Size effect numerical study

The effects of dispersion of the electrocatalyst and of particle size on the kinetics of electrooxidation of methanol have been the subject of numerous studies because of the utilization of carbon support in DMFC anodes. The main objective is to determine the optimum size of the platinum anode particles in order to increase the effectiveness factor of platinum. Such a size effect, which is widely recognized in the case of the reduction of oxygen, is still a subject of discussion for the oxidation of methanol. According to some investigators, an optimum of 2 nm for the platinum particle size exists, but studying particle sizes up to 1.4 nm, other authors observed no size effect. According to a recent study, the rate of oxidation of methanol remains constant for particles greater than 4.5 nm, but decreases with size for smaller particles (up to 2.2 nm). 

In many atomization processes, physical phenomena involved have not yet been understood to such an extent that mean droplet size could be expressed with equations derived directly from first principles, although some attempts have been made to predict droplet size and velocity distributions in sprays through maximum entropy principle.I252 432] Therefore, the correlations proposed by numerous studies on droplet size distributions are mainly empirical in nature. However, the empirical correlations prove to be a practical way to determine droplet sizes from process parameters and relevant physical properties of liquid and gas involved. In addition, these previous studies have provided insightful information about the effects of process parameters and material properties on droplet sizes. 

The numerical efficiency of the viscosity lower bound method has allowed calculations on considerably longer chains. The long chain Hmit results for 12-arm stars without intramolecular interactions and with EV (up to 325 beads) and in the theta region (up to 145 beads) [164] are close to the previous estimates with shorter chains (the extrapolated ratio g obtained in this study is also included in Table 4). The lower bound method has also served to characterize globule-coil transitions of 12-arm star chains from intrinsic viscosity calculations [143], though finite size effects are considerably more important than in the characterization of this transition from the radius of gyration data (see Fig. 17). This is due to the noticeable increase in the solvent permeabiHty associated with the chain expansion in better solvent conditions. However, the permeability effects are smaller in the more compact star chains than in their linear counterparts. 

Discrete and continuum models of transfer of molecules over various sorption sites of a microheterogeneous membrane were considered for systems with weak intermolecular interactions and membranes with constant composition and structure. An equation for estimating size effects on permeability coefficient II of microheterogeneous membranes was derived [188], and the possibility of applying the continuum model to calculate the n value in thin films of thickness L is numerically analyzed. The effect of the composition and structure of a uniformly microheterogeneous membrane on the permeability coefficients II was studied. The dependence of n on the composition is a convex function if the migration between different sorption sites proceeds more quickly than between identical sites and a concave one in the opposite case [189],... 

Numerous studies have been made of the mechanical properties of fibrous composites these include recently published papers on impact properties by Izod (1,2, 3,4) and Charpy (5,6) and drop weight (7) tests. We reported the Charpy impact fracture behavior of various glass-polyester composites regarding the effects of temperature (8,9,10), specimen size (8), and fiber orientation (10). This paper describes the effects of the tough-brittle transition in the impact behavior of glass-polyester composites which occurs with a variation of temperature and specimen size. 

Up to now, numerous studies have been conducted on their synthesis [9,10], treatment [5,13] and physical properties [4], However only limited number of studies has been carried out on die adsorption of gas in CNTs, including experimental works [8,11] and molecular simulations [3,7,14-lS]. Adsorption behavior depends strongly on the microporous structure of the particular adsorbent. In this work the effect of pore size on the adsorption behavior is of interest. The adsorption equilibria of methane, ethane and their mixture into SWNTs were studied by using a Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) method. We reported equilibrium isotherms of methane and ethane, and the selectivity from their equimolar mixture. 

Numerous studies on inorganic membranes have shown that the separation factor is limited and not far from that predicted by the Knudsen diffusion. This primarily reflects the current status of material developments of inorganic membranes. The majority of commercial and developmental inorganic membranes contain macropoies or mesopores. These pore sizes fall within the dominant regime of Knudsen diffusion which is of limited use for many gas separation applications from the standpoint of process economics. To break this barrier, finer pore sizes or transport mechanisms more effective than Knudsen diffusion for gas separation is essential. 

Deviations from predicted behaviour are here interpreted in terms of solvation, but other factors such as ion association may also be involved. Ion association leads to deviations in the opposite direction and so compensating effects of solvation and ion association may come into play. The deviations may also be absorbing inadequacies of the Debye-Hiickel model and theory, and so no great reliance can be placed on the actual numerical value of the values emerging. This major method has now been superseded by X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, NMR and computer simulation methods. The importance of activity measurements may lie more in the way in which they can point to fundamental difficulties in the theoretical studies on activity coefficients and conductance. The estimates of ion size and hydration studies could well provide a basis for another interpretation of conductance and activity data, or to modify the theoretical equations for mean activity coefficients and molar conductivities. 

Fitzgerald, J. W. (1974). Effect of aerosol composition on cloud droplet size distribution. A numerical study. J. Atmos. Sci. 31, 1358-1367. 

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