Vacuum‐driven fluid manipulation by a piezoelectric diaphragm micropump for microfluidic droplet generation with a rapid system response time

Recently, we developed a convenient microfluidic droplet generation device based on vacuum‐driven fluid manipulation with a piezoelectric diaphragm micropump. In the present study built on our previous work, we investigate the influence of settings applied to the piezoelectric pump, such as peak‐to‐peak drive voltage (V_p‐p) and wave frequency, on droplet generation characteristics. Stepwise adjustments to the drive voltage in ±10‐V_p‐p increments over the range of 200?250 V_p‐p during droplet creation revealed that the droplet generation rate could be reproducibly controlled at a specific drive voltage. The droplet generation rate switched within <0.5 s after the input of a new voltage. Although the droplet generation rate depended on the drive voltage, this setting had almost no influence on droplet size. The frequency over the selected range (50?60 Hz) did not markedly influence the droplet generation rate or droplet size. We show that the current fluid manipulation system can be conveniently used for both droplet generation and for rapid droplet reading, which is required in many microfluidic‐based applications.     

Elongating the area of plasma/fluid interaction of surface nanosecond pulsed discharges

Plasma-assisted flow control is of high industrial interest, but practical applications at full scale require a large surface of interaction. Nanosecond pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) have demonstrated promising results of flow control, but their interacting region is limited to only a few cm². In this paper, the conditions to extend a surface nanosecond DBD are documented. It is shown that a sliding discharge regime can fully fill an inter-electrode distance of 40 mm. This discharge regime promotes the formation of two hemispheric pressure waves originating from both air-exposed electrodes while an horizontal region of pressure gradient is also observed.     

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.     

Load-Carrying Capacity of Circular Plates Made of a Fiber-Reinforced Composite

The load-carrying capacity of circular plates made of a fiber-reinforced composite and loaded with axisymmetric transverse forces under axisymmetric boundary conditions is investigated. The plates can be freely supported or clamped along their contour. To the known yield condition used, in the plane of main bending moments, there correspond irregular hexagons, which depend on the mechanical properties of composite constituents and some characteristic geometrical parameters. It is shown that, depending on the ratio of ultimate radial and circumferential bending moments, in the plastic state, the circular plates (the central part of the clamped plates) take the form of a cone or a frustum of cone. For each of the cases, the limit load is found, which is a function of the above-mentioned mechanical parameters. The statically allowable fields of bending moments and the corresponding allowable fields of deflection rates are determined. The solutions found are exact. Special cases for the freely supported plates are analyzed, and the results obtained are presented in the form of graphs.__________Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 177–192, March–April, 2005.     

多排叶片内部流动以及叶片排与排气系统相互作用研究

本文采用高分辨率格式和多块多网格方法求解雷诺平均Navier-Stokes方程,数值模拟多排叶片内的三维粘性流动;使用数值激盘模拟叶片排的存在,研究叶片排与非轴对称排气部件之间的相互作用以及复杂的内部流动。文中描述了数值方法,给出了NASA透平导叶和单级透平内部流场的数值结果及其与相应实验结果的对比,也给出了多级透平内部流场的数值结果,以及透平与排气部件之间的耦合流场的结果。     

Multi-cracks problem for piezoelectric materials strip subjected to dynamic loading

This paper analyses and models the dynamic interaction among permeable multi-cracks in a piezoelectric strip under anti-plane shear waves by the Schmidt method. The Fourier transform is applied and then two pairs of triple integral equations can be solved using the Schmidt method. The results show that the stress and the electric displacement intensity factors of cracks depend on not only the crack length and the piezoelectric coefficient, but also the thickness of the piezoelectric strip, the distance between multi-cracks and the frequency of incident wave.     

Bending loss measurement using a fiber cavity ringdown scheme

A novel sensitive technique for the determination of losses in fiber cavities is presented. The method is based on the cavity ringdown scheme implemented in silica-based single-mode fibers. Bending losses of fiber cavities of different lengths have been measured showing all an oscillating behavior with respect to the curvature radius of the fiber as predicted by a theoretical model. The best minimum detectable absorbance per cavity pass achieved by this new method is 1.72×10⁻³ dB within a 10 m-long cavity. This limit suffices well for an accurate determination of optical bending losses even in bend-insensitive fibers. Furthermore, the comparison of the measured bending losses with a theoretical model allows the extraction of different fiber parameters. Good agreement has been found between the experimentally derived parameters and literature data.     

Indentation responses of piezoelectric films

Frictionless indentation responses of transversely isotropic piezoelectric film/rigid substrate systems under circular cylindrical indenter (i.e., punch), conical indenter (i.e., cone), and spherical indenter (i.e., sphere) are investigated. Both insulating and conducting indenters are considered. The technique of Hankel transformation is employed to derive the corresponding dual integral equations for the mixed boundary value indentation problems. For the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and infinitely thin piezoelectric films, closed-form solutions are obtained. For piezoelectric films of finite thickness, a numerical method is constructed to solve the dual integral equations and semi-empirical models having only two unknown parameters are proposed for the responses of indentation force, electric charge and electric potential, and contact radius. With the two parameters inferred from the numerical results, the semi-empirical formulae are found to provide good estimates of the indentation responses for the two limiting cases of infinitely thick and thin piezoelectric films, as well as those in between. The inferred parameters in the proposed semi-empirical formulae for normalized indentation force and electric charge are checked against four different piezoelectric materials and are found to be insensitive to the selection of piezoelectric materials. It is believed that the proposed semi-empirical indentation formulae are useful in developing experimental indentation techniques to extract the material properties of piezoelectric films.     

An Oscillation Condition for an Electrode－separated Piezoelectric Sensor in Non－electrolyte Liquid

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