Hydrodynamic Instability Research Articles

Nonlinear evolution of hydrodynamic instabilities seeded by the isolated internal defect in HDC capsules

Nonlinear evolution of hydrodynamic instabilities seeded by the isolated internal defect in HDC capsules

Large Eddy Simulation of large-scale hydrogen deflagrations using the Thickened Flame Model with stretch sensitivity adaptation and thermo-diffusive instability modeling

Due to the high costs associated to experimental testing of hydrogen (H2) explosions, numerical simulations play an essential role in the design of safe industrial systems. In this work, we investigate the use of the Thickened Flame Model (TFM) to perform simulations of H2 deflagrations. Specific issues arise when considering hydrogen: (i) due to differential diffusion, the flame is very sensitive to stretch; (ii) instabilities of the flame front are generated and lead to an increased flame propagation speed. Both of these phenomena are affected by flame thickening. First, the flame sensitivity to stretch is artificially increased by the thickening. The recently developed Ma-TFM model proposes a correction of diffusive fluxes to reach the correct Markstein length and is selected in this work. Secondly, thermo-diffusive and hydrodynamic flame instabilities are also altered by thickening. By computing the dispersion relationship for a hydrogen/air mixture, we show that the instability scales are proportional to the thickening factor F. A simple subgrid scale (SGS) model, based on the computations of laminar unstable 2-D and 3-D flames, is then considered to take into account the effect of instabilities. The Ma-TFM and SGS instability models are applied together for the first time on a semi-industrial vented lean hydrogen deflagration, leading to promising results. In particular, it is found that considering 3-D unstable flames is necessary to accurately predict the experimental pressure peaks.

Mechanistic Understanding of Long Duration Fast Charge Aqueous Zinc Batteries Using Physically Adsorbed Oligomers as Interphases.

Polymers have been used as additives in the liquid electrolytes typically used for secondary batteries that utilize metals as anode. Such additives are conventionally argued to improve long-term anode performance by suppressing morphological and hydrodynamic instabilities thought to be responsible for out-of-plane and dendritic metal deposition during battery charging. More recent studies have reported that the polymer additives provide even more fundamental mechanisms for stabilizing metal electrodeposition through their ability to regulate metal electrodeposit crystallography and, thereby, morphology. Few studies explore how polymers carried in a liquid electrolyte achieve these functions, and fewer still provide rules for choosing among the various polymer types, the additive polymer molecular weight (Mw), and concentration in the electrolyte. Here, we investigate how these generally easy-to-control variables influence electrochemical interphase formation inside battery cells and their impact on the morphology and reversibility of Zn electrodes in aqueous electrolytes. We focus on aqueous Zn-iodine electrochemical cells containing linear polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains as additives and find that in electrolytes where the polymer concentration is maintained in the dilute solution regime there is an optimum polymer molecular weight (Mw ≈ 1000 Da), above which beneficial effects of polymers on Zn electrode reversibility and Zn-I2 battery lifetime are progressively lost. By means of optical ellipsometry and theoretical calculations, we show that the optimal Mw is associated with saturation of the thickness of a physiosorbed PEG coating on the Zn metal electrode. Electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of Zn electrodeposits formed in such electrolytes reveal that the physiosorbed polymer coating has two primary effects─it regulates the deposit morphology and suppresses parasitic reactions between the electrode and electrolyte components. The parasitic reactions produce species like ZnO, which are known to passivate the Zn electrode and promote nonuniform deposition. Galvanostatic cycling measurements in aqueous Zn-I2 cells containing the PEG additives at the optimal Mw show that the cells maintain very high Coulombic efficiencies (≥99%) at current densities as high as 50 mA/cm2─close to the maximum values permissible across the Celgard separator membranes used in our studies.

