Convection of a stratified colloidal suspension

The convection of a colloidal suspension, which is a binary mixture of a carrier medium with an admixture of nanoparticles having a large positive thermal diffusion parameter, has been studied for the case of the heating of a horizontal cell from below and periodic conditions at the vertical boundaries corresponding to the experimental situation of ring channels. Bifurcation diagrams have been constructed for vibrational and monotonic regimes of the convection of the colloidal mixture. The time dependences of the maximum stream function and the stream function at a fixed point of the cell, as well as the spatial distributions of the concentration field of the colloid admixture, have been obtained. It has been shown that a stable regime of traveling waves exists in a certain region of the parameters of the problem (Boltzmann and Rayleigh numbers characterizing the gravitational stratification and intensity of the thermal effect, respectively).     

Axial segregation of a settling suspension in a rotating cylinder

A rotating suspension of nonbuoyant particles can develop striking inhomogeneities in particle concentration, with regular bands of high and low concentration along the symmetry axis. We report Stokes-flow simulations showing that the formation of axial bands is correlated with an inhomogeneous particle distribution in the radial plane. An order parameter, based on the average angular velocity of the particles, characterizes two distinct phases: a low-frequency segregated phase and a high-frequency dispersed phase. The axial band structure develops during the transition between these two phases.     

Transient settling of a dilute spherical suspension droplet at low Reynolds number

The transient settling in a viscous incompressible fluid of a spherical dilute cloud of particles starting from rest under the influence of a small constant applied force is studied in a continuum model on the basis of the linearized Navier-Stokes equations. Explicit expressions are derived for the motion of the cloud and for the flow velocity and pressure of the fluid. Equations of transient Stokesian dynamics are formulated that allow numerical study of the motion of a dilute cloud of particles of arbitrary initial configuration.     

Particle-like objects in a nonlinear field theory

We further discuss the field theory which we introduced in a previous paper. We find that it is possible for a component of the field to have a minimum at an arbitrary origin point as a consequence of the field equations.     

Profiles of the turbulent-exchange coefficient and suspension concentration in a system of stratified currents

The theoretical distribution of the turbulent-diffusion coefficient for a system of stratified currents is presented taking the specific features of exchange in boundary layers and in zones with a zero vertical-velocity gradient into account. The suspension-diffusion equation is solved using the obtained turbulent-viscosity distribution. The theoretical solution is tested against field measurements of the suspension-concentration distribution over the entire depth of a water body in four systems of currents.     

Gravity waves at the interface between miscible fluids and at the top of a settling suspension

Gravity waves were generated at the interface between miscible fluids, or at the top of a settling suspension or a fluidized bed. For these three systems the dispersion relation was measured and compared to the theory and calculated between two buoyant viscous fluids without surface tension. The experimental findings are found to be in good agreement with theory when effective viscosity and volume-averaged density values are used.     

Particle-like solutions in the theory of a relativistic self-consistent field

Interaction of an electron with its own electromagnetic field is described in terms of the Maxwell-Lorentz equations. The simplest possible state of the resulting self-consistent field is a free Proca-type vector mass field □u^μ?k²u^μ = 0.     

Delayed transitions between fluid-like and solid-like granular states

Analysis of granular flows has been a significant theoretical challenge over the past several decades. These flows are difficult to analyze largely because they exhibit both solid-like and fluid-like behaviors side-by-side in single experiments. In this paper, we examine two experiments in which the co-existence between these states is especially marked and leads to unique patterns that may serve as signatures for underlying granular dynamics deserving of further scrutiny. In these experiments, we find that when fluidization of grains is prolonged — as can be expected to occur for example under reduced gravity environments or under conditions of strong kinetic forcing (e.g. during earthquakes) — grains can produce residual depositional patterns that are difficult to distinguish from fluvial deposits. This suggests that geological landforms under low gravity (for example on Mars) or influenced by strong forcing (for example during earthquakes) may behave in a fluid-like manner despite being entirely dry.     

Three-dimensional modeling of acoustic backscattering from fluid-like zooplankton

Scattering models that correctly incorporate organism size and shape are a critical component for the remote detection and classification of many marine organisms. In this work, an acoustic scattering model has been developed for fluid-like zooplankton that is based on the distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA) and that makes use of high-resolution three-dimensional measurements of the animal's outer boundary shape. High-resolution computerized tomography (CT) was used to determine the three-dimensional digitizations of animal shape. This study focuses on developing the methodology for incorporating high-resolution CT scans into a scattering model that is generally valid for any body with fluid-like material properties. The model predictions are compared to controlled laboratory measurements of the acoustic backscattering from live individual decapod shrimp. The frequency range used was 50 kHz to 1 MHz and the angular characteristics of the backscattering were investigated with up to a 1 degree angular resolution. The practical conditions under which it is necessary to make use of high-resolution digitizations of shape are assessed.     

