Liquid Wall Research Articles

SELECTION CRITERIA FOR FUSION REACTOR STRUCTURES

Fusion energy is the ultimate energy to cover Mankind’s energy needs forever. However, taming the fusion energy is the greatest technological challenge the humanity is facing. Development of structural materials to withstand against the extreme conditions in the course of fusion power plant operation is one of the toughest nuts to be cracked. A great number of structural materials have been investigated for fusion reactor applications, such as steels (austenitic stainless steels and ferritic/martensitic steels), vanadium alloys, refractory metals and alloys (niobium alloys, tantalum alloys, chromium and chromium alloys, molybdenum alloys, tungsten and tungsten alloys), and composites (SiCf/SiC and Carbon Fibre Composite CFC composites). Steels have extensive technological data base and significantly lower cost compared to other refractory metals and alloys. Ferritic steels and modified austenitic stainless (Ni and Mo free) have relatively low residual radioactivity. However, steels cannot withstand high neutron wall loads to build an economically competitive fusion reactor. Some refractory metals and alloys (niobium alloys, tantalum alloys, molybdenum alloys, tungsten and tungsten alloys) can withstand high neutron wall loads. But, in addition to their very limited technological data base, they have high residual radioactivity and prohibitively high production costs. A protective, flowing liquid zone to protect the first wall of a fusion reactor from direct exposure to the fusion reaction products could extend the lifetime of the first wall to the expected lifetime of the fusion reactor. In that context, a fusion-fission (hybrid) with a multi-layered spherical blanket has been investigated, which is composed of a first wall made of oxide dispersed steel (ODS, 2 cm); neutron multiplier and coolant zone made of LiPb; ODS-separator (2 cm); a molten salt FLIBE coolant and fission zone; ODS-separator (2 cm); graphite reflector. Calculations are conducted for a liquid wall with variable thickness, containing Flibe + heavy metal salt (UF4 or ThF4) is used for first wall protection. The content of heavy metal salt is chosen as 4 and 12 mol%. A flowing wall with a thickness of ~ 60 cm can extend the lifetime of the solid first wall structure to a plant lifetime of 30 years for 9Cr–2WVTa and V–4Cr–4Ti, whereas the SiCf/SiC composite as first wall needs a flowing wall with a thickness of ~ 85 cm to maintain the radiation damage limit.

Numerical simulation for Couette flow of rarefied gas between moving liquid surface and solid wall

Numerical simulation for Couette flow of rarefied gas between moving liquid surface and solid wall

Role of Solid Wall Properties in the Interface Slip of Liquid in Nanochannels.

A two-dimensional molecular dynamics model of the liquid flow inside rough nanochannels is developed to investigate the effect of a solid wall on the interface slip of liquid in nanochannels with a surface roughness constructed by rectangular protrusions. The liquid structure, velocity profile, and confined scale on the boundary slip in a rough nanochannel are investigated, and the comparison of those with a smooth nanochannel are presented. The influence of solid wall properties, including the solid wall density, wall-fluid coupling strength, roughness height and spacing, on the interfacial velocity slip are all analyzed and discussed. It is indicated that the rough surface induces a smaller magnitude of the density oscillations and extra energy losses compared with the smooth solid surface, which reduce the interfacial slip of liquid in a nanochannel. In addition, once the roughness spacing is very small, the near-surface liquid flow dominates the momentum transfer at the interface between liquid and solid wall, causing the role of both the corrugation of wall potential and wall-fluid coupling strength to be less obvious. In particular, the slip length increases with increasing confined scales and shows no dependence on the confined scale once the confined scale reaches a critical value. The critical confined scale for the rough channel is larger than that of the smooth scale.

Visualized Experiment of Bubble Behaviors in a Vertical Narrow Rectangular Channel Under Natural Circulation Condition

The characteristics of bubble behavior have been in particular interest for decades due to its significant contribution to understanding the mechanism of heat transfer. In the present work, visualized experiment is conducted to study the bubble characteristics in subcooled flow boiling of a narrow rectangular channel under natural circulation. The experiments were performed at pressures of 0.2 MPa, with inlet subcooling ranging from 20 to 60 K and heat flux ranging from 100 kW/m2 to 300 kW/m2. A high-speed digital camera is used to capture the pictures of bubble behaviors. A sequence of image processing algorithms is used deal with the original bubble images to get relevant bubble parameters. We observe the whole process of a single sliding bubble lifetime and found most of bubbles slide along the heating surface after detaching the nucleation sites. Five typical sliding bubble growth paths are observed in the present experimental conditions. According to the analysis of the experimental data, it can be found that the liquid subcooling and wall superheat are the main factors that affect the bubble size during sliding in narrow rectangular channel under natural circulation condition. Due to the difference of driving force, the sliding velocity of bubble in forced circulation is always larger than that in natural circulation. At the same time, the bubble velocity changes significantly at different heat flux and shooting location.

