Flow focusing and jet instability

流动聚焦是一种有效的微细射流产生方法,其原理可以描述为从毛细管流出的流体由另一种高速运动的流体驱动,经小孔聚焦后形成稳定的锥–射流结构,射流因不稳定性破碎成单分散的液滴.自从1998年流动聚焦被提出以来,陆续发展了单轴流动聚焦、电流动聚焦、复合流动聚焦和微流控流动聚焦等毛细流动技术.这些技术稳定、易操作、没有苛刻的环境条件的要求,能够制备单分散性较好的微纳米量级的液滴、颗粒和胶囊,在科学研究和实际应用中具有重要价值.流动聚焦涉及了多尺度、多界面和多场耦合的复杂流体力学问题,其中稳定的锥形是形成稳定射流的先决条件,过程参数是影响射流界面扰动发展的关键因素,而射流不稳定性分析是揭示射流破碎的最主要理论工具.该文回顾了近二十年来不同结构流动聚焦的研究进展,概述这些技术涉及的过程控制、流动模式、尺度律和不稳定性分析等关键力学问题,总结射流不稳定性的研究方法和已取得的成果,最后展望流动聚焦的研究方向和应用前景.     

流动聚焦及射流不稳定性

流动聚焦是一种有效的微细射流产生方法,其原理可以描述为从毛细管流出的流体由另一种高速运动的流体驱动,经小孔聚焦后形成稳定的锥-射流结构,射流因不稳定性破碎成单分散的液滴.自从1998年流动聚焦被提出以来,陆续发展了单轴流动聚焦、电流动聚焦、复合流动聚焦和微流控流动聚焦等毛细流动技术.这些技术稳定、易操作、没有苛刻的环境条件的要求,能够制备单分散性较好的微纳米量级的液滴、颗粒和胶囊,在科学研究和实际应用中具有重要价值.流动聚焦涉及了多尺度、多界面和多场耦合的复杂流体力学问题,其中稳定的锥形是形成稳定射流的先决条件,过程参数是影响射流界面扰动发展的关键因素,而射流不稳定性分析是揭示射流破碎的最主要理论工具.该文回顾了近二十年来不同结构流动聚焦的研究进展,概述这些技术涉及的过程控制、流动模式、尺度律和不稳定性分析等关键力学问题,总结射流不稳定性的研究方法和已取得的成果,最后展望流动聚焦的研究方向和应用前景.     

流动聚焦实验

介绍了一种制备微纳米量级颗粒的流动聚焦技术,它的最基本的特点是从毛细管流出的液体由高速运动气体驱动经小孔聚焦形成稳定的锥,锥顶端射出的微射流因不稳定性破碎成小颗粒.实验在自行设计的装置上完成.分析了流动聚焦技术中影响锥-射流以及颗粒形貌的因素,总结了过程中装置的结构参数以及气体压力降、液体流量和物性等参数对射流的直径的影响.结果显示该技术制备的颗粒单分散性好,直径达到微米和亚微米量级,在工业方面有重大应用前景.     

黏性对内空泡诱导柱状液滴界面不稳定性的影响

Rayleigh-Taylor不稳定性存在于爆炸、液滴形成和液体喷雾等工程应用过程中,是流体力学关注的经典问题之一.内空泡振荡诱导液滴界面演化问题是其研究中基本模型之一,空泡振荡作用下液滴界面发生扰动并发展,其特征形态主要表现为破碎、通气和稳定.液体黏性是影响界面不稳定性发展的重要因素,文章通过建立高精度的数值模拟方法,开展液体黏性对内空泡诱导柱状液滴界面不稳定性的影响研究.在数值模拟中,基于开源OpenFOAM框架的多相可压缩求解器直接求解Navier-Stokes方程,采用isoAdvector的几何流体体积法捕捉界面演化特征.结果表明,液体黏性的增加会减缓空泡的收缩,进而减缓液滴界面扰动的发展,该影响下通气工况液滴通气发生时间增加,而稳定工况最大扰动幅值减小.最大扰动幅值的减小直接影响了液滴的特征形态,基于一系列数值模拟结果归纳得到液滴不稳定性相图.在文章讨论的参数范围内,随着黏性增加,小液滴(R_d0 <2 mm)的形态从破碎转变为通气进而变成稳定;中液滴(2 mm d0 <3 mm)的形态从通气转变为稳定,不出现...     

