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This paper addresses the issue of hierarchical relevance determination (HRD), which boils down to determining all degrees of freedom in a supervised mixture distribution automatically. Such relevance determination is useful for wide range of machine learning applications. However, it is difficult to solve the HRD task because its objective function includes$$L_{0}$$L0norm such as the number of models in the mixture and the optimal features to use. Our contribution is twofold. As the main contribution, we formally defined the HRD problem and subsequently proposed a solution strategy, the SICM (sequential in formation criterion minimization) algorithm. The SICM algorithm enables us to continuously minimize an information criterion such as AIC or BIC, both of which includes the number of parameters, and therefore it enables us to determine all the degrees of freedom automatically. As another contribution, we realized a concrete implementation of the ideas, and tested this on actual data. Experiments using a hierarchical model which is constructed using the SICM algorithm have revealed that SICM has capability of constructing interpretable and highly accurate model.

Computational studies are conducted on the supersonic nozzle to investigate the possibility of utilizing counter-flow in fluidic thrust vector control. In this work, the design Mach number of the symmetric supersonic nozzle is set to be 2.5. For the validation of methodology, numerical results are compared with experimental data referred from the literature. Two-dimensional numerical simulations are based on well-assessed standard k–ɛ turbulence model with standard wall functions. Second-order accuracy is ensured to reveal more details of flow field. The system thrust ratio, deflection angle, and secondary mass flow ratio were studied for a wide range of nozzle pressure ratios and secondary pressure ratios. The results indicate that deflection angle and secondary mass flow ratio are found to be decreased with increasing nozzle pressure ratio as well as system thrust ratio. The secondary mass flow ratio and deflection angle decrease with the increase of secondary pressure ratio, and system thrust ratio increases with the increasing of secondary pressure ratio. The secondary mass flow rate remains under 2.4% of the primary flow to obtain efficient thrust vector control at high Mach number.

Effects of the inlet guide vanes on the static characteristics, aerodynamic noise and internal flow characteristics of a small axial flow fan are studied in this work. The inlet guide vanes with different outlet angle are designed, which are mounted on the casing and located at the upstream of the impeller of the prototype fan. Both steady and unsteady flow simulations are performed. The steady flow is simulated by the calculations of Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-epsilon turbulence model, while the unsteady flow is computed with large eddy simulation. According to the theoretical analysis, the inlet guide vanes with outlet angle of 60° are regarded as the optimal inlet guide vanes. The static characteristic experiment is carried out in a standard test rig and the aerodynamic noise is tested in a semi-anechoic room. Then, performances of the fan with optimal inlet guide vanes are compared with those of the prototype fan. The results show that there is reasonable agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. It is found that the static characteristics of small axial flow fan is improved obviously after installing the optimal inlet guide vanes. Meanwhile, the optimal inlet guide vanes have effect on reducing noise at the near field, but have little effect on the noise at the far field.

Air-jet loom is a kind of shuttleless loom, which is widely used in textile industries. The weft insertion system is composed of main nozzle, auxiliary nozzles, and profiled dent groove. The jets from the main and auxiliary nozzles intersect in the profiled dent groove. The velocity and stability of the intersecting airflows have a direct impact on the yarn’s motion. In this paper, the commercial software is adopted to simulate the intersecting airflows in the profiled dent groove. The result shows it is reasonable that the distance from the main nozzle to the first dent is 15 mm. The optimal distance from the main nozzle to the first auxiliary nozzle is between 45 and 50 mm based on the criteria of the utilization efficiency of the airflow. According to the standard of airflow stability, when the spray angle of auxiliary nozzle is about 7°, the standard deviation of the radical airflow velocity is the smallest in different cross sections. Therefore, the intersecting airflows are the most stable w...

The dual-mode scramjet is a prime candidate for air-breathing propulsion engines given its broad speed range and high efficiency. The detailed structure of the pseudo-shock wave in the isolator is worth investigating. Therefore, the present study investigates the effect of isolator length on the pseudo-shock wave. We replicate the experimental work of the reference paper with a two-dimensional numerical model. Pressure distribution on the body surface is applied in the numerical validation. The numerical result is in good agreement with that of the existing experimental work. We simulate the thermal choking condition with a throttling device. As the throat area of throttling device decreases, the back pressure continues increasing and the pseudo-shock wave moves upstream. Avoiding unstart phenomenon is a key objective in the operation of dual-mode scramjet. Therefore, we investigate the critical condition shortly before unstart phenomenon occurs. The pseudo-shock wave structure is described by pressure distribution. Our main objective is to explore the effect of isolator length on the dual-mode scramjet. The optimal isolator length depends on the maximum back pressure and total pressure loss in the critical condition shortly before the unstart phenomenon occurs. The maximum back pressure in the critical condition is higher when the isolator length ranges from 8.7 to 20.7. The total pressure loss in the critical condition decreases at the beginning and then increases when the isolator length ranges from 8.7 to 20.7.

