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Detlef Lohse

Publications and source records attributed to Detlef Lohse.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Bubbly and Buoyant Particle-Laden Turbulent Flows

Fluid turbulence is commonly associated with stronger drag, greater heat transfer, and more efficient mixing than in laminar flows. In many natural and industrial settings, turbulent liquid flows contain suspensions of dispersed bubbles and light particles. Recently, much attention has been devoted to understanding the behavior and underlying physics of such flows by use of both experiments and high-resolution direct numerical simulations. This review summarizes our present understanding of various phenomenological aspects of bubbly and buoyant particle-laden turbulent flows. We begin by discussing different dynamical regimes, including those of crossing trajectories and wake-induced oscillations of rising particles, and regimes in which bubbles and particles preferentially accumulate near walls or within vortical structures. We then address how certain paradigmatic turbulent flows, such as homogeneous isotropic turbulence, channel flow, Taylor-Couette turbulence, and thermally driven turbulence, are modified by the presence of these dispersed bubbles and buoyant particles. We end with a list of summary points and future research questions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Initial solidification dynamics of spreading droplets

When a droplet is brought in contact with an undercooled surface, it wets the substrate and solidifies at the same time. The interplay between the phase transition effects and the contact-line motion, leading to its arrest, remains poorly understood. Here we reveal the early solidification patterns and dynamics of spreading hexadecane droplets. Total internal reflection (TIR) imaging is employed to temporally and spatially resolve the early solidification behaviour. With this, we determine the conditions leading to the contact-line arrest. We quantify the overall nucleation behaviour, \textit{i.e.} the nucleation rate and the crystal growth speed, and show its sensitivity to the applied undercooling of the substrate. By combining the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov nucleation theory and scaling relations for the spreading, we can calculate the temporal evolution of the solid area fraction, which is in good agreement with our observations. We also show that for strong enough undercooling it is the rapid growth of the crystals which determines the eventual arrest of the spreading contact line.

cond-mat.soft↗

From Rayleigh-Bénard convection to porous-media convection: how porosity affects heat transfer and flow structure

We perform a numerical study of the heat transfer and flow structure of Rayleigh-Bénard (RB) convection in (in most cases regular) porous media, which are comprised of circular, solid obstacles located on a square lattice. This study is focused on the role of porosity $ϕ$ in the flow properties during the transition process from the traditional RB convection with $ϕ=1$ (so no obstacles included) to Darcy-type porous-media convection with $ϕ$ approaching 0. Simulations are carried out in a cell with unity aspect ratio, for the Rayleigh number $Ra$ from $10^5$ to $10^{10}$ and varying porosities $ϕ$, at a fixed Prandtl number $Pr=4.3$, and we restrict ourselves to the two dimensional case. For fixed $Ra$, the Nusselt number $Nu$ is found to vary non-monotonously as a function of $ϕ$; namely, with decreasing $ϕ$, it first increases, before it decreases for $ϕ$ approaching 0. The non-monotonous behaviour of $Nu(ϕ)$ originates from two competing effects of the porous structure on the heat transfer. On the one hand, the flow coherence is enhanced in the porous media, which is beneficial for the heat transfer. On the other hand, the convection is slowed down by the enhanced resistance due to the porous structure, leading to heat transfer reduction. For fixed $ϕ$, depending on $Ra$, two different heat transfer regimes are identified, with different effective power-law behaviours of $Nu$ vs $Ra$, namely, a steep one for low $Ra$ when viscosity dominates, and the standard classical one for large $Ra$. The scaling crossover occurs when the thermal boundary layer thickness and the pore scale are comparable. The influences of the porous structure on the temperature and velocity fluctuations, convective heat flux, and energy dissipation rates are analysed, further demonstrating the competing effects of the porous structure to enhance or reduce the heat transfer.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Ultrasound-enhanced mass transfer during single-bubble diffusive growth

Ultrasound is known to enhance surface bubble growth and removal in catalytic and microfluidic applications, yet the contributions of rectified diffusion and microstreaming phenomena towards mass transfer remain unclear. We quantify the effect of ultrasound on the diffusive growth of a single spherical CO$_2$ bubble growing on a substrate in supersaturated water. The time dependent bubble size, shape, oscillation amplitude and microstreaming flow field are resolved. We show and explain how ultrasound can enhance the diffusive growth of surface bubbles by up to two orders of magnitude during volumetric resonance. The proximity of the wall forces the bubble to oscillate non-spherically, thereby generating vigorous streaming during resonance that results in convection-dominated growth.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Multiple states in turbulent large-aspect ratio thermal convection: What determines the number of convection rolls?

