Investigation of the thermodynamic processes of a floe-lead system in the central Arctic during later summer

Thermodynamic processes of a system involving a floe and a small lead in the central Arctic were investigated during the ice-camp period of the third Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition from 20 to 28 August, 2008. The measurements included surface air temperatures above the floe, spectral albedo of the lead, seawater temperatures in the lead and under the ice cover, and the lateral and bottom mass balance of the floe. The surface air temperature at 1.15 m remained below 0~Cthroughout the observation period and sea ice had commenced its annual cycle of growth in response to autumn cooling during the study. The surface of the lead was frozen by 23 August, after which the spectral albedo of the thin-ice-covered lead in the band of 320-950 nm was 0.46 -0.03, the seawater temperatures both in the lead and under the ice cover, as well as the vertical seawater-temperature gradient in the lead decreased gradually, and the oceanic heat under the ice was maintained at a low level approaching 0 W/m2. By the end of the measurement, the thickness of the investigated floe had reached its annual minimum, while the lateral of the floe was still in the melting phase, with a mean melting rate of 1.0±0.3 cm/d during the measurement, responding to an equivalent latent heat flux of 21 ±6 W/m2. The lateral melting of the floe had made a more significant contribution to the sea-ice mass balance than the surface and bottom melting in the end of August.

Mathematical modeling and analysis of thermodynamic processes in a twin-rotor piston engine

In order to study the major performance indicators of the twin-rotor piston engine(TRPE), Matlab/simulink was used to simulate the mathematical models of its thermodynamic processes. With consideration of the characteristics of the working processes in the TRPE, corresponding differential equations were established and then simplified by period features of the TRPE. Finally, the major boundary conditions were figured out. The changing trends of mass, pressure and temperature of working fuel in the working chamber during a complete engine cycle were presented. The simulation results are consistent with the trends of an actual working cycle in the TRPE, which indicates that the method of simulation is feasible. As the pressure in the working chamber is calculated, all the performance parameters of the TRPE can be obtained. The major performance indicators, such as the indicated mean effective pressure, power to weight ratio and the volume power, are also acquired. Compared with three different types of conventional engines, the TRPE has a bigger utilization ratio of cylinder volume, a higher power to weight ratio and a more compact structure. This indicates that TRPE is superior to conventional engines.

The heat and work of quantum thermodynamic processes with quantum coherence

Energy is often partitioned into heat and work by two independent paths corresponding to the change in the eigenenergies or the probability distributions of a quantum system. The discrepancies of the heat and work for various quantum thermodynamic processes have not been well characterized in literature. Here we show how the work in quantum machines is differentially related to the isochoric, isothermal, and adiabatic processes. We prove that the energy exchanges during the quantum isochoric and isothermal processes are simply depending on the change in the eigenenergies or the probability distributions. However, for a time-dependent system in a non-adiabatic quantum evolution, the transitions between the different quantum states representing the quantum coherence can affect the essential thermodynamic properties, and thus the general definitions of the heat and work should be clarified with respect to the microscopic generic time-dependent system. By integrating the coherence effects in the exactly-solvable dynamics of quantum-spin precession, the internal energy is rigorously transferred as the work in the thermodynamic adiabatic process. The present study demonstrates that the quantum adiabatic process is sufficient but not necessary for the thermodynamic adiabatic process.

A thermodynamic view on the in-situ carbon dioxide reduction by biomass-derived hydrogen during calcium carbonate decomposition

In the carbonate industry,deep decarbonization strategies are necessary to effectively remediate CO_(2).These strategies mainly include both sustainable energy supplies and the conversion of CO_(2)in downstream processes.This study developed a coupled process of biomass chemical looping H2 production and reductive calcination of CaCO_(3).Firstly,a mass and energy balance of the coupled process was established in Aspen Plus.Following this,process optimization and energy integration were implemented to provide optimized operation conditions.Lastly,a life cycle assessment was carried out to assess the carbon footprint of the coupled process.Results reveal that the decomposition temperature of CaCO_(3)in an H_(2)atmosphere can be reduced to 780℃(generally around 900℃),and the conversion of CO_(2)from CaCO_(3)decomposition reached 81.33%with an H2:CO ratio of 2.49 in gaseous products.By optimizing systemic energy through heat integration,an energy efficiency of 86.30%was achieved.Additionally,the carbon footprint analysis revealed that the process with energy integration had a low global warming potential(GWP)of-2.624 kg·kg^(-1)(CO_(2)/CaO).Conclusively,this work performed a systematic analysis of introducing biomass-derived H_(2)into CaCO_(3)calcination and demonstrated the positive role of reductive calcination using green H_(2)in mitigating CO_(2)emissions within the carbonate industry.

