Indoor ventilation is underutilized for the control of exposure to infectious pathogens. Occupancy restrictions during the pandemic showed the acute need to control detailed airflow patterns, particularly in heavily occupied spaces, such as lecture halls or offices, and not just to focus on air changes. Displacement ventilation is increasingly considered a viable energy efficient approach. However, control of airflow patterns from displacement ventilation requires us to understand them first. The challenge in doing so is that, on the one hand, detailed numerical simulations – such as direct numerical simulations (DNSs) – enable the most accurate assessment of the flow, but they are computationally prohibitively costly, thus impractical. On the other hand, large eddy simulations (LES) use parametrizations instead of explicitly capturing small-scale flow processes critical to capturing the inhomogeneous mixing and fluid–boundary interactions. Moreover, their use for generalizable insights requires extensive validation against experiments or already validated gold-standard DNSs. In this study, we start to address this challenge by employing efficient monotonically integrated LES (MILES) to simulate airflows in large-scale geometries and benchmark against relevant gold-standard DNSs. We discuss the validity and limitations of MILES. Via its application to a lecture hall, we showcase its emerging potential as an assessment tool for indoor air mixing heterogeneity.

We use three-dimensional direct numerical simulations of homogeneous isotropic turbulence in a cubic domain to investigate the dynamics of heavy, chiral, finite-size inertial particles and their effects on the flow. Using an immersed-boundary method and a complex collision model, four-way coupled simulations have been performed, and the effects of particle-to-fluid density ratio, turbulence strength and particle volume fraction have been analysed. We find that freely falling particles on the one hand add energy to the turbulent flow but, on the other hand, they also enhance the flow dissipation: depending on the combination of flow parameters, the former or the latter mechanism prevails, thus yielding enhanced or weakened turbulence. Furthermore, particle chirality entails a preferential angular velocity which induces a net vorticity in the fluid phase. As turbulence strengthens, the energy introduced by the falling particles becomes less relevant and stronger velocity fluctuations alter the solid phase dynamics, making the effect of chirality irrelevant for the large-scale features of the flow. Moreover, comparing the time history of collision events for chiral particles and spheres (at the same volume fraction) suggests that the former tend to entangle, in contrast to the latter which rebound impulsively.

A series of direct numerical simulations were performed of Taylor–Couette (TC) flow, the flow between two coaxial cylinders, with the outer cylinder rotating and the inner one fixed. Three cases were considered, where the Reynolds number of the outer cylinder was $Re_{o}=5.5\times 10^{4}$, $Re_{o}=1.1\times 10^{5}$ and $Re_{o}=2.2\times 10^{5}$. The ratio of radii ${\it\eta}=r_{i}/r_{o}$ was fixed to ${\it\eta}=0.909$ to mitigate the effects of curvature. Axially periodic boundary conditions were used, with the aspect ratio of vertical periodicity ${\it\Gamma}$ fixed to ${\it\Gamma}=2.09$. Being linearly stable, TC flow with outer cylinder rotation is known to have very different behaviour than TC flow with pure inner cylinder rotation. Here, we find that the flow nonetheless becomes turbulent, but the torque required to drive the cylinders and level of velocity fluctuations was found to be smaller than those for pure inner cylinder rotation at comparable Reynolds numbers. The mean angular momentum profiles showed a large gradient in the bulk, instead of the constant angular momentum profiles of pure inner cylinder rotation. The near-wall mean and fluctuation velocity profiles were found to coincide only very close to the wall, showing large deviations from both pure inner cylinder rotation profiles and the classic von Karman law of the wall elsewhere. Finally, transport of angular velocity was found to occur mainly through intermittent bursts, and not through wall-attached large-scale structures as is the case for pure inner cylinder rotation.

