Initial Separation Distance Research Articles

Interactions between two deformable droplets in tandem subjected to impulsive acceleration by surrounding flows

AbstractThe dynamics of two deformable drops placed in tandem and subjected to a sudden acceleration by a gaseous flow is investigated. A finite-volume scheme coupled with the method of moving mesh interface tracking is employed. The unsteady interactions between the droplet pair are studied by varying the minimum initial separation distance (${d}_{0} $) from $0. 6{r}_{0} $ to $10{r}_{0} $ with ${r}_{0} $ being the radius of the initial spherical droplets. The influence of the interactions on the droplet dynamics is examined by comparing with the case of a single isolated droplet at three initial Weber numbers ${\mathit{We}}_{s, 0} $ of 40, 4 and 0.4. The computations show that for small initial separation distances the dynamics of the downstream droplet is significantly affected by the presence of the upstream droplet. A mushroom shape is formed by the droplet pair at the two largest Weber numbers, while the two drops experience small deformation and shape oscillations at ${\mathit{We}}_{s, 0} = 0. 4$. The drag coefficient of the downstream droplet is dramatically reduced, especially for the two largest Weber numbers with smaller initial separation distances due to the sheltering effects, while the drag force of the upstream drop is slightly decreased. For the cases with smaller ${d}_{0} $, a thin film is formed between the two drops at the later stages, and this leads to a sudden increase in the drag of the trailing drop, but a sharp reduction in the drag of the leading drop.

E134 急速加熱過程におけるPET微粒子の相互干渉 : 2粒子が水平に配置される場合(OS-9:燃焼の最近の進展(4))

Multiphase combustion process of micro PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin particles is examined by the following two types of experiment; an optical observation of a single particle with different oxygen concentration and that of two particles aligned horizontaly with different initial separation distance. The results show that the occurrence of fire of a single particle is delayed with decrease in oxygen concentration due to reduction of the heat transfer from the flame. With decreasing distance between particles, the flame pattern changes to one marged flame from individual flames because of increase the effect of lack of oxygen.

Effect of the highest occupied molecular orbital energy level offset on organic heterojunction photovoltaic cells

The effect of the highest occupied molecular orbital energy level offset, ΔEHOMO, on organic photovoltaic cells has been investigated using a set of donor/C60 heterojunction structures with ΔEHOMO up to 1.1 eV provided by various donors. The open-circuit voltage decreases with ΔEHOMO whereas the short-circuit current and fill factor increase with ΔEHOMO but roll off with ΔEHOMO>0.7 eV. These characteristics can be simulated using a Braun–Onsager model and assuming an interfacial charge-transfer state with an initial charge separation distance proportional to ΔEHOMO and an increased decay rate at high ΔEHOMO.

Merging of shielded Gaussian vortices and formation of a tripole at low Reynolds numbers

The interaction between two corotating shielded Gaussian vortices is studied by two-dimensional numerical simulations at low Reynolds numbers. It is shown that the outcome of the interactions can be a shielded monopole, a tripole, or dipolar breaking depending on the initial separation distance and Reynolds number. A flow regime map is given in the parameter space of initial separation distance and Reynolds number. Using formal decomposition for vorticity, we show that the tripole formation is due the same physical mechanism than merging of unshielded vortices, while in dipolar breaking both the symmetric and antisymmetric vorticity contributions play important role.

Capillary Forces between Submillimeter Spheres and Flat Surfaces at Constant Liquid Volumes

We investigate the capillary forces between submillimeter spheres and flat surfaces at constant liquid volumes theoretically and experimentally. An iterative method is used to estimate the capillary force with contact angles as the boundary conditions and the constant volume as a constraint. The theoretical analysis shows that the maximum capillary force between them decreases with the increase of the liquid bridge volume at small contact angles. The experimental results show that the force is smaller than the theoretical values at the initial separation distances. It is also observed that the force first increases and then decreases with an increasing separation distance in some cases. These phenomena of capillary forces hysteresis are explained according to the wetting hysteresis.

Photoconductivity of Bulk‐Film‐Based Graphene Sheets

Time-resolved photoconductivity measurements are carried out on graphene films prepared by using soluble graphene oxide. High photocurrent generation efficiency is observed for these graphene-based films, and the relationships between their photoconductivity and different preparation methods, incident light intensity, external electric field, and photon energies are investigated. Higher photoconductivity is observed with higher photon energy at same incident light intensity. By fitting the experimental data to the Onsager model, the primary quantum yields for charge separation to generate bound electron-hole pairs and the initial ion-pair thermalization separation distance are calculated.

