Impacts of hydropower-induced flow alterations on composition and diversity of riparian vegetation in the Western Himalayas: A case study in Uttarakhand, India

The increasing demand for water and energy resources has led to widespread dam construction,particularly in ecologically sensitive regions like the Himalayan Range.This study focuses on the Uttarakhand state in the Western Himalayas,where hydroelectric projects(HEPs)have significantly altered river flow regimes.The research investigates the impact of flow alterations on the composition and structure of riparian vegetation in the Garhwal Himalayas,specifically analysing four rivers regulated by hydroelectric projects.Utilizing the paired-reach comparison method,control(undisturbed),diverted(downstream of barrage/dam),and altered flow conditions(downstream of water outlet)were examined.The research reveals diverse and unique riparian ecosystems,with 89 genera and 113 taxa identified,showcasing the dominance of families like Asteraceae and Lamiaceae.The study unveils the structural importance of key species such as Berberis asiatica and Artemisia nilagirica.The density,diversity,and richness of shrub and herb species vary significantly across flow conditions.Notably,altered flow conditions demonstrate resilience in vegetation structure,while diverted conditions exhibit decreased species richness and density.The study emphasizes the importance of nuanced environmental flow management for mitigating adverse effects on riparian biodiversity in the fragile Himalayan region.These findings contribute to the global discourse on dam impacts and riparian ecology,shedding light on the complexities of this dynamic relationship in a vulnerable ecosystem.

Receptivity of plane Poiseuille flow to local micro-vibration disturbance on wall

The receptivity of plane Poiseuille flow to local single-period micro-vibration disturbances with different phases at the top and bottom walls was investigated through direct numerical simulation of three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Results show that the disturbance presents a symmetrical distribution in the spanwise direction when the micro-vibration on the wall ends, and the initial disturbance velocities and spatial distribution of the disturbance structure are different at the top and bottom walls. The disturbance＇s velocity, amplitude, and high- and low-speed streaks increase with time, and the amplitude of streamwise disturbance velocity is larger than those of spanwise and vertical disturbance velocities. However, no significant Tollmien-Schlichting wave was found in the flow field. The number of disturbance vortex cores gradually increases with the disturbance area. High-speed disturbance fluid concentrates near the wall and its normal velocity largely points to the wall, while low-speed disturbance fluid largely deviates from the wall. Furthermore, the streamwise velocity profiles near the top and bottom walls both become plump because of the existence of the disturbances, and the streamwise velocity profiles show a trend of evolving into turbulent velocity profiles. The shear stress near the wall increases significantly. The local micro-vibration disturbance on the wall in plane Poiseuille flow can induce the development of a structure similar to turbulent spots.

Experimental Investigation of Disturbing the Flow Field on the Vortex-Induced Vibration of Deepwater Riser Fitted with Gas Jetting Active Vibration Suppression Device

An experimental investigation on the disturbance effect of jet-type active vibration suppression device on vortexinduced vibration of deep-sea riser was carried out in the wave-flow combined flume.The vibration suppression device was designed in which the jet pipe was horizontally fixed to the front end of the riser.By varying three different excitation spacings and multi-stage outflow velocities,the influence law of the dominant frequency,dimensionless displacement and other dynamic response parameters was studied under different excitation spacings,and the mechanism and sensitive characteristics of the disturbance suppression were explored.The results indicate that the variation of excitation spacing makes gas curtain enter the strong disturbed flow region at different velocities and angles,and the coupling relationship between excitation spacing and reduced velocity is the key factor to enter the strong disturbed flow region to achieve the optimal disturbance suppression.In the strong disturbed flow region,the influence of gas curtain on the dominant frequency is obviously affected by the flow velocity,while the vibration displacement is stable at the same amplitude and is weakly affected by the flow velocity.Gas curtain can effectively disturb the formation of vortex shedding,destroy the strong nonlinear coupled vibration of the riser,and achieve better vibration suppression effect.In the weak disturbed flow region,the vortex length of the riser tail is prolonged,the strong nonlinear coupled vibration of the riser is gradually restored,and the vibration suppression effect of the device gradually decreases.