Recent findings suggest that wall-bounded turbulent flow can take different statistically stationary turbulent states, with different transport properties, even for the very same values of the control parameters. What state the system takes depends on the initial conditions. Here we analyze the multiple states in large-aspect ratio ($Γ$) two-dimensional turbulent Rayleigh--Bénard flow with no-slip plates and horizontally periodic boundary conditions as model system. We determine the number $n$ of convection rolls, their mean aspect ratios $Γ_r = Γ/n$, and the corresponding transport properties of the flow (i.e., the Nusselt number $Nu$), as function of the control parameters Rayleigh ($Ra$) and Prandtl number. The effective scaling exponent $β$ in $Nu \sim Ra^β$ is found to depend on the realized state and thus $Γ_r$, with a larger value for the smaller $Γ_r$. By making use of a generalized Friedrichs inequality, we show that the elliptical instability and viscous damping determine the $Γ_r$-window for the realizable turbulent states. The theoretical results are in excellent agreement with our numerical finding $2/3 \le Γ_r \le 4/3$, where the lower threshold is approached for the larger $Ra$. Finally, we show that the theoretical approach to frame $Γ_r$ also works for free-slip boundary conditions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Physicochemical Hydrodynamics of Droplets out of Equilibrium: A Perspective Review

Droplets abound in nature and technology. In general, they are multicomponent, and, when out of equilibrium, with gradients in concentration, implying flow and mass transport. Moreover, phase transitions can occur, with either evaporation, solidification, dissolution, or nucleation of a new phase. The droplets and their surrounding liquid can be binary, ternary, or contain even more components, and with several even in different phases. In the last two decades the rapid advances in experimental and numerical fluid dynamical techniques has enabled major progress in our understanding of the physicochemical hydrodynamics of such droplets, further narrowing the gap from fluid dynamics to chemical engineering and colloid & interfacial science and arriving at a quantitative understanding of multicomponent and multiphase droplet systems far from equilibrium, and aiming towards a one-to-one comparison between experiments and theory or numerics. This review will discuss various examples of the physicochemical hydrodynamics of droplet systems far from equilibrium and our present understanding of them. These include immiscible droplets in a concentration gradient, coalescence of droplets of different liquids, droplets in concentration gradients emerging from chemical reactions (including droplets as microswimmers) and phase transitions such as evaporation, solidification, dissolution, or nucleation, and droplets in ternary liquids, including solvent exchange, nano-precipitation, and the so-called ouzo effect. We will also discuss the relevance of the physicochemical hydrodynamics of such droplet systems for many important applications, including in chemical analysis and diagnostics, microanalysis, pharmaceutics, synthetic chemistry and biology, chemical and environmental engineering, the oil and remediation industries, inkjet-printing, for micro- and nano-materials, and in nanotechnolgoy.

physics.flu-dyn↗

From zonal flow to convection rolls in Rayleigh-Bénard convection with free-slip plates

