Contribution of Iron and Aluminum Oxides to Electrokinetic Characteristics of Variable Charge Soils in Relation to Surface Charge

The contribution of iron and aluminum oxides to electrokinetic characteristics of variable charge soils was studied through determination of electrophoretic mobilities of the red soils treated with either removal of iron oxides or coating of aluminum oxides, and of those deferrated under natural conditions. After removal of the iron oxides, zeta potentials of the latosol and the red earth decreased obviously with a shift of IEP to a lower pH, from 6.4 to 5.3 and 4.1 to 2.4 for the former and the latter, respectively, and the electrokinetic change for the latosol was greater than for the red earth. Zeta potentials of the kaolinite sample increased markedly after coated with iron oxides. The striking effect of iron oxides on electrokinetic properties of the soils was also demonstrated by the electrokinetic differences between the samples from the red and white zones of a plinthitic horizon formed naturally, and between the samples from the gley and bottom horizons of a paddy soil derived from a red earth. The coatings of aluminum oxides on the latosol and the yellow earth made their zeta potentials rise pronouncedly and their IEPs move toward higher pHs, from 6.2 to 6.8 and 4.3 to 5.3 for the former and the latter, respectively. The samples with different particle sizes also exhibited some electrokinetic variation. The experiment showed that the effects of iron and aluminum oxides were closely related to the pH and type of the soils.

Lattice Dynamics and Electronic Properties of Heusler Alloys Li_(2)AlX(X=Ga,In):A Comparison Study

The lattice parameters,bulk modulus,rst derivative of the bulk modulus,electronic band structures,phonon dispersion curves and phonon density of states calculations for Li_(2)AlGa and Li_(2)AlIn Heusler alloys are performed and compared in this study using density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation.Computed lattice parameters display a good agreement with the literature.Obtained electronic band structures of both Heusler alloys show that they are in semi-metallic structure.Phonon dispersion curves and the phonon density of states graphs are also obtained in order to study the lattice dynamics of these Heusler alloys.It is noticed that Li_(2)AlGa and Li_(2)AlIn Heusler alloys are dynamically stable in the ground state.

An Airfoil Parameterization Method for the Representation and Optimization of Wind Turbine Special Airfoil

A new airfoil shape parameterization method is developed, which extended the Bezier curve to the generalized form with adjustable shape parameters. The local control parameters at airfoil leading and trailing edge regions are enhanced, where have significant effect on the aerodynamic performance of wind turbine. The results show this improved parameterization method has advantages in the fitting characteristics of geometry shape and aero- dynamic performance comparing with other three common airfoil parameterization methods. The new paramete- rization method is then applied to airfoil shape optimization for wind turbine using Genetic Algorithm （GA）, and the wind turbine special airfoil, DU93-W-210, is optimized to achieve the favorable C1/Cd at specified flow con- ditions. The aerodynamic characteristic of the optimum airfoil is obtained by solving the RANS equations in computational fluid dynamics （CFD） method, and the optimization convergence curves show that the new para- meterization method has good convergence rate in less number of generations comparing with other methods. It is concluded that the new method not only has well controllability and completeness in airfoil shape representation and provides more flexibility in expressing the airfoil geometry shape, but also is capable to find efficient and op- timal wind turbine airfoil. Additionally, it is shown that a suitable parameterization method is helpful for improv- ing the convergence rate of the optimization algorithm.

Dust levitation and transport over the surface of the Moon

Exposed to space plasma and solar radiation, electrostatic potential may build up in the lunar regolith, leading to a wealth of dust phenomena, including levitation, oscillation, and transport over the surface. Based on plasma sheath theory,the global near-surface plasma environment is modeled, and the dynamics of charged dust are investigated. Results show that sub-micron sized dust particles can be levitated by the electric field over the surface, forming a dust belt that changes in position and thickness depending on the solar zenith angle. On the dayside of the Moon, stably levitated particles are about ten times smaller, and collect in a thinner belt closer to the surface than do those on the nightside. Although the size and charge of stably levitated dust particles are dependent on ambient plasma conditions, initial charge and velocity, which are closely related to the dynamics of dust particles including charging, oscillation, and damping, will determine whether, or not, a particle can attain stable levitation. Horizontal electrostatic dust transport near to the terminator region may lead to net deposition of dust from the dark into the sunlit hemisphere. Finally, because of different charging processes that result due to rotation of the Moon, before precipitation,dust particles in the dusk terminator region may be transported much longer distances and oscillate to much higher altitude than these in the dawn terminator.

Bilayered semiconductor graphene nanostructures with periodically arranged hexagonal holes

We present a theoretical study of new nanostructures based on bilayered graphene with periodically arranged hexagonal holes （bilayered graphene antidots）. Our ab initio calculations show that fabrication of hexagonal holes in bigraphene leads to connection of the neighboring edges of the two graphene layers with formation of a hollow carbon nanostructure sheet which displays a wide range of electronic properties （from semiconductor to metallic）, depending on the size of the holes and the distance between them. The results were additionally supported by wave packet dynamical transport calculations based on the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr/Sdinger equation.