Effects of fluid recirculation on mass transfer from the arterial surface to flowing blood

The effect of disturbed flow on the mass trans- fer from arterial surface to flowing blood was studied nu- merically, and the results were compared with that of our previous work. The arterial wall was assumed to be vis- coelastic and the blood was assumed to be incompressible and non-Newtonian fluid, which is more close to human arte- rial system. Numerical results indicated that the mass trans- fer from the arterial surface to flowing blood in regions of disturbed flow is positively related with the wall shear rates and it is significantly enhanced in regions of disturbed flow with a local minimum around the reattachment point which is higher than the average value of the downstream. There- fore, it may be implied that the accumulation of cholesterol or lipids within atheromatous plaques is not caused by the reduced efflux of cholesterol or lipids, but by the infiltration of the LDL （low-density lipoprotein） from the flowing blood to the arterial wall.

A note on the numerical simulations of flow past a wavy square-section cylinder

The flow past a square-section cylinder with a geometric disturbance is investigated by numerical simulations. The extra terms, due to the introduction of mapping transformation simulating the effect of disturbance into the transformed Navier-Stokes equations, are correctly derived, and the incorrect ones in the previous literature are pointed out and analyzed. Furthermore, the relationship between the vorticity, especially on the cylinder surface, and the disturbance is derived and explained theoretically. The computations are performed at two Reynolds numbers of 100 and 180 and three amplitudes of waviness of 0.006, 0.025 and 0.167 with another aim to explore the effects of different Reynolds numbers and disturbance on the vortex dynamics in the wake and forces on the body. Numerical results have shown that, at the mild waviness of 0.025, the Kairmain vortex shedding is suppressed completely for Re = 100, while the forced vortex dislocation is appeared in the near wake at the Reynolds number of 180. The drag reduction is up to 21.6% at Re = 100 and 25.7% at Re = 180 for the high waviness of 0.167 compared with the non-wavy cylinder. The lift and the Strouhal number varied with different Reynolds numbers and the wave steepness are also obtained.

Wall shear stress in portal vein of cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension

AIM To investigate wall shear stress(WSS) magnitude and distribution in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension using computational fluid dynamics. METHODS Idealized portal vein(PV) system models were reconstructed with different angles of the PV-splenic vein(SV) and superior mesenteric vein(SMV)-SV. Patient-specific models were created according to enhanced computed tomography images. WSS was simulated by using a finite-element analyzer, regarding the blood as a Newtonian fluid and the vessel as a rigid wall. Analysis was carried out to compare the WSSin the portal hypertension group with that in healthy controls.RESULTS For the idealized models, WSS in the portal hypertension group(0-10 dyn/cm2) was significantly lower than that in the healthy controls(10-20 dyn/cm2), and low WSS area(0-1 dyn/cm2) only occurred in the left wall of the PV in the portal hypertension group. Different angles of PV-SV and SMV-SV had different effects on the magnitude and distribution of WSS, and low WSS area often occurred in smaller PV-SV angle and larger SMV-SV angle. In the patient-specific models, WSS in the cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension(10.13 ± 1.34 dyn/cm2) was also significantly lower than that in the healthy controls(P < 0.05). Low WSS area often occurred in the junction area of SV and SMV into the PV, in the area of the division of PV into left and right PV, and in the outer wall of the curving SV in the control group. In the cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension, the low WSS area extended to wider levels and the magnitude of WSS reached lower levels, thereby being more prone to disturbed flow occurrence.CONCLUSION Cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension show dramatic hemodynamic changes with lower WSS and greater potential for disturbed flow, representing a possible causative factor of PV thrombosis.

