We demonstrate and quantify a highly effective drag reduction technique that exploits the Leidenfrost effect to create a continuous and robust lubricating vapor layer on the surface of a heated solid sphere moving in a liquid. Using high-speed video, we show that such vapor layers can reduce the hydrodynamic drag by over 85%. These results appear to approach the ultimate limit of drag reduction possible by different methods based on gas-layer lubrication and can stimulate the development of related energy saving technologies.

In this paper we present a goal-oriented self-adaptive hp Finite Element Method (hp-FEM) with shared data structures and a parallel multi-frontal direct solver. The algorithm automatically generates (without any user interaction) a sequence of meshes delivering exponential convergence of a prescribed quantity of interest with respect to the number of degrees of freedom. The sequence of meshes is generated from a given initial mesh, by performing h (breaking elements into smaller elements), p (adjusting polynomial orders of approximation) or hp (both) refinements on the finite elements. The new parallel implementation utilizes a computational mesh shared between multiple processors. All computational algorithms, including automatic hp goal-oriented adaptivity and the solver work fully in parallel. We describe the parallel self-adaptive hp-FEM algorithm with shared computational domain, as well as its efficiency measurements. We apply the methodology described to the three-dimensional simulation of the borehole resistivity measurement of direct current through casing in the presence of invasion.

The multi-frontal direct solver is the state of the art for the direct solution of linear systems. This paper provides computational complexity and memory usage estimates for the application of the multi-frontal direct solver algorithm on linear systems resulting from p finite elements. Specifically we provide the estimates for systems resulting from C0 polynomial spaces spanned by B-splines. The structured grid and uniform polynomial order used in isogeometric meshes simplifies the analysis.

We discuss the use of time adaptivity applied to the one dimensional diffusive wave approximation to the shallow water equations. A simple and computationally economical error estimator is discussed which enables time-step size adaptivity. This robust adaptive time discretization corrects the initial time step size to achieve a user specified bound on the discretization error and allows time step size variations of several orders of magnitude. In particular, in the one dimensional results presented in this work feature a change of four orders of magnitudes for the time step over the entire simulation.

This paper is devoted to the consideration of an algorithm for sequential optimization of paths in directed graphs relative to di_erent cost functions. The considered algorithm is based on an extension of dynamic programming which allows to represent the initial set of paths and the set of optimal paths after each application of optimization procedure in the form of a directed acyclic graph.

We revisit the finite element analysis of convection dominated flow problems within the recently developed Discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) variational framework. We demonstrate how test function spaces that guarantee numerical stability can be computed automatically with respect to the so called optimal test space norm by using an element subgrid discretization. This should make the DPG method not only stable but also robust, that is, uniformly stable with respect to the Ṕeclet number in the current application. The e_ectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated on two problems for the linear advection-di_usion equation.

Shale gas represents a major fraction of the proven reserves of natural gas in the United States and a collection of other countries. Higher gas prices and the need for cleaner fuels provides motivation for commercializing shale gas deposits even though the cost is substantially higher than traditional gas deposits. Recent advances in horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing, which dramatically lower costs of developing shale gas fields, are key to renewed interest in shale gas deposits. Hydraulically induced fractures are quite complex in shale gas reservoirs. Massive, multistage, multiple cluster treatments lead to fractures that interact with existing fractures (whether natural or induced earlier). A dynamic approach to the fracturing process so that the resulting network of reservoirs is known during the drilling and fracturing process is economically enticing. The process needs to be automatic and done in faster than real-time in order to be useful to the drilling crews.

In this paper, a finite difference scheme is developed to solve the unsteady problem of combined heat and mass transfer from an isothermal curved surface to a porous medium saturated by a non-Newtonian fluid. The curved surface is kept at constant temperature and the power-law model is used to model the non-Newtonian fluid. The explicit finite difference method is used to solve simultaneously the equations of momentum, energy and concentration. The consistency of the explicit scheme is examined and the stability conditions are determined for each equation. Boundary layer and Boussinesq approximations have been incorporated. Numerical calculations are carried out for the various parameters entering into the problem. Velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are shown graphically. It is found that as time approaches infinity, the values of wall shear, heat transfer coefficient and concentration gradient at the wall, which are entered in tables, approach the steady state values.

To study the origin of the anomalous Hall effect, Fe100−x(SiO2)x granular films with a volume fraction of SiO2 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 40.51) were fabricated using cosputtering. Hall and longitudinal resistivities were measured in the temperature range of 5–350 K with magnetic fields up to 5 T. As x increased from 0 to 40.51, the anomalous Hall resistivity and longitudinal resistivity increased by about four and three orders in magnitude, respectively. Analysis of the results revealed that the normalized anomalous Hall conductivity is a constant for all of the samples, which may suggest a scattering-independent anomalous Hall conductivity in Fe.

Many eukaryotic developmental and cell fate decisions that are effected post-transcriptionally involve RNA binding proteins as regulators of translation of key mRNAs. In malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.), the development of round, non-motile and replicating exo-erythrocytic liver stage forms from slender, motile and cell-cycle arrested sporozoites is believed to depend on environmental changes experienced during the transmission of the parasite from the mosquito vector to the vertebrate host. Here we identify a Plasmodium member of the RNA binding protein family PUF as a key regulator of this transformation. In the absence of Pumilio-2 (Puf2) sporozoites initiate EEF development inside mosquito salivary glands independently of the normal transmission-associated environmental cues. Puf2- sporozoites exhibit genome-wide transcriptional changes that result in loss of gliding motility, cell traversal ability and reduction in infectivity, and, moreover, trigger metamorphosis typical of early Plasmodium intra-hepatic development. These data demonstrate that Puf2 is a key player in regulating sporozoite developmental control, and imply that transformation of salivary gland-resident sporozoites into liver stage-like parasites is regulated by a post-transcriptional mechanism. 2011 Gomes-Santos et al.