The Drosophila dorsal-ventral (DV) axis is polarized when the oocyte nucleus migrates from the posterior to the anterior margin of the oocyte. Prior work suggested that dynein pulls the nucleus to the anterior side along a polarized microtubule cytoskeleton, but this mechanism has not been tested. By imaging live oocytes, we find that the nucleus migrates with a posterior indentation that correlates with its direction of movement. Furthermore, both nuclear movement and the indentation depend on microtubule polymerization from centrosomes behind the nucleus. Thus, the nucleus is not pulled to the anterior but is pushed by the force exerted by growing microtubules. Nuclear migration and DV axis formation therefore depend on centrosome positioning early in oogenesis and are independent of anterior-posterior axis formation.

This paper investigates numerically the acoustic sources and far-field noise of chevron and round jets. The acoustic sources are described by the fourth-order space-time velocity cross correlations, which are calculated based on a large-eddy simulation flowfield. Gaussian functions are found to fit the axial, radial, and azimuthal cross correlations reasonably well. The axial length scales are three to four times the radial and azimuthal length scales. For the chevron jet, the cross-correlation scales vary with azimuthal angle up to six jet diameters downstream; beyond that, they become axisymmetric like those for a round jet. The fourth-order space-time cross correlation of the axial velocity R 1111 is the dominant source component, and there are considerable contributions from other source components such as R 2222 , R 3333 , R 1212 , R 1313 , and R 2323 cross correlations where 1, 2, and 3 represent axial, radial, and azimuthal directions, respectively. For the chevron jet, these cross correlations decay rapidly with axial distance whereas for the round jet, they remain roughly constant over the first 10 jet diameters. The chevron jet intensifies both the R 2222 and R 3333 cross correlations within two jet diameters of the jet exit. The amplitude, length, and time scales of the crosscorrelations of a large-eddy simulation velocity field are investigated as functions of position and are found to be proportional to the turbulence amplitude, length, and time scales that are determined from a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes calculation. The constants of proportionality are found to be independent of position within the jet, and they are quite close for chevron and round jets. The scales derived from Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes are used for source description, and an acoustic analogy is used for sound propagation. There is an excellent agreement between the far-field noise predictions and measurements. At low frequencies, the chevron nozzle significantly reduces the far-field noise by 5-6 dB at 30 deg and 2-3 dB at 90 deg to the jet axis. However, the chevron nozzle slightly increases high-frequency noise. It was found that R 1212 and R 1313 cross correlations have the largest contribution to the jet noise at 30 deg to the jet axis, whereas the R 2323 cross correlation has the largest contribution to the jet noise at 90 deg to the jet axis. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes calculations are repeated with different turbulence models, and the noise prediction is found to be almost insensitive to the turbulence model. The results indicate that the modeling approach is capable of assessing advanced noise-reduction concepts.

The interaction between unsteady heat release and acoustic pressure oscillations in gas turbines results in self-excited combustion oscillations which can potentially be strong enough to cause significant structural damage to the combustor. Correctly predicting the interaction of these processes, and anticipating the onset of these oscillations can be difficult. In recent years much research effort has focused on the response of premixed flames to velocity and equivalence ratio perturbations. In this paper, we develop a flame model based on the so-called G-Equation, which captures the kinematic evolution of the flame surfaces, under the assumptions of axisymmetry, and ignoring vorticity and compressibility. This builds on previous work by Dowling [1], Schuller et al. [2], Cho & Lieuwen [3], among many others, and extends the model to a realistic geometry, with two intersecting flame surfaces within a non-uniform velocity field. The inputs to the model are the free-stream velocity perturbations, and the associated equivalence ratio perturbations. The model also proposes a time-delay calculation wherein the time delay for the fuel convection varies both spatially and temporally. The flame response from this model was compared with experiments conducted by Balachandran [4, 5], and found to show promising agreement with experimental forced case. To address the primary industrial interest of predicting self-excited limit cycles, the model has then been linked with an acoustic network model to simulate the closed-loop interaction between the combustion and acoustic processes. This has been done both linearly and nonlinearly. The nonlinear analysis is achieved by applying a describing function analysis in the frequency domain to predict the limit cycle, and also through a time domain simulation. In the latter case, the acoustic field is assumed to remain linear, with the nonlinearity in the response of the combustion to flow and equivalence ratio perturbations. A transfer function from unsteady heat release to unsteady pressure is obtained from a linear acoustic network model, and the corresponding Green function is used to provide the input to the flame model as it evolves in the time domain. The predicted unstable frequency and limit cycle are in good agreement with experiment, demonstrating the potential of this approach to predict instabilities, and as a test bench for developing control strategies.

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The identification of scattering matrix method is conducted using high fidelity Large Eddy Simulations. From a series of LES results, the scattering matrices of a plain orifice and a lean premixed nozzle are evaluated and compared with the corresponding experimental data. It is confirmed that LES simulations are capable of predicting the acoustic scattering matrix, with some limitations. The magnitude of the scattering matrices imply that the acoustic energy transfer across the orifice and mixer agree fairly well with that of the scattering matrices from the experimental data. Moreover, the phase angle of transmission/reflection elements for the traveling wave in the upstream region consistently follows the experimental trends. The phase angle of transmission/reflection elements for traveling waves in the downstream region, however, shows a significant discrepancy with the experimental measurements. For the direct use of the LES-based scattering matrix method, the accuracy of determination of the phase angle of reflection/transmission of the traveling wave in the downstream region needs further study.