Roughness as a Route to the Ultimate Regime of Thermal Convection

We use highly resolved numerical simulations to study turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection in a cell with sinusoidally rough upper and lower surfaces in two dimensions for Pr = 1 and Ra = [4 x 10(6), 3 x 10(9)]. By varying the wavelength. at a fixed amplitude, we find an optimal wavelength lambda(opt) for which the Nusselt-Rayleigh scaling relation is (Nu - 1 proportional to Ra-0.483), maximizing the heat flux. This is consistent with the upper bound of Goluskin and Doering [J. Fluid Mech.

Striated populations in disordered environments with advection

Growth in static and controlled environments such as a Petri dish can be used to study the spatial population dynamics of microorganisms. However, natural populations such as marine microbes experience fluid advection and often grow up in heterogeneous environments. We investigate a generalized Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piscounov (FKPP) equation describing single species population subject to a constant flow field and quenched random spatially inhomogeneous growth rates with a fertile overall growth condition.

Extended friction elucidates the breakdown of fast water transport in graphene oxide membranes

The understanding of water transport in graphene oxide (GO) membranes stands out as a major theoretical problem in graphene research. Notwithstanding the intense efforts devoted to the subject in the recent years, a consolidated picture of water transport in GO membranes is yet to emerge. By performing mesoscale simulations of water transport in ultrathin GO membranes, we show that even small amounts of oxygen functionalities can lead to a dramatic drop of the GO permeability, in line with experimental findings.

Denoising strategies for general finite frames

Overcomplete representations such as wavelets and windowed Fourier expansions have become mainstays of modern statistical data analysis. In the present work, in the context of general finite frames, we derive an oracle expression for the mean quadratic risk of a linear diagonal de-noising procedure which immediately yields the optimal linear diagonal estimator. Moreover, we obtain an expression for an unbiased estimator of the risk of any smooth shrinkage rule.

CCl4 distribution derived from MIPAS ESA v7 data: intercomparisons, trend, and lifetime estimation

Atmospheric emissions of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) are regulated by the Montreal Protocol due to its role as a strong ozone-depleting substance. The molecule has been the subject of recent increased interest as a consequence of the so-called "mystery of CCl4", the discrepancy between atmospheric observations and reported production and consumption. Surface measurements of CCl4 atmospheric concentrations have declined at a rate almost 3 times lower than its lifetime-limited rate, suggesting persistent atmospheric emissions despite the ban.

Analysis of the asymmetric behavior of propeller-rudder system of twin screw ships by CFD

The interference between the hull, propeller and rudder remarkably affects the control and maneuvering capabilities of marine vehicles. In case of twin screw/twin rudder ships, the asymmetric evolution of the wake past the hull causes the asymmetric functioning of the propeller-rudder system. Systematic investigations on this aspect for twin screw ships are limited.