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The biological structure is considered as an open nonequilibrium system which properties can be described on the basis of kinetic equations. New problems with nonequilibrium boundary conditions are introduced. The nonequilibrium distribution tends gradually to an equilibrium state. The region of spatial inhomogeneity has a scale depending on the rate of mass transfer in the open system and the characteristic time of metabolism. In the proposed approximation, the internal energy of the motion of molecules is much less than the energy of translational motion. Or in other terms we can state that the kinetic energy of the average blood velocity is substantially higher than the energy of chaotic motion of the same particles. We state that the relaxation problem models a living system. The flow of entropy to the system decreases in downstream, this corresponds to Shrödinger’s general ideas that the living system “feeds on” negentropy. We introduce a quantity that determines the complexity of the biosystem, more precisely, this is the difference between the nonequilibrium kinetic entropy and the equilibrium entropy at each spatial point integrated over the entire spatial region. Solutions to the problems of spatial relaxation allow us to estimate the size of biosystems as regions of nonequilibrium. The results are compared with empirical data, in particular, for mammals we conclude that the larger the size of animals, the smaller the specific energy of metabolism. This feature is reproduced in our model since the span of the nonequilibrium region is larger in the system where the reaction rate is shorter, or in terms of the kinetic approach, the longer the relaxation time of the interaction between the molecules. The approach is also used for estimation of a part of a living system, namely a green leaf. The problems of aging as degradation of an open nonequilibrium system are considered. The analogy is related to the structure, namely, for a closed system, the equilibrium of the structure is attained for the same molecules while in the open system, a transition occurs to the equilibrium of different particles, which change due to metabolism. Two essentially different time scales are distinguished, the ratio of which is approximately constant for various animal species. Under the assumption of the existence of these two time scales the kinetic equation splits in two equations, describing the metabolic (stationary) and “degradative” (nonstationary) parts of the process.

The article is devoted to the numerical study of shock-wave flows in inhomogeneous media–gas mixtures. In this work, a two-speed two-temperature model is used, in which the dispersed component of the mixture has its own speed and temperature. To describe the change in the concentration of the dispersed component, the equation of conservation of “average density” is solved. This study took into account interphase thermal interaction and interphase pulse exchange. The mathematical model allows the carrier component of the mixture to be described as a viscous, compressible and heat-conducting medium. The system of equations was solved using the explicit Mac-Cormack second-order finite-difference method. To obtain a monotone numerical solution, a nonlinear correction scheme was applied to the grid function. In the problem of shock-wave flow, the Dirichlet boundary conditions were specified for the velocity components, and the Neumann boundary conditions were specified for the other unknown functions. In numerical calculations, in order to reveal the dependence of the dynamics of the entire mixture on the properties of the solid component, various parameters of the dispersed phase were considered — the volume content as well as the linear size of the dispersed inclusions. The goal of the research was to determine how the properties of solid inclusions affect the parameters of the dynamics of the carrier medium — gas. The motion of an inhomogeneous medium in a shock duct divided into two parts was studied, the gas pressure in one of the channel compartments is more important than in the other. The article simulated the movement of a direct shock wave from a high-pressure chamber to a low–pressure chamber filled with a dusty medium and the subsequent reflection of a shock wave from a solid surface. An analysis of numerical calculations showed that a decrease in the linear particle size of the gas suspension and an increase in the physical density of the material from which the particles are composed leads to the formation of a more intense reflected shock wave with a higher temperature and gas density, as well as a lower speed of movement of the reflected disturbance reflected wave.

There are conditions of uneven combustion for tubular powder elements of large elongation used in artillery propelling charges. Here it is necessary to consider in parallel the processes of combustion and movement of powder gases inside and outside the channels of the powder tubes. Without this, it is impossible to adequately formulate and solve the problems of ignition, erosive combustion and stress-strain state of tubular powder elements in the shot process. The paper presents a physical and mathematical formulation of the main problem of the internal ballistics of an artillery shot for a charge consisting of a set of powder tubes. Combustion and movement of a bundle of powder tubes along the barrel channel is modeled by an equivalent tubular charge of all-round combustion. The end and cross-sectional areas of the channel of such a charge (equivalent tube) are equal to the sum of the areas of the ends and cross-sections of the channels of the powder tubes, respectively. The combustion surface of the channel is equal to the sum of the inner surfaces of the tubes in the bundle. The outer combustion surface of the equivalent tube is equal to the sum of the outer surfaces of the tubes in the bundle. It is assumed that the equivalent tube moves along the axis of the bore. The speed of motion of an equivalent tubular charge and its current position are determined from Newton’s second law. To calculate the flow parameters, we used two-dimensional axisymmetric equations of gas dynamics, for the solution of which an axisymmetric orthogonalized difference mesh is constructed, which adapts to the flow conditions. When the tube moves and burns, the difference grid is rearranged taking into account the changing regions of integration. The control volume method is used for the numerical solution of the system of gas-dynamic equations. The gas parameters at the boundaries of the control volumes are determined using a self-similar solution to the Godunov problem of decay for an arbitrary discontinuity. The developed technique was used to calculate the internal ballistics parameters of an artillery shot. This approach is considered for the first time and allows a new approach to the design of tubular artillery charges, since it allows obtaining the necessary information in the form of fields of velocity and pressure of powder gases for calculating the process of gradual ignition, unsteady erosive combustion, stress-strain state and strength of powder elements during the shot. The time dependences of the parameters of the internal ballistics process and the distribution of the main parameters of the flow of combustion products at different times are presented.

