arXiv subjects

Jose M. Lopez

Publications and source records attributed to Jose M. Lopez.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Low inertia limit of elasto-inertial turbulence

Pipe and channel flows of viscoelastic fluids display chaotic dynamics at unusually low speeds, a phenomenon referred to as elasto-inertial turbulence, EIT. First reported in experiments a century ago, recent theoretical studies and model computations predict a variety of scenarios for the phenomenon's origin, ranging from hoop stress modes to center modes and to Tollmien-Schlichting waves. Lacking experimental confirmation, the relevant scenario in actual flows of polymer solutions remains unknown. We here determine the transition threshold of EIT in pipe experiments, covering three decades in elasticity number. Across this entire parameter range, the transition features center mode structures at onset. Eventually the instability diverges at a lower inertia (upper elasticity) limit, which is a robust signature of this center mode scenario. Finally, we report the first experimental observation of a traveling wave in viscoelastic pipe flow, and the sequences of localized structures found, are in excellent agreement with a center mode traveling wave, the "arrowhead" solution, discovered in model simulations.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Vortex merging and splitting events in viscoelastic Taylor Couette flow

Recent experiments have reported a novel transition to elasto-inertial turbulence in the Taylor--Couette flow of a dilute polymer solution. Unlike previously reported transitions, this newly discovered scenario, dubbed vortex merging and splitting (VMS) transition, occurs in the centrifugally unstable regime and the mechanisms underlying it are two-dimensional: the flow becomes chaotic due to the proliferation of events where axisymmetric vortex pairs may be either created (vortex splitting) or annihilated (vortex merging). In this paper, we present direct numerical simulations, using the FENE-P constitutive equation to model polymer dynamics, which reproduce the experimental observations with great accuracy and elucidate the reasons for the onset of this surprising dynamics. Starting from the Newtonian limit and increasing progressively the fluid's elasticity, we demonstrate that the VMS dynamics is not associated with the well-known Taylor vortices, but with a steady pattern of elastically induced axisymmetric vortex pairs known as diwhirls. The amount of angular momentum carried by these elastic vortices becomes increasingly small as the fluid's elasticity increases and it eventually reaches a marginal level. When this occurs, the diwhirls become dynamically disconnected from the rest of the system and move independently from each other in the axial direction. It is shown that vortex merging and splitting events, along with local transient chaotic dynamics, result from the interactions among diwhirls, and that this complex spatio-temporal dynamics persists even at elasticity levels twice as large as those investigated experimentally.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Experimental observation of the origin and structure of elasto-inertial turbulence

Turbulence generally arises in shear flows if velocities and hence inertial forces are sufficiently large. In striking contrast, viscoelastic fluids can exhibit disordered motion even at vanishing inertia. Intermediate between these cases, a novel state of chaotic motion, `elasto-inertial turbulence' (EIT), has been observed in a narrow Reynolds number interval. We here determine the origin of EIT in experiments and show that characteristic EIT structures can be detected across an unexpectedly wide range of parameters. Close to onset a pattern of chevron shaped streaks emerges in excellent agreement with linear theory. However, the instability can be traced to far lower Reynolds numbers than permitted by theory. For increasing inertia, a secondary instability gives rise to a wall mode composed of inclined near wall streaks and shear layers. This mode persists to what is known as the `maximum drag reduction limit' and overall EIT is found to dominate viscoelastic flows across more than three orders of magnitude in Reynolds number.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2019

Phase-field simulation of core-annular pipe flow

Phase-field methods have long been used to model the flow of immiscible fluids. Their ability to naturally capture interface topological changes is widely recognized, but their accuracy in simulating flows of real fluids in practical geometries is not established. We here quantitatively investigate the convergence of the phase-field method to the sharp-interface limit with simulations of two-phase pipe flow. We focus on core-annular flows, in which a highly viscous fluid is lubricated by a less viscous fluid, and validate our simulations with an analytic laminar solution, a formal linear stability analysis and also in the fully nonlinear regime. We demonstrate the ability of the phase-field method to accurately deal with non-rectangular geometry, strong advection, unsteady fluctuations and large viscosity contrast. We argue that phase-field methods are very promising for quantitatively studying moderately turbulent flows, especially at high concentrations of the disperse phase.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2018

