Unstable Jet Research Articles

Explosively driven Richtmyer–Meshkov instability jet suppression and enhancement via coupling machine learning and additive manufacturing

The ability to control the behavior of fluid instabilities at material interfaces, such as the shock-driven Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, is a grand technological challenge with a broad number of applications ranging from inertial confinement fusion experiments to explosively driven shaped charges. In this work, we use a linear-geometry shaped charge as a means of studying methods for controlling material jetting that results from the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability. A shaped charge produces a high-velocity jet by focusing the energy from the detonation of high explosives. The interaction of the resulting detonation wave with a hollowed cavity lined with a thin metal layer produces the unstable jetting effect. By modifying the characteristics of the detonation wave prior to striking the lined cavity, the kinetic energy of the jet can be enhanced or reduced. Modifying the geometry of the liner material can also be used to alter jetting properties. We apply optimization methods to investigate several design parameterizations for both enhancing or suppressing the shaped-charge jet. This is accomplished using 2D and 3D hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the design space that we consider. We also apply new additive manufacturing methods for producing the shaped-charge assemblies, which allow for the experimental testing of complicated design geometries obtained through computational optimization. We present a direct comparison of our optimized designs with experimental results carried out at the High Explosives Application Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Chaos via type-II intermittency in a forced globally unstable jet

We explore the transition to chaos in a prototypical hydrodynamic oscillator, namely a globally unstable low-density jet subjected to external time-periodic forcing. As the forcing strengthens at an off-resonant frequency, we find that the jet exhibits a sequence of nonlinear states: period-1 limit cycle $\rightarrow $ quasiperiodicity $\rightarrow$ intermittency $\rightarrow$ low-dimensional chaos. We show that the intermittency obeys type-II Pomeau–Manneville dynamics by analysing the first return map and the scaling properties of the quasiperiodic lifetimes between successive chaotic epochs. By providing experimental evidence of the type-II intermittency route to chaos in a globally unstable jet, this study reinforces the idea that strange attractors emerge via universal mechanisms in open self-excited flows, facilitating the development of instability control strategies based on chaos theory.

Numerical study on dominant oscillation frequency of unstable steam jet under heaving condition

With its advanced efficiency in heat transfer, the steam direct contact condensation method is now extensively employed in many areas. The pressure oscillation characteristics of unstable steam jets under heaving conditions were investigated numerically in this study. The dominant oscillation frequency gradually rose with the decrease of the heaving period and the increase of the heaving amplitude. The dominant oscillation frequency under the heaving condition was higher than that under the static condition, with a maximum increase of 27.4%. The inertia and condensation dominated the evolution of steam bubbles at the necking stage under heaving conditions. With the decrease of the heaving period and the increase of heaving amplitude, the additional force induced by heaving movement increased, contributing to the condensation heat transfer enhancement. A dimensionless correlation predicting the dominant oscillation frequency at a low flow rate under heaving conditions was fitted, and the maximum error was within ±6.2%.

A numerical study on oscillatory characteristics of unstable steam jet in water flow within a vertical pipe

In this study, a numerical investigation was conducted to examine the condensation and pressure oscillation characteristics of low mass flux steam jets in water flow within a vertical pipe under different operating conditions. Three bubble states were observed during the injection of subsonic steam in an upward direction into a subcooled water flow: bubble growth, bubble necking, and bubble detachment. Through a synchronously analysis of the bubble morphology and interface pressure, the oscillation mechanism of the unstable steam jet was revealed. The results showed that the pressure oscillation characteristics were consistent with the behavior of the vapor bubble. The frequency of pressure oscillation increased with the increase of steam inlet pressure and water Reynolds number, while decreased with the decrease of subcooled water temperature. The intensity of pressure oscillation exhibited a distinct peak at the position corresponding to the detachment of the primary and secondary bubbles. Moreover, a new predictive correlation for pressure oscillations in flowing water was presented by the frequency of steam injection, the condensation driving potential, the steam mass flux, the Weber number, and the water Reynolds number. The predicted values showed good agreement with the experimental values, with a maximum deviation of 24 %

Transition from bubbling to jetting in submerged gas-liquid jets through a minichannel