Assembly dynamics of two-β sheets revealed by molecular dynamics simulations

The assembly dynamics of two beta sheets with different initial separation distances are explored by multiple all-atom molecular dynamics simulations with the presence of explicit water solvent. The beta sheet is composed of seven identical peptides in an antiparallel fashion. The peptide sequence is the 20-29 segment of human Islet amyloid polypeptide. Our simulations show that the assembly occurs not only in the lateral direction but also along the longitudinal direction, which provides a new insight into the assembly pathway at the early stage of fibril elongation. Based on Poisson-Boltzmann free energy analysis and quasiharmonic configuration entropy estimation, the entropic contribution is found to play an important role in the longitudinal assembly. Moreover, a possible oligomeric state with cyclic form is suggested based on one assembly model found in the simulations, illustrating the polymorphic nature of aggregation of the amyloidogenic peptide.

Rendezvous Guidance Trajectories via Multiple-Subarc Sequential Gradient-Restoration Algorithm

We consider the three-dimensional rendezvous between a target spacecraft in a circular orbit and a chaser spacecraft with an initial separation distance and an initial separation velocity. We assume that the chaser spacecraft has variable mass and that its trajectory is governed by three controls, one determining the thrust magnitude and two determining the thrust direction. We employ the Clohessy–Wiltshire equations, describing the relative motion of the chaser vis-à-vis the target, and the multiple-subarc sequential gradient-restoration algorithm to produce first optimal trajectories and then guidance trajectories for the following problems: P1—minimum time, fuel free; P2—minimum fuel, time free; P3—minimum time, fuel given; P4—minimum fuel, time given; and P5—minimum time×fuel, time and fuel free. Clearly, P1 and P2 are basic problems, while P3, P4, and P5 are compromise problems. Problem P1 leads to a two-subarc solution including a max-thrust subarc followed by another max-thrust subarc. Problem P2 leads to a four-subarc solution including two coasting subarcs alternating with two max-thrust subarcs. Problems P5 leads to a three-subarc solution including two max-thrust subarcs alternating with one coasting subarc. Problems P3 and P4 include P1, P2, and P5 as particular cases and lead to two-, three-, or four-subarcs solutions depending on the prescribed value of fuel or time. For all problems, the thrust magnitude control is saturated at one of its extreme values: in optimization studies, we determine the best thrust direction controls; in guidance studies, we force the thrust direction controls to be constant in each subarc and determine the best thrust direction parameters. Of course, the time lengths of all the subarcs must also be determined. The computational results show that, for Problems P1–P5, the performance index of the multiple-subarc guidance trajectory approximates well the performance index of the multiple-subarc optimal trajectory: the pairwise relative differences in performance index are less than 1∕100 in all cases. To sum up, the produced guidance trajectories are highly efficient and yet quite simple in implementation.

Laminar co-rotating Batchelor vortex merging

The dynamics of laminar co-rotating vortex pairs without axial flow have been recently thoroughly studied through theoretical, experimental and numerical studies, which revealed different instabilities contributing to the decay of the vortices. In this paper, the objective is to extend the analysis to the case of co-rotating vortices with axial flow at low Reynolds numbers. A high-order incompressible Navier–Stokes flow solver is used. The momentum equations are spatially discretized on a staggered mesh by finite differences and all derivatives are evaluated with 10th order compact finite difference schemes with RK-4 temporal discretization. The initial condition is a linear superposition of two co-rotating circular Batchelor vortices with q = 1. It is found that there is an initial evolution that resembles the evolution that single q = 1 vortices go through. Azimuthal disturbances grow and result in the appearance of large-scale helical sheets of vorticity. With the development of these instability waves, the axial velocity deficit is weakened. The redistribution of both angular and axial momentum between the core and the surroundings drives the vortex core to a more stable configuration, with a higher q value. After these processes, the evolution is somewhat similar to a pair of co-rotating Lamb–Oseen vortices. A three-dimensional instability develops, with a large band of unstable modes, with the most amplified mode corresponding scaling with the vortex initial separation distance.

Filamentation of interacting femtosecond laser pulses in air

The filamentation of two co-propagated femtosecond (fs) laser pulses in air is studied by numerical simulation. Depending on the different initial separation distances, relative phase shift and crossing angles, simulations show attraction, fusion, repulsion and collision of the two pulses. A long plasma channel can be formed by two in-phase pulses with small separation distance and cross angle. The coupling of two laser beam becomes weaker when the separation distance or cross angle between two beams is larger. In this case, the filamentation of each pulse develops independently. Our simulation results will be helpful for understanding the effect of the initial amplitude and phase modulation of laser pulse on the filamentation characteristics.

