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Pages
- Title
- FUNCTION APPROXIMATION WITH KERNEL METHODS
- Creator
- Zhou, Xuan
- Date
- 2015, 2015-12
- Description
-
This dissertation studies the problem of approximating functions of d variables in a separable Banach space Fd. In particular we are...
Show moreThis dissertation studies the problem of approximating functions of d variables in a separable Banach space Fd. In particular we are interested in convergence and tractability results in the worst case setting and in the average case setting. The symmetric positive definite kernel in both settings is of a product form Kd(x, t) := d =1 1 − α2 + α2 Kγ (x , t ) for all x, t ∈ Rd. The kernel Kd generalizes the anisotropic Gaussian kernel, whose tractability properties have been established in the literature. For a fixed d, we study rates of convergence, which indicate how quickly approximation errors decay. Since rates of convergence can deteriorate quickly as d increases, it is desirable to have dimension-independent convergence rates, which corresponds to the concept of strong polynomial tractability. We present sufficient conditions on {α }∞ =1 and {γ }∞ =1 under which strong polynomial tractability holds for function approximation problems in Fd. Numerical examples are presented to support the theory and guaranteed automatic algorithms are provided to solve the function approximation problem in a straightforward and efficient way. viii
Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, December 2015
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- Title
- Developing a Collaborative On-line Student Research Forum (sequence unknown), IPRO 321 - Deliverables: IPRO 321 Project Plan F09
- Creator
- Abhay, Anandha, Cornelius, Zachary, Corsus, Tom, De Courten-myers, Maximilian, Eberlin, Adam, Kapaldo, James, Nicholson, Bethany, Sizyuk, Yuriy, Sundberg, Stephen
- Date
- 2009-12
- Description
-
ResearchWeb is meant to broaden IIT undergraduate participation beyond the existing mechanisms such as fellowships, research and reading...
Show moreResearchWeb is meant to broaden IIT undergraduate participation beyond the existing mechanisms such as fellowships, research and reading courses, and departmental projects. There is also the possibility of broadening this program to other scholarly individuals outside of the IIT undergraduate community. These individuals include IIT graduate students, students from other universities, and promising high school students. ResearchWeb is also meant to improve the transition, and perhaps promote if need be, the transition from undergraduate education to graduate education. This would be fulfilled through practical research experience.
Deliverables for IPRO 321:Developing a Collaborative On-line Student Research Forum for Fall 2009
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- Title
- Developing a Collaborative On-line Student Research Forum (sequence unknown), IPRO 321 - Deliverables: IPRO 321 Poster F09
- Creator
- Abhay, Anandha, Cornelius, Zachary, Corsus, Tom, De Courten-myers, Maximilian, Eberlin, Adam, Kapaldo, James, Nicholson, Bethany, Sizyuk, Yuriy, Sundberg, Stephen
- Date
- 2009-12
- Description
-
ResearchWeb is meant to broaden IIT undergraduate participation beyond the existing mechanisms such as fellowships, research and reading...
Show moreResearchWeb is meant to broaden IIT undergraduate participation beyond the existing mechanisms such as fellowships, research and reading courses, and departmental projects. There is also the possibility of broadening this program to other scholarly individuals outside of the IIT undergraduate community. These individuals include IIT graduate students, students from other universities, and promising high school students. ResearchWeb is also meant to improve the transition, and perhaps promote if need be, the transition from undergraduate education to graduate education. This would be fulfilled through practical research experience.
Deliverables for IPRO 321:Developing a Collaborative On-line Student Research Forum for Fall 2009
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- Title
- COMPLETE PLASTID GENOME OF THE HEMIPARASITIC PLANT PEDICULARIS REX
- Creator
- Yang, Jingyi
- Date
- 2015, 2015-07
- Description
-
Pedicularis rex is a hemiparasitic plant from the Orobanchaceae family. Hemiparasites, also called semiparasites, are partly dependent on...
