Particle Tracking Technique Research Articles

Bubble Dynamics in Turbulent Duct Flows: Lattice-Boltzmann Simulations and Drop Tower Experiments

Lattice-Boltzmann simulations of a turbulent duct flow have been carried out to obtain trajectories of passive tracers in the conditions of a series of microgravity experiments of turbulent bubble suspensions. The statistics of these passive tracers are compared to the corresponding measurements for single-bubble and bubble-pair statistics obtained from particle tracking techniques after the high-speed camera recordings from drop-towers experiments. In the conditions of the present experiments, comparisons indicate that experimental results on bubble velocity fluctuations are not consistent with simulations of passive tracers, which points in the direction of an active role of bubbles. The present analysis illustrates the utility of a recently introduced experimental setup to generate controlled turbulent bubble suspensions in microgravity.

A hydrodynamic model for biomass gasification in a circulating fluidized bed riser

This study presents a three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model and experimental measurements of the hydrodynamics in the riser section of a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) biomass gasifier consisting of a binary mixture of polydisperse particles. The model is based on multi-fluid (Eulerian-Eulerian) approach with constitutive equations adopted from the Kinetic Theory of Granular Flow (KTGF). The study first presents an assessment of the various options of the constitutive and closure equations for a binary mixture followed by sensitivity analysis of the model to the solution time step, cell size, turbulence and the alternative formulations of the granular energy equation. Accordingly, a robust and reliable hydrodynamic model is recommended and validated using conventional pressure measurements and Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) technique. Furthermore, the model predictions and experiments revealed evidence of the particle re-circulation within the lower part of the riser, which is an important feature contributing to rapid mass and heat transfer in a CFB gasifier. The present hydrodynamic model can be further developed; by incorporating appropriate reactions and heat transfer equations, in order to fully predict the performance and products of a CFB biomass gasifier.

Reynolds number dependence of particle resuspension in turbulent duct flows

Particle resuspension in a fully developed turbulent square duct flow is simulated using one-way coupled large eddy simulation coupled with a Lagrangian particle tracking technique for a range of bulk Reynolds numbers (36.5 k, 83 k and 250 k) and four particle sizes ranging from 5 to 500 μm (St = 0.01–2415) considered. Results obtained for the single-phase flow show good agreement with experimental data. Predictions of the time-dependent particle-laden flows demonstrate that the secondary flow mainly dominates particle resuspension in the regions near the center and sidewalls of the duct. It is found that particle resuspension decreases with particle size. The smaller particles tend to be more prone to resuspension, and are resuspended for a longer duration than larger particles. The mean particle resuspension velocity is found to increase with the duct height. In addition, particle resuspension in the vertical direction increases with Reynolds number while the effect of particle size on particle resuspension decreases. The resuspension rate in the spanwise direction fluctuates more as the Reynolds number increases. It is also found that the average particle resuspension rate in the lower half of the duct is always close to 0.5, and is independent of time, particle size and Reynolds number. Based on a dynamic analysis, the drag force is found to dominate the resuspension of small particles, while the lift force tends to dominate particle resuspension with increasing particle size. For low Reynolds number (36.5 k and 83 k) flows, the drag force plays an important role in the upper regions of the lower half of the duct, but the lift force dominates particle behavior in the lower regions. It can be concluded that the effects of duct height on particle behavior decline significantly with Reynolds number.

Agglomerate behavior in a recirculating fluidized bed with sheds: Effect of sheds

A Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) technique was used to study the effects of the internal baffles in the stripping section of the Fluid Coker™, called sheds, have on the behavior of wet agglomerates that are formed when residual oil is injected into the Coker. Vapor emitted by reacting wet agglomerates below the sheds rises and causes shed fouling. The release of vapor from agglomerates can be estimated by combining the RPT results with a coking reaction model. The study found that the sheds reduce the time agglomerates spend in the shed zone, which in turn reduces the amount of organic vapor that reaches the sheds, but at the same time increase the wetness of the agglomerates that exit to the recirculation line, which results in the loss of valuable liquid. The research also found that the best type of shed, from the point of view of agglomerate motion, is the mesh-shed. Finally, experimental data indicate that reducing the cross sectional area of the sheds from 50% to 30% increases the time that the agglomerates spend above the shed zone, and thus reduces the flow of vapor emitted below the sheds.