In this work, tip end-plate is used to improve the noise performance of small axial fans. Both numerical simulations and experimental methods were adopted to study the fluid flow and noise level of axial fans. Four modified models and the prototype are simulated. Influences of tip end-plate on static characteristics, internal flow field and noise of small axial fans are analyzed. The results show that on basis of the prototype, the model with the tip end-plate of 2 mm width and changed length achieved best noise performance. The overall sound pressure level of the model with the tip end-plate of 2 mm width and changed length is 2.4 dB less than that of the prototype at the monitoring point in specified far field. It is found that the mechanism of noise reduction is due to the decrease of vorticity variation on the surface of blades caused by the tip end-plate. Compared with the prototype, the static pressure of the model with the tip end-plate of 2 mm width and changed length at design flow rate decreases by 2 Pa and the efficiency decreases by 0.8%. It is concluded that the method of adding tip end-plate to impeller blades has a positive influence on reducing noise, but it may diminish the static characteristics of small axial fan to some extent.

Hysteresis phenomena for shock wave reflections in the supersonic jet were already studied in the literature and reported that hysteretic behaviors were affected by the transient pressure r...

Aiming at the difficulties in motion control and performance analysis of hexapod robot, stm32 embedded processor is used to drive the 18-channel steering gear control board to control the robot's motion. CAM Shift algorithm is designed to track the centroid target of the moving robot and calculate the motion speed. The gait experiment and performance analysis of straight line and steering were carried out on the self-developed prototype. The results show that the design integrates the machine vision tracking technology and the motion control technology of the hexapod robot, which can realize the control and motion analysis functions.

Effects of the uneven circumferential blade space on static characteristics and aerodynamic noise of a small axial flow fan are studied in this work. The blade angle modulation is adopted to design a series of unequally spaced fans, which have different maximum of modulation angular displacement. The steady flow is simulated by the calculations of Navier-Stokes equations coupled with RNG k-epsilon turbulence model, while the unsteady flow is computed with large eddy simulation. According to theoretical analysis, a fan with a maximum of modulation angular displacement of 6° is regarded as the optimal unequally spaced fan. The experiment of static characteristic is carried out in a standard wind tunnel and the aerodynamic noise of both fans is tested in a semi-anechoic room. Then, performances of the optimal unequally spaced fan are compared with those of the prototype fan. The results show that there is reasonable agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. It is found that the discrete noise of the optimal unequally spaced fan is lower than that of the prototype fan at the near field monitoring point. This can be explained that the total pressure fluctuation of the optimal unequally spaced fan is much more regular than that of the prototype fan.

Interaction between rotor and struts has great effect on the performance of small axial fan systems. The small axial fan systems are selected as the studied objects in this paper, and four square struts are downstream of the rotor. The cross section of the struts is changed to the cylindrical shapes for the investigation: one is in the same hydraulic diameter as the square struts and another one is in the same cross section as the square struts. Influence of the shape of the struts on the static pressure characteristics, the internal flow and the sound emission of the small axial fans are studied. Standard K-e turbulence model and SIMPLE algorithm are applied in the calculation of the steady fluid field, and the curves of the pressure rising against the flow rate are obtained, which demonstrates that the simulation results are in nice consistence with the experimental data. The steady calculation results are set as the initial field in the unsteady calculation. Large eddy simulation and PISO algorithm are used in the transient calculation, and the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings model is introduced to predict the sound level at the eight monitoring points. The research results show that: the static pressure coefficients of the fan with cylindrical struts increase by about 25% compared to the fan with square struts, and the efficiencies increase by about 28.6%. The research provides a theoretical guide for shape optimization and noise reduction of small axial fan with struts.

The air-jet loom is widely used in the textile industry. The interaction mechanism of airflow and yarn is not clear in such a narrow flow channel, the gas consumption is relatively large, the yarn motion is unstable and the weft insertion is often interrupted during the operation. In order to study the characteristics of the semi-closed flow field in profiled dents, the momentum conservation equation is modified and the model parameters and boundary conditions are set. Compared with the different r, the ratio of profiled dent’s thickness and gap, the results show that the smaller the r is, the smaller the velocity fluctuations of the airflow is. When the angle of profiled dents α is close to zero, the diffusion of the airflow will be less. The experiment is also conducted to verify the result of the simulation with a high-speed camera and pressure sensor in profiled dents. The airflow characteristics in the semi-closed irregular narrow flow channel in the paper would provide the theoretical basis for optimizing the weft insertion process of the air-jet loom.

