Showing papers by "George F. Carrier published in 1981"

Cyclic Absorption/Desorption of Gas in a Liquid Wall Film,

Abstract: —The unsteady one-dimensional cyclic absorption and desorption of a dilute amount of gas in a thin (constant-thickness),isothermal (constant-property) liquid layer on an impervious noncatalytic wall is examined. The pertinent conditions are taken to be (1) thermodynamic equilibrium (such that Henry's law holds at the two-phase interface), and (2) diffusional resistance of the liquid layer being rate-controlling (such that the problems for the liquid layer, and for the bulk gas contiguous to it, decouple). Specifically, the mass fraction of the gaseous species of interest is taken to be known, and of square-wave periodic character, at the two-phase interface, so attention is concentrated on the total gaseous content of the liquid layer as a function of time. While start-up (in which the liquid layer is taken to be initially free of gaseous content) is considered, primary interest is in steady periodic operation in which no residual influence of the initial condition remains. The model is developed...

Criteria for Onset of Firestorms

Abstract: : Quantitative criteria are evolved for onset of firestorms, severe stationary (nonpropagating) holocausts arising via merger of fires from multiple simultaneous ignitions in a heavily fuel-laden urban environment. Within an hour, surface-level radial inflow from all directions sustains a large-diameter convective column that eventually reaches altitude of about 10 km (e.g., Hamburg, Dresden, Hiroshima). As the firestorm achieves peak intensity (2-3 hours after the ignitions), inflow speeds are inferred to attain 25-50 m/s; typically 12 km2 are reduced to ashes, before winds relax to ambient levels in six-to-nine hours. Here the firestorm is interpreted to be a mesocyclone (rotating severe local storm). Even with exceedingly large heat release sustained over a concentrated area, in the presence of a very nearly autoconvectively unstable atmospheric stratification, onset of vigorous swirling on the scale of two hours requires more than concentration of circulation associated with the rotation of the earth; rather, a preexisting, if weak, circulation appears necessary for firestorm cyclogenesis. (Author)