Numerical simulation of multiphase cavitating flows around an underwater projectile

The present simulation investigates the multiphase cavitating flow around an underwater projectile. Based on the Homogeneous Equilibrium Flow assumption, a mixture model is applied to simulate the multiphase cavitating flow including ventilated cavitation caused by air injection as well as natural cavitation that forms in a region where the pressure of liquid falls below its vapor pressure. The transport equation cavitating model is applied. The calculations are executed based on a suite of CFD code. The hydrodynamics characteristics of flow field under the interaction of natural cavitation and ventilated cavitation is analyzed. The results indicate that the ventilated cavitation number is under a combined effect of the natural cavitation number and gas flow rate in the multiphase cavitating flows.     

Ultrasonic free fatty acids esterification in tobacco and canola oil

Ultrasound accelerates the free fatty acids esterification rate by reducing the mass transfer resistance between methanol in the liquid phase and absorbed organic species on Amberlyst®46 catalyst. The reaction rates of canola oil is three times greater than for tobacco seed oil but half the reaction rate of pure oleic acid as measured in a batch reactor. The beneficial effects of ultrasound vs. the conventional approach are more pronounced at lower temperatures (20 °C and 40 °C vs. 63 °C): at 20 °C, the free fatty acids conversion reaches 68% vs. 23% with conventional mechanical stirring. The increased conversion is attributed to acoustic cavitation that increases mass transfer in the vicinity of the active sites. The Eley–Rideal kinetic model in which the concentration of the reacting species is expressed taking into account the mass transfer between the phases is in excellent agreement with the experimental data. Ultrasound increases the mass transfer coefficient in the tobacco oil 6 and 4.1 fold at 20 °C and 40 °C, respectively.     

正则系综条件下空化空泡形成的分子动力学模拟

液体中空化现象的研究对减少空蚀破坏, 提高空化空泡的有效利用具有重要意义.本文采用分子动力学模拟的方法, 对正则系综条件下系统中空化的发生特性进行研究, 分析空化发生的机理, 讨论温度、数密度等因素对空化发生的影响, 并与格子Boltzmann方法进行了比较.模拟结果表明: 温度和数密度的变化, 都对系统中的空化产生显著影响.其中, 温度升高, 使系统中空化空泡的形成由稳定变得不稳定, 最终难以形成.数密度降低, 则会促进空化空泡的形成.随着数密度的减小, 温度对空化空泡形成的影响程度下降.     

声驻波场中空化泡的动力学特性

以水为工作介质, 考虑了液体的可压缩性, 研究了驻波声场中空化泡的运动特性, 模拟了驻波场中各位置处空化泡的运动状态以及相关参数对各位置处空化泡在主Bjerknes力作用下运动方向的影响. 结果表明: 驻波声场中, 空化泡的运动状态分为三个区域, 即在声压波腹附近空化泡做稳态空化, 在偏离波腹处空化泡做瞬态空化, 在声压波节附近, 空化泡在主Bjerknes 力作用下, 一直向声压波节处移动, 显示不发生空化现象; 驻波场中声压幅值增加有利于空化的发生, 但声压幅值增加到一定上限时, 压力波腹区域将排斥空化泡, 并驱赶空化泡向压力波节移动, 不利于空化现象的发生; 当声频率小于初始空化泡的共振频率时, 声频率越高, 由于主Bjerknes 力的作用将有更多的空化泡向声压波节移动, 不利于空化的发生, 尤其是驻波场液面的高度不应是声波波长的1/4; 当声频率一定时, 空化泡初始半径越大越有利于空化现象的发生, 但当空化泡的初始半径超过声频率的共振半径时, 由于主Bjerknes力的作用将有更多的空化泡向声压波节移动, 不利于空化的发生.     

超声增强藻酸钙凝胶支架材料孔隙率的研究

藻酸钙凝胶具有三维立体多孔结构, 能为细胞生长提供充分的附着空间, 且具有良好的生物相容性和一定的机械强度, 是一种理想的细胞支架材料. 本文研究了藻酸钙三维支架材料的力学特性与氯化钙/藻酸钠的配比的关系, 并提出采用低强度脉冲超声处理藻酸钙凝胶、基于超声空化效应增强藻酸钙凝胶孔隙率的新方法. 实验采用交联合成方法制备藻酸钙凝胶支架材料, 测量力学特性、孔洞的联通性与孔隙率, 并利用绿色荧光蛋白的表达评价细胞的增殖能力. 结果表明, 当氯化钙/藻酸钠的配比为3:5时, 凝胶的机械强度和弹性较好, 力学性能稳定, 为最佳配比参数. 采用声压0.055 MPa的脉冲超声作用20 min, 可以有效提高凝胶支架的孔隙率; 且细胞在该支架中生长状态良好, 呈现团簇状生长趋势.     

可压缩液体中气泡的声空化特性

利用新提出的Gilmore-NASG模型,在考虑液体可压缩效应的边界条件下,研究了可压缩液体中气泡的声空化特性,并与利用原有KM-Vd W模型计算得到的结果进行了比较.结果表明,相比于KM-Vd W模型,由于Gilmore-NASG模型采用新的状态方程来描述气体、液体以及由可压缩性引起的液体密度变化及声速变化,所以用Gilmore-NASG模型得到的空化气泡的压缩比更大、崩溃深度更深、温度和压力峰值更高.随着驱动声压幅值的增大,两种模型给出的结果差别愈加明显,而随着驱动频率的增大,两种模型给出的结果差别逐渐减小.这表明,在充分考虑泡内气体、周围液体在不同温度和压强下共体积的变化所导致的介质可压缩特性下,气泡内的温度和压强可能达到更高值.同时, Gilmore-NASG模型还预测出了气泡壁处液体的密度变化、压力变化、温度变化以及液体中的声速变化.因此, Gilmore-NASG模型在研究高压状态下气泡的空化特性以及周围液体对气泡空化特性的影响方面具有优点.     

