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At least 37 records · Page 2

Precise Viscosity Measurements Very Close to Critical Points

A torsion oscillator is being developed to measure the viscosity of fluids at moderate temperatures (0-100 C) and pressures (0-10 MPa) at very low frequencies (0.5 Hz) and very low shear rates (0.05/sec). These conditions are required to measure the shear viscosity of fluids extremely close to the critical point. The oscillator, thermostat, vacuum system, and instrumentation were assembled and are undergoing debugging. Preliminary measurements indicate that the system has a noise corresponding to 0.2% of the viscosity of methanol-cyclohexane mixtures near the consolute point.

Moldover, M. R.↗

Transport properties of gases and binary liquids near the critical point

A status report is presented on the anomalies observed in the behavior of transport properties near the critical point of gases and binary liquids. The shear viscosity exhibits a weak singularity near the critical point. An analysis is made of the experimental data for those transport properties, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity near the gas-liquid critical point and binary diffusion coefficient near the critical mixing point, that determine the critical slowing down of the thermodynamic fluctuations in the order parameter. The asymptotic behavior of the thermal conductivity appears to be closely related to the asymptotic behavior of the correlation length. The experimental data for the thermal conductivity and diffusivity are shown to be in substantial agreement with current theoretical predictions.

Sengers, J. V.↗

Finite amplitude dynamic motion of viscoelastic materials.

It is shown that an integral constitutive relation containing a memory function depending on strain tensor invariants can describe the rheological behavior of finite amplitude oscillatory motion of polymer solutions both qualitatively and quantitatively. Values of the material constants are obtained by a numerical technique of simultaneously curve fitting simple shearing viscosity, first normal stress difference, and small amplitude oscillatory motion data.

Yen, H.-C.↗

Improved acoustic viscosimeter technique

An improved technique has been developed for studies of the shear viscosity of fluids. It utilizes an acoustic resonator as a four-terminal electrical device; the resonator's amplitude response may be determined directly and simply related to the fluid's viscosity. The use of this technique is discussed briefly and data obtained in several fluids is presented.

Fisch, M. R.↗

Solar seismology. I - The stability of the solar p-modes

The stability of the radial p-modes of the sun is investigated by computing nonadiabatic eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for a solar envelope model which extends from an inner radius of about 0.3 solar radius out to an optical depth of about 0.0003. The calculations take into account in a crude fashion the response of the convective flux to the oscillation. The dynamical effect of turbulence in the convection zone is parametrized in terms of a turbulent shear viscosity. The results show that if damping by turbulent viscosity is neglected, all modes with periods longer than 6 minutes are unstable. The familiar kappa-mechanism, which operates in the H ionization-H(-) opacity region, is the dominant source of driving of the oscillations. Modes with periods shorter than 6 minutes are stabilized by radiative damping in the solar atmosphere. When turbulent dissipation of pulsational energy is included, all modes are predicted to be stable. However, the margin of stability is very small. In view of the large uncertainty that must be assigned to the estimate of turbulent damping, it is concluded that theoretical calculations cannot unequivocally resolve the question of the stability of the solar p-modes.

Goldreich, P.↗

Critical phenomena experiments in space

The paper analyzes several types of critical phenomena in fluids, shows how they are affected by the presence of gravity, and describes how experiments conducted in an orbiting laboratory under low gravity conditions could extend the range of measurements needed to study critical phenomena. Future experiments are proposed. One would be a careful measurement of the dielectric constant in a low gravity environment. Two basic problems that can benefit especially from space experiments are the specific heat near the critical point and the shear viscosity at the gas-liquid critical point.

Sengers, J. V.↗

Viscoelastic properties of entangled polymers - Ternary blends of monodisperse homopolymers

In a previous publication from this laboratory, the Rouse-Bueche-Zimm molecular theory of viscoelasticity has been extended by using a transient network model to apply to binary blends of monodisperse polymers with chain entanglements. The dynamics of the entanglements were modeled both by the enhanced frictional coefficients and by the additional elastic couplings. It was recognized that entanglements not only may form between chains of the same lengths (intracomponent entanglements) but also between those of different lengths (intercomponent entanglements). At a given intercomponent entanglement, the longer chain was assumed to have the frictional coefficient of the shorter chain. Similarly, for blends consisting of several monodisperse components with different molecular weights, such modifications are also required to predict their linear viscoelastic behavior. The frequency of these interactions is assumed to be proportional to the weight ratio of the respective component chains in the blend. Equations of motion are formulated for each component and solved numerically for the relaxation time spectra. Linear viscoelastic properties such as the dynamic mechanical moduli, stress relaxation moduli, and zero-shear viscosity can then be computed for these systems by linear summation of those of the components.

Soong, D.↗

Viscoelastic Properties of Polymer Blends

Viscosity, shear modulus and other viscoelastic properties of multicomponent polymer blends are predicted from behavior of individual components, using a mathematical model. Model is extension of two-component-blend model based on Rouse-Bueche-Zimm theory of polymer viscoelasticity. Extension assumes that probabilities of forming various possible intracomponent and intercomponent entanglements among polymer molecules are proportional to relative abundances of components.

