Planar Shear Flow Research Articles

Nonequilibrium dynamics of a confined colloidal bilayer in a planar shear flow

Using Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations we investigate the impact of shear flow on structural and dynamical properties of a system of charged colloids confined to a narrow slit pore. Our model consists of spherical microions interacting through a Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) and a soft-sphere potential. The DLVO parameters were chosen according to a system of moderately charged silica particles (with valence Z~35) in a solvent of low ionic strength. At the confinement conditions considered, the colloids form two well-pronounced layers. In the present study we investigate shear-induced transitions of the translational order and dynamics in the layers, including a discussion of the translational diffusion. In particular, we show that diffusion in the shear-melted state can be described by an analytical model involving a single shear-driven particle in a harmonic trap. We also explore the emergence of zigzag motion characterized by spatiotemporal oscillations of the particles in the layers in the vorticity direction. Similar behavior has been recently observed in experiments of much thicker colloidal films.

Impact of flow on ligand-mediated bacterial flocculation

To understand the adhesion–fragmentation dynamics of bacterial aggregates (i.e., flocs), we model the aggregates as two ligand-covered rigid spheres. We develop and investigate a model for the attachment/detachment dynamics in a fluid subject to a homogeneous planar shear-flow. The binding ligands on the surface of the flocs experience attractive and repulsive surface forces in an ionic medium and exhibit finite resistance to rotation (via bond tilting). For certain range of material and fluid parameters, our results predict a nonlinear or hysteretic relationship between the binding/unbinding of the floc surface and the net floc velocity (translational plus rotational velocity). We show that the surface adhesion is promoted by increased fluid flow until a critical value, beyond which the bonds starts to yield. Moreover, adhesion is not promoted in a medium with low ionic strength, or flocs with bigger size or higher binder stiffness. The numerical simulations of floc-aggregate number density studies support these findings.

Magnetohydrodynamic stability of stochastically driven accretion flows

We investigate the evolution of magnetohydrodynamic (or hydromagnetic as coined by Chandrasekhar) perturbations in the presence of stochastic noise in rotating shear flows. The particular emphasis is the flows whose angular velocity decreases but specific angular momentum increases with increasing radial coordinate. Such flows, however, are Rayleigh stable but must be turbulent in order to explain astrophysical observed data and, hence, reveal a mismatch between the linear theory and observations and experiments. The mismatch seems to have been resolved, at least in certain regimes, in the presence of a weak magnetic field, revealing magnetorotational instability. The present work explores the effects of stochastic noise on such magnetohydrodynamic flows, in order to resolve the above mismatch generically for the hot flows. We essentially concentrate on a small section of such a flow which is nothing but a plane shear flow supplemented by the Coriolis effect, mimicking a small section of an astrophysical accretion disk around a compact object. It is found that such stochastically driven flows exhibit large temporal and spatial autocorrelations and cross-correlations of perturbation and, hence, large energy dissipations of perturbation, which generate instability. Interestingly, autocorrelations and cross-correlations appear independent of background angular velocity profiles, which are Rayleigh stable, indicating their universality. This work initiates our attempt to understand the evolution of three-dimensional hydromagnetic perturbations in rotating shear flows in the presence of stochastic noise.

Quantitative test of the time dependent Gintzburg-Landau equation for sheared granular flow in two dimensions

We examine the validity of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation of granular fluids for a plane shear flow under the Lees-Edwards boundary condition derived from a weakly nonlinear analysis through the comparison with the result of discrete element method. We verify quantitative agreements in the time evolution of the area fraction and the velocity fields, and also find qualitative agreement in the granular temperature.

An Energy-Based Similarity Subgrid-Scale Model in Two-Dimensional Planar Shear Flow

A new type of similarity subgrid-scale (SGS) model which based on energy and dissipative scale isotropy assumption is presented. This model combines the advantages of traditional Smagorinsky SGS model with similarity SGS model. And a two-dimensional shear layer flow is simulated using refined grid result as a standard and comparing witch LES method including multiple SGS models. The results indicate that the result of SIM model much approximates to refined grid result than other SGS models.

