Transition from steady to oscillatory convection with chaotic feature in thermocapillary convection

The transition process from steady to turbulent convection via subharmonic bifurcation in thermocapillary convection of half floating zone was studied by numerical simulation and experimental test. Both approaches gave structure of period doubling bifurcations in the present paper, and the Feigenbaum universal law was checked for the system of thermocapillary convection.

Hardware development and ground-based studies for drop shaft experiment on oscillatory convection in half floating-zone

Coordinated measurement of temperature, velocity and free surface oscillation were obtained by using the drop shaft facility for microgravity experiments of half floating zone convection. The ground-based studies gave transition from steady to oscillatory convection for multi-quantities measurement.

G-jitter effects on half floating-zone convection in intermediate-frequency range

The g-jitter influence on thermocapillary convection and critical Marangoni number in a liquid bridge of half-floating rone was discussed in the low frequency range of 0.4 to 1.5 Hz in a previous paper. This paper extended the experiments to the intermediate frequency range of 2 to 18 Hz, which htrs often been recorded as vibration environment of spacecrafts. The experiment was completed on the deck of a vibration machine, which gave a periodical applied acceleration to simulate the effects of g-jitter. The experimental results in the intermediate frequency range are different from that in the low frequency range. The velocity field and the shape of the free surface have periodical fluctuations in response to g-jitter. The amplitude of the periodical varying part of the temperature response decreases obviously with increasing frequency of g-jitter and vanishes almost when the frequency of g-jitter is high enough. The critical Marangoni number is defined to describe the transition from a periodical convection in response to g-jitter to an oscillatory convection due to internal instability, and will increase with increasing g-jitter frequency. According to the spectral analysis, it can be found that the oscillatory part of temperature is a superposition of two harmonic waves if the Marangoni number is larger than a critical value.

Influence of liquid bridge volume on the onset of oscillation in floating-zone convection .1. Experiments

The onset of oscillation in the floating zone convection driven by the gradient of surface tension was experimentally studied, and discussions were concentrated on the influence of liquid bridge volume on the onset of oscillation. Distributions of critical applied temperature difference and frequency depending on the volume of the liquid bridge were obtained, and there was a gap range of liquid volume which separated the curve of marginal stability into two parts for fixed rod diameter and aspect ratio. The results imply that the volume of the liquid bridge is a sensitive critical parameter for the onset of oscillation. The implication on the instability is also discussed in the present paper.

Influence of liquid bridge volume on the onset of oscillation in floating-zone convection .2. Numerical-simulation

The onset of oscillation in the floating zone convection driven by the gradient of surface tension was studied numerically for an unsteady and two-dimensional model, and studies were concentrated on the influence of liquid bridge volume on the onset of oscillation in comparison with the experimental results in the Paper I. The numerical results agree with the experimental ones presented in the previous paper, in which the distributions of critical applied temperature difference depending on the volume of liquid bridge and a gap range of liquid volume in marginal stability curve were obtained.

Free surface vibration in oscillatory convection of half floating zone

Projecting an orthographical grating mask (20pl/mm) on the surface of a small liquid bridge and receiving the reflected distortion image, one can calculate out reversely the shape of free surface of a liquid bridge. In this way we measured the surface shape of a small floating zone and the two-dimensional deformation of its vibration. The mechanism of thermocapillary oscillatory convection and the three-dimensional variation of the free surface are revealed experimentally. The principle for space experiment has been studied in our laboratory.

Free surface oscillation of thermocapillary convection in liquid bridge of half-floating-zone

Free surface deformations of thermocapillary convection in a small liquid bridge of half floating-zone are studied in the present paper. The relative displacement and phase difference of free surface oscillation are experimentally studied, and the features of free surface oscillation for various applied temperature differences are obtained. It is discovered that there is a sort of surface waves having the character of small perturbation, and having a wave mode of unusually large amplitude in one corner region of the liquid bridge.

Coupling of melting-solidification phase-change convection with floating-zone convection under microgravity

A finite element algorithm is used to analyze the process of floating zone crystal growth under microgravity. The effect of phase change convection coupled with surface tension convection is considered. The results show that the rate of crystal growth is very important. The single-crystal-melt interface is steeper than the feed-melt interface during the process of crystal growth. When the rate exceeds a critical value, the Marangoni vortex near the feed-melt interface will become so large that a secondary vortex will exist.

Excitation mechanism of thermocapillary oscillatory convection

It is suggested that the oscillation of thermocapillary convection may be excited by the buoyancy instability. By means of numerical simulation of the finite-element method, the temperature distributions in the liquid bridge are qualitatively analyzed. The temperature gradient in a certain flow region of liquid bridge may turn to be parallel to the direction of gravity when the temperature difference △T between two boundary rods of liquid bridge is larger than the critical value. The buoyancy instability may be excited, and then the thermocapillary oscillatory convection appears, as the temperature difference increases further. The distribution of the critical Marangoni number in the micro-gravity environment is derived from the data on the ground experiments. The results show that the onset of thermocapillary oscillatory convection is delayed in the case of smaller typical scale of liquid bridge and lower gravity environment.

