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At least 379 records · Page 21

Degradation of the contrast of a short light pulse in a CPA system

We have calculated the effect of four-wave mixing of the main radiation pulse with the background radiation components on the value of the output radiation contrast in a chirped pulse amplification system of petawatt laser facilities. Formulae are presented that make it possible to quantify the contributions of two mechanisms, i.e. Kerr nonlinearity of the refractive index of the amplifying medium and gain saturation. For typical values of the nonlinear refractive index, both contributions are comparable. The possibility of mutual quenching of nonlinear contributions is noted. The influence of spectral filtering of radiation on the output pulse contrast is considered. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Humidified single-scattering albedometer (H-CAPS-PM SSA ): Design, data analysis, and validation

In this work, we report the development and validation of a new humidified aerosol single-scattering albedometer to quantify the effects of water uptake on submicrometer particle optical properties. The instrument simultaneously measures in situ aerosol light extinction ( σ ep ) and scattering ( σ sp ) using a cavity-attenuated phase shift-single scattering albedo particulate matter (PM) monitor (CAPS-PM SSA , Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, MA, USA). It retrieves by difference aerosol light absorption ( σ ap ) and directly quantifies aerosol single-scattering albedo (SSA), the aerosol “brightness.” We custom built a relative humidity (RH) control system using a water vapor-permeable membrane humidifier and coupled it to the CAPS-PM SSA to enable humidified aerosol observations. Our humidified instrument (H-CAPS-PM SSA ) overcomes problems with noise caused by mirror purge-flow humidification, heating, and characterizing cell RH. Careful angular truncation corrections in scattering, particularly for larger particles, were combined with empirical observations. Results show that the optimal operational size to be D p < 400 nm. The H-CAPS-PM SSA was evaluated with several pure single-component aerosols including ammonium sulfate ((NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 ), absorbing nigrosin, and levoglucosan, an organic biomass smoke tracer. The measured σ ep , σ sp , and the derived optical hygroscopicity parameter ( κ ) for size-selected ammonium sulfate are in good agreement with literature values. For dry size-selected nigrosin in the 100 < D p < 400 nm range, SSA values increased from ~0.3 to 0.65 with increasing D p . The enhancement in nigrosin σ ap at RH = 80% was a factor of 1.05–1.20 relative to dry conditions, with the larger particles showing greater enhancement. SSA increased with RH with the largest fractional enhancement measured for the smallest particles. For polydisperse levoglucosan, we measured an optical κ of 0.26 for both light extinction and scattering and negligible absorption. Our new instrument enables reliable observations of the effects of ambient humidity on mixed aerosol optical properties, particularly for light-absorbing aerosols whose climate forcing is uncertain due to measurement gaps.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

MHD modeling of shattered pellet injection in JET

Abstract Nonlinear 3D MHD simulations of shattered-pellet injection (SPI) in JET show prototypical SPI-driven disruptions using the M3D-C1 and NIMROD extended-MHD codes. Initially, radiation-driven thermal quenches are accelerated by MHD activity as the pellet crosses rational surfaces, leading to a radiation spike, global stochasticization of the magnetic field, and a complete thermal quench. Eventually, current quenches, preceded by a current spike are seen as the Ohmic heating becomes equal to the radiative cooling. The results are qualitatively similar for both a single monolithic pellet, pencil-beam model, and a realistic shatter to represent the SPI plume. A scan in viscosity from 500 to 2000 m 2 s −1 for MHD simulations finds that reducing viscosity increases MHD activity and decreases thermal quench time slightly. A realistic cloud of fragments modeling shows that mixed-D–Ne pellet travels deeper into the plasma core before the thermal quench. At the slow pellet speeds, the pellet is found to be moving slowly enough inward that even the 5% neon in the mixed pellet is enough to effectively radiate the thermal energy available. Radiation toroidal peaking is predicted to be at levels consistent with experimental observations and reduced as the pellet travels deeper into the plasma. These simulations lay the ground work for more-sophisticated validative and predictive modeling of SPI in JET using both M3D-C1 and NIMROD.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Quasisteady evolution of fast neutrino-flavor conversions

