On inertial effects of long fibers in wall turbulence: fiber orientation and fiber stresses

Inertia effects of large-aspect-ratio fibers have been investigated in wall turbulence. The turbulent flow field in a plane channel was obtained from a direct numerical simulation. The translational and rotational motion of the rigid fibers were obtained by a Lagrangian approach, first for inertial fibers with Stokes number St = 10, 1.0 and 0.1 and thereafter for massless fibers, which correspond to St = 0. All simulations were one-way coupled. The fiber orientation statistics and the normal components of the fiber stress tensor turned out to be almost independent of the fiber inertia all the way from the channel wall to the center for St ≤  1.0. This observation suggested that fiber inertia plays a negligible role for Stokes number below unity and the gap between inertial fibers and massless fibers has been bridged. The massless particle approach appears as a viable alternative to mimic the orientation and stress tensor of fibers with only modest inertia.     

Rotation statistics of fibers in wall shear turbulence

In this paper, the rotation of rigid fibers is investigated for the reference case of turbulent channel flow. The aim of the study is to examine the effect of local shear and turbulence anisotropy on the rotational dynamics of fibers with different elongation and inertia. To this aim, statistics of the fiber angular velocity, Ω, are extracted from direct numerical simulation of turbulence at shear Reynolds number Re _τ = 150 coupled with Lagrangian tracking of prolate ellipsoidal fibers with Stokes number, St, ranging from 3 to 100 and aspect ratio, λ, ranging from 1 to 50. Accordingly, the fiber-to-fluid density ratio ranges from ${S \simeq 7}$ S ? 7 (for St = 1, λ = 50) to ${S \simeq 3, 470}$ S ? 3 , 470 (for St = 100, λ = 1). Statistics are compared one to one with those obtained for spherical particles to highlight effects due to elongation. Results for mean and fluctuating angular velocities show that elongation is important for fibers with small inertia (St ≤  5 in the present flow-fiber combination). For fibers with larger inertia, elongation has an impact on fiber rotation only in the streamwise and wall-normal directions, where mean values of Ω are zero. It is also shown that, in the center of the channel, the Lagrangian autocorrelation coefficients of Ω and corresponding rotational turbulent diffusivities match the exponential behavior predicted by the theory of homogeneous dispersion. In this region of the channel, the probability density function of fiber angular velocities is generally close to Gaussian, indicating that particle rotation away from solid walls can be modeled as a diffusion process of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck type at stationary state. In the strong shear region (comprised within a distance of 50 viscous units from the wall in the present simulations), fiber anisotropy adds to flow anisotropy to induce strong deviations on fiber rotational dynamics with respect to spherical particles. The database produced in this study is available to all interested users at https://www.fp1005.cism.it.     

Numerical simulation for the transport of solid particles with a vortex ring

The objective of this study is to search for the possibility to transport or deliver small solid particles by a vortex ring. The numerical simulation for the motion of a vortex ring and glass particles is performed. At the launch of a vortex ring into quiescent air, spherical particles are arranged on the cross-section of the vortex ring. The cases of the Stokes number St of 0.01 and 1 are simulated by the vortex method. The simulation for St = 0.01 highlights that the vortex ring involves the particles at the launch and that it can transport the particles at a distance of 5.5 times longer than the initial diameter of the vortex ring. The simulation also clarifies the effect of St on the behavior of the vortex ring and the particle motion.     

Computations of incompressible fluid flow around a long square obstacle near a wall: laminar forced flow and thermal characteristics

Computations of incompressible fluid flow and heat transfer around a square obstacle with a nearby adiabatic wall have been performed in a horizontal plane. The ranges of dimensionless control parameters considered are Prandtl number (Pr) = 10–100, Reynolds number (Re) = 1–150 and gap ratio (G) = 0.25–1. The steady-flow regime is observed up to Re = 121 for G = 0.5, and beyond this Re, time-periodic regime is observed. The shift to a time-periodic regime from a steady regime occurred at greater Re than that for an unconfined square obstacle. With increasing Pr, increase in average Nusselt number values is recorded for all Re and G studied. The heat transfer augmentation is approximately 1332% at Re = 150 (Pr = 100, G = 0.25) with regard to the corresponding values at Re = 1. Lastly, a correlation for j _h factor is determined for the preceded conditions.     

