Moist Air (moist + air)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The effect of overload on the fatigue crack growth behaviour of 304 stainless steel in hydrogen

FATIGUE & FRACTURE OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, Issue 1 2001
M. H. Kelestemur
Fatigue crack growth (FCG) behaviour and its characteristics following tensile overloads were investigated for AISI 304 stainless steel in three different atmospheres; namely dry argon, moist air and hydrogen. The FCG tests were performed by MTS 810 servohydraulic machine. CT specimens were used for the tests and crack closure measurements were made using an extensometer. FCG rates of 304 stainless steel at both dry argon and moist air atmospheres have shown almost the same behaviour. In other words, the effect of moisture on FCG of this material is very small. However, in a hydrogen atmosphere, the material showed considerably higher crack growth rate in all regimes. In general, for all environments, the initial effect of overloads was to accelerate the FCG rate for a short distance (less than a mm) after which retardation occurred for a considerable amount of time. The main causes for retardation were found as crack blunting and a long reinitiation period for the fatigue crack. Regarding the environmental effect, the overload retardation was lowest in a hydrogen atmosphere. This low degree of retardation was explained by a hydrogen embrittlement mechanism. In a general sense, hydrogen may cause a different crack closure mechanism and hydrogen induced crack closure has come in to the picture. Scanning electron microscope and light microscope examinations agreed well with the above results. [source]


An analysis of late twentieth century trends in Australian rainfall

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2009
Andréa S. Taschetto
Abstract Trends in Australian precipitation from 1970 to 2006 are examined using a daily rainfall dataset. Results suggest a linkage between changes in the monsoon trough and rainfall trends over northwestern Australia. The late twentieth century drought observed along the Queensland coast is a response to changes in the atmospheric circulation that generates anomalous subsidence at high and middle levels of the atmosphere, thus inhibiting convection over the region. In addition, an anomalous anticyclonic circulation at low levels over Queensland tends to weaken the easterlies in the tropical western Pacific, thus diminishing the transport of moist air onto the coast. Trends in the frequency and magnitude of different rainfall events are also examined. This reveals that changes in total rainfall are dominated by trends in very heavy rainfall events across Australia. For example, some parts of western Australia reveal an increase in heavy rainfall events that are not accompanied by a rise in modest rainfall events, resulting in changes in the shape of the distribution towards a more skewed precipitation distribution. On the other hand, the frequency of extreme rainfall events along the Queensland coast has declined during summer and autumn consistently with the total rainfall decrease, indicating changes in the position of the precipitation distribution rather than its shape. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Detection of a possible change point in atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic and its effect on Scandinavian glacier mass balance

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 14 2005
Rowan Fealy
Abstract Climate change, resulting from an increase in global temperatures, is likely to have a large impact on glaciers and glacier meltwater during the course of the present century resulting in significant contributions to sea level rise. Globally, glaciers are in retreat, partly as a response to the return to warmer conditions after the last neoglacial period during the Little Ice Age but also because of the almost continuous increases evident in global temperature since then. In contrast, Scandinavian glaciers, particularly maritime glaciers, were maintaining equilibrium or advancing over the closing decades of the last century possibly resulting from an increased moisture flux over the North Atlantic. While the more continental glaciers were still declining, the rate of decline diminished during the late 1980s. This coincides with an accelerated rate of increase evident on the maritime glaciers in southwestern Norway. A change point in atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic is identified as having occurred during this period. This change point is associated with an intensification of westerlies over Europe, particularly since the late 1980s, which significantly contributes to increases in temperature and precipitation over northern Europe while suppressing the penetration of warm, moist air into more southern European locations. Regional variations in temperature and precipitation from selected Scandinavian stations are also found to be consistent with the changes in the large-scale modes of atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Sensitivity of the southern African circulation to dipole sea-surface temperature patterns in the south Indian Ocean

