Large eddy simulation of aircraft wake vortex with self-adaptive grid method

A self-adaptive-grid method is applied to numerical simulation of the evolu- tion of aircraft wake vortex with the large eddy simulation （LES）. The Idaho Falls （IDF） measurement of run 9 case is simulated numerically and compared with that of the field experimental data. The comparison shows that the method is reliable in the complex atmospheric environment with crosswind and ground effect. In addition, six cases with different ambient atmospheric turbulences and Brunt V^iis/il^i （BV） frequencies are com- puted with the LES. The main characteristics of vortex are appropriately simulated by the current method. The onset time of rapid decay and the descending of vortices are in agreement with the previous measurements and the numerical prediction. Also, sec-ondary structures such as baroclinic vorticity and helical structures are also simulated. Only approximately 6 million grid points are needed in computation with the present method, while the number can be as large as 34 million when using a uniform mesh with the same core resolution. The self-adaptive-grid method is proved to be practical in the numerical research of aircraft wake vortex.

Astrocytic effect of low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate in interleukin-6 overexpressing mice following local cerebral ischemia

BACKGROUND： Studies have shown that low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate exhibits a remarkable neuroprotective effect. OBJECTIVE： To investigate the effect of low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate on astrocytes in an interleukin-6 （IL-6） overexpressing mice following local cerebral ischemia. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： Randomized, cytological, controlled, animal study was performed in the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, Neurology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina from January 2005 to March 2005. MATERIALS： Nine IL-6 transgenic mice, irrespective of gender, were randomly divided into three groups： sham-operated, model, and treatment, with three mice in each group. With exception of the sham-operated group, right middle cerebral artery occlusion was induced in the mice. Expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein, an astrocyte marker, was determined by immunohistochemistry. Low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate was purchased from Biochemistry and Biotechnique Institute, Shandong University. METHODS： Two minutes prior to ischemia induction, 0.5 mL/kg saline or 20 000 U/kg low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate were administrated via the femoral artery in the model group and treatment group, respectively. The sham-operated group underwent the same protocols, with the exception of occlusion and treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： The number of glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cells was quantified under light microscopy （x200）. RESULTS： In the sham-operated group, there were a large number of astrocytes in the IL-6 transgenic mice. However, the cell bodies were small, and the branches were few and thin. The number of astrocytes in the model group was remarkably less than the sham-operated group. Compared to the model and sham-operated groups, the number of astrocytes significantly increased, and the cell body became larger, following treatment with low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate. Astrocytes exhibited hypertrophy and hyperplasia, and the processes became longer and thicker. CONCLUSION： The low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate may provide neuroprotection through astrocytic activation at the super-early stage of cerebral ischemia and reperfusion.

Effects of low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase conjugate on serum levels of nitric oxide,glutathione peroxidase,and myeloperoxidase in a gerbil model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

BACKGROUND： Several studies have demonstrated that low molecular weight heparin-superoxide dismutase （LMWH-SOD） conjugate may exhibit good neuroprotective effects on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury though anticoagulation, decreasing blood viscosity, having anti-inflammatory activity, and scavenging oxygen free radicals. OBJECTIVE： To investigate the intervention effects of LMWH-SOD conjugate on serum levels of nitric oxide （NO）, glutathione peroxidase （GSH-Px）, and myeloperoxidase （MPO） following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： A randomized, controlled, and neurobiochemical experiment was performed at the Institute of Biochemical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University between April and July 2004. MATERIALS： A total of 60 Mongolian gerbils of either gender were included in this study. Total cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury was induced in 50 gerbils by occluding bilateral common carotid arteries. The remaining 10 gerbils received a sham-operation （sham-operated group）. Kits of SOD, NO, and MPO were sourced from Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute, China. LMWH, SOD, and LMWH-SOD conjugates were provided by Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnique, Shandong University, China. METHODS： Fifty successful gerbil models of total cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury were evenly randomized to five groups： physiological saline, LMWH-SOD, SOD, LMWH ＋ SOD, and LMWH. At 2 minutes prior to ischemia, 0.5 mL/65 g physiological saline, 20 000 U/kg LMWH-SOD conjugate, 20 000 U/kg SOD, a mixture of SOD （20 000 U/kg） and LMWH （LMWH dose calculated according to weight ratio, LMWH： SOD = 23.6：51）, and LMWH （dose as in the LMWH ＋ SOD group） were administered through the femoral artery in each above-mentioned group, respectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Serum levels of NO, MPO, and GSH-Px. RESULTS： Compared with 10 sham-operated gerbils, the cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury gerbils exhibited decreased serum levels of GSH-Px and increased serum levels of NO and MPO （P 〈 0.01）. The serum level of GSH-Px was significantly upregulated in all groups, in particular in the LMWH-SOD group （P 〈 0.01）, compared with the physiological saline group （P 〈 0.05-0.01）. Following medical treatment, serum levels of NO and MPO were significantly downregulated in all groups, in particular in the LMWH-SOD group （P 〈 0.01）. Serum levels of GSH-Px, NO, and MPO in the LMWH-SOD group were close to those in the sham-operated group （P 〉 0.05）. CONCLUSION： In cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, LMWH-SOD conjugate exhibits stronger neuroprotective effects on free radical scavenging, inflammation inhibition, and cytotoxicity inhibition than simple or combined application of LMWH and SOD by downregulating NO and MPO levels and upregulating the GSH-Px level.