Numerical study of bluff body flow structures

Our recent progress in numerical studies of bluff body flow structures and a new method for the numerical analysis of near wake flow field for high Reynolds number flow are introduced. The paper consists of three parts. In part one, the evolution of wake vortex structure and variation of forces on a flat plate in harmonic oscillatory flows and in in-line steady-harmonic combined flows are presented by an improved discrete vortex method, as the Keulegan-Carpenter number (KC) varies from 2 to 40 and ratios ofU _m toU ₀ are ofO(10⁻¹),O(1) andO(10), respectively. In part 2, a domain decomposition hybrid method, combining the finite-difference and vortex methods for numerical simulation of unsteady viscous separated flow around a bluff body, is introduced. By the new method, some high resolution numerical visualization on near wake evolution behind a circular cylinder at Re=10², 10³ and 3×10³ are shown. In part 3, the mechanism and the dynamic process for the three-dimensional evolution of the Kármán vortex and vortex filaments in braid regions as well as the early features of turbulent structure in the wake behind a circular cylinder are presented numerically by the vortex dynamics method. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Laboratory for Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as by the National Basic Research project “Nonlinear Science”.     

Effects of an airfoil and shock waves on vortex shedding process behind a square cylinder

Summary Effects of an airfoil and shock waves on vortex shedding process behind a square cylinder have been examined experimentally at a Mach number of about 0.91 and at a Reynolds number (based on the side lengthD of the square cylinder) of about 4.2×10⁵. The main experimental parameter is the spacing ratioL/D, and is varied from 1.125 to 5.5, whereL is the spacing between the square cylinder and the airfoil.It is found that similarly to the case at subcritical Mach numbers at the supercritical Mach number there exist three patterns of the flow around the square cylinder and airfoil arranged in tandem depending upon the spacing ratioL/D: In the first flow pattern with small spacing ratio, the downstream airfoil is enclosed completely in the vortex formation region of the square cylinder. In the second flow pattern, the shear layers separating from the square cylinder reattach to the airfoil. In the third flow pattern with large spacing the shear layers roll up upstream of the airfoil. The Strouhal number at the supercritical Mach number is higher than that at the subcritical Mach numbers. Shock waves hasten the vortex shedding behind the square cylinder by decreasing the area of asymmetrical part of the vortex formation region with respect to the wake axis, and let the streamwise length of the separating shear layers longer than otherwise.With 8 Figures     

不同雷诺数下方柱绕流的数值模拟

在不同雷诺数条件下,对流体绕经方形柱体的流动进行了数值模拟,计算雷诺数分别为100,1×103,1×104和2.2×104.当Re=100时,直接采用N-S方程进行计算;当Re=1×103,1×104和2.2×104时,则引入k-ε湍流模型进行计算.应用Galerkin有限元法对控制方程进行离散和求解,利用分离时间步长法处理控制方程中的非线性项.模拟计算得出了在不同雷诺数下的卡门涡街脱落形态.方柱后尾涡的形态会随雷诺数的变化而产生一定的变化.当雷诺数较低时,尾涡会拖得比较长,随着雷诺数的增加,尾涡长度会随之缩短.计算得到了方柱的受力系数和Strouhal数.将计算结果与文献上的实验和计算结果进行了比较,两者吻合较好.     