Evaluation of the kLae of Structured Packings in Small Diameter Columns-The Key Role of Wall-Wipers

Wall wipers are commonly used in columns filled with structured packings in order to reduce the liquid flow along the column walls. In small diameter columns wall regions are prominent and wall flow, if not well tended to, can adversely affect measured mass transfer parameters, particularly the liquid side mass transfer coefficient kLae. Wire gauze wall wipers provided by some manufacturers do not properly prevent wall liquid flow. In this work, specific wall wipers designed to re-direct liquid wall flow onto packing surfaces were tested against standard wall wipers that do not always properly reduce wall flow. Tests were run on two distinct facilities each with a column diameter of about 150 mm and with bed heights from 0.42 to 1.68 m of Mellapak™ 250.Y packing. The results demonstrate that with the more effective wall wipers it is possible to measure intrinsic height independent values of kLae that match those obtained in a 300 mm diameter column with standard wall wipers.

Meniscus Motion and Void Generation Inside Carbon Nanotubes

The hollow inside of a carbon nanotube (CNT) has great potential not only for flow rate enhancement of nanocapillary, but also for a material container which can be applied for drug delivery and nanoparticle infusion. However, these applications focus on after liquid infusion into CNTs, whereas the understanding of the filling process is still limited. We conducted capillary filling experiments using individual open-ended CNTs, which were stuck into an ionic liquid and visualized by scanning transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the meniscus stopped inside the CNT, which is not predicted by the Lucas–Washburn equation. To explain this discrepancy, the intermolecular force between the liquid and CNT inner wall was proposed to provide an additional friction force. In addition, voids were observed in the liquid inside the CNT. The generation mechanism of voids was proposed to be induced by the instability of the thin liquid layer along the CNT inner surface caused by the advance of the th...

The Seepage Model Considering Liquid/Solid Interaction in Confined Nanoscale Pores

Different from conventional reservoirs, nanoscale pores and fractures are dominant in tight or shale reservoirs. The flow behaviors of hydrocarbons in nanopores (called “confined space”) are more complex than that of bulk spaces. The interaction between liquid hydrocarbons and solid pore wall cannot be neglected. The viscosity formula which is varied with the pore diameter and interaction coefficient of liquids and solids in confined nanopores has been introduced in this paper to describe the interaction effects of hydrocarbons and pore walls. Based on the Navier-Stokes equation, the governing equation considered liquid/solid effect in two dimensions has been established, and approximate theoretical solutions to the governing equations have been achieved after mathematic simplification. By introducing the vortex equation, the complex numerical seepage model has been discretized and solved. Numerical results show that the radial velocity distribution near the solid wall has an obvious change when considering the liquid/solid interaction. The results consist well with that approximate mathematical solution. And when the capillary radius is smaller, the liquid and solid interaction coefficient n is greater. The liquid and solid interaction obviously cannot be neglected in the seepage model if the capillary radius is small than 50 nm when n>0.1. The numerical model has also been further validated by two types of nanopore flow tests: from pore to throat and inversely from throat to pore. There is no big difference in flow regularity of throat to pore model considering when liquid/solid interaction or not, whereas the liquid/solid interaction of pore to throat model totally cannot be overlooked.

Influence of EGR and ethanol blending on soot formation in a DISI engine

Soot formation and in-cylinder soot oxidation in an optically accessible DISI-engine is analysed for gasoline–ethanol mixtures under part load operating conditions. A volumetric extinction measurement technique was used both for the determination of the liquid fuel distribution and quantitative soot measurements. Toliso, a mixture containing isooctane and toluene (65 vol% isooctane and 35 vol% toluene) was utilised as a surrogate gasoline fuel. The EGR (EGR-exhaust gas recirculation) rate-dependence and the effect of ethanol blending (0, 20 and 40% ethanol, E0–E40) were studied at part load operation with two different injection timings. Operating point 1 (OP1) represents an early injection with piston wetting and pool fire, operating point 2 (OP2) represents a late injection timing with reduced time for mixture formation. Soot formation is more pronounced for OP1 and for E20 and E40 as compared to E0. Here the pool fire due to the fuel-dependent liquid wall film formation plays a major role in soot formation and oxidation. Late injection timing leads to increased soot formation for E20 compared to Toliso, while E40 shows lowest soot formation. Here the fuel–wall wetting is less pronounced, but mixture inhomogeneities exist, and the soot cloud covers a larger region in the cylinder. An EGR addition leads to a higher soot formation for Toliso for both operating points. The ethanol-blends show a reduction of the soot formation with EGR, which is explained by reduced combustion temperatures and the chemically bound oxygen for E20 and E40 leading to locally leaner mixtures at constant global air–fuel ratio. The study shows optimisation potentials of injection strategies for ethanol-blended gasoline in combination with EGR in DISI-engine applications.

