2 results
Thermoconvective instabilities of a non-uniform Joule-heated liquid enclosed in a rectangular cavity
- Franck Pigeonneau, Alexandre Cornet, Fredéric Lopépé
-
- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 843 / 25 May 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 March 2018, pp. 601-636
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
Natural convection produced by a non-uniform internal heat source is studied numerically. Our investigation is limited to a two-dimensional enclosure with an aspect ratio equal to two. The energy source is Joule dissipation produced by an electric potential applied through two electrodes corresponding to a fraction of the vertical walls. The system of conservative equations of mass, momentum, energy and electric potential is solved assuming the Boussinesq approximation with a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method integrated over time. Three parameters are involved in the problem: the Rayleigh number $Ra$, the Prandtl number $Pr$ and the electrode length $L_{e}$ normalized by the enclosure height. The numerical method has been validated in a case where electrodes have the same length as the vertical walls, leading to a uniform source term. The threshold of convection is established above a critical Rayleigh number, $Ra_{cr}=1702$. Due to asymmetric boundary conditions on thermal field, the onset of convection is characterized by a transcritical bifurcation. Reduction of the size of the electrodes (from bottom up) leads to disappearance of the convection threshold. As soon as the electrode length is smaller than the cavity height, convection occurs even for small Rayleigh numbers below the critical value determined previously. At moderate Rayleigh number, the flow structure is mainly composed of a left clockwise rotation cell and a right anticlockwise rotation cell symmetrically spreading around the vertical middle axis of the enclosure. Numerical simulations have been performed for a specific $L_{e}=2/3$ with $Ra\in [1;10^{5}]$ and $Pr\in [1;10^{3}]$. Four kinds of flow solutions are established, characterized by a two-cell symmetric steady-state structure with down-flow in the middle of the cavity for the first one. A first instability occurs for which a critical Rayleigh number depends strongly on the Prandtl number when $Pr<3$. The flow structure becomes asymmetric with only one steady-state cell. A second instability occurs above a second critical Rayleigh number that is quasiconstant when $Pr>10$. The flow above the second critical Rayleigh number becomes periodic in time, showing that the onset of unsteadiness is similar to the Hopf bifurcation. When $Pr<3$, a fourth steady-state solution is established when the Rayleigh number is larger than the second critical value, characterized by a steady-state structure with up-flow in the middle of the cavity.
Collision of drops with inertia effects in strongly sheared linear flow fields
- FRANCK PIGEONNEAU, FRANÇOIS FEUILLEBOIS
-
- Journal:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics / Volume 455 / 25 March 2002
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 April 2002, pp. 359-386
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
The relative motion of drops in shear flows is responsible for collisions leading to the creation of larger drops. The collision of liquid drops in a gas is considered here. The drops are small enough for the Reynolds number to be low (negligible fluid motion inertia), yet large enough for the Stokes number to be possibly of order unity (non-negligible inertia in the motion of drops). Possible concurrent effects of Van der Waals attractive forces and drop inertia are taken into account.
General expressions are first presented for the drag forces on two interacting drops of different sizes embedded in a general linear flow field. These expressions are obtained by superposition of solutions for the translation of drops and for steady drops in elementary linear flow fields (simple shear flows, pure straining motions). Earlier solutions adapted to the case of inertialess drops (by Zinchenko, Davis and coworkers) are completed here by the solution for a simple shear flow along the line of centres of the drops. A solution of this problem in bipolar coordinates is provided; it is consistent with another solution obtained as a superposition of other elementary flow fields.
The collision efficiency of drops is calculated neglecting gravity effects, that is for strongly sheared linear flow fields. Results are presented for the cases of a simple linear shear flow and an axisymmetric pure straining motion. As expected, the collision efficiency increases with the Stokes numbers, that is with drop inertia. On the other hand, the collision efficiency in a simple shear flow becomes negligible below some value of the ratio of radii, regardless of drop inertia. The value of this threshold increases with decreasing Van der Waals forces. The concurrence between drop inertia and attractive van der Waals forces results in various anisotropic shapes of the collision cross-section. By comparison, results for the collision efficiency in an axisymmetric pure straining motion are more regular. This flow field induces axisymmetric sections of collision and strong inertial effects resulting in collision efficiencies larger than unity. Effects of van der Waals forces only appear when one of the drops has a very low Stokes number.