Structure, diffusion and rheology of Brownian suspensions by Stokesian Dynamics simulation

The non-equilibrium behaviour of concentrated colloidal dispersions is studied using Stokesian Dynamics, a molecular-dynamics-like simulation technique for analysing suspensions of particles immersed in a Newtonian fluid. The simulations are of a monodisperse suspension of Brownian hard spheres in simple shear flow as a function of the Péclet number, Pe, which measures the relative importance of hydrodynamic and Brownian forces, over a range of volume fraction 0.316 [less-than-or-eq, slant] [phi] [less-than-or-eq, slant] 0.49. For Pe < 10, Brownian motion dominates the behaviour, the suspension remains well-dispersed, and the viscosity shear thins. The first normal stress difference is positive and the second negative. At higher Pe, hydrodynamics dominate resulting in an increase in the long-time self-diffusivity and the viscosity. The first normal stress difference changes sign when hydrodynamics dominate. Simulation results are shown to agree well with both theory and experiment

Self-diffusion in sheared suspensions by dynamic simulation

The behaviour of the long-time self-diffusion tensor in concentrated colloidal dispersions is studied using dynamic simulation. The simulations are of a suspension of monodisperse Brownian hard spheres in simple shear flow as a function of the Péclet number, Pe, which measures the relative importance of shear and Brownian forces, and the volume fraction, [phi]. Here, Pe = &[gamma]dot;a^2/D0, where &[gamma]dot; is the shear rate, a the particle size and D0 = kT/6[pi][eta]a is the Stokes–Einstein diffusivity of an isolated particle of size a with thermal energy kT in a solvent of viscosity [eta]. Two simulations algorithms are used: Stokesian Dynamics for inclusion of the many-body hydrodynamic interactions, and Brownian Dynamics for suspensions without hydrodynamic interactions. A new procedure for obtaining high-quality diffusion data based on averaging the results of many short simulations is presented and utilized. At low shear rates, low Pe, Brownian diffusion due to a random walk process dominates and the characteristic scale for diffusion is the Stokes–Einstein diffusivity, D0. At zero Pe the diffusivity is found to be a decreasing function of [phi]. As Pe is slowly increased, O(Pe) and O(Pe^3/2) corrections to the diffusivity due to the flow are clearly seen in the Brownian Dynamics system in agreement with the theoretical results of Morris & Brady (1996). At large shear rates, large Pe, both systems exhibit diffusivities that grow linearly with the shear rate by the non-Brownian mechanism of shear-induced diffusion. In contrast to the behaviour at low Pe, this shear-induced diffusion mode is an increasing function of [phi]. Long-time rotational self-diffusivities are of interest in the Stokesian Dynamics system and show similar behaviour to their translational analogues. An off-diagonal long-time self-diffusivity, Dxy, is reported for both systems. Results for both the translational and rotational Dxy show a sign change from low Pe to high Pe due to different mechanisms in the two regimes. A physical explanation for the off-diagonal diffusivities is proposed

The effects of forcing on a single stream shear layer and its parent boundary layer

Forcing and its effect on fluid flows has become an accepted tool in the study and control of flow systems. It has been used both as a diagnostic tool, to explore the development and interaction of coherent structures, and as a method of controlling the behavior of the flow. A number of forcing methods have been used in order to provide a perturbation to the flow; among these are the use of an oscillating trailing edge, acoustically driven slots, external acoustic forcing, and mechanical piston methods. The effect of a planar mechanical piston forcing on a single stream shear layer is presented; it can be noted that this is one of the lesser studied free shear layers. The single stream shear layer can be characterized by its primary flow velocity scale and the thickness of the separating boundary layer. The velocity scale is constant over the length of the flow field; theta (x) can be used as a width scale to characterize the unforced shear layer. In the case of the forced shear layer the velocity field is a function of phase time and definition of a width measure becomes somewhat problematic

Unsteady shear flows of colloidal hard-sphere suspensions by dynamic simulation

The rheology during the start-up and cessation of simple shear flow has been investigated for near hard-sphere colloidal suspensions. Simulations augmented by theoretical analysis are used to determine how the non-Newtonian stress development and relaxation depend on the microstructure. Accelerated Stokesian dynamics (ASD) and Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations are used for 0.05 ≤ Pe ≤ 500 in concentrated freely flowing suspensions; the Péclet number defining the ratio of shear to thermal motion is Pe=3πηγ ̇a^3/kT with η the suspending fluid viscosity, γ ̇ the shear rate, and kT the thermal energy. Theoretical predictions based on the Smoluchowski equation for dilute suspensions are made, and these are primarily used for comparison with results from BD simulations in which hydrodynamic interactions are neglected. For suspensions with hydrodynamics, simulations by ASD are used to probe start-up and flow cessation over a large range of Pe; these studies focus on solid volume fraction ϕ=0.4, with more limited examinations at other ϕ. The use of both BD and ASD simulations allows us to discriminate hydrodynamic interaction effects on the suspension rheology. The Brownian stresses computed by either method exhibit overshoots of their steady state value during the start-up of shear flow. The overshoots occur at strain amplitudes which depend on Pe, and the overshoot is described by a model based on extension of the concept of cage-breaking from glass dynamics. Results from the relaxation of a sheared suspension show that the distortion of the pair distribution function from its equilibrium form has a fast radial relaxation and a slow angular relaxation. The various rheometric functions (relative viscosity; first and second normal stress differences) are found to respond on different timescales, reflecting their different dependences on the flow-induced structure. A re-examination of steady shear flow allows us to find normal stress differences which tend properly toward zero at small Pe, unlike prior work; the discrepancy is found to be due to finite size scaling, as small simulations used in prior work resulted in excessively large normal stress responses at small Pe

Transverse vorticity measurements in the NASA Ames 80 x 120 wind tunnel boundary layer

The MSU compact four-wire transverse vorticity probe permits omega(sub z)(t) measurements in a nominally 1 sq mm domain. Note that a conventional coordinate system is used with x and y in the streamwise and normal directions respectively. The purpose of this investigation was to acquire time series data in the same access port at the ceiling of the 80 ft x 120 ft wind tunnel (NASA Ames Research Center) as earlier used by the Wallace group from the University of Maryland and to compare the present results with those of the three-component vorticity probe used in that earlier study

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Strategic Belief Management

While (managerial) beliefs are central to many aspects of strategic organization, interactive beliefs are almost entirely neglected, save for some game theory treatments. In an increasingly connected and networked economy, firms confront coordination problems that arise because of network effects. The capability to manage beliefs will increasingly be a strategic one, a key source of wealth creation, and a key research area for strategic organization scholars. KEYWORDS: Interactive beliefs, coordination, network economy, common knowledge. JEL CODE: D84, M3