Stochastically driven instability in rotating shear flows

The origin of hydrodynamic turbulence in rotating shear flows is investigated, with particular emphasis on the flows whose angular velocity decreases but whose specific angular momentum increases with the increasing radial coordinate. Such flows are Rayleigh stable, but must be turbulent in order to explain the observed data. Such a mismatch between the linear theory and the observations/experiments is more severe when any hydromagnetic/magnetohydrodynamic instability and then the corresponding turbulence therein is ruled out. This work explores the effect of stochastic noise on such hydrodynamic flows. We essentially concentrate on a small section of such a flow, which is nothing but a plane shear flow supplemented by the Coriolis effect. This also mimics a small section of an astrophysical accretion disc. It is found that such stochastically driven flows exhibit large temporal and spatial correlations of perturbation velocities and hence large energy dissipations of perturbation, which presumably generate the instability. A range of angular velocity (Ω) profiles of the background flow, starting from that of a constant specific angular momentum (λ = Ωr2; r being the radial coordinate) to a constant circular velocity (vϕ = Ωr), is explored. However, all the background angular velocities exhibit identical growth and roughness exponents of their perturbations, revealing a unique universality class for the stochastically forced hydrodynamics of rotating shear flows. This work, to the best of our knowledge, is the first attempt to understand the origin of instability and turbulence in three-dimensional Rayleigh stable rotating shear flows by introducing additive noise to the underlying linearized governing equations. This has important implications to resolve the turbulence problem in astrophysical hydrodynamic flows such as accretion discs.

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics non-Newtonian model for ice-sheet and ice-shelf dynamics

We propose a new three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) non-Newtonian model to study coupled ice-sheet and ice-shelf dynamics. Most existing ice-sheet numerical models use grid-based Eulerian discretizations, and are usually restricted to shallow ice-sheet and ice-shelf approximations of the momentum- conservation equation. SPH, a fully Lagrangian particle method, solves the full momentum-conservation equation. Numerical accuracy of the proposed SPH model is first verified by simulating Poiseuille flow, a plane shear flow with a free surface and the propagation of a blob of ice along a horizontal surface. Next, the SPH model is used to investigate the grounding-line dynamics of a ice sheet/shelf. The steady position of the grounding line, obtained from our SPH simulations, is in good agreement with laboratory observations for a wide range of bedrock slopes, ice-to-fluid density ratios, and flux. We examine the effect of non-Newtonian behavior of ice on the grounding-line dynamics. The non-Newtonian constitutive model is based on Glen’s law for a creeping flow of a polycrystalline ice. Finally, we investigate the effect of a bedrock geometry on a steady-state position of the grounding line.

On the existence of an exponential attractor for a planar shear flow with the Tresca friction condition

We consider a two-dimensional nonstationary Navier–Stokes shear flow with a subdifferential boundary condition on a part of the boundary of the flow domain, namely, with a boundary driving subject to the Tresca law. There exists a unique global in time solution of the considered problem which is governed by a variational inequality. Our aim is to prove the existence of a global attractor of a finite fractional dimension and of an exponential attractor for the associated semigroup. We use the method of l-trajectories. This research is motivated by a problem from lubrication theory.

A smoothed-particle hydrodynamics model for ice-sheet and ice-shelf dynamics

AbstractMathematical modeling of ice sheets is complicated by the nonlinearity of the governing equations and boundary conditions. Standard grid-based methods require complex front-tracking techniques and have a limited capability to handle large material deformations and abrupt changes in bottom topography. Consequently, numerical methods are usually restricted to shallow ice-sheet and ice-shelf approximations. We propose a new smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model for coupled ice-sheet and ice-shelf dynamics. SPH, a fully Lagrangian particle method, is highly scalable and its Lagrangian nature and meshless discretization are well suited to the simulation of free surface flows, large material deformation and material fragmentation. In this paper, we use the SPH model to study ice-sheet/ice-shelf behavior, and the dynamics of the grounding line. The steady-state position of the grounding line obtained from SPH simulations is in good agreement with laboratory observations for a wide range of simulated bedrock slopes and density ratios, similar to those of ice and sea water. The numerical accuracy of the SPH algorithm is verified by simulating the plane-shear flow of two immiscible fluids and the propagation of a highly viscous blob of fluid along a horizontal surface. In the experiment, the ice was represented with a viscous Newtonian fluid. For consistency, in the described SPH model the ice is also modeled as a viscous Newtonian fluid. Typically, ice sheets are modeled as a non-Newtonian fluid, accounting for the changes in the mechanical properties of the ice. Implementation of a non-Newtonian rheology in the SPH model is the subject of our ongoing research.

