On the nature of turbulence

A concept of turbulence is presented that is based on the results of an investigation of the structure of a gas flow in a tube with a square cross section in front of a nonsteady-state moving flame front. It is shown that a region of elevated pressure, consisting of alternating condensations, is formed in the gas flow near the tube walls. These condensations are the sources of waves which form a distribution of velocity fluctuations in the gas flow over a wide range of amplitudes, frequencies and directions. The dynamics of the perturbations at the walls and the configuration of the wave in the gap make it possible to consider the fluctuations in the flow as pseudochaotic and to use statistical methods to describe them. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 191–203 (January 1998)     

Nanoscale studies of ferroelectric domain walls as pinned elastic interfaces

The competition between elasticity and pinning of an interface in a fluctuating potential energy landscape gives rise to characteristic self-affine roughening and a complex dynamic response to applied forces. This statistical physics approach provides a general framework in which the behaviour of systems as diverse as propagating fractures, wetting lines, burning fronts or surface growth can be described. Domain walls separating regions with different polarisation orientation in ferroelectric materials are another example of pinned elastic interfaces, and can serve as a particularly useful model system. Reciprocally, a better understanding of this fundamental physics allows key parameters controlling domain switching, growth, and stability to be determined, and used to improve the performance of ferroelectric materials in applications such as memories, sensors, and actuators. In this review, we focus on piezoresponse force microscopy measurements of individual ferroelectric domain walls, allowing their static configuration and dynamic response to be accessed with nanoscale resolution over multiple orders of length scale and velocity. Combined with precise control over the applied electric field, temperature, and strain, and the ability to influence the type and density of defects present in the sample, this experimental system has allowed not only a direct demonstration of creep motion and roughening, but provides an opportunity to test less-well-understood aspects of out-of-equilibrium behaviour, and the effects of greater complexity in the structure of both the interface and the disorder landscape pinning it.     

Interface dynamics of lipid membrane spreading on solid surfaces

As a model system for two-dimensional interface dynamics, we study the wetting front of a lipid membrane moving over a solid substrate that is structured with regularly spaced pinning centers. By analyzing the contour of the front, we derive the normal growth rate and the relaxation coefficient. Both exhibit a 1/t(1/2) time dependence. Moreover, the friction coefficient and the line tension can be determined. Randomly distributed pinning centers cause a fractal contour line, whereas on surfaces that are artificially roughened, self-affine contour lines are observed. The latter exhibit an anomalous roughness exponent of zeta = 0.81+/-0.05.     

Demonstration of the density dependence of x-ray flux in a laser-driven hohlraum

Experiments have been conducted using laser-driven cylindrical hohlraums whose walls are machined from Ta2O5 foams of 100 mg/cc and 4 g/cc densities. Measurements of the radiation temperature demonstrate that the lower density walls produce higher radiation temperatures than the high density walls. This is the first experimental demonstration of the prediction that this would occur [M. D. Rosen and J. H. Hammer, Phys. Rev. E 72, 056403 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevE.72.056403]. For high density walls, the radiation front propagates subsonically, and part of the absorbed energy is wasted by the flow kinetic energy. For the lower wall density, the front velocity is supersonic and can devote almost all of the absorbed energy to heating the wall.     

Influence of nanoscale cutoff in random self-affine fractal silver surfaces on the excitation of localized optical modes

We report rigorous numerical calculations of the near field scattered from rough, one-dimensional self-affine fractal silver surfaces. We show that fractal lower-scale cutoff (decreased to the order of tens of nanometers) has a strong effect on excitation and strength of localized optical modes, leading to very large enhancements of the intensity (larger than 10(4)) and fluctuations of the electric field.     

Non-contact adhesion to self-affine surfaces: A theoretical model

Strength of adhesion between materials is known to be strongly influenced by interface irregularities. In this work, I devise a perturbative approach to describe the effect of self-affine roughness on non-contact adhesive interactions. The hierarchy of the obtained analytical solutions is the following. First, analytical formulae are deduced to describe roughness corrections to the van der Waals interaction energies between a hemi-space adherend, bounded by a self-affine surface, and a point-like adherent. Second, the problem of two hemi-spaces, one of which has a planar surface, and the other is bounded by a self-affine surface, is solved analytically. In the latter case, a numerical analysis is performed to delineate the behavior of the roughness corrections as a function of the parameters, characterizing self-affine fractal surface roughness. The problem of two hemi-spaces, both bounded by self-affine fractal surfaces, is also addressed in this work. The model?s predictions are compared with previously reported theoretical results and available experimental data.     

Wave coagulation of a polydisperse gas suspension in the technology of gasification and Cryostatting of liquefied natural gas

We analyze the flow of a polydisperse suspension of methane droplets in a plane channel with simultaneous coagulation of disperse fraction particles under the action of the wave field generated in the carrier medium—gaseous methane—by oscillating parts of the channel walls. The frequency of in-phase oscillations of the walls is equal to the fundamental frequency for the transverse cross section of the channel filled with gaseous methane. In the vicinity of the radiator, a standing wave of the velocity field forms in the direction transverse to the flow and the intensity of coagulation of particles from different fractions upon their collisions increases due to mutual displacement. We describe the evolution of the dispersiveness of a vapor-droplet flow under the action of the wave field of a standing wave whose front moves transversely to the flow.     

