Interface Height Research Articles

Self-Sorting of Bidispersed Colloidal Particles Near Contact Line of an Evaporating Sessile Droplet.

Here, we investigate deposit patterns and associated morphology formed after the evaporation of an aqueous droplet containing mono- and bidispersed colloidal particles. In particular, the combined effect of substrate heating and particle diameter is investigated. We employ high-speed visualization, optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy to characterize the evaporating droplets, particle motion, and deposit morphology, respectively. In the context of monodispersed colloidal particles, an inner deposit and a typical ring form for smaller and larger particles, respectively, on a nonheated surface. The formation of the inner deposit is attributed to early depinning of the contact line, explained by a mechanistic model based on the balance of several forces acting on a particle near the contact line. At larger substrate temperature, a thin ring with inner deposit forms, explained by the self-pinning of the contact line and advection of the particles from the contact line to the center of the droplet due to the Marangoni flow. In the context of bidispersed colloidal particles, self-sorting of the colloidal particles within the ring occurs at larger substrate temperature. The smaller particles deposit at the outermost edge compared to the larger particles, and this preferential deposition in a stagnation region near the contact line is due to the spatially varying height of the liquid-gas interface above the substrate. The sorting occurs at a smaller ratio of the diameters of the smaller and larger particles. At larger substrate temperature and larger ratio, the particles do not get sorted and mix into each other. Our measurements show that there exists a critical substrate temperature as well as a diameter ratio to achieve the sorting. We propose regime maps on substrate temperature-particle diameter and substrate temperature-diameter ratio plane for mono- and bidispersed solutions, respectively.

Nonequilibrium steady state of a weakly-driven Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation

We consider an infinite interface of d > 2 dimensions, governed by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) equation with a weak Gaussian noise which is delta-correlated in time and has short-range spatial correlations. We study the probability distribution of the interface height H at a point of the substrate, when the interface is initially flat. We show that, in stark contrast with the KPZ equation in d < 2, this distribution approaches a non-equilibrium steady state. The time of relaxation toward this state scales as the diffusion time over the correlation length of the noise. We study the steady-state distribution using the optimal-fluctuation method. The typical, small fluctuations of height are Gaussian. For these fluctuations the activation path of the system coincides with the time-reversed relaxation path, and the variance of can be found from a minimization of the (nonlocal) equilibrium free energy of the interface. In contrast, the tails of are nonequilibrium, non-Gaussian and strongly asymmetric. To determine them we calculate, analytically and numerically, the activation paths of the system, which are different from the time-reversed relaxation paths. We show that the slower-decaying tail of scales as , while the faster-decaying tail scales as . The slower-decaying tail has important implications for the statistics of directed polymers in random potential.

Height analysis of the air-oil interfaces in the non-operating and operating FDBs in a tied shaft of HDDs

We proposed a method to predict the heights of upper and lower air-oil interfaces of the non-operating and operating fluid dynamic bearings (FDBs) in the tied shaft of hard disk drives. To predict the height of upper and lower air-oil interfaces, we formulated the linear pressure and volume equations in both cases of non-operating and operating conditions, respectively. The initial heights of upper and lower air-oil interfaces are determined by pressure and volume equations during non-operating condition. Pressure equation consists of capillary pressure, atmospheric pressure, hydrostatic pressure and applied pressure, and volume equation consists of the volumes of the clearance and the injected oil. In case of operating condition, hydrodynamic pressure generated by grooved bearings is additionally considered in the pressure equation, because heights of air-oil interfaces vary due to hydrodynamic pressure during operating condition. The linear pressure and volume equations were solved simultaneously to calculate the heights of upper and lower air-oil interfaces both in non-operating and operating conditions. In case of non-operating conditions, the height of upper air-oil interface increases with the increase of pressure difference because pressure of lower air-oil interface is higher than that of upper air-oil interface. Since the volume of injected oil is constant, height of lower air-oil interface decreases due to pressure difference. In case of operating conditions, the height of upper air-oil interface decreases according to rotating speed because more oil flows inside the FDBs and recirculation channel than upper seal. On the other hand, the height of the lower air-oil interface increases because volume variation of the oil due to the increase of the flying height is smaller than that due to the decrease of the height of the upper air-oil interface. Finally, we verified the proposed method by measuring the height of upper air-oil interface both in the non-operating and operating conditions.

