Tuning intermicellar potential of Triton X-100-anthranilic acid mixed micelles

Structural parameters of micelles formed by Triton X-100 in the presence of solubilized anthranilic acid at different pH values was investigated using light scattering and small angle neutron scattering. Analysis of the SANS data indicate that micelles are oblate ellipsoidal in nature with little variation in the dimensions, in the investigated pH range (from 0.5 to 6.0). The interaction potential of the micelles shows a minimum closer to the isoelectric point of anthranilic acid. A similar variation is observed in the cloud point of the micelles with pH. The observed variation in the interaction potential with pH of the micellar solution can be explained in terms of the reversal of charge on anthranilic acid due to shift in the acid-base equilibrium. The variation in interaction potential and cloud point with pH is modelled using Coulombic repulsion of charged molecules at the micelle interface.      

Progress and challenges in computational rheology

Our research work over the last few years serves to illustrate the basic issues associated with the numerical prediction of rheologically-complex flows, with particular emphasis on viscoelastic fluids. Numerical challenges in this field are shown to be tightly coupled to the mathematical nature of the governing equations, as well as to fundamental physical issues such as flow behavior close to walls and singularities.Delivered as a Keynote Lecture at the Golden Jubilee Conference of the British Society of Rheology and Third European Rheology Conference, Edinburgh, 3–7 September, 1990.     

Shape reconstruction of an inverse boundary value problem of two‐dimensional Navier–Stokes equations

This paper is concerned with the problem of the shape reconstruction of two‐dimensional flows governed by the Navier–Stokes equations. Our objective is to derive a regularized Gauss–Newton method using the corresponding operator equation in which the unknown is the geometric domain. The theoretical foundation for the Gauss–Newton method is given by establishing the differentiability of the initial boundary value problem with respect to the boundary curve in the sense of a domain derivative. The numerical examples show that our theory is useful for practical purpose and the proposed algorithm is feasible. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On non-Newtonian p-fluids. The pseudo-plastic case

In the following we study a class of stationary Navier-Stokes equations with shear dependent viscosity, under the non-slip (Dirichlet) boundary condition. We consider pseudo-plastic fluids. A fluid is said pseudo-plastic, or shear thinning, if in Eq. (1.1) below one has p<2. We are interested in global (i.e., up to the boundary) regularity results, in dimension n=3, for the second order derivatives of the velocity and the first order derivatives of the pressure. We consider a cubic domain Ω and impose the non-slip boundary condition only on two opposite faces. On the other faces we assume periodicity, as a device to avoid effective boundary conditions. This choice is made so that we work in a bounded domain Ω and simultaneously with a flat boundary.     

Numerical simulations of droplet formation in a cross‐junction microchannel by the lattice Boltzmann method

An immiscible liquid–liquid multiphase flow in a cross‐junction microchannel was numerically studied using the lattice Boltzmann method. An improved, immiscible lattice BGK model was proposed by introducing surface tension force based on the continuum surface force (CSF) method. Recoloring step was replaced by the anti‐diffusion scheme in the mixed region to reduce the side‐effect and control the thickness of the interface. The present method was tested by the simulation of a static bubble. Laplace's law and spurious velocities were examined. The results show that our model is more advantageous for simulations of immiscible fluids than the existing immiscible lattice BGK models. Computational results of multiphase flow in a cross‐junction microchannel were obtained and analyzed based on dimensionless numbers. It is found that the flow pattern is decided mostly by the capillary number at a small inlet flux. However, at the same capillary number, a large inlet flux will lead to much smaller droplet generation. For this case, the flow is determined by both the capillary number and the Weber number. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A note on the second problem of Stokes for Maxwell fluids

New exact solutions corresponding to the second problem of Stokes for Maxwell fluids have been established by means of Laplace transforms. For large times, these solutions reduce to the well-known steady-state solutions which are periodic in time and independent of the initial conditions. Furthermore, the transient solutions are in accordance with the previous solutions obtained using the Fourier sine transform. The required time to get the steady-state is determined by graphical illustrations. This time decreases if the frequency of the velocity increases. The effects of the material parameters on the decay of the transients in time are also investigated by graphs.     

Topology optimization of microfluidic mixers

This paper demonstrates the application of the topology optimization method as a general and systematic approach for microfluidic mixer design. The mixing process is modeled as convection dominated transport in low Reynolds number incompressible flow. The mixer performance is maximized by altering the layout of flow/non‐flow regions subject to a constraint on the pressure drop between inlet and outlet. For a square cross‐sectioned pipe the mixing is increased by 70% compared with a straight pipe at the cost of a 2.5 fold increase in pressure drop. Another example where only the bottom profile of the channel is a design domain results in intricate herring bone patterns that confirm findings from the literature. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study of adsorption processes of model drugs at supercritical conditions using partial least squares regression

The characterisation of adsorption or impregnation processes using conventional or supercritical fluid technologies becomes an increasing part of the research on drug formulations. The complexity of the relationships between these adsorption processes and the experimental variables potentially influencing them, however, makes these studies more problematic. In this paper, a chemometric approach based on nonlinear partial least squares (NL-PLS) modelling is applied to characterise the effect of the experimental variables on the supercritical impregnation process. Various adsorbent materials such as silica gel, zeolite and amberlite were investigated using the following model compounds as adsorbates: benzoic, salicylic and acetylsalicylic acids.     

Propagation of perturbations in a two-layer stratified fluid with an interface excited by moving sources

Propagation of small perturbations in a two-layer inviscid stratified fluid is studied. It is assumed that the higher density fluid occupies the lower unbounded half-space, while the lower density fluid occupies the upper unbounded half-space. The source of the excitation is a plane wave traveling along the interface of the fluids. An explicit analytical solution to the problem is constructed, and its existence and uniqueness are proved. The long-time wave pattern developing in the fluids is analyzed.