Rotation of an axisymmetric particle in a plane flow

AbstractThe rotation of an inertialess ellipsoidal particle in a shear flow of a Newtonian fluid has been firstly analyzed by Jeffery [1]. He found that the particle rotates such that the end of its symmetry axis describes a closed periodic orbit. Based on the balance equation of the angular momentum we derived the equation of rotational motion of a cylindrical particle, that is suspended in a plane shear flow field of a viscous fluid, and solved numerically. The rotary inertia is taken into account. The solution is compared with the rotation of a slender particle. (© 2011 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Numerical simulation of planar shear flow passing a rotating cylinder at low Reynolds numbers

Two-dimensional shear flow over a rotating circular cylinder is investigated using lattice Boltzmann method. Simulations are performed at a fixed blockage ratio (B = 0.1) while the Reynolds number, nondimensional shear rate (K) and absolute rotational speed range as 80 ≤ Re ≤ 180, 0 ≤ K ≤ 0.2 and −2 ≤ β ≤ 2, respectively. To verify the simulation, the results are compared to previous experimental and numerical data. Quantitative information about the flow variables such as drag and lift coefficients, pressure coefficient and vorticity distributions on the cylinders is highlighted. It is found that, generally, with the increment in |β|, the absolute value of time average lift coefficient increases and time average drag coefficient decreases, and beyond a certain magnitude of β, the vortex shedding vanishes. It is also revealed that the drag coefficient decreases as the Reynolds number increases while the effect of the Reynolds number on lift is almost negligible. At the end, correlations for drag and lift coefficients $${(\overline {C_D } ,\overline {C_L })}$$ are extracted from the numerical data.

Migration of a sphere suspended in viscoelastic liquids in Couette flow: experiments and simulations

The intrinsically coupled effects of the curvature of the flow-field and of the viscoelastic nature of suspending medium on the cross-stream lateral migration of a single non-Brownian sphere in wide-gap Couette flow are studied. Quantitative videomicroscopy experiments using a counterrotating device are compared to the results of 3D finite element simulations. To evaluate the effects of differences in rheological properties of the suspending media, fluids have been selected which highlight specific constitutive features, including a reference Newtonian fluid, a single relaxation time wormlike micellar surfactant solution, a broad spectrum shear-thinning elastic polymer solution and a constant viscosity, highly elastic Boger fluid. As expected for conditions corresponding to Stokes flow, migration is absent in the Newtonian fluid. In the wormlike micellar solution and the shear-thinning polymer solution, spheres are observed to migrate in the direction of decreasing shear rate gradient, i.e. the outer cylinder, except when the sphere is initially released close to the inner cylinder, in which case the migration is towards it. The migration is enhanced by faster relative angular velocities of the cylinders. Shear-thinning reduces the migration velocity, showing an opposite behavior as compared to previous results in planar shear flow. In the Boger fluid, within experimental error no migration could be observed, likely due to the large solvent contribution to the overall viscosity. For small Deborah numbers the migration results are well described by an heuristic argument based on a local stress balance.

