This thesis presents pioneering experimental and numerical studies on three aspects of the combustion characteristics of lean premixed syngas/air flames, namely the laminar flame speed, extinction limit and flammability limit. It illustrates a new extinction exponent concept, which enriches the combustion theory. Above all, the book provides the following: a) a series of carefully measured data and theoretical analyses to reveal the intrinsic mechanisms of the fuel composition effect on the propagation and extinction of lean syngas/air flames; b) a mixing model and correlation to predict the laminar flame speed of multi-component syngas fuels, intended for engineering computations; c) a new "extinction exponent" concept to describe the critical effects of chemical kinetics on the extinction of lean premixed syngas/air flames; and d) the effects and mechanism of the dilution of incombustible components on lean premixed syngas/air flames and the preferential importance among the thermal, chemical and diffusion effects.

This thesis investigates the combustion chemistry of cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, and ethylcyclohexane on the basis of state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation photoionization mass spectrometry experiments, quantum chemistry calculations, and extensive kinetic modeling. It explores the initial decomposition mechanism and distribution of the intermediates, proposes a novel formation mechanism of aromatics, and develops a detailed kinetic model to predict the three cycloalkanes' combustion properties under a wide range of conditions. Accordingly, the thesis provides an essential basis for studying much more complex cycloalkanes in transport fuels and has applications in engine and fuel design, as well as emission control.

This book mainly introduces the research overview, research results, and follow-up prospects of “Key Basic Scientific Problems on Near-Space Vehicles”, a major research plan of National Natural Science Foundation of China (hereinafter referred to as the Plan). The Plan is the first systematic basic hypersonic research program in China. From its inception in 2007 to its successful completion in 2016, the Plan lasted nine years, funded a total of 173 projects, and the funding totaled 190 million yuan. From the perspective of major national needs and scientific discipline development, the book focuses on four key scientific issues: aerodynamics in a near-space flight environment; advanced propulsion theories and methods; ultralight materials/structures, thermal environment prediction and thermal protection; and intelligent autonomous control theories and methods for hypersonic vehicles. The book also demonstrates China’s systematic and innovative achievements in interdisciplinary theories and methods and innovative techniques, paving the way for a distinctively Chinese basic research framework and further breakthroughs of near-space hypersonic vehicles.

This book suggests a new common approach to the study of resonance energy transport based on the recently developed concept of Limiting Phase Trajectories (LPTs), presenting applications of the approach to significant nonlinear problems from different fields of physics and mechanics. In order to highlight the novelty and perspectives of the developed approach, it places the LPT concept in the context of dynamical phenomena related to the energy transfer problems and applies the theory to numerous problems of practical importance. This approach leads to the conclusion that strongly nonstationary resonance processes in nonlinear oscillator arrays and nanostructures are characterized either by maximum possible energy exchange between the clusters of oscillators (coherence domains) or by maximum energy transfer from an external source of energy to the chain. The trajectories corresponding to these processes are referred to as LPTs. The development and the use of the LPTs concept a re motivated by the fact that non-stationary processes in a broad variety of finite-dimensional physical models are beyond the well-known paradigm of nonlinear normal modes (NNMs), which is fully justified either for stationary processes or for nonstationary non-resonance processes described exactly or approximately by the combinations of the non-resonant normal modes. Thus, the role of LPTs in understanding and analyzing of intense resonance energy transfer is similar to the role of NNMs for the stationary processes. The book is a valuable resource for engineers needing to deal effectively with the problems arising in the fields of mechanical and physical applications, when the natural physical model is quite complicated. At the same time, the mathematical analysis means that it is of interest to researchers working on the theory and numerical investigation of nonlinear oscillations.

This immensely practical guide to PIV provides a condensed, yet exhaustive guide to most of the information needed for experiments employing the technique. This second edition has updated chapters on the principles and extra information on microscopic, high-speed and three component measurements as well as a description of advanced evaluation techniques. What's more, the huge increase in the range of possible applications has been taken into account as the chapter describing these applications of the PIV technique has been expanded.