Improving temporal stability of stable cavitation activity of circulating microbubbles using a closed-loop controller based on pulse-length regulation

Stable cavitation (SC) has shown great potential for novel therapeutic applications. The spatiotemporal distribution of the SC activity of microbubbles circulating in a target region is not only correlated with the uniformity of treatment, but also with some undesirable effects. Therefore, it is important to achieve controllable and desirable SC activity in target regions for improved therapeutic efficiency and biosafety. This study proposes a closed-loop feedback controller based on pulse length (PL) regulation to improve the temporal stability of SC activity. Microbubbles circulating in a physiological flowing phantom were exposed to a 1 MHz focused transducer. The SC signals produced were initially received by another 7.5 MHz plane transducer, followed by high-speed signal acquisition and real-time processing. Based on the real-time-measured SC intensity excited by the current acoustic pulse, the proposed closed-loop feedback controller used three proportional coefficients to regulate the peak negative pressure (PNP) and PL of the next acoustic pulse during the acceleration and stable stages, respectively. The results show that the rise time and the temporal stability of the SC intensity of the microbubbles circulating in these two stages were improved significantly by the optimized proportional coefficients used in the proposed controller. Importantly, when compared with the traditional closed-loop feedback controller based on PNP regulation, the proposed closed-loop feedback controller based on PL regulation reduced the probability of a transition between stable and inertial cavitation, thus avoiding the risk of disadvantageous bioeffects in practical applications. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed PL-based closed-loop feedback controller and provide a feasible strategy for realization of controllable cavitation activity in applications.     

Continuous production of nanoemulsion for skincare product using a 3D-printed rotor-stator hydrodynamic cavitation reactor

In this study, nanoemulsions for skincare products were continuously produced using a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor (HCR) designed with a rotor and stator. The key component of this research is the utilization of a 3D-printed rotor in a HCR for the production of an oil-in-water nanoemulsion. Response surface methodology was used to determine the process conditions, such as speed of the rotor, flow rate, as well as, Span60, Tween60, and mineral oil concentrations, for generating the optimal droplet size in the nanoemulsion. The results showed that a droplet size of 366.4 nm was achieved under the recommended conditions of rotor speed of 3500 rpm, flow rate of 3.3 L/h, Span60 concentration of 2.36 wt%, Tween60 concentration of 3.00 wt%, and mineral oil concentration of 1.76 wt%. Moreover, the important characteristics for consideration in skincare products, such as polydispersity index, pH, zeta potential, viscosity, stability, and niacin released from formulations, were also assessed. For the niacin release profile of emulsion and nanoemulsion formulations, different methods, such as magnetic stirring, ultrasound, and hydrodynamic cavitation, were compared. The nanoemulsion formulations provided a greater cumulative release from the formulation than the emulsion. Particularly, the nanoemulsion generated using the HCR provided the largest cumulative release from the formulation after 12 h. Therefore, the present study suggests that nanoemulsions can be created by means of hydrodynamic cavitation, which reduces the droplet size, as compared to that generated using other techniques. The satisfactory results of this study indicate that the rotor-stator-type HCR is a potentially cost-effective technology for nanoemulsion production.     

New insights into the ultrasound impact on covalent reactions of myofibrillar protein

In this work, two different covalent reactions, namely, alkaline reaction and free radical oxidation, were selected to compare the difference in the strengthening effects of ultrasound treatment (UDT). The grafting effects were verified by protein electrophoresis and bound gallic acid (GA) assay. Furthermore, non-covalent interactions between myofibrillar protein (MPN) aggregates were destroyed by UDT, as proved by the lower particle sizes and higher ζ-potential. Comparatively, the results from tertiary structure index and circular dichroism revealed UDT-assisted free radical oxidation could lead to better conjugates with greater structural properties. The atomic force microscope (AFME) and protein flexibility showed that MPNs appeared to display as irregular spherical particles after alkaline reaction, however, maintained fibrous structure during the free radical oxidation. Consequently, the combination of UDT and free radical oxidation were more effectively for strengthening the influence of acoustic cavitation on MPNs, of which mechanism was the changes in viscosity properties, microstructure and acoustic cavitation radicals.     

激光烧蚀水下金属产生冲击波和空泡效应的研究

采用自行研制的高灵敏度光束偏转测试系统,对脉冲激光烧蚀水下金属产生的等离子体冲击波和空泡效应进行了实验研究。实验得到了激光等离子体冲击波的传播规律、冲击波与激光空泡的分离过程、空泡的脉动特性以及空泡溃灭冲击波的形成机制。结果表明,空泡最大和最小泡径、振荡周期均随着脉动次数的增加呈减小趋势,且减小幅度较大。最小收缩泡径由泡能和腔内含气量共同决定。在同一次脉动过程中,空泡膨胀所需的时间明显大于收缩所需的时间。