A numerical study on the asymmetric nozzle with a moving plate was conducted. The thrust vector control of the nozzle was investigated based on the transient phenomenon of a supersonic jet. The primary stream was exhausted from a convergent-divergent nozzle and deflected by the upper nozzle wall, which slid forward and backward according to certain motions. The transient flow behavior was numerically accessed by the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a Reynolds stress turbulence model using a fully implicit finite volume scheme. Results of the primary numerical analysis were in good agreement with existing experimental data. The time-dependent system characteristics were specified in terms of vector angle, system thrust ratio and thrust loss.

The effects of chevrons on the performance of a supersonic vacuum ejector-diffuser system are investigated numerically and evaluated theoretically in this work. A three-dimensional geometrical domain is numerically solved using a fully implicit finite volume scheme based on the unsteady Reynolds stress model. A one-dimensional mathematical model provides a useful tool to reveal the steady flow physics inside the vacuum ejector-diffuser system. The effects of the chevron nozzle on the generation of recirculation regions and Reynolds stress behaviors are studied and compared with those of a conventional convergent nozzle. The present performance parameters obtained from the simulated results and the mathematical results are validated with existing experimental data and show good agreement. Primary results show that the duration of the transient period and the secondary chamber pressure at a dynamic equilibrium state depend strongly on the primary jet conditions, such as inlet pressure and primary nozzle shape. Complicated oscillatory flow, generated by the unsteady movement of recirculation, finally settles into a dynamic equilibrium state. As a vortex generator, the chevron demonstrated its strong entrainment capacity to accelerate the starting transient flows to a certain extent and reduce the dynamic equilibrium pressure of the secondary chamber significantly.

The interaction between a normal shock wave and a boundary layer along a wall surface in internal compressible flows causes a very complicated flow. This interaction region containing shock train and mixing region is called as pseudo-shock waves. Pseudo-shock waves in the divergent part of a rectangular nozzle have been investigated by using large-eddy simulation (LES). LES studies have been done for the complex flow phenomena of three-dimensional pseudo-shock waves. The LES results have been validated against experimental wall-pressure measurements. The LES results are in good agreement with experimental results. Pseudo-shock length and corner separation have been studied in three-dimensional LES model. Comparison of centerline pressure measurement and 3D visualization measurement has been discussed for the corner separation position. It has been concluded that the pseudo-shock length should be measured by using 3D visualization measurement.

As one of the most promising propulsive systems in the future, the dual-mode scramjet engine has drawn the attention of many researches. Detailed flow features concerned with the isolator play an important role in the dual-mode scramjet system. The 2D numerical method has been used for the dual-mode scramjet with wind tunnel. To validate the ability of the numerical model, numerical results have been compared with the experimental results. Overall pressure distributions show quite good match with the experimental results. Back pressure has been studied for maximum pressure rising. According to the results, pressure distribution of supersonic inlet section is not influenced by back pressure. The shock train is pushed towards upstream as the back pressure increases. The maximum value of back pressure without inlet unstart goes up rapidly and then keeps constant when the isolator length increases. The optimal length of isolator section (L/H th ) is 8.7 in this model.

On the basis of small axial fan with five blades, 6 types of small axial flow fans with different chord lengths splitter blades were designed. Numerical simulation of 6 fan models with splitter blades and prototype fan were done by using Fluent. Based on the obtained simulation results, internal flow characteristics and aerodynamic noise were analyzed and compared. It indicates that: splitter blades with suitable chord length have improved significantly on internal flow characteristics, which inhibits backflow from pressure surface to the suction surface at blade tip and leading edge and restrains flow separation. The 6 model fans are better than prototype fan on aerodynamic noise improvement, but too long or too short chord lengths are both disadvantage to improve aerodynamic noise. The results reveal that 2/6, 3/6 and 4/6 chord length model have relatively better acoustic characteristics and internal flow characteristics. The research program will offer a reference for structural improvements and noise reduction on small axial flow fan.

Compared with single rotor small axial flow fans, dual-rotor small axial flow fans is better regarding the static characteristics. But the aerodynamic noise of dual-rotor small axial flow fans is worse than that of single rotor small axial flow fans. In order to improve aerodynamic noise of dual-rotor small axial flow fans, the pre-stage blades with different perforation numbers are designed in this research. The RANS equations and the standard k-ɛ turbulence model as well as the FW-H noise model are used to simulate the flow field within the fan. Then, the aerodynamic performance of the fans with different perforation number is compared and analyzed. The results show that: (1) Compared to the prototype fan, the noise of fans with perforation blades is reduced. Additionally, the noise of the fans decreases with the increase of the number of perforations. (2) The vorticity value in the trailing edge of the pre-stage blades of perforated fans is reduced. It is found that the vorticity value in the trailing edge of the pre-stage blades decreases with the increase of the number of perforations. (3) Compared to the prototype fan, the total pressure rising and efficiency of the fans with perforation blades drop slightly.