Carbon Dots Based Fluorescence Nanoprobe for Cell Imaging and Single Particle Tracking

School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 Advances in real-time imaging in living cells have enabled tracking of individual molecules over time and space. Single particle tracking (SPT) technique enables the imaging and mapping of functional biomolecules directly in living cells at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution [1-4]. This technique has provided a powerful tool to reveal the dynamic structure-function relationships in complex biological systems and dramatically advanced the fundamental understanding of biological systems and medical diagnose [5-7]. The fluorescent probe, which tags the molecules of interest and allows the fluorescent emission, is crucial for intercellular imaging. The considerable interest in intercellular trafficking sparked sustained research efforts on developing of fluorescent probes with high quantum yield, excellent stability and biocompatibility. Carbon dots (CDs) exhibit controlling size and shape, surface heteroatom doping, tunable photoluminescence (PL) and efficient multiphoton up-conversion. These CDs exhibit excellent biocompatibility, high photostability, enhanced brightness and high quantum yields [8]. Therefore, CDs will provide a new platform as versatile probes for single particle tracking (SPT) in various biological and medical areas. In our previous studies [9-10], we synthesis the CDs with optimized remarkable quantum confinement effect, surface effect and surface defect state are expected to present (1) low cytotoxicity and excellent biocompatibility. (2) Capability of precisely controlling the functional-group and feasible labeling of biomolecule for enhanced specificity. (3) Enhanced optical properties. (4) High stability. The CDs are highly chemically and thermally stable. We found that the endosome escape most probably because that the untreated surface group of CDs could provide high buffering capacity to trigger the osmotic swelling and physical rupture of the lysosomes in acid vesicle [9]. This technology can be easily extended to the mobility of molecules and proteins in the cell membrane with the same principle. This new technology will be a major breakthrough of real-time, high resolution of intercellular imaging.

Generation and control of monodisperse bubble suspensions in microgravity

A new experimental setup for the generation of homogeneous, monodisperse bubble suspensions in turbulent duct flows in microgravity has been designed and tested in drop tower experiments. The setup provides independent control of bubble size, void fraction and degree of turbulence. The device combines several slug-flow injectors that produce monodisperse bubble jets, with a turbulent co-flow that ensures homogeneous spatial spreading. Bubble separation in the scale of the most energetic eddies of the flow, and bubble size sufficiently smaller, ensure that turbulence is most efficient as a mechanism for spatial spreading of bubbles while preventing coalescence, thus optimizing the homogeneous and monodisperse character of the suspension. The setup works in a regime for which bubbles are spherical, but sufficiently large compared to the turbulent dissipative scales to allow for two-way coupling between bubbles and carrying flow. The volume fraction is kept relatively small to facilitate particle tracking techniques. To illustrate the potential uses of the method we characterize the statistics of bubble velocity fluctuations in steady regimes and we characterize the transient relaxation of the buoyancy-driven pseudo-turbulence when gravity is switched-off.

Agglomerate behavior in a recirculating fluidized bed with sheds: Effect of ring baffles

The radioactive particle tracking technique was used to study the effect of internal ring baffles on wet agglomerate motion inside a cold flow recirculating fluidized bed. The study found that using such a baffle on its own or above the regular sheds helps reduce the fouling of the stripper section by increasing the residence time that the agglomerates spend above the baffle, thereby reducing the release of the vapors below the baffles that cause fouling of the sheds. Adding down-comers, or flux tubes, to the ring baffles degrades the performance of the baffles. Reducing the length of the flux tubes, so that they do not reach the bottom of the baffle lip results in a further degradation in baffle performance.

Superstatistical generalised Langevin equation: non-Gaussian viscoelastic anomalous diffusion

Recent advances in single particle tracking and supercomputing techniques demonstrate the emergence of normal or anomalous, viscoelastic diffusion in conjunction with non-Gaussian distributions in soft, biological, and active matter systems. We here formulate a stochastic model based on a generalised Langevin equation in which non-Gaussian shapes of the probability density function and normal or anomalous diffusion have a common origin, namely a random parametrisation of the stochastic force. We perform a detailed analysis demonstrating how various types of parameter distributions for the memory kernel result in exponential, power law, or power-log law tails of the memory functions. The studied system is also shown to exhibit a further unusual property: the velocity has a Gaussian one point probability density but non-Gaussian joint distributions. This behaviour is reflected in the relaxation from a Gaussian to a non-Gaussian distribution observed for the position variable. We show that our theoretical results are in excellent agreement with stochastic simulations.