This paper provides a first insight into the transition from bubbling to jetting of submerged jets generated by the ejection of gas-liquid mixing flows through a minichannel into water. The ejections of rivulet, annular, churn, and Taylor-annular flows are found to generate jet behaviors of aperiodic bubbling, impact bubbling, chaotic bubbling, jetting-like jets, unstable jetting, and stable jetting. The correspondence relationship between the in-channel flows and submerged jets is revealed by establishing their flow regime maps, as well as the prediction models of transition boundaries. Compared to single-phase gas jets, the participation of liquid phase in mixing flows significantly promotes the transition from bubbling to jetting. Specifically, the increase of liquid phase velocity decreases the critical gas phase velocity for the transition from bubbling to jetting-like jets, as well as the transition from unstable jetting to stable jetting, characterized by the increase of liquid slug frequency and jet penetration length, as well as the decrease of liquid slug length, jet pitch-off frequency, and jet cone angles. As a result, via the in-channel mixing with a liquid phase of a Weber number of 110 prior to orifice ejection, the critical Mach number for the onset of stable jetting is significantly reduced from 3.76 to 1.25.

Study on the effect of structural parameters of the convergence flow conditioner on eccentric jet flow rectification

In flow measurement and control industrial application, installing a flow conditioner is an effective way to rectify irregular and unstable flow to stable flow state within a short flow distance. To effectively rectify the eccentric jet flow caused by valve regulation in pipeline, the convergence flow conditioner with convergent orifice angles has been innovatively designed and investigated. However, the effect of structural parameters (such as flow conditioner thickness and flow area) on improving unstable eccentric jet flow rectification was still not elaborated. Thus, the effect of structural parameters of the convergence flow conditioner on rectifying eccentric jet flow was examined in this paper. The structural parameters of the flow conditioner thickness and the flow area were considered under the fixed convergence angle of 12°. The experimental system of monitoring pressures upstream and downstream of the convergence flow conditioner along the pipeline was developed and corresponding numerical simulation was employed. The flow coefficient and resistance coefficient of a convergence flow conditioner under various valve openings were accessed, and monitored pressures along the pipeline were also discussed for numerical simulation verification. The velocity and streamline distributions downstream the convergence flow conditioners were comparatively analyzed. In addition, the axial velocities on various downstream cross-sections were extracted to evaluate the velocity uniformity. A dimensionless parameter of velocity deviation ratio was introduced to quantify the rectification effect of eccentric jet flow evolving in the downstream pipeline. Results showed that the convergence flow conditioner with the thickness of 6 mm and the flow area of 50% owned a better effect on rectifying the valve-induced eccentric jet flow, that is, a shorter flow length was required for changing the valve-induced eccentric unstable flow to uniform stable flow by installing a convergence flow conditioner with above structural parameters.

Dropwise and liquid-jet laminar flow of subcooled water falling over horizontal tube banks

Falling-film heat exchangers are widely used to promote heat and mass transport within industrial environments. In contemporary condensers, for example, liquid films continuously form over a tube row and impact multiple tubes beneath, resulting in a rich variety of two-phase flow phenomena, including the classical Rayleigh-Plateau instability. It is widely known that altering the contact angle of the tubes influences the heat exchangers’ heat and mass transfer characteristics by changing the falling films’ flow behaviour (i.e. dropwise or jet). Therefore, resolving interfacial flow characteristics, such as the Rayleigh-Plateau instability, is crucial for falling film studies as this instability may change the state of the falling film from being jet flow to dropwise/jet flow or even just dropwise. To explore this aspect, three-dimensional direct numerical simulations are used in the present work to replicate the jet instability behaviour. By employing certain mesh refinement strategies demonstrated from various case studies, the interfacial flow behaviour and jet instability have been captured, showing good agreement with experimental and theoretical data previously published. This is determined from the increased jet bifurcation and a maximum error of 2.2% of the film thickness in comparison to Nusselt's result within the bulk region of the tube. In addition, the average and local heat transfer coefficients across the first tube were compared with numerical solutions to give an average error of 3.2 and 14 %. Jet instability is found to be directly related to the amplitude of the axial pressure variations which is augmented by the growth rate of the capillary wave that travels upstream. Specifically, for contact angles of 30 and 60°, the flow is in a dropwise and dropwise/jet state due to the emergence of the Rayleigh-Plateau instability. Notably, the additional satellite droplets that materialize from the unstable jet lead to an increase in the local heat transfer coefficient of the film compared to without the Rayleigh instability improvement.

