The effect of electrostatic force on the evolution of sand saltation cloud

In a wind-blown sand layer, it has been found that wind transport of particles is always associated with separation of electric charge. This electrification in turn produces some electrostatic forces in addition to the gravitational and fluid friction forces that affect the movement of saltating sand particles, further, the wind-blown sand saltation. To evaluate this effect quantitatively, this paper presents a simulation of evolution of wind-blown sand grains after the electrostatic forces exerted on the grains are taken into account in the wind feedback mechanism of wind-blown saltation. That is, the coupling interaction between the wind flow and the saltating sand particles is employed in the simulation to the non-stationary wind and sand flows when considering fluid drag, gravitation, and a kind of electrostatic force generated from a distribution of electric field changing with time in the evolution process of the sand saltation. On the basis of the proposed simulation model, a numerical program is given to perform the simulation of this dynamic process and some characteristic quantities, e.g., duration of the system to reach the steady state, and curves of the saltating grain number, grain transport rate, mass-flux profile, and wind profile varying with time during the non-stationary evolution are displayed. The obtained numerical results exhibit that the electrostatic force is closely related to the average charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles and has obvious influence on these characteristic quantities. The obtained results also show that the duration of the system to reach the steady state, the sand transport rate and the mass flux profile coincide well with experimental results by Shao and Raupach (1992) when the average charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles is 60 μC/kg for the sand particles with average diameter of 0.25 mm. When the average charge-to-mass ratios of sand particles are taken as some other certain values, the calculation results still show that the mass flux profiles are well in agreement with the experimental data by Rasmussen and Mikkelsen (1998) for another category of sand particles, which tell us that the electrostatic force is one of main factors that have to be considered in the research of mechanism of wind-blown sand saltation.     

Effects of the mid-air collision on sand saltation

As to the fact that the effects of saltating particles’ mid-air collision on the sand transport rate are often neglected in the current theoretical models describing sand saltation movement, expressions to calculate velocity diversity of saltating particles after mid-air collision are presented through collision theory of hard ball in this paper. Then, the theoretical model of the wind blown sand movement at the steady state, taking account of coupled interaction between saltation particles and wind, is combined with the model of the mid-air collision probability to calculate the saltating particles’ mass flux at heights, the sand transport rate, and further, their changing rules. The comparison of the results with those when the mid-air collision is not considered suggests that the mass flux at heights and the sand transport rate in this paper are less, and much closer, respectively, to the corresponding experimental values. The difference between the sand mass fluxes without and with consideration of mid-air collision increases at first, and then decreases as the height increases, exhibiting the stratified characteristics. Supported by the Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10532040), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40571018 and 10772073), the New Century Outstanding Talent of the Ministry of Education of China, and the Science Fund of the Ministry of Education of China for PhD Program (Grant No. 20060730014)     

Measuring the kinetic parameters of saltating sand grains using a high-speed digital camera

A high-speed digital camera is used to record the saltation of three sand samples(diameter range:300–500,200–300 and100–125μm).This is followed by an overlapping particle tracking algorithm to reconstruct the saltating trajectory and the differential scheme to abstract the kinetic parameters of saltating grains.The velocity results confirm the propagating feature of saltation in maintaining near-face aeolian sand transport.Moreover,the acceleration of saltating sand grains was obtained directly from the reconstructed trajectory,and the results reveal that the climbing stage of the saltating trajectory represents an critical process of energy transfer while the sand grains travel through air.     

Scaling laws in aeolian sand transport

We report on wind tunnel measurements on saltating particles in a turbulent boundary layer and provide evidence that over an erodible bed the particle velocity in the saltation layer and the saltation length are almost invariant with the wind strength, whereas over a nonerodible bed these quantities vary significantly with the air friction speed. It results that the particle transport rate over an erodible bed does not exhibit a cubic dependence with the air friction speed, as predicted by Bagnold, but a quadratic one. This contrasts with saltation over a nonerodible bed where the cubic Bagnold scaling holds. Our findings emphasize the crucial role of the boundary conditions at the bed and may have important practical consequences for aeolian sand transport in a natural environment.     