Hydrodynamic instability of vegetated shear flows

Hydrodynamic instability of vegetated shear flows

Synchrotron-driven Instabilities in Relativistic Plasmas of Arbitrary Opacity

Recent work has shown that synchrotron emission from relativistic plasmas leads the electron distribution to form an anisotropic ring in momentum space, which can be unstable to both kinetic and hydrodynamic instabilities. Fundamental to these works was the assumption that the plasma was optically thin, allowing all emitted radiation to escape. Here, we examine the behavior of these instabilities as the plasma becomes more optically thick. To do this, we extend a recently developed Fokker–Planck operator for synchrotron emission and absorption in mildly relativistic plasmas to ultrarelativistic plasmas. For a given set of plasma parameters, photons emitted by higher-energy electrons tend to be higher frequency, and thus more easily escape the plasma. As a result, the ratio of the photon emission rate (radiative drag) to absorption rate (radiative diffusion) for a given electron is extremely energy dependent. Given this behavior, we determine the critical parameters that control the opacity, and show how the plasma gradually transitions to become more isotropic and stable at higher opacity.

Effects of discharge parameters on plasma acceleration and transmission characteristics of a coaxial gun operated in gas-prefilled mode

The effects of discharge parameters on the discharge process and plasma transport characteristics of a coaxial gun in the gas-prefilled mode are studied. The plasma optical intensity and ejection velocity are measured by photodiodes, the optical emission spectrum is taken by a spectroscopic system, and the plasma evolution in the transport process is captured by a high-speed camera. The plasma acceleration characteristics under different discharge parameters show that the velocity and electron density of the ejection plasma are mainly determined by the pre-filled pressure and discharge current, which is consistent with the snowplow model. The kinetic energy of ejection plasma can be significantly increased by reducing the outer loop inductance, which is conducive to increasing the energy utilization efficiency. The time-varying images of plasma radiation and the plasma density at different transport locations illuminate the transmission characteristics of coaxial gun discharge plasma. The results show that the snowplow effect continues to play a role in the plasma transport process, and the plasma accumulation is induced by the combination of shock wave compression. The current-driven magneto hydrodynamics instability occurs during the transport process, and the luminous signal of the plasma current sheet oscillates periodically. In addition, the plasma impact effect is obvious and the gas retarding effect is enhanced with the increase in the gas pressure. These results give us a more comprehensive view of the coaxial gun discharge process and plasma transport and provide a certain reference for optimizing the parameters selection and physical design of coaxial gun discharge plasma characteristics.

Boiling heat transfer of water on smooth and square pin fins surfaces in minichannel

In this investigation, flow boiling heat transfer and hydrodynamic instability using deionized water in a minichannel with smooth and square pin fin surfaces was experimentally examined. The study is aimed to assess local and overall heat transfer coefficients, heat transfer coefficients, pressure drop and Nusselt number across various liquid mass flux ranges (50–93 kg m−2 s−1) and a constant heat flux of 46.91 kW/m2. The minichannel, with a hydraulic diameter of 2.85 mm, features a rectangular shape. Experimental testing was conducted on aluminum surface within a minichannel of dimensions 270 mm in length, 30 mm in width, and 1.5 mm height. The square pin fins are integrated at the base of the boiling surfaces, arranged in staggered form. The results revealed that the boiling heat transfer coefficient on square pin fin surfaces was approximately 88 % higher than that on smooth surfaces. Additionally, a notable increase in local heat transfer coefficient was observed for square pin fin surfaces (i.e., 34.64 kW/m2.K) compared to smooth surfaces (8.09 kW/m2.K) at the same mass flux of 50 kg/m2.s. Besides, the square pin fins surface exhibited a lower and stable pressure drop, particularly near annular flow regimes, compared to the smooth surface. Notably, the highest pressure drop observed was 4.8 kPa for the square pin fins surface, while the smooth surface experienced a higher pressure drop of 6.36 kPa, accompanied by more pronounced pressure fluctuations during annular flow.