Experimental and numerical studies on dynamic responses of liquid-filled hemispherical shell under axial impact

The dynamic responses of the liquid-filled hemispherical shell structures under axial impact loading were studied through impact experiments and numerical simulations. At first, the deformation mode and impact forces were obtained by the experimental research. The ironing areas and fluted areas were observed on the edge zone of the liquid-filled single-layer shell. Next the dynamic behaviors of liquid-filled sandwich shell under axial impact loading were investigated numerically. The simulation results were found to match well with those obtained from experiments. It was found that since the filled liquid transfers and disperses the impact load, the stress of shells and the water pressure is going to be distributed uniformly as the impact processes and due to the low compressibility, the filled liquid absorbs small energy. Then effect of liquid radial thickness, wall thickness and impact velocity on dynamic responses of the liquid-filled sandwich shell was discussed.

Magnetic perturbation diagnostics in the high-temperature lithiated environment of LTX-β.

Magnetic perturbation measurements will be invaluable for characterizing Lithium Tokamak Experiment Beta (LTX-β) plasmas due to the time-evolving 3D nature of the magnetic fields generated by eddy currents in the vessel and copper shell segments, as well as enhanced MHD instability drive due to newly introduced neutral beam heating. The LTX-β upgrade includes two new arrays of Mirnov coils: a shell eddy sensor array of two-axis coils distributed over the back surface of one shell segment and a toroidal array of poloidal field coils at the low-field side midplane gap. Evaporative lithium wall-coating and the high temperatures required for liquid lithium wall operation both complicate the implementation of in-vessel diagnostics. While the shell array is protected from lithium exposure, the shell segment to which it is mounted will at times exceed 300 °C. The toroidal array, however, will experience direct line-of-sight exposure to the lithium evaporator as well as close proximity to the hot shell and may also be subject to poorly confined beam-driven fast ions. We describe how the two new Mirnov coil arrays meet these environmental challenges and enhance the LTX-β diagnostic suite.

Microfluidic chambers using fluid walls for cell biology

Many proofs of concept have demonstrated the potential of microfluidics in cell biology. However, the technology remains inaccessible to many biologists, as it often requires complex manufacturing facilities (such as soft lithography) and uses materials foreign to cell biology (such as polydimethylsiloxane). Here, we present a method for creating microfluidic environments by simply reshaping fluids on a substrate. For applications in cell biology, we use cell media on a virgin Petri dish overlaid with an immiscible fluorocarbon. A hydrophobic/fluorophilic stylus then reshapes the media into any pattern by creating liquid walls of fluorocarbon. Microfluidic arrangements suitable for cell culture are made in minutes using materials familiar to biologists. The versatility of the method is demonstrated by creating analogs of a common platform in cell biology, the microtiter plate. Using this vehicle, we demonstrate many manipulations required for cell culture and downstream analysis, including feeding, replating, cloning, cryopreservation, lysis plus RT-PCR, transfection plus genome editing, and fixation plus immunolabeling (when fluid walls are reconfigured during use). We also show that mammalian cells grow and respond to stimuli normally, and worm eggs develop into adults. This simple approach provides biologists with an entrée into microfluidics.

Compressible liquid flow in nano- or micro-sized circular tubes considering wall–liquid Lifshitz–van der Waals interaction

Although nano- and micro-scale phenomena for fluid flows are ubiquitous in tight oil reservoirs or in nano- or micro-sized channels, the mechanisms behind them remain unclear. In this study, we consider the wall–liquid interaction to investigate the flow mechanisms behind a compressible liquid flow in nano- or micro-sized circular tubes. We assume that the liquid is attracted by the wall surface primarily by the Lifshitz–van der Waals (LW) force, whereas electrostatic forces are negligible. The long-range LW force is thus introduced into the Navier–Stokes equations. The nonlinear equations of motion are decoupled by using the hydrodynamic vorticity-stream functions, from which an approximate analytical perturbation solution is obtained. The proposed model considers the LW force and liquid compressibility to obtain the velocity and pressure fields, which are consistent with experimentally observed micro-size effects. A smaller tube radius implies smaller dimensionless velocity, and when the tube radius decreases to a certain radius Rm, a fluid no longer flows, where Rm is the lower limit of the movable-fluid radius. The radius Rm is calculated, and the results are consistent with previous experimental results. These results reveal that micro-size effects are caused by liquid compressibility and wall–liquid interactions, such as the LW force, for a liquid flowing in nano- or micro-sized channels or pores. The attractive LW force enhances the flow’s radial resistance, and the liquid compressibility transmits the radial resistance to the streaming direction via volume deformation, thereby decreasing the streaming velocity.