电场作用下流动聚焦的实验研究

通过在流动聚焦的同轴液-气射流区域施加电场, 开展了电场力和气动力共同作用下锥形以及带电射流的不稳定性特性实验研究. 实验在精密设计的流动聚焦装置上完成, 分析了外部电压、气体压力降和液体流量等主要控制参数对流动聚焦过程的影响, 获得了锥形的振动模式和稳定模式及其之间的转换, 得到了射流的滴模式、轴对称模式、共存模式和非轴对称模式及其转换并定量分析了电场对射流尺寸参数的影响. 结果表明, 相比于单一的流动聚焦, 该方法能够增强锥形的稳定性, 促进液体射流雾化, 减小颗粒的直径, 因此在科技领域和工程实际中具有重要的应用价值.      

气流作用下同轴带电射流的不稳定性研究

通过对气体驱动同轴电流动聚焦的实验模型进行简化,开展了电场力和惯性力共同作用下同轴带电射流的不稳定性理论研究.在流动为无黏、不可压缩、无旋的假设下,建立了三层流体带电射流物理模型并得到了扰动在时间域内发展演化的解析形式色散关系,利用正则模方法求解色散方程发现了流动的不稳定模态,进而分析了主要控制参数对不稳定模态的影响.结果表明,在参考状态下轴对称模态的最不稳定增长率最大,因此轴对称扰动控制整个流场.外层气流速度越高,气体惯性力越大,射流的界面越容易失稳.内外层液-液同轴射流之间的速度差越大,射流越不稳定.表面张力对射流不稳定性起到促进作用.轴向电场对射流不稳定性具有双重影响:当加载电场强度较小时,射流不稳定性被抑制;当施加电压大于某一临界值时,轴向电场会促进射流失稳.临界电压的大小与界面上自由电荷密度和射流表面扰动发展关系密切.这些结果与已有的实验现象吻合,能够对实验的过程控制提供理论指导.     

电流动聚焦中非牛顿流体射流影响因素的实验研究

在一套流动聚焦装置上加载高压直流电场形成电流动聚焦,并开展了非牛顿流体带电射流的不稳定性特性实验研究。实验在自行设计的装置系统上完成,获得了电流动聚焦中非牛顿流体射流的流动状态,考察了不同控制参数下射流形态的变化。结果表明,由于非牛顿流体具有粘弹性,与牛顿流体相比,非牛顿流体带电射流体现了更复杂的流动特点。这些实验结果为我们理解复杂条件下非牛顿流体射流的流动机理提供了参考,也有助于深入的实验分析和理论研究奠定了基础。     

平面激波冲击并排液滴的三维数值模拟研究

采用三维守恒清晰界面数值方法, 研究平面激波冲击并排液滴的动力学过程. 研究的焦点在于激波接触液滴后的复杂波系结构生成, 以及并排液滴相互耦合作用诱导的单个液滴非对称界面演化. 首先, 分析并排液滴之间界面通道内的波系结构发展, 发现在冲击初期由于反射激波相交而形成新的反射激波以及马赫杆; 这些流动现象与液滴另外一侧 (非通道侧) 由激波反射所形成的弯曲波阵面截然不同, 而且所导致的液滴横向两侧流场差异是中后期冲击过程液滴两侧界面非对称演化的主要原因. 其次, 研究冲击中期时, 特别是入射激波已运动至液滴下游并远离并排液滴, 界面形态的演化过程和规律, 揭示通道下游出口处由于气流膨胀导致的界面闭合、以及随后气流阻塞导致的界面破碎等新的流动现象. 最后, 研究液滴间距对并排液滴相互作用的影响规律, 发现液滴间距大小与通道内压力峰值具有明显的关联关系. 研究表明, 更小的液滴间距不仅带来更大的压力峰值, 而且使得峰值出现的时间更早.      

合成射流技术及其在流动控制中应用的进展

流动控制是流体技术最主要的研究领域,21世纪的空气动力学将在流动控制领域取得重大突破; 合成射流是一种基于旋涡运动的零质量射流,是流动控制领域近10年来最热门活跃的流动主动控制技术.首先介绍了合成射流激励器及激励器的基本类型,并概括了激励器的主要发展方向,即宽频域、高动量、``强壮'的合成射流激励器和微小型激励器.尔后,对合成射流激励器工作原理、合成射流结构以及合成射流独特的流场特征和合成射流技术的特点进行了综述.最后着重对合成射流技术主要和潜在应用,如流动分离及气动力控制、射流矢量控制、增强掺混及加强传热和传质、抑制噪声、微流体控制、飞行控制以及粒子的散布控制、合成射流陀螺仪技术等进行了介绍和综述,同时对其在各应用领域的控制机理进行了归纳总结.      