Tachyon condensation on separated brane-antibrane system

We study the effect of tachyon condensation on a brane antibrane pair in superstring theory separated in the transverse direction. The static properties of the tachyon potential analyzed using level truncated string field theory reproduces the desired property that the dependence of the minimum value of the potential on the initial distance of separation between the branes decreases as we include higher level terms. The rolling tachyon solution constructed using the conformal field theory methods shows that if the initial separation between the branes is less than a critical distance then the solution is described by an exactly marginal deformation of the original conformal field theory where the correlation functions of the deformed theory are determined completely in terms of the correlation functions of the undeformed theory without any need to regularize the theory. Using this we give an expression for the pressure on the brane-antibrane system as a power series expansion in exp(Cx0) for an appropriate constant C.

Spacecraft Collision Avoidance Using Coulomb Forces with Separation Distance and Rate Feedback

A two-spacecraft collision avoidance problem is discussed in this paper. The spacecraft are assumed to be floating freely in deep space. A control strategy using cluster internal coulomb forces is developed to prevent a collision of the two spacecraft. The control law is designed to keep the separation distance greater than a specified constraint value, and is also designed to keep the departure relative kinetic energy at the same level with the approach kinetic energy. Further, this strategy requires only the measurements of the separation distances and the distance rates. If the achievable spacecraft charge levels are limited, then it is not guaranteed that the collision can always be prevented. Formulating the relative motion of the charged spacecraft using the concepts of orbital mechanics allows us to analyze the conditions under which a collision can be avoided. Given an initial separation distance and distance rate, the minimum spacecraft charge limit required to guarantee collision avoidance is determined. Or, inversely, when the limitations of charges are given, the maximum approach speed at which a potential collision can be avoided is estimated. Numerical simulations illustrate the analytical results.

Effects of subgrid-scale modeling on Lagrangian statistics in large-eddy simulation

The application of large-eddy simulation (LES) to turbulent transport processes requires accurate prediction of the Lagrangian statistics of flow fields. However, in most existing SGS models, no explicit consideration is given to Lagrangian statistics. In this paper, we focus on the effects of SGS modeling on Lagrangian statistics in LES ranging from statistics determining single-particle dispersion to those of pair dispersion and multiparticle dispersion. Lagrangian statistics in homogeneous isotropic turbulence are extracted from direct numerical simulation (DNS) and the LES with a spectral eddy-viscosity model. For the case of longtime single-particle dispersion, it is shown that, compared to DNS, LES overpredicts the time scale of the Lagrangian velocity correlation but underpredicts the Lagrangian velocity fluctuation. These two effects tend to cancel one another leading to an accurate prediction of the longtime turbulent dispersion coefficient. Unlike the single-particle dispersion, LES tends to underestimate significantly the rate of relative dispersion of particle pairs and multiple-particles, when initial separation distances are less than the minimum resolved scale due to the lack of subgrid fluctuations. The overprediction of LES on the time scale of the Lagrangian velocity correlation is further confirmed by a theoretical analysis using a turbulence closure theory.

Eigenvalues of the Zakharov–Shabat scattering problem for two separated sech-shaped pulses

It is shown that the initial condition of two separated sech-shaped in-phase pulses in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, may give rise to not only stationary solitons, but also symmetrically separating solitons, provided the initial distance of separation is large enough. The critical distance between the pulses for which a separating soliton pair can be found for certain amplitudes is derived using a variational approach.

Axisymmetric two-sphere sedimentation in a shear thinning viscoelastic fluid: Particle interactions and induced fluid velocity fields

We investigate the link between particle interactions and induced flow patterns around two identical spheres sedimenting along their centerline in a polymeric fluid. The fluid is strongly shear thinning and, in agreement with previous results, the spheres are observed to chain even at large initial separation distances. The wake of a single particle displays an upward motion of fluid, i.e., a “negative wake” that is commonly observed in fluids with low extensional viscosities. We show that the features of this negative wake vary only weakly with the Deborah number. In the two-sphere case, the pattern of the induced flow depends on the sphere separation distance. The change in the flow pattern does not, however, induce any significant qualitative change in the sphere interactions. Upstream of the leading sphere and downstream of the trailing one along the sedimentation axis, the variations of the fluid velocity are well described by a single master curve for different values of the sphere separation distance. The existence of such a curve indicates that non-Newtonian effects near each particle are dominated by local conditions near the sphere surfaces, and are only weakly influenced by the presence of a second sphere.

