Algal Toxins Alter Copepod Feeding Behavior

Using digital holographic cinematography, we quantify and compare the feeding behavior of free-swimming copepods, Acartia tonsa, on nutritional prey (Storeatula major) to that occurring during exposure to toxic and non-toxic strains of Karenia brevis and Karlodinium veneficum. These two harmful algal species produce polyketide toxins with different modes of action and potency. We distinguish between two different beating modes of the copepod’s feeding appendages–a “sampling beating” that has short durations (<100 ms) and involves little fluid entrainment and a longer duration “grazing beating” that persists up to 1200 ms and generates feeding currents. The durations of both beating modes have log-normal distributions. Without prey, A. tonsa only samples the environment at low frequency. Upon introduction of non-toxic food, it increases its sampling time moderately and the grazing period substantially. On mono algal diets for either of the toxic dinoflagellates, sampling time fraction is high but the grazing is very limited. A. tonsa demonstrates aversion to both toxic algal species. In mixtures of S. major and the neurotoxin producing K. brevis, sampling and grazing diminish rapidly, presumably due to neurological effects of consuming brevetoxins while trying to feed on S. major. In contrast, on mixtures of cytotoxin producing K. veneficum, both behavioral modes persist, indicating that intake of karlotoxins does not immediately inhibit the copepod’s grazing behavior. These findings add critical insight into how these algal toxins may influence the copepod’s feeding behavior, and suggest how some harmful algal species may alter top-down control exerted by grazers like copepods

Two-Phase Flow Regimes in Exchangers and Piping: Part 1

The ability to predict the liquid-gas two-phase flow regime and void fraction in exchangers and piping is a critical engineering requirement in the process industry. The distribution of the liquid and gas phases depend on many factors including flow conditions, physical properties of the two fluids, and geometry of the flow conduit. The problem of correctly predicting the two-phase distribution is of enormous complexity, and generalized correlations that adequately describe the flow regime and/or the void fraction have not been yet been developed even for the simplest of geometries. While Computational Fluid Dynamics codes that model two-phase flows exist, they are limited in their applicability and usually require a priori knowledge of the flow regime. In this part of a two paper series, we discuss the state-of-the-art in two-phase flow regime studies inside shell-and-tube heat exchangers, while in the second part, we will discuss two-phase flows inside piping. We have performed air-water tests inside a glass shell-and-tube exchanger at HTRI, and by systematically varying various geometrical parameters, compiled the largest flow visualization database inside such exchangers. We have evaluated the best available flow regime maps available in the open literature, and shown how our results help enhance understanding of liquid-gas distribution inside heat exchangers. We have shown how, for a given flow rate, increasing the baffle spacing and reducing baffle-cut enhances two-phase separation. While these results are expected, they have never been quantified before. However, the use of flow visualization limits the liquid and gas phases to water and air mixtures, which limits the range of applicability. Shellside studies using various industrially relevant fluids such as hydrocarbon mixtures, steam water are planned, where non-visual flow regime detection techniques need to be applied.</jats:p

Squeeze-flow electroosmotic pumping between charged parallel plates

In the present work, the squeezing flow between two charged parallel plates is theoretically investigated, with a provision of accounting for the electric double layer overlap effects. The electroviscous effects arising from the distortion of the electric double layer flow field are investigated in detail, for different strengths of the imposed plate motion. It is revealed that there can be a significant deviation between the predictions from the present model and those obtained by employing a classical Poisson-Boltzmann equation based model. This discrepancy can be attributed to some of the over-simplified assumptions associated with the standard models that might only remain valid for large separation distances between the two plates. Many of these simplified assumptions are found to hold inappropriate in case the squeezing flow occurs in such a narrow gap that the instantaneous liquid layer thickness becomes of the same order or less than the order of the characteristic electric double layer thickness. In such cases, there is likely to be a deficit of counterions within the bulk liquid due to an excess accumulation of those in the electrical double layer. On the other hand, there may occur a surplus of coions in the bulk liquid region due to a rejection of those in the electrical double layer. As a consequence of this presence of excess net charges in the bulk liquid region, strong electro-hydrodynamic interactions are likely to occur between the squeezing motion and the electroosmotic transport, which cannot be accurately captured by the classical theory

Understanding the 3-D Volumetric Flow and Coherent Structure Alignment in the Inner Part of a Rough Channel Using Microscopic Holography