In astrophysical environments such as core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and binary neutron star mergers (BNSMs), neutrinos potentially experience substantial flavor mixing due to the refractive effects of neutrino self-interactions. Determining the survival probability of neutrinos in asymptotic states is paramount to incorporating flavor conversions’ effects in the theoretical modeling of CCSN and BNSM. Some phenomenological schemes have shown good performance in approximating asymptotic states of fast neutrino-flavor conversions (FFCs), known as one of the collective neutrino oscillation modes induced by neutrino self-interactions. However, a recent study showed that they would yield qualitatively different asymptotic states of FFC if the neutrino number is forced to evolve. It is not yet fully understood why the canonical phenomenological models fail to predict asymptotic states. In this paper, we perform detailed investigations through numerical simulations and then provide an intuitive explanation with a quasihomogeneous analysis. Based on the analysis, we propose a new phenomenological model, in which the quasisteady evolution of FFCs is analytically determined. The model also allows us to express the convolution term of spatial wave number as a concise form, which corresponds to useful information on analyses for the nonlinear feedback from small-scale flavor conversions to large-scale ones. Furthermore, our model yields excellent agreement with numerical simulations, which lends support to our interpretation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Short Chain Fatty Acids and Bacterial Taxa Associated with Reduced Salmonella enterica serovar I 4,[5],12:i:- Shedding in Swine Fed a Diet Supplemented with Resistant Potato Starch

Salmonella enterica serovar I 4,[5],12:i:- is a foodborne pathogen of concern because many isolates are multidrug-resistant (resistant to ≥3 antimicrobial classes) and metal tolerant. In this study, three in-feed additives were individually tested for their ability to reduce Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- shedding in swine: resistant potato starch (RPS), high amylose corn starch, and a fatty acid blend, compared with a standard control diet over 21 days. Only RPS-fed pigs exhibited a reduction in Salmonella fecal shedding, different bacterial community compositions, and different cecal short chain fatty acid (SCFA) profiles relative to control animals. Within the RPS treatment group, pigs shedding the least Salmonella tended to have greater cecal concentrations of butyrate, valerate, caproate, and succinate. Additionally, among RPS-fed pigs, several bacterial taxa (Prevotella_7, Olsenella, and Bifidobacterium, and others) exhibited negative relationships between their abundances of and the amount of Salmonella in the feces of their hosts. Many of these same taxa also had significant positive associations with cecal concentrations of butyrate, valerate, caproate, even though they are not known to produce these SCFAs. Together, these data suggest the RPS-associated reduction in Salmonella shedding may be dependent on the establishment of bacterial cross feeding interactions that result in the production of certain SCFAs. However, directly feeding a fatty acid mix did not replicate the effect. RPS supplementation could be an effective means to reduce multidrug-resistant (MDR) S. enterica serovar I 4,[5],12:i:- in swine, provided appropriate bacterial communities are present in the gut.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Structure-informed clustering for population stratification in association studies

Background: Identifying variants associated with complex traits is a challenging task in genetic association studies due to linkage disequilibrium (LD) between genetic variants and population stratification, unrelated to the disease risk. Existing methods of population structure correction use principal component analysis or linear mixed models with a random effect when modeling associations between a trait of interest and genetic markers. However, due to stringent significance thresholds and latent interactions between the markers, these methods often fail to detect genuinely associated variants. Results: To overcome this, we propose CluStrat, which corrects for complex arbitrarily structured populations while leveraging the linkage disequilibrium induced distances between genetic markers. It performs an agglomerative hierarchical clustering using the Mahalanobis distance covariance matrix of the markers. In simulation studies, we show that our method outperforms existing methods in detecting true causal variants. Applying CluStrat on WTCCC2 and UK Biobank cohorts, we found biologically relevant associations in Schizophrenia and Myocardial Infarction. CluStrat was also able to correct for population structure in polygenic adaptation of height in Europeans. Conclusions: CluStrat highlights the advantages of biologically relevant distance metrics, such as the Mahalanobis distance, which captures the cryptic interactions within populations in the presence of LD better than the Euclidean distance.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Investigation of Rare Earth Element Extraction from North Dakota Coal-Related Feedstocks (Phase 2 Final Technical Report)