Local stability of differential rotation in magnetized radiation zones and the solar tachocline

ABSTRACT We study local magnetohydrodynamical instabilities of differential rotation in magnetized, stably stratified regions of stars and planets using a Cartesian Boussinesq model. We consider arbitrary latitudes and general shears (with gravity direction misaligned from this by an angle $\phi$), to model radial ($\phi =0$), latitudinal ($\phi =\pm 90^\circ$), and mixed differential rotations, and study both non-diffusive [including magnetorotational instability (MRI) and Solberg–Høiland instability] and diffusive instabilities [including Goldreich–Schubert–Fricke (GSF) and MRI with diffusion]. These instabilities could drive turbulent transport and mixing in radiative regions, including the solar tachocline and the cores of red giant stars, but their dynamics are incompletely understood. We revisit linear axisymmetric instabilities with and without diffusion and analyse their properties in the presence of magnetic fields, including deriving stability criteria and computing growth rates, wave vectors, and energetics, both analytically and numerically. We present a more comprehensive analysis of axisymmetric local instabilities than prior work, exploring arbitrary differential rotations and diffusive processes. The presence of a magnetic field leads to stability criteria depending upon angular velocity rather than angular momentum gradients. We find MRI operates for much weaker differential rotations than the hydrodynamic GSF instability, and that it typically prefers much larger length-scales, while the GSF instability is impeded by realistic strength magnetic fields. We anticipate MRI to be more important for turbulent transport in the solar tachocline than the GSF instability when $\phi \gt 0$ in the Northern (and vice versa in the Southern) hemisphere, though the latter could operate just below the convection zone when MRI is absent for $\phi \lt 0$.

Influence of crystal dimension on performance of spherical crystal self-emission imager

Abstract The spherical crystal imaging system, noted for its high energy spectral resolution (monochromaticity) and spatial resolution, is extensively applied in high energy density physics and inertial confinement fusion research. This system supports studies on fast electron transport, hydrodynamic instabilities, and implosion dynamics. The X-ray source, produced through laser-plasma interaction, emits a limited number of photons within short time scales, resulting in predominantly photon-starved images. Through ray-tracing simulations, we investigated the impact of varying crystal dimensions on the performance of a spherical crystal self-emission imager. We observed that increasing the crystal dimension leads to higher imaging efficiency but at the expense of monochromaticity, causing broader spectral acceptance and reduced spatial resolution. Furthermore, we presented a theoretical model to estimate the spatial resolution of the imaging system within a specific energy spectrum range, detailing the expressions for the effective size of the crystal. The spatial resolution derived from the model closely matches the numerical simulations.

Numerical simulation of thermal enhancement in pulsating inflow grooved channel based on hydrodynamic instability

In this paper, a numerical simulation study of flow and heat transfer in a grooved channel consisting of ten rectangular grooves with steady and pulsating flow is carried out. Numerical simulations of the steady flow with small perturbations applied at Re = 800, 1200, 1600, and 2000 show that the same intrinsic frequency fN exists at different positions, amplitudes, and durations, and it disappears gradually with the development of the flow. A sinusoidal pulsating flow with different frequencies is applied to the grooved channel with the dimensionless amplitude A fixed at 0.2. The flow and heat transfer properties of the grooved channel are investigated in the case of pulsating inflow, and it is found that there exists a vortex periodic formation–development–convergence–dissipation process inside each groove. The results show that the increase in the time-averaged Nusselt number is 44.12%, 57.75%, 53.21%, 52.93%, the time-averaged friction factor is increased by 58.23%, 133.04%, 140.80%, 151.26%, and the PECs is decreased with the increase in Reynolds number to be 1.24, 1.19, 1.14, and 1.12, respectively, when compared with the constant flow. When the forcing frequency is equal to the hydrodynamic instability frequency, the time-averaged Nusselt number of the grooved channel will reach its maximum value. Also, the dynamic mode decomposition analysis shows that the pulsation mode energy is maximum when the forcing frequency is equal to the hydrodynamic instability frequency. It shows that the applied pulsating flow has a positive effect of enhanced heat transfer, and the positive effect decreases with the increase in Reynolds number.

Hydrodynamic modulation instability triggered by a two-wave system.

