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A systematic approach for calibrating the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) collision model parameters to achieve consistency in the transport processes is presented. The DSMC collision cross section model parameters are calibrated for high temperature atmospheric conditions by matching the collision integrals from DSMC against ab initio based collision integrals that are currently employed in the Langley Aerothermodynamic Upwind Relaxation Algorithm (LAURA) and Data Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) high temperature computational fluid dynamics solvers. The DSMC parameter values are computed for the widely used Variable Hard Sphere (VHS) and the Variable Soft Sphere (VSS) models using the collision-specific pairing approach. The recommended best-fit VHS/VSS parameter values are provided over a temperature range of 1000-20 000 K for a thirteen-species ionized air mixture. Use of the VSS model is necessary to achieve consistency in transport processes of ionized gases. The agreement of the VSS model transport properties with the transport properties as determined by the ab initio collision integral fits was found to be within 6% in the entire temperature range, regardless of the composition of the mixture. The recommended model parameter values can be readily applied to any gas mixture involving binary collisional interactions between the chemical species presented for the specified temperature range.

A general approach for achieving consistency in the transport properties between direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and Navier-Stokes (CFD) solvers is presented for five-species air. Coefficients of species diffusion, viscosity, and thermal conductivities are considered. The transport coefficients that are modeled in CFD solvers are often obtained by expressions involving sets of collision integrals, which are obtained from more realistic intermolecular potentials (i.e., ab initio calculations). In this work, the self-consistent effective binary diffusion and Gupta et al.–Yos tranport models are considered. The DSMC transport coefficients are approximated from Chapman-Enskog theory in which the collision integrals are computed using either the variable hard sphere (VHS) and variable soft sphere (VSS) (phenomenological) collision cross section models. The VHS and VSS parameters are then used to adjust the DSMC transport coefficients in order to achieve a best-fit to the coefficients computed from more realistic intermolecular potentials over a range of temperatures. The best-fit collision model parameters are determined for both collision-averaged and collision-specific pairing approaches using the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm. A consistent treatment of the diffusion, viscosity, and thermal conductivities is presented, and recommended sets of best-fit VHS and VSS collision model parameters are provided for a five-species air mixture.

Vibrational energy transport in disordered media is of fundamental importance to several fields spanning from sustainable energy to biomedicine to thermal management. In this work, we investigate hybrid ordered/disordered nanocomposites that consist of crystalline membranes decorated by regularly patterned disordered regions formed by ion beam irradiation. The presence of the disordered regions results in reduced thermal conductivity, rendering these systems of interest for use as nanostructured thermoelectrics and thermal device components, yet their vibrational properties are not well understood. Here we establish in detail the mechanism of vibrational transport and the reason underlying the observed reduction. The hybrid systems are found to exhibit glass-crystal duality in vibrational transport. Lattice dynamics reveals substantial hybridization between the localized and delocalized modes, which induces avoided crossings and harmonic broadening in the dispersion. Allen/Feldman theory shows that the hybridization and avoided crossings are the dominant drivers of the reduction. Anharmonic scattering is also enhanced in the patterned nanocomposites, further contributing to the reduction. The systems exhibit features reminiscent of both nanophononic materials and locally resonant nanophononic metamaterials, but operate in a manner distinct to both. These findings indicate that such "patterned disorder" can be a promising strategy to tailor vibrational transport through hybrid nanostructures.Received: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))Revised: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))

Viscous drag reduction on a submerged surface can be obtained both in the limit of an unbroken gas film coating the solid and in the nanobubble or perhaps microbubble coating regime when an air layer is created with superhydrophobic coatings. We examine an intermediate bubble size regime with a trapped-bubble array (TBA) formed in a tap water environment using electrolysis to grow and maintain bubbles in thousands of millimeter-sized holes on a solid surface. We show that even though surface tension is sufficient to stabilize bubbles in a TBA against hydrostatic and shear forces beneath a turbulent boundary layer, no drag reduction is obtained. Drag measurements were acquired over Reynolds numbers based on plate length ranging from 7.2×104<ReL<3.1×105 using either a force balance for plates mounted in a vertical orientation, or by performing a momentum integral balance using a wake survey for a flat plate mounted in either vertical or horizontal orientation. In that the drag forces were small, emphasis was placed on minimizing experimental uncertainty. For comparison, the flow over a flat plate covered on one side by a large uninterrupted gas film was examined and found to produce large drag reductions of up to 32%.