FYFD

Category: Phenomena

  • Stalling

    [original media no longer available]

    At high angles of attack, the flow around the leading edge of an airfoil can separate from the airfoil, leading to a drastic loss of lift also known as stall. Separation of the flow from the surface occurs because the pressure is increasing past the initial curve of the leading edge and positive pressure gradients reduce fluid velocity; such a pressure gradient is referred to as adverse. One way to prevent this separation from occurring at high angle of attack is to apply suction at the leading edge. The suction creates an artificial negative (or favorable) pressure gradient to counteract the adverse pressure gradient and allows flow to remain attached around the shoulder of the airfoil. Suction is sometimes also used to control the transition of a boundary layer from laminar to turbulent flow.

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    Truck Vortices

    The video above shows vortex rings of smoke ejected from the burning tire of a moving truck. Without seeing the damaged tire, it’s tough to pinpoint the cause with certainty, but here are a couple of ideas. Typically vortex rings are formed with a burst of air through a narrow orifice; this is, for example, how humans, dolphins, vortex cannons, and volcanoes all make smoke rings. If air is escaping the tire through small holes, this could cause rings. Unlike in those situations, though, the tire is spinning, which means its motion is already imparting vorticity to the flow, so that any air escaping the tire forms a vortex ring. (Video credit: The Armory; submitted by eruditebaboon)

    ETA: Others are suggesting the vortex rings are due to a failure of the engine, with unsteady exhaust velocities resulting in the vortex structures. I think this might still depend on the exhaust pipe’s geometry. Regardless of the exact cause, the video remains an interesting bit of fluid dynamics.

  • Surface Tension in Action

    Surface Tension in Action

    Surface tension creates a glassy, smooth layer of water over U.S. swimmer Tyler Clary the instant before he surfaces as he competes in the backstroke. Surface tension arises from intermolecular forces between water molecules. In the bulk of the liquid, any given water molecule is being pulled on in every direction by the surrounding molecules, which results in zero net force. At the surface, however, molecules only experience forces from those to the side and below them. As a result, these molecules are pulled inwards, forcing the liquid to take on a form with minimal area. (Photo credit: Getty Images; submitted by drhawkins)

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    Droplet Springs

    Prior to reaching terminal velocity, a falling droplet typically oscillates between a prolate shape (like an American football about to be kicked) and an oblate one (like that same football when thrown or carried). As explained by Minute Laboratory, this oscillation behaves very similarly to a mass on a spring. For a spring/mass system, the frequency of oscillation is related to the spring’s stiffness; for the falling droplet, it is instead governed by surface tension. If only high schools had high-speed cameras, this would make a fantastic fluids lab experiment! (Video credit: Minute Laboratory; submitted by Pascal W.)

    FYFD is sporting a new look and new about and resources pages for those who want more fluidsy goodness.

  • Phytoplankton and Sediments

    Phytoplankton and Sediments

    Pale sediments are carried out to sea by the rivers of the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar. Dark blue ocean waters mix with the sediment, creating turbulent swirls in this natural color satellite image. With the sediment comes valuable nutrients for plant life in the ocean, which can prompt the formation of phytoplankton blooms. (Photo credit: Michael Taylor/Landsat/NASA)

  • Slapping Sheets

    Slapping Sheets

    Here fluid is ejected as two flat plates collide, creating a sheet of silicone oil. The initially smooth sheet forms a thicker ligament about the edge. Gravity causes the sheet to bend downward like a curtain, and growing instabilities along the ligament cause the development of a wavy edge. The points of the waves develop droplets that eject outward. Not long after this photograph, the entire liquid sheet will collapse into ligaments and flying droplets. (Photo credit: B. Chang, B. Slama, and S. Jung)

  • A Colorful Rinse

    A Colorful Rinse

    In this image a jet of water (clear/white) is rinsing a solution of polyacrylamide (PAM; blue) off a silicon surface. In the center, a hydraulic jump marks the interface where fast-moving laminar flow changes to a slower turbulent one. At the same time, the water, which is less viscous than the PAM, creates viscous finger-like protrusions into the blue liquid as it rinses the surface clean. (Photo credit: T. Walker, T. Hsu, and G. Fuller)

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    Mixing Physics

    One of the most commonly observed fluid instabilities is the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, which occurs between fluids of differing densities.  It’s most often seen when a denser fluid sits over a lower density fluid. In the video above, this is demonstrated experimentally: a lower density green fluid mixes in with the clear, higher density fluid.  This is the classical case in which each initial region of fluid is uniform in density prior to the removal of the barrier.  But what happens when each zone has its own variation in density? This is the second case.  Before the barrier is removed, each region of the tank has a varying–or stratified–fluid density.  In this case, the unmixed fluids are stably stratified, meaning that the fluid density increases with depth. At the barrier interface, the two separate fluids are still unstably stratified–with the denser fluid on top–so when the barrier is removed, the Rayleigh-Taylor instability still drives their mixing. Because of the stable stratification within the original unmixed fluids, the mixing region after the barrier’s removal is more limited. (Video credit: M. D. Wykes and S. B. Dalziel; via PhysicsCentral by APS)

  • Ocean Waves in the Sky

    Ocean Waves in the Sky

    These wave-like Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds can form due to shear between different layers of air in the atmosphere. When one region of air has a higher velocity than the other, their interface forms a shear layer, which can break down in this wavy pattern. In this case, the lower layer of air was moist enough to form condensation and clouds, making the pattern visible to the naked eye. (Photo credit: Gene Hart; via Flow Visualization)

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    The Kaye Effect

    The Kaye effect is an instability particular to a falling stream of non-Newtonian fluids with shear-thinning properties. When these fluids are deformed, their viscosity decreases; this, for example, is why ketchup flows out of a bottle more easily once it’s moving. Like most fluids, the falling shampoo creates a heap on the surface. The Kaye effect is kicked off when the incoming jet creates enough shear on part of the heap that the local viscosity decreases, causing the streamer–or outgoing jet–to slip off the side of the heap. As the incoming jet continues, a dimple forms in the heap where the streamer originates. As the dimple deepens, the streamer will rise until it strikes the incoming jet. This perturbation to the system collapses the streamer and ends the Kaye effect. This video also has a good explanation of the physics, along with demonstrations of a stable form of the Kaye effect in which the streamer cascades down an incline. (Video credit: Minute Laboratory; inspired by infplusplus)