Granular Rayleigh-Taylor instability: experiments and simulations

A granular instability driven by gravity is studied experimentally and numerically. The instability arises as grains fall in a closed Hele-Shaw cell where a layer of dense granular material is positioned above a layer of air. The initially flat front defined by the grains subsequently develops into a pattern of falling granular fingers separated by rising bubbles of air. A transient coarsening of the front is observed right from the start by a finger merging process. The coarsening is later stabilized by new fingers growing from the center of the rising bubbles. The structures are quantified by means of Fourier analysis and quantitative agreement between experiment and computation is shown. This analysis also reveals scale invariance of the flow structures under overall change of spatial scale.     

非均匀激发介质中螺旋波的演化

采用简单的离散可激发介质模型研究了不同性质和形状的小异质性颗粒对螺旋波演化的影响,在小异质性颗粒均匀分布的情况下,螺旋波的失稳与小异质性颗粒的形状、分布密度和性质有关.数值研究结果表明:在适当的条件下,可以观察到稳定螺旋波发生漫游和螺旋波漂移出系统边界现象,首次观察到螺旋波破碎成空间无序的周期变化斑图和破碎成时空有序的迷宫斑图现象,简要讨论了产生这些现象的物理机理.     

In situ observation of dislocation behavior in nanometer grains

Using a newly developed nanoscale deformation device, atomic scale and time-resolved dislocation dynamics have been captured in situ under a transmission electron microscope during the deformation of a Pt ultrathin film with truly nanometer grains (diameter d< ~ 10 nm). We demonstrate that dislocations are highly active even in such tiny grains. For the larger grains (d ~ 10 nm), full dislocations dominate and their evolution sometimes leads to the formation, destruction, and reformation of Lomer locks. In smaller grains, partial dislocations generating stacking faults are prevalent.     

Granular fingers on jammed systems: new fluidlike patterns arising in grain-grain invasion experiments

In this Letter we report spontaneous pattern formation in dense granular assemblies confined to a Hele-Shaw cell and quasistatic regime. Varied unexpected patterns, ranging from rounded to fingered, are observed due to the displacement of one granular material by another. Computer simulations reproduce the major features observed in these experiments. Two mechanisms are responsible for the pattern formation: crystallization of the injected grains and plastic deformation of the displaced grains. The experiment suggests analogies with viscous fingering and jamming transition experiments.     

Note on Mechanism for Formation of Bulbs (Structures) in Complex Plasmas with Grains of Different Size

In this note the phenomena of formation of grain bulbs (compact grain structure) in presence of grains with different size is discussed from point of view of grain force balance. The requirement is found showing where in the equilibrium conditions the larger size grains are expelled from the regions of smaller size grains forming dust bulbs containing only the smallest size grains. The experiments where this phenomenon was observed are discussed. It is possible to conclude that these experiments can serve as direct evidence for existence of the non‐linear screening of individual grains and for excitation of collective large scale electric fields that balances the drag forces in domain of structures. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Structures,microstructures, physical and chemical properties of different rice grains

Herein, we demonstrated a well-rounded exploration of the universal structures, microstructures and physical properties of different rice grains. We show that these rice grains are nanocrystalline in nature, have the standard pattern of type A rice crystalline, and can be attributed to the hexagonal crystal structure with space group of P6. These rice grains have uneven surfaces, clusters of the granules, or schistose structure. Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen elements are presented in the rice grains. No significant difference is observed in FTIR spectra in these rice grains, indicating the fundamental chemical structures of these rice grains are analogical. Their microstructural and physical properties were investigated in detail. Moreover, chemical properties (e.g. thermal stability) of the rice grains were explored. This research provides an in-depth understanding on the physical and structural properties on the atomic and molecular level, as well as guidance for food and industry applications.     

Noise, coherent fluctuations, and the onset of order in an oscillated granular fluid

We study fluctuations in a vertically oscillated layer of grains below the critical acceleration for the onset of ordered standing waves. As onset is approached, transient disordered waves with a characteristic length scale emerge and increase in power and coherence. The scaling behavior and the shift in the onset of order agrees with the Swift-Hohenberg theory for convection in fluids. However, the noise in the granular system is an order of magnitude larger than the thermal noise in the most sensitive convecting fluid experiments to date; the effect of the granular noise is observable 20% below the onset of order.     

