A Eulerian/Lagrangian model to calculate the evolution of a water droplet spray

We introduce a Eulerian/Lagrangian model to compute the evolution of a spray of water droplets inside a complex geometry. To take into account the complex geometry we define a rectangular mesh and we relate each mesh node to a node function which depends on the location of the node. The time-dependent incompressible and turbulent Navier-Stokes equations are solved using a projection method. The droplets are regarded as individual entities and we use a Lagrangian approach to compute the evolution of the spray. We establish the exchange laws related to mass and heat transfer for a droplet by introducing a mass transfer coefficient and a heat transfer coefficient. The numerical results from our model are compared with those from the literature in the case of a falling droplet in the atmosphere and from experimental investigation in a wind tunnel in the case of a polydisperse spray. The comparison is fairly good. We present the computation of a water droplet spray inside a complex and realistic geometry and determine the characteristics of the spray in the vicinity of obstacles.     

Large deformation and electrochemistry of polyelectrolyte gels

Immersed in an ionic solution, a network of polyelectrolytes imbibes the solution and swells, resulting in a polyelectrolyte gel. The swelling is reversible, and the amount of swelling is regulated by ionic concentrations, mechanical forces, and electric potentials. This paper develops a field theory to couple large deformation and electrochemistry. A specific material model is described, including the effects of stretching the network, mixing the polymers with the solvent and ions, and polarizing the gel. We show that the notion of osmotic pressure in a gel has no experimental significance in general, but acquires a physical interpretation within the specific material model. The theory is used to analyze several phenomena: a gel swells freely in an ionic solution, a gel swells under a constraint of a substrate, electric double layer at the interface between the gel and the external solution, and swelling of a gel of a small size.     

Interaction of a heavy fluid flow in a channel with a transverse jet barrier

An experimental and numerical analysis of the interaction between a plane horizontal water flow in a rectangular channel (free water current) and a plane thin water jet (water jet curtain) is presented; the jet flows out vertically from either a slot nozzle in the bottom of the channel or the crest of a rigid spillway at a velocity appreciably (several times) greater than the water velocity in the channel. Numerical calculations were carried out using the STAR-CD software package preliminarily tested against the experimental data obtained. The dependence of the water level in the channel at a certain distance ahead of the jet barrier on the main jet parameters and the water flow rate in the horizontal channel is studied. It is found that in the region of the interface between the flows both steady and unsteady (self-oscillatory) flow patterns can be realized. Steady stream/jet interaction patterns of the “ejection” and “ejection-spillway” types are distinguished and a criterion separating these regimes is obtained. The notion of a rigid spillway equivalent to a jet curtain is introduced and an approximate dependence of its height on the relevant parameters of the problem is derived. The possibility of effectively controlling the water level ahead of a rigid spillway with a sharp edge by means of a plane water jet flowing from its crest is investigated. The boundary of transition to self-oscillation interaction patterns in the region of the flow interface is determined. The structure of these flows and a possible mechanism of their generation are described. Within the framework of the inviscid incompressible fluid model in the approximate formulation for a “thin” jet, an analytical dependence of the greatest possible depth of a reservoir filled with a heavy fluid at rest and screened by a vertical jet barrier on the jet parameters is obtained.     

A computational model for the indentation and phase transformation of a martensitic thin film

We propose a computational model for a stress-induced martensitic phase transformation of a single-crystal thin film by indentation and its reverse transformation to austenite by heating. Our model utilizes a surface energy that allows sharp interfaces with finite energy and a penalty that forces the film to lie above the indenter and undergo a stress-induced austenite-to-martensite phase transformation. We introduce a method to nucleate the martensite-to-austenite phase transformation since in our model the film would otherwise remain in the martensitic phase in a local minimum of the energy.     

