242,712 research outputs found
On the merging of turbulent spots in a supersonic boundary-layer flow
No full textThe complex transition flow physics associated with the merging of turbulent spots in a Mach 2 boundary-layer has been studied using direct numerical simulation. Dynamics of an isolated turbulent spot, merging of laterally displaced spots, and merging of two spots in tandem are considered. The coherent structures associated with the wingtip region of the spot are found to play a major role in destabilising the surrounding laminar fluid. In the merging of laterally displaced spots a strong velocity defect, resulting in unstable inflectional velocity profiles, is observed in the interaction zone. These local inflectional instabilities within the interaction region trigger new large scale coherent structures. During the inline merging, the calmed region behind the tail of the downstream spot is found to suppress the growth of the upstream spot. The upstream spot is ultimately engulfed by the downstream spot
Genome sequence of Lactobacillus amylovorus GRL1118, isolated from pig ileum
No full textLactobacillus amylovorus is a common member of the beneficial microbiota present in the pig gastrointestinal tract. Here, we report the genome sequence of the surface layer (S-layer) protein-carrying and potentially probiotic strain L. amylovorus GRL1118, which was isolated from porcine ileum and which shows strong adherence to pig intestinal epithelial cell
The minimal seed of turbulent transition in the boundary layer
No full textThis paper describes a scenario of transition from laminar to turbulent flow in a spatially developing boundary layer over a flat plate. The base flow is the Blasius non-parallel flow solution; it is perturbed by optimal disturbances yielding the largest energy growth over a short time interval. Such perturbations are computed by a nonlinear global optimization approach based on a Lagrange multiplier technique. The results show that nonlinear optimal perturbations are characterized by a localized basic building block, called the minimal seed, defined as the smallest flow structure which maximizes the energy growth over short times. It is formed by vortices inclined in the streamwise direction surrounding a region of intense streamwise disturbance velocity. Such a basic structure appears to be a robust feature of the base flow since it is practically invariant with respect to the initial energy of the perturbation, the target time, the Reynolds number and the dimensions of the computational domain. The minimal seed grows very rapidly in time while spreading, and it triggers nonlinear effects which bring the flow to turbulence in a very efficient manner, through the formation of a turbulence spot. This evolution of the initial optimal disturbance has been studied in detail by direct numerical simulations. Using a perturbative formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations, each linear and nonlinear convective term of the equations has been analysed. The results show the fundamental role of the streamwise inclination of the vortices in the process. The nonlinear coupling of the finite amplitude disturbances is crucial to sustain such streamwise inclination, as well as to generate dislocations within the flow structures, and local inflectional velocity distributions. The analysis provides a picture of the transition process characterized by a sequence of structures appearing successively in the flow, namely, 3 vortices, hairpin vortices and streamwise streaks. Finally, a disturbance regeneration cycle is conceived, initiated by the fast nonlinear amplification of the minimal seed, providing a possible scenario for the continuous regeneration of the same fundamental flow structures at smaller space and time scales
Investigation of Lagrangian coherent structures in a wake-induced boundary layer transition
No full textThe evolution of coherent structures in a flat plate boundary layer transition induced by the cylinder wake is investigated using the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE), which characterizes the amount of stretching about the flow trajectory, is used to extract the Lagrangian coherent structures. It is revealed that secondary vortex is induced by the cylinder wake vortices in the near wall region,which would evolve into hairpin vortex as it convects downstream. The subsequent evolvement of the hairpin vortex, characterized by the regeneration of offspring hairpin vortex upstream of it, leads to the appearance of the hairpin packet and the boundary layer finally reaches a turbulent state
Studies on enhanced OLED performance using Al2O3 buffer layer by atomic layer deposition
No full text<p> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt">It has been found that introduction of buffer layers between organic holes transport layer and anode layer plays an important role in improving device stability and hole injection efficiency. The performance enhancement with insulator buffer layer is mostly due to tunneling effect. However, the morphology of film is normally island-like at thickness thinner than 5 nm when deposited by thermal vapor </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt">deposition, electron beam evaporation or magnetron sputtering, etc. Such island-like buffer layer is not strictly in consistent with tunneling model and is questionable to explain the performance improvement in OLED. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology is better suited to deposite dense and pinhole free ultrathin oxide film. In this study, sub-nm thickness of Al</span><span style="position: relative; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 6pt; top: 0.37em">2</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt">O</span><span style="position: relative; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 6pt; top: 0.37em">3</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt"><span> </span>buffer layer </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt">by ALD are used to enhance the performance of OLED, and the mechanism behind is investigated. </span></p
The s-layer glycome-adding to the sugar coat of bacteria
No full textThis work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, projects P19047-B12, P20605-B12, P21954-B20 (to C. Sch¨affer), and P20745-B11 (to P. Messner). Zarschler and Ristl were supported by the Hochschuljubil¨aumsstiftung der Stadt Wien, Projects H-2229-2007 (to K. Zarschler) and H-1897-2008 (to R. Ristl).The amazing repertoire of glycoconjugates present on bacterial cell surfaces includes lipopolysaccharides, capsular polysaccharides, lipooligosaccharides, exopolysaccharides, and glycoproteins. While the former are constituents of Gram-negative cells, we review here the cell surface S-layer glycoproteins of Gram-positive bacteria. S-layer glycoproteins have the unique feature of self-assembling into 2D lattices providing a display matrix for glycans with periodicity at the nanometer scale. Typically, bacterial S-layer glycans are O-glycosidically linked to serine, threonine, or tyrosine residues, and they rely on a much wider variety of constituents, glycosidic linkage types, and structures than their eukaryotic counterparts. As the S-layer glycome of several bacteria is unravelling, a picture of how S-layer glycoproteins are biosynthesized is evolving. X-ray crystallography experiments allowed first insights into the catalysis mechanism of selected enzymes. In the future, it will be exciting to fully exploit the S-layer glycome for glycoengineering purposes and to link it to the bacterial interactome.Peer reviewe
Mechanics of inhomogeneous turbulence and interfacial layers
No full textThe mechanics of inhomogeneous turbulence in and adjacent to interfacial layers bounding turbulent and non-turbulent regions are analysed. Different mechanisms are identified according to the straining by the turbulent eddies in relation to the strength of the mean shear adjacent to, or across, the interfacial layer. How the turbulence is initiated and the topology of the region of turbulence are also significant factors. Specifically the cases of a layer of turbulence bounded on one, or two, sides by a uniform and/or shearing flow, and a circular region of a rotating turbulent vortex are considered and discussed.