Relationship of atmospheric boundary layer depth with thermodynamic processes at the land surface in arid regions of China

The atmospheric boundary layer （ABL） is an important physical characteristic of the Earth＇s atmosphere. Compared with the typical ABL, the ABL in arid regions has distinct features and is formed by particular mechanisms. In this paper, the depth of the diurnal and nocturnal ABLs and their related thermodynamic features of land surface processes, including net radiation, the ground-air temperature difference and sensible heat flux, under typical summer and winter conditions are discussed on the basis of comprehensive observations of the ABL and thermodynamic processes at the land surface carried out in the extreme arid zone of Dunhuang. The relationships of the ABL depth in the development and maintenance stages with these thermodynamic features are also investigated. The results show that the depth of the ABL is closely correlated with the thermodynamic features in both development and maintenance stages and more energy is consumed in the development stage. Further analysis indicates that wind velocity also affects ABL development, especially the development of a stable boundary layer in winter. Taken together, the analysis results indicate that extremely strong thermodynamic processes at the land surface are the main driving factor for the formation of a deep ABL in an arid region.

The dynamic and thermodynamic processes dominating the reduction of global land monsoon precipitation driven by anthropogenic aerosols emission

Changes in monsoon precipitation have profound social and economic impacts as more than two-thirds of the world’s population lives in monsoon regions.Observations show a significant reduction in global land monsoon precipitation during the second half of the 20 th century.Understanding the cause of this change,especially possible anthropogenic origins,is important.Here,we compare observed changes in global land monsoon precipitation during 1948–2005 with those simulated by 5 global climate models participating in the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project-phase 5(CMIP5)under different external forcings.We show that the observed drying trend is consistent with the model simulated response to anthropogenic forcing and to anthropogenic aerosol forcing in particular.We apply the optimal fingerprinting method to quantify anthropogenic influences on precipitation and find that anthropogenic aerosols may have contributed to 102%(62–144%for the 5–95%confidence interval)of the observed decrease in global land monsoon precipitation.A moisture budget analysis indicates that the reduction in precipitation results from reduced vertical moisture advection in response to aerosol forcing.Since much of the monsoon regions,such as India and China,have been experiencing rapid developments with increasing aerosol emissions in the past decedes,our results imply a further reduction in monsoon precipitation in these regions in the future if effective mitigations to reduce aerosol emissions are not deployed.The observed decline of aerosol emission in China since 2006 helps to alleviate the reducing trend of monsoon precipiptaion.

A master-slave generalized predictive synchronization control for preheating process of multi-cavity hot runner system

As a key component of injection molding,multi-cavity hot runner(MCHR)system faces the crucial problem of polymer melt filling imbalance among the cavities.The thermal imbalance in the system has been considered as the leading cause.Hence,the solution may rest with the synchronization of those heating processes in MCHR system.This paper proposes a’Master-Slave’generalized predictive synchronization control(MS-GPSC)method with’Mr.Slowest’strategy for preheating stage of MCHR system.The core of the proposed method is choosing the heating process with slowest dynamics as the’Master’to track the setpoint,while the other heating processes are treated as‘Slaves’tracking the output of’Master’.This proposed method is shown to have the good ability of temperature synchronization.The corresponding analysis is conducted on parameters tuning and stability,simulations and experiments show the strategy is effective.