Roughening of fracture surfaces: the role of plastic deformation

Post mortem analysis of fracture surfaces of ductile and brittle materials on the microm-mm and the nm scales, respectively, reveal self-affine cracks with anomalous scaling exponent zeta approximately 0.8 in three dimensions and zeta approximately 0.65 in two dimensions. Attempts to use elasticity theory to explain this result failed, yielding exponent zeta approximately 0.5 up to logarithms. We show that when the cracks propagate via plastic void formations in front of the tip, followed by void coalescence, the void positions are positively correlated to yield exponents higher than 0.5.     

Propagation of fronts in activator-inhibitor systems with a cutoff

We consider a two-component system of reaction-diffusion equations with a small cutoff in the reaction term. A semi-analytical solution of fronts and how the front velocities vary with the parameters are given for the case when the system has a piecewise linear nonlinearity. We find the existence of a nonequilibrium Ising-Bloch bifurcation for the front speed when the cutoff is present. Numerical results of solutions to these equations are also presented and they allow us to consider the collision between fronts, and the existence of different types of traveling waves emerging from random initial conditions.     

Two-dimensional finite-element method analysis of various antennasfor ICRF plasma heating

Two-dimensional finite-element analysis is performed for ion-cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) antennas with various cross-sectional configurations. Interest is mainly focused on the quantitative difference in the input impedance among various antennas such as the normal loop antenna, the antenna with surrounding limiter walls, and the antenna buried into the cutoff cavity. For analytical simplicity, the cold plasma approximation is used. The numerical results show how the input impedance is affected by the presence of the limiter walls or the cutoff cavity. The code described can be applied to the designs of ICRF antennas with a wide range of plasma parameters and antenna geometries     

Flames in narrow circular tubes

We examine an axi-symmetric deflagration located in a tube with thermally active walls. It is noted that the flame-in-tube configuration defines a classical edge-flame, a flame in a shear flow for which there is a water-shed solution for a critical value of the Damköhler number (D), ignition front solutions for larger values of D, and failure wave solutions for smaller values. We examine semi-infinite tubes with a heat flux imposed at the tube wall ends, to simulate experiments reported in the 30th Symposium. We identify parameters for which stable solutions are obtained at certain flow rates, but unstable solutions are generated at higher flow rates, followed by stable solutions at still higher flow rates. These solutions are consistent with the experimental record. Instability leads either to regular oscillations or to a violent process characterized by quenching and re-ignition.     

Self-affine analysis of multiparticle production in pp collisions at 400 GeV/c with continuously varying scale

A self-affine analysis of multiparticle production in pp collisions at 400 GeV/c was performed by using the method of continuously varying scale. Comparing with the results obtained from self-similar analysis, the self-affine analysis shows a better power-law behavior. The fractality in multiparticle production is self-affine rather than self-similar.     

Pressure effects in the planar solidification of a finite slab: convective cooling and prescribed heat flux boundary conditions

Summary The classical Stefan problem assumes a fixed melting temperature. However, when the solid phase is the one with lower density (e.g., water) the solidification of the system causes an overall volume increase that is often contrasted by the container walls. In that case the growing pressure determines a continuous lowering of the freezing point, and the temperature field as well as the interface motion are strongly affected. This paper is concerned with these aspects of the problem; the planar solidification of a slab of finite thickness, contrasted by an opposing elastic force, is numerically simulated. The effects of two different boundary conditions are analysed. When the solidification is driven by convective cooling, the continuous advancement of the melting front is replaced by an asymptotic behaviour, until thermal equilibrium is attained. When the boundary condition is specified in terms of a prescribed heat flow, the melting front velocity is slowed down by a growing adverse temperature gradient. The influence of various parameters on the process is presented and discussed.     

自仿射Sierpinski地毯中的粘滞指进

构造了自仿射Sierpinski地毯.在自仿射Sierpinski地毯中,认为喉管半径服从截断瑞利分布,采用逐次超松弛技术,模拟了自仿射Sierpinski地毯中的粘滞指进.计算了粘滞指进分维,结果表明,当粘滞比M→∞时,指进图样与在自仿射Sierpinski地毯中DLA模拟的结果类似：当M=1时,驱替流体在长标度范围内具有紧凑的结构,且具有稳定的位移. 关键词：     

Front Propagation Dynamics with Exponentially-Distributed Hopping

We study reaction-diffusion systems where diffusion is by jumps whose sizes are distributed exponentially. We first study the Fisher-like problem of propagation of a front into an unstable state, as typified by the A+B → 2A reaction. We find that the effect of fluctuations is especially pronounced at small hopping rates. Fluctuations are treated heuristically via a density cutoff in the reaction rate. We then consider the case of propagating up a reaction rate gradient. The effect of fluctuations here is pronounced, with the front velocity increasing without limit with increasing bulk particle density. The rate of increase is faster than in the case of a reaction-gradient with nearest-neighbor hopping. We derive analytic expressions for the front velocity dependence on bulk particle density. Computer simulations are performed to confirm the analytical results.     