On the flocculation and settling characteristics of low- and high-concentration sediment suspensions: effects of particle concentration and salinity conditions.

It remains unclear how the primary particle concentration and salinity conditions influence the flocculation and settling characteristics of water-sediment suspensions. In this study, two sets of experiments were performed to examine the flocculation and settling properties of low- and high-concentration sediment suspensions. In low-concentration suspensions, the sediment concentration undergoes a rapid initial decrease followed by a slow decrease until it approaches zero with increasing flocculation time. Increases in salinity or the valence of cations from the saline solution added to the suspension lead to a more rapidly decreasing sediment concentration with flocculation time. The valence of cations from the saline solution has a larger influence on the flocculation-settling behaviours of the suspension than the salinity. In high-concentration sediment suspensions, the height of the clear water-turbid water interface in the water-sediment suspension experiences an initial, rapidly decreasing phase followed by a slowly decreasing phase with increasing flocculation time. Increasing the primary particle concentration, salinity or valence of cations from the saline solution added to the suspension causes the height reduction of the clear water-turbid water interface to become gentler. Finally, the valence of cations from the saline solution has a greater influence on the settling characteristics of the high-concentration water-sediment suspension than the salinity.

Lozenge Tiling Dynamics and Convergence to the Hydrodynamic Equation

We study a reversible continuous-time Markov dynamics of a discrete $(2+1)$-dimensional interface. This can be alternatively viewed as a dynamics of lozenge tilings of the $L\times L$ torus, or as a conservative dynamics for a two-dimensional system of interlaced particles. The particle interlacement constraints imply that the equilibrium measures are far from being product Bernoulli: particle correlations decay like the inverse distance squared and interface height fluctuations behave on large scales like a massless Gaussian field. We consider a particular choice of the transition rates, originally proposed in [Luby-Randall-Sinclair]: in terms of interlaced particles, a particle jump of length $n$ that preserves the interlacement constraints has rate $1/(2n)$. This dynamics presents special features: the average mutual volume between two interface configurations decreases with time and a certain one-dimensional projection of the dynamics is described by the heat equation. In this work we prove a hydrodynamic limit: after a diffusive rescaling of time and space, the height function evolution tends as $L\to\infty$ to the solution of a non-linear parabolic PDE. The initial profile is assumed to be $C^2$ differentiable and to contain no "frozen region". The explicit form of the PDE was recently conjectured on the basis of local equilibrium considerations. In contrast with the hydrodynamic equation for the Langevin dynamics of the Ginzburg-Landau model [Funaki-Spohn,Nishikawa], here the mobility coefficient turns out to be a non-trivial function of the interface slope.

Experimental study of the combustion characteristics of methanol‐gasoline blends pool fires in a full‐scale tunnel

SummaryThe combustion characteristics of methanol‐gasoline blends pool fires were studied in a series of full‐scale tunnel experiments conducted with different methanol and gasoline blends. The parameters were measured including the mass loss rate, the pool surface temperature, the fire plume centerline temperature, the ceiling temperature, the smoke layer temperature profile, the flame height, and the smoke layer interface height. The gasoline components were analyzed by GC‐MS. The effects of azeotropism on the combustion characteristics of the different blends were discussed. On the basis of the results of the fire plume centerline temperature, the ceiling temperature, and the flame height, it shows that the tunnel fire regime gradually switches from fuel controlled to ventilation controlled with increasing gasoline fractions in the blends. The fire plume can be divided into 3 regions by the fire plume centerline temperature for the different blends. The N‐percentage rule to determine the smoke layer interface height is found to be applicable for tunnel fires with different blends for N = 26.

