GPU accelerated investigation of a dual-frequency driven nonlinear oscillator

The bifurcation structure of a dual-frequency driven, second order nonlinear oscillator (Keller–Miksis equation) is investigated by exploiting the high computational resources of professional GPUs. The numerical scheme of the applied initial value problem solver was the explicit, adaptive Runge–Kutta–Cash–Karp method with embedded error estimation using solutions of order 4 and 5. The four dimensional parameter space (amplitudes and frequencies of the driving) is explored by means of several high resolution bi-parametric plots with the amplitudes as control parameters at fixed frequencies. The resolution of the control parameter plane is 500 × 500 with 10 initial conditions at each parameter pair (altogether 2.5 million initial value problems in each bi-parametric plot). The program code for one fine parameter scan runs approximately 50 times faster on a Tesla K20 GPU (Kepler architecture) than on an Intel i7-4790 4 core CPU even applying double precision floating point operations

An analysis of the acoustic cavitation noise spectrum: The role of periodic shock waves

Research on applications of acoustic cavitation is often reported in terms of the features within the spectrum of the emissions gathered during cavitation occurrence. There is, however, limited understanding as to the contribution of specific bubble activity to spectral features, beyond a binary interpretation of stable versus inertial cavitation. In this work, laser-nucleation is used to initiate cavitation within a few millimeters of the tip of a needle hydrophone, calibrated for magnitude and phase from 125 kHz to 20 MHz. The bubble activity, acoustically driven at f0 = 692 kHz, is resolved with high-speed shadowgraphic imaging at 5 × 106 frames per second. A synthetic spectrum is constructed from component signals based on the hydrophone data, deconvolved within the calibration bandwidth, in the time domain. Cross correlation coefficients between the experimental and synthetic spectra of 0.97 for the f 0/2 and f 0/3 regimes indicate that periodic shock waves and scattered driving field predominantly account for all spectral features, including the sub-harmonics and their over-harmonics, and harmonics of f 0

Laser-enhanced high-intensity focused ultrasound heating in an in vivo small animal model

The enhanced heating effect during the combination of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and low-optical-fluence laser illumination was investigated by using an in vivo murine animal model. The thighs of murine animals were synergistically irradiated by HIFU and pulsed nano-second laser light. The temperature increases in the target region were measured by a thermocouple under different HIFU pressures, which were 6.2, 7.9, and 9.8 MPa, in combination with 20 mJ/cm2 laser exposures at 532 nm wavelength. In comparison with conventional laser therapies, the laser fluence used here is at least one order of magnitude lower. The results showed that laser illumination could enhance temperature during HIFU applications. Additionally, cavitation activity was enhanced when laser and HIFU irradiation were concurrently used. Further, a theoretical simulation showed that the inertial cavitation threshold was indeed decreased when laser and HIFU irradiation were utilized concurrentl

High speed synchrotron X-ray imaging studies of the ultrasound shockwave and enhanced flow during metal solidification processes

The highly dynamic behaviour of ultrasonic bubble implosion in liquid metal, the multiphase liquid metal flow containing bubbles and particles, and the interaction between ultrasonic waves and semisolid phases during solidification of metal were studied in situ using the complementary ultrafast and high speed synchrotron X-ray imaging facilities housed respectively at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, US, and Diamond Light Source, UK. Real-time ultrafast X-ray imaging of 135,780 frames per second (fps) revealed that ultrasonic bubble implosion in a liquid Bi-8 wt. %Zn alloy can occur in a single wave period (30 kHz), and the effective region affected by the shockwave at implosion was 3.5 times the original bubble diameter. Furthermore, ultrasound bubbles in liquid metal move faster than the primary particles, and the velocity of bubbles is 70 ~ 100% higher than that of the primary particles present in the same locations close to the sonotrode. Ultrasound waves can very effectively create a strong swirling flow in a semisolid melt in less than one second. The energetic flow can detach solid particles from the liquid-solid interface and redistribute them back into the bulk liquid very effectively

The Effects of Binary Evolution on the Dynamics of Core Collapse and Neutron-Star Kicks