Rayleigh-Bénard (RB) convection with free-slip plates and horizontally periodic boundary conditions is investigated using direct numerical simulations. Two configurations are considered, one is two-dimension (2D) RB convection and the other one three-dimension (3D) RB convection with a rotating axis parallel to the plate. We explore the parameter range of Rayleigh numbers Ra from $10^7 to $10^9$ and Prandtl numbers $Pr$ from $1$ to $100$. We show that zonal flow, which was observed, for example, by Goluskin \emph{et al}. \emph{J. Fluid. Mech.} 759, 360-385 (2014) for $Γ=2$, is only stable when $Γ$ is smaller than a critical value, which depends on $Ra$ and $Pr$. With increasing $Γ$, we find a second regime in which both zonal flow and different convection roll states can be statistically stable. For even larger $Γ$, in a third regime, only convection roll states are statistically stable and zonal flow is not sustained. For the 3D simulations, we fix $Ra=10^7$ and $Pr=0.71$, and compare the flow for $Γ=8$ and $Γ= 16$. We demonstrate that with increasing aspect ratio $Γ$, zonal flow, which was observed for small $Γ=2π$ by von Hardenberg \emph{et al}. \emph{Phys. Rev. Lett.} 15, 134501 (2015), completely disappears for $Γ=16$. For such large $Γ$ only convection roll states are statistically stable. In between, here for medium aspect ratio $Γ= 8$, the convection roll state and the zonal flow state are both statistically stable. What state is taken depends on the initial conditions, similarly as we found for the 2D case.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Periodically modulated thermal convection

Many natural and industrial turbulent flows are subjected to time-dependent boundary conditions. Despite being ubiquitous, the influence of temporal modulations (with frequency $f$) on global transport properties has hardly been studied. Here, we perform numerical simulations of Rayleigh-Bénard (RB) convection with time periodic modulation in the temperature boundary condition and report how this modulation can lead to a significant heat flux (Nusselt number $\rm{Nu}$) enhancement. Using the concept of Stokes thermal boundary layer, we can explain the onset frequency of the Nu enhancement and the optimal frequency at which Nu is maximal, and how they depend on the Rayleigh number Ra and Prandtl number $\rm{Pr}$. From this, we construct a phase diagram in the 3D parameter space ($f$, $\rm{Ra}$, $\rm{Pr}$) and identify: (i) a regime where the modulation is too fast to affect $\rm{Nu}$; (ii) a moderate modulation regime, where $\rm{Nu}$ increases with decreasing $f$ and (iii) slow modulation regime, where $\rm{Nu}$ decreases with further decreasing $f$. Our findings provide a framework to study other types of turbulent flows with time-dependent forcing.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Gas-Vapor Interplay in Plasmonic Bubble Shrinkage

The understanding of the shrinkage dynamics of plasmonic bubbles formed around metallic nanoparticles immersed in liquid and irradiated by a resonant light source is crucial for the usage of these bubbles in numerous applications. In this paper we experimentally show and theoretically explain that a plasmonic bubble during its shrinkage undergoes two different phases: first, a rapid partial bubble shrinkage governed by vapor condensation and, second, a slow diffusion-controlled bubble dissolution. The history of the bubble formation plays an important role in the shrinkage dynamics during the first phase, as it determines the gas-vapor ratio in the bubble composition. Higher laser powers lead to more vaporous bubbles, while longer pulses and higher dissolved air concentrations lead to more gaseous bubbles. The dynamics of the second phase barely depends on the history of bubble formation, i.e. laser power and pulse duration, but strongly on the dissolved air concentration, which defines the concentration gradient at the bubble interface. Finally, for the bubble dissolution in the second phase, with decreasing dissolved air concentration, we observe a gradual transition from a $R(t) \propto (t_0 - t) ^{1/3}$ scaling law to a $R(t) \propto (t_0 - t) ^{1/2}$ scaling law, where $t_0$ is the lifetime of the bubble and theoretically explain this transition.

physics.flu-dyn↗

What rotation rate maximizes heat transport in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection with Prandtl number larger than one?

The heat transfer and flow structure in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection are strongly influenced by the Rayleigh ($Ra$), Prandtl ($Pr$), and Rossby ($Ro$) number. For $Pr\gtrsim 1$ and intermediate rotation rates, the heat transfer is increased compared to the non-rotating case. We find that the regime of increased heat transfer is subdivided into a low and a high $Ra$ number regime. For $Ra\lesssim 5\times10^8$ the heat transfer at a given $Ra$ and $Pr$ is highest at an optimal rotation rate, at which the thickness of the viscous and thermal boundary layer is about equal. From the scaling relations of the thermal and viscous boundary layer thicknesses, we derive that the optimal rotation rate scales as $1/Ro_\mathrm{opt} \approx 0.12 Pr^{1/2}Ra^{1/6}$. In the low $Ra$ regime the heat transfer is similar in a periodic domain and cylindrical cells with different aspect ratios, i.e.\ the ratio of diameter to height. This is consistent with the view that the vertically aligned vortices are the dominant flow structure. For $Ra\gtrsim 5\times10^8$ the above scaling for the optimal rotation rate does not hold anymore. It turns out that in the high $Ra$ regime, the flow structures at the optimal rotation rate are very different than for lower $Ra$. Surprisingly, the heat transfer in the high $Ra$ regime differs significantly for a periodic domain and cylindrical cells with different aspect ratios, which originates from the sidewall boundary layer dynamics and the corresponding secondary circulation.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Subcritical behaviour in double diffusive convection within the diffusive regime