Origin of the efficiency improvement in all-polymer solar cells upon annealing

The origin of the enhanced efficiency upon annealing in solar cells based on blends of poly[2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] and poly{9,9-dioctylfluorene-2,7-diyl-alt-1,4-bis[2-(5-thienyl)-1-cyanovinyl]-2-methoxy-5-(3,7-dimethyl-octyloxy)benzene} is investigated. Current-voltage measurements on solar cells and single-carrier diodes reveal that the electron and hole transport is not improved for thermally treated devices. From the analysis of the photocurrent, the authors show that the dissociation efficiency of the bound electron-hole pairs increases upon annealing, due to an increase of the initial electron-hole separation distance.

Void coalescence processes quantified through atomistic and multiscale simulation

Simulation of ductile fracture at the atomic scale reveals many aspects of the fracture process including specific mechanisms associated with void nucleation and growth as a precursor to fracture and the plastic deformation of the material surrounding the voids and cracks. Recently we have studied void coalescence in ductile metals using large-scale atomistic and continuum simulations. Here we review that work and present some related investigations. The atomistic simulations involve three-dimensional strain-controlled multi-million atom molecular dynamics simulations of copper. The correlated growth of two voids during the coalescence process leading to fracture is investigated, both in terms of its onset and the ensuing dynamical interactions. Void interactions are quantified through the rate of reduction of the distance between the voids, through the correlated directional growth of the voids, and through correlated shape evolution of the voids. The critical inter-void ligament distance marking the onset of coalescence is shown to be approximately one void radius based on the quantification measurements used, independent of the initial separation distance between the voids and the strain-rate of the expansion of the system. No pronounced shear flow is found in the coalescence process. We also discuss a technique for optimizing the calculation of fine-scale information on the fly for use in a coarse-scale simulation, and discuss the specific case of a fine-scale model that calculates void growth explicitly feeding into a coarse-scale mechanics model to study damage localization.

The merger of two-dimensional radially stratified high-Froude-number vortices

We investigate the influence of density inhomogeneities on the merger of two corotating two-dimensional vortices at infinite Froude number. In this situation, buoyancy effects are negligible, yet density variations still affect the flow by pure inertial effects through the baroclinic torque. We first re-address the effects of a finite Reynolds number on the interaction between two identical Gaussian vortices. Then, by means of direct numerical simulations, we show that vortices transporting light fluid in a heavier counterpart merge from further distances than vortices in a uniform density medium. On the other hand, heavy vortices only merge from small separation distances. We measure the critical distance a/b0 of the vortex radii to their initial separation distance. It departs from the homogeneous threshold of 0.22 in response to increasing density contrasts between the vortices and their surroundings. An analysis of the contribution of the baroclinic vorticity to the dynamics of the flow is detailed and explains the observed behaviour. This analysis is completed by a simple model based on point vortices that mimics the flow. It is concluded that vortices carrying light fluid are more likely to generate large-scale structures than heavy ones in an inhomogeneous fluid.

Guidance Trajectories for Spacecraft Rendezvous

In a previous paper of Miele et al. (J. Optim. Theory Appl. 132(1), 2007), we employed the single-subarc sequential gradient-restoration algorithm to optimize the three-dimensional rendezvous between a target spacecraft in a planar circular orbit and a chaser spacecraft with an initial separation distance and separation velocity. The achieved continuous solutions are characterized by two, three, or four subarcs depending on the performance index (time, fuel) and the constraints. In this paper, based on the solutions in Miele et al. (J. Optim. Theory Appl. 132(1), 2007), we employ the multiple-subarc sequential gradient-restoration algorithm to produce pieced guidance trajectories implementable in real time via constant control components. In other words, in this investigation, we force the controls to behave as parameters in each subarc. With the above understanding, we investigate four problems: (P1) minimum time, fuel free; (P2) minimum fuel, time free; (P3) minimum time, fuel given; (P4) minimum fuel, time given.

Optimal Trajectories for Spacecraft Rendezvous

The efficient execution of a rendezvous maneuver is an essential component of various types of space missions. This work describes the formulation and numerical investigation of the thrust function required to minimize the time or fuel required for the terminal phase of the rendezvous of two spacecraft. The particular rendezvous studied concerns a target spacecraft in a circular orbit and a chaser spacecraft with an initial separation distance and separation velocity in all three dimensions. First, the time-optimal rendezvous is investigated followed by the fuel-optimal rendezvous for three values of the max-thrust acceleration via the sequential gradient-restoration algorithm. Then, the time-optimal rendezvous for given fuel and the fuel-optimal rendezvous for given time are investigated. There are three controls, one determining the thrust magnitude and two determining the thrust direction in space.