Studies of the domain structure of anisotropic sintered SmCo5 permanent magnets

In this work, investigations of the magnetic microstructure of anisotropic sintered SmCo₅ permanent magnets with high coercivity have been made using the colloid-scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). The magnets were produced by powder metallurgy (sintering) process and consisted of oriented grains with an average size of about 20 μm. They were studied in the thermally demagnetized state. Owing to the application of digital image recording, enhancement and analysis, high-quality images of the magnetic microstructure were obtained and analyzed not only qualitatively but also quantitatively. Improvements over previous results were achieved. The grains show the presence of magnetic domains, as expected. At the surface perpendicular to the alignment axis, the coarse domain structure in the form of a maze pattern with surface reverse spikes is observed. The main (maze) domains had typical widths 3–5 μm. The reverse spike domains were imaged as circles typically 1–2 μm in diameter or as elongated regions up to about 6 μm in length. Interestingly, in addition to the coarse maze domains and reverse spikes near the surface, a fine surface domain structure is revealed with MFM. The fine scale domains are found to be magnetized perpendicular to the surface and their occurrence is attributed to further reduction of the magnetostatic energy at the cost of a larger domain wall energy. On the surface parallel to the alignment axis, the main domains within individual grains are imaged as stripe domains with domain walls running approximately parallel to the alignment axis, while reverse spike domains are displayed in the form of triangular domains and occur near some grain boundaries, pores or precipitations. The magnetic alignment of grains was found to be good, but certainly not perfect. In most cases the domain structures within grains were independent of their neighbors, but in some cases (not so rare) observations indicated the existence of significant magnetostatic coupling between neighboring grains. The main and surface domain widths were determined by digital means using the stereologic method of Bodenberger and Hubert. Moreover, the domain wall energy and other intrinsic parameters for the studied magnets were determined.     

Optical dating of single sand-sized grains of quartz: sources of variability

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements have been made of over 3000 sand-sized grains of quartz. Analysis at this scale highlights the variability in the luminescence sensitivity and the dose saturation characteristics of individual quartz grains. Using a new instrument capable of measuring single grains it is feasible to routinely measure the equivalent dose from many hundreds of grains from each sample. Analysis of such datasets requires assessment of the uncertainties on each equivalent dose since these may vary significantly. This paper assesses the significance of signal intensity, dose saturation characteristics and instrument uncertainty in equivalent dose calculation.     

Modelling of nanometer scale dust grains in tokamak

Dust poses a serious threat to tokamak operation and safety. It is important to study the behaviour of dust grains under tokamak's discharge conditions, which depends heavily on their size and charge. Existing simulations mainly address issues on dust grains with radii larger than 1 μm, in which case, the drift effect due to electromagnetic fields can be safely ignored. For nanometer scale dust grains, however, the drift effect becomes significant and a new model based on guiding-centre system needs to be established. In this work, the NDS has been done under BOUT++ framework. The simulation contains two parts. Part one, NDS evaluates the charging and ablation processes of the dust grains. In the second part, the guiding-centre orbits of dust particles are tracked in tokamak plasmas, whose parameters are obtained from BOUT++, a highly desirable C++ code package for performing parallel plasma fluid simulations with an arbitrary number of equations in 3D curvilinear coordinates. The orbit of nanodust dynamics is described by guiding centre equations for simplicity, and these equations are numerically solved by conventional fourth-order Runge Kutta method. Simulations provide results such as trajectories and evolutions of dust particles with different sizes and velocities for different tokamak geometries. Results show tungsten dust grains with a radius of a few nanometers launched from outer midplane will oscillate before totally ablated in C-Mod. The oscillation in this case is driven by the ion drag force. Larger Nanodust with a radius of 100 nm, on the contrary, cannot be completely constrained by the electromagnetic field. The high plasma temperature and density in the seperatrix region causes severe dust ablation, resulting in total ablation within several ms.     

Effect of radiative cooling on collapsing charged grains

The effect of the radiative cooling of electrons on the gravitational collapse of cold dust grains with fluctuating electric charge is investigated. We find that the radiative cooling as well as the charge fluctuations, both, enhance the growth rate of the Jeans instability. However, the Jeans length, which is zero for cold grains and nonradiative plasma, becomes finite in the presence of radiative cooling of electrons and is further enhanced due to charge fluctuations of grains resulting in an increased threshold of the spatial scale for the Jeans instability.     

Tunable two-mirror interference lithography system for wafer-scale nanopatterning

We have designed and analyzed a novel (to the best of our knowledge) two-beam interference lithography system for large-area (wafer-level) nanopatterning with enhanced tunability of pattern periodicities. The tunable feature has been achieved by placing two rotational mirrors in the expanded beam paths at regulated angles for a desired period. Theoretical analyses show that the effective pattern coverage area greater than a 4 in. (10 cm) wafer scale is attainable with a 325 nm (30 cm coherence length) HeCd laser and 4 in. (10 cm) mirrors, while the pattern coverage area is restrained by the overruling effects between the optical coherence and mirror size. The experimental results also demonstrate uniform nanopatterns at varying periods (250-750 nm) on 4 in. (10 cm) substrates, validating the theoretical analyses. The tunable two-mirror interferometer will offer a convenient and robust way to prepare large-area nanostructures on a wafer scale with superior tunability in their pattern periodicities.     

Coarsening dynamics of striped patterns in thin granular layers under vertical vibration

The process of pattern formation in granular layers was experimentally studied. Ten layers of granular materials inside a vacuum container were placed under a vertical vibration of A sin2pi f t. Control parameters were the dimensionless acceleration Gamma = A(2pi f)(2)/g and vibration frequency f. When the system was quenched from a flat pattern state to a striped pattern state by instantly increasing Gamma, there were more than 10(4) periods before a full steady striped pattern appeared. This nonequilibrium and nonsteady process showed dynamic scaling behavior. The growth exponent of the characteristic length scale of the ordered domain was 0.25, which agrees with that of the Swift-Hohenberg system.     

