Waves on the surface of a falling power-law fluid film

Waves that occur at the surface of a falling film of thin power-law fluid on a vertical plane are investigated. Using the method of integral relations an evolution equation is derived for two types of waves equation which are possible under long wave approximation. This equation reveals the presence of both kinematic and dynamic wave processes which may either act together or singularly dominate the wave field depending on the order of different parameters. It is shown that, at a small flow rate, kinematic waves dominate the flow field and the energy is acquired from the mean flow during the interaction of the waves, while, for high flow rate, inertial waves dominate and the energy comes from the kinematic waves. It is also found that this exchange of energy between kinematic and inertial waves strongly depends on the power-law index n. Linear stability analysis predicts the contribution of different terms in the wave mechanism. Further, it is found that the surface tension plays a double role: for a kinematic wave process, it exerts dissipative effects so that a finite amplitude case may be established, but for a dynamic wave process it yields dispersion. Further, it is shown that the non-Newtonian character n plays a vital role in controlling the role of the term that contains surface tension in the above processes.     

Bifurcation of attractor in the falling film problem

Film flows down a vertical plane, the so-called falling films, are covered by waves whose lengths are longer than a threshold value corresponding to neutral stability of the waveless flow. On the other hand, experiments also demonstrate existence of the upper threshold wavelength in unstable interval. This phenomenon is explained through careful analysis of dynamical system modelling the wave dynamics in falling films.     

Stationary travelling waves on a film flowing down an inclined plane

At small flow rates, the study of long-wavelength perturbations reduces to the solution of an approximate nonlinear equation that describes the change in the film thickness [1–3]. Steady waves can be obtained analytically only for values of the wave numbers close to the wave number _n that is neutral in accordance with the linear theory [1, 2]. Periodic solutions were constructed numerically for the finite interval of wave numbers 0.5_{n n} in [4]. In the present paper, these solutions are found in almost the complete range of wave numbers 0 _n that are unstable in the linear theory. In particular, soliton solutions of this equation are obtained. The results were partly published in [5].Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 142–146, July–August, 1980.     

Wave regimes on power-law fluid film flowing down a porous plane

Non-linear waves on the surface of a falling film of power-law fluid on a vertical porous plane are investigated. The waves are described by evolution equations generalising equations previously derived in the case of solid plane. It is shown that the slip condition on the interface between pure liquid and the porous substrate drastically changes structure of the steady waves travelling in the film.     

Heat transfer in a power-law fluid film over a unsteady stretching sheet

In this paper the problem of momentum and heat transfer in a thin liquid film of power-law fluid on an unsteady stretching surface has been studied. Numerical solutions are obtained for some representative values of the unsteadiness parameter S and the power-law index n for a wide range of the generalized Prandtl number, 0.001 ≤ Pr ≤ 1000. Typical temperature and velocity profiles, the dimensionless film thickness, free-surface temperature, and the surface heat fluxes are presented at selected controlling parameters. The results show that increasing the value of n tends to increase the boundary-layer thickness and broadens the temperature distributions. The free-surface temperature of a shear thinning fluid is larger than that of a Newtonian fluid, but the opposite trend is true for a shear thickening fluid. For small generalized Prandtl numbers, the surface heat flux increases with a decrease in n, but the impacts of n on the heat transfer diminish for Pr greater than a moderate value (approximately 1 ≤ Pr ≤ 10, depending on the magnitude of S).     

Bifurcation of limit cycles in fluid film bearings

Rotors supported by journal bearings may become unstable due to self-excited vibrations when a critical rotor speed is exceeded. Linearised analysis is usually used to determine the stability boundaries. Non-linear bifurcation theory or numerical integration is required to predict stable or unstable periodic oscillations close to the critical speed. In this paper, a dynamic model of a short journal bearing is used to analyse the bifurcation of the steady state equilibrium point of the journal centre. Numerical continuation is applied to determine stable or unstable limit cycles bifurcating from the equilibrium point at the critical speed. Under certain working conditions, limit cycles themselves are shown to disappear beyond a certain rotor speed and to exhibit a fold bifurcation giving birth to unstable limit cycles surrounding the stable supercritical limit cycles. Numerical integration of the system of equations is used to support the results obtained by numerical continuation. Numerical simulation permitted a partial validation of the analytical investigation.     

