Revisiting KELT-19Ab, WASP-156b, and WASP-121b in the TESS Era

We present a re-analysis of transit depths of KELT-19Ab, WASP-156b, and WASP-121b, including data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The large ∼21″ TESS pixels and point-spread function result in significant contamination of the stellar flux by nearby objects. We use Gaia data to fit for and remove this contribution, providing general-purpose software for this correction. We find all three sources have a larger inclination, compared to earlier work. For WASP-121b, we find significantly smaller values (13.°5) of the inclination when using the 30 minute cadence data compared to the 2 minute cadence data. Using simulations, we demonstrate that the radius ratio of exoplanet to star (R p /R *) is biased small relative to data taken with a larger sampling interval although oversampling corrections mitigate the bias. This is particularly important for deriving subpercent transit differences between bands. We find the radius ratio of exoplanet to star (R p /R *) in the TESS band is 7.5σ smaller than previous work for KELT-19Ab, but consistent to within ∼2σ for WASP-156b and WASP-121b. The difference could be due to specific choices in the analysis, not necessarily due to the presence of atmospheric features. The result for KELT-19Ab possibly favors a haze-dominated atmosphere. We do not find evidence for the ∼0.95 μm water feature contaminating transit depths in the TESS band for these stars but show that with photometric precision of 500 ppm and with a sampling of about 200 observations across the entire transit, this feature could be detectable in a more narrow z-band.

Analysis of the Vibration Behaviors of Rotating Composite Nano-Annular Plates Based on Nonlocal Theory and Different Plate Theories

Rotating machinery has significant applications in the fields of micro and nano meters, such as nano-turbines, nano-motors, and biomolecular motors, etc. This paper takes rotating nano-annular plates as the research object to analyze their free vibration behaviors. Firstly, based on Kirchhoff plate theory, Mindlin plate theory, and Reddy plate theory, combined with nonlocal constitutive relations, the differential motion equations of rotating functionally graded nano-annular plates in a thermal environment are derived. Subsequently, the numerical method is used to discretize and solve the motion equations. The effects of nonlocal parameter, temperature change, inner and outer radius ratio, and rotational velocity on the vibration frequencies of the nano-annular plates are analyzed through numerical examples. Finally, the relationship between the fundamental frequencies and the thickness-to-radius ratio of the nano-annular plates of clamped inner and outer rings is discussed, and the differences in the calculation results among the three plate theories are compared.

Investigation of short-channel design on performance optimization effect of Hall thruster with large height-radius ratio

In this study, the neutral gas distribution and steady-state discharge under different discharge channel lengths were studied via numerical simulations. The results show that the channel with a length of 22 mm has the advantage of comprehensive discharge performance. At this time, the magnetic field intensity at the anode surface is 10% of the peak magnetic field intensity. Further analysis shows that the high-gas-density zone moves outward due to the shortening of the channel length, which optimizes the matching between the gas flow field and the magnetic field, and thus increases the ionization rate. The outward movement of the main ionization zone also reduces the ion loss on the wall surface. Thus, the propellant utilization efficiency can reach a maximum of 96.8%. Moreover, the plasma potential in the main ionization zone will decrease with the shortening of the channel. The excessively short channel will greatly reduce the voltage utilization efficiency. The thrust is reduced to a minimum of 46.1 mN. Meanwhile, because the anode surface is excessively close to the main ionization zone, the discharge reliability is also difficult to guarantee. It was proved that the performance of Hall thrusters can be optimized by shortening the discharge channel appropriately, and the specific design scheme of short channel of HEP-1350PM was defined, which serves as a reference for the optimization design of Hall thruster with large height-radius ratio. The short-channel design also helps to reduce the thruster axial dimension, further consolidating the advantages of lightweight and large thrust-to-weight ratio of the Hall thruster with large height-radius ratio.

Slow axisymmetric rotation of a sphere in a circular tube with slip surfaces

The steady rotation of a slip spherical particle about a diameter lying along the longitudinal axis of a slip circular tube filled with an incompressible Newtonian fluid at low Reynolds numbers is analyzed. To solve the Stokes equations for the fluid flow, the solution is constituted by the summation of general solutions in both cylindrical and spherical coordinates. The boundary conditions are implemented first along the tube wall via the Fourier cosine transform and then over the particle surface through a collocation method. Results of the resisting torque acting on the particle are obtained for various values of the relevant dimensionless parameters. The effect of the confining tube on the axisymmetric rotation of the particle with slip surfaces is interesting. The torque increases monotonically with an increase in the stickiness of the tube wall, keeping the other parameters unchanged. When the stickiness of the tube wall is greater than a critical value, the torque is greater than that on the particle in an unbounded identical fluid and increases with increases in the stickiness of the particle surface and particle-to-tube radius ratio. When the stickiness of the tube wall is less than the critical value, conversely, the torque is smaller than that on the unconfined particle and decreases with increases in the particle stickiness and radius ratio.