Assembling structurally customizable synthetic carriers of si RNA through thermodynamically self-regulated process

This study demonstrates that our previously reported polywraplex, a synthetic siRNA carrier consisting of a uni-molecular polyplex core of customizable size and a self-assembled triblock copolymer envelop, may be constructed using dendrimers as the crosslinking junctions. Replacing the branched low molecular weight PEI with polyamidoamine(PAMAM) dendrimer in the zeta potential regulated polymerization resulted in the similar network structured cationic polymer with electron microscopically visible crosslinking junctions. This visibility may offer a convenient way to characterize the molecular structure of the rationally designed networked siRNA-packing cationic polymer without altering its chemical properties and biologic functions. A series of physical-chemical characterizations and biological assays, comprising size, zeta potential, pre-phagocytic siRNA leaking and degradation, and silencing of functional genes, confirmed that the advanced properties of polywraplexes remained with the dendrimer junctions. Although sixth generation PAMAM dendrimer was used as the crosslinking junctions in the size-customizable polymerization for electron microscopic observation, lower generation dendrimer should also work in case more practical and structurally defined cationic polymer is needed.

A reduced thermodynamic model on the formation of the Nansha warm water

A reduced vertically integrated upper mixed layer model is set up to numerically study the thermodynamic process of the formation of the 'Nansha warm water'(NWW) in the Nansha Islands sea areas in spring. According to the numerical experiments, it is shown that, in spring, the formation of the NWW is mainly due to the sea surface net heat flux and the local weak current strength; the contribution from temperature advection transport and warm water exchange with the outer seas (Sulu Sea or south of Sunda shelf) is very little. In the sea areas where the current is strong, the advection may also play an important role in the temperature field.

Thermodynamic model of melt pond and its application during summer of 2010 in the central Arctic Ocean

A one-dimensional thermodynamic model of melt pond is established in this paper. The observation data measured in the summer of 2010 by the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition （CHINARE-2010） are used to partially parameterize equations and to validate results of the model. About 85% of the incident solar radiation passed through the melt pond surface, and some of it was released in the form of sensible and latent heat. However, the released energy was very little （about 15%）, compared to the incident solar radiation. More than 58.6% of the incident energy was absorbed by melt pond water, which caused pond-covered ice melting and variation of pond water temperature. The simulated temperature of melt pond had a diurnal variation and its value ranged between 0.0~C and 0.3~C. The melting rate of upper pond-covered ice is estimated to be around two times faster than snow-covered ice. At same time, the change of melting rate was relatively quick for pond depth less than 0.4 m, while the melting rate kept relatively constant （about 1.0 cm/d） for pond depth greater than 0.4 m.

Thermodynamic behaviors of SiCl_2 in silicon deposition by gas phase zinc reduction of silicon tetrachloride

The modified Siemens process,which is the major process of producing polycrystalline silicon through current technologies,is a high temperature,slow,semi-batch process and the product is expensive primarily due to the large energy consumption.Therefore,the zinc reduction process,which can produce solar-grade silicon in a cost effective manner,should be redeveloped for these conditions.The SiCl2 generation ratio,which stands for the degree of the side reactions,can be decomposed to SiCl4 and ZnCl2 in gas phase zinc atmosphere in the exit where the temperature is very low.Therefore,the lower SiCl2 generation ratio is profitable with lower power consumption.Based on the thermodynamic data for the related pure substances,the relations of the SiCl2 generation ratio and pressure,temperature and the feed molar ratio（n（Zn）/n（SiCl4） are investigated and the graphs thereof are plotted.And the diagrams of Kpθ-T at standard atmosphere pressure have been plotted to account for the influence of temperature on the SiCl2 generation ratio.Furthermore,the diagram of Kpθ-T at different pressures have also been plotted to give an interpretation of the influence of pressure on the SiCl2 generation ratio.The results show that SiCl2 generation ratio increases with increasing temperature,and the higher pressure and excess gas phase zinc can restrict SiCl2 generation ratio.Finally,suitable operational conditions in the practical process of polycrystalline silicon manufacture by gas phase zinc reduction of SiCl4 have been established with 1200 K,0.2 MPa and the feed molar ratio（n（Zn） /n（SiCl4）） of 4 at the entrance.Under these conditions,SiCl2 generation ratio is very low,which indicates that the side reactions can be restricted and the energy consumption is reasonable.

