Ever look out an airplane’s window and wondered why a row of little fins runs along the upper side of the wing? These vortex generators help prevent a wing from Keep reading
Month: October 2020
Liquid Mushrooms
The Rayleigh-Taylor instability can form at the interface between two liquids of different density under the influence of gravity, but a similar instability can occur in the absence of gravity. Keep reading
Air Entrainment
When a liquid jet falls into a pool, air is often entrained along with the liquid, creating a cavity and, often, bubbles. Shown above is video of a low-speed laminar Keep reading
Relighting a Candle
When a candle is blown out, a buoyant plume of unburned fuel/air mixture continues to rise for several seconds. By bringing a combustion source close to the plume, the mixture Keep reading
Leidenfrost Dynamics
When a liquid impacts a solid heated well above the liquid’s boiling point, droplets can form, levitating on a thin film of vapor that helps insulate them from the heat Keep reading
“Ferienne”
In “Ferienne” artist Afiq Omar utilizes ferrofluids, magnetism, and vibration to create analog visual effects. Most of the dot and labyrinthine patterns result from the reaction of a ferrofluid submerged in Keep reading
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
In recent years unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have grown in popularity for both military and civilian application and are shifting from a remotely controlled platform to autonomous control. Since no Keep reading
Unsteady Rocket Nozzle
This numerical simulation gives a glimpse of flow inside an unsteady rocket nozzle. The nozzle is over-expanded, meaning that the exhaust’s pressure is lower than that of the ambient atmosphere. Keep reading
Rocket Exhaust
A fiery jet of exhaust remains amid plumes of smoke as a Soyuz rocket lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome bound for the International Space Station. The lengthscales of such turbulence Keep reading
Supercomputed Fluids
Computational fluid dynamics and supercomputers can produce some stunning flow visualizations. Above are examples of turbulence, the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, and the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Be sure to check out LCSE’s website Keep reading