Conventional commercial aircraft fuselages use all-aluminium semi-monocoque structures where the skin carries the external loads, the internal fuselage pressurisation and is strengthen using frames and stringers. Environmental and economic issues force aircraft designers to minimise weight and costs to keep air transport competitive and safe. But as metal designs have reached a high degree of perfection, extraordinary weight and cost savings are unlikely in the future. Carbon composite materials combined with lattice structures and the use of topology optimisation have the potential to offer such weight reductions. The EU FP7 project Advanced Lattice Structures for Composite Airframes (ALaSCA) was started to investigate this. This article present some of this research which has now led to the development of a new airframe concept which consists of: a load carrying inner skin; transverse frames; CFRP-metal hybrid stiffeners helically arranged in a grid configuration; insulating foam and an additional aerodynamic outer skin.

A freely rotating sphere in a solid-body rotating flow is experimentally investigated. When the sphere is buoyant, it reaches an equilibrium position from which drag and lift coefficients are determined over a wide range of particle Reynolds numbers (2 ≤ Re ≤ 1060). The wake behind the sphere is visualized and appears to deflect strongly when the sphere is close to the cylinder axis. The spin rate of the sphere is recorded. In fluids with low viscosity, spin rates more than twice as large as the angular velocity of the cylinder can be observed. By comparing numerical results for a fixed but freely spinning sphere with a fixed non-spinning sphere for Re ≤ 200, the effect of the sphere spin on the lift coefficient is determined. The experimentally and numerically determined lift and drag coefficients and particle spin rates all show excellent agreement for Re ≤ 200. The combination of the experimental and numerical results allows for a parameterization of the lift and drag coefficients of a freely rotating sphere as function of the Reynolds number, the particle spin and the location of the particle with respect to the cylinder axis. Although the effect of the flow rotation on the particle spin is different in shear flow and solid-body rotating flow, the effect of spin on lift is found to be comparable for both types of flow.

It is known that, in a linear shear flow, fluid inertia causes a particle to spin more slowly than the surrounding fluid. The present experiments performed with a sphere with fixed centre, but free to rotate in a fluid undergoing solid-body rotation around a horizontal axis indicate that the spin rate of the sphere can be larger than that of the flow when the sphere is sufficiently far from the axis. Numerical simulations at Reynolds number 5≤Re≤200 confirm this observation. To gain a better understanding of the phenomenon, the rotating flow is decomposed into two shear flows along orthogonal directions. It is found numerically that the cross-stream shear has a much stronger effect on the particle spin rate than the streamwise shear. The region of low stress at the back of the sphere is affected by the shear component of the incident flow. While for the streamwise case the shift is minor, it is significant for cross-stream shear. The results are interpreted on the basis of the effect of the shear flow components on the quasi-toroidal vortex attached in the sphere's near wake. The contributions of streamwise and cross-stream shear to the particle spin can be linearly superposed for Re=20 and 50.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at MC 2007, 33rd DGE Conference in Saarbrücken, Germany, September 2 – September 7, 2007

We have used the new approach to fatigue phenomenon for analysis of the switching current and C-V characteristic evolution during cycling in PZT thin films. It was shown that in accordance with theoretical predictions the rejuvenation stage precedes the fatigue one. We have demonstrated that fatigue behavior corresponds to the spreading of the internal bias field distribution function during ac switching.

In this paper the temperature dependence of reversible and irreversible polarization contributions in the temperature range between 223 K and 473 K is investigated to elucidate the microscopic mechanism responsible for reversible and irreversible changes of the ferroelectric polarization. Small signal capacitance measurements under dc-bias are used to measure the reversible contributions. Quasi-static hysteresis measurements are used to obtain the total polarization, i.e. the sum of the reversible and irreversible contributions. The combination of both measurements allows the separation of the reversible and irreversible parts. The reversible and irreversible contributions are demonstrated for SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT), SrBi2Ta2-xNbxO9 (SBTN) thin films and compared to tetragonal PbZr0.3Ti0.7O3 (PZT) thin film capacitors.