Approximate theory of natural-convection with small grashof number

To gain some insight into the behaviour of low-gravity flows in the material processing in space, an approximate theory has been developed for the convective motion of fluids with a small Grashof number Gr. The expansion of the variables into a series of Gr reduces the Boussinesq equation to a system of weakly coupled linearly inhomogeneous equations. Moreover, the analogy concept is proposed and utilized in the study of the plate bending problems in solid mechanics. Two examples are investigated in detail, i. e. the 2-dimensional steady flows in either circular or square infinite closed cylinder, which is horizontally imposed at a specified temperature of linear distribution on the boundaries. The results for stream function ψ, velocity u and temperature T are provided. The analysis of the influences of some parameters such as the Grashof number Gr and the Prandtl number Pr, on motions will lead to several interesting conclusions. The theory seems to be useful for seeking for an analytical solutions. At least, it will greatly simplify the complicated problems originally governed by the Navier-Stokes equation including buoyancy. It is our hope that the theory might be applicable to unsteady or 3-dimensional cases in future.

The influence of buoyancy on the oscillatory thermocapillary convection with small bond number

This work is an experimental study of unidirectional bamboo-epoxy laminates of varying laminae number, in which tensile, compressive, flexural and interlaminar shear properties are evaluated. Further, the disposition of bamboo fibre, the parenchymatous tissue, and the resin matrix under different loading conditions are examined. Our results show that the specific strength and specific modulus of bamboo-epoxy laminates are adequate, the former being 3 to 4 times that of mild steel. Its mechanical properties are generally comparable to those of ordinary glass-fibre composites. The fracture behaviour of bamboo-epoxy under different loading conditions were observed using both acoustic emission techniques and scanning electron microscopy. The fracture mode varied with load, the fracture mechanism being similar to glass and carbon reinforced composites. Microstructural analyses revealed that natural bamboo is eligibly a fibre composite in itself; its inclusion in a plastic matrix will help solve the problems of cracking due to desiccation and bioerosion caused by insect pests. Furthermore, the thickness and shape of the composite can be tailored during fabrication to meet specific requirements, thereby enabling a wide spectrum of applications.

Rayleigh-Bénard热对流的动理论分析

利用基于分子动理论的直接模拟Monte Carlo(DSMC)方法,研究了 Rayleigh-Bènard问题.计算中,上下平板表面温度之比固定为0.1.Kn=0.01时,随着Ra数的增大,大约在1700附近,流动从热传导状态转变为热对流状态,DSMC计算得到的下平板热流与Ra数的关系与经典实验和理论结果相符.Kn=0.05时,流动保持稳定的热传导状态,Ra数的增大并不能引发热对流现象.

不可压缩流体三维Rayleigh-Taylor不稳定性的大涡模拟

对不可压缩流体三维Rayleigh-Taylor不稳定性问题建立被动标量输运模型，用大涡模拟方法计算了正弦初始扰动和随机初始扰动下不稳定性发展各个阶段的瞬时速度度场和标量场，以及混合过程中计算尺度和亚格子尺度上的平均湍流脉动能、平均剪切应力和被动标量通量；分析了 界面形状、被动标量浓度分布的演化规律及气泡、尖钉速度和混合层宽度随时间的变化规律，计算结果与其他数值模拟和实验结果相吻合，验证了大涡模拟方法应用于该问题的可行性。

蒸发液层对流稳定性理论与实验研究进展

综述了蒸发液层稳定性理论分析和蒸发对流实验研究方面的最新进展．首先回顾历史上经典的单层流Marangoni不稳定性分析．利用经典的单层流模型可以很好解释无蒸发液层的稳定性特性，但是由于经典的单层流模型没有考虑蒸汽层与液层之间的动力学耦合关系，所以不能完全解释蒸发液层的Marangoni不稳定性特性．有的学者建立了考虑蒸汽层与液层的热耦合与动力学耦合关系的两层流模型，并采用了界面温度连续这样的假设．而在实验的观测中，蒸发界面处的温度是不连续的，特别是在蒸发量比较大的情况下，汽／液界面处温度跳跃很明显．由于界面温度连续假设在处于非平衡状态的系统中是不成立的，所以这些模型虽然能给出一些新的有关系统稳定性的特性，但还是不能完全解释蒸发液层的Marangoni不稳定性的特性，特别是为什么从底部冷却液层的时候，在实验中仍然能够观察到Marangoni对流涡胞的出现的原因．本文总结了前人的研究成果，同时给出了蒸发系统的动力学建模过程和实验研究方法，并对各种模型的稳定性特性进行了总结．最后，指出了现有理论中存在的问题和有待进一步研究的问题．