Cathepsin K contributed to disturbed flow-induced atherosclerosis is dependent on integrin-actin cytoskeleton–NF–κB pathway

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, occurring preferentially in bifurcation, branching, and bending of blood vessels exposed to disturbed flow. Disturbed flow in atheroprone areas activates elevated proteases, degrading elastin lamellae and collagenous matrix, resulting in endothelial dysfunction and vascular remodeling. As a mediator for extracellular matrix protein degradation, cathepsin K (CTSK) was directly regulated by hemodynamics and contributed to atherosclerosis. The mechanism of CTSK responding to disturbed flow and contributing to disturbed flow-induced atherosclerosis is unclear. In this study, the partial carotid ligation model of mice and in vitro disturbed shear stress model were constructed to explore the contribution and potential mechanism of CTSK in atherosclerosis. Our results indicated that CTSK elevated in the disturbed flow area in vivo and in vitro along with endothelial inflammation and atherogenesis. Additionally, the expression of integrin αvβ3 was upregulated in these atheroprone areas. We found that inhibition of the integrin αvβ3-cytoskeleton pathway could significantly block the activation of NF-κB and the expression of CTSK. Collectively, our findings unraveled that disturbed flow induces increased CTSK expression, and contributes to endothelial inflammation and vascular remodeling, leading to atherogenesis eventually. This study is helpful to provide new enlightenment for the therapy of atherosclerosis.

PIV EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH OF FLOW STRUCTURE IN RECTANGULAR CHANNEL WITH TRANSVERSELY PLACED SPIRAL COIL INSERT

The flow field in a rectangular channel with a transversely placed spiral coil insert is investigated by Particle Image Velocimetry （PIV） measurements in both transverse and longitudinal sections. The experimental results show that multi-longitudinal vortices are induced downstream of the spiral coil and are distributed as a symmetrical vortex array along the horizontal central line of the transverse section. Along the mainstream, due to the spiral motion of the longitudinal vortices, the velocity fluctuates in a manner of the damped sinusoidal curve and the velocity component in the wall normal direction is improved in the channel. Com- pared with the flow field in a smooth channel it is found that the movement of the longitudinal vortices can cause a continuous dis- turbance near the channel walls and thus enhances the fluid velocity in the near wall region, which consequently leads to the redu- ction of the velocity gradient and a more uniform velocity distribution. With the increase of the Reynolds number, the induced longitudinal vortices gain strength and become straighter and closer to the channel walls, thus the turbulence intensity is further enha- nced in this area.

EFFECTS OF ANOMALOUS HEATING ON SUMMER MONSOON OVER ASIA

Based on a zonally non-uniform mean circulation in summer simulated by numerical modelling,perturba- tion heatings ever South Asia and a perturbation cooling over Northwest Australia were incorporated in a nu- merical model to discuss their effects on summer monsoon over Asia and the structure of flow disturbance.

InvesInvestigation of the Effects of Airfoil-probes on the Aerodynamic Performance of an Axial Compressor

In order to investigate the effects of the airfoil-probes on the aerodynamic performance of an axial compressor,a numerical simulation of 3D flow field is performed in a 1.5-stage axial compressor with airfoil-probes installed at the stator leading-edge（LE）.The airfoil-probes have a negative influence on the compressor aerodynamic performance at all operating points.A streamwise vortex is induced by the airfoil-probe along both sides of the blade.At the mid-operating point,the vortex is notable along the pressure side and is relatively small along the suction side（SS）.At the near-stall point,the vortex is slightly suppressed in the pressure surface（PS）,but becomes remarkable in the suction side.A small local-separation is induced by the interactions between the vortex and the end-wall boundary layer in the corner region near the hub.That the positive pitch angle of the airfoil-probe at 6.5% span is about 15° plays an important role in the vortex evolution near the hub,which causes the fact that the airfoil-probe near the hub has the largest effects among the four airfoil-probes.In order to get a further understanding of the vortex evolution in the stator in the numerical simulation,a flow visualization experiment in a water tunnel is performed.The flow visualization results give a deep insight into the evolution of the vortex induced by the airfoil-probe.

Performance research and optimization on the fan test system based on experiment

To investigate the fan performance of air conditioning system, two different configuration fan test systems are designed. All scale simulation of the two systems provide the basis for design and improvement of air conditioning system fans to improve the internal flow, increase air volume, and reduce the noise. The conclusion that disturbance on flow of nuzzle outlet is the main sources of measurement error about 5% can be proved by the comparative analysis of the results between computation and experiment. Through Optimization Design of Partial Structure they all meet the industry standard, measurement error less than 1.5%.