Effective viscosity of bacterial suspensions: a three-dimensional PDE model with stochastic torque

We present a PDE model for dilute suspensions of swimming bacteria in a three-dimensional Stokesian fluid. This model is used to calculate the statistically-stationary bulk deviatoric stress and effective viscosity of the suspension from the microscopic details of the interaction of an elongated body with the background flow. A bacterium is modeled as an impenetrable prolate spheroid with self-propulsion provided by a point force, which appears in the model as an inhomogeneous delta function in the PDE. The bacterium is also subject to a stochastic torque in order to model tumbling (random reorientation). Due to a bacterium's asymmetric shape, interactions with prescribed generic planar background flows, such as a pure straining or planar shear flow, cause the bacterium to preferentially align in certain directions. Due to the stochastic torque, the steady-state distribution of orientations is unique for a given background flow. Under this distribution of orientations, self-propulsion produces a reduction in the effective viscosity. For sufficiently weak background flows, the effect of self-propulsion on the effective viscosity dominates all other contributions, leading to an effective viscosity of the suspension that is lower than the viscosity of the ambient fluid. This is in qualitative agreement with recent experiments on suspensions of Bacillus subtilis.

Polymer solutions in co-rotating Taylor–Couette flow without vorticity

We present experimental results of the flow of dilute and semi-dilute polymer solutions in co-rotating Taylor–Couette cylinders. The experimental set-up consists of a modified Mars II rheometer (Thermo Scientific) with two drive units that are mounted opposite each other. The rotational velocities of the inner and outer cylinders are chosen in a way such that the angular velocity has a 1/r profile and the flow is free of vorticity, but the direction of elongation is not constant, but rotates with the flow. Our particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements show that for polymer solutions without shear thinning the flow is indeed free of vorticity and is equal to a stagnation point flow at a given position and a given instant in time. In contrast, torque measurements reveal that the stresses are identical to the stresses that are present in a plane shear flow. Thus, we find that for polymer solutions a flow with vorticity and a constant direction of elongation is equal to a flow without vorticity in which the direction of elongation is rotating. Finally, we show that for shear thinning solutions the flow velocity becomes non-monotonic through the gap and resembles a pluglike profile which is known from the Poiseuille flow.

Prediction of fluid velocity slip at solid surfaces

The observed flow enhancement in highly confining geometries is believed to be caused by fluid velocity slip at the solid wall surface. Here we present a simple and highly accurate method to predict this slip using equilibrium molecular dynamics. Unlike previous equilibrium molecular dynamics methods, it allows us to directly compute the intrinsic wall-fluid friction coefficient rather than an empirical friction coefficient that includes all sources of friction for planar shear flow. The slip length predicted by our method is in excellent agreement with the slip length obtained from direct nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations.

Hydrodynamics and the Fluctuation Theorem

The fluctuation theorem is a pivotal result of statistical physics. It quantifies the probability of observing fluctuations which are in violation of the second law of thermodynamics. More specifically, it quantifies the ratio of the probabilities of observing entropy-producing and entropy-consuming fluctuations measured over a finite volume and time span in terms of the rate of entropy production in the system, the measurement volume, and time. We study the fluctuation theorem in computer simulations of planar shear flow. The simulations are performed by employing the method of multiparticle collision dynamics, which captures both thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic interactions. The main outcome of our analysis is that the fluctuation theorem is verified at any averaging time provided that the measurement volume exhibits a specific dependence on a hydrodynamic time scale.

Systematic Coarse Graining Flowing Polymer Melts: Thermodynamically Guided Simulations and Resulting Constitutive Model.

Complex fluids, such as polymers, colloids, liquid-crystals etc., show intriguing viscoelastic properties, due to the complicated interplay between flow-induced structure formation and dynamical behavior. Starting from microscopic models of complex fluids, a systematic coarse-graining method is presented that allows us to derive closed-form and thermodynamically consistent constitutive equations for such fluids. Essential ingredients of the proposed approach are thermodynamically guided simulations within a consistent coarse-graining scheme. In addition to this new type of multiscale simulations, we reconstruct the building blocks that constitute the thermodynamically consistent coarse-grained model. We illustrate the method for low-molecular polymer melts, which are subject to different imposed flow fields like planar shear and different elongational flows. The constitutive equation for general flow conditions we obtain shows rheological behavior including shear thinning, normal stress differences, and elongational viscosities in good agreement with reference results.