There were four major goals of this project: i) identify promising lignite or lignite-related feedstocks with total rare earth element content above 300 parts per million (ppm), ii) evaluate at the lab and bench-scale the extractability of the REE from the material, iii) determine the processing required to generate REE concentrates in excess of 2 wt%, iv) evaluate the economic feasibility of the process and develop a pathway for commercialization. In the Phase 1 study, work was primarily focused upon resource evaluation and labscale extractability of the REE, with a preliminary techno-economic assessment (TEA) conducted, whereas in the Phase 2 work, the extraction process was conducted at the bench scale, a method for cost-effective generation of higher purity mixed REE concentrates (up to 65%) was developed, and a refined TEA on the bench-scale data for a 1,000 kg coal processing test was conducted.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Review and Analysis of Heat Transfer Correlations For Horizontal Pseudocritical CO 2 Heat Exchanger Applications

There is significant interest in the development of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO 2 ) power cycles because of the potential for smaller and more energy efficient systems than a steam Rankine cycle. Heat exchanger designs typically use empirical correlations, but the applicability of these correlations near the CO 2 critical point is a potential issue. Though numerous correlations have been proposed in the literature, there are some disagreements when it comes to the accuracy. The current work recognizes the role of thermophysical properties, and its impacts on the heat transfer correlations and cycle efficiency. Heat transfer correlations proposed for horizontal flow inside circular pipes were analyzed with the help of numerical simulations. Steady state RANS simulations were performed using SST k-w turbulence model to evaluate the Nusselt number empirical correlations. It was found that the most of correlations (except Yoon) produced a Nusselt number that differed significantly with the one predicted numerically. Some of the correlations were developed for pure forced convection regime and as mentioned in Lin et al. do not account for mixed convection or free convection effects. Based on the limited observation, it appears that Yoon et al. predictions match well with the numerically predicted Nusselt Numbers. However, further analysis is required understand the applicability of various correlations and is contingent on accurate measurements or predictions of wall temperature profiles in the axial and the circumferential directions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Small field campaign: aerosol – ice formation closure pilot study. Final Report

Prediction of atmospheric ice formation from aerosol particles by heterogeneous nucleation represents one of the grand challenges in atmospheric science. Our insufficient predictive understanding of primary ice formation is the reason that climate models typically do not include heterogeneous ice nucleation with subsequent effects on climate uncertainty. Mixed-phase clouds, where supercooled water droplets and ice crystals coexist play globally an important role regulating climate. This is especially the case for the Arctic region that experiences the greatest warming due to climate change compared to other regions in the world. Immersion freezing initiated by ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in supercooled water droplets is recognized as the dominant primary ice formation pathway in mixed-phase cloud regimes. For this reason, it is crucial to evaluate our capability to predict immersion freezing for a given ambient aerosol population. The goal of this project is conducting a field-based pilot study at the U.S. DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility at Southern Great Plains (SGP) to evaluate our capability to predict the number concentration of aerosol particles that serve as INPs in the immersion freezing mode. Successful prediction of INP number concentrations is also termed “closure”. This field-observational approach represents a first-of-its kind attempt of an aerosol–ice formation closure study (AEROICESTUDY). Very few closure studies related to INPs have been conducted, and to our knowledge, none using robust size-resolved ambient aerosol composition measurements as a starting point. Achievement of aerosol–ice formation closure relies on our ability to characterize the ambient aerosol population with respect to particles size and composition and to determine INP number concentrations for specified freezing temperatures. This requires numerous online and offline instrumentation resulting in this pilot field campaign being a multi-institutional and community-collaborative effort. We chose the ARM SGP megasite for this first aerosol-ice formation closure pilot study due to its significant measurement capabilities available to obtain detailed physical characterization of the local aerosol population including size distribution, mass loading, and chemical composition of non-refractory aerosol particles. The overall objective of this project is to identify ice nucleation parameterizations that produce the most robust predictions of INP numbers and thus are best suited to be included in cloud and climate models. This objective includes the following goals for this field and laboratory-based project: i) What are the crucial aerosol physicochemical property measurements needed to accurately guide ice nucleation representations in models and long-term INP measurements? ii) What level of parameter details needs to be known to achieve aerosol–ice formation closure? iii) What are the leading causes for climate model bias in INP predictions? We found that the advances in our understanding of immersion freezing garnered over the last 20 years allowed us to yield partial and full closures of atmospheric immersion freezing from ambient aerosol particles. When the aerosol population is physicochemically complex and parameterizations for representative INP types are not yet available, we still struggle to accurately predict INP number concentrations. This project clearly demonstrates that with more laboratory and field measurements that are accompanied by particle composition analysis, the necessary datasets to achieve aerosol–ice formation closure for various locations will emerge, thus providing a robust foundation for guiding the representation of INPs in cloud and climate models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Enhancing Superionic Conductivity in Cluster-Based Sodium-Rich Antiperovskites

