62,573 research outputs found
Hysteresis at low Reynolds number: the onset of 2D vortex shedding
Hysteresis has been observed in a study of the transition between laminar
flow and vortex shedding in a quasi-two dimensional system. The system is a
vertical, rapidly flowing soap film which is penetrated by a rod oriented
perpendicular to the film plane. Our experiments show that the transition from
laminar flow to a periodic K\'arm\'an vortex street can be hysteretic, i.e.
vortices can survive at velocities lower than the velocity needed to generate
them.Comment: RevTeX file 4 pages + 5 (encapsulated postscript) figures. to appear
in Phys.Rev.E, Rapid Communicatio
Effect of disjoining pressure in a thin film equation with\ud non-uniform forcing
We explore the effect of disjoining pressure on a thin film equation in the presence of a non-uniform body force, motivated by a model describing the reverse draining of a magnetic film. To this end, we use a combination of numerical investigations and analytical considerations. The disjoining pressure has a regularizing influence on the evolution of the system and appears to select a single steady-state solution for fixed height boundary conditions; this is in contrast with the existence of a continuum of locally attracting solutions that exist in the absence of disjoining pressure for the same boundary conditions. We numerically implement matched asymptotics expansions to construct equilibrium solutions and also investigate how they behave as the disjoining pressure is sent to zero. Finally, we consider the effect of the competition between forcing and disjoining pressure on the coarsening dynamics of the thin film for fixed contact angle boundary conditions
Profit-oriented disassembly-line balancing
As product and material recovery has gained importance, disassembly volumes have increased, justifying construction of disassembly lines similar to assembly lines. Recent research on disassembly lines has focused on complete disassembly. Unlike assembly, the current industry practice involves partial disassembly with profit-maximization or cost-minimization objectives. Another difference between assembly and disassembly is that disassembly involves additional precedence relations among tasks due to processing alternatives or physical restrictions. In this study, we define and solve the profit-oriented partial disassembly-line balancing problem. We first characterize different types of precedence relations in disassembly and propose a new representation scheme that encompasses all these types. We then develop the first mixed integer programming formulation for the partial disassembly-line balancing problem, which simultaneously determines (1) the parts whose demand is to be fulfilled to generate revenue, (2) the tasks that will release the selected parts under task and station costs, (3) the number of stations that will be opened, (4) the cycle time, and (5) the balance of the disassembly line, i.e. the feasible assignment of selected tasks to stations such that various types of precedence relations are satisfied. We propose a lower and upper-bounding scheme based on linear programming relaxation of the formulation. Computational results show that our approach provides near optimal solutions for small problems and is capable of solving larger problems with up to 320 disassembly tasks in reasonable time
Soap films as two-dimensional fluids: Diffusion and flow fields
We observe tracer particles diffusing in soap films to measure the
two-dimensional (2D) viscous properties of the films. We make soap films with a
variety of water-glycerol mixtures and of differing thicknesses. The
single-particle diffusivity relates closely to parameters of the film (such as
thickness ) for thin films, but the relation breaks down for thicker films.
Notably, the diffusivity is faster than expected for thicker films, with the
transition at using the tracer particle diameter . This
indicates a transition from purely 2D diffusion to diffusion that is more
three-dimensional. Additionally, we measure larger length scale flow fields
from correlated particle motions and find good agreement with what is expected
from theory of 2D fluids for all our films, thin and thick. We measure the
effective 2D viscosity of a soap film using single-particle diffusivity
measurements in thin films, and using the two-particle correlation measurements
in all films
Surfactant films in lyotropic lamellar (and related) phases: Fluctuations and interactions
The analogy between soap films thinning under border capillary suction and
lamellar stacks of surfactant bilayers dehydrated by osmotic stress is
explored, in particular in the highly dehydrated limit where the soap film
becomes a Newton black film. The nature of short-range repulsive interactions
between surfactant-covered interfaces and acting across water channels in both
cases will be discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication (2017/06/21), Advances
in Colloid and Interface Scienc
Quasi-steady vortical structures in vertically vibrating soap �lms
An analysis of the quasi-steady streaming of the liquid in a vertically vibrated horizontal soap film is reported. The air around the soap film is seen to play a variety of roles: it transmits normal and tangential oscillatory stresses to the film, damps out Marangoni waves, and forces non-oscillatory deflection of the film and tangential motion of the liquid. Non-oscillatory volume forcing originating inside the liquid is also analysed. This forcing dominates the quasi-steady streaming when the excitation frequency is close to the eigenfrequency of a Marangoni mode of the soap film, while both volume forcing in the liquid and surface forcing of the gas on the liquid are important when no Marangoni mode resonates. Different manners by which the combined forcings can induce quasi-steady streaming motion are discussed and some numerical simulations of the quasi-steady liquid flow are presented
Evaluation of proposed Skylab and SSP soap products
Three personal hygiene cleansing agents and one laundry detergent (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate), which are all candidates for use on long-duration space missions, were evaluated in terms of dermatological effects on human subjects and effects on microbiological species. None of the four materials exhibited adverse dermatological effects from either skin patch tests of two weeks duration or a simulated Skylab personal hygiene regimen of up to four weeks duration. No significant alterations in skin microflora during the use regimen were found. None of the four materials were found to serve as microbiological support media for the species tested, but a species of air-borne mold was observed to grow rapidly in a neutralized aqueous solution. None of the candidate agents was found to be strongly biocidal
Cuscuton: A Causal Field Theory with an Infinite Speed of Sound
We introduce a model of scalar field dark energy, Cuscuton, which can be
realized as the incompressible (or infinite speed of sound) limit of a scalar
field theory with a non-canonical kinetic term (or k-essence). Even though
perturbations of Cuscuton propagate superluminally, we show that they have a
locally degenerate phase space volume (or zero entropy), implying that they
cannot carry any microscopic information, and thus the theory is causal. Even
coupling to ordinary scalar fields cannot lead to superluminal signal
propagation. Furthermore, we show that the family of constant field
hypersurfaces are the family of Constant Mean Curvature (CMC) hypersurfaces,
which are the analogs of soap films (or soap bubbles) in a Euclidian space.
This enables us to find the most general solution in 1+1 dimensions, whose
properties motivate conjectures for global degeneracy of the phase space in
higher dimensions. Finally, we show that the Cuscuton action can model the
continuum limit of the evolution of a field with discrete degrees of freedom
and argue why it is protected against quantum corrections at low energies.
While this paper mainly focuses on interesting features of Cuscuton in a
Minkowski spacetime, a companion paper (astro-ph/0702002) examines cosmology
with Cuscuton dark energy.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, added discussion of "coupled cuscuton", matches
the published version in PR
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