Scalar Mixing Research Articles

Assessing P‐T variability in mélange blocks from the Catalina Schist: Is there differential movement at the subduction interface?

AbstractIn subduction‐related tectonic mélange, thermobarometry on individual blocks can in principle constrain the scale of lithological mixing along the subduction interface. Previous thermobarometric investigation of the tectonic amphibolite facies mélange unit in the Catalina Schist, Santa Catalina Island, California, USA, has suggested relatively limited mixing among blocks (≤12 km). Here we further investigate scales of mixing among metamorphically disparate (‘exotic’) blocks within epidote‐amphibolite and lawsonite‐blueschist facies mélange of the Catalina Schist using field and petrographic observations, Zr‐in‐rutile thermometry, and quartz‐in‐garnet elastic barometry. A new statistically based method is presented for calculating elastic barometry maximum pressures. The exotic blocks record peak metamorphic temperatures between 580 and 735°C and peak pressures between 1.16 and 1.65 GPa. Temperatures primarily fall in between those recorded by rocks in the amphibolite facies and epidote amphibolite facies units (643–735°C and 553–596°C respectively). The pressure estimates encompass those recorded by blocks from the amphibolite facies mélange (1.34–1.44 GPa), although the exotic blocks record a much larger range of pressures. The large range of recorded temperatures and pressures suggests that blocks within the epidote amphibolite unit were sourced from and mixed along a 20–30 km region of the subduction interface while an exotic block from the lawsonite blueschist facies unit appears to have been sourced from at least 70 km deeper than the unit it is hosted in. Metre‐ to kilometre‐scale variations in matrix mineral rheology likely control strain partitioning at the interface and permit differential transport of mélange blocks over variable length scales.

Characteristics and Spillover Effects of Medium-Scale Farms in Tanzania

Although medium-scale farms are more prevalent than large-scale farms in many sub-Saharan African countries, much less is known about their interactions with, and influence on, small-scale farms. In Tanzania, medium-scale farms are more likely to use modern techniques and inputs and to market their output, suggesting a potential for spillover effects for their smaller-scale neighbors—particularly if they attract local agribusiness investments. We consider the population of small-scale farms in Tanzania and ask whether agricultural behaviors and outcomes are affected by the local prevalence of medium-scale farms. Using pooled OLS and household fixed-effects models, we find evidence that small-scale farms are more likely to use improved seed, to cultivate more of their landholdings, and to receive agricultural extension in the presence of more medium-scale farms. This points to positive synergies from mixed scales of farming in a given locality.

Time-resolved thermographic analysis of the near-wall flow of a submerged impinging water jet

Time-resolved infrared thermography through infrared-transparent windows provides a novel measurement approach for non-invasive quantitative analysis of near-wall fluid flows. Here, we apply this approach to study a water flow induced by an axisymmetric submerged impinging jet in the immediate vicinity of the impingement plate. The variations in thermal radiation emitted from a thin near-wall layer result from passive scalar mixing of the weakly heated jet with ambient water. We analyze the magnitudes and turbulent behavior of the thermal fluctuations captured at a frame rate of 300 Hz for various jet impingement configurations and a wide range of jet Reynolds numbers (4000–35000). The results suggest that changes in root mean square and power spectra of the thermal signal are linked to changes in mixing intensity and flow structure in the near-wall region extending up to 16 nozzle diameters from the stagnation point.