Show morePedicularis rex is a hemiparasitic plant from the Orobanchaceae family. Hemiparasites, also called semiparasites, are partly dependent on their host and, while they steal nutrients and other metabolites like other parasites, they have retained their photosynthesis ability. To better understand the hemiparasitic lifestyle of Pedicularis rex and what remains of its photosynthetic capability, we have determined the complete sequence of its plastid chromosome. The chloroplast genome of Pedicularis rex is 153,650 base pairs-long and exhibits a typical quadripartite structure with a large single copy (LSC) region and a small single copy (SSC) region separated by two inverted repeats (IR). A total of 79 unique protein-coding genes, including 9 pseudogenes, 30 tRNA- and 4 rRNA-encoding genes were retained in the plastid genome. Compared to the plastome of its close non-parasitic relative Lindenbergia philippensis, only one protein-coding gene and one intron are missing from P. rex but many genes show signs of pseudogenization. Pseudogenization in the P. rex plastid genome was found to be mainly caused by single site insertions, deletions or substitutions. The overall high level of homology between the P. rex and L. philippensis plastomes may explain why P. rex shows weak host dependence. However, how P. rex maintains its photosynthetic capability despite featuring a number of potentially dysfunctional pseudogenes involved in photosynthesis is unclear, and the minimal set of genes that is required for hemiparasitic plants to keep their autotrophic lifestyle is still unknown.
M.S. in Biology, July 2015
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- Title
- Planning for Human Implantation of a Cortical Visual Prosthesis (sequence unknown), IPRO 334 - Deliverables: IPRO 334 Poster F09
- Creator
- Bern, David, Chen, Shanyl, Deroo, Mary, Gorski, David, Kelly, Thomas, Leasenby, Alex, Li, Zhi, Pyrkh, Hanna, Subhani, Maham, Taneja, Aanchal
- Date
- 2009-12
- Description
-
The Intracortical Visual Prosthesis is based upon that concept that by implanting a large number of subminiature electrodes within the human...
Show moreThe Intracortical Visual Prosthesis is based upon that concept that by implanting a large number of subminiature electrodes within the human visual cortex, coordinated temporal-spatial image information can be artificially communicated to the human visual cortex in the form of electrical currents, acting as a sensory substitute for normal vision.
Sponsorship: IIT Laboratory of Neural Prosthetic Research
Deliverables for IPRO 334: Planning for Human Implantation of a Cortical Visual Prosthesis for the fall 2009 semester
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- Title
- A study of the effect of temperature and pressure on the carbonation of water
- Creator
- Marx, Walter L
- Date
- 2009, 1916
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/studyofeffectoft00marx
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology, 1916 Bibliography: leaf 40 B.S. in...
Show morehttp://www.archive.org/details/studyofeffectoft00marx
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology, 1916 Bibliography: leaf 40 B.S. in Chemical Engineering, 1916
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- Title
- Using Assessment Data to Improve Library Services : presented at ILA 2007 conference: Using LibQUAL and Developing a Culture of Assessment in Lib..
- Creator
- Stewart, Christopher, Uth, Charles
- Date
- 2007-10
- Description
-
IIT Libraries conducted LibQUAL+ service quality assessment in 2004 and 2006. This presentation will outline strategies we undertook to...
Show moreIIT Libraries conducted LibQUAL+ service quality assessment in 2004 and 2006. This presentation will outline strategies we undertook to address issues identified in the 2004 assessment, and evaluate their success based on assessment results in 2006. We will also discuss the importance of measuring academic library effectiveness in higher education’s emerging outcomes-based culture.
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- Title
- USE OF AQUEOUS DISPERSIONS OF SDS MICELLES TO REMOVE BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION FROM FRESH PRODUCE AND FOOD CONTACT SURFACES
- Creator
- Han, Yibin
- Date
- 2013-04-30, 2013-05
- Description
-
The current trend of increased consumption of fresh produce has coincided with an increase in foodborne illness resulting from fresh produce...