The effect of optically-induced random anisotropic disorder on a two-dimensional electron system

We have studied the effect of optically-induced random, anisotropic disorder on the magnetoresistance of a Al_0.3Ga_0.7As/ GaAs two-dimensional electron system by exposing the heterojunction to an asymmetric laser speckle pattern. Changes in the amplitude of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations can be explained in terms of easy and hard conductivity paths parallel and perpendicular to the long axis of the oval speckle grains. We also observe corresponding changes in the electron scattering rates.     

Rayleigh-Bénard convection in large-aspect-ratio domains

The coarsening and wave number selection of striped states growing from random initial conditions are studied in a nonrelaxational, spatially extended, and far-from-equilibrium system by performing large-scale numerical simulations of Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a large-aspect-ratio cylindrical domain with experimentally realistic boundaries. We find evidence that various measures of the coarsening dynamics scale in time with different power-law exponents, indicating that multiple length scales are required in describing the time dependent pattern evolution. The translational correlation length scales with time as t0.12, the orientational correlation length scales as t0.54, and the density of defects scale as t(-0.45). The final pattern evolves toward the wave number where isolated dislocations become motionless, suggesting a possible wave number selection mechanism for large-aspect-ratio convection.     

Geometry estimation of planar swarm patterns

Phenomena of coupled individuals or particles aggregating to form cohesive patterns are ubiquitous in nature and human society. Estimation of the pattern geometry is of interest in many cases. This Letter considers a planar swarm system consisting of finite particles with long-range attractive and short-range repulsive interactions. An analytical approach is presented to evaluate the relative distance of neighboring particles and the diameter of the swarm pattern. The method is based on a scale transformation on minimum interaction potential condition of the steady state of the system, and can give conditions determining distance between neighboring particles in the steady state pattern as well as the size of it, under certain distribution assumptions. Numerical simulations are also carried out to show effectiveness of the approach.     

Dynamics of counterpropagating waves in parametrically driven systems: dispersion vs. advection

The dynamics of parametrically driven counterpropagating waves in a one-dimensional extended nearly conservative annular system are described by two coupled, damped, parametrically driven nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations with opposite transport terms due to the group velocity, and small dispersion. The system is characterized by two length scales defined by a balance between (a) forcing and dispersion (the dispersive scale), and (b) forcing and advection at the group velocity (the transport scale). Both are large compared to the basic wavelength of the pattern. The dispersive scale plays an important role in the structure of solutions arising from secondary instabilities of frequency-locked spatially uniform standing waves (SW), and manifests itself both in traveling pulses or fronts and in extended spatio-temporal chaos, depending on the signs of the dispersion coefficient and nonlinearity.     

Strain localisation in granular media

This paper discusses strain localisation in granular media by presenting experimental, full-field analysis of mechanical tests on sand, both at a continuum level, as well as at the grain scale. At the continuum level, the development of structures of localised strain can be studied. Even at this scale, the characteristic size of the phenomena observed is in the order of a few grains. In the second part of this paper, therefore, the development of shear bands within specimen of different sands is studied at the level of the individual grains, measuring grains kinematics with x-ray tomography. The link between grain angularity and grain rotation within shear bands is shown, allowing a grain-scale explanation of the difference in macroscopic residual stresses for materials with different grain shapes. Finally, rarely described precursors of localisation, emerging well before the stress peak are observed and commented.     

机器视觉在激光干涉测量d31中的应用

提出一种应用机器视觉技术的激光干涉法, 可以研究压电材料的逆压电系数. 在传统干涉测量法中引入机器视觉实现干涉图像灰度最佳估计, 使用数字图像处理技术, 一方面应用降噪算法有效去除激光干涉图样中的噪声, 从而确定激光干涉场的光强分布, 另一方面将干涉图样的明暗变化进一步转化为可量度的灰度变化以提高测量分辨力. 通过合理设计算法, 该方法中对位移的理论测量分辨力可以提高达一个数量级, 为干涉光波长的1/1024, 因此在逆压电系数d₃₁ 的实验测量中可以有效提高分辨力. 关键词： 机器视觉 逆压电系数 双光束干涉 数字图像处理     

Velocity correlations in dense granular flows observed with internal imaging

We show that the velocity correlations in uniform dense granular flows inside a silo are similar to the hydrodynamic response of an elastic hard-sphere liquid. The measurements are made using a fluorescent refractive-index-matched interstitial fluid in a regime where the flow is dominated by grains in enduring contact and fluctuations scale with the distance traveled, independent of flow rate. The velocity autocorrelation function of the grains in the bulk shows a negative correlation at short time and slow oscillatory decay to zero similar to simple liquids. Weak spatial velocity correlations are observed over several grain diameters. The mean square displacements show an inflection point indicative of caging dynamics. The observed correlations are qualitatively different at the boundaries.