Passive scalar mixing induced by the formation of compressible vortex rings

This study aims to determine the relationship between the physical features of a compressible vortex and the mixing process. Such relationship is of significant importance to design combustors that can achieve optimal or most effective mixing. The passive scalar mixing induced by the formation of a canonical compressible vortex ring (CVR) generated at the end of a shock tube is investigated by using numerical simulation. In addition, the method of finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) field are detected to identify the region of CVR, as well as to analyze the passive scalar mixing during the CVR formation. As the CVR rolls up, the ambient fluid outside the shock tube is entrained into the ring. The entrainment fraction (the mass of entrained fluid to the total mass of CVR) is found to strongly depend on two features of CVRs. One is the compressibility of CVRs, which is characterized by the Mach number of the incident shock denoted by Mach number (Ma). The other is pinch-off of CVRs, which happens at a certain timescale with narrow range of 2–4. As Ma increases, the entrainment fraction of the leading CVR decreases linearly due to smaller vortex core and weaker radial diffusion of vorticity generated by larger compressibility. After CVRs pinch off, trailing vortices appear and show less effective at entrainment than the leading CVRs do. Moreover, the tendency of the rate of entrainment is examined. The results indicate that increasing compressibility and total fluid flux are in favor of the rate of entrainment but restrain the entrainment fraction of total jet.

Temperature profiles, plumes, and spectra in the surface layer of convective boundary layers

We survey temperature patterns and heat transport in convective atmospheric boundary layers (CBLs). We use the word “plumes” to describe the emergent temperature patterns, in much the same way that “eddies” describe patterns of motion in turbulent flows. We introduce a two-temperature (2T) toy model to connect the cross-sectional areas of plumes to the scaling properties of temperature gradients, temperature spectra, and heat transport. We find that the half power law (z−1/2, where z is the height above the surface) form of the temperature profile reflects the change in plume cross-sectional area with height and that this is consistent with the mixed length scale required to collapse the peak regions of temperature spectra above the surface friction layer (SFL). We introduce new scaling results for temperature spectra and heat flux cospectra that extend this relationship to most of the SFLs. The spectral properties change in the bottom tenth of the SFL, where the temperature profile becomes logarithmic and temperature fluctuations increasingly display Gaussian statistics. At such small heights, the self-similarity property of the plumes reflects their randomness rather than self-similarity in the order observed above. We conclude with a general discussion, contrasting our interpretation of the role of buoyancy, as being associated with the largest structures in CBL flows, with that of Richardson [Proc. R. Soc. A 87, 354–373 (1920)], who neglected large structures and assumed that it acts locally, on the small eddies. Richardson’s ideas still inform the currently accepted, statistical fluid mechanics model of boundary-layer flows.

All-Dry Synthesis of Single Crystal NMC Cathode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries

Single crystal (SC) cathode materials with a layered structure are considered to be state-of-the-art for lithium ion batteries. However, their production involves many steps and can produce large amounts of wastewater. Here we report an all-dry method for making SC cathode materials, with LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (SC-NMC) used as a specific example. It was found that a SC-NMC precursor in the form of a previously unobserved rock-salt (Ni, Mn, Co)O solid solution phase can be made phase pure by ball milling. This demonstrates that precursors with atomic scale mixing can be achieved by dry methods. It is furthermore shown that large precursor particle sizes are not necessary to form large SC-NMC particles, as is commonly believed. Instead, large crystallites could just as easily be made from submicron precursors by adjusting the sintering time in air. As a result, highly crystalline SC-NMC with precisely controlled average crystallite sizes ranging from ∼2–10 μm could be made from submicron precursor powders made using an all-dry process.

A New Methodology for Observation-Based Parameterization Development

AbstractWe develop a methodology for identification of candidate observables that best constrain the parameterization of physical processes in numerical models. This methodology consists of three steps: (i) identifying processes that significantly impact model results, (ii) identifying observables that best constrain the influential processes, and (iii) investigating the sensitivity of the model results to the measurement error and vertical resolution of the constraining observables. This new methodology is applied to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory stochastic multiplume Eddy-Diffusivity/Mass-Flux (JPL-EDMF) model for two case studies representing nonprecipitating marine stratocumulus and marine shallow convection. The uncertainty of physical processes is characterized with uncertainty of model parameters. We find that the most uncertain processes in the JPL-EDMF model are related to the representation of lateral entrainment for convective plumes and parameterization of mixing length scale for the eddy-diffusivity part of the model. The results show a strong interaction between these uncertain processes. Measurements of the water vapor profile for shallow convection and of the cloud fraction profile for the stratocumulus case are among those measurements that best constrain the uncertain JPL-EDMF processes. The interdependence of the required vertical resolution and error characteristics of the observational system are shown. If the observations are associated with larger error, their vertical resolution has to be finer and vice versa. We suggest that the methodology and results presented here provide an objective basis for defining requirements for future observing systems such as future satellite missions to observe clouds and the planetary boundary layer.