Hong, S. D.↗

Viscometric and misting properties of polymer-modified fuel

Solutions of polyisobutylenes L160, L200, B200, and B230 in Jet-A were prepared at concentrations up to 3000 ppm. These polymers have molecular weights in the range 5 to 9 x 1,00,000 and have previously been shown to induce anti-misting properties in Jet-A. In connection with the pumpability of such solutions, especially at low temperatures, the shear viscosity, eta, of these solutions was measured at temperatures 25 C, 0 C, and -25 C. Concentration-dependence of eta was very similar for all four polymer solutes, the increase of eta(c) at 3000 ppm being roughly four-fold (relative to Jet-A) for the L-series and five-fold for the B-series. This behavior prevailed at all temperatures, and there was no evidence of phase separation or other chemical instability at -25 C at any concentration. In the more practical c-range for anti-misting applications, say within 1000 ppm, the increase of eta(c) was only twofold.

Grens, E. A., II↗

The collisional dynamics of particulate disks

It is shown that the use of the Krook equation greatly simplifies the discussion of the collisional dynamics of particulate disks. Collisions are assumed to be inelastic from the outset. A simple heuristic argument is used to compute the effective collision rate in a disk of spherical particles with a power-law distribution of sizes. For Saturn's rings, the effective collision rate for momentum transport is substantially lower than that conventionally estimated on the basis of an observed optical depth at visual wavelengths. The closure of the vertically integrated set of moment equations without discarding the third-order moments at the outset is discussed, allowing for the possibility of a bent disk. In the limit that the collision frequency is much larger than the orbit frequency, the usual Navier-Stokes equations of viscous hydrodynamics for a thin disk are recovered with an explicit expression for the shear viscosity. The method is generalized to include the effects of gravitational scattering.

Shu, F. H.↗

Critical Transport Phenomena in Fluid Helium Under Low Gravity

The feasibility of carrying out measurements of certain critical transport properties of pure fluid under conditions of low gravity was studied. These properties are the thermal conductivity, kappa, the shear viscosity zeta and the diffusive relaxation time tau, which are predicted to diverge (tend to infinity) as the liquid-vapor critical point is approached. However, in this critical region, the Earth's gravity effect becomes very important. As the critical point is approached, the gravity effects increasingly distort the results. The reason for this is that the compressibility of the fluid also diverges and under the influence of gravity causes a vertical density gradient in the fluid, which is significant even when very thin fluid layers (typically 1 mm high) are being used. The result is that the temperature dependence of kappa, zeta, and tau tends to flatten off as T sub c is approached instead of continuing to increase, and therefore the predictions from the renormalization group and mode coupling theories cannot be subjected to a satisfactory test.

Meyer, H.↗

Real-time measurement of materials properties at high temperatures by laser produced plasmas

Determination of elemental composition and thermophysical properties of materials at high temperatures, as visualized in the context of containerless materials processing in a microgravity environment, presents a variety of unusual requirements owing to the thermal hazards and interferences from electromagnetic control fields. In addition, such information is intended for process control applications and thus the measurements must be real time in nature. A new technique is described which was developed for real time, in-situ determination of the elemental composition of molten metallic alloys such as specialty steel. The technique is based on time-resolved spectroscopy of a laser produced plasma (LPP) plume resulting from the interaction of a giant laser pulse with a material target. The sensitivity and precision were demonstrated to be comparable to, or better than, the conventional methods of analysis which are applicable only to post-mortem specimens sampled from a molten metal pool. The LPP technique can be applied widely to other materials composition analysis applications. The LPP technique is extremely information rich and therefore provides opportunities for extracting other physical properties in addition to the materials composition. The case in point is that it is possible to determine thermophysical properties of the target materials at high temperatures by monitoring generation and transport of acoustic pulses as well as a number of other fluid-dynamic processes triggered by the LPP event. By manipulation of the scaling properties of the laser-matter interaction, many different kinds of flow events, ranging from shock waves to surface waves to flow induced instabilities, can be generated in a controllable manner. Time-resolved detection of these events can lead to such thermophysical quantities as volume and shear viscosities, thermal conductivity, specific heat, mass density, and others.

Kim, Yong W.↗

Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering for high-pressure gas temperature measurements

An experiment was set up to evaluate the feasibility of using Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering as a diagnostic technique for measuring gas temperature in high pressure environments, such as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Preburner. A high pressure furnace is used as the scattering chamber. Either nitrogen or hydrogen may be used. An argon ion laser beam is focused into the furnace. Light backscattering from the gas in the furnace is collected and analyzed with a 5-pass scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer and photon counting electronics. The multi-pass configuration provides the high frequency selectively needed to measure the Brillouin peaks in the presence of large amounts of spuriously scattered light at the laser frequency. Preliminary measurements were made at room temperature in nitrogen at pressures up to 2000 psia. The free spectral range of the interferometer and frequency separation of the Brillouin peaks are determined from measured spectra. Temperature measurements are then obtained using the simple continuum theory with low frequency values of specific heat ratio and shear viscosity. The measured temperatures are within 10 percent of the true value.