Sodium (Na) superionic conductors are the key to developing next-generation solid-state batteries with safety and low cost. However, most of the known Na-conductors exhibit limited ionic conductivities at room temperature (RT), hindering their practical applications. To meet the challenge, a series of Li- and Na-rich antiperovskite superionic conductors based on cluster ions (e.g. BH4- and BCl4-) have been theoretically developed [e.g. Fang et al. PNAS 114, 11046, 2017; ACS App. Mat. Inter. 11, 963, 2018]. These materials exhibit superior properties as solid electrolytes with greatly enhanced ionic conductivities at RT. One cluster-based solid electrolyte of such, Na3O(BH)4, has been successfully synthesized for the first time most recently and its measured RT ionic conductivity is well above 10-3 S/cm which is four orders of magnitude higher than that of its halogen counterparts Na3OX (X = Cl, Br, I) [Sun et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 5640, 2019]. In this work, we aim to further enhance the ionic conductivity of the Na-superionic conductor by using chemical mixing according to the size effect. The study further shows the advantage of utilizing cluster ions as building blocks, introducing additional degrees of freedom into tuning the properties of superionic conductors.

Fang, Hong↗

American WAKE Experiment (AWAKEN) Field Campaign Report

The American WAKE experimeNt (AWAKEN) was a large-scale, international collaborative field campaign funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office. Its main purpose was to gather detailed observations of wind farm-atmosphere interactions to improve understanding of wind farm physics, validate and improve simulation tools, lower uncertainties in wind farm modeling, understand environmental impacts, and ultimately reduce the cost and increase the reliability of wind energy systems. The campaign specifically focused on seven testable hypotheses that include characterizing wind turbine and wind farm wake effects, wind farm blockage, turbulent mixing, structural loading impacts, local environmental impacts, and testing wind farm control technologies. AWAKEN was a highly collaborative effort involving numerous agencies, including: DOE, through the Wind Energy Technologies Office and the Office of Science Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility, the U.S. Department of Commerce through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, many American universities, and internationally funded collaborators from Germany and Brazil.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Viscosity Analysis of Battery Electrode Slurry

We report the effects of component ratios and mixing time on electrode slurry viscosity. Three component quantities were varied: active material (graphite), conductive material (carbon black), and polymer binder (carboxymethyl cellulose, CMC). The slurries demonstrated shear-thinning behavior, and suspension properties stabilized after a relatively short mixing duration. However, micrographs of the slurries suggested their internal structures did not stabilize after the same mixing time. Increasing the content of polymer binder CMC caused the greatest viscosity increase compared to that of carbon black and graphite.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols in E3SMv1: historical changes, causality, decomposition, and parameterization sensitivities

The effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols (ERF aer ) is an important measure of the anthropogenic aerosol effects simulated by a global climate model. Here we analyze ERF aer simulated by the E3SMv1 atmosphere model using both century-long free-running atmosphere-land simulations and short nudged simulations. We relate the simulated ERF aer to characteristics of the aerosol composition and optical properties, and evaluate the relationships between key aerosol and cloud properties. In terms of historical changes from the year 1870 to 2014, our results show that the global mean anthropogenic aerosol burden and optical depth increase during the simulation period as expected, but the regional averages show large differences in the temporal evolution. The largest regional differences are found in the emission-induced evolution of the burden and optical depth of the sulfate aerosol: a strong decreasing trend is seen in the Northern Hemisphere high-latitude region after around 1970, while a continued increase is simulated in the tropics. Consequently, although the global mean anthropogenic aerosol burden and optical depth increase from 1870 to 2014, the ERF aer magnitude does not increase after around year 1970. The relationships between key aerosol and cloud properties (relative changes between preindustrial and present-day conditions) also show evident changes after 1970, diverging from the linear relationships exhibited for the period from 1870 to 2014. The ERF aer in E3SMv1 is relatively large compared to the recently published multi-model estimates; the primary reason is the large indirect aerosol effect (i.e., through aerosol-cloud interactions). Compared to other models, E3SMv1 features a stronger sensitivity of the cloud droplet effective radius to changes in the cloud droplet number concentration. Large sensitivity is also seen in the liquid cloud optical depth, which is determined by changes in both the effective radius and liquid water path. Aerosol-induced changes in liquid and ice cloud properties in E3SMv1 are found to have a strong correlation, as the evolution of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols affects both the liquid cloud formation and the homogeneous ice nucleation in cirrus clouds. The ERF aer estimates in E3SMv1 for the shortwave and longwave components are sensitive to the parameterization changes in both liquid and ice cloud processes. When the parameterization of ice cloud processes is modified, the top-of-atmosphere forcing changes in the shortwave and longwave components largely offset each other, so the net effect is negligible. This suggests that, to reduce the magnitude of the net ERF aer , it would be more effective to reduce the anthropogenic aerosol effect through liquid or mixed-phase clouds.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols in E3SM version 1: historical changes, causality, decomposition, and parameterization sensitivities