Dynamics of viscoelastic pipe flow in the maximum drag reduction limit

Polymer additives can substantially reduce the drag of turbulent flows and the upper limit, the so called "maximum drag reduction" (MDR) asymptote is universal, i.e. independent of the type of polymer and solvent used. Until recently, the consensus was that, in this limit, flows are in a marginal state where only a minimal level of turbulence activity persists. Observations in direct numerical simulations using minimal sized channels appeared to support this view and reported long "hibernation" periods where turbulence is marginalized. In simulations of pipe flow we find that, indeed, with increasing Weissenberg number (Wi), turbulence expresses long periods of hibernation if the domain size is small. However, with increasing pipe length, the temporal hibernation continuously alters to spatio-temporal intermittency and here the flow consists of turbulent puffs surrounded by laminar flow. Moreover, upon an increase in Wi, the flow fully relaminarises, in agreement with recent experiments. At even larger Wi, a different instability is encountered causing a drag increase towards MDR. Our findings hence link earlier minimal flow unit simulations with recent experiments and confirm that the addition of polymers initially suppresses Newtonian turbulence and leads to a reverse transition. The MDR state on the other hand results from a separate instability and the underlying dynamics corresponds to the recently proposed state of elasto-inertial-turbulence (EIT).

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2017

Exceeding the asymptotic limit of polymer drag reduction

The drag of turbulent flows can be drastically decreased by addition of small amounts of high molecular weight polymers. While drag reduction initially increases with polymer concentration, it eventually saturates to what is known as the maximum drag reduction (MDR) asymptote; this asymptote is generally attributed to the dynamics being reduced to a marginal yet persistent state of subdued turbulent motion. Contrary to this accepted view we will show in the following that for an appropriate choice of parameters polymers can reduce the drag beyond the suggested asymptotic limit, eliminating turbulence and giving way to laminar flow. However at higher polymer concentrations the laminar state becomes unstable, resulting in a fluctuating flow with the characteristic drag of the MDR asymptote. The asymptotic state is hence dynamically disconnected from ordinary turbulence.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2017

Boundary-layer turbulence in experiments of quasi-Keplerian flows

Most flows in nature and engineering are turbulent because of their large velocities and spatial scales. Laboratory experiments of rotating quasi-Keplerian flows, for which the angular velocity decreases radially but the angular momentum increases, are however laminar at Reynolds numbers exceeding one million. This is in apparent contradiction to direct numerical simulations showing that in these experiments turbulence transition is triggered by the axial boundaries. We here show numerically that as the Reynolds number increases turbulence becomes progressively confined to the boundary layers and the flow in the bulk fully relaminarizes. Our findings support that turbulence is unlikely to occur in isothermal constant density quasi-Keplerian flows.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2015

Conductive and convective heat transfer in fluid flows between differentially heated and rotating cylinders

The flow of fluid confined between a heated rotating cylinder and a cooled stationary cylinder is a canonical experiment for the study of heat transfer in engineering. The theoretical treatment of this system is greatly simplified if the cylinders are assumed to be of infinite length or periodic in the axial direction, in which cases heat transfer occurs only through conduction as in a solid. We here investigate numerically heat transfer and the onset of turbulence in such flows by using both periodic and no-slip boundary conditions in the axial direction. We obtain a simple linear criterion that determines whether the infinite-cylinder assumption can be employed. The curvature of the cylinders enters this linear relationship through the slope and additive constant. For a given length-to-gap aspect ratio there is a critical Rayleigh number beyond which the laminar flow in the finite system is convective and so the behaviour is entirely different from the periodic case. The criterion does not depend on the Prandtl number and appears quite robust with respect to the Reynolds number. In particular, it continues to work reasonably in the turbulent regime.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2013

