Spreading and retraction dynamics of smectic liquid crystal domains at interfaces

The spreading of a liquid drop over liquid subphase can be driven by change in interfacial tension mediated through a surfactant, volatile solvent or photoinduced reaction. In contrast to the spreading dynamics of a liquid drop, a liquid crystal drop with anisotropic structure can lead to interesting behaviour due to its viscoelasticity and anchoring at the interfaces. Recently, we have reported studies on unusual spreading and retraction dynamics of a smectic domain doped with a fluorescent dye in the collapsed state of a Langmuir monolayer. Under epifluorescence microscope, during excitation, a stack of layers of the dye-doped smectic domain gets sheared causing the domain to spread asymmetrically. Further, due to line tension, the domain transforms into a circular shape. We also find the domain size to be about twice that of the initial size. Interestingly, in the absence of excitation, the domain retracts to a smaller area. During retraction of the domain, successive generation of edge dislocation loops arising from a nucleus results in an increase in the domain thickness. The dynamics of spreading and retraction of the domain can be understood by invoking changes in the spreading coefficient due to photoinduced modification of the interfacial tension.     

Issue Information

An integrated finite element method (FEM) is proposed to simulate incompressible two‐phase flows with surface tension effects, and three different surface tension models are applied to the FEM to investigate spurious currents and temporal stability. A Q2Q1 element is adopted to solve the continuity and Navier–Stokes equations and a Q2‐iso‐Q1 to solve the level set equation. The integrated FEM solves pressure and velocity simultaneously in a strongly coupled manner; the level set function is reinitialized by adopting a direct approach using interfacial geometry information instead of solving a conventional hyperbolic‐type equation. In addition, a consistent continuum surface force (consistent CSF) model is utilized by employing the same basis function for both surface tension and pressure variables to damp out spurious currents and to estimate the accurate pressure distribution. The model is further represented as a semi‐implicit manner to improve temporal stability with an increased time step. In order to verify the accuracy and robustness of the code, the present method is applied to a few benchmark problems of the static bubble and rising bubble with large density and viscosity ratios. The Q2Q1‐integrated FEM coupled with the semi‐implicit consistent CSF demonstrates the significantly reduced spurious currents and improved temporal stability. The numerical results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreements with those of the existing studies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the usage of NURBS as interface representation in free‐surface flows

When simulating free‐surface flows using the finite element method, there are many cases where the governing equations require information which must be derived from the available discretized geometry. Examples are curvature or normal vectors. The accurate computation of this information directly from the finite element mesh often requires a high degree of refinement—which is not necessarily required to obtain an accurate flow solution. As a remedy and an option to be able to use coarser meshes, the representation of the free surface using non‐uniform rational B‐splines (NURBS) curves or surfaces is investigated in this work. The advantages of a NURBS parameterization in comparison with the standard approach are discussed. In addition, it is explored how the pressure jump resulting from surface tension effects can be handled using doubled interface nodes. Numerical examples include the computation of surface tension in a two‐phase flow as well as the computation of normal vectors as a basis for mesh deformation methods. For these examples, the improvement of the numerical solution compared with the standard approaches on identical meshes is shown. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interaction of Quillaja bark saponins with food-relevant proteins

The surface activity and aggregation behaviour of two Quillaja bark saponins (QBS) are compared using surface tension, conductometry and light scattering. Despite formally of the same origin (bark of the Quillaja saponaria Molina tree), the two QBS show markedly different ionic characters and critical micelle concentrations (7.7 · 10^− 6 mol·dm^− 3 and 1.2 · 10^− 4 mol·dm^− 3). The new interpretation of the surface tension isotherms for both QBS allowed us to propose an explanation for the previous discrepancy concerning the orientation of the saponin molecules in the adsorbed layer.     

固体的冲击拉伸碎裂

固体材料在冲击拉伸载荷作用下常常会断裂成多个碎片(碎片化)，固体材料碎片化的物理机制是多点损伤同时在固体中成核和发展，导致固体多处破坏。自 Mott 对固体的动态碎裂问题进行了开创性研究后，几十年来，对固体动态碎裂机制的研究一直是应用物理学、力学、航天和兵器工程等领域共同关心的重要课题。本文介绍了在冲击拉伸载荷作用下固体的动态碎裂研究的发展历史，给出相关的理论分析、实验研究和数值模拟的研究进展，特别针对现有的各种关于碎片尺度、碎片分布、以及碎片化物理机制的理论模型进行了较详尽的阐述和讨论，最后指出现有实验和理论研究中仍然存在的关键科学问题及进一步的研究展望。     

Many-body and quantum effects in the surface tension and surface energy of liquid neon and argon using the Fowler’s approximation

The Fowler’s expression for calculation of the reduced surface tension and surface energy has been used with Lennard-Jones (LJ) and two-body Hartree-Fock dispersion (HFD)-like potentials for neon and argon, respectively. The required radial distribution functions (RDFs) have been used from two recently determined expressions in the literature and a new equation proposed in this work. Quantum corrections for neon system have been considered using the Feynman-Hibbs (FH) and Wigner-Kirkwood (WK) approaches. To take many-body forces into account for argon system, the simple three-body potentials of Wang and Sadus (2006) [33] and Hauschild and Prausnitz (1993) [30] used with the HFD-like potential without requiring an expensive three-body calculation. The results show that the quantum and three-body effects improve the prediction of the surface tension of liquid neon and argon using the Fowler’s expression.     

The Spin-Coating Process: Analysis of the Free Boundary Value Problem

In this paper, an accurate model of the spin-coating process is presented and investigated from the analytical point of view. More precisely, the spin-coating process is being described as a one-phase free boundary value problem for Newtonian fluids subject to surface tension and rotational effects. It is proved that for T > 0 there exists a unique, strong solution to this problem in (0, T) belonging to a certain regularity class provided the data and the speed of rotation are small enough in suitable norms. The strategy of the proof is based on a transformation of the free boundary value problem to a quasilinear evolution equation on a fixed domain. The keypoint for solving the latter equation is the so-called maximal regularity approach. In order to pursue in this direction one needs to determine the precise regularity classes for the associated inhomogeneous linearized equations. This is being achieved by applying the Newton polygon method to the boundary symbol.     

Disjoining pressure and the film-height-dependent surface tension of thin liquid films: New insight from capillary wave fluctuations

In this paper we review simulation and experimental studies of thermal capillary wave fluctuations as an ideal means for probing the underlying disjoining pressure and surface tensions, and more generally, fine details of the Interfacial Hamiltonian Model. We discuss recent simulation results that reveal a film-height-dependent surface tension not accounted for in the classical Interfacial Hamiltonian Model. We show how this observation may be explained bottom-up from sound principles of statistical thermodynamics and discuss some of its implications.     

悬链线竖向集中力作用下的构形分析和张力计算

目前,悬链线在竖向集中力和均布荷载共同作用下的构形分析和受力计算的理论仍不完善。针对这一问题,通过引入悬链线的几何约束方程、力平衡方程和超越方程,建立了竖向集中力与均布荷载共同作用下的非线性方程组。采用牛顿迭代法求解方程组,得到了悬链线的构形和受力情况。为了验证理论计算的正确性,进行了算例和试验验证。结果表明,算例的计算结果与文献结论保持一致,试验测得的构形和水平张力大小与理论计算的构形和水平张力大小吻合较好。本文的理论计算可以更加简单精确地计算出悬链线在竖向集中力和均布荷载共同作用下的构形和受力情况,为实际工程提供重要的理论指导。