Displacement of yield-stress fluids in a fracture

We consider a displacement of several yield-stress fluids in a Hele-Shaw cell. The topic is relevant to the development of a model for the flow of multiple phases inside a narrow fracture with application to hydraulically fracturing a hydrocarbon-bearing underground formation. Existing models for fracturing flows include only pure power-law models without yield stress, and the present work is aimed at filling this gap. The fluids are assumed to be immiscible and incompressible. We consider fluid advection in a plane channel in the presence of density gradients. Gravity is taken into account, so that there can be slumping and gravitational convection. We use the lubrication approximation so that governing equations are reduced to a 2D width-averaged system formed by the quasi-linear elliptic equation for pressure and transport equations for volume concentrations of fluids. The numerical solution is obtained using a finite-difference method. The pressure equation is solved using an iterative algorithm and the Multigrid method, while the transport equations are solved using a second-order TVD flux-limiting scheme with the superbee limiter. This numerical model is validated against three different sets of experiments: (i) gravitational slumping of fluids in a closed Hele-Shaw cell, (ii) viscous fingering of fluids with a high viscosity contrast due to the Saffman–Taylor (S–T) instability in a Hele-Shaw cell at microgravity conditions, (iii) displacement of Bingham fluids in a Hele-Shaw cell with the development of fingers due to the S–T instability. Good agreement is observed between simulations and laboratory data. The model is then used to investigate the joint effect of fingering and slumping. Numerical simulations show that the slumping rate of yield-stress fluid is significantly less pronounced than that of a Newtonian fluid with the same density and viscosity. If a low-viscosity Newtonian fluid is injected after a yield-stress one, the S–T instability at the interface leads to the development of fingers. As a result, fingers penetrating into a fluid with a finite yield stress locally decrease the pressure gradient and unyielded zones develop as a consequence.     

Finite volume methods for laminar and turbulent flows using a penalty function approach

A penalty function, finite volume method is described for two-dimensional laminar and turbulent flows. Turbulence is modelled using the k-? model. The governing equations are discretized and the resulting algebraic equations are solved using both sequential and coupled methods. The performance of these methods is gauged with reference to a tuned SIMPLE-C algorithm. Flows considered are a square cavity with a sliding top, a plane channel flow, a plane jet impingement and a plane channel with a sudden expansion. A sequential method is employed, which uses a variety of dicretization practices, but is found to be extremely slow to converge; a coupled method, evaluated using a variety of matrix solvers, converges rapidly but, relative to the sequential approach, requires larger memory.     

The “decaying springs” model for irreversibility in polymer melts

In this work, entanglements in a polymer melt are modeled as a system of parallel springs which form and decay spontaneously. The springs are assumed to be nonlinear, and a certain fraction of them is torn apart by a certain strain.Based on these assumptions, a model of behavior in simple shear is developed. This model is shown to predict a behavior comprising that of a Wagner fluid, and is generalized to a tensorial model of single integral type. The integrand depends on a product of a material function, modeling reversible behavior, and a material functional which takes irreversible processes into account.Irreversibility of network disentanglement, which may occur when deformation changes or reverses direction, can be modeled in this way. It is shown that the two well-known Wagner constitutive equations with and without irreversibility assumptions are special cases of the model developed. In case of a deformation which does not change directions, the new material function and the material functional are multiplied to yield Wagner's damping function.When the rate of spring formation is a function of temperature, the developed model is shown to predict thermorheologically simple behavior. A constitutive equation for non-isothermal flow of polymers is developed with this assumption.     

Unidimensional SPH simulations of reactive shock tubes in an astrophysical perspective

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is a Lagrangian method widely used for the modelling of a large variety of astrophysical fluid flows in more than one dimension. Simulations of thermonuclear explosions in stars require, besides the hydrodynamic equations, a realistic equation of state, an energy source term, and a set of nuclear kinetic equations to follow the composition changes of the gas during the explosion. The implementation of a realistic stellar equation of state, and the coupling of hydrodynamics and nuclear burning are investigated in the framework of the simple shock tube geometry. We present and discuss the results of a series of SPH simulations of a detonation in the presence of (1) a single exothermic nuclear reaction, and (2) a restricted network of nuclear reactions. Our results are compared to those of identical simulations performed by other authors using a different hydrodynamic method.     