Submicron-sized anatase,TiO2 with high photocatalytic activity,and (Ti,Sn)O2 nanocrystals formed via hydrothermal technique

The compositional dependence of the crystalline phase and properties of precipitates (Ti _x Sn_1?x O₂) in the TiO₂–SnO₂ system, which were hydrothermally formed at 100–200 °C from the precursor solutions of TiCl₄ and SnCl₄ under weakly basic conditions in the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) was investigated. Rutile-type (Ti, Sn)O₂ solid solutions with nano-sized crystallite were directly formed at 180 °C in the composition range of x = 0–0.8. Nanoparticles with anatase crystallite around 10 nm as a main crystalline phase of precipitates that were formed in the compositions x = 0.9 and 1.0 showed similar photocatalytic activity. As the hydrothermal treatment temperature rose from 100 to 200 °C, the crystallite size of rutile solid solution, Ti_0.5Sn_0.5O_2, increased from 2.5 to 8.0 nm. The optical band gap of the samples changed in the range of 2.93–3.25 eV depending on their composition in the system. At the composition of x = 1.0, submicron-sized anatase-type pure TiO₂ particles (sizes of cuboid sides are around 100–120 nm) with pretty high crystallinity and superior photocatalytic activity were formed from the aqueous solution of TiCl₄ under basic hydrothermal condition at 180 °C in the presence of TMAH with concentration as 1.3 times high as the condition in the case of the nano-sized anatase.     

Investigation of Absolute Photonic Band Gaps in Two-dimensional Dielectric Structures

Abstract

We examine the photonic band structure of two-dimensional (2D) arrays of dielectric holes using the coherent microwave transient spectroscopy (COMITS) technique. Such 2D hole arrays are constructed by embedding low-index rods (air) in a dielectric background of higher-index Stycast material (n = 3·60). The dispersion relation for electromagnetic wave propagation in these photonic crystals is directly determined using the phase sensitivity of COMITS. We find that both the square and triangular lattice structures exhibit photonic band gaps that are common to both polarizations for all wave-vectors along major symmetry axes. In addition, the connectivity of the high-index dielectric and the opening of a large gap for propagation with E field perpendicular to the hole cylinders are found to be important criteria for generating a large absolute photonic band gap.     

A numerical analysis of passive scalar transport in turbulent shear flows

Abstract

The development of the formation and vortex pairing process in a two‐dimensional shear flow and the associated passive scalar (mass concentration or energy) transport process was numerically simulated by using the Vortex‐in‐Cell (VIC) Method combined with the Upwind Finite Difference Method. The visualized temporal distributions of passive scalars resemble the vortex structures and the turbulent passive scalar fluxes showed a definite connection with the occurrence of entrainment during the formation and pairing interaction of large‐scale vortex structures. The profiles of spatial‐averaged passive scalar ø, turbulent passive scalar fluxes, u'ø’ and v'ø’, turbulent diffusivity of mean‐squared scalar fluctuation, v'ø‘ ², mean‐squared turbulent passive scalar fluctuation, √ø‘ ², skewness, and flatness factor of the probability density function of scalar fluctuation ø’ at three different times are calculated. With the lateral dimension scaled by the momentum thickness and the velocity scaled by the velocity difference across the shear layer, these profiles were shown to be self‐preserved. The probability density function of turbulent scalar fluctuation was found to be asymmetric and double‐peaked.     

Analysis of triboelectric charging of particles due to aerodynamic dispersion by a pulse of pressurised air jet

Triboelectric charging of powders causes nuisance and electrostatic discharge hazards. It is highly desirable to develop a simple method for assessing the triboelectric charging tendency of powders using a very small quantity. We explore the use of aerodynamic dispersion by a pulse of pressurised air using the disperser of Morphologi G3 as a novel application. In this device particles are dispersed by injection of a pulse of pressurised air, the dispersed particles are then analysed for size and shape analysis. The high transient air velocity inside the disperser causes collisions of sample particles with the walls, resulting in dispersion, but at the same time it could cause triboelectric charging of the particles. In this study, we analyse this process by evaluating the influence of the transient turbulent pulsed-air flow on particle impact on the walls and the resulting charge transfer. Computational Fluid Dynamics is used to calculate particle trajectory and impact velocity as a function of the inlet air pressure and particle size. Particle tracking is done using the Lagrangian approach and transient conditions. The charge transfer to particles is predicted as a function of impact velocity and number of collisions based on a charge transfer model established previously for several model particle materials. Particles experience around ten collisions at different velocities as they are dispersed and thereby acquire charges, the value of which approaches the equilibrium charge level. The number of collisions is found to be rather insensitive to particle size and pressure pulse, except for fine particles, smaller than about 30 µm. As the particle size is increased, the impact velocity decreases, but the average charge transfer per particle increases, both very rapidly. Aerodynamic dispersion by a gas pressure pulse provides an easy and quick assessment of triboelectric charging tendency of powders.     