Show moreThe current trend of increased consumption of fresh produce has coincided with an increase in foodborne illness resulting from fresh produce consumption, which in turn has increased the amount of research directed at understanding the interactions between microbial pathogens and fresh produce. This dissertation examines the removal and inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and E. coli K12 from Romaine lettuce leaves and a model hydrophobic surface (polyvinyl chloride, PVC) using a nanofluid (a fluid containing nanometer-sized particles - in this case, sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) and its combinations with organic acids. A novel mechanism previously proposed by Wasan and Nikolov (D. T. Wasan & Nikolov, 2003) was used as the basis to explore the removal of bacteria from these surfaces by the aqueous dispersion of SDS micelles, and to explain how SDS plus levulinic acid at pH<3 improves inactivation of these bacteria. Examination of the bactericidal effect of levulinic acid, SDS, and their combination on E. coli O157:H7 attached to Romaine lettuce leaves revealed that using levulinic acid or SDS alone cannot effectively wash the bacterial cells from the surface or cause inactivation. However, combining them increased the effectiveness of the solution. The most effective combination of SDS plus acid for bacteria removal and inactivation among those we tested was found to be 0.06 mol/L SDS + 0.25 mol/L levulinic acid. This combination, which has a pH of 2.9, inactivated more than 5.2-log E. coli O157:H7 on a leaf surface, and similar results were achieved for E. coli K12 on a leaf surface, and for both E. coli O157:H7 and E. coli K12 on the surface of PVC. Surface and interface measurements, including x surface tension and contact angle, of washing solutions indicated that solutions containing SDS had a lower work of adhesion than those without the surfactant, which shows that a significant role of SDS in the inactivation mechanism is a weakening of the forces of attraction between the bacteria and the surface being cleaned. Our experiments also confirm that SDS likely plays a secondary role which depends on the solution pH. When the presence of an organic acid lowers the pH of the washing solution to below 2.6, the surface charge of E. coli O157:H7 changes from negative to positive (the pH is lower than the bacteria’s isoelectric point). In this case, we hypothesize that negatively-charged SDS molecules attach to the cells’ surfaces and inactivate the bacteria. This work provides additional insight into the complex nature of bacterial detachment from solid surfaces. Our work with aqueous dispersions of SDS micelles indicates how and why bacterial inactivation is increased through a combination treatment of SDS and an organic acid.
M.S. in Food Safety and Technology, May 2013
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- Title
- Hostile Spaces and Hostel Spaces: Re-Visioning Highway Infrastructure: Kevin Smith_masters project_11x17
- Creator
- Smith, Kevin
- Date
- 2010-07-30
- Title
- Future physics: A personal view, Proceedings of the XLIII International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics
- Creator
- Bjorken, James
- Date
- 2013-09-15, 2013-09-15
- Publisher
- IIT Press
- Description
-
A personal view of the future of particle physics is presented.
Sponsorship: IIT College of Science, High Energy Physics Division of Argonne...
Show moreA personal view of the future of particle physics is presented.
Sponsorship: IIT College of Science, High Energy Physics Division of Argonne National Laboratory
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- Title
- Study of a single-phase variable speed shunt induction motor
- Creator
- Calvin, R., Zeisler, L
- Date
- 2009, 1910
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/studyofsinglepha00calv
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- BUILDING SCIENCE MEASUREMENTS FOR THE HOSPITAL MICROBIOME PROJECT
- Creator
- Ramos, Tiffanie
- Date
- 2014, 2014-05
- Description
-
The Hospital Microbiome Project was designed to study the progression of microbial communities present inside and nearby patient rooms in a...
Show moreThe Hospital Microbiome Project was designed to study the progression of microbial communities present inside and nearby patient rooms in a new hospital pavilion recently built at the University of Chicago, both before the hospital was occupied and for nearly one year after introduction of patients and hospital staff. A suite of building science measurements, which is the focus of this work, was also designed and implemented to provide potentially meaningful data on several building environmental and operational parameters that may have influenced microbial communities inside the hospital. The building science measurement plan included characterizations of indoor air temperature, relative humidity (RH), absolute humidity, light levels, outdoor air fractions in the HVAC systems, room pressurization, and human occupancy using both beam break counters and CO2 concentrations in the 10 patient rooms and 2 nurse stations. Each parameter was measured at 5-minute intervals over the span of nearly one year, which resulted in more than 8 million collected data points. Air temperatures varied more than expected for such a typically tightly controlled environment, with surprisingly low correlations between rooms. RH and absolute humidity were highly correlated between patient rooms, indicating a strong effect from the HVAC system and little effect from occupants. Humidity was more tightly controlled during summer and winter months when the weather was most extreme in Chicago. Light intensity levels were not found to be very different between rooms and floors (which received similar solar exposure), but large seasonal patterns were apparent. CO2 was moderately correlated with non-directional IR beam-break counts at times, but not consistently. IR beam-break counters revealed large variations in patient room occupancy xv patterns throughout the study. In the HVAC systems serving each floor, outdoor air (OA) fractions were successfully calculated using CO2 concentrations measured in the outdoor air intake, recirculation air, and supply air, albeit only after periodic calibrations with data from the building automation system. OA fractions also showed distinct patterns of economizer usage with outdoor temperatures. Ultimately, this large suite of building science data will be used alongside microbial diversity data to explore correlations between indoor microbiology and the built environment.
