Bubbles under stress

We present an experimental and theoretical investigation of a system composed of two soap bubbles strained between two parallel solid surfaces. The two-bubble cluster can be found in several configurations. The existence and stability of each of these states is studied as a function of the distance between the two facing surfaces. The change of this distance can induce a transition from one configuration to another; we observe that most transitions are subcritical, showing that the system is often trapped in states where the minimum of free energy is only local. The hysteretic transitions are responsible for the dissipation of elastic energy. The existence of more than one stable states for given boundaries conditions combined with the absence of thermalization means that the history of the system has to be taken into account and that there is no unique stress-strain relation. In the present system, because of its simplicity, a complete quantitative analysis of these general processes is obtained. The presented results may contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of more complex systems such as foams or granular materials where similar processes are at work.     

Flames in narrow circular tubes

We examine an axi-symmetric deflagration located in a tube with thermally active walls. It is noted that the flame-in-tube configuration defines a classical edge-flame, a flame in a shear flow for which there is a water-shed solution for a critical value of the Damköhler number (D), ignition front solutions for larger values of D, and failure wave solutions for smaller values. We examine semi-infinite tubes with a heat flux imposed at the tube wall ends, to simulate experiments reported in the 30th Symposium. We identify parameters for which stable solutions are obtained at certain flow rates, but unstable solutions are generated at higher flow rates, followed by stable solutions at still higher flow rates. These solutions are consistent with the experimental record. Instability leads either to regular oscillations or to a violent process characterized by quenching and re-ignition.     

Study of the membrane effect on turbulent mixing measurements in shock tubes

The effect of the thin membrane on the time evolution of the shock wave induced turbulent mixing between the two gases initially separated by it is investigated using two different sets of experiments. In the first set, in which a single-mode large-amplitude initial perturbation was studied, two gas combinations (air/SF and air/air) and two membrane thicknesses were used. The main conclusion of these experiments was that the tested membrane has a negligible effect on the evolution of the mixing zone, which evolves as predicted theoretically. In the second set, in which similar gas combinations and membrane thicknesses were used, small amplitude random-mode initial perturbation, caused by the membrane rupture, rather than the large amplitude single-mode initial perturbation used in the first set, was studied. The conclusions of these experiments were: (1) The membrane has a significant effect on the mixing zone during the initial stages of its growth. This has also been observed in the air/air experiment where theoretically no growth should exist. (2) The membrane effect on the late time evolution, where the mixing zone width has reached a relatively large-amplitude, was relatively small and in good agreement with full numerical simulations. The main conclusion from the present experiments is that the effect of the membrane is important only during the initial stages of the evolution (before the re-shock), when the perturbations have very small amplitudes, and is negligible when the perturbations reach relatively large amplitudes. Received 29 August 1998 / Accepted 25 December 1998     

Bifurcation in a Nonlinear Autoparametric System Using Experimental and Numerical Investigations

Experimental and numerical investigations are carried out on anautoparametric system consisting of a composite pendulum attached to aharmonically base excited mass-spring subsystem. The dynamic behavior ofsuch a mechanical system is governed by a set of coupled nonlinearequations with periodic parameters. Particular attention is paid to thedynamic behavior of the pendulum. The periodic doubling bifurcation ofthe pendulum is determined from the semi-trivial solution of thelinearized equations using two methods: a trigonometric approximation ofthe solution and a symbolic computation of the Floquet transition matrixbased on Chebyshev polynominal expansions. The set of nonlineardifferential equations is also integrated with respect to time using afinite difference scheme and the motion of the pendulum is analyzed viaphase-plane portraits and Poincaré maps. The predicted resultsare experimentally validated through an experimental set-up equippedwith an opto-electronic set sensor that is used to measure the angulardisplacement of the pendulum. Period doubling and chaotic motions areobserved.     

空泡流非稳态现象的流动控制

处于跨临界阶段的空泡流必然导致强烈的周期性冲击和振动,空泡流的激振来源于空泡云的周期性大规模脱落,空泡云的形成和发展与流动的边界层效应有着强烈的相关性,且空泡末端的局部流动直接影响空泡流的整体稳定性,本试验在NACA16012水翼表面粘附一条展向1mm厚10mm宽的挡流条,尝试以干扰水翼上表面局部流动的方法来影响整个空泡流的形态及其流动稳定性,最终在一定的空泡数范围内抑制了空泡流激振现象,并从试验研究的角度探索了空泡云脱落的机理。     

弹性压应力波下直杆动力失稳的机理的判据

基于应力波理论和失稳瞬间能量的转换和守恒,导出了一个直杆动力分岔失稳的准则：（1）直杆在发生分岔失稳的瞬间所释放出的压缩变形能等于屈曲所需变形能与屈曲动能之和;（2）在上述能量转换过程中,能量对时间的变化率服从守恒定律。应用临界条件（1）推导出的直杆动力失稳的控制方程和杆端边界条件以及连续条件,与应用哈密顿原理推导的结果完全相同,但不足以构成求解直杆动力失稳问题的完备定解条件,导出包含两个特征参数的一对特征方程。从而建立了求解直杆动力失稳模态和两个特征参数（临界力参数和失稳惯性项指数参数即动力特征参数）的较严密理论方法。     

Experimental and numerical investigations on the pure material instability of an Oldroyd's 3-constant model

Received March 25, 2001 / Published online November 15, 2001