Effect of surface tension, gravity and turbulence on condensation patterns of R1234ze(E) in horizontal mini/macro-channels

The condensation patterns of R1234ze(E) in circular mini/macro-channels with diameters ranged from 0.493 to 4.57 mm was numerically investigated. The effects of mass flux, vapor quality and tube diameter on heat transfer coefficients were analyzed. The relative role of surface tension, gravity and shear stress in mini/macro-channels was explored and the turbulence effect of liquid phase was discussed. The heat transfer coefficients increased with the mass flux, vapor quality and the decrease of tube diameter. The liquid film thickness decreased significantly when reducing the tube dimension for the increased shear stress. The surface tension was found to play a role to increase the heat performance by enhancing the heat convection between liquid film and wall surface, which was only obvious in mini-channels. Contrary to the effect of surface tension, the gravity effect was negligible in mini-channels with a diameter less than 1 mm, while had an important effect on heat transfer coefficients for macro-channels. The gravity affected both liquid film distribution and velocity field, which can either enhance or weaken the heat transfer coefficient during condensation flow. The turbulence in liquid film played an important role in reducing the local thermal resistance and was more important in tubes with larger diameter. The onset of turbulence inside the liquid film may occur at much lower liquid Reynolds numbers for mini-channels.

Study on unsteady evaporation of n-heptane droplet in a heated tube

Unsteady evaporation of liquid droplets and wall films is inevitable in spray combustion systems. The purpose of this study is to investigate the evaporation processes of n-heptane droplets and how they affect flame oscillation. Experimentally, a capillary tube was used to form fine tiny droplets. When the suspended droplets drip and collide with a heated tube wall, liquid film will appear, leading to Leidenfrost vaporization and flame oscillation. Theoretically, evaporation models for both suspended droplets and deposited films were built, and the calculation results were validated by experimental data. The models can accurately predict evaporation time and rate of droplets during an oscillation cycle. The results also indicate that flame oscillation only occurs when fuel supplement exceeds the consumption of evaporation. Moreover, increasing fuel flow rate or air velocity intensifies oscillation amplitude and shortens oscillation periods, but in cases where film lifetime exceeds dripping period, accumulation of liquid n-heptane occurs. Improvement of ambient temperature reduces lifetime of liquid films but extends droplet dripping periods. If vaporization rate exceeds fuel flow rate, the droplet will not drip but hang on the capillary tip with a constant diameter (d<2.62mm).

Crack-Enhanced Microfluidic Stretchable E-Skin Sensor.

We reported the development of a transparent stretchable crack-enhanced microfluidic capacitive sensor array for use in E-skin applications. The microfluidic sensor was fabricated through a simple lamination process involving two silver nanowire (AgNW)-embedded rubbery microfluidic channels arranged in a crisscross fashion. The sensing performance was optimized by testing a variety of sensing liquids injected into the channels. External mechanical stimuli applied to the sensor induced the liquid to penetrate the deformed microcracks on the rubber channel surface. The increased interfacial contact area between the liquid and the nanowire electrodes increased the capacitance of the sensor. The device sensitivity was strongly related to both the initial fluid interface between the liquid and crack wall and the change in the contact length of the liquid and crack wall, which were simulated using the finite element method. The microfluidic sensor was shown to detect a wide range of pressures, 0.1-140 kPa. Ordinary human motions, including substantial as well as slight muscle movements, could be successively detected, and 2D color mappings of simultaneous external load sensing were collected. Our simple method of fabricating the microfluidic channels and the application of these channels to stretchable e-skin sensors offers an excellent sensing platform that is highly compatible with emerging medical and electronic applications.