This book provides a review of the latest advances in anion exchange membrane fuel cells. Starting with an introduction to the field, it then examines the chemistry and catalysis involved in this energy technology. It also includes an introduction to the mathematical modelling of these fuel cells before discussing the system design and performance of real-world systems. Anion exchange membrane fuel cells are an emerging energy technology that has the potential to overcome many of the obstacles of proton exchange membrane fuel cells in terms of the cost, stability, and durability of materials. The book is an essential reference resource for professionals, researchers, and policymakers around the globe working in academia, industry, and government.

This monograph presents a comprehensive treatment of analytical solutions to problems in the area of non-equilibrium evaporation and condensation processes. The book covers, among others, topics such as systems of conversation equations for molecular fluxes of mass, momentum and energy within the Knudsen layer, spherical growth of vapor bubbles in volumes of highly superheated liquid. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students alike.

The book presents high-quality papers presented at 3rd International Conference on Applications of Fluid Dynamics (ICAFD 2016) organized by Department of Applied Mathematics, ISM Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India in association with Fluid Mechanics Group, University of Botswana, Botswana. The main theme of the Conference is "Sustainable Development in Africa and Asia in context of Fluid Dynamics and Modeling Approaches". The book is divided into seven sections covering all applications of fluid dynamics and their allied areas such as fluid dynamics, nanofluid, heat and mass transfer, numerical simulations and investigations of fluid dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics flow, solute transport modeling and water jet, and miscellaneous. The book is a good reference material for scientists and professionals working in the field of fluid dynamics.

This book presents the latest findings on the subject of combustion optimization based on computational intelligence. It covers a broad range of topics, including the modeling of coal combustion characteristics based on artificial neural networks and support vector machines. It also describes the optimization of combustion parameters using genetic algorithms or ant colony algorithms, an online coal optimization system, etc. Accordingly, the book offers a unique guide for researchers in the areas of combustion optimization, NOx emission control, energy and power engineering, and chemical engineering.

This book provides a general formalism for the calculation of the spectral correlation function for the fluctuating electromagnetic field. The procedure is applied to the radiative heat transfer and the van der Waals friction using both the semi-classical theory of the fluctuating electromagnetic field and quantum field theory. Applications of the radiative heat transfer and non-contact friction to scanning probe spectroscopy are presented. The theory gives a tentative explanation for the experimental non-contact friction data. The book explains that radiative heat transfer and the van der Waals friction are largely enhanced at short separations between the bodies due to the evanescent electromagnetic waves. Particular strong enhancement occurs if the surfaces of the bodies can support localized surface modes like surface plasmons, surface polaritons or adsorbate vibrational modes. An electromagnetic field outside a moving body can also be created by static charges which are always present on the surface of the body due to inhomogeneities, or due to a bias voltage. This electromagnetic field produces electrostatic friction which can be significantly enhanced if on the surface of the body there is a 2D electron or hole system or an incommensurate adsorbed layer of ions exhibiting acoustic vibrations.

During heat treatment in dairy production, the rapid formation of heat-induced fouling deposits on the plant surface leads to reduced efficiency of heat transfer. Therefore, a regular cleaning process is required to soften the heat-induced protein deposits and then remove them from the plant surface. The mechanical property of the deposits is one of the key issues of the cleaning mechanisms since the non-fractured behaviour dominates the deformation of the fouling layer and the failure behaviour has a great impact on the cohesive removal of fouling deposits. Considering the complicated geometry of fouling deposits and their irregular distribution, indentation experiments were carried out on various kinds of protein deposits. The experimental results reveal the significant influence of the thickness of fouling deposits on their mechanical behaviour and the time-dependent nonlinear behaviour of the deposits. Furthermore, heat-induced whey protein gel was used as the model material for fouling deposits and the non-fractured and fracture behaviour was characterized using compression and wire cutting experiments, respectively. The material parameters identified using the inverse finite element method allow the prediction of fracture behaviour under localized external loads and provide a deeper insight into cohesive removal. To investigate the softening effect during caustic washing, tensile experiments were conducted on chemically treated and untreated whey protein gels. Adequate chemical degradation leads to a softer mechanical response and increased stress relaxation, making whey protein gels more flowable and more resistant to tensile deformation. The experimental results provide useful data on the failure behaviour of chemically treated whey protein gels.

