Bubble Motion near a Wall Under Microgravity: Existence of Attractive and Repulsive Forces

A numerical simulation for a bubble motion near a wall under microgravity, relevant to material processing such as crystal growth in space, is presented based on a mass conservation level set algorithm to predict the bubble behavior affected by the near wall. The simulation for the wall effect on the bubble driven by an external acceleration parallel with the near wall referred to as g-jitter confirms for the first time the existence of the wall attractive force to the bubble near the wall under certain conditions such as the initial distance between the bubble and the wall, density and viscosity ratios between the bubble and surrounding liquid under microgravity. The wall effect mechanism is explained, and the results show that the wall attractive force increases with the increasing of density ratio. Moreover, the simulation for the wall repulsive effect on the bubble near the wall under microgravity has been carried out as well.     

Self-arraying of charged levitating droplets

Diamagnetic levitation of water droplets in air is a promising phenomenon to achieve contactless manipulation of chemical or biochemical samples. This noncontact handling technique prevents contaminations of samples as well as provides measurements of interaction forces between levitating reactors. Under a nonuniform magnetic field, diamagnetic bodies such as water droplets experience a repulsive force which may lead to diamagnetic levitation of a single or few micro-objects. The levitation of several repulsively charged picoliter droplets was successfully performed in a ~1 mm(2) adjustable flat magnetic well provided by a centimeter-sized cylindrical permanent magnet structure. Each droplet position results from the balance between the centripetal diamagnetic force and the repulsive Coulombian forces. Levitating water droplets self-organize into satellite patterns or thin clouds, according to their charge and size. Small triangular lattices of identical droplets reproduce magneto-Wigner crystals. Repulsive forces and inner charges can be measured in the piconewton and the femtocoulomb ranges, respectively. Evolution of interaction forces is accurately followed up over time during droplet evaporation.     

Dynamics for Droplets in Normal Gravity and Microgravity

A numerical study has been carried out to investigate the deformation dynamics of droplets under normal gravity and the thermocapillary migration of droplets under microgravity. The Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the energy conservation equation are solved on a staggered grid by the method of lines, and the mass conserving level set method is used to predict the surface deformation of the droplet. The simulation for the falling droplet in the air under normal gravity shows that the value of Weber number affects mainly the deformation of the droplet, while the value of Reynolds number has direct impact on the falling velocity of the droplet. From the simulation for the droplet thermocapillary migration and lateral oscillation under microgravity, it is found that the value of Marangoni number has obvious effects on the moving velocity and temperature distribution of the droplet.     

Forces between colloidal droplets in the presence of a weak polyelectrolyte

In this paper, we present the results on the forces between individual colloidal liquid droplets in the presence of a weak polyelectrolyte, poly(acrylic acid), using magnetic chaining technique. The effect of the repulsive forces have been investigated under different experimental conditions such as polyelectrolyte concentration, adsorption time, salt concentration etc. At a PAA concentration of 0·01% (weight), a long range repulsive force profile is observed due to the adsorption of polyelectrolyte on the droplet, without any irreversible aggregates even at very small inter-droplet spacing. Above a concentration of 0·01 wt% of PAA, formation of irreversible chaining of droplets is observed at short inter-droplet separations due to polyelectrolyte bridging. The onset of binding is also independently confirmed by microscopic observation. Compared to the slow adsorption on mica surfaces, the PAA adsorption on the colloidal droplets is found to be rapid. Up to 0·1 M NaCl, the range of repulsion and the hydrodynamic radius of the droplet is found to be increasing.     

湿工况下翅片表面冷凝水滴运动的数值模型

了解析湿过程中冷凝水对换热器翅片侧换热和压降的影响机制,需要首先建立湿工况下翅片表面冷凝水滴的运动模型。通过对翅片表面上冷凝水滴进行受力分析,得出了水滴运动的判断条件;建立了水滴接触角预测模型,并结合VOF界面追踪方法来描述气液相界面、计算表面张力,从而建立了预测冷凝水滴在竖直翅片表面运动过程的数值模型。通过水滴运动实验对模型的可靠性进行了验证：水滴与翅片表面接触角的模拟值与实验值的平均误差为2.11%,最大误差为2.51%;水滴运动速度的模拟值与实验值的平均误差为6.5%,最大误差为10%。结果表明：水滴运动模型能够准确的预测水滴在翅片表面的运动规律。     

CFD-DEM simulations of a fluidized bed with droplet injection: Effects on flow patterns and particle behavior

