Particles of different density in thermocapillary liquid bridges under the action of travelling and standing hydrothermal waves

We observed particles of different density ratio α = ρ _p /ρ _f in thermocapillary liquid bridges with steady and with time-dependent flow under normal- and under microgravity. Particle accumulation structures (PAS) visualize some features of the hydrothermal wave in the liquid bridge. Relatively fast formation of PAS from particles which are considerably less dense than the fluid (α = 0.42) in oscillatory thermocapillary flow of top-heated liquid bridges was observed and explained by an additional buoyancy-assisted mechanism which brings the particles into the surface flow. This PAS from particles with α = 0.42 will persist under normal gravity for infinite time. In contrast to these less dense particles the heavier particles with α > 1 settle down under normal gravity on the lower end face of the liquid bridge after some time and are no longer in suspension and PAS will fade out. On the other hand, particles with α = 0.42 will be less suited for experiments under microgravity than particles with α > 1 because most of them will be trapped in the vortex centre of the thermocapillary flow. The sedimented particles with α > 1 are a means to visualize some features of standing hydrothermal waves which are visualzed and discussed for the first time.     

Evaluation of existence region and formation time of particle accumulation structure (PAS) in half-zone liquid bridge

The European Physical Journal Special Topics - We focused on the particle accumulation structure (PAS) produced by the thermocapillary effect in a half-zone liquid bridge. Although models of the...     

Particle-depletion dynamics in axisymmetric thermocapillary flows

The European Physical Journal Special Topics - The removal of suspended particles from the interior of a thermocapillary liquid bridge via a finite-particle-size effect restricting the particle...     

Experimental Investigation of Thermocapillary Convection in a Liquid Layer with Evaporating Interface

Thermocapillary convection coupling with the evaporation effect of evaporating liquids is studied experimentally. This study focused on an evaporation liquid layer in a rectangular cavity subjected to a horizontal temperature gradient when the top evaporating surface is open to air, while most previous works only studied pure thermocapillary convection without evaporation. Two liquids with different evaporating rates are used to study the coupling of evaporation and thermocapillary convection, and the interfacial temperature profiles for different temperature gradients are measured. The experimental results indicate evidently the influence of evaporation effect on the thermocapillary convection and interfacial temperature profiles. The steady multicellular flow and the oscillatory multicellular flow in the evaporation liquid layer are observed by using the particle-image-velocimetry method.     

Mass and size effect in condensed fluids Rare gases and ionic liquids

A perturbation theory was developed to describe the mass effect at liquid state; it is applied to the results of molecular dynamics calculations.

The behaviour of Lennard-Jones liquids (rare gases) and of charged systems (ionic liquids) are quite similar. In these condensed phases the mass difference between two isotope particles does not affect very much their transport properties. The mass effect arising from the isotope substitution at short time (instantaneous velocity) is rapidly dissipated over the ensemble of particles; the weighted sum remains constant for a given liquid (c_i is the density number of the particle of mass m_i and D _i is the diffusion coefficient).

On the contrary the core size of the particle plays an important r?ohle and the diffusion is nearly proportional to the particle radius. A rigid lattice amplifies the influence of particle size but strong interactions between the moving particle and its environment decrease its r?ole.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of solid particles suspended in fluid

The lattice Boltzmann method, an alternative approach to solving a fluid flow system, is used to analyze the dynamics of particles suspended in fluid. The interaction rule between the fluid and the suspended particles is developed for real suspensions where the particle boundaries are treated as no-slip impermeable surfaces. This method correctly and accurately determines the dynamics of single particles and multi-particles suspended in the fluid. With this method, computational time scales linearly with the number of suspensions,N, a significant advantage over other computational techniques which solve the continuum mechanics equations, where the computational time scales asN ³. Also, this method solves the full momentum equations, including the inertia terms, and therefore is not limited to low particle Reynolds number.     