Biophysical Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small vesicles ensuring transport of molecules between cells and throughout the body. EVs contain cell-type specific signatures and have been proposed as biomarkers in a variety of diseases. Their small size and biological and physical functions make them optimal candidates for therapeutic agents in immune therapy, vaccination, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery. Indeed there is no objective set of criteria available for designing synthetic EVs for a specific task in biomedicine. It is therefore urgent and critical to address these issues for EVs-based medicine to fulfill its promise. Here, we try to assess the phenotypic properties of EVs, through a multi-technique characterization based on Single Particle Tracking techniques, FTIR spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS). This detailed analysis allows us to model, visualize and quantify EVs’ physical and chemical properties up to single vesicle level and it serves as a basis for the correlation of phenotypic parameters of EVs with their functional activity. The proposed work could allow for the design of innovative strategies for their sorting and detection, and for the personalized nanomedicine in general.

Effects of Reynolds number and Stokes number on particle-pair relative velocity in isotropic turbulence: a systematic experimental study

The effects of Reynolds number ($R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$) and Stokes number ($St$) on particle-pair relative velocity (RV) are investigated systematically using a recently developed planar four-frame particle tracking technique in a novel homogeneous and isotropic turbulence chamber. We compare the measured results with direct numerical simulation (DNS), verifying whether the conclusions of the DNS for simplified conditions and limited $R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$ are still valid in reality. Two experiments are performed: varying $R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$ between 246 and 357 at six $St$ values, and varying $St$ between 0.02 and 4.63 at five $R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$ values. The measured mean inward particle-pair RV $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ as a function of separation distance $r$ is compared with the DNS under closely matched conditions. At all experimental conditions, an excellent agreement is achieved, except when the particle separation distance $r\lesssim 10\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$ is the Kolmogorov length scale), where the experimental $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ is consistently higher, possibly due to particle polydispersity and finite laser thickness in the experiments (Dou et al., arXiv:1712.07506, 2017). At any fixed $St,\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ is essentially independent of $R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$, echoing the DNS finding of Ireland et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 796, 2016, pp. 617–658). At any fixed $R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$, $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ increases with $St$ at small $r$, showing dominance of the path-history effect in the dissipation range when $St\gtrsim O(1)$, but decreases with $St$ at large $r$, indicating dominance of inertial filtering. We further compare the $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ and RV variance $\langle w_{r}^{2}\rangle$ from experiments with DNS and theoretical predictions by Pan & Padoan (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 661, 2010, pp. 73–107). For $St\lesssim 1$, experimental $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ and $\langle w_{r}^{2}\rangle$ match these values well at $r\gtrsim 10\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$, but they are higher than both DNS and theory at $r\lesssim 10\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$. For $St\gtrsim 1$, $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ from all three match well, except for $r\lesssim 10\unicode[STIX]{x1D702}$, for which experimental values are higher, while $\langle w_{r}^{2}\rangle$ from experiment and DNS are much higher than theoretical predictions. We discuss potential causes of these discrepancies. What this study shows is the first experimental validation of $R_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}$ and $St$ effect on inertial particle-pair $\langle w_{r}^{-}\rangle$ in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.

Microrheological measurement of microcrystalline cellulose solution using single particle tracking

The aim of the research was to develop micro rheological measurement system to determine the alpha apparent and the complex shear modulus of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) solutions based on a single particle tracking technique (SPT) using video microscopy (VM). The temporal displacement of a micro particle, acted as a probe in MCC solution was recorded, tracked and analyzed using custom-made MATLAB program. Videos were recorded at 30 fps resulted in the output of radial frequency range from 0.4 rad/s to 10 rad/s. The results from the local measurement in MCC solutions were compared with the bulk measurement using rheometer. The measurements were dependent on the local position of the probe in the solution. The results from the developed SPT-based measurement system were comparable to the common measurement using rheometer.

Microrheology of DNA hydrogel gelling and melting on cooling.

We present systematic characterisation by means of dynamic light scattering and particle tracking techniques of the viscosity and of the linear viscoelastic moduli, G'(ω) and G''(ω), for two different DNA hydrogels. These thermoreversible systems are composed of tetravalent DNA-made nanostars whose sticky sequence is designed to provide controlled interparticle bonding. While the first system forms a gel on cooling, the second one has been programmed to behave as a re-entrant gel, turning again to a fluid solution at low temperature. The frequency-dependent viscous and storage moduli and the viscosity reveal the different viscoelastic behavior of the two DNA hydrogels. Our results show how little variations in the design of the DNA sequences allow tuning of the mechanical response of these biocompatible all-DNA materials.