We conduct two- and three-dimensional simulations for double diffusive convection in the diffusive regime, where the fluid flow is driven by a destabilizing temperature gradient and stabilized by a stably stratified salinity gradient. We study how the heat flux, Reynolds number, and flow structures change with the density ratio $Λ$, which is the ratio of the buoyancy force induced by the salinity gradient to that by the temperature gradient. When $Λ$ increases from zero, the flow first behaves similarly as in pure Rayleigh-Bénard (RB) convection, both with respect to flow structure and to heat transport. The linear stability analysis of Baines & Gill (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 37, 1969, pp. 289-306) had estimated the critical density ratio $Λ_c$, above which the flow becomes stable. However, here we show that by using a large-scale circulation as initial condition (rather than the linear profiles assumed in the linear stability analysis), DDC in the diffusive regime can exhibit subcritical behaviour when $Λ> Λ_c$, i.e., coexistence of states at the same control parameters. Even though the density ratio becomes thousands times that of the critical value $Λ_c$, there is still convection with strongly enhanced heat transfer properties compared to the pure conduction case. We reveal the corresponding flow structures and find an unstably-stratified region sandwiched between two stably-stratified layers. Our results demonstrate the importance of the initial condition for DDC in the diffusive regime, especially in the situation of a large density ratio, which occurs in high-latitude ocean regions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Calculation of the mean velocity profile for strongly turbulent Taylor--Couette flow and arbitrary radius ratios

Taylor--Couette (TC) flow is the shear-driven flow between two coaxial independently rotating cylinders. In recent years, high-fidelity simulations and experiments revealed the shape of the streamwise and angular velocity profiles up to very high Reynolds numbers. However, due to curvature effects, so far no theory has been able to correctly describe the turbulent streamwise velocity profile for given radius ratio, as the classical Prandtl--von Kármán logarithmic law for turbulent boundary layers over a flat surface at most fits in a limited spatial region. Here we address this deficiency by applying the idea of a Monin--Obukhov curvature length to turbulent TC flow. This length separates the flow regions where the production of turbulent kinetic energy is governed by pure shear from that where it acts in combination with the curvature of the streamlines. We demonstrate that for all Reynolds numbers and radius ratios, the mean streamwise and angular velocity profiles collapse according to this separation. We then derive the functional form of the velocity profile. Finally, we match the newly derived angular velocity profile with the constant angular momentum profile at the height of the boundary layer, to obtain the dependence of the torque on the Reynolds number, or, in other words, of the generalized Nusselt number (i.e., the dimensionless angular velocity transport) on the Taylor number.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Modelling large scale airgun-bubble dynamics with highly non-spherical features

A thorough understanding of the dynamics of meter-sized airgun-bubbles is very crucial to seabed geophysical exploration. In this study, we use the boundary integral method to investigate the highly non-spherical airgun-bubble dynamics and its corresponding pressure wave emission. Moreover, a model is proposed to also consider the process of air release from the airgun port, which is found to be the most crucial factor to estimate the initial peak of the pressure wave. The numerical simulations show good agreement with experiments, in terms of non-spherical bubble shapes and pressure waves. Thereafter, the effects of the port opening time $T\rm_{open}$, airgun firing depth, heat transfer, and gravity are numerically investigated. We find that a smaller $T\rm_{open}$ leads to a more violent air release that consequently causes stronger high-frequency pressure wave emissions; however, the low-frequency pressure waves are little affected. Additionally, the non-spherical bubble dynamics is highly dependent on the Froude number $Fr$. Starting from $Fr=2$, as $Fr$ increases, the jet contains lower kinetic energy, resulting in a stronger energy focusing of the bubble collapse itself and thus a larger pressure peak during the bubble collapse phase. For $Fr \ge 7$, the spherical bubble theory becomes an appropriate description of the airgun-bubble. The new findings of this study may provide a reference for practical operations and designing environmentally friendly airguns in the near future.

