Nonparallel local spatial stability analysis of pipe entrance swirling flows

A spatial local viscous stability analysis of a swirling flow developing in a cylindrical pipe has been carried out numerically. Even at moderately low swirl strengths, we have found the existence of centrifugal modes in addition to the shear ones found in previous stability analysis of nonswirling flows developing in pipes. It is found that these centrifugal instabilities develop at Reynolds numbers that are much lower than those required for the growing of the shear instability. Moreover, the extent of the region where centrifugal instabilities appear is much larger than that where the shear layer instability grows. We have found from the analysis that the most unstable mode was the counter-rotating one (n = -1). The critical Reynolds number for which linear analysis predicts the growth of the convective instabilities is for the centrifugal modes one hundred times smaller than for the shear layer ones

Vortex breakdown in a water-spout flow

The numerical study of the steady axisymmetric air-water flow in a vertical sealed cylinder, driven by the rotating top disk, describes topological transformations as the rotation intensifies. The air meridional flow (AMF) and swirl induce meridional motions of opposite directions in water. For slow (fast) rotation, the effect of AMF (swirl) dominates. For very fast rotation, large-scale regions of clockwise meridional circulation in air and water are separated by a thin layer of anticlockwise circulation adjacent to the interface in water. This pattern develops for other fluids as well. Physical reasoning behind the flow evolution is provided

Cavity losses estimation in CSP applications

AIP Conference Proceedings, 2033, Nov. 2018, Article number 210007-1-210007-8Estimations of convection and radiation cavity losses in two common CSP applications have been analyzed; a cavity in a solar tower plant for high temperature (800 K) and in a down facing cavity in a Fresnel configuration for medium temperature (350 K) applications. An analysis regarding the effect of the configuration, geometry and the presence of wind has been also carried out.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MTM2015-65608-PJunta de Andalucía Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento P12-FQM-1658Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad DPI2016-78887-C3-1-

Column formation and hysteresis in a two-fluid tornado

Ponencia de: 6th International Conference Heat and Mass Transfer and Hydrodynamics in Swirling Flows 21–23 November 2017, Novosibirsk, Russian FederationThis experimental and numerical study addresses a flow of water and sunflower oil. This flow is driven by the rotating lid in a sealed vertical cylinder. The experiments were performed in a glass container with a radius of 45 mm and a height of 45 mm with the water volume fraction of 20%. Different densities and immiscibility of liquids provide the stable and sharp interface. At the rest, the interface is flat and horizontal. As the rotation speeds up, a new water-flow cell emerges near the bottom center. This cell expands and occupies almost the entire water domain while the initial water circulation shrinks into a thin layer adjacent to the interface. The water, rising near the container axis, strongly deforms the interface (upward near the axis and downward near the sidewall). A new oil-flow cell emerges above the interface near the axis. This cell disappears as the interface approaches the lid. The water separates from the sidewall, reaches the lid, and forms a column. As the rotation is decreased, the scenario reverses, but the flow states differ from those for the increasing rotation, i.e., a hysteresis is observed. The numerical simulations agree with the experiment and help explain the flow metamorphoses.Russian Science Foundation 14-29-0009

Influence of the Surface Viscosity on the Breakup of a Surfactant-Laden Drop

We examine both theoretically and experimentally the breakup of a pendant drop loaded with an insoluble surfactant. The experiments show that a significant amount of surfactant is trapped in the resulting satellite droplet. This result contradicts previous theoretical predictions, where the effects of surface tension variation were limited to solutocapillarity and Marangoni stresses.We solve numerically the hydrodynamic equations, including not only those effects but also those of surface shear and dilatational viscosities. We show that surface viscosities play a critical role to explain the accumulation of surfactant in the satellite droplet.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2013-46485-C3-1-R, TRA2013- 45808-RJunta de Extremadura GR1004

Author Correction: Infuence of the surface viscous stress on the pinch‑of of free surfaces loaded with nearly‑inviscid surfactants [Corrección]

Correction to: Scientifc Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73007-1, published online 30 September 2020. The original version of this Article contained errors

Global stability analysis of axisymmetric liquid-liquid flow focusing

Article number A10We analyse both numerically and experimentally the stability of the steady jetting tip streaming produced by focusing a liquid stream with another liquid current when they coflow through the orifice of an axisymmetric nozzle. We calculate the global eigenmodes characterizing the response of this configuration to small-amplitude perturbations. In this way, the critical conditions leading to the instability of the steady jetting tip streaming are determined. The unstable perturbations are classified according to their oscillatory character and to the region where they originate (convective and absolute instability). We derive and explain in terms of the velocity field a simple scaling law to predict the diameter of the emitted jet. The numerical stability limits are compared with experimental results, finding reasonable agreement. The experiments confirm the existence of the two instability mechanisms predicted by the global stability analysisMinisterio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (España) DPI2016-78887Junta de Extremadura GR18175Junta de Andalucía P18-FR-362

Effect of an axial electric field on the breakup of a leaky-dielectric liquid filament

Article number 092114We study experimentally and numerically the thinning of Newtonian leaky-dielectric filaments subjected to an axial electric field. We consider moderately viscous liquids with high electrical permittivity. We analyze the influence of the electric field on the formation of satellite droplets from the breakup of the filaments in the experiments. The electric force delays the free surface pinching. Two electrified filaments with the same minimum radius are thin at the same speed regardless of when the voltage is applied. The numerical simulations show that the polarization stress is responsible for the pinching delay observed in the experiments. Asymptotically close to the pinching point, the filament pinching is dominated by the diverging hydrodynamic forces. The polarization stress becomes subdominant even if this stress also diverges at this finite-time singularity. © 2021 Author(s).Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (España) PID2019–108278RBJunta de Extremadura GR1817

Enhancement of the stability of the flow focusing technique for low-viscosity liquids

Article number 115039We propose a modified flow focusing configuration to produce low-viscosity microjets at much smaller flow rates than those reached by the standard configuration. In the modified flow focusing device, a sharpened rod blocks the recirculation cell appearing in the tapering liquid meniscus for low flow rates, which considerably improves its stability. We measured the minimum flow rates attainable with the modified configuration and compared the results with the corresponding values for the standard technique. For moderate and large applied pressure drops, the minimum flow rate reached with the modified configuration was about five times smaller than its counterpart in the standard configuration. The Weber numbers of the jets produced with the modified flow focusing configuration were considerably smaller than those with the standard technique. Numerical simulations were conducted to show how the presence of the inner rod substantially changes the flow pattern in the liquid meniscus.Ministerio de Ciencia y Educación, Junta de Extremadura y Junta de Andalucía (España) DPI2010-21103, GR10047 y P08-TEP-0412

Regular and complex singularities of the generalized thin film equation in two dimensions

A20We use a generalized version of the equation of motion for a thin film of liquid on a solid, horizontal substrate as a model system to study the formation of singularities in space dimensions greater than one. Varying both the exponent controlling long-ranged forces, as well as the exponent of the nonlinear mobility, we predict the structure of the singularity as the film thickness goes to zero. The spatial structure of rupture may be either ‘pointlike’ (approaching axisymmetry) or ‘quasi-one-dimensional’, in which case a one-dimensional singularity is unfolded into two or higher space dimensions. The scaling of the profile with time may be either strictly self-similar (the ‘regular’ case) or discretely self-similar and perhaps chaotic (the ‘irregular’ case). We calculate the phase boundaries between these regimes, and confirm our results by detailed comparisons with time-dependent simulations of the nonlinear thin film equation in two space dimensions.Junta de Andalucía P18-FR-3623Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO). España 108278-RB-C3