Effects of radius ratio on annular centrifugal Rayleigh–Bénard convection

We report on a three-dimensional direct numerical simulation study of flow structure and heat transport in the annular centrifugal Rayleigh–Bénard convection (ACRBC) system, with cold inner and hot outer cylinders corotating axially, for the Rayleigh number range $Ra \in [{10^6},{10^8}]$ and radius ratio range $\eta = {R_i}/{R_o} \in [0.3,0.9]$ ( $R_i$ and $R_o$ are the radius of the inner and outer cylinders, respectively). This study focuses on the dependence of flow dynamics, heat transport and asymmetric mean temperature fields on the radius ratio $\eta$ . For the inverse Rossby number $Ro^{-1} = 1$ , as the Coriolis force balances inertial force, the flow is in the inertial regime. The mechanisms of zonal flow revolving in the prograde direction in this regime are attributed to the asymmetric movements of plumes and the different curvatures of the cylinders. The number of roll pairs is smaller than the circular roll hypothesis as the convection rolls are probably elongated by zonal flow. The physical mechanism of zonal flow is verified by the dependence of the drift frequency of the large-scale circulation (LSC) rolls and the space- and time-averaged azimuthal velocity on $\eta$ . The larger $\eta$ is, the weaker the zonal flow becomes. We show that the heat transport efficiency increases with $\eta$ . It is also found that the bulk temperature deviates from the arithmetic mean temperature and the deviation increases as $\eta$ decreases. This effect can be explained by a simple model that accounts for the curvature effects and the radially dependent centrifugal force in ACRBC.

An Analytical Approach for the Nonlinear Free Vibration Analysis of Thin-Walled Circular Cylindrical Shells

This paper presents a new formulation combining the nonlinear theory of Novozhilov with the classical finite element method for the purpose of evaluating the vibratory characteristics of thin, closed and isotropic cylindrical shells. The theory developed in this paper is able to include the shell curvature effect in the circumferential direction of the orthogonal displacements and considers the impact of initial geometric imperfections on the dynamic response of the system. The formulation first takes a general form by expressing the shell displacements as an alliance between the generalized coordinates and spatial functions. Nonlinear kinematic relationships are inferred from Novozhilov’s theory. The equations of motion as well as the expressions of the mass, linear and nonlinear stiffness matrices are derived through the Lagrange method by considering the coupling between the different modes. An application of this model is illustrated in a further step, by adopting the displacement functions derived from exact solutions of linear Sanders’ theory equilibrium equations for thin cylindrical shells. The governing equations of motion are solved with the help of a direct iterative method. Linear and nonlinear frequencies are validated by comparison with the results in the literature. The relative nonlinear frequencies are determined as a function of vibration amplitudes and then compared with published results for several cases of shells. Excellent agreement is observed between the results derived from this theory and those found in the literature. The effect of different parameters including axial and circumferential wave number, length-to-radius ratio, thickness-to-radius ratio and various boundary conditions, on the nonlinear frequencies of cylindrical shells is investigated.

Development of a topology optimization method for the design of composite lattice ring structures

Composite lattice ring structures are known for their lightweight and high efficiency, which have a strong attraction in the aeronautical and aerospace industries. The general manufacturing process for such structures is to use wet filament winding technology. Due to the anisotropic properties of continuous fibers, the filament winding trajectory determines the mechanical properties of the composite lattice ring structures. In this work, a topology optimization method is proposed to generate the efficient filament winding trajectory, which follows the load transfer path of the composite part and can offer higher mechanical strengths. To satisfy the periodicity requirement of the structure, the design space is divided into a prescribed number of identical substructures during the topology optimization process. In order to verify the effectiveness and capability of the proposed approach, the topological design of ring structures with the different number of substructures, the ratio of outer to inner radius and the loading case is investigated. The results reflect that the optimal topology shape strongly depends on the substructure numbers, radius ratio and loading case. Moreover, the compliance of the optimized structures increases with the total number of substructures, while the structural efficiency of the optimized structures decreases with the radius ratio. Finally, taking the specified topological structure as the object, the conceptual design of a robotic filament winding system for manufacturing the composite lattice ring structure is presented. In particular, the forming tooling, integrated deposition system, winding trajectory and manufacturing process are carefully defined, which can provide valuable references for practical production in the future

Spontaneous Imbibition in a Fractal Network Model with Different Wettabilities

In this work, we derived a mathematical model for spontaneous imbibition in a Y-shaped branching network model. The classic Lucas–Washburn equation was used for modeling the imbibition process occurring in the Y-shape model. Then, a mathematical model for the Newtonian fluid’s imbibition was derived to reveal the relationship between dimensionless imbibition time and length ratio, radius ratio, and wetting strength. The dimensionless imbibition time in the model was adopted to compare with that of the capillary bundle model. Different length and radius ratios were considered in the adjacent two-stage channels, and different wettabilities were considered in the different branches. The optimal radius ratio, length ratio, and wetting strength were calculated under the condition of the shortest imbibition time. In addition, the shortest dimensionless imbibition time of the three-stage Y-shaped branching network model was calculated when the wettability changes randomly. The results indicate that the imbibition time changed mostly when the wettability of the second branch changed, and the second branch was the most sensitive to wettability in the model.