爆炸驱动液体分层现象和液滴尺寸模拟

爆炸驱动液体介质外界面的分散和破碎是气溶胶云团形成的重要过程。采用基于维数分裂的欧拉程序和Youngs混合界面处理方法,对中心药爆炸驱动甘油和水介质流场的液体分层现象进行了数值模拟。结合试验结果推断提出了液滴形成过程的三种并存机制:外层射流破碎、内层R-T失稳和中间液层"空化"破碎,分别建立了不同液层破碎液滴的尺寸模拟方法。对比给出抛撒甘油和水装置初级液滴的尺寸分布及最外层理论射流量。     

A computational analysis of the hydrodynamic instability of a liquid jet focused into a converging microchannel

The instability of a focused liquid jet is studied by semi-analytical methods and by methods of computational fluid dynamics. The semi-analytical approach relies on earlier work on the instability of an extending liquid thread and is based on the Stokes flow regime and small-amplitude perturbations. The evolution of different excitation modes is evaluated and compared. Through hydrodynamic focusing and the corresponding extensional flow an initially stable mode may become unstable and it depends on the position away from the inlet which mode is to be regarded as the most unstable one. When plotting a hypothetical jet decay length against the excitation wave number, a comparatively broad minimum is exhibited. The CFD simulations based on the volume-of-fluid method show that the jet may break up either in the conical focusing zone or in the attached capillary, depending on the flow velocity. When the deformation of the jet surface reaches a certain amplitude, the jet assumes a “beads-on-a-string” structure instead of a shape derived from a harmonic perturbation. A jet decay within the capillary produces elongated droplets with cusped ends. When comparing the results of the CFD and the semi-analytical model, it turns out that the CFD simulations predict more stable jets with a larger decay length. An analysis of the flow velocity field shows that the increased stability might be due to the interaction of the jet with the channel walls.     

An Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup

In this paper we present a numerical model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup using an Eulerian–Lagrangian coupling. To picture the unresolved droplet formation near the liquid jet interface in the case of coarse grids we considered a theoretical model to describe the unresolved flow instabilities leading to turbulent breakup. These entrained droplets are then represented by an Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid concept. On the one hand, we used a volume of fluid method (VOF) to characterize the global spreading and the initiation of droplet formation; one the other hand, Lagrangian droplets are released at the liquid–gas interface according to the theoretical model balancing consolidating and disruptive energies. Here, a numerical coupling was required between Eulerian liquid core and Lagrangian droplets using mass and momentum source terms. The presented methodology was tested for different liquid jets in Rayleigh, wind-induced and atomization regimes and validated against literature data. This comparison reveals fairly good qualitative agreement in the cases of jet spreading, jet instability and jet breakup as well as relatively accurate size distribution and Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the droplets. Furthermore, the model was able to capture the regime transitions from Rayleigh instability to atomization appropriately. Finally, the presented sub-grid model predicts the effect of the gas-phase pressure on the droplet sizes very well.     

The effect of surfactants on the instability of a rotating liquid jet

It has long been known that the presence of surfactants on the free surface of a liquid jet can create surface tension gradients along the interface. The resulting formation of tangential stresses along the surface lead to Marangoni type flows and greatly affect the resulting dynamics of rupture. In this way surfactants can be used to manipulate the breakup of a liquid jet and control the size of droplets produced. In this paper we investigate the effects of insoluble surfactants on the breakup of rotating liquid jets with applications to industrial prilling. Using a long wavelength approximation we reduce the governing equations into a set of one-dimensional equations. We use an asymptotic theory to find steady solutions and then carry out a linear instability analysis on these solutions. We show that steady state centreline solutions are independent of viscosity to leading order and that the most unstable wavenumber and growth rate of disturbances decrease as the effectiveness of surfactants is increased. We also numerically solve these equations using a finite difference scheme to investigate the effects of changing the initial surfactant concentration and other fluid parameters. Our results show that differences in breakup lengths between rotating surfactant-laden jets and surfactant-free jets increase with the rate of rotation. Moreover, we find that satellite droplet sizes decrease as the rate of rotation is decreased with the effect of surfactants amplifying the reduction in sizes. Furthermore, the presence of surfactants at fixed rotation rates is shown to produce larger main droplets at low disturbance wavenumbers whilst satellite droplets are smaller for moderate disturbance wavenumbers κ≈0.7.     

