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A small-scale laboratory apparatus was built to study liquid friction modifier (LFM) behavior in a top-of-rail application. A field experiment was also carried out to complement the laboratory findings. KELTRACK® (a water-based LFM) was used as the test fluid. Laser-induced fluorescence served to measure the LFM thickness left on the track after the passage of the wheel. The lab experiments show that the LFM cannot withstand the high wheel-rail contact pressure in the nip present in cargo rail situations. As a result, the liquid is squeezed out laterally and attaches to the edges of the wheel contact band. This "edge liquid" is then carried down the track on the wheel. Gravimetric measurements of the wheel contact band confirm this observation, and show that only a minute amount of liquid is carried through the nip in the valleys between surface roughness features. In the field experiment, the LFM is applied from a trackside unit on a tangent section of the track. About 500 m downstream of the application point, the track has a curved section. LFM cannot be detected anywhere on the track a short distance (∼200 m) past the application unit. However, LFM is detectable on the curved sections of the track up to approximately 2 km from the application unit. This LFM on the curved track is believed to be due to transfer of the "edge liquid" from the wheel to the track, caused by the movement of the contact band as the train rounds a curve. The presence of LFM on the curved track far downstream is consistent with prior measurements of reduced lateral force on the curved track downstream of LFM application sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The von-Karman–Pohlhausen averaging technique is employed to build a reduced model for the flow of a shallow film from a sluice gate or impacting jet over a moving surface. The viscous drag exerted on the film by the moving wall acts to arrest flow counter to the direction of the wall's motion, and force an adjustment toward the wall speed. For a (normally) impacting jet, this results in a range of wall speeds for which a steady state is reached in which all the fluid is eventually recirculated to flow along the wall, with a distinctive "heel" forming upstream of the impact region. For wall speeds below this range, the flow counter to the wall cannot be arrested, and unsteady states result. For wall speeds above this range, a different steady state emerges in which fluid is immediately diverted through and downstream of the impact region, eliminating any heel. The steady, heeled flow states predicted by the reduced model are in qualitative agreement with numerical simulations of the full two-dimensional problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments are conducted to explore the rolling of a cylinder over a pool of viscous fluid. The speed, width and loading of the cylinder are varied along with the initial depth and length of the viscous pool. Depending on the conditions, the cylinder will either ride on a lubrication film or remain in solid contact with the underlying substrate. For the former situation, a lubrication theory is presented that describes the pressure underneath the cylinder and the thickness of the film. The theory approximates the flow by the one-dimensional Reynolds equation with the addition of one term, with an adjustable parameter, to account for the flux of fluid to the cylinder sides. Once this parameter is calibrated against experiment, the theory predicts peak lubrication pressures, gap sizes and film thicknesses to within approximately ten per cent. For lubricated rolling, the film splits evenly between the cylinder and substrate downstream of the nip. The printer's instability arises during the splitting process, patterning the residual fluid films on the substrate and cylinder. If the pool length is less than the cylinder circumference, the fluid adhering to the cylinder is rotated back into contact with the substrate, and when there is sufficient adhered fluid a lubrication film forms that can again be modelled by the theory. Conversely, if there is insufficient adhered fluid, no contiguous lubrication film is formed; instead, the pattern from the printer's instability 'prints' from the cylinder to the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Train sanders are ubiquitous in remediating low wheel–rail adhesion. Sanders operate by taking sand stored in a hopper, pneumatically conveying it through a nozzle, then spraying it into the wheel–rail interface. In this research, the wheel–rail–sander system was simulated experimentally in a laboratory. The system was optically accessible, and Particle Tracking Velocimetry was used to observe the trajectory of sand particles approaching the nip. The percentage of sand conveyed through the nozzle that makes it to the wheel–rail nip – the deposition efficiency – was measured gravimetrically. The maximum efficiency was found to be 91% for 1.15 mm mean diameter silica sand with a proprietary coating, and the minimum efficiency was 59% for uncoated aluminum oxide with a 0.91 mm mean diameter, both at a simulated train speed of 18 km/h. Irregular particles were found to be less efficient when compared to spherical particles with a similar size and composition. Increasing the size of silica sand from 0.18 mm to 1.05 mm in diameter slightly decreased the sanding efficiency from 67% to 60%. There was no statistically significant dependence of the efficiency on the particle coefficient of restitution. The single parameter most closely correlated with the deposition efficiency is the expansion of the particle-laden jet downstream of the nozzle. Larger, round particles typically had the smallest jet expansion and the highest efficiency, whereas rough particles with large diameters were found to have a large jet expansion and lowest efficiency. Finally, the effect of train speed on deposition efficiency was studied. The