M.S. in Environmental Engineering, May 2014
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- Title
- EVALUATION OF COXIELLA BURNETII NINE MILE PHASE II INACTIVATION IN WHOLE MILK AFTER THERMAL TREATMENT BY INTEGRATED CELL CULTURE-PCR ASSAY
- Creator
- Ma, Songchuan
- Date
- 2013-04-30, 2013-05
- Description
-
Coxiella burnetii, the etiologic agent of Q fever, is a Gram-negative, obligate intracellular coccobacillus, which has been used as the...
Show moreCoxiella burnetii, the etiologic agent of Q fever, is a Gram-negative, obligate intracellular coccobacillus, which has been used as the reference organism for defining milk pasteurization conditions. A developed Integrated Cell Culture-PCR (ICC-PCR) assay may be helpful for evaluating C. burnetii inactivation by thermal process in whole milk products. The purpose of this research was to characterize and optimize an ICCPCR assay in whole milk and evaluate this assay by thermal process. Coxiella burnetii was diluted into whole milk from FDA stock and treated by thermal process. Samples were sealed in glass vials and placed in ice-water to obtain a consistent starting temperature. Cooled vials were heated in a shaking waterbath at 60 °C, 62 °C and 64 °C in for various times. Thermally treated samples were diluted by RPMI+1% FBS and inoculated on Vero cell culture monolayers with PBS, incubated for 48 hours to infect the Vero cells, and then incubated for another 9 days to allow propagation. The propagated C. burnetii mix was subjected to freeze-thaw followed by DNA extraction with Autogen DNA Tissue Kit by using Quickgene Mini80. Extracted DNA was amplified by using TaqMan-MGB based qPCR targeting published primers for the IS1111a transposase gene to verify C. burnetii growth. For detection limit determination, serial dilutions of C. burnetii were mixed independently in whole milk and 1% FBS+RPMI. The mix was overlaid on confluent Vero cells for 2 days and 11 days. The DNA extractions were followed using DNA tissue kit by Quickgene Mini80 and PCR. At least duplicate trials using 3 replicates per trial were completed for each time/temperature condition.
M.S. in Food Safety and Technology, May 2013
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- Title
- Design of a 20,000 kW steam turbo-generator station
- Creator
- Emmons, Gilbert C., Tellin, William G, Todd, Samuel R
- Date
- 2009, 1911
- Publisher
- Armour Institute of Technology
- Description
-
http://www.archive.org/details/designof20000kws00emmo
Thesis (B.S.)--Armour Institute of Technology
- Title
- NATURAL GAS STORAGE EVALUATION FOR GAS FIRED POWER PLANT OPERATION
- Creator
- Nan, Sibo
- Date
- 2014, 2014-12
- Description
-
Gas generation has been the preferred non-renewable generation technology during the last few years due to its high efficiency, low emission,...