physics.flu-dyn↗

Morphology of Evaporating Sessile Microdroplets on Lyophilic Elliptical Patches

The evaporation of droplets occurs in a large variety of natural and technological processes such as medical diagnostics, agriculture, food industry, printing, and catalytic reactions. We study the different droplet morphologies adopted by an evaporating droplet on a surface with an elliptical patch with a different contact angle. We perform experiments to observe these morphologies and use numerical calculations to predict the effects of the patched surfaces. We observe that tuning the geometry of the patches offers control over the shape of the droplet. In the experiments, the drops of various volumes are placed on elliptical chemical patches of different aspect ratios and imaged in 3D using laser scanning confocal microscopy, extracting the droplets shape. In the corresponding numerical simulations, we minimize the interfacial free energy of the droplet, by employing Surface Evolver. The numerical results are in good qualitative agreement with our experimental data and can be used for the design of micropatterned structures, potentially suggesting or excluding certain morphologies for particular applications. However, the experimental results show the effects of pinning and contact angle hysteresis, which are obviously absent in the numerical energy minimization. The work culminates with a morphology diagram in the aspect ratio vs relative volume parameter space, comparing the predictions with the measurements.

cond-mat.soft↗

Solvent Exchange in a Hele-Shaw Cell Universality of Surface Nanodroplet Nucleation

Solvent exchange (also called solvent shifting or Ouzo effect) is a generally used bottom-up process to mass-produce nanoscale droplets. In this process, a good solvent for some oil is displaced by a poor one, leading to oil nanodroplet nucleation and subsequent growth. Here we perform this process on a hydrophobic substrate so that sessile droplets so-called surface nanodroplets-develop, following the work of Zhang et al. [Zhang, X.; Lu, Z.; Tan, H.; Bao, L.; He, Y.; Sun, C.; Lohse, D. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2015, 122, 9253-9257]. In contrast to what was done in that paper, we chose a very well-controlled Hele-Shaw geometry with negligible gravitational effects, injecting the poor solvent in the center of the Hele-Shaw cell, and characterize the emerging nanodroplets as a function of radial distance and flow rates. We find that the mean droplet volume per area _area strongly depends on the local Peclet number Pe and follows a universal scaling law _area~Pe^(3/4). Moreover, the probability distribution function of the droplet volume strongly depends on the local Pe as well, regardless of the flow rates and radial distance, giving strong support to the theoretical model of the solvent exchange process developed in Zhang et al.'s work.

cond-mat.soft↗

Diffusive interaction of multiple surface nanobubbles and nanodroplets: shrinkage, growth, and coarsening

Surface nanobubbles are nanoscopic spherical-cap shaped gaseous domains on immersed substrates which are stable, even for days. After the stability of a {\it single} surface nanobubble has been theoretically explained, i.e. contact line pinning and gas oversaturation are required to stabilize them against diffusive dissolution [Lohse and Zhang, Phys.\ Rev.\ E 91, 031003 (R) (2015)], here we focus on the {\it collective} diffusive interaction of {\it multiple} nanobubbles. For that purpose we develop a finite difference scheme for the diffusion equation with the appropriate boundary conditions and with the immersed boundary method used to represent the growing or shrinking bubbles. After validation of the scheme against the exact results of Epstein and Plesset for a bulk bubble [J. Chem. Phys. 18, 1505 (1950)] and of Lohse and Zhang for a surface bubble, the framework of these simulations is used to describe the coarsening process of competitively growing nanobubbles. The coarsening process for such diffusively interacting nanobubbles slows down with advancing time and thus increasing bubble distance. The present results for surface nanobubbles are also applicable for immersed surface nanodroplets, for which better controlled experimental results of the coarsening process exist.

physics.flu-dyn↗