Numerical simulations of a filament in a flowing soap film

Experiments concerning the properties of soap films have recently been carried out and these systems have been proposed as experimental versions of theoretical two‐dimensional liquids. A silk filament introduced into a flowing soap film, was seen to demonstrate various stable modes, and these were, namely, a mode in which the filament oscillates and one in which the filament is stationary and aligns with the flow of the liquid. The system could be forced from the oscillatory mode into the non‐ oscillatory mode by varying the length of the filament. In this article we use numerical and computational techniques in order to simulate the strongly coupled behaviour of the filament and the fluid. Preliminary results are presented for the specific case in which the filament is seen to oscillate continuously for the duration of our simulation. We also find that the filament oscillations are strongly suppressed when we reduce the effective length of the filament. We believe that these results are reminiscent of the different oscillatory and non‐oscillatory modes observed in experiment. The numerical solutions show that, in contrast to experiment, vortices are created at the leading edge of the filament and are preferentially grown in the curvature of the filament and are eventually released from the trailing edge of the filament. In a similar manner to oscillating hydrofoils, it seems that the oscillating filaments are in a minimal energy state, extracting sufficient energy from the fluid to oscillate. In comparing numerical and experimental results it is possible that the soap film does have an effect on the fluid flow especially in the boundary layer where surface tension forces are large. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical and experimental investigation of the interactions between a non‐uniform planar array of incompressible free jets

The interaction between multiple incompressible air jets has been studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical predictions have been first validated using experimental data for a single jet configuration. The spreading features of five unequal jets in the configuration of one larger central jet surrounded by four smaller equi‐distant jets, have been studied, for different lateral spacing ratios of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 and a central jet Reynolds number of 1.24×105 (corresponding to a Mach number of 0.16). Flow of five equal jets has also been simulated, for the sake of comparison. The jet interactions commence at an axial distance of about 3–4 diameters and complete by an axial distance of about 10 diameters for the lowest spacing ratio of 1.5. For larger spacing ratios, the length required for the start and completion of jet interaction increase. Peripheral jets bend more towards the central jet and merge at a smaller distance, when their sizes are smaller than that of the central jet. The entrainment ratio for multiple jets is higher than that for a single jet. Excellent agreement is observed between the experimental data and theoretical predictions for both mean flow field and turbulent quantities, at regions away from the jet inlet. The potential core length and initial jet development, however, are not predicted very accurately due to differences in the assumed and actual velocity profiles at the jet inlet. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An improved numerical simulator for multiphase flow in porous media

In basin modelling the thermodynamics of a multicomponent multiphase fluid flux are computationally too expensive when derived from an equation of state and the Gibbs equality constraints. In this article we present a novel implicit molar mass formulation technique using binary mixture thermodynamics. The two proposed solution methods, with and without cross derivative terms between components, are based on a preconditioned Newton‐GMRES scheme for each time‐step with analytical computation of the derivatives. These new algorithms reduce significantly the numerical effort for the computation of the molar masses, and we illustrate the behavior of these methods with numerical computations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

A time‐accurate pseudo‐compressibility approach based on an unstructured hybrid finite volume technique applied to unsteady turbulent premixed flame propagation

A preconditioning approach based on the artificial compressibility formulation is extended to solve the governing equations for unsteady turbulent reactive flows with heat release, at low Mach numbers, on an unstructured hybrid grid context. Premixed reactants are considered and a flamelet approach for combustion modelling is adopted using a continuous quenched mean reaction rate. An overlapped cell‐vertex finite volume method is adopted as a discretisation scheme. Artificial dissipation terms for hybrid grids are explicitly added to ensure a stable, discretised set of equations. A second‐order, explicit, hybrid Runge–Kutta scheme is applied for the time marching in pseudo‐time. A time derivative of the dependent variable is added to recover the time accuracy of the preconditioned set of equations. This derivative is discretised by an implicit, second‐order scheme. The resulting scheme is applied to the calculation of an infinite planar (one‐dimensional) turbulent premixed flame propagating freely in reactants whose turbulence is supposed to be frozen, homogeneous and isotropic. The accuracy of the results obtained with the proposed method proves to be excellent when compared to the data available in the literature. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation and theoretical modeling of liquid entrainment in a horizontal tee with a vertical-up branch

This article describes a comprehensive literature review of liquid entrainment in horizontal pipes with vertical-up branches. Deficiencies in the available data and correlations were identified. The Air–water Test Loop for Advanced Thermal–hydraulic Studies (ATLATS) was constructed and entrainment onset and steady-state data were collected for a wide range of flow conditions. Using new insights gained from experimental testing, the authors developed a model for predicting the onset of entrainment and steady-state entrainment rate. Previously published correlations, along with the new model, are compared against all available data. The new model shows very good agreement with the onset data, but is not very good at predicting branch quality at high liquid flow rates.     

A laser Doppler anemometry technique for Reynolds stresses measurement

A technique is described for the measurement of all components of mean velocity and Reynolds stresses, in a complex turbulent flow where achieving coincidence data acquisition is difficult. The method is based on data recorded using four orientations of the laser probe. It is shown that the measurement errors are not the same for all the components of the Reynolds tensor, but they are sufficiently small to give a good accuracy. An application to a turbomachinery flow is given to illustrate the method.     

On the orthogonality of natural modes of vibration

The natural modes of a discrete linear system are orthogonal with respect to the mass and stiffness matrices in a generalized sense. However, these modes are usually not orthogonal to each other in the ordinary sense. The purpose of this paper is to document a number of conditions under which the modes are also orthogonal in an ordinary fashion.     

Particle ratios from a chiral SU(3) model

The measured particle ratios in central heavy-ion collisions are investigated within a chemical and thermal equilibrium chiral SU(3) σ?ω approach. Contrary to the commonly adopted non-interacting gas calculations, the chiral SU(3) model predicts modified effective hadron masses and effective chemical potentials in the medium and a transition to a chirally restored phase at high temperatures or chemical potentials. the influence of three different types of phase transitions is investigated. We show that the deduced freeze-out values considerably depend on the underlying model while the quality of the fit is approximately the same.