Dynamics of liquid–liquid flows in horizontal pipes using simultaneous two–line planar laser–induced fluorescence and particle velocimetry

Experimental investigations are reported of stratified and stratified–wavy oil–water flows in horizontal pipes, based on the development and application of a novel simultaneous two–line (two–colour) technique combining planar laser–induced fluorescence with particle image/tracking velocimetry. This approach allows the study of fluid combinations with properties similar to those encountered in industrial field–applications in terms of density, viscosity, and interfacial tension, even though their refractive indices are not matched, and represents the first attempt to obtain detailed, spatiotemporally–resolved, full 2–D planar–field phase and velocity information in such flows. The flow conditions studied span mixture velocities in the range 0.3–0.6 m/s and low water–cuts up to 20%, corresponding to in situ (local) Reynolds numbers of 1750–3350 in the oil phase and 2860–11,650 in the water phase, and covering the laminar/transitional and transitional/turbulent flow regimes for the oil and water phases, respectively. Detailed, spatiotemporally–resolved in situ phase and velocity data in a vertical plane aligned with the pipe centreline and extending across the entire height of the channel through both phases are analysed to provide statistical information on the interface heights, mean axial and radial (vertical) velocity components, (rms) velocity fluctuations, Reynolds stresses, and mixing lengths. The mean liquid–liquid interface height is mainly determined by the flow water cut and is relatively insensitive (up to 20% the highest water cut) to changes in the mixture velocity, although as the mixture velocity increases the interfacial profile transitions gradually from being relatively flat to containing higher amplitude waves. The mean velocity profiles show characteristics of both laminar and turbulent flow, and interesting interactions between the two co–flowing phases. In general, mean axial velocity profiles in the water phase collapse to some extent for a given water cut when normalised by the mixture velocity; conversely, profiles in the oil phase do not. Strong vertical velocity components can modify the shape of the axial velocity profiles. The axial turbulence intensity in the bulk of the water layer amounts to about 10% of the peak mean axial velocity in the studied flow conditions. In the oil phase, the axial turbulence intensity increases from low values to about 10% at the higher Reynolds numbers, perhaps due to transition from laminar to turbulent flow. The turbulence intensity showed peaks in regions of high shear, i.e., close to the pipe wall, and at the liquid–liquid interface. The development of the mixing length in the water phase, and also above the liquid–liquid interface in the oil phase, agrees reasonably well with predicted variations described by the von Karman constant. Finally, evidence of secondary flow structures both above and below the interface exists in the vertical velocity profiles, which is of interest to explore further.

A Study of the Effect of Make-Up Air Velocity on the Smoke Layer Height with Symmetric Openings in Atrium Fires

This paper presents full-scale test results and CFD modeling of smoke conditions in atrium fires in the case of symmetric make-up air opening arrangements. The atrium used for the experiments was equipped with a smoke management system capable of exhausting 132 m3/s. Thermocouple trees were installed to measure the temperature along the height of the atrium. The N-percentage method was used to determine the smoke interface height from the measured temperature profiles. Make-up air velocities of 1 m/s, 1.5 m/s and 2 m/s were selected to investigate the effect of make-up air velocity on the smoke interface height in the case of 4-side and 2-opposite side openings. The fire size varied from 1 MW to 5 MW to cover the effect of small, medium and large fires. FDS was also used to simulate the atrium fires in order to compare the predictions with the full-scale test results and evaluate the accuracy of the developed correlations. Results show that the limit of 1 m/s is too restrictive in the case of symmetric opening arrangements. A correlation is proposed based on the full-scale test results that can be used to modify the smoke layer height obtained using plume equations so that the effect of make-up air velocity on the smoke layer height is considered.