The modulation instability (MI) is responsible for the disintegration of a regular nonlinear wave train and can lead to strong localizations in the form of rogue waves. This mechanism has been studied in a variety of nonlinear dispersive media, such as hydrodynamics, optics, plasma, mechanical systems, electric transmission lines, and Bose-Einstein condensates, while its impact on applied sciences is steadily growing. It is well-known that the classical MI dynamics can be triggered when a pair of small-amplitude sidebands are excited within a particular frequency range around the main peak frequency. That is, a three-wave system, consisting of the carrier wave together with a pair of unstable sidebands, is usually adopted to initiate the wave focusing process in a numerical or laboratory experiment. Breather solutions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) revealed that MI can generate much more complex localized structures, beyond the three-wave system initialization approach or by means of a continuous spectrum. In this work, we report an experimental study for deep-water surface gravity waves asserting that a MI process can be triggered by a single unstable sideband only, and thus, initialized from a two-wave process when including the contribution of the peak frequency. The experimental data are validated against fully nonlinear hydrodynamic numerical wave tank simulations and show very good agreement. The long-term evolution of such unstable wave trains shows a distinct shift in the recurrent Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou focusing cycles, which are captured by the NLSE and fully nonlinear hydrodynamic simulations with some distinctions.

Sound‐Based Assembly of Magnetically Actuated Soft Robots Toward Enhanced Release of Extracellular Vesicles

Magnetic soft robots have emerged as promising tools in biomedicine due to their wireless actuation, rapid response, and compatibility with biological systems. Despite the various innovative strategies proposed for their fabrication, they suffer from complex processes and limited cellular compatibility. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore alternative approaches that are fast, mild, and highly tunable. Herein, a novel fabrication strategy for contactless assembly of soft‐robots is introduced for the first time. This technology exploits hydrodynamic instabilities at the free surface of a fluid layer, thus enabling the fabrication of centimeter‐scale robots featuring diverse structural properties. These features show a wide range of deformation modes in response to magnetic fields, including folding, bending, and expanding. Furthermore, the design and assembly of novel actuators with customized shapes as fish‐ and butterfly‐like structures is shown. The fabricated patterns exhibit different modes of motion under the influence of uniform magnetic fields. As a proof of concept, an innovative application of this technology combined with the proposed soft robots is represented by the enhanced release of extracellular vesicles. Altogether, this novel fabrication method along with the newly developed magnetic soft robots enables the manufacturing of high‐performance, multifunctional, and cytocompatible intelligent systems.

Numerical study of external explosion in vented hydrogen explosions

In the current study, numerical study of vented hydrogen explosions was performed utilizing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software GASFLOW-MPI. A turbulent combustion model based on Schmidt correlation was formulated. Within this model, flame instabilities resulted from two intrinsic effects, Hydrodynamic instability, and Landau-Darrieus and Thermal-Diffusive instabilities were incorporated. The numerical simulation results revealed the mechanism of overpressure evolution inside and outside the vessel. Notably, the mechanism of the overpressure peak induced by the external explosion was revealed. The effects of turbulence models on overpressure time profiles were investigated. Moreover, it was determined that heat transfer, arising from thermal radiation and convection, exerts only a negligible influence on the maximum internal overpressure. Subsequently, the performance of GASFLOW-MPI in simulating vented hydrogen explosions for different ignition locations (center and rear ignitions) and varying hydrogen concentrations (22 %-38 %) was assessed against experimental data. Comparative analysis revealed a close agreement between the predicted results and experimental data. Furthermore, the competency of GASFLOW in simulating medium-scale vented hydrogen explosions was validated against experimental data.

Existence and Stability of Nonmonotone Hydraulic Shocks for the Saint Venant Equations of Inclined Thin-Film Flow

Extending the work of Yang–Zumbrun for the hydrodynamically stable case of Froude number F<2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$F<2$$\\end{document}, we categorize completely the existence and convective stability of hydraulic shock profiles of the Saint Venant equations of inclined thin film flow. Moreover, we confirm by numerical experiment that asymptotic dynamics for general Riemann data is given in the hydrodynamic instability regime by either stable hydraulic shock waves, or a pattern consisting of an invading roll wave front separated by a finite terminating Lax shock from a constant state at plus infinity. Notably, profiles, and existence and stability diagrams, are all rigorously obtained by mathematical analysis and explicit calculation.