To investigate the unsteady flow characteristics in centrifugal pump, the flow field in a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump with complex impeller is numerically simulated under different conditions. The RNG κ-ɛ turbulence model and sliding mesh are adopted during the process of computation. The results show that the interaction between impeller and volute results in the unstable flow of the fluid, which causes the uneven distribution of pressure fluctuations around the circumference of volute. Besides the main frequency and its multiple frequency of pressure fluctuations in the centrifugal pump, the frequency caused by the long blades of complex impeller also plays a dominant role in the low-frequency areas. Furthermore, there exists biggish fluctuation phenomenon near the tongue. The composition of static pressure fluctuations frequency on the volute wall and blade outlet is similar except that the fluctuation amplitude near the volute wall reduces. In general, the different flow rates mainly have influence on the amplitude of fluctuation frequency in the pump, while have little effect on the frequency composition.

The unique Coanda surface has a great influence on the performance of bladeless fan. However, there is few studies to explain the relationship between the performance and Coanda surface curvature at present. In order to gain a qualitative understanding of effect of the curvature on the performance of bladeless fan, numerical studies are performed in this paper. Firstly, three-dimensional numerical simulation is done by Fluent software. For the purpose to obtain detailed information of the flow field around the Coanda surface, two-dimensional numerical simulation is also conducted. Five types of Coanda surfaces with different curvature are designed, and the flow behaviour and the performance of them are analyzed and compared with those of the prototype. The analysis indicates that the curvature of Coanda surface is strongly related to blowing performance, It is found that there is an optimal curvature of Coanda surfaces among the studied models. Simulation result shows that there is a special low pressure region. With increasing curvature in Y direction, several low pressure regions gradually enlarged, then begin to merge slowly, and finally form a large area of low pressure. From the analyses of streamlines and velocity angle, it is found that the magnitude of the curvature affects the flow direction and reasonable curvature can induce fluid flow close to the wall. Thus, it leads to that the curvature of the streamlines is consistent with that of Coanda surface. Meanwhile, it also causes the fluid movement towards the most suitable direction. This study will provide useful information to performance improvements of bladeless fans.

In order to clarify the effect of inlet bellmouth size of semi-opened type axial fan on its performance and flow fields around rotor, fan test and flow field measurements using hotwire anemometer were carried out for 6 kinds of bellmouth size. As results of fan test, the shaft power curve hardly changed, even if the bellmouth size changed. On the other hand, the pressure-rise near best efficiency point became small with the bellmouth size decreasing. Therefore, the value of maximum efficiency became small as the bellmouth size decreased. As results of flow field measurements at fan inlet, the main flow region with large meridional velocity existed near blade tip when the bellmouth size was large. As bellmouth size became smaller, the meridional velocity at fan inlet became smaller and the one at outside of blade tip became larger. As results of flow field measurements at fan outlet, the main flow region existed near rotor hub side.

Aerodynamic performance of an axial flow fan is closely related to its tip clearance leakage flow. In this paper, the hot-wire anemometer is used to measure the three dimensional mean velocity near the blade tips. Moreover, the filtered N-S equations with finite volume method and RNG k-ɛ turbulence model are adopted to carry out the steady simulation calculation of several fans that differ only in tip flange shape and number. The large eddy simulation and the FW-H noise models are adopted to carry out the unsteady numerical calculation and aerodynamic noise prediction. The results of simulation calculation agree roughly with that of tests, which proves the numerical calculation method is feasible.The effects of tip flange shapes and numbers on the blade tip vortex structure and the characteristics are analyzed. The results show that tip flange of the fan has a certain influence on the characteristics of the fan. The maximum efficiencies for the fans with tip flanges are shifted towards partial flow with respect to the design point of the datum fan. Furthermore, the noise characteristics for the fans with tip flanges have become more deteriorated than that for the datum fan. Tip flange contributes to forming tip vortex shedding and the effect of the half-cylinder tip flange on tip vortex shedding is obvious. There is a distinct relationship between the characteristics of the fan and tip vortex shedding. The research results provide the profitable reference for the internal flow mechanism of the performance optimization of small axial flow fans.

Considering the complexity and difficulty on the researching, how to enhance the performance of ejector-diffuser system effectively became a significant task. In the present study, the supersonic nozzle was redesigned using Chevrons installed at the inlet of the secondary stream of the ejector-diffuser system for the purpose of the performance improvement. A CFD method based on Fluent has been applied to simulate the supersonic flows and shock waves inside the ejector. Primary numerical analysis results show that the Chevrons get a positive effect on the ejector flows. The comparison of ejector performance with and without the Chevron was obtained and optimal number of chevron lobe is discussed to increase the performance. The ejector-diffuser system performance is discussed in terms of the entrainment ratio, pressure recovery as well as total pressure loss.