Show moreGas generation has been the preferred non-renewable generation technology during the last few years due to its high efficiency, low emission, and good flexibility. As a result of increasing gas usage by gas fired power plant (GFPP), gas pipeline congestion becomes a big issue for GFPP. As non-electric natural gas consumers have higher priority in pipeline capacity usage, GFPP’s profit could be negatively impacted when non-electric gas consumption is extremely high. Natural gas storage directly connected to GFPP can supply gas when pipeline capacity is constrained. This thesis presents a model of evaluating the benefit of gas storage to GFPP. The model is formulated as a mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem and solved using a commercial MIQP solver. A case study on one GFPP owning 4 natural gas generators is performed based on this model. It is observed that GFPP with gas storage directly connected can make more profit than GFPP without storage. A sensitivity study is conducted to analyze the relationship between the optimal gas storage capacity, as well as GFPP profit, and electricity price, non-electric gas consumption, and gas pipeline contract price. It is observed that the optimal gas storage capacity increases when electricity price increases and available pipeline capacity declines; however it does not change with the variation of gas pipeline contract price. It is also observed that the maximum profit of GFPP is most sensitive to electricity price, then non-electric gas consumption, and is least sensitive to gas pipeline contract price. The main application of this model is to help GFPP owner determine whether or not to install gas storage and, if yes, what the optimal capacity of gas storage should be. In addition, this model can also help GFPP owner plan gas purchase and gas pipeline capacity contract volume.
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, December 2014
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- Title
- Nozzle-Orientation Effects and Nonlinear Interactions Between Twin Jets of Complex Geometry
- Creator
- Joshi, R, Panickar, P, Srinivasan, K, Raman, G
- Date
- 2006-04
- Publisher
- American Inst Aeronaut Astronaut
- Description
-
In this paper we focus on understanding the behavior of twin nozzles of complex geometry in various yaw orientations. To the best of our...
Show moreIn this paper we focus on understanding the behavior of twin nozzles of complex geometry in various yaw orientations. To the best of our knowledge there are no published studies addressing the effects of nozzle orientation on the coupling of twin jets of complex exit geometry. We study the behavior of 1) uniform-exit rectangular nozzles, 2) single-beveled nozzles in a codirected configuration, and 3) single-beveled nozzles in a contradirected configuration. Experiments were carried out at fully expanded Mach numbers ranging from 1.28 to 1.72. Bevel angles of 10 and 30 deg were considered, and microphones located at the nozzle exit plane quantified the coupling using both linear and nonlinear spectral-analysis methods. Nonlinear characteristics were quantified using the nonlinear interaction density metric with a cross-bicoherence cut-off threshold of 0.4. The following interesting results emerged from this study: 1) When nozzles having uniform rectangular exits are yawed, the sound-pressure levels in the internozzle region reduce as the yaw angles are increased, and, at a very high yaw angle, the symmetric coupling regime that existed at the high fully expanded Mach number range (without yaw) is replaced by an antisymmetric coupling regime in the same range. 2) Geometrically similar exits from uniform-exit rectangular nozzles and beveled nozzles in the contradirected configuration showed similar characteristics when studied using linear techniques. However, they revealed information that was hitherto unknown when studied using nonlinear spectral-analysis techniques. It is believed that the results presented in this paper will provide benchmark data to those simulating/designing complex-geometry nozzle systems.
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- Title
- Zero CommunIITy: A Prototype for a Zero-Energy Residential Development (sequence unknown), IPRO 323 - Deliverables: IPRO 323 Poster F09
- Creator
- Bohac, Adam, Brady, David, Bueno, Juan, Coughlin, Daniel, Depalma, Lowell, Gonzalez, Juan, Gross, Josh, Hernandez, Carlos, Iversen, Jennifer, Mckinley, Keanen, Moceri, Michael, Modi, Nishant, Wisniewski, Anthony, Zacharias, Bryan
- Date
- 2009-12
- Description
-
The teams purpose is to seek a union between living comfortably and living sustainably. To design for a future Chicago‐area community, which...
Show moreThe teams purpose is to seek a union between living comfortably and living sustainably. To design for a future Chicago‐area community, which first minimizes its energy consumption and then uses the most sustainable methods to fulfill the remaining needs of the inhabitants. Ideally we will design a model community which will challenge conventions within the fields of design, planning, engineering, and everyday living. This community will also serve as an example to Chicago‐area municipalities about the benefits of sustainable planning, design, and living.