As one of the most preferred technologies, fluidized beds with droplet injection have been widely applied in a variety of industries attribute to the advantages of excellent mixing effect as well as consecutive interphase contact. However, pronounced slugging and gas channeling may occur with the existence of droplets, where a large proportion of bed solids would be lumped together. This study focused on the hydrodynamics and cohesive-like characteristics of solid particles in a pseudo-2D droplet gas-solid fluidized bed via two-way coupled CFD-DEM numerical simulations with the consideration of droplets coating process and liquid bridge force. Results revealed that the existence of droplets would lead to poor fluidization characteristics. It could be summarized that the increase of surface tension would lead to inadequate mixing. At the same time, larger value of liquid viscosity would cause a slower particle motion, while cases that exhibited vigorous fluidization corresponded to smaller values of viscosity. The influences cast by different contact angles were also studied and results showed that choosing an appropriate contact angle is of paramount importance to the optimization of the fluidization quality. It was also found that the more droplets injected, the worse the mixing behavior, while changing the number of droplets injected had no significant effect on the flow pattern and particle motion.     

Numerical simulation of gas-droplets mixing and spray evaporation in rotary spray desulfurization tower

Motion and evaporation of droplets significantly affect the semidry flue gas desulfurization efficiency and long-term operation. Both the flow field distribution and the heat and mass transfer in the spray towers are studied by numerical simulation, and the process of droplet motion and evaporation is analyzed in detail. Then, two indices, mixing variance and droplet mass-weighted life, are provided to quantify gas droplet mixing and the droplet group evaporation time. The simulation results show that the radial penetration distance of the droplets is longer with the diameter increase, and the appropriate swirl number improves the mixing between the flue gas and droplets. With the increase of droplet diameter and velocity, the droplet distribution in the tower is more widely, obtaining the optimum mixing variance. The droplet mass-weighted life is promoted linearly with the increase of average droplet diameter and the decrease of flue gas temperature. With flue gas temperature increase from 458 k to 488 K, the droplet mass-weighted life decreases linearly by 31%. In comparison, the initial droplet velocity and spray angle have a slight effect on the droplet mass-weighted life.     

基于SPH方法的剪切流驱动液滴在固体表面变形运动数值模拟研究

光滑粒子流体动力学(SPH)方法是纯拉格朗日粒子方法,可以有效避免网格法在模拟大变形过程中带来的网格扭曲等缺陷,适合模拟含大变形的剪切流驱动液滴在固体表面变形运动过程。在基于CSF模型的表面张力SPH方法基础上,采用新的边界处理方式和界面法向修正方法,引入Brackbill提出的壁面附着力边界条件处理方法,得到了含壁面附着力边界条件的表面张力算法。基于新方法模拟了剪切流驱动液滴在固体表面变形运动过程并与实验结果和VOF方法模拟结果进行了对比验证。结果表明:该方法在处理壁面附着力问题时精度较高,稳定性较好,适合处理工程中剪切流驱动液滴在固体表面变形运动问题。     

Experimental Studies of Liquid Droplet Coalescence on the Gradient Surface

Visual experiments were conducted to study the behaviors of liquid droplet coalescence on the surface with gradient surface energy. The microscopic contour of the gradient energy surface, which was fabricated on the base of a silicon chip by diffusion-controlled silanization of alkyltrichlorosilanes, was characterized by atom force microscopy. The effects of droplets on the three-phase contact line and the contact angle were obtained. It was observed that the process of droplet coalescence accelerates the droplet speed on the gradient surface. On the high-energy surface, the triple-phase contact line of the coalescing droplet is prone to pinning. The interfacial energy released from coalescence is the main source for promoting the motion. Furthermore, the nonequilibrium capillary pressure gradient inside coalescence droplets is considered to aid in accelerating the coalescence.     

脱硫废水烟气喷射蒸发流动特性实验研究

确保喷雾液滴在接触烟道壁面前完全蒸发,是保障电站脱硫废水在锅炉尾部烟道内蒸发处理安全运行的关键。喷雾液滴的破碎、聚并等动力学行为,以及液滴群的粒径分布和速度等因素的影响机制,是喷雾蒸发的主要特性。设计搭建了热态风洞实验台,利用激光粒度分析仪和粒子图像测速仪（particle image velocimeter,PIV）,在不同的引射空气压力、喷嘴水流量,以及风速、加热空气温度等条件下,对喷雾液滴群的粒径变化和速度变化进行了测量和分析。实验结果表明：以大液滴形态离开喷嘴的射流在引射气流的携带作用下,因破碎而形成小液滴,而后液滴间聚并效果会显现出来。液滴初始粒径仅与引射气体压力和水流量有关;风速的提高一定程度上会促进液滴间的聚并。提高高压气体压力、温度、风速以及减小水流量均有助于提高液滴群速度,其中提高风速对液滴群的增速效果最为明显。研究结果为喷雾的数值模拟及工程应用改进方向提供了参考。     

