Dissipation function in turbulent plane Poiseuille and Couette flows subject to spanwise rotations

The dissipation function in turbulent plane Poiseuille flows(PPFs) and plane Couette flows(PCFs) subject to spanwise rotations is analyzed. It is found that, in the PCFs without system rotations, the mean part is constant while the fluctuation part follows a logarithmic law, resulting in a similar logarithmic skin friction law as PPFs.However, if the flow system rotates in the spanwise direction, no obvious dependence on the rotation number can be evaluated. In the PPFs with rotations, the dissipation function shows an increase with the rotation number, while in the PCFs with rotations,when the rotation number increases, the dissipation function first decreases and then increases.

Dissipation source function and an improvement to LAGFD-WAM model

In this paper, a new theoretical expression of dissipation term is presented on the basis of statistical model of breaking wave, which is an improvement to LAGFD-WAM wave model. The computational results in three typical wind fields show a good improvement to LAGFD-WAM model and a better accuracy in comparison with the observed data in the South China Sea.

Onsager principle as a tool for approximation

Onsager principle is the variational principle proposed by Onsager in his celebrated paper on the reciprocal relation.The principle has been shown to be useful in deriving many evolution equations in soft matter physics.Here the principle is shown to be useful in solving such equations approximately.Two examples are discussed：the diffusion dynamics and gel dynamics.Both examples show that the present method is novel and gives new results which capture the essential dynamics in the system.

Motoyosi Sugita—A “Widely Unknown” Japanese Thermodynamicist Who Explored the 4th Law of Thermodynamics for Creation of the Theory of Life

The purpose of this paper is to introduce to you, the Western people, nowadays a “widely unknown” Japanese thermodynamicist by the name of Motoyosi Sugita and his study on the thermodynamics of transient phenomena and his theory of life. This is because although he was one of the top theoretical physicists in Japan before, during and after WWII and after WWII he promoted the establishment of the biophysical society of Japan as one of the founding members, he himself and his studies themselves have seemed to be totally forgotten nowadays in spite that his study was absolutely important for the study of life. Therefore, in this paper I would like to present what kind of person he was and what he studied in physics as a review on the physics work of Motoyosi Sugita for the first time. I will follow his past studies to introduce his ideas in theoretical physics as well as in biophysics as follows: He proposed the bright ideas such as the quasi-static change in the broad sense, the virtual heat, and the field of chemical potential etc. in order to establish his own theory of thermodynamics of transient phenomena, as the generalization of the Onsager-Prigogine’s theory of the irreversible processes. By the concept of the field of chemical potential that acquired the nonlinear transport, he was seemingly successful to exceed and go beyond the scope of Onsager and Prigogine. Once he established his thermodynamics, he explored the existence of the 4th law of thermodynamics for the foundation of theory of life. He applied it to broad categories of transient phenomena including life and life being such as the theory of metabolism. He regarded the 4th law of thermodynamics as the maximum principle in transient phenomena. He tried to prove it all life long. Since I have recently found that his maximum principle can be included in more general maximum principle, which was known as the Pontryagin’s maximum principle in the theory of optimal control, I would like to explain such theories produced by Motoyosi Sugita as detailed as possible. And also I have put short history of Motoyosi Sugita’s personal life in order for you to know him well. I hope that this article helps you to know this wonderful man and understand what he did in the past, which was totally forgotten in the world and even in Japan.

Noether symmetries of discrete mechanico-electrical systems

This paper focuses on studying Noether symmetries and conservation laws of the discrete mechanico-electricM systems with the nonconservative and the dissipative forces. Based on the invariance of discrete Hamilton action of the systems under the infinitesimal transformation with respect to the generalized coordinates, the generalized electrical quantities and time, it presents the discrete analogue of variational principle, the discrete analogue of Lagrange-Maxwell equations, the discrete analogue of Noether theorems for Lagrange Maxwell and Lagrange mechanico-electrical systems. Also, the discrete Noether operator identity and the discrete Noether-type conservation laws are obtained for these systems. An actual example is given to illustrate these results.

Energy transfer in double plate system dynamics

The study of energy transfer between coupled subsystems in a hybrid system is very important for applications. This paper presents an analytical analysis of energy transfer between plates of a visco-elastically connected double-plate system in free transversal vibrations. The analytical analysis shows that the visco-elastic connection between plates is responsible for the appearance of two-frequency regime in the time function, which corresponds to one eigen amplitude function of one mode, and also that time functions of different vibration modes are uncoupled, but energy transfer between plates in one eigen mode appears. It was shown for each shape of vibrations. Series of the two Lyapunov exponents corresponding to the one eigen amplitude mode are expressed by using the energy of the corresponding eigen amplitude time component.

Thermodynamic Significance of Human Basal Metabolism

The human basal state,a non-equilibrium steady state,is analysed in this paper in the light of the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics whereby the thermodynamic significance of the basal metabolic rate and its distinction to the dissipation function and exergy loss are identified.The analysis demonstrates the correct expression of the effects of the blood flow on the heat balance in a human-body bio-heat model and the relationship between the basal metabolic rate and the blood perfusion.