Analysis of the forces acting on the saltating particles in the coupled wind-sand-electricity fields

Based on the theoretical model describing the saltation of sand particles in the coupled wind-sand-electricity fields, the numerical simulations of the forces acting on saltating particles, such as the aerodynamic drag force, Magnus effect, Saffman force and electrostatic force, are analyzed in comparison to the gravity force of the particles in the steady windblown sand movement. Furthermore, the laws of the above forces vary with the friction velocity, the diameter of the sand particle, the initial angular velocity and the lift-off velocity are discussed. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10772075 and 10772074), the Key Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.10532040), and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-04-0979)     

Influence of pH on the transport of nanoscale zinc oxide in saturated porous media

Widespread use of nanoscale zinc oxide (nZnO) in various fields causes subsurface environment contamination. Even though the transport of dissolved zinc ions in subsurface environments such as soils and sediments has been widely studied, the transport mechanism of nZnO in such environments is poorly understood. In addition, nZnO is often combined with stabilizers or dispersing agents to prevent its aggregation in products. The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of pH on the transport properties of pristine nZnO and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) stabilized nZnO (CMC–nZnO) suspensions in silica sand packed column under saturated flow conditions. Transport data were collected at different pHs (pHs: 3, 7, 9, and 11) under 1 mL/min flow rate conditions in a 1.1 cm diameter column. It is found that the transport trends of pristine nZnO and CMC–nZnO were different. For pristine nZnO, mobility of total Zn reached a minimum around its point of zero charge (pH 8.9). Whereas in the case of CMC–nZnO, the mobility of total Zn decreased as the pH of the solution pH increased from 3 to 11. ZnO and Zn ion mixture were separated using diafiltration membrane. It showed that most of the nZnO and CMC–nZnO exists as Zn ion at pH 3 before and after eluting from the sand packed column whereas at pH 11, they exist as particles. This study shows the strong influence of pH and stabilizing agents on nZnO transport. These factors should be considered during subsurface transport of nZnO.     

Transport of surface-modified iron nanoparticle in porous media and application to arsenic(III) remediation

The surface-modified iron nanoparticles (S-INP) were synthesized, characterized and tested for the remediation of arsenite (As(III)), a well known toxic groundwater contaminant of concern. The S-INP material was fully dispersed in the aqueous phase with a particle size distribution of 2–10 nm estimated from high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that an Fe(III) oxide surface film was present on S-INP in addition to the bulk zero-valent Fe⁰ oxidation state. Transport of S-INP through porous media packed in 10 cm length column showed particle breakthroughs of 22.1, 47.4 and 60 pore volumes in glass beads, unbaked sand, and baked sand, respectively. Un-modified INP was immobile and aggregated on porous media surfaces in the column inlet area. Results using S-INP pretreated 10 cm sand-packed columns containing ∼2 g of S-INP showed that 100 % of As(III) was removed from influent solutions (flow rate 1.8 mL min⁻¹) containing 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 mg L⁻¹ As(III) for 9, 7 and 4 days providing 23.3, 20.7 and 10.4 L of arsenic free water, respectively. In addition, it was found that 100% of As(III) in 0.5 mg/L solution (flow rate 1.8 mL min⁻¹) was removed by S-INP pretreated 50 cm sand packed column containing 12 g of S-INP for more than 2.5 months providing 194.4 L of arsenic free water. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed S-INP had transformed to elongated, rod-like shaped corrosion product particles after reaction with As(III) in the presence of sand. These results suggest that S-INP has great potential to be used as a mobile, injectable reactive material for in-situ sandy groundwater aquifer treatment of As(III).     