Multifunctional TiO2‐Based Particles: The Effect of Fluorination Degree and Liquid Surface Tension on Wetting Behavior

A systematic investigation into the influence of the degree of fluorination on the static and dynamic wetting behavior of TiO₂‐based nanobelt (TNB) particles with various liquids is described. The effect of the degree of fluorination and the surface tension of the liquid on the occurrence and stability of liquid marbles, foams or dispersions are studied and the wetting behavior and arrangement of particles at the air–liquid surface are observed. Using contact angle (θ) measurements, the relation between the type of particle‐stabilized material and θ is established. For liquids of relatively high tension like water or formamide which do not wet the fluorinated particles, a powder‐like material (marble) is formed. For polar oils of intermediate tension (35–50 mN m^?1), which partially wet the fluorinated particles, stable air‐in‐oil foams can be prepared in which particles form a close‐packed layer enveloping air bubbles. Liquids of relatively low tension, e.g., ethanol or polydimethylsiloxane, wet the particles forming a uniform dispersion and partial sedimentation. By contrast, the as‐prepared hydrophilic TNB particles are rapidly wetted by all the liquids as expected due to their high surface energy. The stable cross‐stacked TNB particles with fluoroalkylsilane (FAS) modification could be a versatile platform in a wide range of applications, especially for fluidic devices (e.g., biofluids, gas sensing, and lab‐on‐a‐chip devices). In a proof‐of‐concept study, the oil–water separation performance of fabrics with chemically stable TNB/FAS coating and the liquid isolation by a TNB/FAS shell for highly sensitive gas sensing or reagent assays are investigated.     

The mechanics of particle accumulation structures in thermocapillary flows

The motion of small particles suspended in a cylindrical thermocapillary liquid bridge is considered. Owing to geometry and surface stresses the streamlines gather near the cylindrical free surface and provoke particle–free-surface collisions. We show numerically that tracers which are perfect but of finite size can accumulate on closed trajectories. A simple model is proposed to explain the attraction of particles to the closed trajectory based on the flow topology in the vicinity of a closed streamline which comes sufficiently close to the free surface and on particle–free-surface collisions which transfer particles among different streamlines.     

Universal crossover of liquid dynamics in supercritical region

We demonstrate that all liquids in supercritical region may exist in two qualitatively different states: solid-like and gas-like. Solid-like to gas-like crossover corresponds to the condition τ ≈ τ₀, where τ is liquid relaxation time and τ₀ is the minimum period of transverse waves. This condition corresponds to the loss of shear stiffness of a liquid at all frequencies and defines a new narrow crossover zone on the phase diagram. We show that the intersection of this zone corresponds to the disappearance of high-frequency sound, qualitative changes of diffusion and viscous flow, increase in particle thermal speed to half of the speed of sound and reduction of the specific heat at constant volume to 2k _B per particle. The new crossover is universal: it separates two liquid states at arbitrarily high pressure and temperature, and even exists in systems where liquid-gas transition and the critical point are absent overall.     

Finite-size particles in turbulent channel flow: quadrant analysis and acceleration statistics

The interaction between finite-size particles and turbulent channel flow in the absence of gravity is studied by direct numerical simulations (DNS). The study is motivated by DNS observations of a turbulent channel flow with high-density, pointwise particles, that cluster in regions of high streamwise root-mean-square (RMS) acceleration close to the wall, contrary to what is observed in homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The aim of the present study is to explore if this is still the case when size effects are taken into account in the DNS. Based on the analysis of the velocity and acceleration statistics, the present DNS shows that, close to the wall, particles with ρ_p/ρ_f ranging from 2 to 4 are surrounded by regions with low streamwise RMS velocity but high streamwise RMS acceleration. According to the normalised particle acceleration probability density functions (PDFs), size effects become important in the near-wall region. As particle inertia increases, the normalised PDFs of particle acceleration tend to a Gaussian distribution. The tails of the normalised PDFs of the fluid conditioned by the presence of particles are higher than that of the unconditioned fluid close to the wall.     

Development and application of a diffusion-inertia model for calculating aerosol particle deposition from turbulent flows

Three-dimensional simulation of experiments on aerosol particle deposition in a turbulent flow is carried out. The k — ɛ turbulence model and the diffusion inertia model of particle transport and deposition were used in the simulation. The range of flow velocities and particle sizes is typical for the diffusion and turbophoresis deposition mechanisms. Deposition of particles in a turbulent flow is considered for cases of a direct vertical pipe and for a 90° bend in which the turbophoresis is coupled with centrifugal forces. The calculation results are in good agreement with experimental data. Deviations of results are comparable with those of discrete particle modeling.     

