Providing a reliable hot surface ignition system (glow plug, GP ) for natural gas‐direct injection engines is challenging. This paper presents experimental results of aging all‐ceramic Si 3 N 4 ‐based GP s in an engine, continuing previously published results on electric and gas burner rigs. The microstructural modifications of the ceramic heater, leading to degradation and ultimately to failure, are effected by four synergistic mechanisms: electrical, chemical, mechanical, and thermal. GP lifetime in engine follows the general Arrhenius law, with activation energy of 5.2 eV, (vs 9.1 V on burner rig and 13.8 eV on electric rig, as reported previously), suggesting additional factors contributing to GP failure in the engine.
Identifying a catchment’s streamflow generation mechanisms could inform the hydrologic functioning of the catchment, and how the catchment responds to the changes in climate and land-use. This study focuses on identifying the dominant streamflow generation mechanism and its drivers at more than 2,000 natural catchments located in North and South America, Europe, and Oceania. First, in a given catchment, we use a suite of diagnostic tools to infer the relative contribution of different streamflow generation mechanisms from precipitation and streamflow observations and simulated time series of subsurface storage. Then, in a large sample hydrology framework, we explore the major physical and climatic drivers of streamflow generation mechanisms. In this study, we made progress in differentiation among, seemingly similar, but naturally different subsurface mechanisms of streamflow generation (e.g., subsurface stormflow, transmissivity feedback, groundwater flow) as well as in identifying the drivers of these mechanisms. Our study extracts generalizable process understanding by combining conventional hydrologic science tools with modern data learning techniques.
In the development of advanced natural gas and hydrogen direct injection combustion engines, a challenge is providing reliable hot‐surface (glow plug, GP) ignition systems; most promising are GPs with silicon nitride‐based heaters. This paper presents experimental results of accelerated degradation tests of the GPs on natural gas‐burning rig, continuing previously published results on GP degradation in air. Degradation, ultimately leading to GP failure, occurs through the synergistic effects of electric field and chemical reactions in the combustion environment. The resulting microstructural modifications of the ceramic heater, studied by SEM/EDS, are a combination of sintering additive ions migration and surface oxidation.