Nonlinear waves in incompressible viscoelastic Maxwell medium

In this paper we study two-dimensional flows of incompressible viscoelastic Maxwell media with Jaumann corotational derivative in the rheological constitutive law. In the general case, due to the incompressibility condition, the equations of motion have both real and complex characteristics. Group properties of this system are studied. On this basis, two submodels of the Maxwell model are selected, which can be reduced to hyperbolic ones. More precisely, we consider plane shear flow between two parallel planes and Couette type flow caused by the inertial cylinder rotation. As a result, we obtain the closed systems of three equations of mixed type, which describe nonlinear transverse waves in an incompressible Maxwell fluid. It is demonstrated that discontinuities can develop in elastic media even from smooth initial data. Stability of shocks in the Maxwell fluid with and without retardation time is discussed.

Planar mixed flow and chaos: Lyapunov exponents and the conjugate-pairing rule

In this work we characterize the chaotic properties of atomic fluids subjected to planar mixed flow, which is a linear combination of planar shear and elongational flows, in a constant temperature thermodynamic ensemble. With the use of a recently developed nonequilibrium molecular dynamics algorithm, compatible and reproducible periodic boundary conditions are realized so that Lyapunov spectra analysis can be carried out for the first time. Previous studies on planar shear and elongational flows have shown that Lyapunov spectra organize in different ways, depending on the character of the defining equations of the system. Interestingly, planar mixed flow gives rise to chaotic spectra that, on one hand, contain elements common to those of shear and elongational flows but also show peculiar, unique traits. In particular, the influence of the constituent flows in regards to the conjugate-pairing rule (CPR) is analyzed. CPR is observed in homogeneously thermostated systems whose adiabatic (or unthermostated) equations of motion are symplectic. We show that the component associated with the shear tends to selectively excite some of those degrees, and is responsible for violations in the rule.

Multimode stretched spiral vortex and nonequilibrium energy spectrum in homogeneous shear flow turbulence

The stretched spiral vortex [T. S. Lundgren, “Strained spiral vortex model for turbulent structures,” Phys. Fluids 25, 2193 (1982)] is identified in turbulence in homogeneous shear flow and the spectral properties of this flow are studied using direct-numerical simulation data. The effects of mean shear on the genesis, growth, and annihilation processes of the spiral vortex are elucidated, and the role of the spiral vortex in the generation of turbulence is shown. As in homogeneous isotropic turbulence [K. Horiuti and T. Fujisawa, “The multi mode stretched spiral vortex in homogeneous isotropic turbulence,” J. Fluid Mech. 595, 341 (2008)], multimodes of the spiral vortex are extracted. Two symmetric modes of configurations with regard to the vorticity alignment along the vortex tube in the core region and dual vortex sheets spiraling around the tube are often educed. One of the two symmetric modes is created by a conventional rolling-up of a single spanwise shear layer. Another one is created by the convergence of the recirculating flow or streamwise roll [F. Waleffe, “Homotopy of exact coherent structures in plane shear flows,” Phys. Fluids 15, 1517 (2003)] caused by the upward and downward motions associated with the streaks. The vortex tube is formed by axial straining and lowering of pressure in the recirculating region. The spanwise shear layers are entrained by the tube and they form spiral turns. The latter symmetric mode tends to be transformed into the former mode with lapse of time due to the action of the pressure Hessian term. The power law in the inertial subrange energy spectrum is studied. The base steady spectrum fits the equilibrium Kolmogorov −5/3 spectrum, to which a nonequilibrium component induced by the fluctuation of the dissipation rate ε is added. This component is extracted using the conditional sampling on ε, and it is shown that it fits the −7/3 power in accordance with the statistical theory. The correlation between these spectra and the appearance and diminution of the streaks and the two modes of the spiral vortex is discussed. The temporal variations of the spectrum are divided into two regimes, Phases 1 and 2. Large energy contained in the low-wavenumber range in Phase 1 is cascaded to the small scales in Phase 2. This energy transfer is accomplished by the reversal in the sign of −7/3 power component.