Occupational and consumer risk estimates for nanoparticles emitted by laser printers

Several studies have reported laser printers as significant sources of nanosized particles (<0.1 μm). Laser printers are used occupationally in office environments and by consumers in their homes. The current work combines existing epidemiological and toxicological evidence on particle-related health effects, measuring doses as mass, particle number and surface area, to estimate and compare the potential risks in occupational and consumer exposure scenarios related to the use of laser printers. The daily uptake of laser printer particles was estimated based on measured particle size distributions and lung deposition modelling. The obtained daily uptakes (particle mass 0.15–0.44 μg d⁻¹; particle number 1.1–3.1 × 10⁹ d⁻¹) were estimated to correspond to 4–13 (mass) or 12–34 (number) deaths per million persons exposed on the basis of epidemiological risk estimates for ambient particles. These risks are higher than the generally used definition of acceptable risk of 1 × 10⁻⁶, but substantially lower than the estimated risks due to ambient particles. Toxicological studies on ambient particles revealed consistent values for lowest observed effect levels (LOELs) which were converted into equivalent daily uptakes using allometric scaling. These LOEL uptakes were by a factor of about 330–1,000 (mass) and 1,000–2,500 (particle surface area) higher than estimated uptakes from printers. This toxicological assessment would indicate no significant health risks due to printer particles. Finally, our study suggests that particle number (not mass) and mass (not surface area) are the most conservative risk metrics for the epidemiological and toxicological risks presented here, respectively.     

Visualization study on the layer formation of electro-rheological fluid

The visualization study on the microstructure of the Electro-Rheological (ER) fluid was carried out. The dense particle motion was difficult to visualize because of the severe light scattering by the particle itself. In this study, the laser light sheet was illuminated to visualize the dense particle condition, 10 wt%. As the ER fluid, the cholesterol particles (∼20 mm) were dispersed into the silicone oil (10 cS). The humidity of particle was controlled to be 4%. The particle density was set to be 10 wt%. Under this condition, individual particle could not be distinguished. However, the particle cluster motion could be clearly visualized. With the electrical field, the chains of the particles were formed. The ER fluid with the chain was recorded onto the video camera. With higher electrical field, the layer of the particle was formed at the top and bottom electrode. The layer caused the decrease of the fluid channel width, resulting in the resistance to be increased. The effects of electrical field on the layer formation were experimentally investigated. The Mason number, which is the ratio of shear force to electrical force, was found to be the key parameter of the layer formation.     

Asymptotic fractality and the anomalous transport of particles having finite velocity

A generalized time-dependent transport equation is obtained for particles whose free motion has a finite velocity, which includes “Lévy flights” and the effect of “traps.” It is shown that as a result of allowing for the finite velocity, the asymptotic (with respect to time) distribution of a particle walking in one dimension has a fractal nature only when the power-law tails of the mean-free-path distributions and particle residence times in the trap have the same exponents. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 138–139 (January 1998)     

三维混合沙输运数值模拟

采用计算流体力学和颗粒离散元耦合的方法模拟了三维混合沙输运过程。采用体平均的Navier-stokes方程来描述气相运动,考虑了气相和颗粒相的相互作用。颗粒运动通过求解牛顿运动方程来求解,采用硬球模型描述颗粒和颗粒及颗粒和壁面的碰撞。本模型中,颗粒运动是三维的而气相运动是二维的。计算结果表明:总输沙率沿高度方向在大于2cm以上按照指数衰减,在2 cm以下则偏大;各粒径颗粒具有不同的输沙率分布,粗粒径颗粒按指数规律衰减,其它粒径颗粒输沙率随高度先指数增加后减少;各粒径颗粒平均水平速度随高度对数函数增加且同高度时随粒径增大而减小,1 cm高度以下则相反;沙粒平均粒径沿高度线性递减,2 cm以下粒径偏大。     

Experimental investigation of particle velocity distributions in windblown sand movement