Improved MMC-LES to compute the structure of a mixed-mode turbulent flame series

An improved version of the Lagrangian multiple mapping conditioning model coupled with large eddy simulation (MMC-LES) is applied to compute the structure of a range of turbulent mixed-mode flames stabilised on the Sydney piloted burner with compositionally inhomogeneous inlet. The calculations are compared with detailed measurements. While premixed MMC-LES models are yet to be developed, the most commonly deployed version and code for MMC-LES uses a mixture-fraction-based approach and a sparse-Lagrangian notional particle method that is most suitable for non-premixed combustion. The improvements reported here are due to (i) a more rigorous density coupling approach, (ii) a more refined mixing time scale, and (iii) selective particle intensification to improve localness in physical space as well as mixture fraction space. This intensification is selectively applied in upstream regions where mixed-mode combustion dominates and is relaxed further downstream as the jet flames transition to a non-premixed flame structure. The computed results show good agreement with experimental data hence confirming the feasibility of the improved MMC-LES approach in being able to account for mixed-mode combustion as well as for finite-rate chemistry effects. These promising results warrant future extension of the selective particle intensification method to become automatically adaptive.

Measuring the mixing scale of the ISM within nearby spiral galaxies

ABSTRACT The spatial distribution of metals reflects, and can be used to constrain, the processes of chemical enrichment and mixing. Using PHANGS-MUSE optical integral field spectroscopy, we measure the gas-phase oxygen abundances (metallicities) across 7138 H ii regions in a sample of eight nearby disc galaxies. In Paper I, we measure and report linear radial gradients in the metallicities of each galaxy, and qualitatively searched for azimuthal abundance variations. Here, we examine the 2D variation in abundances once the radial gradient is subtracted, Δ(O/H), in order to quantify the homogeneity of the metal distribution and to measure the mixing scale over which H ii region metallicities are correlated. We observe low (0.03–0.05 dex) scatter in Δ(O/H) globally in all galaxies, with significantly lower (0.02–0.03 dex) scatter on small (<600 pc) spatial scales. This is consistent with the measurement uncertainties, and implies the 2D metallicity distribution is highly correlated on scales of ≲600 pc. We compute the two-point correlation function for metals in the disc in order to quantify the scale lengths associated with the observed homogeneity. This mixing scale is observed to correlate better with the local gas velocity dispersion (of both cold and ionized gas) than with the star formation rate. Selecting only H ii regions with enhanced abundances relative to a linear radial gradient, we do not observe increased homogeneity on small scales. This suggests that the observed homogeneity is driven by the mixing introducing material from large scales rather than by pollution from recent and on-going star formation.

Law of the wall for a temporally evolving vertical natural convection boundary layer

Abstract

Element and Sr isotope zoning in plagioclase in the dacites from the southwestern Okinawa Trough: Insights into magma mixing processes and time scales

