Critical behavior of phase interfaces in porous media: Analysis of scaling properties with the use of noncoherent and coherent light

Image sequences of the surface of disordered layers of porous medium (paper) obtained under noncoherent and coherent illumination during capillary rise of a liquid are analyzed. As a result, principles that govern the critical behavior of the interface between liquid and gaseous phases during its pinning are established. By a cumulant analysis of speckle-modulated images of the surface and by the statistical analysis of binarized difference images of the surface under noncoherent illumination, it is shown that the macroscopic dynamics of the interface at the stage of pinning is mainly controlled by the power law dependence of the appearance rate of local instabilities (avalanches) of the interface on the critical parameter, whereas the growth dynamics of the local instabilities is controlled by the diffusion of a liquid in a layer and weakly depends on the critical parameter. A phenomenological model is proposed for the macroscopic dynamics of the phase interface for interpreting experimental data. The values of critical indices are determined that characterize the samples under test within this model. These values are compared with the results of numerical simulation for discrete models of directed percolation corresponding to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation.     

Macroscopic capillarity without a constitutive capillary pressure function

This paper challenges the foundations of the macroscopic capillary pressure concept. The capillary pressure function, as it is traditionally assumed in the constitutive theory of two-phase immiscible displacement in porous media, relates the pressure difference between nonwetting and wetting fluid to the saturation of the wetting fluid. The traditional capillary pressure function neglects the fundamental difference between percolating and nonpercolating fluid regions as first emphasized in R. Hilfer [Macroscopic equations of motion for two phase flow in porous media, Phys. Rev. E 58 (1998) 2090]. The theoretical approach proposed here starts from residual saturations as the volume fractions of nonpercolating phases. The resulting equations of motion open the possibility to describe flow processes where drainage and imbibition occur simultaneously. The theory predicts hysteresis and process dependence of capillary phenomena. The traditional theory is recovered as a special case in the residual decoupling approximation. Explicit calculations are presented for quasistatic equilibrium profiles near hydrostatic equilibrium. The results are found to agree with experiment.     

多孔介质流动沸腾微观模型实验研究

多孔通道内流动沸腾广泛应用于热管、高效换热器、航天热防护等领域,认识孔隙尺度相变典型行为及特点有助于理解多孔介质内沸腾传热机理,进而改进多孔介质内部流体相变模型。基于此,本文搭建了二维多孔介质内流动沸腾实验台,对微米级多孔通道内部流动沸腾现象及气泡行为进行研究。实验发现在毛细力、黏性力和惯性力的共同作用下,多孔介质内的流动沸腾形态显著区别于直通道内的沸腾,存在局部气泡堵塞、合并和液膜蒸干、再润湿等行为。该研究有助于增强对相变过程的理解,并为多孔结构优化设计提供指导。     

非均匀毛细多孔层气液渗透传输特性研究

可视化实验研究了不同液/气流速和孔壁面浸润性对非均匀毛细多孔层内稳态饱和度、侵入时间及气、液微观传输特性的影响.结果表明:多孔层内液相饱和度及侵入时间均随液相侵入速率的增大而减小;亲水性多孔介质内液体优先选择小孔侵渗,且孔内侵渗速度变化较大;亲水性多孔层内的稳态气相饱和度随气相驱替速率的增加析增加,憎水性多孔层内的稳态...     

Simulations of nematic homopolymer melts using particle-based models with interactions expressed through collective variables

We develop a hybrid Monte Carlo approach for modelling nematic liquid crystals of homopolymer melts. The polymer architecture is described with a discrete worm-like chain model. A quadratic density functional accounts for the limited compressibility of the liquid, while an additional quadratic functional of the local orientation tensor of the segments captures the nematic ordering. The approach can efficiently address large systems parametrized according to volumetric and conformational properties, representative of real polymeric materials. The results of the simulations regarding the influence of the molecular weight on the isotropic-nematic transition are compared to predictions from a Landau-de Gennes free energy expansion. The formation of the nematic phase is addressed within Rouse-like dynamics, realized using the current model.     

Numerical simulations of gas-liquid two-phase flows in a micro porous structure

The lattice Boltzmann method for two-phase fluid flows is applied to the simulations of gas-liquid two-phase flows in a micro porous structure for various capillary numbers at low Reynolds numbers. The behaviors of the gas-liquid interface and the velocities of the two-phase fluid in the structure are simulated, and the permeability of gas and liquid through the structure are estimated from the calculated results. By changing the void fraction, the contact angle of the interface on walls, and the surface tension, the effect of these properties on the behaviors and the permeability of the two-phase flows in the micro porous structure is investigated. It is found that the permeability of liquid flows depends on the contact angle and it increases for hydrophobic walls. It is also seen that liquid flows are choked in pores for large void fractions and low capillary numbers.     

A fractal streaming current model for charged microscale porous media

An analytical expression for the streaming current in fractal porous media is developed based on the capillary model and the fractal theory for porous media. The proposed fractal model is expressed as a function of the space charge density at the solid–liquid interface, the fluid flow rate, the Debye–Huckel parameter, the minimum and maximum pore/capillary radii and fractal dimensions for porous media. The results are compared with available experimental data and good agreement is found between them. In addition, factors influencing the streaming current in porous media are also analyzed.     

