Unsteady free convection flow in the stagnation-point region of a rotating sphere

The unsteady free convection boundary-layer flow in the forward stagnation-point region of a sphere, which is rotating with time-dependent angular velocity in an ambient fluid, has been studied. Both constant wall temperature and constant hear flux conditions have been considered. The non-linear coupled parabolic partial differential equations governing the flow have been solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme. The skin friction and the heat transfer are enhanced by the buoyancy force. The effect of the buoyancy force is found to be more pronounced for smaller Prandtl numbers than for larger Prandtl numbers. For a given buoyancy force, the heat transfer increases with an increase in Prandtl number, but the skin friction decreases.

Free energy landscape of a dense hard-sphere system

The topography of the free energy landscape in phase space of a dense hard-sphere system characterized by a discretized free energy functional of the Ramakishnan-Yussouff form is investigated numerically using a specially devised Monte Carlo procedure. We locate a considerable number of glassy local minima of the free energy and analyze the distributions of the free energy at a minimum and an appropriately defined phase-space "distance" between different minima. We find evidence for the existence of pairs of closely related glassy minima("two-level systems"). We also investigate the way the system makes transitions as it moves from the basin of attraction of a minimum to that of another one after a start under nonequilibrium conditions. This allows us to determine the effective height of free energy barriers that separate a glassy minimum from the others. The dependence of the height of free energy barriers on the density is investigated in detail. The general appearance of the free energy landscape resembles that of a putting green: relatively deep minima separated by a fairly flat structure. We discuss the connection of our results with the Vogel-Fulcher law and relate our observations to other work on the glass transition.

Classical Langevin dynamics of a charged particle moving on a sphere and diamagnetism: A surprise

It is generally known that the orbital diamagnetism of a classical system of charged particles in thermal equilibrium is identically zero —the Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem. Physically, this null result derives from the exact cancellation of the orbital diamagnetic moment associated with the complete cyclotron orbits of the charged particles by the paramagnetic moment subtended by the incomplete orbits skipping the boundary in the opposite sense. Motivated by this crucial but subtle role of the boundary, we have simulated here the case of a finite but unbounded system, namely that of a charged particle moving on the surface of a sphere in the presence of an externally applied uniform magnetic field. Following a real space-time approach based on the classical Langevin equation, we have computed the orbital magnetic moment that now indeed turns out to be non-zero and has the diamagnetic sign. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the possibility of finite classical diamagnetism in principle, and it is due to the avoided cancellation.

A Conjecture Concerning Transformation Of A Supercooled Hard-Sphere Liquid To A Metastable Disordered Solid

It is conjectured that the hard sphere system has several distinct solid phases, all but one of which are metastable. The bifurcation theory analysis of freezing is extended to the description of the transition between a supercooled liquid and a disordered solid by defining a restricted phase space for the disordered solid. This approach leads to the prediction of a first order transition between a supercooled hard sphere fluid and a disordered metastable hard sphere solid. The results of the calculation are in qualitative agreement with the results of Woodcock's molecular dynamics computer simulations. The Journal of Chemical Physics is copyrighted by The American Institute of Physics.

The truncated dielectric-coated conducting sphere-radiation and gain characteristic

An exhaustive study of the radiation and gain characteristics of a truncated dielectric-coated conducting spherical antenna excited in the symmetric TM mode has been reported. The effect of the various structure parameters on the radiation and the gain characteristics for a few even and odd order TM., modes for different structures is shown. The theorctical radiation patterns and gain have been compared with experiment. It is found that there is good agreement between theory and experiment in the case of TM es and TM os,modes. A theoretical and experimental study of the radiation and gain characcteristics in the frequency range 8.0 to 12.0 GHz has been reported.

The dielectric coated conducting sphere - modal and near field characteristics.

A modal analysis and near-field study for a dielectric-coated conducting sphere excited by a delta function electric field source has been made. The structure can support an infinite number of modes theoretically. For equatorial excitation only odd order modes are excited, whereas for non-equatorial excitation both even and odd order modes are excited. The variation of the amplitude coefficients both internal and external exhibit a different nature of variation with respect to the various structure parameters for different modes. The field distributions both in the r and theta directions for non-equatorial excitation show good agreement between theory and experiment for the strongest mode.

Secondary flows induced by the rotation of a sphere or coaxial cones in micropolar fluids

The micropolar fluids like Newtonian and Non-Newtonian fluids cannot sustain a simple shearing motion, wherein only one component of velocity is present. They exhibit both primary and secondary motions when the boundaries are subject to slow rotations. The primary motion, as in Non-Newtonian fluids, characterized by the equation due to Rivlin-Ericksen, Oldroyd, Walters etc., resembles that of Newtonian fluid for slow steady rotation. We further notice that the micro-rotation becomes identically equal to the vorticity present in the fluid and the condition b) of "Wall vorticity" can alone be satisfied at the boundaries. As regards, the secondary motion, we notice that it can be determined by the above procedure for a special class of fluids, namely that for which j0(n2-n3)=4 n3/l2. Moreover for this class of fluids, the micro-rotation is identical with the vorticity of the fluid everywhere. Also the stream function for the secondary flow is identical with that for the Newtonian fluid with a suitable definition of the Reynolds number. In contrast with the Non-Newtonian fluids, characterized by the equation due to Rivlin-Ericksen, Oldroyd, Walters etc., this class of micropolar fluids does not show separation. This is in conformity with the statement of Condiff and Dahler (3) that in any steady flow, internal spin matches the vorticity everywhere provided that (i) spin boundary conditions are satisfied, (ii) body torques and non-conservative body forces are absent, and (iii) inertial and spin-inertial terms are either negligible or vanish identically.

Comments on "Full-sphere simulations of circulation-dominated solar dynamo: Exploring the parity issue" - Reply

We respond to Dikpati et al.'s criticism of our recent solar dynamo model. A different treatment of the magnetic buoyancy is the most probable reason for their different results.

Drag interaction effects in linear sphere-assemblies

Free-fall terminal velocities of single spheres and of single-row assemblies containing up to six spheres, with line of centres of spheres perpendicular to the direction of motion, have been determined in the particle Reynolds numbers range 0.2-4, and interaction effects obtained in the case of assemblies relative to drag on single isolated spheres, are discussed. The observed decrease in the drag on a sphere of an assembly is explained on the basis of theoretical considerations governing flow phenomena in such systems.

Slow rotation of a sphere in a non-Newtonian fluid with or without suction or injection

The flow generated by the rotation of a sphere in an infinitely extending fluid has recently been studied by Goldshtik. The corresponding problem for non-Newtonian Reiner-Rivlin fluids has been studied by Datta. Bhatnagar and Rajeswari have studied the secondary flow between two concentric spheres rotating about an axis in the non-Newtonian fluids. This last investigation was further generalised by Rajeswari to include the effects of small radial suction or injection. In Part A of the present investigation, we have studied the secondary flow generated by the slow rotation of a single sphere in non-Newtonian fluid obeying the Rivlin-Ericksen constitutive equation. In Part B, the effects of small suction or injection have been studied which is applied in an arbitrary direction at the surface of the sphere. In the absence of suction or injection, the secondary flow for small values of the visco-elastic parameter is similar to that of Newtonian fluids with inclusion of inertia terms in the Oseen approximation. If this parameter exceeds Kc = 18R/219, whereR is the Reynolds number, the breaking of the flow field takes place into two domains, in one of which the stream lines form closed loops. For still higher values of this parameter, the complete reversal of the sense of the flow takes place. When suction or injection is included, the breaking of the flow persists under certain condition investigated in this paper. When this condition is broken, the breaking of the flow is obliterated.