To investigate the influence of impeller type on the performance and inner flow of centrifugal pump, the numerical simulation and experimental research were carried out on the same centrifugal pump with straight-blade and curved-blade open impeller. Based on SIMPLEC algorithm, time-averaged N-S equation and the standard k-ɛ turbulence model, the numerical results are obtained. The pressure distribution in the different type impellers is uniform, while the low pressure area in straight-blade inlet is larger. The vortexes in the passage of impeller exist in both cases. Relative to curved-blade impeller, there are larger vortexes in most of the flow passages except the passage near the tongue in straight-blade impeller. Also some small backflow regions are found at the blade inlet of two impellers. The characteristic curves achieved by numerical simulation basically agree with those by experiment, and straight-blade open impeller centrifugal pump has a better hydraulic performance.

Thromboembolic incidences have increased nearly 33% in the past decade and directly affect nearly 0.5% of the population. Heparin, warfarin and current direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs), the primary anticoagulants of choice, suffer from several drawbacks. Thus, the search for an antithrombotic devoid of adverse effect continues in earnest.Literature search covering PubMed, SciFinder(™) Scholar, Web of Knowledge, Espacenet, PatentScope and Google Patent Search was used to uncover35 patents describing new chemical entities and advances in DTI technologies. Our search uncovered considerable emphasis on the development of larger more complex molecules such as peptide-based inhibitors, prodrug derivatives, bivalent tryptophan zippers, triple action inhibitors and allosteric inhibitors. Advances in formulation technologies for clinically relevant DTIs have also been made.Thrombin is a multifaceted, dynamic enzyme with both coagulant and anticoagulant functions. Newer DTIs are attempting to fine tune thrombin's activity by targeting allosteric sites or by site-specific targeting of clotting. The complexity of thrombin's functions is driving the design of complex anticoagulants. Advancements in formulations and production processes have attempted to make traditional DTIs more cost effective to produce. The literature reveals a trend to develop a thrombin 'modulator' rather than an 'inhibitor.'

To reduce the influence of adverse flow conditions at the fan hub and improve fan aerodynamic performance, a modification of conventional axial fan blades with numerical and experimental investigation is presented. Hollow blade root is manufactured near the hub. The numerical and experimental results show that hollow blade root has some effect on the static performance. Static pressure of the modified fan is generally the same with that of the datum fan, while, the efficiency curve of the modified fan has a different trend with that of the datum fan. The highest efficiency of the modified fan is 10% greater than that of the datum fan. The orthogonal experimental results of fan noise show that hollow blade root is a feasible method of reducing fan noise, and the maximum value of noise reduction is about 2 dB. The factors affecting the noise reduction of hollow blade root are in the order of importance as follows: hollow blade margin, hollow blade height and hollow blade width. The much smoother pressure distribution of the modified fan than that of the datum fan is the main mechanism of noise reduction of hollow blade root. The research results will provide the proof of the parameter optimization and the structure design for high performance and low noise small axial fans.

To improve the aerodynamic performance of small axial flow fan, in this paper the design of a small axial flow fan with splitter blades is studied. The RNG k-ɛ turbulence model and SIMPLE algorithm were applied to the steady simulation calculation of the flow field, and its result was used as the initial field of the large eddy simulation to calculate the unsteady pressure field. The FW-H noise model was adopted to predict aerodynamic noise in the six monitoring points. Fast Fourier transform algorithm was applied to process the pressure signal. Experiment of noise testing was done to further investigate the aerodynamic noise of fans. And then the results obtained from the numerical simulation and experiment were described and analyzed. The results show that the static characteristics of small axial fan with splitter blades are similar with the prototype fan, and the static characteristics are improved within a certain range of flux. The power spectral density at the six monitoring points of small axial flow fan with splitter blades have decreased to some extent. The experimental results show sound pressure level of new fan has reduced in most frequency bands by comparing with prototype fan. The research results will provide a proof for parameter optimization and noise prediction of small axial flow fans with high performance.

In this paper, the effects of airfoils on the aerodynamic performance of small axial flow fans were investigated to reduce airflow turbulence on the blade surface and to improve the aerodynamic performance of small axial flow fans. Irregular airfoils where several convex grooves are bound in the blade pressure surface of the fans have two kinds. The wave-shaped edge is bound to the blade trailing edge of the fans and is designed from the smooth airfoil of the fans. The filtered N-S equations with the finite volume method and the standard k-ɛ turbulence model were adopted to carry out the steady simulation calculation. The large eddy simulation and the FH-W noise models were adopted to carry out the unsteady numerical calculation and aerodynamic noise prediction. The results of simulation calculation are in good agreement with the tests, which proves that the numerical calculation method is feasible. The spectrum characteristics of aerodynamic noise of the smooth airfoil and the two kinds of irregular airfoils were analyzed. Although the fans of the three airfoils are regarded as noise sources, the vortex distribution features in the unsteady flow field are also described. Noise reduction mechanisms of the irregular designs of the airfoils were also discussed. The results of this research may provide proof of the parameter optimization and the structural design of small axial flow fans with low noise.