The tropical zones are dominated by developing countries, which mainly face problematic environmental issues. Different than four-season countries, tropical countries have a continuous summer-like season and therefore they are rich in clean energy sources like solar and biomass. Hence, the mitigations of environment and energy issues in the tropics would require specific understanding and different approach to solutions. This book offers an assortment of studies on scenarios of environment as well as energy demand and power generation technologies in the tropics. Many of the countries within the tropics are highly populated, and this results in various problems related to the environment and energy. The demand for energy in these countries keeps increasing but concurrently there are also environmental issues that require serious attention. As the global concern on the environment is alarming today, the choice of power generation should be of the cleanest possible resource. This various reports on research activities carried out in the tropics on the aspect of environment and energy presented in this book are highly beneficial for those who like to see an improvement in the tropics with regard to environment and energy systems.

This book provides deep insight into the physical quantity known as chemical activity. The author probes deep into classical thermodynamics in Part I, and then into statistical thermodynamics in Part II, to provide the necessary background. The treatment has been streamlined by placing some background material in appendices. Chemical Activity is of interest not only to those in chemical thermodynamics, but also to chemical engineers working with mass transfer and its applications - for example, separation methods.

This Brief presents an up to date summary of details of the flow boiling heat transfer, pressure drop and instability characteristics; two phase flow patterns of expanding microchannels. Results obtained from the different expanding microscale geometries are presented for comparison and addition to that, comparison with literatures is also performed. Finally, parametric studies are performed and presented in the brief. The findings from this study could help in understanding the complex microscale flow boiling behavior and aid in the design and implementation of reliable compact heat sinks for practical applications.

This advanced text presents a unique approach to studying transport phenomena. Bringing together concepts from both chemical engineering and physics, it makes extensive use of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, discusses kinetic theory, and sets out the tools needed to describe the physics of interfaces and boundaries. More traditional topics such as diffusive and convective transport of momentum, energy and mass are also covered. This is an ideal text for advanced courses in transport phenomena, and for researchers looking to expand their knowledge of the subject. The book also includes: * Novel applications such as complex fluids, transport at interfaces and biological systems, * Approximately 250 exercises with solutions (included separately) designed to enhance understanding and reinforce key concepts, * End-of-chapter summaries.

This Brief describes and analyzes flow and heat transport over a liquid-saturated porous bed. The porous bed is saturated by a liquid layer and heating takes place from a section of the bottom. The effect on flow patterns of heating from the bottom is shown by calculation, and when the heating is sufficiently strong, the flow is affected through the porous and upper liquid layers. Measurements of the heat transfer rate from the heated section confirm calculations. General heat transfer laws are developed for varying porous bed depths for applications to process industry needs, environmental sciences, and materials processing. Addressing a topic of considerable interest to the research community, the brief features an up-to-date literature review of mixed convection energy transport in fluid superposed porous layers.

The book discusses the emerging topic of comprehensive energy management in electric vehicles from the viewpoint of academia and from the industrial perspective. It provides a seamless coverage of all relevant systems and control algorithms for comprehensive energy management, their integration on a multi-core system and their reliability assurance (validation and test). Relevant European projects contributing to the evolvement of comprehensive energy management in fully electric vehicles are also included. This volume includes contributions on model based functional safety and fault-tolerant E/E architectures, advanced control making use of external information (from a cloud) as well and thermal management as a central part for energy optimization and finally some aspects on fuel cells. The second volume (ISBN .....) includes chapters on ECO driving and ECO routing covering different approaches for optimal speed profiles for a given route (mostly interconnecting with cloud data).

This book describes the Exergy-based Input - Output (ExIO) framework, a comprehensive methodology for assessing the primary fossil fuels requirements for the production of goods and services within a given economy from a lifecycle perspective. In the ExIO approach, exergy is assumed to be the best suited thermodynamic metric for characterizing fossil fuels. The mathematical formulation of ExIO is based on Input-Output analysis, which defines boundaries in time and space for any system or product analyzed, encompassing its entire lifecycle. The Hybrid-ExIO approach has been developed to increase the accuracy of results and to analyze energy systems in detail, leading to the definition of criteria and indicators for identifying and optimizing the primary fossil fuels requirements of system products. Lastly, the Bioeconomic ExIO model has been proposed to account for the side effects that the working hours required for producing goods and services have on the total primary fossil fuels consumption. As such, the book will be of considerable interest to both researchers and engineers in industry, offering them essential guidelines on the utilization of exergy and thermoeconomic analysis.