The Boussinesq approximation in rapidly rotating flows

In commonly used formulations of the Boussinesq approximation centrifugal buoyancy effects related to differential rotation, as well as strong vortices in the flow, are neglected. However, these may play an important role in rapidly rotating flows, such as in astrophysical and geophysical applications, and also in turbulent convection. We here provide a straightforward approach resulting in a Boussinesq-type approximation that consistently accounts for centrifugal effects. Its application to the accretion-disk problem is discussed. We numerically compare the new approach to the typical one in fluid flows confined between two differentially heated and rotating cylinders. The results justify the need of using the proposed approximation in rapidly rotating flows.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2012

Hopf bifurcation with zero frequency and imperfect SO(2) symmetry

Rotating waves are periodic solutions in SO(2) equivariant dynamical systems. Their precession frequency changes with parameters and it may change sign, passing through zero. When this happens, the dynamical system is very sensitive to imperfections that break the SO(2) symmetry and the waves may become trapped by the imperfections, resulting in steady solutions that exist in a finite region in parameter space. This is the so-called pinning phenomenon. In this study, we analyze the breaking of the SO(2) symmetry in a dynamical system close to a Hopf bifurcation whose frequency changes sign along a curve in parameter space. The problem is very complex, as it involves the complete unfolding of high codimension. A detailed analysis of different types of imperfections indicates that a pinning region surrounded by infinite-period bifurcation curves appears in all cases. Complex bifurcational processes, strongly dependent on the specifics of the symmetry breaking, appear very close to the intersection of the Hopf bifurcation and the pinning region. Scaling laws of the pinning region width, and partial breaking of SO(2) to Zm, are also considered. Previous and new experimental and numerical studies of pinned rotating waves are reviewed in light of the new theoretical results.

math.DS↗

arXiv2000

Structures and Stabilities of CaO and MgO Clusters and Cluster Ions: An alternative interpretation of the experimental mass spectra

The structures and relative stabilities of doubly-charged nonstoichiometric (CaO)$_n$Ca$^{2+}$ (n=1--29) cluster ions and of neutral stoichiometric (MgO)$_n$ and (CaO)$_n$ (n=3,6,9,12,15,18) clusters are studied through {\em ab initio} Perturbed Ion plus polarization calculations. The large coordination-dependent polarizabilities of oxide anions favor the formation of surface sites, making the critical cluster size where anions with bulk coordination first appear larger than that found in the related case of alkali halides. Thus, we show that there are substantial structural differences between alkali halide and alkaline-earth oxide cluster ions, contrary to what is suggested by the similarities in the experimental mass spectra. An alternative interpretation of the magic numbers for the case of oxides is proposed, which involves an explicit consideration of isomer structures different from the ground states. A comparison with the previously studied (MgO)$_n$Mg$^{2+}$ cluster ions shows that the emergence of bulklike structural properties with size is slower for calcium oxide. Nevertheless, the structures of the doubly charged clusters are rather similar for the two materials. On the contrary, the study of the neutrals reveals interesting structural differences between MgO and CaO, similar to those found in the case of alkali halides.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2000

Melting in large sodium clusters: An orbital-free molecular dynamics study

The melting-like transition in sodium clusters Na_N, with N=55, 92, and 142 is studied by using constant-energy molecular dynamics simulations. An orbital-free version of the Car-Parrinello technique is used which scales linearly with system size allowing investigation of the thermal behaviour of large clusters. The ground state isomer of Na_142 (an uncomplete three-shell icosahedron) melts in two steps: the first one (at approx. 240 K) is characterized by the high mobility of the atoms located on the cluster surface; the second, homogeneous melting (at approx. 270 K), involves diffusive motion of all the atoms across the cluster. For the case of Na_92, the icosahedral structure has a larger number of surface vacancies, and melts in two well separated steps, surface melting at approx. 130 K and homogeneous melting at approx. 240 K. Na_55, a complete two-shell icosahedron, melts in a single stage at approx. 190 K. Our results on homogeneous melting for Na_142 and Na_92 are in excellent agreement with recent experimental determinations of melting temperatures and latent heats. However, the experimentally observed enhancement of the melting temperature around N=55 is not reproduced by the calculations.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv1999