Effect of particles on the flow structure and dispersion of solid impurities in a two-phase axisymmetric jet

The Euler approach is used for studying the structure of a flow and the propagation of a disperse impurity in a submerged two-phase jet for small values of the mass concentration of particles (M _L1 = 0 to 0.5) upon a variation of the size and material of particles in a wide range. The effect of particles on the propagation of a two-phase jet, gas turbulence, and solid phase dispersion is analyzed. The addition of particles decreases the jet opening angle, increases the jet range, suppresses turbulence, and deteriorates turbulent mixing with the surrounding submerged space. It is shown that at the first stage, particle accumulation effects (pinching) in the axial region of the jet appear upon an increase in the particle size and the density of the particle material. Then, upon an increase in the inertia of particles, pinching changes to intense scattering of the disperse phase in the initial cross sections of the jet. The results are compared with the results of measurements for mono- and polydisperse two-phase jet flows.     

A subgrid model for clustering of high-inertia particles in large-eddy simulations of turbulence

Clustering (or preferential concentration) of inertial particles suspended in a homogeneous, isotropic turbulent flow is strongly influenced by the smallest scales of the turbulence. In particle-laden large-eddy simulations (LES) of turbulence, these small scales are not captured by the grid and hence their effect on particle motion needs to be modelled. In this paper, we use a subgrid model based on kinematic simulations of turbulence (Kinematic Simulation based SubGrid Model or KSSGM), for the first time in the context of predicting the clustering and the relative velocity statistics of inertial particles. This initial study focuses on the special case of inertial particles in the absence of gravitational settling. We show that the KSSGM gives excellent predictions for clustering in a priori tests for inertial particles with St ≥ 2.0, where St is the Stokes number, defined as the ratio of the particle response time to the Kolmogorov time-scale. To the best of our knowledge, the KSSGM represents the first model that has been shown to capture the effect of the subgrid scales on inertial particle clustering for St ≥ 2.0. We also show that the mean inward radial relative velocity between inertial particles (?w_r?^(?), which enters into the formula for the collision kernel) is accurately predicted by the KSSGM for all St. We explain why the model captures clustering at higher St?but not for lower St?, and provide new insights into the key statistical parameters of turbulence that a subgrid model would have to describe, in order to accurately predict clustering of low-St?particles in an LES.     

Heterogeneous dynamics at the glass transition in van der Waals liquids, in the bulk and in thin films

It has been shown over the last few years that the dynamics close to the glass transition is strongly heterogeneous, both by measuring the diffusion coefficient of tagged particles or by NMR studies. Recent experiments have also demonstrated that the glass transition temperature of thin polymer films can be shifted as compared to the same polymer in the bulk. We propose here first a thermodynamical model for van der Waals liquids, which accounts for experimental results regarding the bulk modulus of polymer melts and the evolution of the density with temperature. This model allows us to describe the density fluctuations in such van der Waals liquids. Then, by considering the thermally induced density fluctuations in the bulk, we propose that the 3D glass transition is controlled by the percolation of small domains of slow dynamics, which allows to explain the heterogeneous dynamics close to T _g. We show then that these domains percolate at a lower temperature in the quasi-2D case of thin suspended polymer films and we calculate the corresponding glass transition temperature reduction, in quantitative agreement with experimental results of Jones and co-workers. In the case of strongly adsorbed films, we show that the strong adsorption amounts to enhance the slow domains percolation. This effect leads to 1) a broadening of the glass transition and 2) an increase of T _g in quantitative agreement with experimental results. For both strongly and weakly adsorbed films, the shift in T _g is given by a power law, the exponent being the inverse of that of the correlation length of 3D percolation. Received 21 March 2000 and Received in final form 4 December 2000     

Vesicles and red blood cells in flow: From individual dynamics to rheology

The rheology of suspensions of soft particles, such as red blood cells, is a long-standing problem in science and engineering due to the complex interplay between deformable microstructure and the macroscale flow. The major challenge stems from the free-boundary nature of the particle interface. Lipid bilayer membranes that envelop cells and vesicles are particularly complex interfaces because of their unusual mechanics: the molecularly thin membrane is a highly-flexible incompressible fluid sheet. As a result, particles made of closed lipid bilayers (red cells and vesicles) can exhibit richer dynamics than would capsules and drops. We overview the key experimental observations and recent advances in the theoretical modeling of the vesicles and red blood cells in flow. To cite this article: P.M. Vlahovska et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).     

