Finite element method for unsteady MHD flow through pipes with arbitrary wall conductivity

A finite element method is given to obtain the numerical solution of the coupled equations in velocity and magnetic field for unsteady MHD flow through a pipe having arbitrarily conducting walls. Pipes of rectangular, circular and triangular sections have been taken for illustration. Computations have been carried out for different Hartmann numbers and wall conductivity at various time levels. It is found that if the wall conductivity increases, the flux through a section decreases. The same is the effect of increasing the Hartmann number. It is also observed that the steady state is approached at a faster rate for larger Hartmann numbers or larger wall conductivity. Selected graphs are given showing the behaviour of velocity, induced magnetic field and flux across a section.     

Depinning of a domain wall in the 2d random-field Ising model

We report studies of the behaviour of a single driven domain wall in the 2-dimensional non-equilibrium zero temperature random-field Ising model, closely above the depinning threshold. It is found that even for very weak disorder, the domain wall moves through the system in percolative fashion. At depinning, the fraction of spins that are flipped by the proceeding avalanche vanishes with the same exponent as the infinite percolation cluster in percolation theory. With decreasing disorder strength, however, the size of the critical region decreases. Our numerical simulation data appear to reflect a crossover behaviour to an exponent at zero disorder strength. The conclusions of this paper strongly rely on analytical arguments. A scaling theory in terms of the disorder strength and the magnetic field is presented that gives the values of all critical exponent except for one, the value of which is estimated from scaling arguments. Received: 13 February 1998 / Accepted: 30 March 1998     

Numerical solution of the St. Venant equations with the MacCormack finite-difference scheme

This paper describes the use of the MacCormack explicit time-spilitting scheme in the development of a two-dimensional (in plan) hydraulic simulation model that solves the St. Venant equations. Various tests devised to assess the performance of the method have been performed and the results are reported. Finally, two industrial applications of the model are presented. The method has been found to be computationally efficient and warrants further development.     

Fundamental solutions and numerical methods for flow problems

An approach for the numerical solution of flow problems based on the concept of fundamental solutions of differential equations is described. This approach uses the finite element methodology but does not rely on the concept of variational principle or that of residuals. The approach is shown to be well-suited for many types of flow problems. Various applications of this approach are discussed in this paper, with particular emphasis placed on the solution of potential flows and viscous flows containing appreciable regions of separation.     

A Comparison of Simple Rheological Parameters and Simulation Data for Zymomonas mobilis Fermentation Broths with High Substrate Loading in a 3-L Bioreactor

Traditionally, as much as 80% or more of an ethanol fermentation broth is water that must be removed. This mixture is not only costly to separate but also produces a large aqueous stream that must then be disposed of or recycled. Integrative approaches to water reduction include increasing the biomass concentration during fermentation. In this paper, experimental results are presented for the rheological behavior of high-solids enzymatic cellulose hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation for biomass conversion using Solka Floc as the model feedstock. The experimental determination of the viscosity, shear stress, and shear rate relationships of the 10 to 20% slurry concentrations with constant enzyme concentrations are performed with a variable speed rotational viscometer (2.0 to 200 rpm) at 40 °C. The viscosities of enzymatic suspension observed were in range of 0.0418 to 0.0144, 0.233 to 0.0348, and 0.292 to 0.0447 Pa s for shear rates up to 100 reciprocal seconds at 10, 15, and 20% initial solids (w/v), respectively. Computational fluid dynamics analysis of bioreactor mixing demonstrates the change in bioreactor mixing with increasing biomass concentration. The portion-loading method is shown to be effective for processing high-solids slurries.     

Numerical study of the vortex-induced electroosmotic mixing of non-Newtonian biofluids in a nonuniformly charged wavy microchannel: Effect of finite ion size

We propose a micromixer for obtaining better efficiency of vortex induced electroosmotic mixing of non-Newtonian bio-fluids at a relatively higher flow rate, which finds relevance in many biomedical and biological applications. To represent the rheology of non-Newtonian fluid, we consider the Carreau model in this study, while the applied electric field drives the constituent components in the micromixer. We show that the spatial variation of the applied field, triggered by the topological change of the bounding surfaces, upon interacting with the non-uniform surface potential gives rise to efficient mixing as realized by the formation of vortices in the proposed micromixer. Also, we show that the phase-lag between surface potential leads to the formation of asymmetric vortices. This behavior offers better mixing performance following the appearance of undulation on the flow pattern. Finally, we establish that the assumption of a point charge in the paradigm of electroosmotic mixing, which is not realistic as well, under-predicts the mixing efficiency at higher amplitude of the non-uniform zeta potential. The inferences of the present analysis may guide as a design tool for micromixer where rheological properties of the fluid and flow actuation parameters can be simultaneously tuned to obtain phenomenal enhancement in mixing efficiency.     

Performance modeling and analysis of blood flow in elastic arteries

The effect of magnetic field has been examined on rheological models of blood. One. of them is the Power Law model and the other is the generalized Maxwell model. It is noticed that the magnetic field has a significant effect on the flow phenomena. The investigation shows that the model considered here is capable of taking into account the rheological properties affecting the blood flow and hemodynamic features, which may be important for medical doctors to predict diseases for individuals on the basis of the pattern of flow for an elastic artery in the presence of a transverses magnetic field. The effects of a magnetic field have been used to control the flow, which may be useful in certain hypertension cases, etc.     

A generalization of Reiner's mathematical model for wet sand

In this paper we modify the constitutive relation derived by Reiner (1945), to describe dilatancy in wet sand, by suggesting that the shear viscosity would depend on the shear rate and the volume fraction. We then look at the flow of a saturated densely packed bed of particles (with liquid in the pores) between two horizontal flat plates. We obtain exact solutions for a very special case.     

On the Stagnation Point Flow of a Special Class of Non-Newtonian Fluids

Abstract

The two-dimensional boundary layer equations for a class of non-Newtonian fluids, for which the apparent viscosity can be expressed as a polynomial in the second scalar invariant of the rate of strain tensor, have been derived. These equations have been employed to analyse the flow near a stagnation point over a stationary impermeable wall. The non-Newtonian effects on the boundary layer velocity profile and the wall skin friction have been studied, and compared with the corresponding Newtonian fluid. The fluid velocity in the boundary layer has been shown to be retarded by the non-Newtonian effect while the skin friction increases proportionate to it.