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2002
C. J. C. Reason
Abstract Previous observational work suggests that when sea-surface temperature (SST) is warm (cool) in the southwest Indian Ocean and cool (warm) in the southeast Indian Ocean, increased (decreased) summer rains may occur over large areas of southeastern Africa. In this study, an atmospheric general circulation model is used to investigate the sensitivity of the regional circulation and rainfall over southern Africa to these dipole SST anomalies in the subtropical south Indian Ocean. When the model is forced with positive SST anomalies in the west and negative SST anomalies in the east, increased rainfall occurs over southeastern Africa as a result of the enhanced convergence of moister than average air over the region. Enhanced evaporation occurs over the warm pole in the southwest Indian Ocean and this moist air is advected towards southeastern Africa as a result of the low-pressure anomaly generated over this pole, which strengthens the onshore flow. Increased and more intense extra-tropical cyclones occur to the southeast of South Africa, favourable for tropical,temperate trough formation. When the SST poles are reversed in sign, decreased precipitation occurs over southeastern Africa as a result of increased low-level divergence of low-level flow and this flow being drier than average. Weaker and fewer extra-tropical cyclones occur southeast of South Africa in this case. The model results are sensitive to the proximity of the southwest Indian Ocean pole to southeastern Africa. There is also sensitivity in the model low-level wind changes and precipitation anomaly over low-latitude southern Africa (but not over South Africa to any significant extent) to the presence or absence of the SST pole over the southeast Indian Ocean. Although the model resolution does not capture the details of the local SST and topographic gradients as well as one would like, the changes in model circulation and precipitation in the experiments with different SST anomalies are consistent with previous observational and theoretical work, hence increasing confidence in the robustness of the results. Copyright © 2002 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Application of sandy bed solar collector system for water extraction from air

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 6 2006
A. E. KabeelArticle first published online: 13 JAN 200
Abstract Extracting water from air by using sandy bed solar collector system is explored in the current paper. The system is studied theoretically and experimentally to evaluate the performance of the sandy bed impregnated with 30% concentration CaCl2 to produce water from moist air. In addition, the system was investigated at three different tilt angles: 15°, 20° and 25°. The theoretical model was constructed to study the effect of various parameters including solution concentration, and solar radiation intensity on the amount of collected water. Results show that sandy bed is effective for collecting water from moist air. The system can provide up to about 1.2-l fresh water per square meter of glass cover per day. A reasonable agreement between theoretical results and experimental measurements is achieved. Results show also that a slight increase in the system productivity can be generated for 25° inclination angle. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Thermodynamic study of wet cooling tower performance

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, Issue 6 2006
V. D. Papaefthimiou
Abstract An analytical model was developed to describe thermodynamically the water evaporation process inside a counter-flow wet cooling tower, where the air stream is in direct contact with the falling water, based on the implementation of the energy and mass balance between air and water stream describing thus, the rate of change of air temperature, humidity ratio, water temperature and evaporated water mass along tower height. The reliability of model predictions was ensured by comparisons made with pertinent experimental data, which were obtained from the literature. The paper elaborated the effect of atmospheric conditions, water mass flow rate and water inlet temperature on the variation of the thermodynamic properties of moist air inside the cooling tower and on its thermal performance characteristics. The analysis of the theoretical results revealed that the thermal performance of the cooling tower is sensitive to the degree of saturation of inlet air. Hence, the cooling capacity of the cooling tower increases with decreasing inlet air wet bulb temperature whereas the overall water temperature fall is curtailed with increasing water to air mass ratio. The change of inlet water temperature does not affect seriously the thermal behaviour of the cooling tower. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


EFFECTS OF PRESTORAGE DRY AND HUMID HOT AIR TREATMENTS ON THE QUALITY, TRIGLYCERIDES AND TOCOPHEROL CONTENTS IN ,HASS' AVOCADO FRUIT

JOURNAL OF FOOD QUALITY, Issue 2 2004
J. DE JESUS ORNELAS P.
ABSTRACT ,Hass' avocado fruit were heated with dry (50% RH) or moist (95% RH) forced air at 38Cfor 6 h and then stored at 5C and 85% RHfor up to 8 weeks. Fruit were evaluated weekly for quality and for the content of three triglycerides and three tocopherols. Heated fruit had higher weight loss. The nonheated fruit and those heated with dry air displayed the best external quality. Fruit heated with dry air exhibited the best internal quality and the lowest chilling injury incidence. The respiration rate was more intense in fruit heated with moist air. Fruit firmness immediately after harvest was 51N, but decreased to less than 20 N at the end of the storage period in the three treatments. The analysis of triglycerides and tocopherols showed that the 1,2-Dilinoleil-3-Oleil-Glycerol and ,-tocopherol were the most abundant compounds. Therefore, postharvest treatment with dry forced hot air before storage or transport reduces the incidence of chilling injury, and decreases quality deterioration in ,Hass' avocado fruit. [source]