With the PDPA (Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer) measurement technology, the probability distributions of particle impact and lift-off velocities on bed surface and the particle velocity distributions at different heights are detected in a wind tunnel. The results show that the probability distribution of impact and lift-off velocities of sand grains can be expressed by a log-normal function, and that of impact and lift-off angles complies with an exponential function. The mean impact angle is between 28° and 39°, and the mean lift-off angle ranges from 30° to 44°. The mean lift-off velocity is 0.81–0.9 times the mean impact velocity. The proportion of backward-impacting particles is 0.05–0.11, and that of backward-entrained particles ranges from 0.04 to 0.13. The probability distribution of particle horizontal velocity at 4 mm height is positive skew, the horizontal velocity of particles at 20 mm height varies widely, and the variation of the particle horizontal velocity at 80 mm height is less than that at 20 mm height. The probability distribution of particle vertical velocity at different heights can be described as a normal function. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10532030) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. G2000048702)     

Monitoring acoustic emission (AE) energy of abrasive particle impacts in a slurry flow loop using a statistical distribution model

Slurry erosion has been recognized as a serious problem in many industrial applications. In slurry flows, the estimation of the amount of incident kinetic energy that transmits from particles suspended in the fluid to the containment structures is a key aspect in evaluating its abrasive potential. This work represents a systematic investigation of particle impact energy measurement using acoustic emission (AE), as indicated by a sensor mounted on the outer surface of a sharp bend, in an arrangement that had been pre-calibrated using controlled single and multiple impacts. Particle size, free stream velocity, and nominal particle concentration were varied, and the amount of energy dissipated in the carbon steel bend was assessed using a slurry impingement flow loop test rig. Silica sand particles of mean particle size 225–650 μm were used for impingement on the bend with particle nominal concentrations between 1 and 5% while the free stream velocity was changed between 4.2 and 14 ms⁻¹.     

Measuring particle size-dependent physicochemical structure in airborne single walled carbon nanotube agglomerates

As-produced single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) material is a complex matrix of carbon nanotubes, bundles of nanotubes (nanoropes), non-tubular carbon and metal catalyst nanoparticles. The pulmonary toxicity of material released during manufacture and handling will depend on the partitioning and arrangement of these components within airborne particles. To probe the physicochemical structure of airborne SWCNT aggregates, a new technique was developed and applied to aerosolized as-produced material. Differential Mobility Analysis-classified aggregates were analyzed using an Aerosol Particle Mass Monitor, and a structural parameter Γ (proportional to the square of particle mobility diameter, divided by APM voltage) derived. Using information on the constituent components of the SWCNT, modal values of Γ were estimated for specific particle compositions and structures, and compared against measured values. Measured modal values of Γ for 150 nm mobility diameter aggregates suggested they were primarily composed of non-tubular carbon from one batch of material, and thin nanoropes from a second batch of material – these findings were confirmed using Transmission Electron Microscopy. Measured modal values of Γ for 31 nm mobility diameter aggregates indicated that they were comprised predominantly of thin carbon nanoropes with associated nanometer-diameter metal catalyst particles; there was no indication that either catalyst particles or non-tubular carbon particles were being preferentially released into the air. These results indicate that the physicochemistry of aerosol particles released while handling as-produced SWCNT may vary significantly by particle size and production batch, and that evaluations of potential health hazards need to account for this. Disclaimer: The mention of any company or product does not constitute an endorsement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.     

Propagation Characteristics of Infrared Pulse Waves through Windblown Sand and Dust Atmosphere

The physics characteristics of the windblown sand and dust atmosphere at the sand bench of Yellow River in China are discussed. The pulse distortion and time delay of infrared nanosecond pulse propagating through the atmosphere having sand and dust particles are investigated at 1.06 and 3.8 μm, respectively. It is shown that the delay of 10 ns laser pulse propagating through 5 km windblown sand and dust atmosphere are over 1 ns and 10 ns at 1.06 and 3.8 μm, respectively. The pulse spread increases slightly with wavelength increase. The pulse spread of a 10 ns laser pulse is over 40 ns at 3.8 μm. The pulse delay and spread increase rapidly with the sand particle density increasing in atmosphere. The narrower the pulse width is, the more the pulse distortion is. Hence, at infrared band, for a laser pulse propagating in sand and dust atmosphere, the pulse delay and spread are quite severe and need be taken into account for a narrower pulse laser system.     