Characteristics of solitary waves on a falling liquid film sheared by a turbulent counter-current gas flow

We report an experimental investigation of a falling water film sheared by a turbulent counter-current air flow in an inclined rectangular channel. Film thickness and wave velocity measurements associated with visual observation are conducted to study the influence of the air flow on controlled traveling waves consisting of a large wave hump preceded by capillary ripples. First, we focus on the variation of the shape, amplitude and velocity of the waves as the gas velocity is gradually increased. We demonstrate that the amplitude of the main hump grows substantially even for moderate gas velocities, whereas modification of the wave celerity becomes significant above a specific gas velocity around 4 m/s, associated with an alteration of the capillary region. The influence of the gas flow on 3D secondary instabilities of the solitary waves detected in a previous study Kofman et al. (2014), namely rugged or scallop waves, is also investigated. We show that the capillary mode is damped while the inertial mode is enhanced by the interfacial shear. Next, the gas velocity is increased until the onset of upstream-moving patterns referred to as flooding in our experiments. At moderate inclination angles (typically < 7 ^○), flooding occurs for a gas velocity around 8 m/s and is initiated at the scallop wave crests by a backward wave-breaking phenomenon preceded by the onset of ripples on the flat residual film separating two waves. At high inclination angle, a rapid development of solitons is observed as the air velocity is increased preventing the waves to turn back. Finally, at high liquid Reynolds number, sudden and intermittent events are triggered consisting of very large amplitude waves that go back upwards very fast. These “slugs” either extend over the whole width of the channel or are very localized and can thus potentially evolve towards atomization.     

The drag on a sphere in a power-law fluid

Using a finite-element program, the drag on an unbounded fluid in an (inelastic) power-law fluid is estimated. Comparison with upper and lower bounds, and with experimental data is given. Some remarks on wall effects are also made, and it is shown that wall effects are negligible forn ? 0.5.     

Stability of stationary traveling waves on the surface of a vertical film of viscous fluid

The stability of stationary traveling waves of the first and second families with respect to infinitesimal perturbations of arbitrary wavelength is subjected to a detailed numerical investigation. The existence of a unique region of stability of the first family is established for wave numbers (₁, ₁) corresponding to the optimal wave regime. There are several regions of stability of the second family ( _k , _k),k=2,3,..., lying close to the local flow rate maxima. In the regions of instability the growth rates of perturbations of the first family are several times greater than for the second family. This difference increases with increase in the Reynolds number. The calculations make it possible to explain a number of experimental observations.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 33–41, May–June, 1989.The authors are grateful to V. Ya. Shkadov for his constant interest, and to A. G. Kulikovskii, A. A. Barmin and their seminar participants for useful discussions and suggestions.     

Experimental and numerical analysis of a sphere falling into a viscous fluid

The experimental and numerical analysis of spheres falling into viscous flows is considered. The physical model is built using a set of silicone and glass spheres falling into oil and water. The rigid‐body trajectory of the sphere and the free surface evolution are obtained from videos. The numerical results are obtained using two different finite element codes. The first code uses a fractional step approach with adaptive meshes and time‐step sizes whereas the second code uses a monolithic fully coupled fixed‐mesh technique. The results exhibit a good comparison between both numerical techniques and with the experiments. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of a sureactant on the instability of a falling liquid film

The hydrodynamic instability of a film flow of a weak solution containing a soluble volatile surfactant is investigated. Diffusion of the surfactant in the liquid, its evaporation into the boundary gas medium, and the adsorption and desorption processes in the near-surface layer are taken into account. A system of evolutionary equations is derived and a steady-state solution film flow along a vertical surface and the stability of this flow are investigated for the simultaneous action of body and capillary forces and the Marangoni effect. Hydrodynamic and diffusion instability modes are detected and their properties are investigated for constant and variable surfactant concentration in the adsorbed sublayer. Moscow, Madrid. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 56–67, July–August, 2000. The work was carried out with support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 97-01-00153) and the Spanish Ministry of Higher Education (program DGICYT (Spain), project No. PB 96-599).     