Robust poleward jet shifts in idealised baroclinic-wave life-cycle experiments with noisy initial conditions

Abstract. Idealised baroclinic-wave life-cycle experiments are a widely used tool to study fundamental characteristics of mid-latitude baroclinic instability. A typical life cycle evolves from an initialised baroclinically unstable jet through an exponential growth phase of a particular unstable wave mode, followed by wave breaking during the mature phase and wave–mean flow interaction driving a jet shift during the decay phase. Many authors distinguish between life cycles with predominantly anticyclonic (LC1) and cyclonic (LC2) wave breaking, and the transition between the two flavours is typically controlled via the strength of cyclonic meridional wind shear in the initial conditions. While baroclinic wave growth has traditionally been triggered via a specified initial perturbation with fixed zonal wave number, this study extends the concept of baroclinic-wave life cycles by analysing the influence of random initial perturbations without any preferred zonal dependency on the life-cycle evolution. We find that the growth phase shows a robust LC1–LC2 distinction as a function of initialised meridional shear, while a preference for LC1-like characteristics is observed during the decay phase for all life cycles with non-monochromatic initial perturbations. In particular, the persistent cut-off cyclones that typically form for LC2 initialisations are found to eventually become unstable, with the onset of instability coming sooner for larger noise perturbations. All non-monochromatic life cycles result in a poleward jet shift in their final state, regardless of the strength of the initial shear. Consistently, anticyclonic wave breaking tends to be predominant during the mature and decay phases, even for LC2 initialisations. Equatorward jet shifts associated with cyclonic wave breaking still exist, although purely as a transient interim state. We show that wave–wave interactions resulting from the initialised random wave spectrum play an important role during all phases of the life cycle.

Numerical simulation on heat transfer characteristics of unstable steam jet condensation under rolling condition

Direct contact condensation technology has been widely used in nuclear power, aerospace, chemical industry, and other fields due to efficient mass and heat transfer characteristics between two phases. Rolling motion applied to offshore cases typically significantly affects dynamic flow and heat transfer characteristics. Thus, investigating the heat transfer characteristics of unstable steam jet condensation is necessary. The present study numerically explored the heat transfer coefficient of main and detached bubbles under rolling and static conditions. The relationship between pressure and heat transfer coefficient was assessed to reveal the pressure generation mechanism. The peak value of pressure oscillation was mainly caused by the rapid collapse induced by intense condensation of detached bubble instead of main bubble. The heat and mass transfer intensity could be fortified under rolling conditions. It would increase as the maximum rolling amplitude rise and the rolling period decrease, while the maximum improvement was up to 30%.

Exploring Gas-Liquid Reactions with Microjets: Lessons We Are Learning.

Liquid water is all around us: at the beach, in a cloud, from a faucet, inside a spray tower, covering our lungs. It is fascinating to imagine what happens to a reactive gas molecule as it approaches the surface of water in these examples. Some incoming molecules may first be deflected away after colliding with an evaporating water molecule. Those that do strike surface H2O or other surface species may bounce directly off or become momentarily trapped through hydrogen bonding or other attractive forces. The adsorbed gas molecule can then desorb immediately or instead dissolve, passing through the interfacial region and into the bulk, perhaps diffusing back to the surface and evaporating before reacting. Alternatively, it may react with solute or water molecules in the interfacial or bulk regions, and a reaction intermediate or the final product may then desorb into the gas phase. Building a "blow by blow" picture of these pathways is challenging for vacuum-based techniques because of the high vapor pressure of water. In particular, collisions within the thick vapor cloud created by evaporating molecules just above the surface scramble the trajectories and internal states of the gaseous target molecules, hindering construction of gas-liquid reaction mechanisms at the atomic scale that we strive to map out.The introduction of the microjet in 1988 by Faubel, Schlemmer, and Toennies opened up entirely new possibilities. Their inspired solution seems so simple: narrow the end of a glass tube to a diameter smaller than the mean free path of the vapor molecules and then push the liquid through the tube at speeds of a car on a highway. The narrow liquid stream creates a sparse vapor cloud, with water molecules spaced far enough apart that they and the reactant gases interact, at most, weakly. Experimentalists, however, confront a host of challenges: nozzle clogging, unstable jetting, searching for vacuum-compatible solutions, measuring low signal levels, and teasing out artifacts because the slender jet is the smallest surface in the vacuum chamber. In this Account, we describe lessons that we are learning as we explore gases (DCl, (HCOOH)2, N2O5) reacting with water molecules and solute ions in the near-interfacial region of these fast-flowing aqueous microjets.