Polymeric microstructure arrays consequence of Marangoni flow-induced water droplets

This paper describes a cost-effective approach to fabricate intricate arrays of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polymeric microstructures based on porous polystyrene (PS) films generated from arrays of water droplets. To start, a thin layer of ethanol film is exposed to a humid air flow. Upon the evaporation of ethanol and simultaneous condensation of water as the ethanol phase recedes, a Marangoni flow causes the flow of liquid from the ethanol phase into water fingers emerged along the receding contact line, which finally detach to form ordered water droplet arrays behind the receding contact line. The water droplet arrays are subsequently used as templates to generate porous PS films. The porous PS films are then used as sacrificial layers and masters to fabricate various arrays of PDMS dots and PDMS stamps with posts, respectively. The PDMS stamps containing various microstructures are further utilized to create polymer rings, PDMS dots, porous PDMS films, and PDMS aperture rings, and for contact printing of patterns of self-assembled monolayers.     

PEM燃料电池毛细压力流道拓展模型

多孔电极与流道内的水淹现象是制约质子交换膜(PEM)燃料电池性能提高的关键难题.传统的宏观两相模型普遍存在液态水饱和度预测值偏低的不足,而流道内气液两相雾状流的假设则是低估水淹程度的一个主要原因.本文提出了反映流道壁面浸润差异性的毛细压力流道拓展模型,并对低气速下燃料电池内的传热传质进行了模拟.计算结果表明,该模型克服...     

New openings for porous systems research from intermolecular double-quantum NMR

It has been recently recognized that residual intermolecular double-quantum coherences (iDQcs) provide a novel contrast mechanism to study heterogeneity in liquid systems. This is of much interest in the field of the physics of matter and biomedicine. Nowadays, literature concerning the behaviour of the iDQc signal originated by highly heterogeneous systems such as fluids in porous media is scarce. In this paper, we report and discuss our principal results about iDQc signal behaviour in confined liquid systems (trabecular bone, travertine, porous standard systems) and also some new results obtained on doped water in glass capillary pipes.     

Observation of a superfluid phase in solid helium

Evidence of a superfluid liquid phase present in polycrystalline helium at a temperature of 0.2 K and a pressure of 51 bar has been obtained by means of inelastic neutron scattering. The superfluid component is absent at a temperature of 0.6 K and the same pressure. Thus, a “solid helium-superfluid helium” phase transition has been discovered. The sample of solid helium in a porous medium (silica aerogel) has been prepared with the use of a capillary blocking technique. The shape of the structure factor of the superfluid phase indicates the presence of clusters or the effects of a restricted geometry. The results may be used to explain the nonclassical rotational inertia phenomenon in solid helium (often referred to as supersolidity, Nature, 2004).     

Comparing the Basic Phenomena Involved in Three Methods of Pore‐size Characterization: Gas Adsorption,Liquid Intrusion and Thermoporometry

Gas adsorption at 77 K is probably the most widely used method to characterize mesoporous adsorbents via capillary condensation. Mercury intrusion is also commonly used for the characterization of such materials with the possibility to extend the pore width distribution measurement to the macropore range. More recently water intrusion was proposed to study hydrophobic porous solids. Thermoporometry is a further characterization method, now based on the study of the solid/liquid transition. We can consider that all these methods rely on the modification of the phase diagram of a pure substance under the effect of confinement. For each of them, the equations and models derived are based either on classical thermodynamics or on statistical approaches. In most cases, the derivation of the pore width distribution is carried out with the assumption that the porous system is made up of non‐connected cylinders, whereas the actual complexity of the structure is derived from the hysteresis shape. Our aim here is to compare the four approaches above (gas adsorption, mercury intrusion, water intrusion, thermoporometry) on samples giving rise, in their gas adsorption isotherms, to the typical hysteresis loops of the IUPAC classification. Our comparison is in great part carried out after the shape of the hysteresis loops obtained with the various methods and after the information it brings on the mechanism of replacement of a phase by the other within the porous system.     

Stratifying Polymer Solutions in Microsized Pores: Phase Transitions Induced by Deformation of a Porous Material

Technical Physics - Based on the thermodynamic approach, the influence of pore morphology on the phase equilibria in stratifying liquid solutions entrapped in a porous matrix is analyzed. As...     

Hydrodynamics of writing with ink

Writing with ink involves the supply of liquid from a pen onto a porous hydrophilic solid surface, paper. The resulting linewidth depends on the pen speed and the physicochemical properties of the ink and paper. Here we quantify the dynamics of this process using a combination of experiment and theory. Our experiments are carried out using a minimal pen, a long narrow tube that serves as a reservoir of liquid, which can write on a model of paper, a hydrophilic micropillar array. A minimal theory for the rate of wicking or spreading of the liquid is given by balancing the capillary force that drives the liquid flow and the resistance associated with flow through the porous substrate. This allows us to predict the shape of the front and the width of the line laid out by the pen, with results that are corroborated by our experiments.     