Flame propagation, explosion hazard, and pollutant emission characterization of typical clean fuels leaks in plateau low-pressure region

To accelerate energy transformation and sustainable development, various countries are rushing to lay hydrogen doped natural gas pipelines. However, the installation of pipelines will pass through plateau low-pressure region, and the impact of low-pressure environments on the flame propagation, explosion hazards, and pollutant emission characteristics of hydrogen doped natural gas is not yet clear. To solve this problem, a combination of constant volume combustion experiment and numerical simulations is used. The characterization parameters of flame, explosion and pollutant concentration of natural gas/H2/air under low-pressure environment are obtained, and their chemical reaction kinetics are analyzed. When the pressure drops, the laminar burning velocity (LBV) of them increases, and the Lewis number (Le) gradually increases by more than 1. Thermal diffusion is stronger than mass diffusion, and the growth rate of flame thickness exceeds 26 %. The effect of hydrodynamic instability enhances, causing an increment in the average size of flame cells, the critical instability radius, and the Markstein length (Lu). At the equivalent ratio (φ) of 1, there is a change from negative to positive in the Lu, and flame stability continuously strengthens. The explosion overpressure is reduced by 78 % to 90 %, the explosion temperature by 16 % to 20 %. As the φ increases, the LBV exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship, reaching its maximum value near “φ = 1″. The flame stability first weakens and then strengthens. The explosion hazard is strongest in the range of ”φ = 1–1.2″. With a decrease in pressure, the total reaction rate of fuel consumption is reduced by more than 50 %. The continuous reaction distance is extended by 12 %. Changes in pressure have a relatively weak impact on the content of CO and CO2. The increase in the φ results in an increase in CO content of over 7 %. The content of CO2 reaches its maximum value around “φ = 1″. It is an essential reference for the safe delivery of hydrogen energy and the reduction of environmental pollution.

Nonlinear friction dynamics of water-lubricated bearings under transient shocks considering cavitation and turbulence effects

This study proposes a transient elastohydrodynamic mixed lubrication (EHML) model for water-lubricated bearings (WLBs) that incorporates cavitation and turbulence effects to evaluate the nonlinear friction dynamic performance under transient shock loads. The generalized average Reynolds equation is discretized using the control volume technique (CVM), and the constrained system is solved using the Fischer-Burmeister-Newton-Schur (FBNS) method. The validity of the model is verified by a comparison of experimental data from published literature. On this basis, the effects of cavitation, turbulence, shock load amplitude, direction, time, and rotational speed on WLB nonlinear friction dynamics characteristics are investigated. The results show that cavitation induces hydrodynamic loss under transient shock conditions, significantly increases contact time and load, and exacerbates the hydrodynamic instability phenomenon. In contrast, the turbulence effect effectively reduces frictional contact. The stability of WLBs under transient shock conditions is closely related to the load offset angle. Reducing the load offset angle improves the anti-shock stability of the bearings. Nevertheless, an increase in the amplitude and duration of the shock load may result in a deterioration of the frictional contact behavior. Increasing the rotational speed appropriately favors accelerating the lubrication regime transition and improving WLB’s anti-shock stability. This study provides a reference for enhancing WLB anti-shock performance and optimizing structural design.

Laminar burning velocity, cellular instability, and the superadiabatic flame temperature phenomenon for NH3/syngas/air premixed flames

The laminar burning velocity (LBV) and cellular instability of ammonia/syngas/air were investigated using the spherically expanding flame method at an initial pressure of 3 atm and temperatures of 298–448 K. The impacts of equivalence ratio, temperature, and hydrogen ratio on LBV were scrutinized. The results demonstrate that the LBV varies non-monotonically with the equivalence ratio and increases with increasing temperature and hydrogen ratio. Flame instability was analyzed using flame uplift rate, Lewis number, thermal expansion ratio, flame thickness, critical radius, critical Peclet number and logarithmic growth rate of perturbation in combination with the schlieren images. Of these, the flame uplift rate is used to quantify buoyancy instability, a flame instability that has received little attention. At high pressures, lower LBV makes the flame susceptible to buoyancy instability. The flame uplift rate increases with increasing flame radius, suggesting that the buoyancy instability becomes increasingly significant as the spherical flame expands. The diffusional-thermal instability is weaker at the fuel-rich side and enhanced at the leaner side. As the hydrogen ratio increases, the flame instability increases. Hydrodynamic instability is not susceptible to temperature, which is only slightly weakened with increasing temperature. Additionally, the phenomenon of superadiabatic flame temperature (SAFT) in ammonia/syngas/air flames was first found and analyzed its temperature dependence. Increasing the initial temperature suppresses SAFT occurrence.