deposition efficiency was found to be very low at low train speeds and asymptotically approaches a fixed value at higher speeds. A simple physical model is proposed that explains the low efficiency at low speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue paper is a thin complex nonlinear fibrous material made from fiber layers thinner (≈100 μm) than a human hair. Though it appears as a slender two‐dimensional material to our eyes, its internal microstructure reveals an intricate architected fibrous network of only 1–5 wood fibers within its thickness. The fiber network is folded in one direction giving rise to a characteristic crepe structure. Using high‐speed imaging, the crepe structure is shown to emerge from a dynamic, coupled mechanical deformation processes of fracture and buckling, occurring on a length scale of few hundred micrometer. Bending and stretching of the folds at the macroscale of the paper and at the microscale of the individual fibers are shown to govern the material's tensile properties, including the strain to rupture and the elastic modulus. Insights from this study can guide the development of strong, soft fibrous materials for biomedical and consumer products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locomotive sanders are used to optimize the traction between the train wheels and the railhead by spraying sand into the interface. It has been previously shown that a large fraction of sand sprayed by the sanders does not make it through the wheel–rail nip, leading to sand wastage and thereby increasing the cost and refilling effort. In this study, pneumatic conveying of sand through the wheel–rail nip is numerically modeled through coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method simulations. The gas phase, discrete phase, and coupled two-phase flows are separately validated against the literature, and the parameters affecting the deposition of sand into the nip are analyzed to determine their impact on sander efficiency. The aerodynamics associated with the particle-laden jet play a critical role in optimizing the amount of sand going through the wheel–rail interface, with the particle velocities being directly correlated with the sander efficiency. Particle–geometry interactions (e.g. particle bouncing) are found to have a negligible effect on the deposition. In the absence of crosswinds, it is recommended to employ particles with a smaller Stokes number to enhance the sander efficiency. A larger airflow rate through the nozzle is also recommended. Crosswinds strongly and adversely affect sander efficiency. The effects of crosswinds can be mitigated by reducing the nip–nozzle distance and using coarser particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A custom experimental apparatus is designed to perform through air drying under well-controlled drying conditions such as air temperature and mass-flowrate. Using a novel optical measurement technique, the spatial distribution of moisture content in paper during through air drying is quantified as a function of time. The technique is capable of measuring the moisture content distribution with high spatiotemporal resolution while air flows through a paper mat sitting on a permeable dryer fabric. Four commercially available fabrics with different structural design and properties are used in the investigations. The effect of the fabrics' structural properties, which are characterized using optical coherence tomography (OCT), is studied under various drying conditions. It is shown that the geometry of the contact spots of the fabrics has a significant impact on the drying time at high drying intensities. However, at low rates of drying (i.e., low air temperature and flowrate), no correlation between drying time and fabric properties is observed. After a cycle of through air drying, the permeability of paper increases irreversibly. This increased permeability is observed to be a function of the fabric structure. It is shown that the increase in permeability is larger for coarse fabric structures although no monotonic correlation with the fabric permeability can be observed. Comparing the spatial maps of moisture content with the paper grammage distribution reveals that there is a correlation between the local grammage and the spatial pattern of drying in a paper sheet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing measurement techniques have prevented extensive investigations of the effect of dryer fabric structure on contact drying of paper. Using a novel optical measurement method, the moisture content (MC) of paper can be accurately quantified at high spatial and temporal resolution while it is sandwiched between the heater surface and the dryer fabric. To study the paper drying process, an experimental setup is designed to simulate realistic conditions of a typical paper dryer while providing optical access for the measurement system. Ten commercially available fabrics manufactured by weaving synthetic filaments are used in the investigations. The 3D structure of the fabrics is characterized using optical coherence tomography (OCT). The fabrics are used in the experiments to investigate the effects of the filament structure and paper/fabric contact on the drying process. It is shown the fabric structure affects the drying rate and the drying time. Fabrics that have a relatively large drying rate at high paper MC may have a relatively small drying rate at low levels of MC. The contact area and 3D arrangement of the filaments have the greatest impact on the drying process. Adjacent filaments result in larger blocked regions of the paper surface, which reduces the drying rate. The spatial distribution of moisture as a function of time reveals that frequent rewetted spots appear during the drying. These rewetting spots are caused by reabsorption of water condensed on the fabric filaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collision cross sections for rotational and vibrational excitation of CO by fast H atoms are calculated for two potential energy surfaces, the older Bowman–Bitman–Harding potential and the recently constructed surface of Werner, Keller, and Schinke. Both quantum mechanical and classical calculations are performed. The results obtained with the new potential energy surface are very similar to those obtained with the older potential; in particular, they do not rectify the discrepancies between the experimental and theoretical cross sections for vibrationally elastic transitions into small rotational states of CO. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotational energy transfer in collisions of nitrogen molecules has been studied theoretically, using the N2–N2 rigid-rotor potential of van der Avoird et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 84, 1629 (1986)]. For benchmarking purposes, converged close coupling (CC) calculations have been carried out to a total energy of about 200 cm-1. Coupled states (CS) approximation calculations have been carried out to a total energy of 680 cm-1, and infinite order sudden (IOS) approximation calculations have also been carried out. The CC and CS cross sections have been obtained both with and without identical molecule exchange symmetry, whereas exchange was neglected in the IOS calculations. The CS results track the CC cross sections rather well: between 113–219 cm-1 the average deviation is 14%, with accuracy improving at higher energy. Comparison between the CS and IOS cross sections at the high energy end of the CS calculations, 500–680 cm-1, shows that IOS is sensitive to the amount of inelasticity and the results for large ΔJ transitions are subject to larger errors. State-to-state cross sections with even and odd exchange symmetry agree to better than 2% and are well represented as a sum of direct and exchange cross sections for distinguishable molecules, an indication of the applicability of a classical treatment for this system. This result, however, does not apply to partial cross sections for given total J, but arises from a near cancellation of the interference terms between even and odd exchange symmetries on summing over partial waves. In order to compare with experimental data for rotational excitation rates of N2 in the n=1 excited vibrational level colliding with ground vibrational level (n=0) bath N2 molecules, it is assumed that exchange scattering between molecules in different vibrational levels is negligible and direct scattering is independent of n so that distinguishable molecule rigid rotor rates may be used. With these assumptions good... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using previously described close coupling (CC) and coupled states (CS) cross sections for N2–N2 collisions [J. Chem. Phys. 104, 7572 (1996)], we have calculated CARS linewidths at room temperature and below. Agreement with experimental values at room temperature is quite good but predictions become increasingly too large at lower temperatures, with errors reaching 10%–30% at 113 K. We believe these low temperature discrepancies reflect errors in the intermolecular potential used here. To obtain linewidths at higher temperatures we have used the energy corrected sudden (ECS) approximation, taking the fundamental cross sections, σ(0.0→J1,J2), from the CC–CS calculations extended to higher collision energies with additional CS and infinite order sudden (IOS) calculations: the ECS scaling distance, lc was chosen by fitting to the 300 K CC–CS results. In general, we find rather good agreement with experimental values to 1500 K, although it appears that smaller values of lc are more appropriate for higher temperatures and for higher rotational levels. This variability of lc is reasonable from physical arguments but somewhat diminishes the predictive utility of this approach. Agreement of these purely ab initio predictions with experimental data is nearly as good as that obtained from the best rate law model whose parameters were fitted to these data. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fitting an ab initio potential for H2O–H2, Phillips et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 5824 (1994)] excluded certain terms in the angular expansion they believed to vanish because of ‘‘the requirement that the potential is invariant to inversion of all coordinates through the origin.’’ However, there has been some question in the literature as to whether these terms must, in fact, vanish owing to spatial inversion symmetry. By providing counterexamples, it is demonstrated here that this is not required by fundamental spatial symmetry. However, these terms do appear to vanish for realistic molecular interactions and this symmetry may arise from the two-body nature of the electrostatic Hamiltonian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generalized Hess method (GHM) gives a line shape expression which is formally equivalent to the Rautian–Sobel’man hard collision model of Dicke narrowing, but differs radically in the definition of one of the relaxation terms. The relaxation term leading to pressure broadening is the same, but the term leading to Dicke narrowing and ultimately to Doppler line shapes at zero density differs in certain important respects: (1) in GHM it is a weighted sum of the pressure broadening coefficient and an optical diffusion coefficient and (2) there is no sharp distinction between ‘‘velocity changing’’ and ‘‘phase changing’’ collisions. The Dicke narrowing term should thus be understood as including both collision types irretrievably intermixed, with GHM providing a prescription for both relaxation terms. Applied to HF v=0→1, j→j±1 absorption spectra in a bath of Ar and using an accurate interaction potential obtained from spectra of the van der Waals complex and essentially exact close coupling scattering S matrices, GHM provides a rather good description of recently measured line shapes. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]