Hydrologic Modeling of an Extreme Flood in the Guadalupe River in Texas,

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 5 2010
Hatim O. Sharif
Sharif, Hatim O., Almoutaz A. Hassan, Sazzad Bin-Shafique, Hongjie Xie, and Jon Zeitler, 2010. Hydrologic Modeling of an Extreme Flood in the Guadalupe River in Texas. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-11. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00459.x Abstract:, Many of the storms creating the greatest rainfall depths in Texas, measured over durations ranging from one minute to 48 hours, have occurred in the Texas Hill Country area. The upstream portion of the Guadalupe River Basin, located in the Texas Hill Country, is susceptible to flooding and rapid runoff due to thin soils, exposed bedrock, and sparse vegetation, in addition to the Balcones Escarpment uplift contributing to precipitation enhancement. In November 2004, a moist air mass from the Gulf of Mexico combined with moist air from the Pacific Ocean resulted in the wettest November in Texas since 1895. Although the peak discharges were not the highest on record, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge on the Guadalupe River at Gonzales, Texas reported a daily mean discharge of 2,304 m3/s on November 23, 2004 (average discharge is 53 m3/s). In this paper, we examine the meteorological conditions that led to this event and apply a two-dimensional, physically based, distributed-parameter hydrologic model to simulate the response of a portion of the basin during this event. The study results clearly demonstrate the ability of physically based, distributed-parameter simulations, driven by operational radar rainfall products, to adequately model the cumulative effect of two rainfall events and route inflows from three upstream watersheds without the need for significant calibration. [source]


Tribological characterisation of hard coatings with and without DLC top layer in fretting tests

LUBRICATION SCIENCE, Issue 1 2006
D. KlaffkeArticle first published online: 14 DEC 200
Abstract The potential of coatings to protect components against wear and to reduce friction has led to a large variety of protective coatings. In order to check the success of coating modifications and to find solutions for different purposes, initial tests with laboratory tribometers are usually done to give information about the performance of a coating. Different Ti-based coatings (TiN, Ti(C,N), and TiAlN) and NiP were tested in comparison to coatings with an additional diamond-like carbon (DLC) top coating. Tests were done in laboratory air at room temperature with oscillating sliding (gross slip fretting) with a ball-on-disc arrangement against a ceramic ball (Al2O3). Special attention was paid to possible effects of moisture (relative humidity). The coefficient of friction was measured on line, and the volumetric wear at the disc was determined after the test from microscopic measurements of the wear scar and additional profiles. The friction and wear behaviour is quite different for the different coatings and depends more or less on the relative humidity. The DLC coating on top of the other coatings reduces friction and wear considerably. In normal and in moist air the coefficient of wear of the DLC top-layer coating is significantly less than 10,6,mm3/Nm and the coefficient of friction is below 0.1. In dry air, however, there is a certain tendency to high wear and high friction. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Influence of Normal Force and Humidity on the Friction and Wear of Unlubricated Reciprocating Sliding Steel/Steel Couples

LUBRICATION SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004
D. Klaffke
Abstract The friction and wear behaviour of different steel/steel couples was investigated in laboratory tests with unlubricated reciprocating sliding motion. Two different steel balls were tested against two different steel discs in dry, normal, and moist air at room tem-perature. The influence of normal force on friction and wear was studied in the range from 1 to 10 N for all three levels of relative humidity (RH). RH strongly influenced wear behaviour for all four couples, while the friction behaviour was less affected by RH. For all the couples, normal force was found to influence wear rate with a tendency for the wear rate to increase with decreasing normal force. The coefficient of friction also increased with decreasing normal force, but to a much lesser extent than that evaluated for the wear rate. [source]


The repeatability of friction and wear results obtained from unlubricated reciprocating sliding tests

LUBRICATION SCIENCE, Issue 4 2001
D. Klaffke
Abstract Laboratory tests can help in the analysis of tribological failures of elements, and improve tribo-systems by choosing appropriate materials. In order to characterise the friction and wear behaviour of candidate materials, various different test methods have been developed in the past and are still in use. One such method is the reciprocating sliding of a ball against a disc. In the work reported here, the repeatability of friction and wear results was evaluated with ten tests under identical conditions with a steel (100Cr6) or alumina (Al2O3) ball against a steel (100Cr6) disc under unlubricated conditions at room temperature. The influence of ambient humidity on friction and wear behaviour was determined in three additional tests in dry and in moist air, respectively. The repeatability of friction coefficient in normal air was better than 5% for alumina/100Cr6 and 12% for 100Cr6/100Cr6, while the repeatability of volumetric wear was slightly better than 10% for alumina/steel, and slightly worse than 10% for steel/steel. For both couples the coefficient of friction is lowest in moist air and about 50% higher in dry air. The coefficient of wear is also least in moist air and higher by a factor of 3(5) in dry air for tests with a 100Cr6 (alumina) ball. [source]


