When snowflakes and volcanic ash fall, they tumble. Historically, it’s been too hard to observe this behavior first hand — the particles are too small to easily follow with a Keep reading
Tag: inertial particles
In a Box, Shaken
Tidal areas experience lots of oscillating, back-and-forth flow that builds up patterns in the sand below. In this experiment, researchers investigate a similar situation by filling a box with water Keep reading
Cleaning the Skies
Those of us who live in urban environments have experienced the clear, pollution-free air that comes after a rainstorm. But how exactly does rain clean the air? Air pollution typically Keep reading
Using Turbulence in Flight
When small, heavy particles are in a turbulent flow, they settle faster than in a quiescent one. Their interactions with turbulent eddies sweep them along, extracting energy that lengthens their Keep reading
Better Inhalers Through CFD
As levels of air pollution rise, so does the incidence of pulmonary diseases like asthma. Treatments for these diseases largely rely on inhalers containing drug particles that need to be Keep reading
Growing Droplets
The moisture in clouds eventually condenses into droplets that grow into raindrops and fall. Some steps in this process are well understood, but others are not. In particular, scientists have Keep reading
Sorting by Bubble
Microfluidic devices, also known as labs-on-a-chip, require clever techniques for processes like sorting particles by size. One such technique uses an oscillating bubble to sort particles. When the bubble vibrates Keep reading
When Chaos is Not So Chaotic
In industry, tanks are often agitated or stirred to mix different elements. The goal is to create a laminar but chaotic flow field throughout the mixture. Introducing particles to such Keep reading