The processes and time scales of magma mixing in shallow silicic magma chambers prior to eruptions in the Okinawa Trough (OT) are still poorly understood. Here, we employed in situ major-trace elements and Sr isotopic analyses, coupled with textural investigations, on plagioclase phenocrysts in the mafic magmatic enclaves (MMEs) and their host dacites from the southwestern OT to address this issue. The plagioclase phenocrysts in the MMEs have high An% contents (82–88) and Sr/Ba ratios (7.2–17.2) and relatively unradiogenic 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.70536–0.70595), suggesting that they crystallized in the chilled basaltic andesitic magma. In contrast, plagioclase phenocrysts in the host dacites show a wide composition range, with An% contents of An47 to An93, Sr/Ba ratios of 3.4–18.0, and 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.70535–0.70791. The plagioclase phenocrysts are zoned, with high-An% cores characterized by resorption textures and mantled by euhedral low-An% rims. The transition between cores and rims is very abrupt, with a decrease of 30 to 40 mol% An. This shift coincides with large and abrupt changes in Sr/Ba ratios. The plagioclase phenocryst rims have low Sr/Ba values (3.4–5.1) and 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.70632–0.70675) that are similar to those of the whole-rock dacites, suggesting that the plagioclase rims grew from the host dacitic magma. In contrast, Sr isotopes in the plagioclase cores are either radiogenic (0.70724–0.70791) or unradiogenic (0.70535–0.70595) compared with rims, combined with glomerocryst textures, consistent with their derivation from distinct deep mafic crystal mush zones, and were then entrained by ascending melts and transported rapidly to the shallow silicic magma chamber and underwent decompression during ascent, leading to plagioclase core resorption. Mg diffusion calculations indicate that incorporation of the calcic cores into the shallow silicic magma chamber experienced a long pre-eruptive storage (~600 years). The distinct Sr isotopes of the plagioclase, particularly the different compositions of titanomagnetite in the MMEs and host dacites, reflect the mafic magma injection into the silicic magma chamber and formation of the MMEs must have occurred over very short time scales before eruption to inhibit complete re-equilibration, which likely triggered the dacitic magma to finally erupt. Hence, the silicic magma in the southwestern OT contains a crystal cargo with a complex, open-system crystallization history and that magma mixing/mingling is an important process for controlling the chemical and textural diversity of these silicic magmas as well as a likely eruption trigger.

Scalar direct detection: In-medium effects

A simple extension of the Standard Model consists of a scalar field that can potentially constitute the dark matter (DM). Significant attention has been devoted to probing light O(≲10eV) scalar DM, with a multitude of experimental proposals based on condensed matter systems as well as novel materials. However, the previously overlooked effective in-medium mixing of light scalars with longitudinal plasmons can strongly modify the original sensitivity calculations of the direct detection experiments. We implement the in-medium effects for scalar DM detection, using thermal field theory techniques, and show that the reach of a large class of direct DM detection experiments searching for light scalars is significantly reduced. This development identifies setups based on Dirac materials and tunable plasma haloscopes as particularly promising for scalar DM detection. Further, we also show that scalars with significant boost with respect to halo DM, such as those produced in the Sun, decay of other particles or by cosmic rays, will not suffer from in-medium suppression. Hence, multi-tonne direct DM detection experiments, such as those based on xenon or argon, also constitute a favorable target. We also discuss scalar mediated DM scattering.

The role of rurality in determining the economy-wide impacts of a natural disaster

Rural areas may be highly vulnerable to natural disasters because of their lower economic diversification and a higher incidence of sectors that may suffer from a larger impact produced by these adverse events. In addition, because of their trade dependence, local effects can be transmitted to neighbouring regions more diffusely so amplifying total impacts. This paper aims to quantify the economy-wide impacts generated by the earthquake sequence that mostly hit a markedly rural area of Central Italy in 2016–2017. To this purpose, a non-linear programming model based on a multi-regional IO table with a mixed territorial scale is adopted. Results indicate that some negative effects are transmitted outside the seismic area and a few positive effects are also produced. Moreover, they confirm that rural areas are more vulnerable to disasters and that the effects of disasters in these areas are more likely to be transmitted to the neighbouring space.