Numerical simulation of microparticles transport in a concentric annulus by Lattice Boltzmann Method

Dispersion and removal of microaerosol particles are investigated numerically in a horizontal concentric annulus by Lattice Boltzmann Method and Lagrangian Runge–Kutta procedure with the assumption of one-way coupling. Drag, buoyancy, gravity, shear lift, Brownian motion and thermophoretic are forces that are included in particle equation of motion. All simulations were performed at Rayleigh number of 10⁴ and particles specific density of 1000. The effect of aspect ratio and particles diameter were determined on particles behavior such as removal and dispersion. Results show that recirculation power increases by decreasing of cylinders gap. Particles move in a thinner quasi-equilibrium region by increasing of their diameter and decreasing of cylinders gap. Brownian motion is dominant removal mechanism in particle with diameter of 1 μm.     

Power-law fluids flow and heat transfer over two tandem square cylinders: effects of Reynolds number and power-law index

The low-Reynolds numbers free-stream flow of power-law fluids and forced convection heat transfer around a square cylinder and two square cylinders in a tandem arrangement are numerically investigated. In the single cylinder case, the power-law index and Reynolds numbers range from n = 0.7 ? 1.4 and Re = 60 ? 160 at Pr = 0.7. In the tandem case, the spacing between the cylinders is four widths of each cylinder side and the power-law index ranges from 0.7 to 1.6 at Re = 40, 100, 160 and Pr = 0.7. All simulations are performed with a finite volume code based on the SIMPLEC algorithm and a non-staggered grid. The effect of spatial resolution on the results is also studied for a single cylinder and tandem cylinders. The mean and instantaneous streamlines, vorticity and temperature contours, the global quantities such as pressure and friction coefficients, the rms lift and drag coefficients, Strouhal and Nusselt numbers are determined and discussed for various power-law indexes at different Reynolds numbers. A comparison between the results of the single cylinder case and the two cylinders in tandem arrangement shows that there are relatively similar results for the single cylinder and the upstream cylinder of the tandem case.     

Power-series solution for the two-dimensional inviscid flow with a vortex and multiple cylinders

The problem of a point vortex and N fixed cylinders in a two-dimensional inviscid fluid is studied and an analytical-numerical solution in the form of an infinite power series for the velocity field is obtained using complex analysis. The velocity distribution for the case of two cylinders is compared with the existing results of the problem of a vortex in an annular region which is conformally mapped onto the exterior of two cylinders. Limiting cases of N cylinders and the vortex, being far away from each other are studied. In these cases, “the dipole approximation” or “the point-island approximation” is derived, and its region of validity is established by numerical tests. The velocity distribution for a geometry of four cylinders placed at the vertices of a square and a vortex is presented. The problem of vortex motion with N cylinders addressed in the paper attracted attention recently owing to its importance in many applications. However, existing solutions using Abelian function theory are sophisticated and the theory is not one of the standard techniques used by applied mathematicians and engineers. Moreover, in the N ≥ 3 cylinder problem, the infinite product involved in the presentation of the Schottky–Klein prime function must also be truncated. So, the approach used in the paper is simple and an alternative to existing methods. This is the main motivation for this study.     