The influence of synoptic-mesoscale winds and sea surface temperature distribution on fog formation near the Korean western peninsula

METEOROLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, Issue 4 2006
Hyo Choi
Abstract When high pressure is located near the Korean peninsula, a diffluent wind regime generally occurs over the Yellow Sea. At night or early morning, diffluent westerly winds occur on the western side of the Korean peninsula near Inchon city and encounter a combined land breeze and katabatic easterly offshore wind, resulting in conditions ranging from calm to a moderate westerly wind near the coast. Nocturnal radiational cooling of the land surface and the moisture laden westerly winds can cause air near the coast to become saturated, resulting in coastal advection fog. During the day, on the other hand, the synoptic-scale westerly wind is reinforced by a westerly sea breeze and is further reinforced by a westerly valley wind directed upslope towards the mountain top. Even if the resulting intensified onshore wind could transport a large amount of moisture from the sea over the land, it would be very difficult for fog to form because the daytime heat flux from the ground would develop the convective boundary layer inland from Inchon city sufficiently to reduce significantly the moisture content of the air. Therefore, fog does not generally form in situ over the inland coastal basin. When an area of cold sea water (10°C average) exists approximately 25,50 km offshore and the sea surface temperature increases towards the coast, air parcels over the cool sea surface are cooled sufficiently to saturation, resulting in the formation of advection sea fog. However, at the coast, nocturnal cooling of the ground further cools the advected moist air driven by the westerly wind and causes coastal advection fog to form. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


3-D Inviscid Transonic Condensing Flow around a Swept Wing

PROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS & MECHANICS, Issue 1 2003
K.A. Goodheart
Transonic condensing flow is an interesting phenomena because of the large change in temperature over a small area. This drop in temperature allows the moist air to condense. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the effect of sweep on condensing flow. The geometry of the wing model starts with NACA-0014 at the wall and reduces to a NACA-0010 at the tip. The span of the wing is 2.5 times the maximum chord length. The effect of sweep is examined by comparing a model wing with a sweep angle of 11.3 with a straight trailing edge that has no thickness and then a straight leading edge with a 11.3 trailing edge sweep. The free stream Mach number is 0.8 and angle of attack is 0. A 2-D calculation shows that the NACA-0014 and NACA-0010 have a region of supersonic flow but due to the effect of sweep the sonic line does not extend to the tip. This change of the supersonic region influences the area of condensation on the wing. The swept wing has a lower total drag coefficient for the adiabatic and all condensation cases compared to the straight leading edge wing and second for the each wing the trend of increasing drag with humidity is shown. [source]


Convective mixing in a tropopause fold

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 599 2004
H. J. Reid
Abstract We present a case study of the passage of a tropopause fold over the UK behind a cold front, with emphasis on the mixing caused by convection extending into the fold. The event took place on 15,16 January 1999, and was the subject of intensive observations using the Met Office C130 aircraft and the mesosphere,stratosphere,troposphere (MST) radar at Aberystwyth. Here we concentrate on radar and satellite observations during the afternoon of 16 January, when the surface cold front had passed over the UK. A tongue of moist air moved north-eastwards over Wales at 700 hPa at this time, which, because of the very dry air in the fold above, resulted in potential instability. The resulting convection was clearly observed in NOAA satellite images. The MST radar depicted the passage of the cold front and tropopause fold as a layer of high-echo power and vertical wind shear ascending with time. Spectral widths showed the fold to be free of turbulence until 1200 UTC on 16 January, when convection was observed reaching into the frontal zone and generating turbulence. Eddy dissipation and diffusivity rates of 8.6 mW kg,1 and 8.5 m2s,1, respectively, were derived for this event. To place these figures in context, they are compared with corresponding rates derived for sixteen other passages of tropopause folds over the radar, each resulting from shear rather than convective instability. The convective event is found to be comparable to the strongest shear events, and to correspond to moderate turbulence as experienced by an aircraft. This process is of potential importance for atmospheric chemistry because it mixes boundary layer air directly with stratospheric air over a timescale of 1,2 hours. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society [source]