沉积粉尘的激波点火

采用瞬态阴影技术及红外光电传感器技术实验研究了沉积玉米粉的激波点火过程，并对此进行了理论分析。实验与理论分析结果表明，激波掠射沉积粉尘床后，粉尘颗粒先上扬到一定高度后才点火，颗粒的点火延迟时间与激波波前马赫数、气相氧气含量等因素有关。另外，沉积粉尘的激波点火延迟时间比相同条件下的悬浮粉尘激波点火延迟时间长。     

介电高弹聚合物理论

软材料受刺激会发生变形, 该变形会引起相应的功能, 这种材料称为活性软材料(soft active material, SAM). 本综述主要讨论介电高弹聚合物这一类活性软材料. 当介电高弹聚合物薄膜受到厚度方向的电压作用时, 薄膜厚度减小同时面积增大, 可导致超过100{\%}的应变. 介电高弹聚合物作为转换器被广泛应用, 包括柔性机器人、智能光学器件、盲文显示屏、发电机等. 本文综述了建立在连续介质力学和热力学框架内的、并且基于分子理论描述和经验观测的介电高弹聚合物理论. 该理论耦合了大变形和电势, 描述了非线性和非平衡行为, 如力电失稳和黏弹性. 采用该理论能够通过有限元方法模拟实际构型的转换器, 计算力电能量转换的效率, 给出电致大变形的可行途径. 该理论有助于材料和器件设计.     

Finite element computations of viscoelastic two-phase flows using local projection stabilization

A three-field local projection stabilized (LPS) finite element method is developed for computations of a three-dimensional axisymmetric buoyancy driven liquid drop rising in a liquid column where one of the liquid is viscoelastic. The two-phase flow is described by the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, whereas the viscoelasticity is modeled by the Giesekus constitutive equation in a time-dependent domain. The arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation with finite elements is used to solve the governing equations in the time-dependent domain. Interface-resolved moving meshes in ALE allows to incorporate the interfacial tension force and jumps in the material parameters accurately. A one-level LPS based on an enriched approximation space and a discontinuous projection space is used to stabilize the numerical scheme. A comprehensive numerical investigation is performed for a Newtonian drop rising in a viscoelastic fluid column and a viscoelastic drop rising in a Newtonian fluid column. The influence of the viscosity ratio, Newtonian solvent ratio, Giesekus mobility factor, and the Eötvös number on the drop dynamics are analyzed. The numerical study shows that beyond a critical Capillary number, a Newtonian drop rising in a viscoelastic fluid column experiences an extended trailing edge with a cusp-like shape and also exhibits a negative wake phenomena. However, a viscoelastic drop rising in a Newtonian fluid column develops an indentation around the rear stagnation point with a dimpled shape.     

Control of flight forces and moments by flapping wings of model bumblebee

The control of flight forces and moments by flapping wings of a model bumblebee is studied using the method of computational fluid dynamics.Hovering flight is taken as the reference flight:Wing kinematic parameters are varied with respect to their values at hovering flight.Moments about(and forces along)x,y,z axes that pass the center of mass are computed.Changing stroke amplitude(or wingbeat frequency)mainly produces a vertical force.Changing mean stroke angle mainly produces a pitch moment.Changing wing angle of attack,when down-and upstrokes have equal change,mainly produces a vertical force,while when down-and upstrokes have opposite changes,mainly produces a horizontal force and a pitch moment.Changing wing rotation timing,when dorsal and ventral rotations have the same timing,mainly produces a vertical force,while when dorsal and ventral rotations have opposite timings,mainly produces a pitch moment and a horizontal force.Changing rotation duration has very small effect on forces and moments.Anti-symmetrically changing stroke amplitude(or wingbeat frequency)of the contralateral wings mainly produces a roll moment.Anti-symmetrically changing angles of attack of the contralateral wings,when down-and upstrokes have equal change,mainly produces a roll moment,while when down-and upstrokes have opposite changes,mainly produces a yaw moment.Anti-symmetrically changing wing rotation timing of the contralateral wings,when dorsal and ventral rotations have the same timing,mainly produces a roll moment and a side force,while when dorsal and ventral rotations have opposite timings,mainly produces a yaw moment.Vertical force and moments about the three axes can be separately controlled by separate kinematic variables.A very fast rotation can be achieved with moderate changes in wing kinematics.     

