Numerical Study on Reduction in Aerodynamic Drag and Noise of High-Speed Pantograph

Reducing the aerodynamic drag and noise levels of high-speed pantographs is important for promoting environmentally friendly,energy efficient and rapid advances in train technology.Using computational fluid dynamics theory and the K-FWH acoustic equation,a numerical simulation is conducted to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of high-speed pantographs.A component optimization method is proposed as a possible solution to the problemof aerodynamic drag and noise in high-speed pantographs.The results of the study indicate that the panhead,base and insulator are the main contributors to aerodynamic drag and noise in high-speed pantographs.Therefore,a gradual optimization process is implemented to improve the most significant components that cause aerodynamic drag and noise.By optimizing the cross-sectional shape of the strips and insulators,the drag and noise caused by airflow separation and vortex shedding can be reduced.The aerodynamic drag of insulator with circular cross section and strips with rectangular cross section is the largest.Ellipsifying insulators and optimizing the chamfer angle and height of the windward surface of the strips can improve the aerodynamic performance of the pantograph.In addition,the streamlined fairing attached to the base can eliminate the complex flow and shield the radiated noise.In contrast to the original pantograph design,the improved pantograph shows a 21.1%reduction in aerodynamic drag and a 1.65 dBA reduction in aerodynamic noise.

Preparation and performance evaluation of the slickwater using novel polymeric drag reducing agent with high temperature and shear resistance ability

Slickwater fracturing fluids are widely used in the development of unconventional oil and gas resources due to the advantages of low cost,low formation damage and high drag reduction performance.However,their performance is severely affected at high temperatures.Drag reducing agent is the key to determine the drag reducing performance of slickwater.In this work,in order to further improve the temperature resistance of slickwater,a temperature-resistant polymeric drag reducing agent(PDRA)was synthesized and used as the basis for preparing the temperature-resistant slickwater.The slickwater system was prepared with the compositions of 0.2 wt%PDRA,0.05 wt%drainage aid nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether phosphate(NPEP)and 0.5 wt%anti-expansion agent polyepichlorohydrindimethylamine(PDM).The drag reduction ability,rheology properties,temperature and shear resistance ability,and core damage property of slickwater were systematically studied and evaluated.In contrast to on-site drag reducing agent(DRA)and HPAM,the temperature-resistant slickwater demonstrates enhanced drag reduction efficacy at 90℃,exhibiting superior temperature and shear resistance ability.Notably,the drag reduction retention rate for the slickwater achieved an impressive 90.52%after a 30-min shearing period.Additionally,the core damage is only 5.53%.We expect that this study can broaden the application of slickwater in high-temperature reservoirs and provide a theoretical basis for field applications.

Airfoil friction drag reduction based on grid-type and super-dense array plasma actuators

To improve the cruise flight performance of aircraft, two new configurations of plasma actuators(grid-type and super-dense array) were investigated to reduce the turbulent skin friction drag of a low-speed airfoil. The induced jet characteristics of the two actuators in quiescent air were diagnosed with high-speed particle image velocimetry(PIV), and their drag reduction efficiencies were examined under different operating conditions in a wind tunnel. The results showed that the grid-type plasma actuator was capable of producing a wall-normal jet array(peak magnitude: 1.07 m/s) similar to that generated in a micro-blowing technique, while the superdense array plasma actuator created a wavy wall-parallel jet(magnitude: 0.94 m/s) due to the discrete spanwise electrostatic forces. Under a comparable electrical power consumption level,the super-dense array plasma actuator array significantly outperformed the grid-type configuration,reducing the total airfoil friction drag by approximately 22% at a free-stream velocity of 20 m/s.The magnitude of drag reduction was proportional to the dimensionless jet velocity ratio(r), and a threshold r = 0.014 existed under which little impact on airfoil drag could be discerned.

Numerical Study on the Effect of Vortex Generators on the Aerodynamic Drag of a High-Speed Train

A relatively high aerodynamic drag is an important factor that hinders the further acceleration of high-speed trains.Using the shear stress transport(SST)k-ωturbulence model,the effect of various vortex generator types on the aerodynamic characteristics of an ICE2(Inter-city Electricity)train has been investigated.The results indi-cate that the vortex generators with wider triangle,trapezoid,and micro-ramp arranged on the surface of the tail car can significantly change the distribution of surface pressure and affect the vorticity intensity in the wake.This alteration effectively reduces the resistance of the tail car.Meanwhile,the micro-ramp vortex generator with its convergent structure at the rear exhibits enhancedflow-guiding capabilities,resulting in a 15.4%reduction in the drag of the tail car.