In the paper we construct the model of phase change. Process of hydriding / dehydriding is taken as an example. A single powder particle is considered under the assumption about its symmetry. A ball, a cylinder, and a flat plate are examples of such symmetrical shapes. The model desribes both the "shrinking core"(when the skin of the new phase appears on the surface of the particle) and the "nucleation and growth"(when the skin does not appear till complete vanishing of the old phase) scenarios. The model is the non-classical boundary-value problem with the free boundary and nonlinear Neumann boundary condition. The symmetry assumptions allow to reduce the problem to the single spatial variable. The model was tested on the series of experimental data. We show that the particle shape’s influence on the kinetics is insignificant. We also show that a set of particles of different shapes with size distribution can be approxomated by the single particle of the "average" size and of a simple shape; this justifies using single particle approximation and simple shapes in mathematical models.

High-purity hydrogen is required for clean energy and a variety of chemical technology processes. A considerable part of hydrogen is to be obtained by methane conversion. Different alloys, which may be wellsuited for use in gas-separation plants, were investigated by measuring specific hydrogen permeability. One had to estimate the parameters of diffusion and sorption to numerically model the different scenarios and experimental conditions of the material usage (including extreme ones), and identify the limiting factors. This paper presents a nonlinear model of hydrogen permeability in accordance with the specifics of the experiment, the numerical method for solving the boundary-value problem, and the results of parametric identification for the alloy V₈₅Ni₁₅.

The paper proposes a new mathematical model to study the interaction dynamics of the longitudinal wall of a narrow channel with its end seal. The end seal was considered as the edge wall on a spring, i.e. spring-mass system. These walls interaction occurs via a viscous liquid filling the narrow channel; thus required the formulation and solution of the hydroelasticity problem. However, this problem has not been previously studied. The problem consists of the Navier–Stokes equations, the continuity equation, the edge wall dynamics equation, and the corresponding boundary conditions. Two cases of fluid motion in a narrow channel with parallel walls were studied. In the first case, we assumed the liquid motion as the creeping one, and in the second case as the laminar, taking into account the motion inertia. The hydroelasticty problem solution made it possible to determine the distribution laws of velocities and pressure in the liquid layer, as well as the motion law of the edge wall. It is shown that during creeping flow, the liquid physical properties and the channel geometric dimensions completely determine the damping in the considered oscillatory system. Both the end wall velocity and the longitudinal wall velocity affect the damping properties of the liquid layer. If the fluid motion inertia forces were taken into account, their influence on the edge wall vibrations was revealed, which manifested itself in the form of two added masses in the equation of its motion. The added masses and damping coefficients of the liquid layer due to the joint consideration of the liquid layer inertia and its viscosity were determined. The frequency and phase responses of the edge wall were constructed for the regime of steady-state harmonic oscillations. The simulation showed that taking into account the fluid layer inertia and its damping properties leads to a shift in the resonant frequencies to the low-frequency region and an increase in the oscillation amplitudes of the edge wall.

Comparative analysis of two models of porous medium (Dacry and Brinkman) on an example of mathematical simulation of transient natural convection in a porous vertical cylindrical cavity with heat-conducting shell of finite thickness in conditions of convective cooling from an environment has been carried out. The boundary-value problem of mathematical physics formulated in dimensionless variables such as stream function, vorticity and temperature has been solved by implicit finite difference method. The presented verification results validate used numerical approach and also confirm that the solution is not dependent on the mesh size. Features of the conjugate heat transfer problems with considered models of porous medium have been determined.