Enthalpy recovery of a glass-forming liquid constrained in a nanoporous matrix: Negative pressure effects

The T _g of organic liquids confined to nanoporous matrices and that of thin polymer films can decrease dramatically from the bulk value. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is the development of hydrostatic tension during vitrification under confinement that results in a concomitant increase in the free volume. Here we present experimental evidence and modeling results for ortho-terphenyl (o-TP) confined in pores as small as 11.6 nm that indicate that, although there is an important hydrostatic tension in the liquid in the pores, it does not develop until near the reduced T _g of the constrained material --well below the bulk T _g. Enthalpy recovery for the o-TP in the nanopores exhibits accelerated physical aging relative to the bulk, as well as a leveling off of the fictive temperature at equilibrium values greater than the aging temperature. An adaptation of the structural recovery model that incorporates vitrification under isochoric conditions is able to provide a quantitative explanation for the apparently anomalous aging observed in nanopore confined liquids and in thin polymeric films. The results strongly support the existence of an intrinsic size effect as the cause of the reduced T _g. Received 3 September 2001     

Criteria for the capture of large bottom particles by eddies in a dam break flow

The bottom layer of a dam break flow is experimentally studied. It is shown that the thickness of the viscous layer exceeds the diameter of a bottom particle (d _p < 1.2 cm). Small particles d _p < 0.05 cm are captured by single satellite eddies that occur under main eddies periodically formed in the viscous layer. Two satellite eddies approach each other and merge into one eddy capable of capturing a large particle if the flow velocity is higher than the critical value U _dip. The particle is captured for large U _cr > U _dip which provides particle rotation without slipping.     

Probing the adsorption of methylimidazole at ionic liquids/Cu electrode interface by surface‐enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy

Two kinds of room‐temperature ionic liquids, 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bromide ([BMIM]Br) and 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroboride ([BMIM]BF₄), were used as solvent, and the adsorption of the ionic liquids themselves and of N‐methylimidazole (NMIM) were investigated by electrochemical surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) over a wide potential window. The results revealed that the cation of ionic liquid adsorbed onto Cu surface with different configurations in different potential ranges. When the potential was changed from the negative to the positive range, the orientation underwent a change from flat to vertical, and the onset potential for the orientation change was dependent on the types of anion of the ionic liquid. The ionic liquid in bulk solution exhibited a remarkable effect on the adsorption of NMIM. The electrode surface structure changed from adsorbing the ionic liquid at the negative potential to coadsorbing the ionic liquid and NMIM at relative positive potential for the [BMIM]BF₄ liquids, and formed films of NMIM at extremely positive potential. Due to the strong specific adsorption of Br⁻, the coadsorption of ionic liquid and NMIM was not observed in the system [BMIM]Br. By simulating the electrode surroundings, two surface complexes [Cu(NMIM)₄Br]Br·H₂O and [Cu(NMIM)₄](BF₄)₂ were synthesized by the electrochemical method in the corresponding ionic liquids for modeling the surface coordination chemistry of NMIM. The surface coordination configuration of NMIM and ionic liquids is proposed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

稠密可压缩气粒两相流动中的等熵声速计算建模及物理规律

气体相与颗粒相混合流场的声速研究, 由于具有重要的基础理论价值与广泛的工程应用背景, 逐渐受到人们重视. 针对稠密可压缩气粒两相流动, 综合考虑颗粒相所占空间体积以及颗粒间相互作用, 推导给出了新的等熵声速计算公式; 新公式包含了已有的纯气体、稀疏气粒两相流情形的计算公式作为其特例, 一方面验证了公式推导的正确性, 另一方面说明新公式更具有通用性; 分析了不同颗粒质量分数条件下的声速变化规律, 相应结果与普朗特的理论分析符合, 特别对于稠密气粒两相流动工况得到了一些新的物理认识; 开展了颗粒间相互作用建模参数的物理分析, 揭示了其对气粒两相流动声速的影响机理. 本文取得的成果为稠密可压缩气粒两相流动研究以及相关工程应用提供理论支撑.