Measurement of Anisotropies in Supernova Remnant Observations and Their Interpretation Using Numerical Models

Supernova remnants (SNRs) exhibit varying degrees of anisotropy, which have been extensively modeled using numerical methods. We implement a technique to measure anisotropies in SNRs by calculating power spectra from their high-resolution images. To test this technique, we develop 3D hydrodynamical models of SNRs and generate synthetic X-ray images from them. Power spectra extracted from both the 3D models and the synthetic images exhibit the same dominant angular scale, which separates large-scale features from small-scale features due to hydrodynamic instabilities. The angular power spectrum at small length scales during relatively early times is too steep to be consistent with Kolmogorov turbulence, but it transitions to Kolmogorov turbulence at late times. As an example of how this technique can be applied to observations, we extract a power spectrum from a Chandra observation of Tycho’s SNR and compare with our models. Our predicted power spectrum picks out the angular scale of Tycho’s fleecelike structures and also agrees with the small-scale power seen in Tycho. We use this to extract an estimate for the density of the circumstellar gas (n ∼ 0.28 cm−3), consistent with previous measurements of this density by other means. The power spectrum also provides an estimate of the density profile of the outermost ejecta. Moreover, we observe additional power at large scales, which may provide important clues about the explosion mechanism itself.

Controlling a new plasma regime.

Success of the UK's Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme requires a robust plasma control system. This system has to guide the plasma from initiation to the burning phase, maintain it there, produce the desired fusion power for the desired duration and then terminate the plasma safely. This has to be done in a challenging environment with limited sensors and without overloading plasma-facing components. The plasma parameters and the operational regime in the STEP prototype will be very different from tokamaks, which are presently in operation. During fusion burn, the plasma regime in STEP will be self-organizing, adding further complications to the plasma control system design. This article describes the work to date on the design of individual controllers for plasma shape and position, magneto hydrodynamic instabilities, heat load and fusion power. Having studied 'normal' operation, the article discusses the philosophy of how the system will handle exceptions, when things do not go exactly as planned. This article is part of the theme issue 'Delivering Fusion Energy - The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP)'.

On flow fluctuations in ruptured and unruptured intracranial aneurysms: resolved numerical study

Flow fluctuations have emerged as a promising hemodynamic metric for understanding of hemodynamics in intracranial aneurysms. Several investigations have reported flow instabilities using numerical tools. In this study, the occurrence of flow fluctuations is investigated using either Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluid models in five patient-specific intracranial aneurysms using high-resolution lattice Boltzmann simulation methods. Flow instabilities are quantified by computing power spectral density, proper orthogonal decomposition, and fluctuating kinetic energy of velocity fluctuations. Our simulations reveal substantial flow instabilities in two of the ruptured aneurysms, where the pulsatile inflow through the neck leads to hydrodynamic instability, particularly around the rupture position, throughout the entire cardiac cycle. In other monitoring points, the flow instability is primarily observed during the deceleration phase; typically, the fluctuations begin just after peak systole, gradually decay, and the flow returns to its original, laminar pulsatile state during diastole. Additionally, we assess the rheological impact on flow dynamics. The disparity between Newtonian and non-Newtonian outcomes remains minimal in unruptured aneurysms, with less than a 5% difference in key metrics. However, in ruptured cases, adopting a non-Newtonian model yields a substantial increase in the fluctuations within the aneurysm sac, with up to a 30% higher fluctuating kinetic energy compared to the Newtonian model. The study highlights the importance of using appropriate high-resolution simulations and non-Newtonian models to capture flow fluctuation characteristics that may be critical for assessing aneurysm rupture risk.