Asymmetric forcing of convectively unstable transverse jets

In gas phase experiments we explore the effect of asymmetric and helical excitation of the flow about the exit plane of a jet injected perpendicularly into crossflow. Simultaneous acetone planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging and stereo particle image velocimetry quantify the effects of such excitation on jet structure, vorticity, and scalar mixing, while proper orthogonal decomposition of the images enables determination of characteristic dynamical signatures related to important jet features.

Testing particle acceleration models for BL Lac jets with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

Mechanisms such as shock acceleration, magnetic reconnection in a kink unstable jet, and extreme turbulence in the jet flow are all expected to produce a distinctive time variability pattern of the X-ray polarization properties of high synchrotron peak blazars (HSP). To determine whether the recently launched Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) can follow the polarization variations induced by different particle acceleration mechanisms in blazar jets, we simulated observations of an HSP blazar variable in terms of the polarization degree and angle according to theoretical predictions. We used the Monte Carlo tool ixpeobssim to create realistic IXPE data products for each model and for three values of flux (i.e., 1, 5, and 10 × 10−10 erg s−1 cm−2). We generated simulated light curves of the polarization degree and angle by time-slicing the simulated data into arbitrary short time bins. We used an χ2 test to assess the performance of the observations in detecting the time variability of the polarization properties. In all cases, even when the light curves are diluted in an individual time bin, some degree of polarization is still measurable with IXPE. A series of ~10 ks long observations permits IXPE to follow the time variability of the polarization degree in the case of the shock acceleration model. In the case of the magnetic reconnection model, the nominal injected model provides the best fit of the simulated IXPE data for time bins of ~5–10 ks, depending on the tested flux level. For the TEMZ model, shorter time slices of ~0.5 ks are needed for obtaining a formally good fit of the simulated IXPE data with the injected model. On the other hand, we find that a fit with a constant model provides a χ2 lower than the fit with the nominal injected model when using time slices of ~20 ks, ~60/70 ks, and ~5 ks for the case of the shock acceleration, magnetic reconnection, and TEMZ model, respectively. In conclusion, provided that the statistics of the observation allows for the slicing of the data in adequately short time bins, IXPE observations of an HSP blazar at a typical flux level can detect the time variability predicted by popular models for particle acceleration in jets. IXPE observations of HSP blazars are a useful tool for addressing the issue of particle acceleration in blazar jets.

Global oscillations in low-density round jets with parabolic velocity profiles

Experiments and spatiotemporal stability analysis are carried out to study the global oscillations in laminar low-density round jets with parabolic velocity profiles. The experimental results of laminar low-density jets with parabolic velocity profiles exhibit global axisymmetric oscillations. The spatiotemporal stability results based on base profiles from numerical simulations are consistent with the present experimental results. These results differ from the prediction of stability study by Coenen et al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 20, 2008, p. 074104). They reported that the low-density jets with near parabolic velocity profiles show global helical oscillations. It is observed that the method used by Coenen et al. is not able to predict the nature of global oscillations observed in experiments for low-density jets with near parabolic profiles. The present spatiotemporal stability results demonstrate that the base flows from Navier–Stokes equations are required to predict the critical conditions observed in experiments for low-density jets with near parabolic velocity profiles. The breakdown distance of globally unstable low-density jets scales with $(Re-Re_c)^{-1/2}$ ( $Re_c$ is the critical Reynolds number), consistent with the scaling law obtained from the nonlinear global mode of the Ginzburg–Landau equation.

