Physical Transformations of Agri-Food Products during Their Convective Drying: Characterization of the Contraction and Isotropicity of Okra

The physical transformations in terms of contraction of okra dimensions during convective drying were examined. During drying, the lateral and longitudinal dimensions of okra decrease over time. The lateral dimensions go from their initial value to around 53%, 65% and 66% of this value after 530 min. The length of the two samples used goes from 8.65 and 9.02 cm to 6.79 and 7.52 cm after 14,300 min, i.e. a variation of 78.50% and 83.37%. All the two directions give variations almost linear depending on the water content. These linear contractions result in a volume contraction of the okra. It considerably decreases in volume during the drying process. The volume goes from 831.32 cm3 to 367.57 cm3 in min, a variation of 44.22%. The isotropic index reveals that okra does not behave the same in the lateral and longitudinal directions. It contracts its diameter more than its length.

APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICAL SIMULATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOT WORKING PROCESSES

Modelling has become a more and more valuable tool in the design, control and development of steel processing. Empirical regression equations, physically based approachs, artificial neural networks and hybrid models are being theied in computer modelling. In all cases, relevant data are necessary, which can be most economically obtained by physical simulation. Physical simulation with a Gleeble simulator has been used in a large number of tasks at the University of Oulu for ten years in cooperotion with the Finnish metals industry. Some examples of these will be described and discussed below, such as the optimization of the recrystallization controlled rolling process, the improvement of the hot strength model for the control of coiling tension and the optimization of continuous strip annealing schedules.Finally,brief remarks will be then on a couple of projects now under way.

A preliminary analysis of physical mechanism of transformation process from a landed typhoon into an extratropical cyclone

A diagnostic study is performed in the paper on the process of typhoon Norris (1980) transforming into an ex-tratropical cyclone after its landing over Southeast China. The main findings are as follows:The changes of kinetic energy are mainly attributed to the generation due to non-divergent wind. During the early stage of the typhoon landing, there exits only a small quantity of kinetic energy exchanging with the environment. And after it is transformed into an extratropical cyclone, a large amount of kinetic energy is exported from the system toward the environment.The horizontal and vertical flux-divergence terms of eddy available potenlial energy are the prominent sinks in the budgets of eddy kinetic energy. The generations of eddy kinetic energy due to both the barotropic and baroclinic processes are source terms. The former is remarkable during the initial stage. But after the depression is transformed into an extratropical cyclone, the roles of the generation by the barotropic and baroclinic processes are reversed, 1. e. , the latter has become more significant than the former.Diabatic heating is the most dominant heat source. The terms of vertical heat flux by cumulus and large-scale motion are the major sinks. And the latter is prominent after the system is transformed into an extratropical cycfone.

Transformation Plasma Physics

Plasma technology has widespread applications in many fields, whereas the methods for manipulating plasma transport are limited to magnetic control. In this study, we used a simplified diffusion-migration approach to describe plasma transport. The feasibility of the transformation theory for plasma transport was demonstrated.As potential applications, we designed three model devices capable of cloaking, concentrating, and rotating plasmas without disturbing the density profile of plasmas in the background. This research may help advance plasma technology in practical fields, such as medicine and chemistry.

Mechatronic Modeling and Domain Transformation of Multi-physics Systems

The enhanced definition of Mechatronics involves the four underlying characteristics of integrated,unified,unique,and systematic approaches.In this realm,Mechatronics is not limited to electro-mechanical systems,in the multi-physics sense,but involves other physical domains such as fluid and thermal.This paper summarizes the mechatronic approach to modeling.Linear graphs facilitate the development of state-space models of mechatronic systems,through this approach.The use of linear graphs in mechatronic modeling is outlined and an illustrative example of sound system modeling is given.Both time-domain and frequency-domain approaches are presented for the use of linear graphs.A mechatronic model of a multi-physics system may be simplified by converting all the physical domains into an equivalent single-domain system that is entirely in the output domain of the system.This approach of converting(transforming)physical domains is presented.An illustrative example of a pressure-controlled hydraulic actuator system that operates a mechanical load is given.