An a priori assessment of the Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) model for MILD combustion

Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion has drawn increasing attention as it allows to avoid the thermo-chemical conditions prone to the formation of pollutant species while ensuring high energy efficiency and fuel flexibility. MILD combustion is characterized by a strong competition between turbulent mixing and chemical kinetics so that turbulence-chemistry interactions are naturally strengthened and unsteady phenomena such as local extinction and re-ignition may occur. The underlying physical mechanisms are not fully understood yet and the validation of combustion models featuring enhanced predictive capabilities is required. Within this context, high-fidelity data from Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) represent a great opportunity for the assessment and the validation of combustion closure formulations. In this study, the performance of the Partially Stirred Reactor (PaSR) combustion model in MILD conditions is a priori assessed on Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent combustion of MILD mixtures in a cubical domain. Modeled quantities of interest, such as heat release rate and reaction rates of major and minor species, are compared to the corresponding filtered quantities extracted from the DNS. Different submodels for the key model parameters, i.e., the chemical time scale τc and the mixing time scale τmix, are considered and their influence on the results is evaluated. The results show that the mixing time scale is the leading scale in the investigated cases. The best agreement with the DNS data regarding the prediction of heat release rate and chemical source terms is achieved by the PaSR model that employs a local dynamic approach for the estimation of the mixing time scale. An overestimation of the OH species source terms occurs in limited zones of the computational domain, characterized by low heat release rates.

An Eddy‐Diffusivity Mass‐Flux Parameterization for Modeling Oceanic Convection

AbstractA new one‐dimensional (1‐D) parameterization of penetrative convection has been developed in order to have a better representation of the vertical mixing in ocean general circulation models. Our approach is inspired from atmospheric parameterizations of shallow convection which assumes that in the convective boundary layer, the subgrid‐scale fluxes result from two different mixing scales: small eddies, which are represented by an Eddy‐Diffusivity (ED) contribution, and large eddies associated with thermals, which are represented by a mass‐flux contribution. In the present work, the local (small eddies) and nonlocal (large eddies) contributions are unified into an Eddy‐Diffusivity‐Mass‐Flux (EDMF) parameterization which treats simultaneously the whole vertical mixing. EDMF is implemented in the community ocean model NEMO and tested in its 1‐D column version. Deepening of dense water in analytic cases, successfully reproduced in LES simulations, is more realistic with EDMF than with standard diffusion parameterizations. Also the convective events observed in the western Mediterranean at the Lion station and in the North Pacific Ocean at the PAPA station are more realistic in terms of sequencing and amplitude with EDMF.

Stirring, Mixing, Growing: Microscale Processes Change Larger Scale Phytoplankton Dynamics

The quantitative description of marine systems is constrained by a major issue of scale separation: phytoplankton production processes occur at sub-centimeter scales, while the contribution to the Earth's biogeochemical cycles is expressed at much larger scales, up to the planetary one. In spite of vastly improved computing power and observational capabilities, the modeling approach has remained anchored to an old view that sees the microscales as unable to substantially affect larger ones. The lack of a widespread theoretical appreciation of the interactions between vastly different scales has led to the proliferation of numerical models with uncertain predictive capabilities. In this paper, we use the phenology of phytoplankton blooms as one example of a macroscopic ecosystem feature affected by microscale interactions. We describe two distinct mechanisms that produce patchiness within a productive water column: turbulent entrainment of less-productive water at the base of the mixed layer, and stirring by slow turbulence of a vertical phytoplankton gradient sustained by depth–dependent light availability. In current eddy–diffusive models, patchiness produced in this way is wiped out very rapidly, because the time scales of irreversible mixing largely overlap those of mechanical stirring. We propose a novel Lagrangian modeling framework that allows for the existence of microscale patchiness, even when that is not fully resolved. We show, with a mixture of theoretical arguments and numerical simulations of increasing realism, how the presence of patchiness, in turn, affects larger-scale properties, demonstrating that the timing of phytoplankton blooms and vertical variability of chlorophyll in the oceanic upper layers is determined by the mutual interplay between the stirring, mixing and growing processes.