The entrainment processes at fluctuating interfaces occur both at the outer edges of turbulent shear layers, with and without free-stream turbulence (e.g. jets, wakes and boundary layers), at internal boundaries such as those at the outside of the non-turbulent core of swirling flows (e.g. the ‘eye-wall’ of a hurricane) or at the top of the viscous sublayer and roughness elements in turbulent boundary layers. Conditionally sampled data enables these concepts to be tested. These concepts lead to physically based estimates for critical modelling parameters such as eddy viscosity near interfaces, entrainment rates, maximum velocity and displacement heights
The flow structure behind vortex generators embedded in a decelerating turbulent boundary layer
No full textThe objective of the present work is to analyse the behaviour of a turbulent decelerating boundary layer under the effect of both passive and active jets vortex generators (VGs). The stereo PIV database of Godard and Stanislas [1, 2] obtained in an adverse pressure gradient boundary layer is used for this study. After presenting the effect on the mean velocity field and the turbulent kinetic energy, the line of analysis is extended with two points spatial correlations and vortex detection in instantaneous velocity fields. It is shown that the actuators concentrate the boundary layer turbulence in the region of upward motion of the flow, and segregate the near-wall streamwise vortices of the boundary layer based on their vorticity sign
Nonlinear control of unsteady finite-amplitude perturbations in the Blasius boundary-layer flow
No full textThe present work provides an optimal control strategy, based on the nonlinear Navier–Stokes equations, aimed at hampering the rapid growth of unsteady finite-amplitude perturbations in a Blasius boundary-layer flow. A variational procedure is used to find the blowing and suction control law at the wall providing the maximum damping of the energy of a given perturbation at a given target time, with the final aim of leading the flow back to the laminar state. Two optimally growing finite-amplitude initial perturbations capable of leading very rapidly to transition have been used to initialize the flow. The nonlinear control procedure has been found able to drive such perturbations back to the laminar state, provided that the target time of the minimization and the region in which the blowing and suction is applied have been suitably chosen. On the other hand, an equivalent control procedure based on the linearized Navier–Stokes equations has been found much less effective, being not able to lead the flow to the laminar state when finite-amplitude disturbances are considered. Regions of strong sensitivity to blowing and suction have been also identified for the given initial perturbations: when the control is actuated in such regions, laminarization is also observed for a shorter extent of the actuation region. The nonlinear optimal blowing and suction law consists of alternating wall-normal velocity perturbations, which appear to modify the core flow structures by means of two distinct mechanisms: (i) a wall-normal velocity compensation at small times; (ii) a rotation-counterbalancing effect al larger times. Similar control laws have been observed for different target times, values of the cost parameter, and streamwise extents of the blowing and suction zone, meaning that these two mechanisms are robust features of the optimal control strategy, provided that the nonlinear effects are taken into account
Composite hodographs and inertial oscillations in the nocturnal boundary layer
No full textIn this work the dynamic behaviour of the wind in the nocturnal boundary layer is studied, with a particular focus on systematic behaviour of the near-surface wind. Recently, an extension of the well-known Blackadar model for frictionless inertial oscillations above the nocturnal boundary layer was proposed by Van deWiel et al., which accounts for frictional effects within the nocturnal boundary layer. It appears that the nocturnal wind velocity profile tends to perform an inertial oscillation around an equilibrium wind profile, rather than around the geostrophic wind vector (as in the Blackadar model). In the present studywe propose the concept of ‘composite hodographs’ to evaluate the ideas and assumptions of the aforementioned analytical model. Composite hodographs are constructed based on a large observational dataset from the Cabauw observatory. For comparison and deeper analysis, this method is also applied to single-column model simulations that represent the same dataset. From this, it is shown that winds in the middle and upper part of the nocturnal boundary layer closely follow the dynamics predicted by the model by Van de Wiel et al. In contrast, the near-surface wind shows more complex behaviour that can be described by two different stages: (1) a decelerating phase where the wind decreases rapidly in magnitude due to enlarged stress divergence in the transition period near sunset (an aspect not included in the analytical model), and (2) a regular type of inertial oscillation, but with relatively small amplitude as compared to the oscillations in the middle and upper parts of the nocturnal boundary laye
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