Seasholtz, Richard G.↗

Self-gravity and dissipation in polar rings

Studies of inclined rings inside galaxy potentials have mostly considered the influence of self-gravity and viscous dissipation separately. In this study, we construct models of highly inclined ('polar') rings in an external potential including both self-gravity and dissipation due to a drag force. We do not include pressure forces and thus ignore shock heating that dominates the evolution of gaseous rings inside strongly nonspherical potentials. We adopt an oblate spheroidal scale-free logarithmic potential with axis ratio q = 0.85 and an initial inclination of 80 deg for the self-gravitating rings. We find that stellar (dissipationless) rings suffer from mass loss during their evolution. Mass loss also drives a secular change of the mean inclination toward the poles of the potential. As much as half of the ring mass escapes in the process and forms an inner and an outer shell of precessing orbits. If the remaining mass is more than approximately 0.02 of the enclosed galaxy mass, rings remain bound and do not fall apart from differential precession. The rings precess at a constant rate for more than a precession period tau(sub p) finding the configuration predicted by Sparke in 1986 which warps at larger radii toward the poles of the potential. We model shear viscosity with a velocity-dependent drag force and find that nuclear inflow dominates over self-gravity if the characteristic viscous inflow time scale tau(sub vi) is shorter than approximately 25(tau(sub p)). Rings with (tau(sub vi))/(tau(sub p)) less than or approximately equal to 25 collapse toward the nucleus of the potential within one precession period independent of the amount of self-gravity. Our results imply that stars and gas in real polar rings exhibit markedly different dynamical evolutions.

Dubinski, John↗

Reduced Stress Tensor and Dissipation and the Transport of Lamb Vector

We develop a methodology to ensure that the stress tensor, regardless of its number of independent components, can be reduced to an exactly equivalent one which has the same number of independent components as the surface force. It is applicable to the momentum balance if the shear viscosity is constant. A direct application of this method to the energy balance also leads to a reduction of the dissipation rate of kinetic energy. Following this procedure, significant saving in analysis and computation may be achieved. For turbulent flows, this strategy immediately implies that a given Reynolds stress model can always be replaced by a reduced one before putting it into computation. Furthermore, we show how the modeling of Reynolds stress tensor can be reduced to that of the mean turbulent Lamb vector alone, which is much simpler. As a first step of this alternative modeling development, we derive the governing equations for the Lamb vector and its square. These equations form a basis of new second-order closure schemes and, we believe, should be favorably compared to that of traditional Reynolds stress transport equation.

Wu, Jie-Zhi↗

A Mechanism for Bulk Energization in the Impulsive Phase of Solar Flares: MHD Turbulent Cascade

We propose that the large production rate (approximately 10(exp 36)/s) of energetic electrons (greater than or approximately equal to 25 keV) required to account for the impulsive-phase hard X-ray burst in large flares is achieved through MHD turbulent cascade of the bulk kinetic energy of the outflows from many separate reconnection events. Focusing on large two- ribbon eruptive flares as representative of most large flares, we envision the reconnection events to be the driven reconnection of oppositely directed elementary flux tubes pressing into the flare-length current-sheet interface that forms in the wake of the eruption of the sheared core of the preflare bipolar field configuration. We point out that, because the outflows from these driven reconnection events have speeds of order the Alfven speed and because the magnetic field reduces the shear viscosity of the plasma, it is reasonable that the outflows are unstable and turbulent, so that the kinetic energy of an outflow is rapidly dissipated through turbulent cascade. If the largest eddies in the turbulence have diameters of order the expected widths of the outflows (10(exp 7)-10(exp 8)cm), then the cascade dissipation of each of these eddies could produce approximately 10(exp 26) erg burst of energized electrons (approximately 3 x (10(exp 33) 25 keV electrons) in approximately 0.3 s, which agrees well with hard X-ray and radio sub-bursts commonly observed during the impulsive phase. Of order 10(exp 2) simultaneous reconnection events with turbulent outflow would produce the observed rate of impulsive-phase plasma energization in the most powerful flares (approximately 10(exp 36) 25 keV electrons/ s); this number of reconnection sites can easily fit within the estimated 3 x 10(exp 9) cm span of the overall current-sheet dissipation region formed in these large flares. We therefore conclude that MHD turbulent cascade is a promising mechanism for the plasma energization observed in the impulsive phase of solar flares.

LaRosa, T. N.↗

A Note on Kinetic Energy, Dissipation and Enstrophy

The dissipation rate of a Newtonian fluid with constant shear viscosity can be shown to include three constituents: dilatation, vorticity, and surface strain. The last one is found to make no contributions to the change of kinetic energy. These dissipation constituents arc used to identify typical compact turbulent flow structures at high Reynolds numbers. The incompressible version of the simplified kinetic-energy equation is then cast to a novel form, which is free from the work rate done by surface stresses but in which the full dissipation re-enters.

Wu, Jie-Zhi↗