54 research outputs found
Phase equilibria in stratified thin liquid films stabilized by colloidal particles
Phase equilibria between regions of different thickness in thin liquid films
stabilized by colloidal particles are investigated using a
quasi-two-dimensional thermodynamic formalism. Appropriate equilibrium
conditions for the film tension, normal pressure, and chemical potential of the
particles in the film are formulated, and it is shown that the relaxation of
these parameters occurs consecutively on three distinct time scales. Film
stratification is described quantitatively for a hard-sphere suspension using a
Monte-Carlo method to evaluate thermodynamic equations of state. Coexisting
phases are determined for systems in constrained- and full-equilibrium states
that correspond to different stages of film relaxation.Comment: 7 page
Hydrodynamic interactions of spherical particles in suspensions confined between two planar walls
Hydrodynamic interactions in a suspension of spherical particles confined
between two parallel planar walls are studied under creeping-flow conditions.
The many-particle friction matrix in this system is evaluated using our novel
numerical algorithm based on transformations between Cartesian and spherical
representations of Stokes flow. The Cartesian representation is used to
describe the interaction of the fluid with the walls and the spherical
representation is used to describe the interaction with the particles. The
transformations between these two representations are given in a closed form,
which allows us to evaluate the coefficients in linear equations for the
induced-force multipoles on particle surfaces. The friction matrix is obtained
from these equations, supplemented with the superposition lubrication
corrections. We have used our algorithm to evaluate the friction matrix for a
single sphere, a pair of spheres, and for linear chains of spheres. The
friction matrix exhibits a crossover from a quasi-two-dimensional behavior (for
systems with small wall separation H) to the three-dimensional behavior (when
the distance H is much larger than the interparticle distance L). The crossover
is especially pronounced for a long chain moving in the direction normal to its
orientation and parallel to the walls. In this configuration, a large pressure
buildup occurs in front of the chain for small values of the gapwidth H, which
results in a large hydrodynamic friction force. A standard wall superposition
approximation does not capture this behavior
Swapping trajectories: a new wall-induced cross-streamline particle migration mechanism in a dilute suspension of spheres
Binary encounters between spherical particles in shear flow are studied for a
system bounded by a single planar wall or two parallel planar walls under
creeping flow conditions. We show that wall proximity gives rise to a new class
of binary trajectories resulting in cross-streamline migration of the
particles. The spheres on these new trajectories do not pass each other (as
they would in free space) but instead they swap their cross-streamline
positions. To determine the significance of the wall-induced particle
migration, we have evaluated the hydrodynamic self-diffusion coefficient
associated with a sequence of uncorrelated particle displacements due to binary
particle encounters. The results of our calculations quantitatively agree with
the experimental value obtained by \cite{Zarraga-Leighton:2002} for the
self-diffusivity in a dilute suspension of spheres undergoing shear flow in a
Couette device. We thus show that the wall-induced cross-streamline particle
migration is the source of the anomalously large self-diffusivity revealed by
their experiments.Comment: submited to JF
Every mapping class group is generated by 6 involutions
Let Mod_{g,b} denote the mapping class group of a surface of genus g with b
punctures. Feng Luo asked in a recent preprint if there is a universal upper
bound, independent of genus, for the number of torsion elements needed to
generate Mod_{g,b}. We answer Luo's question by proving that 3 torsion elements
suffice to generate Mod_{g,0}. We also prove the more delicate result that
there is an upper bound, independent of genus, not only for the number of
torsion elements needed to generate Mod_{g,b} but also for the order of those
elements. In particular, our main result is that 6 involutions (i.e.
orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms of order two) suffice to generate
Mod_{g,b} for every genus g >= 3, b = 0, and g >= 4, b = 1.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures; slightly improved main result; minor revisions.
to appear in J. Al
Correlated particle dynamics in concentrated quasi-two-dimensional suspensions
We investigate theoretically and experimentally how the hydrodynamically
correlated lateral motion of particles in a suspension confined between two
surfaces is affected by the suspension concentration. Despite the long range of
the correlations (decaying as 1/r^2 with the inter-particle distance r), the
concentration effect is present only at short inter-particle distances for
which the static pair correlation is nonuniform. This is in sharp contrast with
the effect of hydrodynamic screening present in unconfined suspensions, where
increasing the concentration changes the prefactor of the large-distance
correlation.Comment: 13 page
Hydrodynamic interactions of spherical particles in Poiseuille flow between two parallel walls
We study hydrodynamic interactions of spherical particles in incident
Poiseuille flow in a channel with infinite planar walls. The particles are
suspended in a Newtonian fluid, and creeping-flow conditions are assumed.
Numerical results, obtained using our highly accurate Cartesian-representation
algorithm [Physica A xxx, {\bf xx}, 2005], are presented for a single sphere,
two spheres, and arrays of many spheres. We consider the motion of freely
suspended particles as well as the forces and torques acting on particles
adsorbed at a wall. We find that the pair hydrodynamic interactions in this
wall-bounded system have a complex dependence on the lateral interparticle
distance due to the combined effects of the dissipation in the gap between the
particle surfaces and the backflow associated with the presence of the walls.
For immobile particle pairs we have examined the crossover between several
far-field asymptotic regimes corresponding to different relations between the
particle separation and the distances of the particles from the walls. We have
also shown that the cumulative effect of the far-field flow substantially
influences the force distribution in arrays of immobile spheres. Therefore, the
far-field contributions must be included in any reliable algorithm for
evaluating many-particle hydrodynamic interactions in the parallel-wall
geometry.Comment: submitted to Physics of Fluid
The intensity correlation function in evanescent wave scattering
As a first step toward the interpretation of dynamic light scattering with evanescent illumination from suspensions of interacting spheres, in order to probe their near wall dynamics, we develop a theory for the initial slope of the intensity autocorrelation function. An expression for the first cumulant is derived that is valid for arbitrary concentrations, which generalizes a well-known expression for the short-time, wave-vector dependent collective diffusion coefficient in bulk to the case where a wall is present. Explicit expressions and numerical results for the various contributions to the initial slope are obtained within a leading order virial expansion. The dependence of the initial slope on the components of the wave vector parallel and perpendicular to the wall, as well as the dependence on the evanescent-light penetration depth are discussed. For the hydrodynamic interactions between colloids and between the wall, which are essential for a correct description of the near-interface dynamics, we include both far-field and lubrication contributions. Lubrication contributions are essential to capture the dynamics as probed in experiments with small penetration depths. Simulations have been performed to verify the theory and to estimate the extent of the concentration range where the virial expansion is valid. The computer algorithm developed for this purpose will also be of future importance for the interpretation of experiments and to develop an understanding of near-interface dynamics, at high colloid concentrations
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