Vortex ring propagation and interactions studies

This paper experimentally investigates the vortex ring propagation and interactions with thin cylindrical and flat surfaces. Dye-based visualization technique is adopted for the interaction studies. Vortex rings are generated from a circular nozzle of 19 mm diameter with the stroke length ratios (length of the fluid slug to nozzle diameter, L_N/D_N) of 1 to 5, and ejection velocities in the range of 0.05 to 0.2 m/s. Vortex interaction studies are carried out with two different bodies; firstly, with the circular cylinders having the diameters of 0.2, 0.6, 1.5 and 2.5 mm, and secondly with a flat solid surface. Results indicate that the trails in the vortex ring start following at L_N/D_N = 4. The influence of the initial velocity is found to be insignificant on the vortex ring diameter, however, found to depend on stroke length ratio. Vortex-cylinder interaction studies indicated that vortex velocity decreases with increase in cylinder diameter after the interaction. Reconnections of vortex rings are observed in lower cylinder diameter cases. In case of vortex ring interaction with the flat surface, stretching of the vortex core is observed leading to a considerable increase in the vortex ring diameter.     

pH-induced modification on the structural, optical and morphological properties of Zn0.94Ni0.04Mn0.02O nanopowders

Zn_0.94Mn_0.02Ni_0.04O nanopowders were synthesized with different pH values from 4 to 10 by sol–gel method. The X-ray diffraction pattern confirmed that all the samples had hexagonal wurtzite structure. In the acid environment (pH = 4), the reaction rate was very slow and provided the poor crystal quality (D = 16.2 nm). Average crystal size was maximum (24.2 nm) with elliptical shape at pH = 8 which is attributed to the availability of much (OH)^? ions in the base solution. The observed constant c/a ratio revealed that there was no change in hexagonal wurtzite structure by pH. The energy dispersive X-ray spectra confirmed the presence of Ni and Mn in Zn–O lattice. The optical absorption spectra showed that the absorption was increased up to pH = 8 due to de-generated defect states and vacancies. The observed high intensity defect related green band around 488 nm at pH = 8 was due to the improved crystal size in addition to the presence of defects related phases. A weak absorption band around 391 nm observed only at pH = 10 was originated from the intrinsic defects and the interstitial position of Zn²⁺ ion. The higher transmittance (≈90 %) noticed at pH = 10 showed the way to the industrial applications especially as transparent electrode. The continuous blue shift in band gap from 3.61 (pH = 4) to 3.68 eV (pH = 10) is explained by Burstein–Moss effect. Presence of chemical bonding was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectra.     

Effect of very low to high Sb-doping on the structural,electrical, photo-conductive and thermoelectric properties of fluorine-doped SnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> (FTO) thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis technique

Transparent conducting fluorine and Sb-doped [SnO₂: (F, Sb)] thin films have been deposited onto preheated glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique by the various dopant quantity of spray solution. The effect of antimony impurities on the structural, morphological, electrical, Thermo-electrical, optical and photoconductive properties of films has been investigated. The [F/Sn] atomic concentration ratio (x) in the spray solution is kept at value of 0.7 and the [Sb/Sn] atomic ratio (y) varied at values of 0, 0.0005, 0.001, 0.002, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07 and 0.10. It is found that the films are polycrystalline in nature with a tetragonal crystal structure corresponding to SnO₂ phase having orientation along the (110) and (200) planes. SEM images indicated that nanostructure of the films has a particle type growth. The average grain size increases with increasing spraying quantity of Sb-dopant. The compositional analysis of SnO₂: (F, Sb) thin films were studied using EDAX. SEM and AFM study reveals the surface of SnO₂: (F, Sb) to be made of nanocrystalline particles. The Hall Effect measurements have shown n-type conductivity in all deposited films. The lowest sheet resistance and highest the carrier concentration about 7.7 Ω/□ and 6.6 × 10²², respectively, were obtained for the film deposited with y = [Sb/Sn] = 0.001 and x = [F/Sn] = 0.7. The maximum of the Seebeck coefficient equal to 12.8 μV K^?1 was obtained at 400 K for the film deposited with y = [Sb/Sn] = 0.10. The average transmittance of films varied over the range 10–80 % with change of Sb-concentration. The band gap values of samples were obtained in the range of 3.19–3.8 eV. From the photoconductive studies, the Sb-doped films exhibited sensitivity to incident light especially in y = 0.001. The electrical resistivity and carrier concentration vary in range 5.44 × 10^?4 to 1.02 × 10^?2Ω cm and 2.6 × 10²²–6.6 × 10²² cm^?3, respectively.     