Mechanism of single-pulse ablative generation of laser-induced periodic surface structures

One of the remarkable capabilities of ultrashort polarized laser pulses is the generation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). The origin of this phenomenon is largely attributed to the interference of the incident laser wave and surface electromagnetic wave that creates a periodic absorption pattern. Although, commonly, LIPSS are produced by repetitive irradiation of the same area by multiple laser pulses in the regime of surface melting and resolidification, recent reports demonstrate the formation of LIPSS in the single pulse irradiation regime at laser fluences well above the ablation threshold. In this paper, we report results of a large-scale molecular dynamics simulation aimed at providing insights into the mechanisms of single pulse ablative LIPSS formation. The simulation performed for a Cr target reveals an interplay of material removal and redistribution in the course of spatially modulated ablation, leading to the transient formation of an elongated liquid wall extending up to ~600 nm above the surface of the target at the locations of the minima of the laser energy deposition. The upper part of the liquid wall disintegrates into droplets while the base of the wall solidifies on the timescale of ~2 ns, producing a ~100 nm-long frozen surface feature extending above the level of the initial surface of the target. The properties of the surface region of the target are modified by the presence of high densities of dislocations and vacancies generated due to the rapid and highly nonequilibrium nature of the melting and resolidification processes. The insights into the LIPSS formation mechanisms may help in designing approaches for increasing the processing speed and improving the quality of the laser-patterned periodic surface structures.

$${\Gamma}$$ Γ -Convergence Analysis of a Generalized XY Model: Fractional Vortices and String Defects

We propose and analyze a generalized two dimensional $XY$ model, whose interaction potential has $n$ weighted wells, describing corresponding symmetries of the system. As the lattice spacing vanishes, we derive by $\Gamma$-convergence the discrete-to-continuum limit of this model. In the energy regime we deal with, the asymptotic ground states exhibit fractional vortices, connected by string defects. The $\Gamma$-limit takes into account both contributions, through a renormalized energy, depending on the configuration of fractional vortices, and a surface energy, proportional to the length of the strings. Our model describes in a simple way several topological singularities arising in Physics and Materials Science. Among them, disclinations and string defects in liquid crystals, fractional vortices and domain walls in micromagnetics, partial dislocations and stacking faults in crystal plasticity.

Investigation of soot formation and oxidation of ethanol and butanol fuel blends in a DISI engine at different exhaust gas recirculation rates

The soot formation and in-cylinder soot oxidation in an optically accessible DISI-engine is analyzed for gasoline-ethanol and -butanol mixtures. The volumetric extinction measurement technique used is capable of determining quantitative soot volume fractions and in-cylinder soot oxidation at low gas and soot particle temperatures. Toliso, a fuel mixture containing isooctane and toluene (65 vol% isooctane and 35 vol% toluene) was utilized as a surrogate gasoline fuel. The EGR-dependence (EGR-exhaust gas recirculation) on soot formation and -oxidation of the fuels was studied at part load operation. The studied operating point is characterized by an early injection timing leading to distinct piston wetting and a sooting pool-fire. The measurements without EGR showed a low soot formation for Toliso, while EGR leads to higher soot formation. E20 and B20 showed a strong sooting behaviour without EGR. An EGR increase reduced the soot formation for E20 and B20. It can be concluded that the physical fuel properties determine the spray formation and piston wetting. The fuel dependent evaporation of the liquid wall film as well as local mixing conditions play a major role on soot formation and oxidation.

Numerical modeling of rapid depressurization of a pressure vessel containing two-phase hydrocarbon mixture

Abstract Blowdown or rapid depressurization of pressure vessels is a well-known safety process that removes overpressure at an emergency situation. Since the thermodynamic and transport properties in a vessel change remarkably during depressurization, rigorous estimation of the properties with respect to time is essential. Particularly, the temperature drop due to the expansion would cause the wall of the vessel to become brittle, and hence, it should be evaluated in an early stage of the design process. This study developed a numerical model to simulate the phenomenon of the rapid depressurization and estimate the non-equilibrium temperature changes of the vapor, liquid and vessel wall during the depressurization process, considering combined convection, nucleate boiling and transient multilayer conduction through the vessel wall. The results of this study were compared with experiment, numerical models from literature and several commercial software and showed good agreement with experimental results.

Characterization of ionic liquid pretreated plant cell wall for improved enzymatic digestibility

An insight into the properties of cell wall of mustard stalk (MS) pretreated by five ionic liquids (ILs) revealed ILs interaction with cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin components. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) showed increased pore size coupled with increased population of pores evoked by certain ILs in better facilitating enzymatic accessibility. Interestingly, all the five ILs predominantly increased the propensity of two pore sizes formation; 19 and 198 nm, but remarkable difference in the pore volumes of pretreated MS suggested the supremacy of [OAc]− based ILs, resulting in higher glucose yields. Cellulose I to II transition in pretreated MS was supported by the reduced total crystallinity index (TCI), lateral order index (LOI) values. Strong inverse correlation existed between the said parameters and residual acetyl content with enzymatic hydrolysis (R2 > 0.8). An inverse relationship between hydrogen bond basicity, LOI and TCI suggested it to be a good indicator of IL pretreatment efficiency.