proposed approach achieves an accuracy comparable to manual segmentation and it significantly outperforms the existing registration algorithms. In addition, the tumor detection result generated by the proposed method has a high agreement with manual delineation by a qualified clinician.     

Structural and luminescence properties of RE (RE = Eu, Tb):(MgCa)2Bi4Ti5O20 ceramics

Rare-earth ions (Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺) activated magnesium calcium bismuth titanate [(MgCa)₂Bi₄Ti₅O₂₀] ceramics were prepared by conventional solid state reaction method for their structural and luminescence properties. By using XRD patterns, the structural properties of ceramic powders have been analyzed. Emission spectrum of Eu³⁺:(MgCa)₂Bi₄Ti₅O₂₀ ceramic powder has shown strong red emission at 615 nm (⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂) with an excitation wavelength λ_exci = 393 nm and Tb³⁺:(MgCa)₂Bi₄Ti₅O₂₀ ceramic powder has shown green emission at 542 nm (⁵D₄ → ⁷F₅) with an excitation wavelength λ_exci = 376 nm. In addition, from the measurements of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) results the morphology, structure and elemental analysis of these powder ceramics have been studied.     

Miscibility studies of sodium carboxymethylcellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol) blend membranes for pervaporation dehydration of isopropyl alcohol

Miscibility studies of sodium carboxymethylcellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol) (NaCMC/PVA) blends of different compositions (100/0, 80 : 20, 60 : 40, 50 : 50, 40 : 60, 20 : 80, and 0 : 100) were investigated using viscometric method. NaCMC, PVA, and their blend membranes were prepared by solution‐casting technique and were then crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA). The effect of blend composition on mechanical, swelling, and pervaporation results (flux and selectivity) was also investigated in this study. Attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) results showed that the blends are miscible over the entire studied composition range and further confirmed the crosslinking reaction with GA. FTIR studies reveal that the blends containing 50 : 50 (NaCMC/PVA) are an optimum miscible blend. Thermogravimetric analysis confirms that the thermal stability increased with increase in NaCMC content in NaCMC/PVA blend membrane. XRD and DSC showed a corresponding decrease in crystallinity and increase in melting point with increase in NACMC content, respectively. NaCMC/PVA blends of all the composition under study were used for dehydration of isopropyl alcohol at different compositions of IPA/water mixture (90 : 10, 87.5 : 12.5, 85 : 15, and 82.5 : 17.5) at 35°C. Swelling studies and PV results reveal that increase in NaCMC content in the blend leads to an increase in flux of water, whereas selectivity decreases. The optimum flux and selectivity were observed for the blend containing 50 : 50 NaCMC/PVA content at a feed ratio of 87.5 : 12.5 IPA/water. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011