Abstract. The effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols (ERFaer) is an important measure of the anthropogenic aerosol effects simulated by a global climate model. Here we analyze ERFaer simulated by the E3SM version 1 (E3SMv1) atmospheric model using both century-long free-running atmosphere–land simulations and short nudged simulations. We relate the simulated ERFaer to characteristics of the aerosol composition and optical properties, and we evaluate the relationships between key aerosol and cloud properties. In terms of historical changes from the year 1870 to 2014, our results show that the global mean anthropogenic aerosol burden and optical depth increase during the simulation period as expected, but the regional averages show large differences in the temporal evolution. The largest regional differences are found in the emission-induced evolution of the burden and optical depth of the sulfate aerosol: a strong decreasing trend is seen in the Northern Hemisphere high-latitude region after around 1970, while a continued increase is simulated in the tropics. The relationships between key aerosol and cloud properties (relative changes between pre-industrial and present-day conditions) also show evident changes after 1970, diverging from the linear relationships exhibited for the period of 1870–1969. In addition to the regional differences in the simulated relationships, a reduced sensitivity in cloud droplet number and other cloud properties to aerosol perturbations is seen when the aerosol perturbation is large. Consequently, the global annual mean ERFaer magnitude does not increase after around 1970. The ERFaer in E3SMv1 is relatively large compared to the recently published multi-model estimates; the primary reason is the large indirect aerosol effect (i.e., through aerosol–cloud interactions). Compared to other models, E3SMv1 features large relative changes in the cloud droplet effective radius in response to aerosol perturbations. Large sensitivity is also seen in the liquid cloud optical depth, which is determined by changes in both the effective radius and liquid water path. Aerosol-induced changes in liquid and ice cloud properties in E3SMv1 are found to have a strong correlation, as the evolution of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols affects both the liquid cloud formation and the homogeneous ice nucleation in cirrus clouds (that causes a large effect on longwave ERFaer). As suggested by a previous study, the large ERFaer appears to be one of the reasons why the model cannot reproduce the observed global mean temperature evolution in the second half of the 20th century. Sensitivity simulations are performed to understand which parameterization and/or parameter changes have a large impact on the simulated ERFaer. The ERFaer estimates in E3SMv1 for the shortwave and longwave components are sensitive to the parameterization changes in both liquid and ice cloud processes. When the parameterization of ice cloud processes is modified, the top-of-model forcing changes in the shortwave and longwave components largely offset each other, so the net effect is negligible. This suggests that, to reduce the magnitude of the net ERFaer, it would be more effective to reduce the anthropogenic aerosol effect through liquid or mixed-phase clouds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Chemical Reactor Network Modeling of Ammonia Rich-Quench-Lean Combustion Using a Partially Stirred Reactor Approach

Ammonia is a promising alternative fuel, but its use is challenging due to low flammability and high nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Two-stage rich-quench-lean (RQL) combustion strategies have shown promise in reducing NOx emissions. This approach involves two stages: a rich stage that oxidizes part of the fuel and decomposes ammonia into hydrogen, and a lean stage that burns out the hydrogen and residual ammonia. Researchers used a chemical reactor network model to study the effects of heat loss and mixing on emissions performance. They found that heat loss and reduced mixing rates can lead to increased NOx emissions and N2O formation. The results will inform the development of optimized two-stage RQL combustors for ammonia, with a focus on minimizing NOx emissions and improving overall efficiency.