Estimation of Displacement and Extension due to Reverse Drag of Normal Faults: Forward Method

In the case of reverse drag of normal faulting, the displacement and horizontal extension are determined based on the established equations for the three mechanisms: rigid body, vertical shear and inclined shear. There are three sub-cases of basal detachment for the rigid body model: horizontal detachment, antithetic detachment and synthetic detachment. For the rigid body model, the established equations indicate that the total displacement on the synthetic base (Dt2) is the largest, that on the horizontal base (Dt1) is moderate, and that on the antithetic base (Dt3) is the smallest. On the other hand, the value of (Dt1) is larger than the displacement for the vertical shear (Dt4). The value of (Dt1) is larger than or less than the displacement for the inclined shear (Dt5) depending on the original fault dip δ0, bedding angle θ, and the angle of shear direction β. For all original parameters, the value of Dt5 is less than the value of Dt4. Also, by comparing three rotation mechanisms, we find that the inclined shear produces largest extension, the rigid body model with horizontal detachment produces the smallest extension, and the vertical shear model produces moderate extension.

Parametric Optimization of Wheel Spoke Structure for Drag Reduction of an Ahmed Body

The wheels have a considerable influence on the aerodynamic properties and can contribute up to 25%of the total drag on modern vehicles.In this study,the effect of the wheel spoke structure on the aerodynamic performance of the isolated wheel is investigated.Subsequently,the 35°Ahmed body with an optimized spoke structure is used to analyze the flow behavior and the mechanism of drag reduction.The Fluent software is employed for this investigation,with an inlet velocity of 40 m/s.The accuracy of the numerical study is validated by comparing it with experimental results obtained from the classical Ahmed model.To gain a clearer understanding of the effects of the wheel spoke parameters on the aerodynamics of both the wheel and Ahmedmodel,and five design variables are proposed:the fillet angleα,the inside arc radius R1,the outside radius R2,and the same length of the chord L1 and L2.These variables characterize the wheel spoke structure.The Optimal Latin Hypercube designmethod is utilized to conduct the experimental design.Based on the simulation results of various wheel spoke designs,the Kriging model and the adaptive simulated annealing algorithm is selected to optimize the design parameters.The objective is to achieve the best combination for maximum drag reduction.It is indicated that the optimized spoke structure resulted in amaximum drag reduction of 5.7%and 4.7%for the drag coefficient of the isolated wheel and Ahmed body,respectively.The drag reduction is primarily attributed to changes in the flow state around the wheel,which suppressed separation bubbles.Additionally,it influenced the boundary layer thickness around the car body and reduced the turbulent kinetic energy in the wake flow.These effects collectively contributed to the observed drag reduction.

Effects of Crosswise Appendage Plate Flexibility on the Drag Reduction Characteristics of Cylinder

In engineering applications (Like an ocean riser), fluid flow around bluff bodies generates substantial resistance, which can jeopardize structural integrity, lifespan, and escalate resource consumption. Therefore, employing drag reduction measures becomes particularly crucial. This paper employs the immersed boundary method to investigate the impact of transversely oriented appendage plate flexibility on the drag of cylinders under different Reynolds numbers and distances. The results indicate that flexible appendage plate exerts drag reduction effects on the downstream cylinder, with this effect gradually diminishing as Reynolds numbers increase. At identical Reynolds numbers, the drag reduction effect initially increases and then decreases with distance, with the optimal drag reduction distance observed at D = 2.5. Compared to cylinders without appendage plate, the maximum drag reduction achieved is 30.551%. Addressing the drag reduction issue in cylinders holds significant importance for ensuring engineering structural integrity, enhancing engineering efficiency, and developing novel underwater towing systems.

Measuring the dragging effect of natural resources: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta metropolitan areas

This paper extends the resource drag studies by empirically investigating how spatial factors affect the regional economic growth. Using spatial panel econometric models, this paper estimates the dragging effect of energy resources of the Yangtze River Delta metropolitan areas. We fi nd that the growth drag of energy in the Yangtze River Delta is about 6% on average, which means that energy constraints decrease the economic growth by 6% annually, higher than the national level that has been previously measured in the literature. This result has taken into account the impact of neighboring cities' economic development, so as to obtain a more accurate estimate. Based on these measurement results, we propose some policy recommendations.