The Importance of Splat Events to the Spatiotemporal Structure of Near‐Bed Fluid Velocity and Bed Load Motion Over Bed Forms: Laboratory Experiments Downstream of a Backward Facing Step

Flow separation/reattachment on the lee side of alluvial bed forms is known to produce a complex turbulence field, but the spatiotemporal details of the associated patterns of bed load sediment transported remain largely unknown. Here we report turbulence‐resolving, simultaneous measurements of bed load motion and near‐bed fluid velocity downstream of a backward facing step in a laboratory flume. Two synchronized high‐speed video cameras simultaneously observed bed load motion and the motion of neutrally buoyant particles in a laser light sheet 6 mm above the bed at 250 frames/s downstream of a 3.8 cm backward facing step. Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) and Acoustic Doppler Velocimetry (ADV) were used to characterize fluid turbulent patterns, while manual particle tracking techniques were used to characterize bed load transport. Octant analysis, conducted using ADV data, coupled with Markovian sequence probability analysis highlights differences in the flow near reattachment versus farther downstream. Near reattachment, three distinct flow patterns are apparent. Farther downstream we see the development of a dominant flow sequence. Localized, intermittent, high‐magnitude transport events are more apparent near flow reattachment. These events are composed of streamwise and cross‐stream fluxes of comparable magnitudes. Transport pattern and fluid velocity data are consistent with the existence of permeable “splat events,” wherein a volume of fluid moves toward and impinges on the bed (sweep) causing a radial movement of fluid in all directions around the point of impingement (outward interaction). This is congruent with flow patterns, identified with octant analysis, proximal to flow reattachment.

Experimental investigation of mesoscopic heterogeneous motion of laser-activated self-propelling Janus particles in suspension.

The mesoscopic collective motion of self-propelling active particle suspension is experimentally investigated. The active particles are silica micro spheres with Au hemisphere coating, and their propelling strength is activated by laser irradiation. The suspension is driven from equilibrium to near equilibrium and far from equilibrium by tuning the excitation laser intensity. By use of the long-term particle tracking technique, the time evolution of a large amount of active particles is resolvable. For low laser intensity, the suspension is driven to near equilibrium state with homogeneous superdiffusion motion. The strength of enhanced superdiffusion is monotonically related to the laser intensity. For high laser intensity, the motility-induced phase separation with the coexistence of dense cluster and very dilute individual particle are observed. It leads to highly heterogeneous dynamic with less mobile jammed cluster and fast-moving particles and subsequently suppresses the enhanced superdiffusion. Such heterogeneous dynamics is similar to many far from equilibrium systems. Finally, the degree away from equilibrium (Gaussian dynamics) triggered by propelling strength is quantified by non-Gaussian parameters.

Universal glass-forming behavior of in vitro and living cytoplasm

Physiological processes in cells are performed efficiently without getting jammed although cytoplasm is highly crowded with various macromolecules. Elucidating the physical machinery is challenging because the interior of a cell is so complex and driven far from equilibrium by metabolic activities. Here, we studied the mechanics of in vitro and living cytoplasm using the particle-tracking and manipulation technique. The molecular crowding effect on cytoplasmic mechanics was selectively studied by preparing simple in vitro models of cytoplasm from which both the metabolism and cytoskeletons were removed. We obtained direct evidence of the cytoplasmic glass transition; a dramatic increase in viscosity upon crowding quantitatively conformed to the super-Arrhenius formula, which is typical for fragile colloidal suspensions close to jamming. Furthermore, the glass-forming behaviors were found to be universally conserved in all the cytoplasm samples that originated from different species and developmental stages; they showed the same tendency for diverging at the macromolecule concentrations relevant for living cells. Notably, such fragile behavior disappeared in metabolically active living cells whose viscosity showed a genuine Arrhenius increase as in typical strong glass formers. Being actively driven by metabolism, the living cytoplasm forms glass that is fundamentally different from that of its non-living counterpart.

Agglomerate behavior in a recirculating fluidized bed with sheds: Effect of bed properties

The Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) technique was used to study agglomerates behavior inside a cold flow recirculating fluidized bed with internals (known as sheds), mimicking the stripper baffles of a Fluid Coker™. A higher fluidization gas velocity increases the time that agglomerates spend above the sheds and reduces the time spent in the shed zone and below the sheds, which is highly desirable. The residence time of the agglomerate in the stripper zone quadruples when the solid recirculation rate is cut by half. The release of vapors from agglomerates can be estimated by combining the RPT results with a coking reaction model. As the concentration of agglomerates inside the fluidized increases from 0 to 10wt%, this study predicts wet agglomerates entering the stripper section with 30wt% liquid would release 17% more hydrocarbon vapors below the top stripper shed.