In order to analyze the influence of blade outlet angle on inner flow field and performance of low-specific-speed centrifugal pump, the flow field in the pump with different blade outlet angles 32.5°and 39° was numerically calculated. The external performance experiment was also carried out on the pump. Based on SIMPLEC algorithm, time-average N-S equation and the rectified k-e turbulent model were adopted during the process of computation. The distributions of velocity and pressure in pumps with different blade outlet angles were obtained by calculation. The numerical results show that backflow areas exist in the two impellers, while the inner flow has a little improvement in the impeller with larger blade outlet angle. Blade outlet angle has a certain influence on the static pressure near the long-blade leading edge and tongue, but it has little influence on the distribution of static pressure in the passages of impeller. The experiment results show that the low-specific-speed centrifugal pump with larger blade outlet angle has better hydraulic performance.

Transient performance of fluid machinery during transient operating periods, such as startup and stopping, has been drawn more attentions recently due to the growing engineering needs. In this paper, the transient behavior of a prototype centrifugal pump with an open impeller during rapid startup period is studied experimentally. The variations of the rotational speed, flow rate, head, and shaft power during rapid startup period are recorded in experiments at different discharge valve openings. In addition, the non-dimensional flow rate and head are also used to analyze the transient behavior. The research result shows that the rise characteristic of the rotational speed is not basically changed by working points, while mainly depends on the startup characteristics of the driving motor. Compared with the rapid rise of the rotational speed, the flow rate rises slowly in the initial stage of startup. Moreover, the flow rate lags behind the rotational speed to rise to final stable value, and the delay becomes more severe with the increase of the discharge valve opening. The shaft power impact phenomenon generally exists in the process of startup. The non-dimensional analysis shows that the non-dimensional head is very high at the very beginning of startup, and quickly falls to the minimum, then gradually rises to final stable value, while the non-dimensional flow rate always shows the rise tendency during whole startup period. In conclusion, it is found from the non-dimensional results that the quasi-steady analysis is unable to accurately assess the transient flow during startup period.

Currently, domestic and abroad scholars put more attention on contra-rotating dual-rotor axial fan. But there is less scholars study on asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan, which is one of the contra-rotating dual-rotor axial fans. Like axial fan, many factors have influence on the performance of the asymmetric dual-rotor small axial flow fan, such as the wheel hub ratio, blade shape, blade number, stagger angle and the tip clearance. Because wheel hub ratio has great impact on the performance of the fan, we choose the size of wheel hub ratio as a variable factor to study the model change. There is a different wheel hub ratio between front stage impeller and rear stage of asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan, so it is very beneficial to select the greater wind area that the fan area of external diameter minuses the area occupied by the blades and the hub as front stage impeller. In this paper, the hub-ratio of front stage impeller is 0.72, and that of rear stage is 0.72, 0.67 and 0.62 respectively along with the front stage impeller. Three kinds of models with different hub ratio of rear stage are simulated using the CFD software and the static characteristics are obtained. Based on the experimental test results, the internal flow field of the asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan is analyzed in detail, the impact trends of different hub-ratio on the performance of asymmetric dual-rotor small axial fan are obtained and the argument of structure optimization for dual-rotor small axial fan is provided.

The supersonic ejector-diffuser system was widely used in many industrial applications. Recently, it is also being used as one of the most important components of the solar seawater desalination facility. That is because this system has many advantages over other fluid machinery like no moving parts and no direct mechanical energy input. The system makes use of high-speed primary stream to entrain the secondary stream through pure shear action for the purposes of transport or compression of fluid. However, the optimization of the ejector-diffuser system and its optimal operation condition are hardly known due to the complicated turbulent mixing, compressibility effects and even flow unsteadiness which are generated inside the ejector-diffuser system. Much effort has devoted to the performance improvement of the system since it bears relatively very low efficiency. The optimization of the ejector-diffuser system and its performance improvement are of practical importance in industrial field. In the present study, a Chevron nozzle was applied to activate the shear actions between the primary and secondary streams, by means of longitudinal vortices generated from the Chevron. A CFD method has been applied to simulate the ejector-diffuser flow field. The present CFD results were validated with existing experimental data. The operation characteristics of the ejector system were compared between Chevron nozzle and conventional convergent nozzle for the primary stream. The ejector-diffuser system performance is discussed in terms of the entrainment ratio, ejector efficiency, pressure recovery as well as total pressure loss.

