Impact of nonlinear thermal radiation on nonlinear mixed convection flow near a vertical porous plate with convective boundary condition

This study presents similarity solution for boundary layer flow near a vertical porous plate with combined effects of nonlinear density variation with temperature and nonlinear thermal radiation. To accurately predict the flow phenomenon near the porous plate, the convective boundary condition is considered at the plate surface. The two-dimensional partial differential equations are transformed to ordinary differential equations through the similarity transformation. The resulting ordinary differential equations are solved numerically in Maple software using the Runge–Kutta–Ferhlberg fourth-fifth order (RKF45) algorithm. The influence of the inherit parameters like the nonlinear thermal radiation parameter, suction/injection parameter, nonlinear Boussinesq approximation parameters, local convective heat transfer parameter, local Grashof number, and Prandtl number governing the fluid behaviour is discussed. We found that the rate of heat transfer improves with the injection and nonlinear thermal radiation parameter whereas decreases with suction, local convective heat transfer parameter and local Grashof number when air and mercury are used as the working fluids. Furthermore, with the growth in the values of local Grashof number, convective heat transfer parameter and nonlinear thermal radiation parameter and in the presence of suction/injection, the porous plate surface friction witnessed an observable growth. Suction growth plays a supportive role on the velocity curve near the porous plate but a contrary trend is seen in the free stream. The temperature distribution also decays with suction augment. Injection growth is inversely proportional to the velocity profile near the porous plate but we recorded the opposite phenomenon in the free stream.

Influence of pedicle screw thread width and recovery time after surgery on fixation strength

Introduction: Pedicle screw fixation systems are widely used for treatment of various spinal pathologies, including spinal stenosis, scoliosis, spinal deformities and fractures. Stress shielding is considered to be a major factor contributing to insufficient fixation strength, leading to screw loosening. In this study, the influence of pedicle screw thread width on the displacement of pedicle screw and stress transfer is analyzed using 2-Dimensional axisymmetric finite element (FE) model. Methods: FE model consisting of cancellous and cortical bone, along with pedicle screw is developed for this study. The pedicle screw thread width is varied between 0.1 mm and 0.6 mm in steps of 0.1 mm, while the other geometric parameters, including screw half-angle, pitch, diameter, and length are kept constant. Three different contact conditions between screw and bone, such as frictionless, frictional, and bonded are considered to simulate hours, days, and months after surgery, respectively. The material properties and boundary conditions are applied based on previous studies. An axial force of 80 N is applied on the screw head to simulate axial pull-out test. Results: Similar patterns of stress distribution are observed for all screw models, with high stress concentration above the first thread. The highest displacement in screw is observed shortly after surgery, while the highest displacement in cancellous and cortical bone is observed few days and months after the surgery, respectively. The average von Mises stress in screw decreases with increase in thread width for all contact conditions. In few hours/days after the surgery, stress transfer parameter increases with increase in thread width, up to a thread width of 0.5 mm and then decreases. The changes in stress transfer parameter are negligible few months after the surgery. Conclusion: This study highlights the influence of thread width on displacement and stress transferred to the bone, at different durations after the surgery. It is observed that a thread width of 0.5 mm exhibits the highest stress transfer, leading to reduced stress shielding and improved bone remodeling. It appears that this study might aid in developing better pedicle screws for the treatment of various spinal pathologies.

Molded Vial Manufacturing and Its Impact on Heat Transfer during Freeze-Drying: Vial Geometry Considerations

Recent advances in molded vial manufacturing enabled manufacturers to use a new manufacturing technique to achieve superior homogeneity of the vial wall thickness. This study evaluated the influence of the different manufacturing techniques of molded vials and glass compositions on vial heat transfer in freeze-drying. Additionally, the influence of using empty vials as thermal shielding on thermal characteristics of edge and center vials was investigated. The vial heat transfer coefficient Kv was determined gravimetrically for multiple vial systems. The results showed superior heat transfer characteristics of the novel manufacturing technique as well as differences in heat transfer for the different glass compositions. Empty vials on the outside of the array did not influence center vial Kv values compared to a full array. The direct contact area and vial bottom curvature and their correlation to heat transfer parameters were analyzed across multiple vial systems. A new approach based on light microscopy to describe the vial bottom curvature more accurately was described. The presented results for the contact area allowed for an approximation of the pressure-independent heat transfer parameter KC. The results for the vial bottom curvature showed a great correlation to the pressure-dependent heat transfer parameter KD. Overall, the results highlighted how a thorough geometrical characterization of vials with known heat transfer characteristics could be used to predict thermal characteristics of new vial systems as an alternative to a time-consuming gravimetric Kv determination. Primary drying times were simulated to show the influence of Kv on drying performance.

Supercritical CO2 Extraction of Extracted Oil from Pistacia lentiscus L.: Mathematical Modeling, Economic Evaluation and Scale-Up

In this study, the extracted oil of Pistacia lentiscus L. the Tunis region was extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction containing different major components in the oil such as α-pinene (32%) and terpinene-4-ol (13%). The investigation of the effect of different variables on the extraction yield with 5% level of confidence interval showed that the CO2 pressure was the main significant variable to influence the oil yield. In order to better understand the phenomena, three parameters were considered to adjust all parameters of broken and intact cell (BIC) model: grinding efficiency (G), the internal mass transfer parameter ( k S a 0 ), and the external mass transfer parameter ( k f a 0 ), which were estimated by experimental extraction curves to calculate the diffusion coefficient. From an economic point of view, we found out that the high cost of production of the extracted oil was due to the low mass of extracted oil obtained from this type of plant.