On Clausius’, Post-Clausius’, and Negentropic Thermodynamics

The evidence here provided shows that the thermodynamics of the second law, as currently understood, originated in a correction of the flaws affecting Clausius original work on this matter. The body of knowledge emerging from this correction has been here called post-Clausius’ thermodynamics. The said corrections, carried on with the intended goal of preserving the validity of Clausius’ main result, namely the law of increasing entropy, made use of a number of counterintuitive or logically at fault notions. A joint revision of Clausius’ and post-Clausius’ work on the second law, carried on retaining some of Clausius original notions, and disregarding others introduced by post-Clausius thermodynamics, led this author to results in direct contradiction to the law of increasing entropy. Among the key results coming out of this work we find the one stating that the total-entropy change for spontaneous thermodynamic processes is the result of the summation of the opposite-sign contributions coming from the entropic (energy degrading) and negentropic (energy upgrading) changes subsumed by any such process. These results also show, via the total-entropy change for a non-reversible heat engine, that negentropic thermodynamics subsumes post-Clausius thermodynamics as a special case.

Recent development of catalytic strategies for sustainable ammonia production

Presently,ammonia is an ideal candidate for future clean energy.The Haber-Bosch process has been an essential ammonia production process,and it is one of the most important technological advancements since its invention,sustaining the explosive growth of military munitions industry and fertilizers in the first half of the 20th century.However,the process is facing great challenges:the growing need for ammonia and the demands of environmental protection.High energy consumption and high CO_(2) emissions greatly limit the application of the Haber-Bosch method,and increasing research efforts are devoted to"green"ammonia synthesis.Thermocatalytic,electrocatalytic,and photocatalytic ammonia production under mild conditions and the derived chemical looping and plasma ammonia production methods,have been widely developed.Electrocatalytic and photocatalytic methods,which use low fossil fuels,are naturally being considered as future directions for the development of ammonia production.Although their catalytic efficiency of ammonia generation is not yet sufficient to satisfy the actual demands,considerable progress has been made in terms of regulating structure and morphology of catalyst and improving preparation efficiency.The chemical looping approach of ammonia production differs from the thermocatalytic,electrocatalytic,and photocatalytic methods,and is the method of reusing raw materials.The plasma treatment approach alters the overall ammonia production approach and builds up a new avenue of development in combination with thermal,photocatalytic,and electrocatalytic methods as well.This review discusses several recent effective catalysts for different ammonia production methods and explores mechanisms as well as efficiency of these catalysts for catalytic N2fixation of ammonia.

Research on Volume Identification with the Method of Discharging at the Velocity of Sound

The method of volume identification in pneumatics was studied through theoretical analysis and experimental investigation. Regarding discharging from a container as a thermodynamic process with invariable index the dependence of the container’s volume on the pressure in the container and the index, during discharging at the velocity of sound, is deduced. Then through a lot of experiments, the value of index n of the process is found with a given precision and a specified volume range. Furthermore, the feasibility and practicability of this method are verified by experiments.

Geophysical Investigation of the Triassic Salt Material Hazard: El Fahs Case Example (Northern Tunisia)

The Tunisian territory (area of diapirs) is exposed to the risks of ground movements linked to water, some of which are related to the phenomenon of dissolution of gypsum, allowing the appearance of underground cavities which present natural risks and set people in danger. The analysis of the hazard was determined by the field study coupled with the application of geophysical methods to locate and map the cavities and identify their dimensions and their positions in the subsoil. In the region of El Fahs (40 km NW of Tunis): we used a non-destructive method, georadar (GPR) with a 200 MHz antenna band-width, and an electric method, by using the electric tomography of which we have applicated the sequence of dipole-dipole measurement. The results ob-tained were examined and interpreted according to 2D profiles. The geophysi-cal methods of GPR and electrical tomography aim to detect many calvities in different depths. However, the geological radar was able to identify several cavities and the zones of dissolution whose investigation depth did not exceed the first 3 meters. On the contrary, the electric tomography method allowing the presence of several deeper underground cavities with larger dimensions ex-tended to 64 meters. To conclude, the geological and hydrogeological contexts of the terrain studied and on the state of the soil and subsoil allow us to better understanding the mechanisms of the establishment of the dissolution phe-nomenon and the appearance of cavities in the basement. The analysis of the predisposing factors present in the study area shows that the geodynamic con-text of the Triassic ascent takes place according to a precise thermodynamic process that favors the phenomenon of dissolution of the gypsum.

