Flow over blunt bodies produces a series of alternating vortices that are shed behind an object. The image above shows the turbulent wake of a cylinder, with flow from right to left. Red and blue dyes are used to visualize the flow. This flow structure is known as a von Karman vortex street, named for aerodynamicist Theodore von Karman. The meander of the wake is caused by the shed vortices, each of which has a rotational sense opposite its predecessor. The rapid mixing of the two dyes is a result of the flow’s turbulence. In low Reynolds number laminar cases of this flow the structure of individual vortices is more visible. Similar flow structures are seen behind islands and in the wakes of flapping objects. (Photo credit: K. Manhart et al.)
Tag: physics
Particle-Tracking in Granular Flows
One of the challenges of experimental fluid dynamics is gathering sufficient data in environments that can be fast-changing, visually dense, and sometimes harsh. Ideally, researchers want to gather as much data–velocities, temperatures, pressures–at as many points as possible and do so without disturbing the flow with a probe. No technique can provide everything, and thus new diagnostics are always under development. This video shows a new particle tracking method developed for fluidized granular flows where the high concentration of particles makes other techniques unsuitable. Such flows are often seen in industrial applications in chemical processing, pharmaceuticals, and powder transport. Interestingly, the technique can also be used in particle-seeded fluid flows like those normally studied with particle image velocimetry (PIV). (Video credit: F. Shaffer and B. Gopalan; submitted by @ASoutolglesias)
Beads-on-a-string
Viscoelastic fluids are a type of non-Newtonian fluid in which the stress-strain relationship is time-dependent. They are often capable of generating normal stresses within the fluid that resist deformation, and this can lead to interesting behaviors like the bead-on-a-string instability shown above. In this phenomenon, a uniform filament of fluid develops into a series of large drops connected by thin filaments. Most fluids would simply break into droplets, but the normal stresses generated by the viscoelastic fluid prevent break-up. For this particular photo, the stresses are generated by clumps of surfactant molecules within the wormlike micellar fluid. Similar effects are observed in polymer-laced fluids. (Photo credit: M. Sostarecz and A. Belmonte)
Wavy Swimmers
Animals often move in ways engineers find counter-intuitive. Take, for example, the glass knifefish, an undulatory swimmer that controls its motion through wavelike oscillations of its fin. One might expect the knifefish to move its fin so that a single continuous wave moves from one end to the other. Instead two opposing waves move down the knifefish’s fins, one travelling from head to tail and the other travelling from the tail forward. The intersection of these waves is the nodal point, and, by shifting the nodal point fore or aft, the knifefish can hover in place, move forward or swim backward. At first glance, this seems like a wasteful system since a significant portion of each wave cancels the other, but, through mathematical modeling and experiments with a biomimetic robot, the researchers found that the dual-wave locomotion increases both the stability and maneuverability of the fish. (Video credit: N. Cowan et al.; via phys.org)
Engineering Sediment Transport
Sediment transport via fluid motion is a major factor in engineering, geology, and ecology. This video shows two common forms of sediment transport: particle suspension and saltation. Suspension, in which the fluid carries small solid particles, is visible high in the blue water layer. Saltation occurs closer to the surface when loose particles are picked up by the flow before being redeposited downstream. Watch some of the individual particles near the surface to see the process. Kuchta has several more demo videos of flow in this desktop flume, sold by Little River Research & Design. (Video credit: M. Kuchta; submitted by gravelbar)
“Orchid”
Artist Fabian Oefner enjoys capturing both art and science in his work. In his latest series, “Orchid”, the blossom-like images are the result of splashes. He layered multiple colors of paint, ending with a top layer of black or white, then dropped a sphere into the paint. The images show how the colors mix and rebound, a delicate splash crown seen from above. The liquid sheet thickens at the rim and breaks up into ligaments from the instability of the crown’s edge. It makes for a remarkable demonstration of the effects of momentum and surface tension. Several of Oefner’s previous collections have appeared on FYFD (1, 2, 3). (Photo credit: F. Oefner)
Making Better Tags for Tracking Turtles
Tagging equipment is used on all manner of aerial and marine creatures to gather data about animal behavior in their natural environments. It can be difficult, though, for researchers to gauge what effects the tags have on an animal. A recent study by T. T. Jones et al. used drag measurements on marine turtle casts to estimate the effects of common tagging equipment. They found that, on large turtles, the equipment increases a turtle’s drag by as little as 5%, but for smaller species or juvenile turtles, the drag cost can be much larger – in some cases doubling a turtle’s drag when swimming. Such large increases in drag may significantly change a tagged turtle’s behavior and skew results or even endanger the animal. The researchers suggest a model that allows others to estimate a tag’s drag effects across species. (Image credits: T. Gray and M. Carey; research credit: T. T. Jones et al.; via PopSci; submitted by Chi M.)