Ba(Zn1/3Ta2/3)O3 ceramics reinforced high density polyethylene for microwave applications

The effect of Ba(Zn_1/3Ta_2/3)O₃ (BZT) ceramic filler on the dielectric, mechanical and thermal properties of high density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix have been investigated. The dispersion of BZT particles in the matrix was varied up to 0.45 volume fraction (V_f)_. The SEM images confirmed the increase in connectivity between the filler particles with the increase in filler loading. All the composites showed excellent densification (>99 %) with relatively low moisture absorption (<0.04 wt%). The dielectric properties of the composites were investigated at 1 MHz, 5 GHz and at 10 GHz. The relative permittivity and the dielectric loss were found to increase as a function of BZT loading. Different theoretical models were used to predict the relative permittivity at 10 GHz. Effective medium theory gave the best correlation with the experimental results. An enhancement in the thermal conductivity (TC) and a reduction in the coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CTE) were achieved with filler loading. A slight decrease in the tensile strength was also observed with BZT loading. At 10 GHz, 0.45 V_f BZT reinforced HDPE showed a low relative permittivity (ε_r = 8.2) and a low dielectric loss (tanδ = 1.6 × 10^?3) with good thermal (TC = 1.4 W m^?1 K^?1, CTE = 92 ppm/°C) and mechanical (tensile strength = 18 MPa) properties.     

Particle dispersion in turbulent sedimentary duct flows

A simplified geometric model of a circular tube with a sedimentary layer is proposed and named as sedimentary duct. Based on h = 1/4d (h is the thickness of sedimentary layer and d is the pipe diameter), the flow field (Re = 40000) and particle distribution (5, 10, 50 μm and St = 0.6, 2.5, 63) in the sedimentary duct are simulated using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) coupled with Lagrange Particle Tracking (LPT) method. As a result, four streamwise eddies are found in the sedimentary duct as distributed in pairs near the corner. The eddy center near ceiling is found to be farther from the corner than that from the floor. Small particles (5 μm, St = 0.6) tend to move with the secondary flow as their upward movements distribute in both sides. Their centripetal movement is near the floor and preferential distribution near the top. For large particles (50 μm, St = 63), it is the drag force that dominates their motion while for medium particles (10 μm, St = 2.5) lift force may have significant influence on their motion. This study is the first work to investigate the characteristics of particle behavior in turbulent sedimentary duct flows.     

An approach to prepare defect-free PES/MFI-type zeolite mixed matrix membranes for CO2/N2 separation

Polyethersulfone (PES) and MFI-type zeolite mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were successfully fabricated by a novel particle suspension impregnating and solution-casting method. The effects of two different membrane preparation methods on the membrane morphology were investigated by scanning electron microscopy; the particle crystal type and distribution were explored by X-ray diffraction and fourier transform attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the MFI-zeolite particles were successfully synthesized, with particle diameter around 250 nm. Distribution and dispersion of MFI-zeolite particles suspended in the polymer matrix are homogeneous and uniform. The thermal analysis indicates that the glass transition temperature (T _g) of MMMs is around 230 °C and the initial degradation temperature is up to 460 °C in air. The increment of T _g compared to the neat PES confirms that the polymer chain rigidification is induced by zeolite particles. The MMMs have been evaluated by the CO₂/N₂ separation factor and permeability measured as a function of permeation temperature, the maximum separation factor of the PES/10 % MFI-silica zeolite for the pure gas reaches 35 at 25 °C.