Development of inflow turbulence in microscale urban atmospheric environment

The sensitivity of turbulence-development to inflow turbulent statistics is investigated in microscale urban atmospheric environment flows. Large-eddy simulations （LESs） are carried out, in which the inflow error is brought in by transforming a fully developed turbulent field according to the Reynolds stress or energy spectra. A theoretical analysis is performed by neglecting the diffusion term in the budget equations of the turbulent kinetic energy. The results show that, （i） the error caused by the Reynolds stress decays until the fully developed level is achieved, and （ii） the error caused by the characteristic length scale increases immediately and then decreases. The streamwise changing rate of the inflow error weakens when the vertical coordinate increases. Further testing of the effects of the inflow inner- and outer-layer data shows that, the inflow inner- layer data dominate the near field, and the inflow outer-layer data dominate the far field.

Optimal transient growth in turbulent pipe flow

The optimal transient growth process of perturbations driven by the pressure gradient is studied in a turbulent pipe flow. A new computational method is proposed, based on the projection operators which project the governing equations onto the sub- space spanned by the radial vorticity and radial velocity. The method is validated by comparing with the previous studies. Two peaks of the maximum transient growth am- plification curve are found at different Reynolds numbers ranging from 20 000 to 250 000. The optimal flow structures are obtained and compared with the experiments and DNS results. The location of the outer peak is at the azimuthal wave number n = 1, while the location of the inner peak is varying with the Reynolds number. It is observed that the velocity streaks in the buffer layer with a spacing of 100δv are the most amplified flow structures. Finally, we consider the optimal transient growth time and its dependence on the azimuthal wave length. It shows a self-similar behavior for perturbations of different scales in the optimal transient growth process.

A new vortex sheet model for simulating aircraft wake vortex evolution

A new vortex sheet model was proposed for simulating aircraft wake vortex evolution.Rather than beginning with a pair of counter-rotating cylindrical vortices as in the traditional models, a lift-drag method is used to initialize a vortex sheet so that the roll-up phase is taken into account. The results of this model report a better approximation to a real situation when compared to the measurement data. The roll-up induced structures are proved to influence the far-field decay.On one hand, they lead to an early decay in the diffusion phase. On the other hand, the growth of linear instability such as elliptical instability is suppressed, resulting in a slower decay in the rapid decay phase. This work provides a simple and practicable model for simulating wake vortex evolution, which combines the roll-up process and the far-field phase in simulation. It is also proved that the roll-up phase should not be ignored when simulating the far-field evolution of an aircraft wake vortex pair, which indicates the necessity of this new model.

Multiscale modeling of the atmospheric environment over a forest canopy

Vegetation constitutes one of the fundamental types of land use on Earth.The presence of trees in urban areas can decrease local winds and exchange sensible and latent heat with the surrounding environments,thus exerting notable influences on the urban microenvironment.A better understanding of the turbulent transfer of momentum and scalars around vegetation canopy could significantly contribute to improvement of the urban environment.This work develops a large-eddy simulation(LES)method that is applicable to model the flow and scalar transport over the forest canopy.We study the atmospheric flow over complex forested areas under typical weather conditions by coupling LES to the mesoscale model.Models of radiation and energy balance have been developed with explicit treatment of the vegetation canopy.By examining the flow over a forest canopy under a range of stability conditions,we found that buoyancy enhances or suppresses turbulent mixing in unstable or stable atmosphere respectively,with decreasing or increasing wind shear,respectively.From the multiscale modeling of the Beijing Olympic Forest Park,the present coupling scheme proves to better resolve the diurnal variations in wind speed,temperature,and relative humidity over complex urban terrains.The coupling scheme is superior to the traditional mesoscale model in terms of wind field simulation.This is mainly because the coupling scheme not only takes the influences of external mesoscale flow into consideration,but also resolves the heterogeneous urban surface at a fine scale by downscaling,thus better reproducing the complex flow and turbulent transport in the urban roughness sublayer.

Flow patterns and dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy in near-wall turbulence

It is disclosed the flow patterns of turbulent flows in near wall region by means of topological analysis. It has found that there exists a close relationship between the topological characteristics and the spikes which are dominated by the strong normal velocity fluctuations near the wall. It is also shown that the dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy is closely related to the spike events.