Reduction of skin friction by microbubbles and its relation with near-wall bubble concentration in a channel

Determination of the flow structure near the wall is essential for a clear insight into the phenomenon of skin friction reduction by microbubbles in a turbulent boundary layer. An important parameter, is the bubble concentration or void fraction in the wall region in drag-reducing conditions. The purpose of this paper is to show drag-reducing effects due to microbubbles in a water channel and, more importantly, to show the dependence of the drag-reduction values on the near-wall void fraction. A two-dimensional channel with an aspect ratio of 10 was specially built for this purpose with provisions for air injection through porous plates. Skin friction was directly measured by a miniature floating element transducer with a 5-mm circular sensing disk mounted flush on the top wall 67 channel-heights downstream of the injector. The wall friction in the presence of air bubbles was found to be reduced under the same bulk velocity when compared with the value without air. Detailed void fraction profiles across the channel were obtained by a sampling probe and a fiber-optic probe. Better collapse of the drag reduction data, independent of different profile shapes, was found when plotted against the near-wall void fraction than against a cross-sectional mean void fraction. While this dependence reconfirms that the phenomena are essentially inner-region dependent, the lack of influence of the bubble distribution patterns away from the wall implies lack of outer region influence.     

Optimum routing of a sailing wind farm

To acquire the wind energy of the oceans, a sailing wind farm has been proposed. The wind farm considered is composed of a semisubmersible floating structure, 11 windmills, four sails, six thrusters, and storage for hydrogen. To maximize the acquired energy, an effective algorithm to search for optimum routes was developed. The algorithm is based on the fact that beam winds yield a maximum of acquired energy. This feature reduces the computation time, and, consequently, efficient route optimization becomes possible in a reasonable time. After setting an operational area for the wind farm, navigation simulations for a 1-year period were carried out. A numerical weather forecast was used as well as the responses of the floating structure, such as the speed of the structure, the output power of the windmills, and the time of course changes. In the simulation, the wind farm evades rough seas to avoid structural damage, and an optimum route is searched for. The capacity factor of the system was used to evaluate the efficiency of the optimized routes. From the simulations, the maximum capacity factor achieved was 42.6%. The dependency of the capacity factor on the initial position of the wind farm was also examined. It was shown that offshore from Sanriku in northeastern Japan is an area suited to the operation of the wind farm. The effect of the initial position on consecutive periods of operation is discussed.     

东京地铁的安全对策

从铁道事业法的部分修订等方面介绍日本有关铁路安全的对策,重点对东京地铁的安全对策以及采取的各种措施进行说明.东京地铁以确保安全运输为最大使命,通过落实安全措施、员工的培养、紧急时的应对训练、安全活动、安全研究等各项安全工作,努力防患于未然.     

Experimental study on microbubble ejection method for frictional drag reduction

The formation of air bubbles ejected through a single hole in a flat plate was observed in uniform flow of 2–10 m/s It was confirmed that the size of the air bubbles was governed by main flow velocity and air flow rate. According to previous experiments, the size of the bubbles is an important factor in frictional drag reduction by microbubble ejection. Usually bubbles larger than a certain diameter (for example 1 mm) have no effect on frictional drag reduction. Three different methods were proposed and tested to generate smaller bubbles. Among them, a 2D convex (half body of an NACA 64-021 section) with ejection holes at the top was the best and most promising. The diameter of the bubbles became about one-third the size of the reference ejection on a flat plate. Moreover, the bubble size did not increase with increasing flow rate. This is a favorable characteristic for practical purposes. The skin friction force was measured directly with a miniature floating element transducer, and decreased drastically by microbubble ejection from the top of the 2D convex shape.     

Effect of microbubbles on the structure of turbulence in a turbulent boundary layer

The time-averaged velocity and turbulence intensity distributions were measured by a laser Doppler velocimeter in a turbulent boundary layer filled with microbubbles. The void fraction distribution was also measured using a fiber-optic probe. The velocity decreased in the region below 100 wall units with an increase in bubble density. This led to a decrease in the velocity gradient at the wall, which was consistent with a decrease in shearing stress on the wall. The turbulence intensity in the buffer layer increased at a low microbubble density, and then began to decrease with an increasing microbubble density. Based on the present measurements, the mechanism of turbulence reduction by microbubbles is discussed and a model is proposed. Received for publication on Dec. 3, 1999; accepted on April 18, 2000     

Extensive application of TMCP steel plates to ship hulls: 40 kgf/mm class high yield stress steel

A study was performed on TMCP (thermo-mechanical control process) - manufactured high-tensile steel plates with yield point of 40 kgf/mm² (YP40), which were recently developed for use in ship production and whose ease of shop fabrication is almost equal to that of the well-proven ship high-tensile steel plates (HT50) with yield points at 32 and 36 kgf/mm² levels.

The authors' study addressed the performance required of the YP40 TMCP high-tensile steel for ship applications, including strength characteristics of base metal and high-heat-input welded joints, and also shop fabrication methods suitable to this material.     

Fracture control of extremely thick welded steel plates applied to the deck structure of large container ships

The rapid enlargement of the size of container ships has led to the application of extremely thick plate in the deck structures, which may grow concerns about the fracture toughness at the butt-weld with large amount of heat input, and the arrest toughness of brittle crack propagation in the base metal of such thick plates. Also, slam-induced whipping stresses might affect the fatigue crack propagation and the initiation of a brittle crack in a container ship. In order to prevent the catastrophic failure of deck structures by brittle fracture, national joint research projects, which focused on the safety-related issues of extremely thick steel plate applied to hull of large container ships, were formed from April 2007 to March 2011 organized by the Japan Ship Technology Research Association (JSTRA) supported by the Japanese Government in collaboration with universities, national research institute, classification societies and relevant industries including shipbuilding, steel manufacturing and shipping companies. The joint research projects have carried out the investigations on crack initiation toughness of the weld, fatigue crack propagation under seaway loading, the potential of defect detection by ultrasonic testing, and the crack-arrest methods after brittle crack propagation. Practical recommendations to prevent brittle fracture of large container ships were proposed based on these comprehensive investigations. The essential parts of the above research activities are presented in this paper.     

Efficacy of bus service reorganization utilizing a hub-and-spoke topology and DRT to meet community needs: A case study of Tokigawa town

The purpose of this study is to verify the efficacy of a route/timetable reorganization methodology focused on a hub-and-spoke schedule bus architecture as well as the introduction of demand responsive transport (DRT) in suburban or underpopulated areas in Japan to accommodate local requirements.     

法国运输基础设施的融资

2005年1月1日,法国运输基础设施融资机构(AFITF)成立,其财源来自国家拨付的资本金、高速公路公司股息和高速公路国有土地使用费等收入。该机构的成立保证了法国运输基础设施建设的财源,体现了国家对必要的运输基础设施建设给予财政支持的积极态度。     

止裂韧度值Kca的实尺模型试验研究

对船用钢进行长裂纹止裂特性研究表明:它们的脆性裂纹止裂能力不够。TMCP钢有足够的脆性裂纹止裂能力。对船用钢进行了两种实尺(actual-scale)模型试验,明确了脆性裂纹扩展的条件。根据试验结果提出了止裂韧度值Kca,已经归纳在"脆性裂纹止裂设计指导性文件"中。