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Transverse jets in crossflow are widely used to enhance mixing between two flow streams. Such jets exhibit complex flow features, and are highly sen- sitive to a wide variety of operating conditions. The focus of this work is the mixing of relatively low Reynolds number jets that are often encountered in the chemical processing industry. The main objective is to determine if the the jet mixing characteristics can be sufficiently altered by changing the nature of the jet inflow. In particular, we study the effect of jet shape and inflow veloc- ity profile on the mixing properties. Four different jet shapes including circle, square, upstream triangle, and downstream triangle are considered. It is found that the jet shape has tremendous impact on the near field dynamics, gener- ating unique vortical structures for each shape. However, the overall mixing rate is unaffected and is controlled by the evolution of the coherent vortex pair (CVP) in the far-field of the jet. Analyses of turbulence modeling constraints and structure of reaction zones for consecutive-competitive reactions are also presented. / text

Corpus Christi Bay in Texas is a wind driven system, and under most conditions winds over the bay mix the water column vertically. However, seasonal, episodic, bottom-water hypoxia has been observed in the bay in conjunction with vertical salinity stratification. This stratification may be caused by dense gravity currents entering the bay. Understanding and modeling the mechanisms that result in stratification in Corpus Christi Bay may help predict hypoxia, and for this reason that is the focus of this dissertation. An evaluation of existing gravity current modeling techniques shows that most currently available models are designed to capture either phenomena local to a gravity current, such as gravity current entrainment and spreading, or larger scale phenomena such as wind mixing and large-scale circulation, but not both. Because gravity current mixing in Corpus Christi Bay is enhanced by wind-induced turbulence, both local gravity current physics and wind mixing effects are critical elements governing gravity current propagation in Corpus Christi Bay. As existing models do not represent gravity current entrainment and wind mixing together, this dissertation develops a coupled model system that accounts explicitly for turbulent wind mixing of a bottom-boundary layer, in addition to representing other local features of dense gravity current propagation such as entrainment and spreading. The coupled model system consists of a 2D depth-averaged hydrodynamic model that calculates gravity current mixing and spreading, coupled with a 3D hydrodynamic model whose domain includes a lighter ambient fluid surrounding the gravity current. The coupled models have flexible boundary conditions that allow fluid exchange to represent mixing from both gravity current entrainment and wind mixing. The coupled model system’s development, verification and application in Corpus Christi Bay advances understanding of gravity current mechanisms, and contributes to our scientific understanding of hypoxia in Corpus Christi Bay. This modeling technique has the flexibility to be applied to other density-stratified systems that are shallow and potentially wind-driven, such as shallow desalination brine disposal sites. / text

Cutter Soil Mixing (CSM) is a recently developed deep mixing technique that has grown to include the treatment of sandy and silty soils. This study seeks to investigate the influence of (i) sand-silt ratio, (ii) cement content, (iii) water content and (iv) time on the unconfined compressive strength of saturated cement-treated soil specimens. A new test device and method of specimen reconstitution were conceived in order to obtain a saturated mix of soil and cement. A comparison of results show strength increases non-linearly to decreasing total water-cement ratio, and that this trend is largely independent of sand-silt ratio. Furthermore, strength increases non-linearly with time and is independent of sand-silt ratio. Lastly, it is recommended that the strength be correlated with total water-cement ratio rather than cement content, in order to improve data reporting and provide design guidance to engineering practice.

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Young women who serve time in adult prisons in New Zealand mix with adult prisoners, unless it is not considered safe to do so. If they do not mix, they serve their sentence in relative isolation, unable to participate in programs, recreation or other aspects of prison life. This is in contrast to male youth in prison who are placed in have specialised youth units to mitigate against the perceived negative effects of mixing with adult prisoners. Using discursive strategies to analyse texts from semi-structured interviews with young women in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) prisons and focus group interviews with iwi representatives, this study offers a challenge to dominant framings of both young and adult women prisoners. The study has shown that young women prisoners’ resilience is likely to be strengthened, and opportunities for health and well-being improved, within stable relationships with adults with whom they relate. Whanau-type structures in prison are in keeping with indigenous values and have the potential to provide mentoring relationships which may broaden the current limited subjectivities experienced by young women prisoners.

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No description available.

In this study, mixing is identified to be the most crucial step during the pre-processing process of extruded food and feed stocks. This study therefore aimed to investigate different mixing techniques in an effort to identify the most effective method and its feasibility to pilot plant application for food extrusion processing. The study furthermore considered the methods of mixing with the view to incorporating the identified method in a standard portable cargo container. The research included an investigation and the design of an inexpensive pre-processing control system that would also save space in such applications where storing facilities for ingredients are housed. After investigating different mixing solutions, a V-blender was identified to be a feasible option. It is suggested that by adding a third leg to the V-blender, to obtain what is dubbed as a “Y”-blender, the effectiveness of mixing would be improved upon - not only in the specified application but with respect to mixing in general. In order to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of the mixers, rapid prototyping models of a V- and a Y- blender, with capacities of about 7.6 litres each, were produced from medium density fibreboard (MDF) with the aid of a laser cutter. It was found that, for a recipe consisting of 87% fine yellow maize, 12.75% fine sugar and 0.25% colorant, the effectiveness of mixing within the V-blender was greatly influenced by the level to which it was filled. This was not the case for the Y-blender. This therefore suggested that a Y-blender is the ideal solution for the given application. A layout of a pre-processing system that fits in a standard shipping container and can accommodate six funnel-shaped raw material storage bins with a feed conveyor leading to a Y-blender is designed and a rapid prototyping model of the most vital components of the system is produced. A novel control system using the IOIO USB controller coupled to an Andriod device is developed and this sub-system, with dedicated software, is coupled to the prototyped pre-processing set-up and operated successfully. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014