The 3D flow in the inner part of a turbulent boundary layer over a rough surface, with Reτ = 3400, is measured using digital in-line microscopic holography and particle tracking. Experiments are performed in a special facility, in which the optical refractive index of the transparent rough wall is matched with that of the working fluid. Holograms are recorded in a sample volume covering the roughness sublayer. Using localized particle injection, each hologram pair contains 5000–10,000 matched particle traces, providing the 3D velocity field. Profiles of mean velocity are compared to 2D PIV data, recorded under the same flow conditions. Sample instantaneous flow realizations elucidate some of the typical vortical structures encountered in the sublayer, such as low-lying vortices, some with spanwise and others with roughness groove parallel orientations, and quasi-streamwise structures with vertical inclinations of 50°–60°, some of which extend from the surface to the top of the sublayer. Conditional sampling indicates that characteristic structures have a preferred alignment in the spanwise direction close to the wall. However, with increasing elevation, these structures turn towards the streamwise direction due to roughness-induced flow channeling, and then rise in sharp angles of about 55° to the mean flow.</jats:p

Three Dimensional Volumetric Velocity Measurements in the Inner Part of a Turbulent Boundary Layer Over a Rough Wall Using Digital HPIV

Microscopic digital Holographic PIV is used to measure the 3D velocity distributions in the roughness sublayer of a turbulent boundary layer over a rough wall. The sample volume extends from the surface, including the space between the tightly packed, 0.45 mm high, pyramidal roughness elements, up to about 5 roughness heights away from the wall. To facilitate observations though a rough surface, experiments are performed in a facility containing fluid that has the same optical refractive index as the acrylic rough walls. Magnified in line holograms are recorded on a 4864×3248 pixel camera at a resolution of 0.67μm/pixel. The flow field is seeded with 2μm silver coated glass particles, which are injected upstream of the same volume. A multiple-step particle tracking procedure is used for matching the particle pairs. In recently obtained data, we have typically matched ∼5000 particle images per hologram pair. The resulting unstructured 3D vectors are projected onto a uniform grid with spacing of 60 μm in all three directions in a 3.2×1.8×1.8 mm sample volume. The paper provides sample data showing that the flow in the roughness sublayer is dominated by slightly inclined, quasi-streamwise vortices whose coherence is particularly evident close to the top of the roughness elements.</jats:p

Coherent structures in the inner part of a rough-wall channel flow resolved using holographic PIV

AbstractMicroscopic holographic PIV performed in an optically index-matched facility resolves the three-dimensional flow in the inner part of a turbulent channel flow over a rough wall at Reynolds number ${\mathit{Re}}_{\tau } = 3520$. The roughness consists of uniformly distributed pyramids with normalized height of ${ k}_{s}^{+ } = 1. 5{k}^{+ } = 97$. Distributions of mean flow and Reynolds stresses agree with two-dimensional PIV data except very close to the wall (${\lt }0. 7k$) owing to the higher resolution of holography. Instantaneous realizations reveal that the roughness sublayer is flooded by low-lying spanwise and groove-parallel vortical structures, as well as quasi-streamwise vortices, some quite powerful, that rise at sharp angles. Conditional sampling and linear stochastic estimation (LSE) reveal that the prevalent flow phenomenon in the roughness sublayer consists of interacting U-shaped vortices, conjectured in Hong et al. (J. Fluid Mech., 2012, doi:10.1017/jfm.2012.403). Their low-lying base with primarily spanwise vorticity is located above the pyramid ridgeline, and their inclined quasi-streamwise legs extend between ridgelines. These structures form as spanwise vorticity rolls up in a low-speed region above the pyramid’s forward face, and is stretched axially by the higher-speed flow between ridgelines. Ejection induced by interactions among legs of vortices generated by neighbouring pyramids appears to be the mechanism that lifts the quasi-streamwise vortex legs and aligns them preferentially at angles of 54\textdegree \text{{\ndash}} 63\textdegree to the streamwise direction.</jats:p

Planar PIV Experiments Inside a Transparent Shell-and-Tube Exchanger

The detailed flow inside a shell-and-tube exchanger remains an open area of research, despite its relevance to the heat exchanger industry. We present some of our recent efforts in this field based on Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experiments within a transparent shell-and-tube exchanger (TSTX) at the Research and Technology Center at HTRI. The single-phase flow in the window region of the TSTX is resolved by mapping the two-dimensional velocity field in multiple planes. Different shell-side geometries were tested. Time-averaged results indicate flow patterns that are different from the idealized flow assumptions that form the conceptual basis of commercially available shell-side flow solvers.</jats:p