Analysis of electrodynamic fluidization

Electrodynamic fluidization is a technique to generate suspensions of electrically conducting particles using electric forces to overcome their weight. An analysis of electrodynamic fluidization is presented for a monodisperse aerosol of non-coalescing particles of infinite electrical conductivity and negligible inertia suspended in a gas in the gap between two horizontal plate electrodes. A DC voltage is applied between the electrodes that charges the particles initially deposited on the lower electrode and leads to a vertical electric force that lifts the particles and pushes them upwards across the gap. The direction of this force reverses when the particles reach the upper electrode, pushing them downwards until they fall onto the lower electrode and repeat the cycle. Stationary distributions of particles are computed for given values of the applied voltage and the number of suspended particles per unit electrode area. Interparticle collisions play a role when the second of these parameters is of the order of the inverse of the particle cross-section or larger. The electric field induced by the charge of the particles opposes the field due to the applied voltage at the lower electrode and thus sets an upper bound to the number of particles that can be suspended for a given voltage. This bound is attained in the normal operation of a fluidization device, in which there is an excess of particles deposited at the lower electrode, and is computed as a function of the applied voltage. The predictions are compared to experimental results in the literature. A linear stability analysis for dilute aerosols with negligible collision effects shows that the stationary solution becomes unstable when the deposition threshold is approached with a number of suspended particles per unit electrode area larger than a certain critical value. A hydrodynamic instability appears near the lower electrode, where the electric force on a localized accumulation of charged particles leads to an upward gas flow that helps carrying the particles away from the electrode and increases the amplitude of the initial particle accumulation. The instability gives rise to electrohydrodynamic plumes whose dynamics involves collisions, mergers and generation of new plumes.

Solar wind collisional heating

To properly describe heating in weakly collisional turbulent plasmas such as the solar wind, interparticle collisions should be taken into account. Collisions can convert ordered energy into heat by means of irreversible relaxation towards the thermal equilibrium. Recently, Pezzi et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 116, 2016a, 145001) showed that the plasma collisionality is enhanced by the presence of fine structures in velocity space. Here, the analysis is extended by directly comparing the effects of the fully nonlinear Landau operator and a linearized Landau operator. By focusing on the relaxation towards the equilibrium of an out of equilibrium distribution function in a homogeneous force-free plasma, here it is pointed out that it is significant to retain nonlinearities in the collisional operator to quantify the importance of collisional effects. Although the presence of several characteristic times associated with the dissipation of different phase space structures is recovered in both the cases of the nonlinear and the linearized operators, the influence of these times is different in the two cases. In the linearized operator case, the recovered characteristic times are systematically larger than in the fully nonlinear operator case, this suggesting that fine velocity structures are dissipated more slowly if nonlinearities are neglected in the collisional operator.

Modeling Dilute Gas–Solid Flows Using a Polykinetic Moment Method Approach

Modeling a dilute suspension of particles in a polykinetic Eulerian framework is described using the conditional quadrature method of moments (CQMOM). The particular regimes of interest are multiphase flows comprised of particles with diameters small compared to the smallest length scale of the turbulent carrier flow and particle material densities much larger than that of the fluid. These regimes correspond to moderate granular Knudsen number and large particle Stokes numbers in which interparticle collisions and/or particle trajectory crossing (PTC) can be significant. The probability density function (PDF) of the particle velocity space is discretized with a two-point quadrature, the minimum resolution required to capture PTC which is common to these flows. Both two-dimensional (2D) test cases (designed to assess numerical procedures) and a three-dimensional (3D) fully developed particle-laden turbulent channel flow were implemented for collisionless particles. The driving gas-phase carrier flow is computed using direct numerical simulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations and one-way coupled to the particle phase via the drag force. Visualizations and statistical descriptors demonstrate that CQMOM predicts physical features such as PTC, particle accumulation near the channel walls, and more uniform particle velocity profiles relative to the carrier flow. The improvements in modeling compared to monokinetic representations are highlighted.

Real-Time Computational Model of Ball-Milled Fractal Structures

Ball milling (BM) offers a flexible process for nanomanufacturing of reactive bimetallic multiscale particulates (nanoheaters) for self-heated microjoining engineering materials and biomedical tooling. This paper introduces a mechanics-based process model relating the chaotic dynamics of BM with the random fractal structures of the produced particulates, emphasizing its fundamental concepts, underlying assumptions, and computation methods. To represent Apollonian globular and lamellar structures, the simulation employs warped ellipsoidal (WE) primitives of elasto-plastic strain-hardening materials, with Maxwell–Boltzmann distributions of ball kinetics and thermal transformation of hysteretic plastic, frictional, and residual stored energetics. Interparticle collisions are modeled via modified Hertzian contact impact mechanics, with local plastic deformation yielding welded microjoints and resulting in cluster assembly into particulates. The model tracks the size and diversity of such particulate populations as the process evolves via sequential collision and integration events. The simulation was shown to run in real-time computation speeds on modest hardware, and match successfully the fractal dimension and contour shape of experimental ball-milled Al–Ni particulate micrographs. Thus, the model serves as a base for the design of a feedback control system for continuous BM.