The splitter blades are widely used in axial compressors and play an active role in the improvement of the overall performance of compressors. However, little research on the application of splitter blades to small axial flow fans is conducted. This paper designs a splitter blade small axial flow fan (model B) with a small axial flow fan as the prototype fan (model A) by adding short blades at the second half part of the passageway among long blades of model A. The steady simulation for the two models was conducted with the help of RNG k-e turbulence model provided by software Fluent, and static characteristics and internal flow characteristics of the two models were compared and analyzed. Results show that splitter blades can improve the unsteady flow in the small flow rate region and also have a positive role to increase static pressure rise and efficiency in the higher flow rate region. The variation of static pressure gradient on the meridian plane in model B is well-distributed. The static pressure on the blade surface of model B distributes more uniformly. Splitter blades can suppress the secondary flow from pressure side to suction side in the leading edge because the pressure difference between suction side and pressure side in model B is generally lower than that of model A. And it also can restrain the vortex shedding and flow separation, and further it may be able to get the aerodynamic noise lower because static pressure gradient on the blade surface is well-distributed and the vortex shedding is not developed. Therefore, the performance of the fan with splitter blades is better than that of the prototype fan. The findings of this paper can be a basis for the design of high performance small axial flow fans.

Half-ducted fan and ducted fan have been designed and numerically analyzed for investigating the radial flow effect on the overall performance and the three dimensional flow field in design. Based on quasi-three dimensional flow theory, the meridional flow was calculated by adopting the radial balance equations, while the calculation of the blade to blade flow was obtained by 2D cascade data with the correction by a potential flow theory. Two types of axial flow fan were designed. One is the full ducted case as if it was in the straight pipe and another is the half-ducted case with the radial inflow and outflow. The previous experimental results of authors were used to decide the inclinations of both the inflow and outflow. And the circular arc blade with equal thickness was adopted. The numerical results indicate that both of the designed fans can reach the specified efficiency and also the efficiency surpasses more than 11%. Furthermore, the static pressure characteristic of half-ducted fan is much better than that of ducted fan. In comparison of the three dimensional internal flow of these two fans, the improvement of the flow angle at inlet and outlet, the distributions of velocity in the flow field and the pressure distributions on the blade surfaces can be achieved more successfully in accordance with the design intension on consideration of flow angle in design. The conclusion that half-ducted design with considering radial inflow and outflow is feasible and valid in comparison with ducted design for axial flow fans has been obtained at the end of the paper.

The details of unsteady flow field in small axial fans are described and the relationship between the internal flow char- acteristics and aerodynamic noise of small axial flow fans are explored in the manuscript. Firstly, the broadband noise model is introduced to calculate the distributions of broadband noise sources in fan’s internal flow field, and further fan’s internal flow characteristics affecting broadband noise sources are analyzed by the main distributions of broad- band noise sources. Secondly, the unsteady characteristics of vortex structure in fan’s internal flow field are analyzed by large eddy simulation, and FH-W acoustic model is introduced to calculate aerodynamic noise affected by the unsteady characteristics of vortex structure. Finally, Monitoring points are set up near and far field of small axial fans, at which sound pressure level and spectral characteristics are analyzed. The results show that broadband noise sources are mainly distributed at the tip clearance close to blade trailing edge and one third of chord length of blade trailing edge of small axial fans. The maximum sound power of broadband noise sources at the tip clearance is greater than that at blade trail- ing edge. Sound power level of broadband noise near one third of blade chord length of blade trailing edge is first in- creasing and then decreasing when the distance between radial planes and the center of fan hub increases. Fan’s internal flow characteristics affecting broadband noise sources are the tip leakage vortex and the trailing edge vortex shedding. The tip leakage vortices at the leading edge of blade tip first integrate and then break down, while vortex cores of the trailing edge vortex shedding gradually move from blade hub to one-third of blade chord length and then move to far field within a one-seventh of the rotation cycle. Within a flow passage of fan rotation period, sound pressure level of the monitoring points is relevant to the unsteady feature of vortex structure and the main bands of aerodynamic noise of monitor points are irrelevant to the unsteady feature of vortex structure, relating to the distance between the monitor points and fan. With the above distance increasing, the main bands of aerodynamic noise are widened and moved from the low bands to high bands. All conclusions in the paper will provide significant references for reducing the noise of small axial flow fans.

In this paper, the transient behavior of a low specific speed centrifugal pump with straight blades during shutting down is studied through the experimental test, theoretical calculation, and numerical simulation. The variations of the rota- tional speed, flow rate, and head with time are obtained in experiment. Based on the experimental results of the rota- tional speed and flow rate, the additional theoretical heads are quantitatively calculated and analyzed. The experimental results of the rotational speed and flow rate are worked as the boundary conditions to accurately accomplish the nu- merical simulation of the transient flow during shutting down. The experimental results show that the decrease history of the flow rate evidently lags behind that of the rotational speed, while the rotational speed slightly lags behind the head. Theoretical analysis shows that there exists a clear negative head impact phenomenon in the process of stopping. The transient behavior of the centrifugal pump with straight blades mainly comes from the rotation deceleration of im- peller, and has nothing to do with the fluid deceleration. The numerical simulations show that a large area backflow can be seen when the rotational speed decreases to zero due to the flowing inertia. In conclusion, the numerical simulation of the flow field is in good agreement with the internal flow theory of centrifugal pumps.