Spinning Liquid Metal Droplets on Ice

The non-contact and non-wetting droplet motion isolated from the solid surface has a high degree of freedom and thus can exhibit many peculiar interfacial phenomena. Here, an experimental phenomenon of spinning liquid metal droplets on an ice block is discovered, which adopts the dual solid-liquid phase transition of the liquid metal and the ice. The whole system is somewhat a variant of the classic Leidenfrost effect, which directly uses the latent heat released by the spontaneous solidification of the liquid metal droplet as a heat source to melt the ice and create an intervening lubricant water film. Interestingly, it is found that the droplets on ice become very mobile and undergo rapid spin as the solidification process proceeds. A series of comparative experiments clarify that the circumferential driving force comes from the escaping bubbles as the ice melts. Furthermore, by comparing the motion characteristics of different kinds of liquid metal droplets and solid balls on ice and investigating their physical properties and heat transfer, it is disclosed that the spin effect can be universal for objects of different materials, as long as the two necessary elements of rapid liquid film establishment and gas bubble release can be satisfied simultaneously.     

Influence of coercive force on low-frequency creep in bloch-wall permalloy films

A very high resolution Bitter pattern technique is used to observe the motion of Bloch walls in Permalloy films excited by slowly rising and slowly falling hard-axis fields. For low coercive force films, the basic motion consists of approximately equal and opposite jumps induced by simultaneous wall structure changes at two transition fields. Net motion begins with the application of small easy-axis bias fields. For high coercive force films, although the wall structure changes continue to occur, the wall jumps and a net displacement do net occur until the easy-axis bias field exceeds a certain critical value which is a function of the wall coercive force.     

Features of water droplet deformation during motion in a gaseous medium under conditions of moderate and high temperatures

Using cross-correlation video recording facilities, the features of deformation of water droplets with characteristic dimensions of 3–6 mm are studied experimentally during their motion in a high temperature (about 1100 K) gaseous medium (in combustion products) with velocities of up to 5 m/s. In addition, experiments for water droplets moving with identical initial velocities and dimensions in air at moderate (about 300 K) air temperatures are carried out. Typical shapes of droplets and cyclical character of their variation during motion in the considered gaseous media are established. The numerical values of the main characteristics of the isolated “deformation cycles” (amplitude, times, and durations) are determined, and their susceptibility to high temperatures of the gaseous medium, droplet dimensions, and droplet motion velocities is revealed.     

Melt Flow Instability and Turbulence in Electro-Magnetically Levitated Droplets

This article addresses fluid flow instabilities and flow transition to turbulent chaotic motions through numerical analysis and turbulence in electro-magnetically levitated droplets through direct numerical simulations. Numerical implementation and computed results are presented for flow instability and turbulence flows in magnetically levitated droplets under terrestrial and microgravity conditions. The linear melt flow stability is based on the solution of the Orr-Sommerfeld linearized equations with the base flows obtained numerically using high order numerical schemes. The resulting eigenvalue problems are solved using the linear transformation or Arnold's method. Melt flow instability in a free droplet is different from that bounded by solid walls and flow transits to an unstable motion at a smaller Reynolds number and at a higher wave number in a free droplet. Also, flow instability depends strongly on the base flow structure. Numerical experiments suggest that the transition to the unstable region becomes easier or occurs at a smaller Reynolds number when the flow structures change from two loops to four loops, both of which are found in typical levitation systems used for micro-gravity applications. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) are carried out for an electro-magnetically levitated droplet in a low to mild turbulence regime. The DNS results indicate that both turbulent kinetic energy and dissipations attain finite values along the free surface, which can be used to derive necessary boundary conditions for calculations employing engineering k--ε models.     

Simultaneous spatial and spectral imaging of lasing droplets

We present an experimental technique that allows the simultaneous spatial imaging and spectral analysis of falling droplets that exhibit lasing. Single droplet investigations serve as, among other purposes, a preliminary study for spray and combustion researchers. The described setup provides a valuable tool for the evaluation of microdroplet investigations with laser-spectroscopic techniques that rely on laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) or similar spectroscopical phenomena. The emphasis is that both spatial and spectral information are obtained from single-shot images of a falling droplet. Furthermore, combining spatial imaging and a spatially resolving optical multichannel analyzer makes a pointwise rastering of the droplets spectrum possible. This allows for the (almost) unambiguous determination of sources of influence on the spectrum of these droplets-such as geometrical distortion and lasing, nondissolved tracer lumps, and similar phenomena. Although the focus is on the experimental technique itself, we supplement detailed studies of lasing in falling microdroplets. These results were obtained with the aim of developing a system for measuring temperature distributions in droplets and sprays. In the light of these results the practice of calibrating a droplets spectrum by use of a bulk liquid sample needs to be critically reviewed.     