Widefield optical coherence tomography of foveal dragging in retinopathy of prematurity

Dear Editor,Despite substantial advances in neonatal medicine, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) continues to be a serious therapeutic challenge⑴.Visual acuity loss in patients with ROP has been associated with structural retinal abnormalities (including retinal detachment, retinal folds, and pigmentary retinopathy), cataract, glaucoma, and amblyopia due to refractive error or strabismus[2].

Fresnel Dragging Explained by a Classical Model of Light Transmission in Optical Media

The original mathematical treatment used in the analysis of the Fizeau experiment of 1851, which measured the relative speed of light in a moving medium, assumes that light travels through the water in a smooth continuous flow, at a speed less than the speed of light in a vacuum (relative to the water). Thus, it assumes that the water’s velocity vector can simply be added to that of the light. However, light is transmitted through optical media, such as water, by a continuous process of charge excitation (semi-absorption) and re-emission by the water molecules;but travels between them at the full speed of light (in a vacuum). Thus, the mathematics describing the process of Fresnel dragging must be formulated differently and can then be explained by classical physics, allowing the entire process to be fully visualized.

Frame dragging in the field of Kerr family

The interesting phenomenon of frame dragging which is associated with the rotation of the source in the field of Kerr family is discussed, and the angular velocity of an uncharged test particle is obtained with a straightforward mathematical method.

Observations of the Sun’s Dragging Forces

The classical theory of gravity, developed by Isaac Newton, predicts that the gravitational force between two masses is always colinear with the direction defined by the center of mass of both bodies. Some work done in the last 60 years has shown experimental evidence that the reality may be somehow more complex. That complexity was confirmed by the author of this paper and he goes farther announcing that the Sun is emitting particles with 44 m spatial periodicity that creates isotropic gravitational effects. Those effects are identical to the ones produced by dragging forces according to the General Theory of Relativity under the Kerr’s Metric. The purpose of this paper is to introduce experimental evidence confirming the author’s predictions that the Moon can modify the dragging force coming from the Sun’s core.

Covariant Anomaly and Hawking Radiation from Kerr-Newman Black Hole in Dragging Coordinates Frame

In the light of Robinson and Wilczek's new idea,and motivated by Banerjee and Kulkarni's simplified method of using only the covariant anomaly to derive Hawking radiation from a black hole,we generally extend the work to Kerr-Newman black hole in dragging coordinates frame.It is shown that the flows introduced to cancel the anomaly at the event horizon are equal to the corresponding Hawking radiation in dragging coordinates frame,which supports and extends Robinson and Wilczek's opinion.

Frame Dragging Effect on Properties of Rotating Neutron Stars with Strong Magnetic Field

The general relativistic frame dragging effect on the properties,such as the moments of inertia and the radiiof gyration of fast rotating neutron stars with a uniform strong magnetic field,is calculated accurate to the first orderin the uniform angular velocity.The results show that compared with the corresponding non-rotating static sphericalsymmetric neutron star with a weaker magnetic field,a fast rotating neutron star(millisecond pulsar)with a strongermagnetic field has a relative smaller moment of inertia and radius of gyration.

Synthesis and Performance of an Associative Anti-shear Drag Reducer Based on Hydrogen Bond Association of Dodecyl Methacrylate

Using K2S2O8-Na2SO3 as the redox initiation system,a hydrogen-bond-association-based dodecyl methacrylate system associative anti-shear drag reducer was synthesised by standard emulsion polymerisation.The reaction process was simple and gentle as well as safe and stable.Molecular design was carried out using molecular dynamics simulation methods.The results of infrared spectroscopy,thermogravimetric analysis,differential scanning calorimetry,gel chromatography,and laser light scattering showed that the reaction polymerisation was relatively complete,the product was uniform,the molecular weight distribution was controllable,and the synthesised polymer had good flexibility.The donor lauryl methacrylate-styrene-methacrylic acid(LMA-St-MAA)and acceptor lauryl methacrylate-styrene-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate(LMA-St-DMA)polymers had an associative intermolecular interaction force,which increased the molecular cluster size of the associative system complex.The complex had good shear resistance,and the test results of the tube pump shear test showed that the synthesised associative oil-soluble polymer drag reduction system exhibited better drag reduction rate performance than poly-α-olefins over repeated cycles.The research results provide a reference plan for minimising the number of station-to-station inputs,thereby ensuring the stability of oil pipelines and reducing transportation costs.