Based on the Navier-Stokes equations and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, three dimensional turbulent flow fields in centrifugal pump with long-mid-short blade complex impeller are calculated and analyzed numerically. The relative velocity and pressure distributions in the flowpart are obtained. It is found that the flow in the passage of the complex impeller is unsymmetrical due to the joint action between volute and impeller. The back-flow region is at inlet of long-blade suction side, near middle part of long-blade pressure side and outlet of short-blade suction side. The flow near volute throat is affected greatly by volute. The relative velocity is large and it is easy to bring back flow at outlet of the complex impeller near volute throat. The static and total pressure rise uniformly from inlet to outlet in the impeller. At impeller outlet, the pressure periodically decreases from pressure side to suction side, and then the static pressure sharply rise near the throat. The experimental results show that the back flow in the impeller has an important influence on the performance of pump.

Many factors such as outer diameter, hub ratio, blade numbers, shape and stagger angle affect the performance of small cooling fans. A small cooling fan was simulated using CFD software for three blade stagger angles (30.5°, 37.5°, 44.5°)and obtained the internal flow field and the static characteristics. Research indicated that the stagger angle has an obvious effect on the static characteristics of a fan. For flow rates below 0.0104 m3/s, total pressure is the greatest when the stagger angle is 37.5°; flow rates higher than 0.0104 m3/s, the total pressure is greatest when the stagger angle is 44.5° For the same flow rates, the velocity at inlet of pressure surface increases with increasing stagger angle, but the change of velocity on the suction surface is very small. For one model, vortices and the speed of revolution surfaces decrease with tip clearance increasing. But for other three models, increasing the stagger angle, the vortex intensity and speed of revolution surfaces at same height tip clearance increases, simultaneously, the position of vortex offset from the top of the rotor blade to the suction surface.

Experimental investigations were conducted for the internal flows of the axial flow stator and diagonal flow rotor. Corner separation near the hub surface and the suction surface of stator blade are mainly focused on. For the design flow rate, the values of the axial velocity and the total pressure at stator outlet decrease between near the suction surface and near the hub surface by the influence of corner wall. For the flow rate of 80-90% of the design flow rate, the corner separation of the stator between the suction surface and the hub surface is observed, which becomes widely spread for 80% of the design flow rate. At rotor outlet for 81% of the design flow rate, the low axial velocity region grows between near the suction surface of rotor and the casing surface because of the tip leakage flow of the rotor.

Purpose – Social relations play an important role in a real community. Interaction patterns reveal relations among actors (such as persons, groups, firms), which can be merged to produce valuable information such as a network structure. This paper aims to present a new approach to extract inter‐firm networks from the web for further analysis. Design/methodology/approach – In this study extraction of relations between a pair of firms is obtained by using a search engine and text processing. Because names of firms co‐appear coincidentally on the web, an advanced algorithm is proposed, which is characterised by the addition of keywords (“relation keywords”) to a query. The relation keywords are obtained from the web using a Jaccard coefficient. Findings – As an application, a network of 60 firms in Japan is extracted including IT, communication, broadcasting, and electronics firms from the web and comprehensive evaluations of this approach are shown. The alliance and lawsuit relations are easily obtainable from the web using the algorithm. By adding relation keywords to named pairs of firms as a query, It is possible to collect target pages from the top of web pages more precisely than by only using the named pairs as a query. Practical implications – This study proposes a new approach for extracting inter‐firm networks from the web. The obtained network is useful in several ways. It is possible to find a cluster of firms and characterise a firm by its cluster. Business experts often make such inferences based on firm relations and firm groups. For that reason the firm network might enhance inferential abilities on the business domain. Also we might use obtained networks to recommend business partners based on structural advantages. The authors' intuition is that extracting a social network might provide information that is only recognisable from the network point of view. For example, the centrality of each firm is identified only after generating a social network. Originality/value – This study is a first attempt to extract inter‐firm networks from the web using a search engine. The approach is also applicable to other actors, such as famous persons, organisations or other multiple relational entities.

Social relation plays an important role in a real community. Interaction patterns reveal relations among actors (such as persons, groups, companies), which can be merged into valuable information as a network structure. In this paper, we propose a new approach to extract inter-business relationship from the Web. Extraction of relation between a pair of companies is realized by using a search engine and text processing. Since names of companies co-appear coincidentaly on the Web, we propose an advanced algorithm which is characterized by addition of keywords (or we call relation words) to a query. The relation words are obtained from either an annotated corpus or the Web. We show some examples and comprehensive evaluations on our approach.