Oil residual layers in water-oil displacement flow

This paper investigates on the water-oil displacement flow in downward inclined pipe, which is a practical application in chemical and oil industry. The experiments were conducted in a 3.5m long 15mm inner diameter downward transparent pipe. The pipe can be flexibly tilted to specific inclination and water inlet velocity was controlled by a needle valve. During the experiments, it was revealed that in a certain range of pipe inclination and water inlet velocity, the oil layers remained stationary in the upper section of the pipe and it lasted through the entire displacement procedure. Meanwhile the thickness of the oil layers was altered according to different displacing configurations. A dimensionless parameter λ is introduced to represent the relative magnitudes of buoyancy stress and viscous shear stress. Based on the two-fluid model the relationship between normalized water-oil interface height and the dimensionless parameter is established. It is found that the transition from stable interface to unstable interface will be induced by the dominated inertia force or interface instability. Two critical value of the dimensionless parameter are derived as two criterions for the transition to from stable interface to unstable interface. The model prediction and criterions are in good agreement with the experiment results, thus verifying the effectiveness of the model.

Laser-excited motion of liquid crystals confined in a microsized volume with a free surface.

The thermally excited vortical flow in a microsized liquid crystal (LC) volume with a free LC-air interface has been investigated theoretically based on the nonlinear extension of the Ericksen-Leslie theory, with accounting the entropy balance equation. Analysis of the numerical results show that due to interaction between the gradients of the director field ∇n[over ̂] and temperature field ∇T, caused by the focused heating, the thermally excited vortical fluid flow is maintained in the vicinity of the heat source. Calculations show that the magnitude and direction of the velocity field v, as well as the height of the LC-air interface are influenced by the depth of the heat penetration in the LC volume. It has been shown that there is the point in the vicinity of the LC-air interface where the thermally excited vortical flow changes the direction from anticlockwise to clockwise.

Nonlinear interfacial instability in two-fluid viscoelastic Couette flow

Weakly-nonlinear interfacial instabilities in two-fluid planar Couette flow are investigated for the case where one layer is thin. Taking this thin-layer thickness as a small parameter, asymptotic analysis is used to derive a nonlinear evolution equation for the interface height valid for wavelengths that scale with the channel height. Consequently, the influence of the thick layer is felt through a non-local coupling term which is obtained by solving a system of linear equations which are a simplified viscoelastic analogue to the Orr–Sommerfeld equation. The evolution equation allows for the clear identification of the influence of normal stresses at the interface on both the initial instability and the subsequent nonlinear dynamics. Results from numerical simulations illustrate: (1) an array of non-stationary states including traveling waves and chaos, (2) competition between elastic instability and instability due to viscosity stratification, and (3) the accuracy of a simplified ’localized’ evolution equation (derived using a long-wave approximation to the coupling term) when either the elasticity of the thick-layer fluid is sufficiently weak or the elasticities of the two fluids are sufficiently well-matched.

Resistive Switching in Li‐Doped ZnO Films

The resistive switching (RS) behavior and the impact of Li content on the RS characteristics of the devices comprising Li‐doped ZnO (LiZnO) film sandwiched between LaB6 (bottom) and Au (top) electrodes are investigated. A device consisting of 1 at.% Li‐doped ZnO film (Li1ZnO) exhibits n‐type conductivity and zero‐crossing hysteretic current–voltage characteristics, i.e., bipolar resistive switching (BRS). With an increase in Li content to 10 at.%, the film (Li10ZnO) becomes a ferroelectric p‐type semiconductor and displays BRS behavior along with rectifying property. A distinct advance in the BRS characteristics is observed in the device based on p‐Li10ZnO/n‐Li1ZnO bilayer. The analysis of the conductivity mechanism in Au/p‐Li10ZnO/n‐Li1ZnO/LaB6 device suggests that the enhanced BRS characteristics and rectification are related to both the oxygen vacancy migration in Li1ZnO under external electric field and the p–n junction formed at p‐Li10ZnO/n‐Li1ZnO interface, whose width and potential barrier height are modulated by reversible polarization of Li10ZnO.

Promising Approach for High-Performance MoS2 Nanodevice: Doping the BN Buffer Layer to Eliminate the Schottky Barriers.

