Thermal Wake of a Single Rising Air Bubble in a Large Body of Stagnant Liquid

A computational effort was undertaken to study the thermal field behind a slowly rising solitary air bubble. Starting from rest, the bubble moves upward in water due to buoyancy force in the gravitational field and induces both internal and external motion. The bubble, being colder than the surrounding water, is heated by water. The upward motion deforms the shape of the bubble and generates a convective heat transfer process. Variation of temperature at the gas-liquid interface causes a local variation of surface tension. Although the problems of this type have been generally treated by the axisymmetric assumption, the present work employs a three-dimensional model that captures the azimuthal variation of flow parameters. High-speed photography was employed to visualize the bubble evolution from the onset until the bubble reached a certain velocity. The computations were performed using the finite-volume and Volume of Fluid (VOF) techniques. The shape and evolution of the bubble as predicted by the computations are compared with those captured on the high-speed photographs. The computations revealed details of the pressure and temperature fields inside and outside the bubble. They also indicated the thermal field in the wake region behind the bubble.

Electrostatic Forces on Particles Floating Within the Interface Between Two Immiscible Fluids

The objective of this paper is to study the dependence of the electrostatic force that act on a particle within the interface between two immiscible fluids on the parameters such as the dielectric properties of the fluids and particles, the particle’s position within the interface, and the electric field strength. It is shown that the component of electrostatic force normal to the interface varies as a2, where a is the particle radius, and since in equilibrium it is balanced by the vertical capillary force, the interfacial deformation caused by the particle changes when an external electric field is applied. In addition, there are lateral electrostatic forces among the particles due to the dipole-dipole interactions which, when the distance between two particles is O(a), vary as a2, and remain significant for submicron sized particles.

Transient Conjugated Conduction: External Convection With Front Face Imposed Wall Heat Flux

This work presents hybrid numerical-analytical solutions for transient laminar forced convection over flat plates of non-negligible thickness, subjected to arbitrary time variations of applied wall heat flux at the interface fluid-solid wall. This conjugated conduction-convection problem is first simplified through the employment of the Coupled Integral Equations Approach (CIEA) to reformulate the heat conduction problem on the plate by averaging the related energy equation in the transversal direction. As a result, a partial differential formulation for the average wall temperature is obtained, while a third kind boundary condition is achieved for the fluid in the heat balance at the solid-fluid interface. From the available velocity distributions, the solution method is then proposed for the coupled partial differential equations, based on the Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) under its partial transformation mode, combined with the method of lines implemented in the Mathematica 5.2 routine NDSolve.

Determination of Pool Boiling Critical Heat Flux Enhancement in Nanofluids

Nanofluids are engineered colloids composed of nano-size particles dispersed in common fluids such as water or refrigerants. Using an electrically controlled wire heater, pool boiling Critical Heat Flux (CHF) of Alumina and Silica water-based nanofluids of concentration less than or equal to 0.1 percent by volume were measured. Silica nanofluids showed a CHF enhancement up to 68% and there seems to be a monotonic relationship between the nanoparticle concentration and the magnitude of enhancement. Alumina nanofluids had a CHF enhancement up to 56% but the peak occurred at the intermediate concentration. The boiling curves in nanofluid were found to shift to the left of that of water and correspond to higher nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficients in the two-phase flow regime. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images show a porous coating layer of nanoparticles on wires subjected to nanofluid CHF tests. These coating layers change the morphology of the heater’s surface, and are responsible for the CHF enhancement. The thickness of the coating was estimated using SEM and was found ranging from 3.0 to 6.0 micrometers for Alumina, and 3.0 to 15.0 micrometers for Silica.

Stability of Viscoelastic Channel Flow

The nonlinear stability and bifurcation of the one-dimensional channel (Poiseuille) flow is examined for a Johnson-Segalman fluid. The velocity and stress are represented by orthonormal functions in the transverse direction to the flow. The flow field is obtained from the conservation and constitutive equations using the Galerkin projection method. Both inertia and normal stress effects are included. The stability picture is dramatically influenced by the viscosity ratio. The range of shear rate or Weissenberg number for which the base flow is unstable increases from zero as the fluid deviates from the Newtonian limit as decreases. Typically, two turning points are observed near the critical Weissenberg numbers. The transient response is heavily influenced by the level of inertia. It is found that the flow responds oscillatorily. When the Reynolds number is small, and monotonically at large Reynolds number when elastic effects are dominated by inertia.

Optimized Mapping of Pressure in Lubricated Point Contacts Based on Measured Film Thickness

The surface topography plays significant role in lifetime of highly loaded machine parts with lubricated contacts. Many elements like gears, rolling bearings, cams and traction drives operate in mixed lubrication conditions, where the lubricant film behavior closely implies the main practical performance parameters such as friction wear, contact fatigue and scuffing. For prediction of wear and especially contact fatigue, the values and distribution of the pressure in rolling contact are often required. The usual theoretical approach based on numerical solution of physical-mathematical models built around the Reynolds equation can be extremely time consuming, especially when lubricant films are very thin, and contact load and required resolution very high. This study presents a further refined approach to our previously published experimental method, based on on inverse elasticity theory and fast convolution transformation between the lubricant film thickness map and the pressure distribution within the point contact. The experimental film thickness maps of EHD lubricated contacts with smooth and dented surfaces were processed using colorimetric interferometry and validated using numerical solution, in order to calibrate numerical parameters and to find limits of the new approach.