Additional criteria for MILD coal combustion

We proposed a theoretical basis for Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) coal combustion based on the turbulent scalar energy spectra. This is motivated by the hypothesis that smallest scalar mixing length scales should be on the order of the particle size or smaller to ensure that mixing can occur to prevent formation of diffusion flames. Our proposed criterion is evaluated using several experimental datasets from the literature for coal combustion in both MILD and traditional combustion regimes. The experimental results confirm that the smallest mixing length scales should be of the order of or smaller than the particle diameter, ηmix⪅dp, to breakup the heat and mass transfer boundary layers around particles in MILD coal combustion. Results indicate that poor mixing of species with small Schmidt numbers around small particles leads to the high luminous intensity in the reactor. The effects of inlet velocity and jet diameter on the mixing length scales are analyzed. Higher inlet velocity and smaller jet diameter are expected to reach MILD regime. The proposed criterion can be used to guide experimental design to achieve MILD conditions for coal combustion.

A priori analysis of a power-law mixing model for transported PDF model based on high Karlovitz turbulent premixed DNS flames

Accurate modeling of mixing in large-eddy simulation (LES)/transported probability density function (PDF) modeling of turbulent combustion remains an outstanding issue. The issue is particularly salient in turbulent premixed combustion under extreme conditions such as high-Karlovitz number Ka. The present study addresses this issue by conducting an a priori analysis of a power-law scaling based mixing timescale model for the transported PDF model. A recently produced DNS dataset of a high-Ka turbulent jet flame is used for the analysis. A power-law scaling is observed for a scaling factor used to model the sub-filter scale mixing timescale in this high-Ka turbulent premixed DNS flame when the LES filter size is much greater than the characteristic thermal thickness of a laminar premixed flame. The sensitivity of the observed power-law scaling to the different viewpoints (local or global) and to the different scalars for the data analysis is examined and the dependence of the model parameters on the dimensionless numbers Ka and Re (the Reynolds number) is investigated. Different model formulations for the mixing timescale are then constructed and assessed in the DNS flame. The proposed model is found to be able to reproduce the mixing timescale informed by the high-Ka DNS flame significantly better than a previous model.

Mixed location scale hidden Markov model for the analysis of intensive longitudinal data

Hidden Markov models (HMM) presents an attractive analytical framework for capturing the state-switching process for auto-correlated data. These models have been extended to longitudinal data setting where simultaneous multiple processes are observed by including subject specific random effects. However, application of HMMs for intensive longitudinal data, where each subject gets measured intensively over relatively short period of time, has not been widely studied. In this paper, we extend the mixed hidden Markov model and allow subject heterogeneity with respect to the mean and within subject variance by including subject random effects in both perspectives. We focus on the application of this model to intensive longitudinal studies in psychological and behavioral research where individual’s latent states and state-switching process are of interest. Models are estimated using forward–backward algorithm via Bayesian sampling approach. Advantages over regular HMM and mixed HMM that only accounts for the subjects’ mean heterogeneity are illustrated through a series of simulation studies. Finally, models are applied to an adolescent mood study data set and results show that the proposed mixed location scale HMM achieves better model fit and more interpretative mood state identification in terms of state specific covariate effects compared to regular HMM and mixed HMM.

An Experimental Investigation of Scalar Mixing and Flame Structure of a Partially Premixed Flame

ABSTRACT Experimental investigation of a partially premixed flame stabilized in a combination of bluff body and swirling flowfields is reported. Simultaneous measurement of 2D fuel distribution (Acetone-PLIF) and flame structure (OH-PLIF) are performed with varying thermal power. Two flame stabilization modes – swirl influenced conical shaped, and, bluff-body influenced toroidally shaped – are observed in OH chemiluminescence measurements. Upstream propagation of the flame with decreasing global equivalence ratios is noticed, with the flame being transferred from the swirl-influenced to the bluff body influenced flowfields. The average flame stabilization location in both modes is found to be approximately close to the stoichiometric surface with the flame base oriented toward the inner shear layer. The degree of fuel/air mixing calculated from Acetone PLIF images by determining the unmixedness shows that the stabilization locations overlap with regions of perfect mixing. The swirl-influenced flames are stabilized at the farthest distance from the burner exit, with the flame base closer to the stoichiometric surface, whereas the bluff body influenced flames oriented along the stoichiometric surface in the inner shear layer.