A geometric study of shocks in equations that change type

In this paper we validate the generalized geometric entropy criterion for admissibility of shocks in systems which change type. This condition states that a shock between a state in a hyperbolic region and one in a nonhyperbolic region is admissible if the Lax geometric entropy criterion, based on the number of characteristics entering the shock, holds, where now the real part of a complex characteristic replaces the characteristic speed itself. We test this criterion by a nonlinear inviscid perturbation. We prove that the perturbed Cauchy problem in the elliptic region has a solution for a uniform time if the data lie in a suitable class of analytic functions and show that under small perturbations of the data a perturbed shock and a perturbed solution in the hyperbolic region exist, also for a uniform time.     

Practical techniques for a three‐dimensional FEM analysis of incompressible fluid flow contained with slip walls and a downstream tube bundle

Two practical techniques are proposed in this paper to simulate a flow contained in a plenum with a downstream tube bundle under a PC environment. First, a technique to impose slip wall conditions on smooth‐faced planes and sharp edges is proposed to compensate for the mesh coarseness relative to boundary layer thickness. In particular, a new type of Poisson equation is formulated to simultaneously satisfy both such velocity boundary conditions on walls and the incompressibility constraint. Second, a numerical model for a downstream tube bundle is proposed, where hydraulic resistance in a tube is imposed as a traction boundary condition on a fluid surface contacting the tube bundle end. The effectiveness of the techniques is numerically demonstrated in the application to a flow in a condenser water box. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of fast granular flow facing obstacles on steep terrains

The interaction between fast shallow granular flow and obstacles on steep terrain is an important aspect of granular mechanics and defending against geological hazards. In this study, we used a depth-averaged model for granular flow facing obstacles on steep terrains in a bed-fitted coordinate system where the obstacle system is treated as a local bed deviation term. A second-order Riemann-free scheme is extended to compute the depth-averaged model with a wetting–drying technique, which is verified by several granular flow cases, such as aluminum bar collapse and granular flow runout on a steep slope. Numerical simulations were performed for the case of granular flow facing a (i) single hemispherical obstacle and (ii) system of three hemispherical obstacles to produce a dynamical process and deposit profile, and show good agreement with experimental results. Granular flow facing a single obstacle on a concave plane produces a detached shock wave that moves upstream and a tailing rapid transition zone that moves down, which will merge to form a new shock for deposition. Granular flows facing a three-hemisphere obstacle system produce a tailing rapid transition zone that moves downstream and a downstream wavy shock that results from the interaction of three bow shocks in front of each obstacle. The downstream wavy shock moves upstream and merges with the upstream transition zone to form a new curved shock, which later relaxes to a deposit owing to bed friction. These findings provide some supplemental understandings of flow structures of fast granular flow facing obstacles.     

An Improved IMPES Method for Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

In this paper we develop and numerically study an improved IMPES method for solving a partial differential coupled system for two-phase flow in a three-dimensional porous medium. This improved method utilizes an adaptive control strategy on the choice of a time step for saturation and takes a much larger time step for pressure than for the saturation. Through a stability analysis and a comparison with a simultaneous solution method, we show that this improved IMPES method is effective and efficient for the numerical simulation of two-phase flow and it is capable of solving two-phase coning problems.     