Asynchronous and synchronous quenching of a globally unstable jet via axisymmetry breaking

We explore experimentally whether axisymmetry breaking can be exploited for the open-loop control of a prototypical hydrodynamic oscillator, namely a low-density inertial jet exhibiting global self-excited axisymmetric oscillations. We find that when forced transversely or axially at a low amplitude, the jet always transitions first from a period-1 limit cycle to $\mathbb {T}^2$ quasiperiodicity via a Neimark–Sacker bifurcation. However, we find that the subsequent transition, from $\mathbb {T}^2$ quasiperiodicity to $1:1$ lock-in, depends on the spatial symmetry of the applied perturbations: axial forcing induces a saddle-node bifurcation at small detuning but an inverse Neimark–Sacker bifurcation at large detuning, whereas transverse forcing always induces an inverse Neimark–Sacker bifurcation irrespective of the detuning. Crucially, we find that only transverse forcing can enable both asynchronous and synchronous quenching of the natural mode to occur without resonant or non-resonant amplification of the forced mode, resulting in substantially lower values of the overall response amplitude across all detuning values. From this, we conclude that breaking the jet axisymmetry via transverse forcing is a more effective control strategy than preserving the jet axisymmetry via axial forcing. Finally, we show that the observed synchronization phenomena can be modelled qualitatively with just two forced coupled Van der Pol oscillators. The success of such a simple low-dimensional model in capturing the complex synchronization dynamics of a multi-modal hydrodynamic system opens up new opportunities for axisymmetry breaking to be exploited for the open-loop control of other globally unstable flows.

Numerical study on dominant oscillation frequency of unstable steam jet under rolling condition

Steam direct contact condensation has been widely applied in many fields because of its high heat and mass transfer efficiency. However, this process may cause damage to related devices due to its pressure oscillation, especially under ocean condition. The axial and radial components of the additional force and buoyancy force were analyzed in this numerical study. Results indicated that the Coriolis force played a more important role than other forces. The effects of rolling period and rolling angle on the dominant oscillation frequency were investigated. Under rolling condition, as the rolling period decreased and the rolling angle increased, the dominant oscillation frequency of steam submerged jet increased because of the enhanced Coriolis force, which promoted the necking of the bubble. Moreover, a correlation was proposed to predict the dominant oscillation frequency of steam submerged jet under rolling condition. The maximum deviation was less than ± 9.5%.

Baroclinic instability and large‐scale wave propagation in a planetary‐scale atmosphere

AbstractMidlatitude atmospheric variability is dominated by the dynamics of the baroclinically unstable jet stream, which meanders and sheds eddies at the scale of the Rossby deformation radius. The eddies interact with each other and with the jet, affecting the variability on a wide range of scales, but the mechanisms of planetary‐scale fluctuations of the jet are not well understood. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to explore the stability of planetary‐scale motions in an idealized two‐layer model of the atmosphere. The model is based on a combination of vertical shear and the Sverdrup relation, providing the dynamic link between the two layers, with meridional eddy heat fluxes parameterized as a diffusive process with the memory of past baroclinicity of the jet. We find that a planetary‐scale instability exists if the vertical shear of the jet does not exceed a particular threshold. The inclusion of the eddy‐memory effect enables westward or eastward propagation of planetary waves relative to the barotropic mean flow. Importantly, we find growing planetary waves that propagate slowly westward or are stationary, which could have important implications for the formation of atmospheric blocking events. Our theoretical results suggest that, with ongoing polar amplification due to global warming and the corresponding reduction of the vertical shear of the mean wind, the background conditions for the growth of planetary‐scale waves via planetary‐scale baroclinic instability are becoming more favorable.

Dynamics of electrified jets in electrohydrodynamic atomization

An electrified jet ejected from a meniscus (or Taylor cone) can further disintegrate into fine drops with different modes in electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA). This process has been applied into many fields because of controllable production of highly charged and monodispersed drops. However, both stable and unstable electrified jets are encountered in EHDA, usually depending on liquid physical properties and operating parameters. A series of electrified jets are visualized and the transient breakup dynamics are analyzed within an electric field. According to the geometry forms of drops or/and jets emitted from the end of a needle, periodic dripping, pulsating-jet, stable-jet, and unstable jet are clearly classified. The operating parameters versus spraying modes are also discussed, especially for propylene glycol and n-octanol. The initial velocity from the Taylor cone, jet breakup length, jet position, and the size separation effect are deeply studied. The jet velocity is significantly accelerated by electric stresses and good agreement with predicted value. The jet breakup length increases sharply as liquid flow rate increasing and slowly increases as electric potential increasing, except for small liquid flow rate where bullet cone occurs. The jet ejection point varies and gradually deflects off needle axis with an increase in electric potential. The ‘size separation effect’ can help improve the quality of printing by removed highly charged satellite drops.

