Miscible fluids in microgravity (MFMG): A zero-upmass experiment on the international space station

Four runs of the zero-upmass investigation, Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG), were performed on the ISS. The goal of MFMG is to determine if interfacial phenomena seen with immiscible fluids could be seen with miscible fluids. The experiments had to be performed with existing materials on the ISS. Honey and water were chosen as the fluids, and urine collection syringes were used as the vessels in which the experiments were performed. In March (Increment 8) Dr. Michael Foale performed four experiments under isothermal conditions to determine: If a stream of honey injected into water would exhibit the Rayleigh-Tomotika instability and break into small drops. If an aspherical drop of water in honey would spontaneously assume a spherical shape. The experiments were performed successfully. No behavior beyond simple diffusion was observed, which is allowing us to estimate the maximum possible value of the square gradient parameter in our model with the Navier-Stokes equations plus a Korteweg stress term. During Increment 9, Mike Fiske performed two runs in which a stream of honey was injected into water while the syringe was attached to the surface of the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) at approximately 31°C. Preliminary analysis indicates that some fluid motion occurred. It is possible that the apparent migration of the stream was not caused by residual buoyancy-induced convection and therefore may be an indication that Korteweg stresses can be important in miscible fluids

Numerical simulations of convection induced by Korteweg stresses in miscible polymer-monomer systems

We modeled a miscible polymer-monomer system with a sharp transition zone separating the two fluids to determine if convection analogous to Marangoni convection in immiscible fluids could occur because of thermal and concentration gradients. We considered three cases: with a temperature gradient along the transition zone, with a variable transition zone width, and one with a gradient in the conversion of polymerization. Using the Navier-Stokes equations with an additional term, the Korteweg stress term arising from non-local interactions in the fluid, we demonstrated with realistic parameters that measurable fluid flow would result in the absence of buoyancy-driven convection for all three cases. To avoid buoyancy-driven convection, the experiment would have to be performed in micro-gravity. © Z-Tec Publishing, Bremen

Delay reaction-diffusion equation for infection dynamics

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Equilibrium structures and flows of polar and nonpolar liquids in different carbon nanotubes

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of equilibrium structures and flows of polar water and nonpolar methane confined by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with circular and square cross sections and bounding walls with regular graphene structure and random (amorphous) distribution of carbon atoms have been performed. The results of these simulations show that equilibrium structures of both confined liquids depend strongly on the shape of the cross section of SWCNTs, whereas the structure of their bounding walls has a minor influence on these structures. On contrary, the external pressure driven water and methane flows through above mentioned SWCNTs depend significantly on both the shape of their cross sections and the structure of their bounding walls

Transient dynamics of solute bands in dilute binary alloys

This article presents an analytical method for calculating a transient dynamic regime that precedes a formation of periodic impurity bands during a rapid crystallization of dilute binary melts. Obtained results may be used for creating impurity superstructures with prescribed impurity profiles

Instabilities of Diffuse Interfaces

Composition gradients in miscible liquids can create volume forces resulting in various interfacial phenomena. Experimental observations of these phenomena are related to some difficulties because they are transient, sufficiently weak and can be hidden by gravity driven flows. As a consequence, the question about their existence and about adequate mathematical models is not yet completely elucidated. In this work we present some experimental evidences of interfacial phenomena in miscible liquids and numerical simulations of miscible drops and diffuse interfaces

Numerical Simulations of Convection Induced by Korteweg Stresses in a Miscible Polymer-Monomer System: Effects of Variable Transport Coefficients, Polymerization Rate and Volume Changes

We modeled a miscible polymer-monomer system with a sharp transition zone separating the two fluids to determine if convection analogous to Marangoni convection in immiscible fluids could occur because of thermal and concentration gradients. We considered three cases: with a temperature gradient along the transition zone, with a variable transition zone width, and one with a gradient in the conversion of polymerization. Using the Navier-Stokes equations with an additional term, the Korteweg stress term arising from non-local interactions in the fluid, we demonstrated with realistic parameters that measurable fluid flow would result in the absence of buoyancy-driven convection for all three cases. We show that even if the Korteweg stress is not a function of temperature, the increase in the diffusion coefficient with temperature can result in convection because a gradient in the transition zone width develops. We also examine the effects of a polymer viscosity that is not only a function of concentration but also temperature. We demonstrate that a constant flux of heat, as would be realistic for a heating element in contact with the side of the reactor, would produce a greater flow than a linear thermal gradient parallel to the transition zone. We demonstrate that qualitatively different flow patterns can be realized by using unusual initial conditions that could be realized with different masks for the photopolymerization. We also demonstrate that the volume change during polymerization and caused by side heating could not cause significant fluid flow that would confound the observation of Korteweg-stress induced flows. To avoid buoyancy-driven convection, the experiment would have to be performed in microgravity

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): A Zero-Upmass Investigation on the International Space Station

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG) was a zero-upmass investigation performed on the International Space Station. The goal of MFMG was to determine if interfacial phenomena seen with immiscible fluids could be seen with miscible fluids. The experiments had to be performed with existing materials on the ISS. Honey and water were chosen as the fluids, and urine collection syringes were used as the vessels in which the experiments were performed. In March 2004 (Increment 8) Dr. Michael Foale performed four experiments under isothermal conditions to determine: If a stream of honey injected into water would exhibit the Rayleigh-Tomotika instability and break into small drops. If an aspherical drop of water in honey would spontaneously assume a spherical shape. The experiments were performed successfully. During Increment 9, Mike Fincke performed two runs in which a stream of honey was injected into water while the syringe was attached to the surface of the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) at approximately 31 degrees C. No change in the stream shape was observed. Two more runs were performed on Increments 10 and 11 but no additional phenomena were observed. No behavior beyond simple diffusion was observed. We performed simulations with the Navier-Stokes equations plus a Korteweg stress term. We estimated that the maximum possible value of the square gradient parameter was 10(-12) N for the honey-water system