Comparison between centrifugal and vertical vibro-compaction of high-lifted decomposed weathered granite sandy soil using a tracked vehicle

The aim of this research was to develop a new vibro-compaction machine by comparing experimentally and theoretically the effects of a tracked vehicle of total weight 9.8 kN mounted with a centrifugal or vertical oscillator on a high lifted decomposed weathered granite sandy soil. By measuring the amount of sinkage of the terrain surface, the dry density distribution with depth, the normal earth pressure distribution with depth, and the vertical and horizontal acceleration distribution with depth, the compacting effect of centrifugal and vertical vibro-tracked vehicles on the increment of dry density in a deep soil stratum were compared for a frequency of about 54 Hz. It was observed that the centrifugal vibro-tracked vehicle showed a 25% increase in the final amount of sinkage and a 11.3% increase in the maximum dry density of compacted soil compared to the vertical vibro-tracked vehicle. We believe that the centrifugal vibro-tracked vehicle can be shown from the analysis of the stress and acceleration propagation to be a better compaction machine at a high frequency of oscillation for a high lifted soil stratum when compared to conventional vertical vibro-tracked vehicles.     

Modeling and theoretical analysis of a novel ratcheting-type cam-based infinitely variable transmission system

An infinitely variable transmission (IVT) is a system that allows for a continuous (non-discrete) variation (including zero) in transmission ratio between two rotating elements. In this paper, a novel ratcheting-type IVT mechanism is presented and its geometrical design and kinematic analysis are studied in details. The proposed system contains two identical units. Each unit includes a cam with a follower, oscillatory slotted links pivoted at a shaft that can be moved vertically by a hydraulic ram (alterable transmission ratio), and a grooved wheel with an actuating rod. The input rotational motion is converted through each unit to an oscillatory angular motion of controlled amplitude. This resulting motion is rectified using a ratchet to get a unidirectional output rotational motion. Therefore, the system output motion will have a different velocity and acceleration than those of the system input. The kinematic analysis revealed that the transmission ratio can be varied continuously in a range from zero to infinity. The analysis also showed that, for particular transmission ratios, the system gives uniform output (angular velocity and acceleration) for a corresponding uniform input.     

Chimera technique for transporting disturbances

The Chimera technique for moving grids is used to take into account nonhomogeneous unsteady inflow conditions in the simulation of aerodynamic flows. The method is applied to simulate the transport of a large‐scale vortex by a mean velocity field over a large distance, where it finally interacts with an airfoil. The Chimera approach allows one to resolve the vortex on a fine grid, whereas the unstructured background grid covering most of the computational domain can be much coarser. This method shows the same low numerical dissipation as a simulation on a globally fine grid. Several precursor tests are performed with a finite modified analytical Lamb–Oseen type vortex to study the influence of spatial and temporal resolution and the employed numerical scheme. Then, the interaction of an analytical vortex with a NACA0012 airfoil and with an ONERA‐A airfoil near stall is studied. Finally, a realistic vortex is generated by a ramping airfoil and is transported on a moving Chimera block and then interacts with a two‐element airfoil, which allows one to simulate a typical setup for a gust generator in aerodynamic facilities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

结构强度在线分析的光电复合法

本文将电测方法与光弹性方法结合在一起,导出了应用读数应变εd就可以获取准静态情况下结构的载荷P,危险截面位置和最大应力峰值σmax(X0Y0Z0)的理论计算方法,从而为结构的在线强度评价提供一种实验分析方法,文中导出的εd-t,P-t,k-t及σ－t诸曲线谱的相关性理论,不仅揭示了εd与未知载荷P,无量纲应力系数K及应力σ之间的关系,更重要的是这种分析思想与计算机技术结合在一起,可以达到设备强度自动报敬警的作用,作为一个实例,作者应用本理论成功地解决了某钢厂热轧线上一个粗轧机机架在线的应力强度评价难题。