Weakly nonlinear stability analysis of a falling film with countercurrent gas flow

Weakly nonlinear stability analysis of a falling film with countercurrent gas–liquid flow has been investigated. A normal mode approach and the method of multiple scales are employed to carry out the linear and nonlinear stability solutions for the film flow system. The results show that both supercritical stability and subcritical instability are possible for a film flow system when the gas flows in the countercurrent direction. The stability characteristics of the film flow system are strongly influenced by the effects of interfacial shear stress when the gas flows in the countercurrent direction. The effect of countercurrent gas flow in a falling film is to stabilize the film flow system.     

Unsteady gravity-driven slender rivulets of a power-law fluid

Unsteady gravity-driven flow of a thin slender rivulet of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid on a plane inclined at an angle α to the horizontal is considered. Unsteady similarity solutions are obtained for both converging sessile rivulets (when 0 < α < π/2) in the case x < 0 with t < 0, and diverging pendent rivulets (when π/2 < α < π) in the case x > 0 with t > 0, where x denotes a coordinate measured down the plane and t denotes time. Numerical and asymptotic methods are used to show that for each value of the power-law index N there are two physically realisable solutions, with cross-sectional profiles that are ‘single-humped’ and ‘double-humped’, respectively. Each solution predicts that at any time t the rivulet widens or narrows according to |x | ^{(2N+1)/2(N+1)} and thickens or thins according to |x | ^N/(N+1) as it flows down the plane; moreover, at any station x, it widens or narrows according to |t | ^?N/2(N+1) and thickens or thins according to |t | ^?N/(N+1). The length of a truncated rivulet of fixed volume is found to behave according to |t | ^N/(2N+1).     

Numerical analysis of the transient conjugated heat transfer in a circular duct with a power-law fluid

We treat numerically in this paper, the transient analysis of a conjugated heat transfer process in the thermal entrance region of a circular tube with a fully developed laminar power-law fluid flow. We apply the quasi-steady approximation for the power-law fluid, identifying the suitable time scales of the process. Thus, the energy equation in the fluids is solved analytically using the well-known integral boundary layer technique. This solution is coupled to the transient energy equation for the solid where the transverse and longitudinal heat conduction effects are taken into account. The numerical results for the temporal evolution of the average temperature of the tube wall, _av, is plotted for different nondimensional parameters such as conduction parameter, , the aspect ratios of the tube, and ₀ and the index of power-law fluid, n.     

Heating of non-Newtonian falling liquid film on a horizontal tube

The problem of heat transfer to non-Newtonian laminar falling liquid films on horizontal tubes is investigated theoretically for constant heat flux and isothermal conditions imposed at the inner periphery of the tube. The local and average heat transfer coefficients are obtained as function of the system parameters by conjugating the convective transport of heat to the liquid film to the thermal conduction in the material of the tube in the peripheral direction. The results indicate that the average heat transfer coefficient can be described successfully by three dimensionless groups characterizing the dynamic flow characteristics of the film, modified Prandtl number and the index of the power law variation of the rate of angular shear deformation of the fluid with respect to the shear stress.Das Problem des Wärmeübergangs an laminar ablaufende Fallfilme nicht-Newtonscher Flüssigkeiten an horizontalen Rohren wird unter Voraussetzungen konstanter Temperatur bzw. konstanten Wärmeflusses bezüglich des Rohrinnenumfangs theoretisch untersucht. Die örtlichen und gemittelten Wärmeübergangskoeffizienten erhält man als Funktion der Systemparameter unter gleichzeitiger Berücksichtigung des konvektiven Wärmetransportes an dem Flüssigkeitsfilm und der Wärmeleitung im Rohrmaterial in Umfangsrichtung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß sich der gemittelte Wärmeübergangskoeffizient zufriedenstellend in Abhängigkeit von drei dimensionslosen Kenngrößen darstellen läßt. Diese charakterisieren das dynamische Fließverhalten des Films bzw. entsprechen einer modifizierten Prandtl-Zahl und dem Exponenten des Potenzgesetzes, welches die Abhängigkeit der Scherdeformation der Flüssigkeit von der Schubspannung wiedergibt.     