Nonlinear analysis of the deformation and breakup of viscous microjets using the method of lines

We present a numerical model for predicting the instability and breakup of viscous microjets of Newtonian fluid. We adopt a one‐dimensional slender‐jet approximation and obtain the equations of motion in the form of a pair of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs). We solve these equations using the method of lines, wherein the PDEs are transformed to a system of ordinary differential equations for the nodal values of the jet variables on a uniform staggered grid. We use the model to predict the instability and satellite formation in infinite microthreads of fluid and continuous microjets that emanate from an orifice. For the microthread analysis, we take into account arbitrary initial perturbations of the free‐surface and jet velocity, as well as Marangoni instability that is due to an arbitrary variation in the surface tension. For the continuous nozzle‐driven jet analysis, we take into account arbitrary time‐dependent perturbations of the free‐surface, velocity and/or surface tension as boundary conditions at the nozzle orifice. We validate the model using established computational data, as well as axisymmetric, volume of fluid (VOF) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations. The key advantages of the model are its ease of implementation and speed of computation, which is several orders of magnitude faster than the VOF CFD simulations. The model enables rapid parametric analysis of jet breakup and satellite formation as a function of jet dimensions, modulation parameters, and fluid rheology. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation on flow modes of electrospinning

Electrospinning experiments are performed byusing a set of experimental apparatus,a stroboscopic systemis adopted for capturing instantaneous images of the conejet configuration.The cone and the jet of aqueous solutionsof polyethylene oxide(PEO) are formed from an orifice of acapillary tube under the electric field.The viscoelastic constitutive relationship of the PEO solution is measured anddiscussed.The phenomena owing to the jet instability aredescribed,five flow modes and corresponding structures areobtained with variations of the fluid flow rate Q,the electricpotential U and the distance h from the orifice of the capillary tube to the collector.The flow modes of the cone-jetconfiguration involves the steady bending mode,the rotating bending mode,the swinging rotating mode,the blurringbending mode and the branching mode.Regimes in the Q-Uplane of the flow modes are also obtained.These results mayprovide the fundamentals to predict the operating conditionsexpected in practical applications.     

Bag breakup of nonturbulent liquid jets in crossflow

An experimental investigation of the bag breakup of round nonturbulent liquid jets in gaseous crossflow at room temperature and pressure is described. Pulsed photography, pulsed shadowgraphy, and high-speed imaging were used to observe the column and surface waves along the liquid jet and the formation and breakup of bags. Measurements included: wavelengths of column and surface waves, jet velocities, the number of bags along the liquid jet, the number of nodes per bag, droplets sizes and velocities, and trajectories of droplets. Present results show that the column waves of a nonturbulent liquid jet in crossflow within bag breakup regime can be explained based on Rayleigh–Taylor instability. The number of nodes per bag affected the breakup mechanism of the bags. Three distinctive sizes of droplets were produced due the breakup of the bag membrane, the ring strings and the ring nodes. The size of the droplets resulting from the breakup of the bag membrane was constant independent of the crossflow Weber number. Finally different trajectories were observed for the three groups of droplets.     

Large eddy simulation and experiment of shear breakup in liquid-liquid jet: Formation of ligaments and droplets

Understanding the shear breakup in jet flows and the formation of droplets from ligaments is important to determine the final droplet size distribution (DSD). The initial droplet size, which affects the final DSD, is considered to be generated by the shear breakup. Large eddy simulation (LES) was performed to investigate the shear breakup in liquid-liquid jet flows. The explicit Volume of Fluid (VOF) model with the geometric reconstruction scheme was used to capture the oil-water interface. The estimated oil distribution including wave peaks, ligaments, droplets and water streaks were compared to the experiments with a good agreement. The estimated DSD matched with the measurements favorably well. In the simulation, the formation of droplets with a smooth and curved surface from ligaments or sheet-like structures was obtained. Different mechanisms were observed along with the shear layer including the formation of droplets from ligament through the capillary forces, breakage of a droplet into smaller ones and attachment of a droplet to a ligament. The destructive shear forces and resisting surface tension forces were quantified on stretching and retracting ligaments. The influence of internal viscous force was found to be negligible due to low oil viscosity. The critical capillary number was found to be larger than 5.0 for ligaments breaking with the shear breakup. The capillary number was below unity for retracting ligaments. The coalescence of two equal-sized droplets was obtained in the shear breakup region. The shear stress magnitude at the contact region increased more than two folds. The total surface area decreased nearly 20% after the coalescence.