This paper studies minimum volume elastoplastic bodies. One part of the boundary of every reviewed body is fixed to the same space points while stresses are set for the remaining part of the boundary surface (loaded surface). The shape of the loaded surface can change in space but the limit load factor calculated based on the assumption that the bodies are filled with elastoplastic medium must not be less than a fixed value. Besides, all varying bodies are supposed to have some type of a limited volume sample manifold inside of them.

The following problem has been set: what is the maximum number of cavities (or holes in a two-dimensional case) that a minimum volume body (plate) can have under the above limitations? It is established that in order to define a mathematically correct problem, two extra conditions have to be met: the areas of the holes must be bigger than the small constant while the total length of the internal hole contour lines within the optimum figure must be minimum among the varying bodies. Thus, unlike most articles on optimum design of elastoplastic structures where parametric analysis of acceptable solutions is done with the set topology, this paper looks for the topological parameter of the design connectivity.

The paper covers the case when the load limit factor for the sample manifold is quite large while the areas of acceptable holes in the varying plates are bigger than the small constant. The arguments are brought forward that prove the Maxwell and Michell beam system to be the optimum figure under these conditions. As an example, microphotographs of the standard biological bone tissues are presented. It is demonstrated that internal holes with large areas cannot be a part of the Michell system. At the same the Maxwell beam system can include holes with significant areas. The sufficient conditions are given for the hole formation within the solid plate of optimum volume. The results permit generalization for three-dimensional elastoplastic structures.

The paper concludes with the setting of mathematical problems arising from the new problem optimally designed elastoplastic systems.

Metal hydrides are an interesting class of chemical compounds that can reversibly bind a large amount of hydrogen and are, therefore, of interest for energy applications. Understanding the factors affecting the kinetics of hydride formation and decomposition is especially important. Features of the material, experimental setup and conditions affect the mathematical description of the processes, which can undergo significant changes during the processing of experimental data. The article proposes a general approach to numerical modeling of the formation and decomposition of metal hydrides and solving inverse problems of estimating material parameters from measurement data. The models are divided into two classes: diffusive ones, that take into account the gradient of hydrogen concentration in the metal lattice, and models with fast diffusion. The former are more complex and take the form of non-classical boundary value problems of parabolic type. A rather general approach to the grid solution of such problems is described. The second ones are solved relatively simply, but can change greatly when model assumptions change. Our experience in processing experimental data shows that a flexible software tool is needed; a tool that allows, on the one hand, building models from standard blocks, freely changing them if necessary, and, on the other hand, avoiding the implementation of routine algorithms. It also should be adapted for high-performance systems of different paradigms. These conditions are satisfied by the HIMICOS library presented in the paper, which has been tested on a large number of experimental data. It allows simulating the kinetics of formation and decomposition of metal hydrides, as well as related tasks, at three levels of abstraction. At the low level, the user defines the interface procedures, such as calculating the time layer based on the previous layer or the entire history, calculating the observed value and the independent variable from the task variables, comparing the curve with the reference. Special algorithms can be used for solving quite general parabolic-type boundary value problems with free boundaries and with various quasilinear (i.e., linear with respect to the derivative only) boundary conditions, as well as calculating the distance between the curves in different metric spaces and with different normalization. This is the middle level of abstraction. At the high level, it is enough to choose a ready tested model for a particular material and modify it in relation to the experimental conditions.

Our purpose is to study the spatio-temporal population wave behavior observed in the predator-prey system. It is assumed that predators move both directionally and randomly, and prey spread only diffusely. The model does not take into account demographic processes in the predator population; it’s total number is constant and is a parameter. The variables of the model are the prey and predator densities and the predator speed, which are connected by a system of three reaction – diffusion – advection equations. The system is considered on an annular range, that is the periodic conditions are set at the boundaries of the interval. We have studied the bifurcations of wave modes arising in the system when two parameters are changed — the total number of predators and their taxis acceleration coefficient.

The main research method is a numerical analysis. The spatial approximation of the problem in partial derivatives is performed by the finite difference method. Integration of the obtained system of ordinary differential equations in time is carried out by the Runge –Kutta method. The construction of the Poincare map, calculation of Lyapunov exponents, and Fourier analysis are used for a qualitative analysis of dynamic regimes.

It is shown that, population waves can arise as a result of existence of directional movement of predators. The population dynamics in the system changes qualitatively as the total predator number increases. А stationary homogeneous regime is stable at low value of parameter, then it is replaced by self-oscillations in the form of traveling waves. The waveform becomes more complicated as the bifurcation parameter increases; its complexity occurs due to an increase in the number of temporal vibrational modes. A large taxis acceleration coefficient leads to the possibility of a transition from multi-frequency to chaotic and hyperchaotic population waves. A stationary regime without preys becomes stable with a large number of predators.