Hydrodynamic instability of premixed flame propagating in narrow planar channel in the presence of gas flow

The paper analyses the hydrodynamic instability of a flame propagating in the space between two parallel plates in the presence of gas flow. The linear analysis was performed in the framework of a two-dimensional model that describes the averaged gas flow in the space between the plates and the perturbations development of two-dimensional combustion wave. The model includes the parametric dependences of the flame front propagation velocity on its local curvature and on the combustible gas velocity averaged along the height of the channel. It is assumed that the viscous gas flow changes the surface area of the flame front and thereby affects the propagation velocity of the two-dimensional combustion wave. In the absence of the influence of the channel walls on the gas flow, the model transforms into the Darrieus–Landau model of flame hydrodynamic instability. The dependences of the instability growth rate on the wave vector of disturbances, the velocity of the unperturbed gas flow, the viscous friction coefficients and other parameters of the problem are obtained. It is shown that the viscous gas flow in the channel can lead, in some cases, to a significant increase in instability compared with a flame propagating in free space. In particular, the instability increment depends on the direction of the gas flow with respect direction of the flame propagation. In the case when the gas flow moves in the opposite direction to the direction of the flame propagation, the pulsating instability can appear.     

Fluctuation-regularized front propagation dynamics in reaction-diffusion systems

We introduce and study a new class of fronts in finite particle-number reaction-diffusion systems, corresponding to propagating up a reaction-rate gradient. We show that these systems have no traditional mean-field limit, as the nature of the long-time front solution in the stochastic process differs essentially from that obtained by solving the mean-field deterministic reaction-diffusion equations. Instead, one can incorporate some aspects of the fluctuations via introducing a density cutoff. Using this method, we derive analytic expressions for the front velocity dependence on bulk particle density and show self-consistently why this cutoff approach can get the correct leading-order physics.     

Frequency upshifting and pulse compression via underdenserelativistic ionization fronts

Theoretical and experimental work on the interaction of radiation with a relativistically propagating, underdense ionization front in a waveguide was performed. In the experiment 35-GHz microwave pulses were upshifted and compressed upon encountering a moving front. The frequency spectrum of the upshifted radiation was determined independently using sections of cutoff waveguides and a microwave diffraction grating. These frequency upshifts were proportional to the plasma density of the ionization front as predicted by the theory. The front density was determined using microwave interferometry. The pulsewidths of the upshifted radiation were measured with fast diode detectors. These pulsewidth measurements were also in good agreement with the theory. Frequency upshifts and pulse compressions of up to a factor of five were recorded in this experiment     

Formation of the preheated zone ahead of a propagating flame and the mechanism underlying the deflagration-to-detonation transition

The Letter presents analytical, numerical and experimental studies of the mechanism underlying the deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT). Insight into how, when, and where DDT occurs is obtained by analyzing analytically and by means of multidimensional numerical simulations dynamics of a flame accelerating in a tube with no-slip walls. It is shown that the deflagration-to-detonation transition exhibits three separate stages of evolution corroborating majority experimental observations. During the first stage flame accelerates and generates shocks far ahead of the flame front. During the second stage the flame slows down, shocks are formed in the immediate proximity of the flame front and the preheated zone ahead of the flame front is created. The third stage is self-restructuring of the steep temperature profile within the flame, formation of a reactivity gradient and the actual formation of the detonation wave itself. The mechanism for the detonation wave formation, given an appropriate formation of the preheated zone, seems to be universal and involves a reactivity gradient formed from the initially steep flame temperature profile in the presence of the preheated zone. The developed theory and numerical simulations are found to be well consistent with extensive experiments of the DDT in hydrogen-oxygen and ethylene-oxygen mixtures in tubes with smooth and rough walls.     

表面粗糙度的分形特征及其对微通道内层流流动的影响

基于分形几何学,研究了表面粗糙度的分形特征.采用Weierstrass- Mandelbrot函数对多尺度自仿射的表面粗糙度进行了描述;建立了微通道内层流流动的三维模型并对表面粗糙度的影响进行了数值模拟,分析了雷诺数、相对粗糙度和分形维数对流动阻力特性的影响.研究结果表明,与常规尺度通道不同,粗糙微通道的Poiseuille数不再是常数,而是随雷诺数近似线性增加;相对粗糙度越大,流动产生的回流和分离所导致的流动压降越明显.在相同的相对粗糙度下,粗糙表面的分形维数越大,表面轮廓变化就越频繁,这也将导致流动阻 关键词： 粗糙度 层流阻力系数 微通道 分形