Drag Coefficient of a Non-Convex Polygonal Plate during Free Fall

Waterside creatures or aquatic organisms use a fin or web to generate a thrust force. These fins or webs have a non-convex section, referred to as a non-convex shape. We investigate the drag force acting on a non-convex plate during unsteady motion. We perform the experiment in a water tank during free fall. We fabricate the non-convex plate by cutting isosceles triangles from the side of a convex hexagonal plate. The base angle of the triangle is between 0° to 45°. The base angle is 0 indicates the convex hexagonal thin plate. We estimate the drag coefficient with the force balance acting on the model based on the image analysis technique. The results indicate that increasing the base angle by more than 30° increased the drag coefficient. The drag coefficient during unsteady motion changed with the growth of the vortex behind the model. The vortex has small vortices in the shear layer, which is related to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities.

Comparative analysis on gas–solid drag models in MFIX-DEM simulations of bubbling fluidized bed

In this study,the open-source software MFIX-DEM simulations of a bubbling fluidized bed(BFB)are applied to assess nine drag models according to experimental and direct numerical simulation(DNS)results.The influence of superficial gas velocity on gas–solid flow is also examined.The results show that according to the distribution of time-averaged particle axial velocity in y direction,except for Wen–Yu and Tenneti–Garg–Subramaniam(TGS),other drag models are consistent with the experimental and DNS results.For the TGS drag model,the layer-by-layer movement of particles is observed,which indicates the particle velocity is not correctly predicted.The time domain and frequency domain analysis results of pressure drop of each drag model are similar.It is recommended to use the drag model derived from DNS or fine grid computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method(CFD-DEM)data first for CFD-DEM simulations.For the investigated BFB,the superficial gas velocity less than 0.9 m·s^(-1) should be adopted to obtain normal hydrodynamics.

The Influence of Sea Sprays on Drag Coefficient at High Wind Speed

Field and laboratory observations indicate that the variation of drag coefficient with wind speed at high winds is different from that under low-to-moderate winds.By taking the effects of wave development and sea spray into account,a new parameterization of drag coefficient applicable from low to extreme winds is proposed.It is shown that,under low-to-moderate wind conditions so that the sea spray effects could be neglected,the nondimensional aerodynamic roughness first increases and then decreases with the increasing wave age;whereas under high wind conditions,the drag coefficient decreases with the increasing wind speed due to the modification of the logarithmic wind profile by the effect of sea spray droplets produced by bursting bubbles or wind tearing breaking wave crests.The drag coefficients and sea surface aerodynamic roughnesses reach their maximum values vary under different wave developments.Correspondingly,the reduction of drag coefficient under high winds reduces the increasing rate of friction velocity with increasing wind speed.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Oil-Water Flow with Drag Reducing Polymers in Horizontal Pipes

The well-known frictional effect related to liquid-liquid two-phaseflow in pipelines can be reduced using drag-reducing additives.In this study,such an effect has been investigated experimentally using a mixture of oil and water.Moreover,numerical simulations have been carried out using the COMSOL simulation software.The mea-surements were taken in a horizontal pipe with the length and diameter equal to 3 and 0.125 m,respectively.Moreover,Polyethylene oxide with 150 ppm was exploited to reduce the drag effect while considering different water-to-oil fractions(0.3,0.4,0.5,and 0.7)and a constant totalflow velocity of 2.3 m/s.As made evident by the results,a significant reduction can be obtained in terms of pressure drop,which becomes even more significant as the water to oil fraction is increased.The maximum achieved drag reduction is 70%with a water fraction of 0.7.The results also show that the addition of polymer additives can also have an impact on theflow pattern.Com-parison of experimental and numerically determined pressure drop indicates that the error is smaller than 7%.

Aerodynamic shape and drag scaling law of a flexible fibre in a flowing medium

The study of a flexible body immersed in a flowing medium is one of the best way to find its aerodynamic shape.This Letter revisited the problem that was first studied by Alben et al.(Nature 420,479–481,2002).To determine the aerodynamic shape of the fibre,a simpler approach is proposed.A universal drag scaling law is obtained and the universality of the Alben-Shelley-Zhang scaling law is confirmed by using dimensional analysis.A complete Maple code is provided for finding aerodynamic shape of the fibre in the flowing medium.