Reducing the Schottky barrier height (SBH) of metal-MoS2 interface with no deteriorating the intrinsic properties of MoS2 channel layer is crucial to realize the high-performance MoS2 nanodevice. To realize this expectation, a promising approach is present in this study by doping the boron nitride (BN) buffer layer between metal electrode and MoS2 channel layer. Results demonstrate that no matter the types of concentrations and dopants the intrinsic electronic structure, low electron effective mass of MoS2 channel layer, and the weak Fermi level pinning effects of metal/BN-MoS2 interfaces are preserved and not deteriorated. More importantly, the n- and p-type SBHs of metal/BN-MoS2 interfaces are significantly reduced by the electron-poor and -rich dopants, respectively, when the doped BN buffer layer spreads all over the nanodevice, which is in contrast to the traditional doping rule. Moreover, both the n- and p-type SBHs are further decreased and even eliminated when the concentrations of dopants increase. The n-type SBH of doped Au/BxN-MoS2 interface and the p-type SBH of doped Pt/BNx-MoS2 interface can be reduced to -0.21 and -0.61 eV by doping with high concentrations of Li and O, respectively. This theoretical work provides an effective and promising method to realize high-performance MoS2 nanodevices with negligible SBHs.

Anisotropic $$(2+1)$$d growth and Gaussian limits of q-Whittaker processes

We consider a discrete model for anisotropic $$(2+1)$$ -dimensional growth of an interface height function. Owing to a connection with q-Whittaker functions, this system enjoys many explicit integral formulas. By considering certain Gaussian stochastic differential equation limits of the model we are able to prove a space–time limit of covariances to those of the $$(2+1)$$ -dimensional additive stochastic heat equation (or Edwards–Wilkinson equation) along characteristic directions. In particular, the bulk height function converges to the Gaussian free field which evolves according to this stochastic PDE.

Height distribution tails in the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation with Brownian initial conditions

For stationary interface growth, governed by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) equation in dimensions, typical fluctuations of the interface height at long times are described by the Baik–Rains distribution. Recently Chhita et al (2016 arXiv:1611.06690) used the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) to study the height fluctuations in systems of the KPZ universality class for Brownian interfaces with arbitrary diffusion constant. They showed that there is a one-parameter family of long-time distributions, parameterized by the diffusion constant of the initial random height profile. They also computed these distributions numerically by using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Here we address this problem analytically and focus on the distribution tails at short times. We determine the (stretched exponential) tails of the height distribution by applying the optimal fluctuation method (OFM) to the KPZ equation. We argue that, by analogy with other initial conditions, the ‘slow’ tail holds at arbitrary times and therefore provides a proper asymptotic to the family of long-time distributions studied in Chhita et al (2016 arXiv:1611.06690). We verify this hypothesis by performing large-scale MC simulations of a TASEP with a parallel-update rule. The ‘fast’ tail, predicted by the OFM, is also expected to hold at arbitrary times, at sufficiently large heights.

Enhancing analog performance and suppression of subthreshold swing using hetero-junctionless double gate TFETs

This paper proposes hetero-junctionless double gate tunnel field effect transistor (HJLDG-TFETs) for suppression of subthreshold swing (SS) using an InAs compound semiconductor material. The proposed device with high dielectric material, gives an excellent performance when InAs uses at source side. Because of low band gap of 0.36eV, it reduces the potential barrier height of source channel interface causing higher band to band tunneling. Whereas, Si at the drain side with higher band gap of 1.12eV, increasing the barrier height of drain channel interface causing lower quantum tunneling. As a result, the proposed device with high-k (HfO2) at 30 nm channel section provides a tremendous characteristics with high ION/IOFF ratio of 2×1011, a point SS of 43.30mV/decade and moderate SS of 56.75mV/decade. All the above results show that the proposed device is assured for a low power switching application. The variation in gate supply voltage also analyzed for transconductance property of the device.