A Superhydrophobic Droplet-Based Magnetoelectric Hybrid System to Generate Electricity and Collect Water Simultaneously

Traditional electromagnetic generators used in hydraulic power generation are heavy, bulky, and immovable, and are thus unsuitable for low water supply. A portable miniature electromagnetic system that can harvest energy from rainwater is critical for developing a sustainable energy strategy. In this study, a superhydrophobic droplet-based magnetoelectric hybrid system is fabricated, that can generate electricity from tiny water droplets. The magnetoelectric system (MS) comprises three parts: a superhydrophobic surface containing a conductive coil, liquid droplets, and a superhydrophobic magnetic powders/Ecoflex base. The mechanical impact of a falling water droplet onto the assembled system is transformed into electricity. Maxwell numerical simulation is used to analyze the related mechanism; the magnetoelectric performance is further improved by modifying the process parameters such as droplet falling velocity and magnetic powder contents. Furthermore, a model is developed, comprising the MS and a cactus-like superhydrophobic patterned plate that can generate electricity and collect water from fog, simultaneously. The described magnetoelectric strategy is believed to enhance and extend functions in energy harvesting and provide a generalized method to exploit new systems toward sustainable energy development.     

Lattice Boltzmann method study of Rayleigh instability of a charged droplet

Rayleigh instability of a charged droplet is well known. Although the instability condition was revealed by Lord Rayleigh, how the deformation develops after the unstable state still remains a question because of its dynamic nature. Therefore, a numerical simulation method will help to study the dynamics of the deformation of a charged droplet. In this paper we reported an interesting extension of the multi-phase lattice Boltzmann method to involve the electrostatic repulsive force working on the surface of an individual liquid droplet by means of momentum modification to simulate the Rayleigh instability. The method successfully simulates the Rayleigh instability, in which a droplet is stretched into an ellipsoidal shape when the electrostatic potential exceeds the Rayleigh's threshold, whilst a droplet with less potential than the threshold deforms back to a spherical shape as the static form.     

Self‐Propelling and Positioning of Droplets Using Continuous Topography Gradient Surface

A radial pattern with continuous topography gradient is presented, which induces a continuous inward wettability gradient and enables self‐propelling and accurate positioning of droplets to the pattern center. The effect of droplet size and wettability gradient of the pattern on the self‐mobility of droplets is investigated. The wettability gradient is found to increase towards the pattern center, enhancing the self‐motion of droplets at the inner area of the pattern. Moreover, larger droplets give rise to a larger solid‐liquid contact diameter, which helps to satisfy the self‐motion criteria that the advancing contact angle at front edge is smaller than the receding contact angle at rear edge. Consequently, a larger droplet size favors self‐motion initiated from the outer area of the pattern. The continuous topography gradient employed here allows the flexible dispensing of droplets at any place within a certain range, and avoids potential pinning defects to droplets at geometrical discontinuities. An average self‐motion velocity up to 4.0 cm/s for microliter‐sized droplets is achieved on the resultant patterned surface.     

Influences of support fibers on shapes of heptane/hexadecane droplets in reduced gravity

This paper describes analytical and experimental results related to the effects of support fibers on shapes of heptane/hexadecane mixture droplets (both burning and evaporating) in reduced gravity. The experimental results were obtained from large droplets (a few mm) investigated during the MSL-1 Flight of Spacelab. Theoretical (asymptotic) analyses are developed to predict droplet shapes. These analyses, which predict droplet shapes very well, illustrate important aspects of droplet shapes in a transparent fashion. The asymptotic theory shows that for small droplet-fiber contact angles, two spatial zones exist where droplet shapes behave differently. Away from a fiber, a droplet is essentially spherical. As the fiber is approached, however, deviations from spherical symmetry are significant. Previously developed analytical theory to predict macroscopic droplet shapes also compares well with experimental results. In addition, the experiments indicate that thin liquid films can form on support fibers. In the present experiments, these films apparently lead to transient formation of small droplets/bubbles on the support fibers at locations near the surface of a droplet.     

真空法制取二元冰的理论分析

新的蓄冷介质越来越被人们重视,二元冰俗称冰浆是其中一个比较受到人们关注的一种蓄冷介质。制取冰浆的方法有很多种,其中真空法就是其中一种。因为它的制取步骤比较简单,不需要消耗太多的电力能源,同时制取二元冰的效率很高。通过对真空室内下落液滴的质量、速度、温度、下落距离建立微分方程,选定不同的初始条件和真空条件,模拟计算求解。通过对计算结果的比较、分析,明确指出在试验设计时应该选用喷射的液滴初始直径较小的喷头,同时保持真空室稳定在压力较小的环境下。