Numerical simulation of a bubble rising in shear-thinning fluids

The motion of a single bubble rising freely in quiescent non-Newtonian viscous fluids was investigated experimentally and computationally. The non-Newtonian effects in the flow of viscous inelastic fluids are modeled by the Carreau theological model. An improved level set approach for computing the incompressible two-phase flow with deformable free interface is used. The control volume formulation with the SIMPLEC algorithm incorporated is used to solve the governing equations on a staggered Eulerian grid. The simulation results demonstrate that the algorithm is robust for shear-thinning liquids with large density (rho(1)/rho(g) up to 10(3)) and high viscosity (eta(1)/eta(g) up to 10(4)). The comparison of the experimental measurements of terminal bubble shape and velocity with the computational results is satisfactory. It is shown that the local change in viscosity around a bubble greatly depends on the bubble shape and the zero-shear viscosity of non-Newtonian shear-thinning liquids. The shear-rate distribution and velocity fields are used to elucidate the formation of a region of large viscosity at the rear of a bubble as a result of the rather stagnant flow behind the bubble. The numerical results provide the basis for further investigations, such as the numerical simulation of viscoelastic fluids. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transition to Film Boiling in Microgravity: Influence of Subcooling

The transition process to film pool boiling in microgravity is studied experimentally aboard the Chinese recoverable satellite SJ-8. A quasi-steady heating method is adopted, in which the heating voltage is controlled to increase exponentially with time. Small, primary bubbles are formed and slid on the surface, which coalesce with each other to form a large coalesced bubble. Two ways are observed for the transition from nucleate to film boiling at different subcoolings. At high subcooling, the coalesced bubble with a smooth surface grows slowly. It is then difficult for the coalesced bubble to cover the whole heater surface, resulting in a special region of transition boiling in which nucleate boiling and local dry areas can coexist. In contrast, strong oscillation of the coalesced bubble surface at low subcooling may cause rewetting of local dry areas and activation of more nucleate sites, resulting in an abrupt transition to film boiling.

Bubble Dynamics and Heat Transfer in Microgravity Pool Boiling

Boiling is an extremely complicated and illusive process. Microgravity experiments offer a unique opportunity to study the complex interactions without external forces, such as buoyancy, which can affect the bubble dynamics and the related heat transfer. Furthermore, they can also provide a means to study the actual influence of gravity on the boiling. Two research projects on pool boiling in microgravity have been conducted aboard the Chinese recoverable satellites. Ground-based experiments both in normal gravity and in short-term microgravity in the Drop Tower Beijing and numerical simulations have also been performed. Steady boiling of R113 on thin platinum wires was studied with a temperature-controlled heating method, while quasi-steady boiling of FC-72 on a plane plate was investigated with an exponentially increasing heating voltage. It was found that the bubble dynamics in microgravity has a distinct difference from that in normal gravity, and that the heat transfer characteristic is depended upon the bubble dynamics. Lateral motions of bubbles on the heaters were observed before their departure in microgravity. The surface oscillation of the merged bubbles due to lateral coalescence between adjacent bubbles drove it to detach from the heaters. Slight enhancement of heat transfer on wires is observed in microgravity, while diminution is evident for high heat flux in the plate case.

Cytogenetic Effects of Low Doses of Energetic Carbon Ions on Rice After Exposures of Dry Seeds, Wet Seeds and Seedlings

In order to investigate the biological effects of heavy ion radiation at low closes and the different radiosensitivities of growing and non-growing plants. rice at different lift stages (dry seed, wet seed and seedling) were exposed to carbon ions at closes of 0 02, 0.2, 2 and 20 Gy. Radiobiological effects on survival, root growth and mitotic activity, as well as the induction of chromosome aberrations in root meristem. were observed The results show that radiation exposure induces a stimulatory response at lower close and an inhibitory response at higher dose on the mitotic activity of wet seeds and seedlings Cytogenetic damages are induced in both seeds and seedlings by carbon ion radiation at doses as low as 0.02 Gy Compared with seedlings. seeds are more resistant to the lethal damage and the growth rate damage by high doses of carbon ions, but are more sensitive to cytogenetic damage by low closes of irradiation Different types of radiation induced chromosome aberrations are observed between seeds and seedlings. Based on these results, the relationships between low close heavy ion-induced biological effects and the biological materials are discussed.

Dry sliding wear behavior of magnesium alloys

Dry sliding tests were performed on as-cast magnesium alloys Mg97Zn1Y2 and AZ91 using a pin-on-disc configuration. Coefficients of friction and wear rates were measured within a load range of 20-380 and 20-240 N at a sliding velocity of 0.785 m/s. X-ray differactometer, scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing machine were used to characterize the microstructures and mechanical properties of Mg97Zn1Y2 alloy and AZ91 alloy. Worn surface morphologies of Mg97Zn1Y2 and AZ91 were examined using scanning electron microscopy.

Morphological transition of dry vesicles into onion-like multilamellar micelles induced through heating at high temperature

In this Letter, we report the morphological transition of dry block copolymer vesicles into onion-like multilamellar micelles induced through heating. When the temperature is higher than the glass transition temperature of block copolymer, the vesicles can collapse, and finally form onion-like multilamellarmicelles via micro phase separation. This phenomenon is observed in both A-B and A-B-A block copolymer vesicles, indicating that the technique used in this study can be an alternative method to synthesize multilamellar micelles.

COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF CA4Y6(SIO4)(6)O-A PHOSPHORS PREPARED BY SOL-GEL AND DRY METHODS (A=PB2+,EU3+, TB3+,DY3+)

Ca4Y6(SiO4)(6)O:A (A = Pb2+, Eu3+, Tb3+, Dy3+) phosphors have been prepared by two methods: the sol-gel method and the conventional dry method. The crystallization processes and the luminescence characteristics of the phosphors were studied, The sol-gel method features low-temperature formation of the phosphor, leading to successful preparation of Pb2+-activated phosphors which could not be prepared by the dry method at high temperature. The (4f)(8-)(4f)(7)(5d)(1) absorption band of Tb3+ and the charge-transfer (CT) band of Eu3+ have higher energies and narrower half-widths in the sol-gel-derived phosphors than in the phosphors prepared by the dry method, respectively. The Tb3+ and Dy3+ ions show stronger emission in the former than in the latter. Both the yellow-to-blue intensity ratio (Y:B) of Dy3+ and the red-to-orange intensity ratio (R:O) of Eu3+ in the sol-gel-derived phosphors are smaller than those for the phosphors derived by the dry method.