Experimental study on thermal and smoke control using transverse ventilation in a sloping urban traffic link tunnel fire

A set of full-scale experiments was conducted to study thermal and smoke control strategies using transverse ventilation system in a sloping urban traffic link tunnel (UTLT). Results showed that it is not the case that the slower the smoke spread longitudinally, the better the smoke being controlled. For transverse ventilation, within the smoke extraction compartment, the faster the smoke spread to the exhaust vents the faster the smoke being extracted from the tunnel. More importantly, the operation of the exhaust and supply vents for transverse ventilation in real time should take the effect of tunnel slope into consideration. For tunnel with a slope going uphill from upstream to downstream, supplying air from the downstream is recommended while supplying air from the upstream or directly to the fire located smoke compartment should be avoided. Additionally, for a given total smoke exhaust volume flow rate, increasing the number of exhaust vents is an effective way of controlling the smoke layer interface height. For the kind of tunnel as studied at hand, open the exhaust vents in the fire located compartment and its downstream smoke compartment is recommended.

Two-phase discharge from a stratified region through two horizontal branches with centerlines falling on an inclined plane

The main objective of this study was to obtain new experimental data for conditions not previously tested for discharging two-phase flow through two 6.35 mm diameter branches with centerlines falling in an inclined plane. The present results are relevant to many industrial applications including headers and manifolds, multichannel heat exchangers and small breaks in horizontal pipes. In the experimental investigation, the critical heights for the onsets of liquid and gas entrainment (OLE and OGE, respectively) were obtained, analyzed and correlated for two different branch spacings and two different angles between the branches. For each combination of branch spacing and angle between the branches, a wide range of Froude numbers was used. Two-phase mass flow rate and quality results were also obtained and analyzed for a range of interface heights for 16 different combinations of branch spacing, inclination angle, test section pressure and pressure drop across each branch. New empirical correlations were developed to predict the dimensionless mass flow rate and quality. The new correlations show good agreement with the present data and with previous correlations.

Characterization of interfacial waves and pressure drop in horizontal oil-water core-annular flows

We study the transportation of highly viscous furnace-oil in a horizontal pipe as core-annular flow (CAF) using experiments. Pressure drop and high-speed images of the fully developed CAF are recorded for a wide range of flow rate combinations. The height profiles (with respect to the centerline of the pipe) of the upper and lower interfaces of the core are obtained using a high-speed camera and image analysis. Time series of the interface height are used to calculate the average holdup of the oil phase, speed of the interface, and the power spectra of the interface profile. We find that the ratio of the effective velocity of the annular fluid to the core velocity, α, shows a large scatter. Using the average value of this ratio (α=0.74) yields a good estimate of the measured holdup for the whole range of flow rate ratios, mainly due to the low sensitivity of the holdup ratio to the velocity ratio. Dimensional analysis implies that, if the thickness of the annular fluid is much smaller than the pipe radius, then, for the given range of parameters in our experiments, the non-dimensional interface shape, as well as the non-dimensional wall shear stress, can depend only on the shear Reynolds number and the velocity ratio. Our experimental data show that, for both lower and upper interfaces, the normalized power spectrum of the interface height has a strong dependence on the shear Reynolds number. Specifically, for low shear Reynolds numbers, interfacial modes with large wavelengths dominate, while, for large shear Reynolds numbers, interfacial modes with small wavelengths dominate. Normalized variance of the interface height is higher at lower shear Reynolds numbers and tends to a constant with increasing shear Reynolds number. Surprisingly, our experimental data also show that the effective wall shear stress is, to a large extent, proportional to the square of the core velocity. Using the implied scalings for the holdup ratio and wall shear stress, we can derive an expression for the pressure drop across the pipe in terms of the flow rates, which agrees well with our experimental measurements.

The Kardar–Parisi–Zhang Equation as Scaling Limit of Weakly Asymmetric Interacting Brownian Motions

We consider a system of infinitely many interacting Brownian motions that models the height of a one-dimensional interface between two bulk phases. We prove that the large scale fluctuations of the system are well approximated by the solution to the KPZ equation provided the microscopic interaction is weakly asymmetric. The proof is based on the martingale solutions of Goncalves and Jara and the corresponding uniqueness result of Gubinelli and Perkowski.