Thermodynamic performance of Dual-Miller cycle(DMC) with polytropic processes based on power output, thermal efficiency and ecological function

This study reports a new model of an air standard Dual-Miller cycle(DMC) with two polytropic processes and heat transfer loss.The two reversible adiabatic processes which could not be realized in practice are replaced with two polytropic processes in order to more accurately reflect the practical working performance. The heat transfer loss is taken into account. The expressions of power output, thermal efficiency, entropy generation rate(EGR) and ecological function are addressed using finite-time thermodynamic theory. Through numerical calculations, the influences of compression ratio, cut-off ratio and polytropic exponent on the performance are thermodynamically analyzed. The model can be simplified to other cycle models under specific conditions, which means the results have an certain universality and may be helpful in the design of practical heat engines. It is shown that the entropy generation minimization does not always lead to the best system performance.

Low-Temperature Heat Capacities and Thermodynamic Properties of Hydrated Nickel L-Threonate Ni（C4H7O5）2·2H2O（S）

Low-temperature heat capacities of the compound Ni（C4H7O5）2·2H2O（S） have been measured with an auto- mated adiabatic calorimeter. A thermal decomposition or dehydration occurred in 350--369 K. The temperature, the enthalpy and entropy of the dehydration were determined to be （368.141 ±0.095） K, （18.809±0.088） kJ·mol ^-1 and （51.093±0.239） J·K^-1·mol^-1 respertively. The experimental values of the molar heat capacities in the temperature regions of 78-350 and 368-390 K were fitted to two polynomial equations of heat capacities （Cp,m） with the reduced temperatures （X）, [X=f（T）], by a least squares method, respectively. The smoothed molar heat capacities and thermodynamic functions of the compound were calculated on the basis of the fitted polynomials. The smoothed values of the molar heat capacities and fundamental thermodynamic functions of the sample relative to the standard reference temperature 298.15 K were tabulated with an interval of 5 K.

Work entransy and its applications

The entransy theory has been applied to the analyses of heat-work conversion systems. The physical meaning and the applications of work entransy are analyzed and discussed in this paper. Work entransy, which is clarified to be a process dependent quantity, is not the entransy of work, but the system entransy change accompanying work transfer. The relationship between the work entransy and the output work is set up. When the application preconditions are satisfied, larger work entransy leads to larger output work. Entransy loss, which was proposed and applied to heat work conversion processes with irreversible heat transfer, is the net entransy flow into the system and the summation of work entransy and entransy dissipation. The application preconditions of entransy loss are also discussed.

A STUDY ON THE VARIATION OF DROUGHT PERIODS OCCURRING IN NORTHWEST CHINA AND OTHER AFRICA-ASIA CONTINENTAL REGIONS

Characteristics of the drought periods which occurred in North Africa,Middle East,Middle Asia and Northwest China were studied based on the analysis of rainfall data from 1870—1990.It is found that the drought periods first started in North Africa and expanded eastward to Northwest China through Middle East and Middle Asia in about 27.5 years.And then a new teleconnection pattern of 30—50 day low-frequency oscillation which is associated with the droughts over the Africa-Asia Con- tinent was discovered.Finally,a hypothesis is proposed based on the statistical results that the east- ward expansion of drought periods may be caused by the occurrence of giant earthquakes(Ms>6.0) which have a tendency to shift eastward from North Africa to Northwest China in about 27.75 years.

A critical transition rule for broadening exponent of fluctuation and its effect on dissipation in chemical reaction-heat conduction coupling systems

A stochastic model of chemical reaction-heat conduction-diffusion for a one-dimensional gaseous system under Dirichlet or zero-fluxes boundary conditions is proposed in this paper. Based on this model,we extend the theory of the broadening exponent of critical fluctuations to cover the chemical reaction-heat conduction coupling systems as an asymptotic property of the corresponding Markovian master equation (ME),and establish a valid stochastic thermodynamics for such systems. As an illustration,the non-isothermal and inhomogeneous Schl-gl model is explicitly studied. Through an order analysis of the contributions from both the drift and diffusion to the evolution of the probability distribution in the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation(FPE) in the approach to bifurcation,we have identified the critical transition rule for the broadening exponent of the fluctuations due to the coupling between chemical reaction and heat conduction. It turns out that the dissipation induced by the critical fluctuations reaches a deterministic level,leading to a thermodynamic effect on the nonequilibrium physico-chemical processes.