The low-frequency sound speed of fluid-like gas-bearing sediments

The low-frequency sound speed in a fluid-like kaolinite sediment containing air bubbles was measured using an acoustic resonator technique and found to be 114 ms with negligible dispersion between 100 and 400 Hz. The sediment's void fraction and bubble size distribution was determined from volumetric images obtained from x-ray computed tomography scans. A simplified version of Wood's effective medium model, which is dependent only upon the ambient pressure, the void fraction, the sediment's bulk mass density, and the assumption that all the bubbles are smaller than resonance size at the highest frequency of interest, described the measured sound speed.     

Particle-like configurations of the electromagnetic field: An extension of de Broglie's ideas

Localised configurations of the free electromagnetic field are constructed, possessing properties of massive, spinning, relativistic particles. In an inertial frame, each configuration travels in a straight line at constant speed, less than the speed of lightc, while slowly spreading. It eventually decays into pulses of radiation travelling at speedc. Each configuration has a definite rest mass and internal angular momentum, or spin. Each can be of electric or magnetic type, according as the radial component of the magnetic or electric field vanishes in the rest frame, and each has an antiparticle. Any such configuration, of electric or magnetic type, is characterized in part by a set of labels (, ₀, ,l, m), where ₀ is the mean of the angular frequencies of the plane waves making up the configuration, is the variance of those frequencies, is a positive constant with dimensions of action, andl, m are angular momentum quantum numbers withl a positive integer andm an integer such that ml. The rest energy of the particle is ₀, its spin is m, and its lifetime is of the order of 1/. Its antiparticle has ₀ replaced by –₀.     

Magnetohydrodynamic stabilization of a stratified cylindrical flow

The effect of a uniform axial magnetic field on the stability of a stratified cylindrical flow of negligible viscosity and resistivity is examined. The fluid is assumed to be electrically conducting. The basic density and velocity fields are allowed to vary in two directions. The standard normal mode approach is used to treat the stability of the system. The complex wave speed of an unstable mode lies in the upper half of a semicircle whose diameter decreases with increasing magnetic field. A strong enough magnetic field can completely stabilize flows with unstable density stratification.     

Guided waves in a stratified half-space

The dispersion and excitation mechanisms and the energy distribution of guided waves in a stratified half-space are studied. All possible guided waves excited by a symmetric point source in two or three-layer medium models and their relation to the medium parameters are analyzed in detail. The excitation and propagation characteristics, as well as the energy distribution along the depth direction, of all modes of the surface waves and trapped waves are numerically investigated and analyzed thoroughly not only in the case when the shear wave velocity increases from up to down layers but also when a low-velocity layer is contained in halfspace, especially when the shear wave velocity decreases from up to down layers. It is found that there exist many guided wave modes in the case where the shear wave velocity of each layer increases from up to down layers. However, there is less than one guided wave mode in the case where the shear wave velocity of each layer decreases from up to down layers. The trapped waves exist and propagate along the low-velocity structure in the stratified half-space. It is also found that the characteristic of a mode is related to the source frequency. It is possible that a surface wave at one value of frequency is like a trapped wave at another value of frequency. Finally, the relation of the characteristics of all guided waves (surface waves and trapped waves) to the parameters of media is studied.     

Regular and chaotic dynamics of a fountain in a stratified fluid

In the present paper, we study by direct numerical simulation (DNS) and theoretical analysis, the dynamics of a fountain penetrating a pycnocline (a sharp density interface) in a density-stratified fluid. A circular, laminar jet flow of neutral buoyancy is considered, which propagates vertically upwards towards the pycnocline level, penetrates a distance into the layer of lighter fluid, and further stagnates and flows down under gravity around the up-flowing core thus creating a fountain. The DNS results show that if the Froude number (Fr) is small enough, the fountain top remains axisymmetric and steady. However, if Fr is increased, the fountain top becomes unsteady and oscillates in a circular flapping (CF) mode, whereby it retains its shape and moves periodically around the jet central axis. If Fr is increased further, the fountain top rises and collapses chaotically in a bobbing oscillation mode (or B-mode). The development of these two modes is accompanied by the generation of different patterns of internal waves (IW) in the pycnocline. The CF-mode generates spiral internal waves, whereas the B-mode generates IW packets with a complex spatial distribution. The dependence of the amplitude of the fountain-top oscillations on Fr is well described by a Landau-type two-mode-competition model.     

Restoration of the parameters of a stratified medium

An analytical solution is found for the frequency domain in the inverse problem of wave reflection at an absorbing layer on a homogeneous half-space in the case of normal incidence. The method of solution uses the data on the real part of the reflectivity in a limited frequency range. The minimum size of this range is discussed.Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 38, No. 7, pp. 648–652, July, 1995.