Modeling non-Fickian pollutant mixing in open channel flows using two-dimensional particle dispersion model

The non-Fickian particle dispersion model was developed in this study to model two-dimensional pollutant mixing in open channel flows. The proposed model represents shear dispersion using step-by-step arithmetic calculations, which consist of horizontal transport and vertical mixing steps, instead of using Fick's law. In the sequential calculations, the model directly applied the effect of vertical variations of both longitudinal and transverse velocities, whereas the Fickian dispersion model incorporates the effect of shear flow in the dispersion coefficients. Furthermore, in order to avoid the numerical diffusion errors induced by the grid tracking method of previously developed non-Fickian dispersion models, this model adopted the particle tracking technique to trace each particle. The simulation results in the straight channel show that the proposed model reproduced the anomalous mixing, which shows a non-linear increase of variance with time and large skewness coefficient in the initial period. However, in the Taylor period, the variance and skewness of the concentration curves approached the Fickian mixing. The simulation results in the meandering channel reveal that the proposed model adequately reproduced the skewed concentration–time curves of the experimental results whereas the Fickian dispersion model, CTM-2D, generated symmetrical curves. Further comparison between the simulation results and the tracer test results conducted in the Hongcheon River shows that the proposed model properly demonstrated the two-dimensional mixing without adopting Fick's law.

Characteristic rotational behaviors of rod-shaped cargo revealed by automated five-dimensional single particle tracking

We report an automated single particle tracking technique for tracking the x, y, z coordinates, azimuthal and elevation angles of anisotropic plasmonic gold nanorod probes in live cells. These five spatial coordinates are collectively referred to as 5D. This method overcomes a long-standing challenge in distinguishing rotational motions from translational motions in the z-axis in differential interference contrast microscopy to result in full disclosure of nanoscale motions with high accuracy. Transferrin-coated endocytic gold nanorod cargoes initially undergo active rotational diffusion and display characteristic rotational motions on the membrane. Then as the cargoes being enclosed in clathrin-coated pits, they slow down the active rotation and experience a quiet period before they restore active rotational diffusion after fission and eventually being transported away from the original entry spots. Finally, the 3D trajectories and the accompanying rotational motions of the cargoes are resolved accurately to render the intracellular transport process in live cells.

Migration of induced-infiltration stream water into nearby aquifer due to a transverse horizontal well in loess areas

Analysis of the migration paths of stream water introduced into a transverse horizontal well is important to better understand the interactions between streams and aquifers. This paper presents a method of using particle-tracking techniques to evaluate the transport of stream water that infiltrates through a transverse horizontal well that runs transverse to a stream and extends from the stream banks. By conceptualizing the horizontal well as a discrete pipe network, MODFLOW is coupled with the pipe flow equations that govern the movement of water in the horizontal well, and this coupled seepage-pipe flow model is used to calculate the transient groundwater flow field. MODPATH is then used to record the locations of each of the water particles from the interface between the stream and the aquifer. The path lines, travel times, influence zones and the production of infiltrated stream water are determined to depict the migration process. The results suggest that the infiltrated stream water that originates from different stream transects located upstream and downstream from the horizontal well has different migration characteristics, as does the infiltrated stream water coming from different locations on the same stream transect. Eventually, the pumpage of the horizontal well consists partly of the infiltrated stream water and groundwater inflow from the upstream model boundary. The groundwater enters the horizontal well through the two end segments of the horizontal well, and the infiltrated stream water enters the middle segment of the well. The pumped water is still a mixture of infiltrated stream water and groundwater, even if the pumping lasts for a long period. The hydrochemistry of the infiltrated stream water cannot be simply used to evaluate the hydrochemistry of the water pumped from a transverse horizontal well.

Identifying three-dimensional nested groundwater flow systems in a Tóthian basin

Abstract Nested groundwater flow systems have been revealed in Toth's theory as the structural property of basin-scale groundwater circulation but were only well known with two-dimensional (2D) profile models. The method of searching special streamlines across stagnation points for partitioning flow systems, which has been successfully applied in the 2D models, has never been implemented for three-dimensional (3D) Tothian basins because of the difficulty in solving the dual stream functions. Alternatively, a new method is developed to investigate 3D nested groundwater flow systems without determination of stagnation points. Connective indices are defined to quantify the connection between individual recharge and discharge zones along streamlines. Groundwater circulation cells (GWCCs) are identified according to the distribution of the connective indices and then grouped into local, intermediate and regional flow systems. This method requires existing solution of the flow velocity vector and is implemented via particle tracking technique. It is applied in a hypothetical 3D Tothian basin with an analytical solution of the flow field and in a real-world basin with a numerical modeling approach. Different spatial patterns of flow systems compared to 2D profile models are found. The outcrops boundaries of GWCCs on water table may significantly deviate from and are not parallel to the nearby water table divides. Topological network is proposed to represent the linked recharge–discharge zones through closed and open GWCCs. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the development of GWCCs depends on the basin geometry, hydraulic parameters and water table shape.