Size distribution of particles in Saturn’s rings from aggregation and fragmentation

Saturn’s rings consist of a huge number of water ice particles, with a tiny addition of rocky material. They form a flat disk, as the result of an interplay of angular momentum conservation and the steady loss of energy in dissipative interparticle collisions. For particles in the size range from a few centimeters to a few meters, a power-law distribution of radii, ∼r−q with q≈3, has been inferred; for larger sizes, the distribution has a steep cutoff. It has been suggested that this size distribution may arise from a balance between aggregation and fragmentation of ring particles, yet neither the power-law dependence nor the upper size cutoff have been established on theoretical grounds. Here we propose a model for the particle size distribution that quantitatively explains the observations. In accordance with data, our model predicts the exponent q to be constrained to the interval 2.75≤q≤3.5. Also an exponential cutoff for larger particle sizes establishes naturally with the cutoff radius being set by the relative frequency of aggregating and disruptive collisions. This cutoff is much smaller than the typical scale of microstructures seen in Saturn’s rings.

Diffuse approximation to the kinetic theory in a Fermi system

We suggest the diffuse approach to the relaxation processes within the kinetic theory for the Wigner distribution function. The diffusion and drift coefficients are evaluated taking into consideration the interparticle collisions on the distorted Fermi surface. Using the finite range interaction, we show that the momentum dependence of the diffuse coefficient Dp(p) has a maximum at Fermi momentum p = pF whereas the drift coefficient Kp(p) is negative and reaches a minimum at p ≈ pF. For a cold Fermi system the diffusion coefficient takes the nonzero value which is caused by the relaxation on the distorted Fermi surface at temperature T = 0. The numerical solution of the diffusion equation was performed for the particle-hole excitation in a nucleus with A = 16. The evaluated relaxation time τr ≈ 8.3 ⋅ 10-23 s is close to the corresponding result in a nuclear Fermi-liquid obtained within the kinetic theory.

The use of ultrasonic cavitation for near-surface structuring of robust and low-cost AlNi catalysts for hydrogen production

Ultrasonically induced shock waves stimulate intensive interparticle collisions in suspensions and create large local temperature gradients in AlNi particles.

An overview of underwater sound generated by interparticle collisions and its application to the measurements of coarse sediment bedload transport

Over the past 2 to 3 decades the concept of using sound generated by the interparticle collisions of mobile bed material has been investigated to assess if underwater sound can be utilised as a proxy for the estimation of bedload transport. In principle the acoustic approach is deemed to have the potential to provide non-intrusive, continuous, high-temporal-resolution measurements of bedload transport. It has been considered that the intensity of the sound radiated should be related to the amount of mobile material and the frequency spectrum to the size of the material. To be able to fully realise this use of acoustics requires an understanding of the parameters which control the generation of sound as particles impact. In the present work the aim is to provide scientists developing acoustics to measure bedload transport with a description of how sound is generated when particles undergo collision underwater. To investigate the properties of the sound generated, examples are provided under different conditions of impact. It is considered that providing an overview of the origins of the sound generation will provide a basis for the interpretation of acoustic data, collected in the marine environment for the study of bedload sediment transport processes.

An overview of underwater sound generated by inter-particle collisions and its application to the measurements of coarse sediment bedload transport

Over the past two to three decades the concept of using sound generated by the interparticle collisions of mobile bed material, has been investigated to assess if underwater sound can be utilised as a proxy for the estimation of bedload transport. In principle the acoustic approach is deemed to have the potential to provide non-instrusive, continuous, high temporal resolution measurements of bedload transport. It has been considered that the intensity of the sound radiated should be related to the ammount of mobile material and the frequency spectrum to the size of the material. To be able to fully realise this use of acoustics requires an understanding of the parameters which control the generation of sound as particles impact. In the present work the aim is to provide marine scientists developing acoustics to measure bedload transport with a description of how sound is generated when particles undergo collision underwater. To investigate the properties of the sound generated, examples are provided under different conditions of impact. It is considered that an understanding of the origins of the sound generation, will provide a basis for the interpretation of acoustic data collected in the marine environment, for the study of bedload sediment transport processes.