Assessment of Cooling Enhancement of Synthetic Jet in Conjunction With Forced Convection

Synthetic jets are meso or micro fluidic devices, which operate on the “zero-net-mass-flux” principle. They impart a positive net momentum flux to the external environment, and are able to produce the cooling effect of a fan sans its ducting, reliability issues, and oversized dimensions. As a result, recently their application as electronics cooling devices is gaining momentum. Traditionally, synthetic jets have been sought as a replacement to the fan in many electronic devices. However, in certain large applications, complete replacement of the fan is not feasible, because it is necessary to provide the basic level of cooling over a large area of a printed assembly board. Such applications often pose a question whether synthetic jet would be able to locally provide reasonable enhancement over the forced convection of the fan flow. In the present study, we present the cooling performance of synthetic jets complementing forced convection from a fan. Both experiments and CFD computations are performed to investigate the interaction of the jet flowfield with a cross flow from fan. The inlet velocity, jet disk amplitude, and channel height are varied in the computational simulations to evaluate the impact of these changes on the cooling properties. Overall, both studies show that a synthetic jet is able to pulse and disrupt the boundary layer caused from fan flow, and improve heat transfer up to 4× over forced convection.

Effect of Edge Conditions on Natural Convective Heat Transfer From a Narrow Vertical Flat Plate With a Uniform Surface Heat Flux

Two-dimensional natural convective heat transfer from vertical plates has been extensively studied. However, when the width of the plate is relatively small compared to its height, the heat transfer rate can be greater than that predicted by these two-dimensional flow results. Because situations that can be approximately modelled as narrow vertical plates occur in a number of practical situations, there exists a need to be able to predict heat transfer rates from such narrow plates. Attention has here been given to a plate with a uniform surface heat flux. The magnitude of the edge effects will, in general, depend on the boundary conditions existing near the edge of the plate. To examine this effect, two situations have been considered. In one, the heated plate is imbedded in a large plane adiabatic surface, the surfaces of the heated plane and the adiabatic surface being in the same plane while in the second there are plane adiabatic surfaces above and below the heated plate but the edge of the plate is directly exposed to the surrounding fluid. The flow has been assumed to be steady and laminar and it has been assumed that the fluid properties are constant except for the density change with temperature which gives rise to the buoyancy forces, this having been treated by using the Boussinesq approach. It has also been assumed that the flow is symmetrical about the vertical centre-plane of the plate. The solution has been obtained by numerically solving the full three-dimensional form of the governing equations, these equations being written in terms of dimensionless variables. Results have only been obtained for a Prandtl number of 0.7. A wide range of the other governing parameters have been considered for both edge situations and the conditions under which three dimensional flow effects can be neglected have been deduced.

Infrared Radiative Properties of Heavily Doped Silicon at Room Temperature

This paper describes an experimental investigation on the infrared radiative properties of heavily-doped silicon (Si) at room temperature. Lightly-doped Si wafers were ion implanted with boron and phosphorus atoms to doping concentrations of 1×1020 and 1×1021 cm−3. Rapid thermal annealing was performed to activate the implanted dopants. A Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer was employed to measure the normal transmittance as well as reflectance of the samples in the spectral region from 2 to 20 μm. Accurate carrier mobility and ionization models were identified after carefully reviewing the available literature, and then incorporated into Drude model to predict the dielectric function of doped Si. The radiative properties of doped Si samples were calculated by treating the doped region as multilayer thin films of different doping concentrations on a thick Si substrate. The measured spectral transmittance and reflectance agree well with the model predictions. The results obtained from this study will facilitate the future applications of heavily-doped Si in semiconductor as well as MEMS devices.

CFD Computation of Fan Interaction Noise

In this study, a 3-D, unsteady, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) CFD code coupled to an acoustic calculation is used to predict the contribution of the exit guide vanes to tonal fan noise downstream. The configuration investigated is that corresponding to the NASA Source Diagnostic Test (SDT) 22-in fan rig. One configuration from the SDT matrix is considered here: the approach condition, and outlet guide vane count designed for cut-off of the blade passage frequency. In this chosen configuration, there are 22 rotor blades and 54 stator blades. The stators are located 2.5 tip chords downstream of the rotor trailing edge. The RANS computations are used to obtain the spectra of the unsteady surface pressure on the exit guide vanes. The surface pressure at the blade passage frequency and its second harmonic are then integrated together with the Green’s function for an annular duct to obtain the pressure at locations in the duct. Comparison of the computed sound power level at the exhaust plane with experiment show good agreement at the cut-on circumferential mode. The results from this investigation validate the use of the CFD code along with the acoustic model for downstream fan noise predictions. This validation enables future investigations such as the effect of duct variation on the exhaust tonal power level and the validity of using this method for predicting broadband noise levels.