Orbital-Free Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Melting in Na8 and Na20: Melting in Steps

The melting-like transitions of Na8 and Na20 are investigated by ab initio constant energy molecular dynamics simulations, using a variant of the Car-Parrinello method which employs an explicit electronic kinetic energy functional of the density, thus avoiding the use of one-particle orbitals. Several melting indicators are evaluated in order to determine the nature of the various transitions, and compared with other simulations. Both Na8 and Na20 melt over a wide temperature range. For Na8, a transition is observed to begin at approx. 110 K, between a rigid phase and a phase involving isomerizations between the different permutational isomers of the ground state structure. The ``liquid'' phase is completely established at approx. 220 K. For Na20, two transitions are observed: the first, at approx. 110 K, is associated with isomerization transitions between those permutational isomers of the ground state structure which are obtained by interchanging the positions of the surface-like atoms; the second, at approx. 160 K, involves a structural transition from the ground state isomer to a new set of isomers with the surface molten. The cluster is completely ``liquid'' at approx. 220 K.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv1999

Calculation of The Band Gap Energy and Study of Cross Luminescence in Alkaline-Earth Dihalide Crystals

The band gap energy as well as the possibility of cross luminescence processes in alkaline-earth dihalide crystals have been calculated using the ab initio Perturbed-Ion (PI) model. The gap is calculated in several ways: as a difference between one-electron energy eigenvalues and as a difference between total energies of appropriate electronic states of the crystal, both at the HF level and with inclusion of Coulomb correlation effects. In order to study the possibility of ocurrence of cross luminescence in these materials, the energy difference between the valence band and the upmost core band for some representative crystals has been calculated. Both calculated band gap energies and cross luminescence predictions compare very well with the available experimental results.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv1998

Structures and Stabilities of Doubly-charged (MgO)nMg2+ (n=1-29) Cluster Ions

Ab initio perturbed ion plus polarization calculations are reported for doubly-charged nonstoichiometric (MgO)nMg2+ (n=1-29) cluster ions. We consider a large number of isomers with full relaxations of the geometries, and add the correlation correction to the Hartree-Fock energies for all cluster sizes. The polarization contribution is included at a semiempirical level also for all cluster sizes. Comparison is made with theoretical results for neutral (MgO)n clusters and singly-charged alkali-halide cluster ions. Our method is also compared to phenomenological pair potential models in order to asses their reliability for calculations on small ionic systems. The large coordination-dependent polarizabilities of oxide anions favor the formation of surface sites, and thus bulklike structures begin to dominate only after n=24. The relative stabilities of the cluster ions against evaporation of a MgO molecule show variations that are in excellent agreement with the experimental abundance spectra.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv1998

Lattice Distortions Around a Tl+ Impurity in NaI:Tl+ and CsI:Tl+ Scintillators. An Ab Initio Study Involving Large Active Clusters

Ab initio Perturbed Ion cluster-in-the-lattice calculations of the impurity centers NaI:Tl+ and CsI:Tl+ are pressented. We study several active clusters of increasing complexity and show that the lattice relaxation around the Tl+ impurity implies the concerted movement of several shells of neighbors. The results also reveal the importance of considering a set of ions that can respond to the geometrical displacements of the inner shells by adapting selfconsistently their wave functions. Comparison with other calculations involving comparatively small active clusters serves to assert the significance of our conclusions. Contact with experiment is made by calculating absorption energies. These are in excellent agreement with the experimental data for the most realistic active clusters considered.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