We systematically examine how the presence in a binary affects the final core structure of a massive star and its consequences for the subsequent supernova explosion. Interactions with a companion star may change the final rate of rotation, the size of the helium core, the strength of carbon burning and the final iron core mass. Stars with initial masses larger than \sim 11\Ms that experiece core collapse will generally have smaller iron cores at the time of the explosion if they lost their envelopes due to a previous binary interaction. Stars below \sim 11\Ms, on the other hand, can end up with larger helium and metal cores if they have a close companion, since the second dredge-up phase which reduces the helium core mass dramatically in single stars does not occur once the hydrogen envelope is lost. We find that the initially more massive stars in binary systems with masses in the range 8 - 11\Ms are likely to undergo an electron-capture supernova, while single stars in the same mass range would end as ONeMg white dwarfs. We suggest that the core collapse in an electron-capture supernova (and possibly in the case of relatively small iron cores) leads to a prompt explosion rather than a delayed neutrino-driven explosion and that this naturally produces neutron stars with low-velocity kicks. This leads to a dichotomous distribution of neutron star kicks, as inferred previously, where neutron stars in relatively close binaries attain low kick velocities. We illustrate the consequences of such a dichotomous kick scenario using binary population synthesis simulations and discuss its implications. This scenario has also important consequences for the minimum initial mass of a massive star that becomes a neutron star. (Abbreviated.)Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ, updated versio

Velocity field measurements of cavitating flows

A particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system has been developed to study the microfluid mechanics of cavitating flows. Planar PIV was used to examine the non-cavitating flow in the thin boundary layer near a hydrofoil surface for the cases of a naturally developing boundary layer and a boundary layer stimulated to turbulence by roughness near the foil leading edge. PIV was also used to examine the flow near the surface of individual cavitation bubbles and incipient attached cavitation. A system was devised to create a single nucleus in the flow upstream of a hydrofoil, and planar PIV was used to study the flow around the resulting traveling cavitation bubble. Velocity vectors were determined close to the solid surfaces and the gas/liquid interfaces of the bubbles. Seeding of the flow with particles did not result in the addition of active cavitation nuclei.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47070/1/348_2004_Article_BF00189302.pd

Bubble Shape Oscillations and the Onset of Sonoluminescence

An air bubble trapped in water by an oscillating acoustic field undergoes either radial or nonspherical pulsations depending on the strength of the forcing pressure. Two different instability mechanisms (the Rayleigh--Taylor instability and parametric instability) cause deviations from sphericity. Distinguishing these mechanisms allows explanation of many features of recent experiments on sonoluminescence, and suggests methods for finding sonoluminescence in different parameter regimes.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett., in pres

An Alternative Method to Deduce Bubble Dynamics in Single Bubble Sonoluminescence Experiments

In this paper we present an experimental approach that allows to deduce the important dynamical parameters of single sonoluminescing bubbles (pressure amplitude, ambient radius, radius-time curve) The technique is based on a few previously confirmed theoretical assumptions and requires the knowledge of quantities such as the amplitude of the electric excitation and the phase of the flashes in the acoustic period. These quantities are easily measurable by a digital oscilloscope, avoiding the cost of expensive lasers, or ultrafast cameras of previous methods. We show the technique on a particular example and compare the results with conventional Mie scattering. We find that within the experimental uncertainties these two techniques provide similar results.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Mechanisms for Stable Sonoluminescence

A gas bubble trapped in water by an oscillating acoustic field is expected to either shrink or grow on a diffusive timescale, depending on the forcing strength and the bubble size. At high ambient gas concentration this has long been observed in experiments. However, recent sonoluminescence experiments show that in certain circumstances when the ambient gas concentration is low the bubble can be stable for days. This paper presents mechanisms leading to stability which predict parameter dependences in agreement with the sonoluminescence experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures on request (2 as .ps files

Intermediate-mass star models with different helium and metal contents

We present a comprehensive theoretical investigation of the evolutionary properties of intermediate-mass stars. The evolutionary sequences were computed from the Zero Age Main Sequence up to the central He exhaustion and often up to the phases which precede the carbon ignition or to the reignition of the H-shell which marks the beginning of the thermal pulse phase. The evolutionary tracks were constructed by adopting a wide range of stellar masses ($3\leq$\msun$\leq15$) and chemical compositions. In order to account for current uncertainties on the He to heavy elements enrichment ratio, the stellar models were computed by adopting at Z=0.02 two different He contents (Y=0.27, 0.289) and at Z=0.04 three different He contents (Y=0.29, 0.34, and 0.37). To supply a homogeneous evolutionary scenario which accounts for young Magellanic stellar systems the calculations were also extended toward lower metallicities (Z=0.004, Z=0.01), by adopting different initial He abundances. We evaluated for both solar (Z=0.02) and super-metal-rich (SMR, Z=0.04) models the transition mass $M^{up}$ between the stellar structures igniting carbon and those which develop a full electron degeneracy inside the CO core. This evolutionary scenario allows us to investigate in detail the properties of classical Cepheids. In particular, we find that the range of stellar masses which perform the blue loop during the central He-burning phase narrows when moving toward metal-rich and SMR structures.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures (4 postscript + 6 gif files), 7 postscript tables. accepted for publication on ApJ (November 2000