Microwave scattering properties of sand particles: Application to the simulation of microwave radiances over sandstorms

The single-scattering properties of sand/dust particles assumed to be ellipsoids are computed from the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method at microwave frequencies 6.9-89.0 GHz in comparison with the corresponding Lorenz-Mie solutions. It is found that the single-scattering properties of sand particles are strongly sensitive to the shapes of the particles. The bulk scattering properties of sandstorms composed of spherical or nonspherical particles are investigated by averaging the single-scattering properties of these particles over log-normal particle size distributions. Furthermore, a vector radiative transfer model is used to simulate microwave radiances. The microwave brightness temperatures in the vertical polarization model are essentially not sensitive to sand particle habit, whereas microwave brightness temperature polarization differences are influenced by particle habit. It is shown that microwave brightness temperatures and brightness temperature polarization differences may be useful for estimating the effective particle sizes and mass loading of sandstorms.     

Characteristics of laser supersonic heating method for producing micro metallic particles

In this article, the authors analyzed the process characteristics of laser supersonic heating method for producing metallic particles and predicted the in-flight tracks and shapes of micro-particles. A pulse Nd–YAG laser was used to heat the carbon steel target placed within an air nozzle. The high-pressure air with supersonic velocity was used to carry out carbon steel particles in the nozzle. The shock wave structures at the nozzle exit were visualized by the shadowgraph method. The carbon steel particles produced by laser supersonic heating method were grabbed and the spraying angles of the particle tracks were visualized. The velocity of the in-flight particles was measured by a photodiode sensor and compared with the numerical result. The solidification of carbon steel particles with diameters of 1–50 μm in compressible flow fields were investigated. The result shows that there is no significant difference in the dimension of solid carbon steel particles produced at shock wave fields under various entrance pressures (3–7 bar) with a constant laser energy radiation.     

Photon interaction studies using 241Am γ-rays

We have carried out some photon interaction measurements using 59.54 keV γ-rays from a ²⁴¹Am source. These include γ attenuation studies as well as photoelectric absorption studies in various samples. The attenuation studies have been made using leaf and wood samples, samples like sand, sugar etc., which contain particles of varying sizes as well as pellets and aqueous solutions of rare earth compounds. In the case of the leaf and wood samples, we have used the γ-ray attenuation technique for the determination of the water content in fresh and dried samples. The variation of the attenuation coefficient with particle size has been investigated for sand and sugar samples. The attenuation studies as well as the photoelectric studies in the case of rare earth elements have been carried out on samples containing such elements whose K-absorption edge energies lie below and close to the γ-energy used. Suitable compounds of the rare earth elements have been chosen as mixture absorbers in these investigations. A narrow beam good geometry set-up was used for the attenuation measurements. A well-shielded scattering geometry was used for the photoelectric measurements. The mixture rule was invoked to extract the values of the mass attenuation coefficients for the elements from those of the corresponding compounds. The results are consistent with theoretical values derived from the XCOM package.     

A Monte Carlo and continuum study of mechanical properties of nanoparticle based films

A combination Monte Carlo and equivalent-continuum simulation approach was used to investigate the structure-mechanical property relationships of titania nanoparticle deposits. Films of titania composed of nanoparticle aggregates were simulated using a Monte Carlo approach with diffusion-limited aggregation. Each aggregate in the simulation is fractal-like and random in structure. In the film structure, it is assumed that bond strength is a function of distance with two limiting values for the bond strengths: one representing the strong chemical bond between the particles at closest proximity in the aggregate and the other representing the weak van der Waals bond between particles from different aggregates. The Young’s modulus of the film is estimated using an equivalent-continuum modeling approach, and the influences of particle diameter (5–100 nm) and aggregate size (3–400 particles per aggregate) on predicted Young’s modulus are investigated. The Young’s modulus is observed to increase with a decrease in primary particle size and is independent of the size of the aggregates deposited. Decreasing porosity resulted in an increase in Young’s modulus as expected from results reported previously in the literature.