ammonia combustion↗

Undercooling minimization in ultrasound coupled DTA measurements of molten salts

Molten salts are ionic liquids that are used for the electrolytic pyroprocessing of metals and as heat transfer fluids in very high temperature processes. Recently, halide-based molten salt reactors (MSR) have gained momentum for high density and environmentally responsible electricity generation. The function of these reactors and their fuel cycle depend on a knowledge of the halide salt’s thermodynamic properties [1]. Therefore, high accuracy phase equilibria of MSR relevant base halide and actinide containing salts are needed. Modern thermal analysis of the phase transitions of halide salts is usually done during heating at relatively high scan rates with commercial devices. Normally such measurements are adequate for pure or pseudo-binary salts. However, as the number of components in the mixture increases, accurately resolving the liquidus becomes increasingly difficult. Reversing the scanning mode greatly increases the sensitivity of phase transition measurements but can decrease accuracy due to undercooling [2] — a common occurrence in molten halide systems [3]. This work presents the development of a differential thermal analysis (DTA) cell intended for use in radiological gloveboxes. Non-contact ultrasonic agitation of the halide salt is implemented to limit kinetic limitations on crystallization during cooling to minimize undercooling [4]. Measurements on halide salts are also presented to elucidate the effect of non-contact mixing on undercooling. Reference [1] S. Boyd and C. Taylor, “3 - Chemical fundamentals and applications of molten salts,” in Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy, T. J. Dolan, Ed., Woodhead Publishing, 2017, pp. 29–91. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-101126-3.00003-8. [2] K. Nitsch, A. Cihlár, and M. Rodová, “Molten state and supercooling of lead halides,” J. Cryst. Growth, vol. 264, no. 1, pp. 492–498, Mar. 2004, doi: 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2004.01.011. [3] L. Rycerz, “Practical remarks concerning phase diagrams determination on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry measurements,” J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., vol. 113, no. 1, pp. 231–238, Jul. 2013, doi: 10.1007/s10973-013-3097-0. [4] Md. H. Zahir, S. A. Mohamed, R. Saidur, and F. A. Al-Sulaiman, “Supercooling of phase-change materials and the techniques used to mitigate the phenomenon,” Appl. Energy, vol. 240, pp. 793–817, Apr. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.02.045.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Destabilization of binary mixing layer in supercritical conditions

Compressible mixing layer instabilities are of importance to a wide range of environmental and industrial applications. Past studies have focused on either ideal-gas or real-fluid thermodynamic regimes of single-species mixing layers. However, mixing layers of binary mixtures at supercritical conditions, commonly encountered in fuel injection systems, introduce additional complexities due to the added compositional degree-of-freedom. Moreover, the effect of strong variations in thermodynamic response functions across the Widom line on the binary mixing layer stability remains poorly understood. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine the coupling between the hydrodynamic instability and the real-fluid thermodynamics across the Widom line and its effects on the overall binary mixing layer dynamics. To this end, we develop a linear stability analysis of the full binary-species compressible transport equations coupled with the PC-SAFT equation of state. Analysis shows the existence of a novel instability mechanism that arises from juxtapositioning of the Widom-line transition and the hydrodynamic inflection point. This novel thermodynamically induced instability mechanism has the net effect of destabilizing the binary mixing layer at lowering supercritical conditions towards the critical pressure point. This is in contrast to previous stability analyses of supercritical single-species mixing layers, where increasing pressure destabilizes the flow due to its effect on reducing the density stratification. The discovered thermodynamically induced instability mechanism of binary mixing flows highlights the need for an extension of classical instability criteria to incorporate the effect of strong variations in the thermodynamic response functions across the Widom line on mixing layer instability.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Ground state properties of a spin-3/2 Fermi gas

Highlights: • A generalized spin-3/2 Fermi liquid is studied via diagram technique and Green’s function • The spin-mixing term strengthens ground state energy and effective mass Diagram technique is employed to study ground state properties of a generalized spin-3/2 Fermi gas which consists of more spin components and interacting channels than the spin-1/2 system. The interaction parameters are supposed to be spin-dependent, including a spin-mixing parameter which is absent in the spin-1/2 Fermi gas. The chemical potential, ground state energy and effective mass are calculated after elaborately dealing with the effective interaction and the self-energy. Contributions of each interaction term are derived within the second-order perturbation. It is found that the spin-mixing term always strengthens the ground state energy and effective mass.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