497 research outputs found
Renormalisation-theoretic analysis of non-equilibrium phase transitions II: The effect of perturbations on rate coefficients in the Becker-Doring equations
We study in detail the application of renormalisation theory to models of
cluster aggregation and fragmentation of relevance to nucleation and growth
processes. In particular, we investigate the Becker-Doring (BD) equations,
originally formulated to describe and analyse non-equilibrium phase
transitions, but more recently generalised to describe a wide range of
physicochemical problems. We consider here rate coefficients which depend on
the cluster size in a power-law fashion, but now perturbed by small amplitude
random noise. Power-law rate coefficients arise naturally in the theory of
surface-controlled nucleation and growth processes. The noisy perturbations on
these rates reflect the effect of microscopic variations in such mean-field
coefficients, thermal fluctuations and/or experimental uncertainties. In the
present paper we generalise our earlier work that identified the nine classes
into which all dynamical behaviour must fall by investigating how random
perturbations of the rate coefficients influence the steady-state and kinetic
behaviour of the coarse-grained, renormalised system. We are hence able to
confirm the existence of a set of up to nine universality classes for such BD
systems.Comment: 30 pages, to appear in J Phys A Math Ge
Managing sleep and wakefulness in a 24 hour world
This article contributes to literature on the sociology of sleep by exploring the sleeping practices and subjective sleep experiences of two social groups: shift workers and students. It draws on data, collected in the UK from 25 semi-structured interviews, to discuss the complex ways in which working patterns and social activities impact upon experiences and expectations of sleep in our wired awake world. The data show that, typically, sleep is valued and considered to be important for health, general wellbeing, appearance and physical and cognitive functioning. However, sleep time is often cut back on in favour of work demands and social activities. While shift workers described their efforts to fit in an adequate amount of sleep per 24-hour period, for students, the adoption of a flexible sleep routine was thought to be favourable for maintaining a work–social life balance. Collectively, respondents reported using a wide range of strategies, techniques, technologies and practices to encourage, overcome or delay sleep(iness) and boost, promote or enhance wakefulness/alertness at socially desirable times. The analysis demonstrates how social context impacts not only on how we come to think about sleep and understand it, but also how we manage or self-regulate our sleeping patterns
Renormalisation-theoretic analysis of non-equilibrium phase transitions I: The Becker-Doring equations with power law rate coefficients
We study in detail the application of renormalisation theory to models of
cluster aggregation and fragmentation of relevance to nucleation and growth
processes. We investigate the Becker-Dorging equations, originally formulated
to describe and analyse non-equilibrium phase transitions, and more recently
generalised to describe a wide range of physicochemical problems. In the
present paper we analyse how the systematic coarse-graining renormalisation of
the \BD system of equations affects the aggregation and fragmentation rate
coefficients. We consider the case of power-law size-dependent cluster rate
coefficients which we show lead to only three classes of system that require
analysis: coagulation-dominated systems, fragmentation-dominated systems and
those where coagulation and fragmentation are exactly balanced. We analyse the
late-time asymptotics associated with each class.Comment: 18 pages, to appear in J Phys A Math Ge
Continuum-particle hybrid coupling for mass, momentum and energy transfers in unsteady fluid flow
The aim of hybrid methods in simulations is to communicate regions with
disparate time and length scales. Here, a fluid described at the atomistic
level within an inner region P is coupled to an outer region C described by
continuum fluid dynamics. The matching of both descriptions of matter is made
across an overlapping region and, in general, consists of a two-way coupling
scheme (C->P and P->C) which conveys mass, momentum and energy fluxes. The
contribution of the hybrid scheme hereby presented is two-fold: first it treats
unsteady flows and, more importantly, it handles energy exchange between both C
and P regions. The implementation of the C->P coupling is tested here using
steady and unsteady flows with different rates of mass, momentum and energy
exchange. In particular, relaxing flows described by linear hydrodynamics
(transversal and longitudinal waves) are most enlightening as they comprise the
whole set of hydrodynamic modes. Applying the hybrid coupling scheme after the
onset of an initial perturbation, the cell-averaged Fourier components of the
flow variables in the P region (velocity, density, internal energy, temperature
and pressure) evolve in excellent agreement with the hydrodynamic trends. It is
also shown that the scheme preserves the correct rate of entropy production. We
discuss some general requirements on the coarse-grained length and time scales
arising from both the characteristic microscopic and hydrodynamic scales.Comment: LaTex, 12 pages, 9 figure
Three dimensional hysdrodynamic lattice-gas simulations of binary immiscible and ternary amphiphilic flow through porous media
We report the results of a study of multiphase flow in porous media. A
Darcy's law for steady multiphase flow was investigated for both binary and
ternary amphiphilic flow. Linear flux-forcing relationships satisfying Onsager
reciprocity were shown to be a good approximation of the simulation data. The
dependence of the relative permeability coefficients on water saturation was
investigated and showed good qualitative agreement with experimental data.
Non-steady state invasion flows were investigated, with particular interest in
the asymptotic residual oil saturation. The addition of surfactant to the
invasive fluid was shown to significantly reduce the residual oil saturation.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.
Spinodal decomposition of off-critical quenches with a viscous phase using dissipative particle dynamics in two and three spatial dimensions
We investigate the domain growth and phase separation of
hydrodynamically-correct binary immiscible fluids of differing viscosity as a
function of minority phase concentration in both two and three spatial
dimensions using dissipative particle dynamics. We also examine the behavior of
equal-viscosity fluids and compare our results to similar lattice-gas
simulations in two dimensions.Comment: 34 pages (11 figures); accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Fluctuating lattice Boltzmann
The lattice Boltzmann algorithm efficiently simulates the Navier Stokes
equation of isothermal fluid flow, but ignores thermal fluctuations of the
fluid, important in mesoscopic flows. We show how to adapt the algorithm to
include noise, satisfying a fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) directly at
lattice level: this gives correct fluctuations for mass and momentum densities,
and for stresses, at all wavevectors . Unlike previous work, which recovers
FDT only as , our algorithm offers full statistical mechanical
consistency in mesoscale simulations of, e.g., fluctuating colloidal
hydrodynamics.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letter
Fluctuating hydrodynamic modelling of fluids at the nanoscale
A good representation of mesoscopic fluids is required to combine with
molecular simulations at larger length and time scales (De Fabritiis {\it et.
al}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 134501 (2006)). However, accurate computational
models of the hydrodynamics of nanoscale molecular assemblies are lacking, at
least in part because of the stochastic character of the underlying fluctuating
hydrodynamic equations. Here we derive a finite volume discretization of the
compressible isothermal fluctuating hydrodynamic equations over a regular grid
in the Eulerian reference system. We apply it to fluids such as argon at
arbitrary densities and water under ambient conditions. To that end, molecular
dynamics simulations are used to derive the required fluid properties. The
equilibrium state of the model is shown to be thermodynamically consistent and
correctly reproduces linear hydrodynamics including relaxation of sound and
shear modes. We also consider non-equilibrium states involving diffusion and
convection in cavities with no-slip boundary conditions
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