Holey Splashes
A liquid’s surface tension can have a big effect on its splashes. In this video, a 5-mm droplet hits a surface covered in a thin layer of a liquid with lower viscosity and surface tension. The result is a dramatic effect on the spreading splash. As the initial curtain grows and expands, the lower surface tension of the impacted fluid thins the splash curtain. Fluid flows away from these areas due to the Marangoni effect, causing holes to grow. The sheet breaks up into a network of liquid filaments and ejected droplets before gravity can even bring it all to rest. For more, see this previous post and review paper. (Video credit: S. Thoroddsen et al.)
Fire in Microgravity
In the movie “Gravity” Sandra Bullock’s character battles a fire aboard the International Space Station. Combustion is a huge concern in space habitats. Microgravity fires are challenging to detect and fight because they behave very differently in the absence of buoyancy. On Earth, buoyancy makes hot air rise from a flame while cooler air is pulled in near the base. This feeds fresh oxygen to the teardrop-shaped flame. In space, there is no buoyancy and flames are spherical. They also burn at lower temperatures and lower oxygen concentrations–so low, in fact, that the oxygen depletion necessary to extinguish a fire is lower than what humans require to survive.
No buoyancy makes it harder for fires to spread, but it also makes them harder to detect since smoke doesn’t rise toward a detector on the ceiling. Instead, fire detectors aboard the Space Station are housed in the ventilation system that moves air through the modules constantly. In the event of a fire, astronauts use a three-step fire suppression system. First, they shut off the ventilation system to delay the fire’s spread. Then they shut off power to the affected unit, and, finally, they use fire extinguishers on the flames. The Russian module is equipped with a foam extinguisher and the others use CO2 units. (Image credit: Warner Brothers)
Fluids Round-up – 2 November 2013
Fluids round-up time! Here are your latest links:
- Over at PhysicsFocus, Colin White discusses the Bernoulli fallacy and other zombie myths of physics. (Via @JenLucPiquant)
- Aviation Week has an exclusive look at Skunk Works’ SR-72 next-gen hypersonic aircraft.
- MinutePhysics asks if it’s better to walk or run through rain. This post has another take on the question.
- io9 describes why bubbles lose their color as they pop.
- Physics Buzz looks at knotted fluid vortices. They also have a nice write-up on the foaming of a struck beer, which we talked about last week.
- Enjoy the beauty of mathematics next to the physics they describe. (via io9)
- More fun fluids from Physics Buzz, this time looking at new tiny jellyfish-like flying robots.
- Remember the Chelyabinsk meteor from February? Discovery reports on an analysis of the air burst and its probability.
- Is there fluid mechanics in neck cracking? (?!?)
- New research shows that mesoscale self-assembly can be achieved using capillary charges.
- Finally, our lead image shows a simulation of turbulent flow in a tightly packed lattice of spheres. It’s an entry from Argonne National Laboratory’s annual “Art of Science” contest. Take a look at the entries and vote for your favorites!
While not strictly fluid dynamical, I want to take a moment to talk about education. I receive a lot of stunned reactions and self-deprecation when people learn I study aerospace engineering. Many people say, “Oh, I could never do that!” or “You must be some kind of genius.” I’m not. It’s true that studying engineering and fluid dynamics involves a lot of math and some it is complex (no pun intended). There’s a lot of unfounded fear about science and math in our society, when really they are just skills that any of us can improve with practice and effort. So, for those out there who have ever thought, “I can’t do that, there’s too much math,” please watch this young woman address mathphobia. She sums up just about everything I’ve always wanted to tell you.(Photo credit: Argonne National Laboratory)