This current and comprehensive book provides an updated treatment of molecular gas dynamics topics for aerospace engineers, or anyone researching high-temperature gas flows for hypersonic vehicles and propulsion systems. It demonstrates how the areas of quantum mechanics, kinetic theory, and statistical mechanics can combine in order to facilitate the study of nonequilibrium processes of internal energy relaxation and chemistry. All of these theoretical ideas are used to explain the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, a numerical technique based on molecular simulation. Because this text provides comprehensive coverage of the physical models available for use in the DSMC method, in addition to the equations and algorithms required to implement the DSMC numerical method, readers will learn to solve nonequilibrium flow problems and perform computer simulations, and obtain a more complete understanding of various physical modeling options for DSMC than is available in other texts.

This introduction to geothermal modeling deals with flow and heat transport processes in porous and fractured media related to geothermal energy applications. Following background coverage of geothermal resources and utilization in several countries, the basics of continuum mechanics for heat transport processes, as well as numerical methods for solving underlying governing equations are discussed. This examination forms the theoretical basis for five included step-by-step OpenGeoSys exercises, highlighting the most important computational areas within geothermal resource utilization, including heat diffusion, heat advection in porous and fractured media, and heat convection. The book concludes with an outlook on practical follow-up contributions investigating the numerical simulation of shallow and deep geothermal systems.

This Brief describes six basic models of buoyancy-driven convection in a fluid layer: three configurations of internally heated convection and three configurations of Rayleigh-Benard convection. The author discusses the main quantities that characterize heat transport in each model, along with the constraints on these quantities. This presentation is the first to place the various models in a unified framework, and similarities and differences between the cases are highlighted. Necessary and sufficient conditions for convective motion are given. For the internally heated cases only, parameter-dependent lower bounds on the mean fluid temperature are proven, and results of past simulations and laboratory experiments are summarized and reanalyzed. The author poses several open questions for future study.

This introduction reviews why combustion and radiation are important, as well as the technical challenges posed by radiation. Emphasis is on interactions among turbulence, chemistry and radiation (turbulence-chemistry-radiation interactions - TCRI) in Reynolds-averaged and large-eddy simulations. Subsequent chapters cover: chemically reacting turbulent flows; radiation properties, Reynolds transport equation (RTE) solution methods, and TCRI; radiation effects in laminar flames; TCRI in turbulent flames; and high-pressure combustion systems. This Brief presents integrated approach that includes radiation at the outset, rather than as an afterthought. It stands as the most recent developments in physical modeling, numerical algorithms, and applications collected in one monograph.

The book presents the select proceedings of the Third International Conference on Emerging Research in Civil, Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering (ERCAM 2021) and focuses on the broad themes of mechanical and aeronautical engineering. The book covers research developments in the field of materials, mechanics, structures, systems and sustainability. Various topics covered in this book include smart and multifunctional composite materials, nano materials, computational mechanics, solid mechanics, kinematics and dynamics, fatigue, fracture and life cycle analysis, smart structures-vibration and noise control, vibration, acoustics and condition monitoring, thermal/fluid systems and analysis. The book will be useful for students, researchers and professionals working in the various areas of mechanical engineering.

This book details the relationships between microstructure, interface roughness, and properties of thermal barrier coatings. The author proposes a method for the reduction of the thermal conductivity of the ceramic layer in order to increase the lifetime of thermal barrier coatings. He includes models for the optimization of ceramic layer microstructure and interface roughness.

This Brief concerns the important problem of critical heat flux in flow boiling in microchannels. A companion edition in the SpringerBrief Subseries on Thermal Engineering and Applied Science to "Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Flow Boiling in Microchannels," by the same author team, this volume is idea for professionals, researchers, and graduate students concerned with electronic cooling.