Sponsorship: Consultant from A. Epstein & Sons; Jeremy Poling
Deliverables for IPRO 323:Zero CommunIITy: A Prototype for a Zero-Energy Residential Development for the fall 2009 semester
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- Title
- MODEL-BASED EXPLORATION OF THE FEASIBILITY OF CREATING MULTIPLE PROPERTY GRADIENT IN CROSSLINKED POLYMER FILMS IN CONTROLLED LIVING POLYMERIZATION
- Creator
- Qin, Zikai
- Date
- 2014, 2014-05
- Description
-
The functional gradient materials have been widely used in chemical engineering, biomedical engineering and tissue engineering since they have...
Show moreThe functional gradient materials have been widely used in chemical engineering, biomedical engineering and tissue engineering since they have been reported because of their admirable mechanical, physical and chemical properties. Several traditional methods of synthesis gradient materials are known to all. Here we introduced a new mathematical model of designing and producing crosslinked polymeric films with target multiple gradients. We derive our model from batch reactor system and explore how each condition of the system affects the gradient of the polymer film. Then we extend to semi-batch reactor to control the gradient in crosslink density and set up different strategies to make the target multiple gradient crosslink density accomplish. With any given target gradient crosslinked polymer film, we can make an exact similar film in our model.
M.S. in Chemical Engineering, May 2014
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- Title
- A NOVEL METHOD FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRUCTURAL CONTACT IN FINITE ELEMENT METHODS OFFERING SIMPLIFIED TREATMENT OF ENERGY DISSIPATION
- Creator
- Grudzinski, James John
- Date
- 2012-04-24, 2012-05
- Description
-
A novel method for implementing contact/impact in an implicit nite element formulation is presented. The method uses the ideas of buoyancy to...
Show moreA novel method for implementing contact/impact in an implicit nite element formulation is presented. The method uses the ideas of buoyancy to enforce the normal contact constraint and a velocity dependent force to model energy dissipation. Upon contact (penetration) a normal force equal to the depth of penetration times a target weight density (di erent and much larger than the actual material weight density) creates a normal pressure on the contacting body. In addition to the buoyancy force, the penetrating surface area is subjected to a drag-like force that acts in a direction opposite the velocity vector of the penetrating node of the contacting body . This rate dependence is broken up into components tangential and normal to the target surface. The normal component of the drag performs two functions. First it provides for an energy absorbing mechanism similar to a coe cient of restitution for modeling non-conservative systems. Secondly, it can provide damping (analogous to mathematical damping) which can aid in solution convergence. The tangential component of the damping force serves the function of modeling friction in a simpli ed manner. The method applies contact forces in the manner of external forces and as such lends itself well to simpli ed contact detection schemes which rely on functional representation of bodies. The method is described and demonstrated through several examples including a comparison to experimental data.
Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, May 2012
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- Title
- FLIP-FLOP JET NOZZLE EXTENDED TO SUPERSONIC FLOWS
- Creator
- Raman, G, Hailye, M, Rice, Ej
- Date
- 1993-06
- Publisher
- AMER INST AERONAUT ASTRONAUT
- Description
-
An experiment studying a fluidically oscillated rectangular jet flow was conducted. The Mach number was varied over a range from low subsonic...
Show moreAn experiment studying a fluidically oscillated rectangular jet flow was conducted. The Mach number was varied over a range from low subsonic to supersonic. Unsteady velocity and pressure measurements were made using hot wires, piezoresistive pressure transducers, and pitot probes. In addition, smoke flow visualization using high-speed photography was used to document the oscillation of the jet. For the subsonic flip-flop jet, it was found that the apparent time-mean widening of the jet was not accompanied by an increase in the mass flux. Fluidically oscillated jets up to a Mach number of about 0.5 have been reported before, but to our knowledge there is no information on fluidically oscillated supersonic jets. It was found that it is possible to extend the operation of these devices to supersonic flows. The streamwise velocity perturbation levels produced by this device were much higher than the perturbation levels that could be produced using conventional excitation sources such as acoustic drivers. In view of this ability to produce high amplitudes, the potential for using a small-scale fluidically oscillated jet as an unsteady excitation source for the control of shear flows in full-scale practical applications seems promising.
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