Permeability Effects of Turbulent Flow Through a Porous Insert in a Backward-Facing-Step Channel

In the present work, a k– model, based on the work of Lee and Howell (Proceedings of the ASME-JSME Thermal Engineering Hawaii, 1987), is rigorously derived based on time average of spatially averaged Navier–Stokes equations. The model is then employed to solve for a flow in a backward-facing step channel with a porous insert. The numerical solver is modified from the STREAM code (Lien and Leschziner, Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng. 114 (1994a) 123–148), and it has been validated against the experimental data of Seegmiller and Driver (AIAA Journal 23 (1985) 163–171). The code is then used to perform simulation for cases with a porous insert. The resistance of the porous insert can be altered by changing its permeability (), Forchheimers constant (F), or thickness (b). The goal is to examine the influence of each parameter on the resulting flow and turbulent kinetic energy (k) distributions. It is discovered that, by increasing the resistance of the insert, flow eventually enters a transitional regime towards relaminarization. This is due to the contribution of Darcys and Forchheimers terms in the governing equations, and modifying these two terms changes the levels of P_k and, hence, k and . Generally speaking, lowering or raising F results in a greater suppression of P_k than , causing the flow to relaminarize. Meanwhile, if the pore size is reasonably large to sustain turbulence within the porous media, increasing b reduces but does not eliminate the turbulent activity in the porous insert.     

Homoclinic Twist Bifurcation in a System of Two Coupled Oscillators

We analyse the dynamics of two identical Josephson junctions coupled through a purely capacitive load in the neighborhood of a degenerate symmetric homoclinic orbit. A bifurcation function is obtained applying Lin's version of the Lyapunov–Schmidt reduction. We locate in parameter space the region of existence of n-periodic orbits, and we prove the existence of n-homoclinic orbits and bounded nonperiodic orbits. A singular limit of the bifurcation function yields a one-dimensional mapping which is analyzed. Numerical computations of nonsymmetric homoclinic orbits have been performed, and we show the relevance of these computations by comparing the results with the analysis.     

Inertial and Second Grade Effects on Macroscopic Equations for the Flow of a Fluid in a Porous Medium

Homogenization techniques are used to upscale from pore to laboratory or field scale viscous and second grade nonNewtonian flow in a porous medium. Nonlinear forms of Darcy's law are obtained and analysed under a series of symmetry properties. The general case of displacement of one of these fluids by another with different properties is considered and a linear stability analysis is performed.