Laser printing of large-scale metal micro/nanoparticle array: Deposition behavior and microstructure

In this study, a novel printing process is proposed to efficiently fabricate a large-scale micro/nanoparticle array via laser-induced forward transfer of femtoliter metal voxels. A sputtering metal film with sub-micrometer thickness was initially patterned to an independent voxel array using a picosecond laser. Then, an ultraviolet nanosecond laser induced the voxel transfer from the donor substrate to the receiver entirely after it was irradiated by a single laser pulse. The results indicated that single laser irradiation can print a microparticle array that covers an area of several millimeters. The printed microparticle size varied from 5 μm to 580 nm. Furthermore, the proposed printing process exhibited high controllability by adjusting the voxel volume. The morphology of the cross section of the printed copper microparticles exhibited a lower porosity and oxidation state, and ultrafine nanograins were generated within an amorphous shell. The location deviations of the printed microparticles obeyed the chi-square distribution with a mean value of 1 μm. Moreover, the proposed process can avoid the satellite microdroplets and debris for reducing the resolution because unstable jetting and microdroplet separation are eliminated. The proposed approach enables the printing of a large-scale microstructure array with high efficiency and flexibility.

Linear temporal stability analysis on non-parallel free cross sheared flow with a primary hyperbolic velocity and an orthogonal Bickley jet velocity

A linear temporal stability analysis is carried out on non-parallel free cross sheared flow consisting of the unstable hyperbolic velocity U=tanh(z) in the primary direction and the comparable unstable Bickley jet velocity V=sech2(z) in the orthogonal direction, where z is the coordinate perpendicular to the plane of the primary and orthogonal directions. The cross sheared flow involves the non-parallel effects such as twisted flow and cross flow. The linearized perturbation equations are derived which are subsequently used to examine the stability features. It is found that the instability associated with U=tanh(z) and V=sech2(z) transitions asymptotically to each other as the combined factor χ=ξ(β/α) varies, where ξ=||V||/||U|| is the cross shear ratio and β/α is the ratio between the orthogonal and primary wavenumbers with || || representing the characteristic magnitudes of the velocity components. In addition to the hyperbolic flow (HF) mode and the Bickley jet flow (BJF) mode associated with U=tanh(z) and V=sech2(z), respectively, the orthogonal wavenumber (OW) mode where β/α dominates and the cross shear (CS) mode where ξ dominates are found in the eigenfunction structures. The physical mechanisms of the four eigenfunctions modes are examined with the kinetic energy and enstrophy budgets. The map of the unstable regions influenced and dominated by the OW, CS, HF, and BJF eigenfunction modes is also obtained and discussed.

Rotating Shallow Water Flow Under Location Uncertainty With a Structure‐Preserving Discretization

AbstractWe introduce a physically relevant stochastic representation of the rotating shallow water equations. The derivation relies mainly on a stochastic transport principle and on a decomposition of the fluid flow into a large‐scale component and a noise term that models the unresolved flow components. As for the classical (deterministic) system, this scheme, referred to as modeling under location uncertainty (LU), conserves the global energy of any realization and provides the possibility to generate an ensemble of physically relevant random simulations with a good trade‐off between the model error representation and the ensemble's spread. To maintain numerically the energy conservation feature, we combine an energy (in space) preserving discretization of the underlying deterministic model with approximations of the stochastic terms that are based on standard finite volume/difference operators. The LU derivation, built from the very same conservation principles as the usual geophysical models, together with the numerical scheme proposed can be directly used in existing dynamical cores of global numerical weather prediction models. The capabilities of the proposed framework is demonstrated for an inviscid test case on the f‐plane and for a barotropically unstable jet on the sphere.