Low-frequency velocity correlation spectrum of fluid in a porous media by modulated gradient spin echo.

In addition to the fast correlation for local stochastic motion, the molecular velocity correlation function in a fluid enclosed within the pore boundaries features a slow long time-tail decay. Here we present its study by the NMR modulated gradient spin-echo method (MGSE) [1] on a system of water trapped in the space between the closely packed polystyrene beads. With MGSE pulse sequence, a repetitive train of RF pulses with interspersed gradient pulses periodically modulates the spin phase. It gives the spin echo attenuation proportional to a value of the molecular velocity correlation spectrum at the modulation frequency. Covering the frequency range between Hz and MHz, it is a complement to the quasi-elastic neutron scattering, and so a suitable technique for the investigation of low frequency molecular dynamics in fluids. In our experiment, it enables to extract the low frequency correlation spectrum of water molecules confined in porous media. The function exhibits a negative long time-tail characteristic (a low frequency decay of the spectrum), which can be interpreted as a molecular back scattering on boundaries. The results can be well fitted with the spectrum calculated from the solution of the Langevin equation for restricted diffusion (which exhibits an exponential decay) [2] as well as with the spectrum obtained when simulating the hydrodynamics of molecular motion constrained by capillary walls (which gives an algebraic decay) [3]. Despite much work on theories and simulation, which predict slow negative long time tail of molecular velocity correlation dynamics in confined fluids, the obtained velocity correlation spectrum is the first experimental evidence to confirm these effects. The obtained dependence of spin echo attenuation on time, gradient strength and modulation frequency is also the first experimental verification of the recently developed approach to the spin echo in porous media, that uses the spin phase average with the cumulant expansion to get the attenuation as a discord of spin spatial coherence [4].     

小型平板CPL蒸发器耦合计算及优化设计研究

本文建立了小型平板CPL蒸发器毛细多孔芯内汽液两相流动与传热的模型以及金属外壁和工质区的导热模型,并进行耦合求解.分析了金属侧壁效应对蒸发器性能的影响,提出小型平板CPL存在着侧壁效应传热极限.数值结果表明,工质蒸发发生在多孔芯加热表面附近,蒸发器采用单一金属外壁时由于侧壁效应导致系统传热极限低,而上壁采用导热系数大,侧壁及下壁采用导热系数小的新型结构能够明显的提高系统的传热能力,同时使加热表面的温度维持在较低的水平.     

Theoretical formulation of finite-dimensional discrete phase spaces: I. Algebraic structures and uncertainty principles

We propose a self-consistent theoretical framework for a wide class of physical systems characterized by a finite space of states which allows us, within several mathematical virtues, to construct a discrete version of the Weyl–Wigner–Moyal (WWM) formalism for finite-dimensional discrete phase spaces with toroidal topology. As a first and important application from this ab initio approach, we initially investigate the Robertson–Schrödinger (RS) uncertainty principle related to the discrete coordinate and momentum operators, as well as its implications for physical systems with periodic boundary conditions. The second interesting application is associated with a particular uncertainty principle inherent to the unitary operators, which is based on the Wiener–Khinchin theorem for signal processing. Furthermore, we also establish a modified discrete version for the well-known Heisenberg–Kennard–Robertson (HKR) uncertainty principle, which exhibits additional terms (or corrections) that resemble the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) into the context of quantum gravity. The results obtained from this new algebraic approach touch on some fundamental questions inherent to quantum mechanics and certainly represent an object of future investigations in physics.     

Liquid-solid phase transformation of a two-component system (1,2-1,4 chloronitrobenzenes) held inside porous materials

The liquid-solid phase changes of a perfect solution (1,2-1,4 chloronitrobenzenes) held inside porous materials of known textural characteristics have been studied by using a DSC technique.When the pores are saturated with the condensate, the successive steps of equilibrium crystallization depend on whether the porous volume can be filled or not with the eutectic liquid.By varying the amount and initial composition of the solution used, the composition of the condensate which crystallizes inside the biggest pores of a given porous material, can be adjusted. By measuring the corresponding temperature, it is then possible to determine the phase diagram of the binary system in a given state of division.The equilibrium curves are similar to those of bulk binary systems for the two considered states of division. They are all the more shifted towards lower temperatures as the capillary condensate is more finely divided.The temperature shift depends on the composition, like the ratio of the solution-crystal 1,2 (or 1,4) interfacial tension to the partial volumic entropy of transition of the 1,2 (respectively 1,4) component.     

傅里叶变换条纹位相分析技术中移频消去载频法对位相分析的影响

在理论上分析了傅里叶变换位相分析技术中的移频消去载频法,由于采样的离散化,不同的条纹周期对位相分析将产生不同的影响。利用计算机仿真,模拟了不同周期的条纹图以及形变条纹图,根据傅里叶变换频移法,获得了不同周期条纹图的位相分布及误差,同时与"减基准条纹法"获得的位相分布及误差进行比较,验证了不同条纹周期对位相分析产生的影响。以花瓶为目标物体,在实验中进一步验证了采样的离散化对位相分析带来的误差和影响。并且讨论了两种减弱这种误差的方法。