Recent progress in the measuring techniques based on a combination of a quasistatic P-V analysis, conventional dynamic hysteresis measurements, and fast pulse characterization allows to determine the coercive voltage as a function of the frequency over a range of more than seven orders of magnitude. In this review, we explain the experimental techniques and present the results for the thin film systems of SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) and Pb(ZrTi)O3 (PZT). Theoretical models of the correlation between the ferroelectric relaxation and the coercive voltage are discussed in the light of the new data.

The imprint behavior of CSD processed SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) thin films has been investigated as a function of time, applied bias, illumination with band gap light and post anneal under different oxygen partial pressures. Applying a bias in the direction of the polarization enhances the tendency of the capacitor to exhibit a voltage shift as well as illuminating the poled capacitor with band gap light. Post anneal after top electrode deposition and patterning under slightly reducing atmospheres does not affect the imprint rate. From these experimental results, a model is presented which explains the imprint behavior of SBT films by transport of electronic charges from the electrodes into the film and subsequent trapping of these charges near the interface.

This work presents a survey of the mechanisms of the polarization in ferroelectric thin films which are relevant for application in non-volatile ferroelectric memories (FeRAM). Since the integration of these materials in new memory generations requires small structures and therefore a maximum utilization of the switchable polarization, the distinction between the several polarization mechanisms is of specific interest. Standard characterization methods, such as hysteresis loops, C-V measurements and fast pulse switching tests are evaluated and used to distinguish between the reversible and irreversible contributions to the total polarization. The respective contributions are described qualitatively and demonstrated at spin-coated SrBiTa2O9 thin films and compared with Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 films. Additionally, a method is described to obtain the static hysteresis curve, a precise characterization of the polarization which does not depend on the measuring frequency. These data are compared with C-V measurements. It is shown that the standard dynamic hysteresis curve reveals misleading statements about the remanent polarization and the coercive voltage.

Das letzte Buch der Bibel hat sowohl der Verkündigung der Kirche wie auch der neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft eine Vielzahl von Problemen und schwer zu lösenden Rätseln aufgegeben, die bis heute recht unterschiedlich bewertet werden. Schon in der Zeit der alten Kirche war man kontroverser Auffassung in der Frage, welche Persönlichkeit als Verfasser des Buches in Anspruch genommen werden könnte. Bischof Dionys von Alexandrien hat um die Mitte des dritten Jahrhunderts eine ausführliche Stellungnahme abgegeben, die uns durch Euseb überkommen ist. Darin wird auf die erheblichen Differenzen aufmerksam gemacht, die zwischen dem vierten Evangelium und der Apokalypse bestehen. In keiner der beiden Schriften werde auf die andere in erkenn-barer Weise Bezug genommen. Vielmehr seien sowohl die verwendete Begrifflichkeit wie auch der sprachliche Ausdruck von ganz verschiedener Art. Während dem Evangelisten das gute Zeugnis ausgestellt wird, er habe ein fehlerloses Griechisch geschrieben, in höchster Gewandtheit des Ausdrucks, der Gedankenentwicklung und der Satzverbindung, widerfährt dem Verfasser der Apokalypse eine weit weniger günstige Beurteilung: seine Rede und Sprache seien nicht rein griechisch, er gebrauche gelegentlich barbarische Wendungen und mache sich bisweilen auch grober Sprachfehler schuldig. Dionys spricht diese Einschätzung nicht leichten Herzens aus. Denn er fügt die Versicherung hinzu, niemand möge glauben, er habe seine Meinung in spöttischer Absicht formuliert. Vielmehr habe er nur die Ungleichheiten dieser Schriften dartun wollen. In der neueren Diskussion sind zwar immer wieder Versuche unternommen worden, ein größeres Maß an Beziehungen oder gar Übereinstimmungen zwischen dem vierten Evangelium und der Apokalypse aufzuweisen. Doch ist kritische Forschung gut beraten, wenn sie die Argumente des Dionys auch heute mit der gebotenen Sorgfalt zur Kenntnis nimmt und bedenkt.