A power-law fluid flow past a porous sphere

Summary A model has been developed for the flow of a non-Newtonian fluid past a porous sphere. The drag force exerted on a porous sphere moving in a power-law fluid is obtained by an approximate solution of equations of motion in the creeping flow regime. It is predicted that the effect of the pseudoplastic anomaly on the drag force is more pronounced at large porosity parameters.

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Zusammenfassung Es wird ein Modell für die Strömung einer nichtnewtonschen Flüssigkeit längs einer porösen Kugel entwickelt. Die auf die in einer Ostwald-DeWaele-Flüssigkeit bewegte Kugel ausgeübte Reibungskraft wird durch eine Näherungslösung der Bewegungsgleichungen für schleichende Strömung gewonnen. Man findet, daß der Einfluß der Abweichung vom newtonschen Verhalten um so ausgeprägter wird, je größer die Porosität ist.

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A, B, C, D a, b, c, d coefficients in eqs. [10] and [18] - F _D drag force - K consistency index in power-law model - k ₁ ,k ₂ coefficients defined by eq. [18] - m porosity parameter - n flow index in power-law model - P pressure - P ^* dimensionless pressure defined by eq. [4] - P pressure difference - R radius of porous sphere - r radial distance from the center of the sphere - U velocity of uniform stream - u _i velocity component - u _i ^* dimensionless velocity component defined by eq. [4] - Y drag force correction factor defined by eq. [27] - _ij rate of deformation tensor - _ij ^* dimensionless rate of deformation tensor defined by eq. [4] - , spherical coordinates - dimensionless radial distance defined by eq. [4] - second invariant of rate of deformation tensor - ^* dimensionless second invariant of rate of deformation tensor defined by eq. [4] - _ij stress tensor - _ij ^* dimensionless stress tensor defined by eq. [4] - stream function - ^* dimensionless stream function defined by eq. [4] - i inside the surface of the sphere - o outside the surface of the sphere With 1 figure and 1 table     

Three-dimensional surface characteristics of a falling liquid film

Optical methods are described for examining the three-dimensional character of waves on a falling liquid film. This involved monitoring the motion of the local film surface normal through the use of laser beam refraction. The wavy motion was found to be primarily of a two-dimensional nature only for Re (equal to 4Q/v) less than 1500.

Surface characteristics were examined for Reynolds numbers from 217 to 4030 and for different distances along the direction of flow.     

An analysis of the process of active enhancement of falling film absorption

 We study here the process whereby active enhancement intensifies absorption rates over vertical flat plates. Towards capturing the essential aspects of this process, we employ a model already developed, introducing new heat and mass transfer coefficients. It is shown that when the enhancement is done by a vibrating screen, it is possible to estimate the absorption rates employing simple parameters such as the plate peak velocity, vibrational frequency and amplitude. The predictions obtained are compared to recent experimental data. Although the prediction with this simple model is not exact, the essential features of the enhancement technique seem to be reflected quite well. Our calculations allow identification of the factor possibly limiting absorption. Estimates of the ultimate absorption rates possible with the limiting factor removed are offered, along with speculative thought as to whether this limiting factor can indeed be neutralized by mechanical agitation. Received on 25 April 2000