arXiv subjects

Kai Leong Chong

Publications and source records attributed to Kai Leong Chong.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Re-emergence of fingering in solidifying liquid-metal drops

Solidification is expected to suppress fingering by removing mobile liquid. Here we report an unexpected re-emergence of fingering in impacting molten-tin drops: cooling first weakens peripheral fingers, but stronger undercooling restores them. At weak undercooling, fingers originate from a decelerating liquid rim and solidification reduces the effective acceleration that drives Rayleigh--Taylor-like amplification. At strong undercooling, solidification structures develop while liquid is still spreading, creating lateral mobility contrasts that redirect the residual flow. Comparison between the kinematically estimated solidification time and the experimentally measured fingering-onset and growth-termination times reveals a reversal in temporal ordering across the temperature range. A physics-based reduced-order model combines solidification-modified rim deceleration with mobility-gradient growth, captures the characteristic onset dynamics and accounts for the final finger length within the same physical framework.These findings establish solidification as an active means of regulating interfacial flow and morphology, with broad implications spanning metal-based additive manufacturing and debris mitigation in semiconducting industry.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2026

The prey-predator motion of the active droplets

We present a generic solution for the relative motion of two diffusiophoretic prey-predator particles of arbitrary chemical activity Ai and radius Ri, where i = 1;2 refers to the predator and prey, respectively. Using the Lorentz reciprocal theorem, we investigate the impact of radius ratios and chemical reaction rates on the interaction between the particles. Our study reveals four distinct regimes of interaction, similar to the findings of Nasouri & Ramin (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 124, 2020, pp. 168003) for particles of identical sizes: (i) the prey particle escapes; (ii) two particles reach a stable equilibrium distance; (iii) two particles reach an unstable equilibrium distance where the prey is captured below it and escapes above it; (iv) the prey particle is captured. Unlike previous work, we differentiate between regimes with near-field and far-field interactions, which can be either attractive or repulsive, and find that the boundary between (i, iii) and (ii, iv) represents the transition from the attraction to repulsion in the far field, given by jA1=A2j = (R2=R1)2, while the transition between (i, ii) and (iii, iv) represents the interaction transition for particles in close proximity. We also perform three-dimensional simulations of prey-predator systems, which validate our theoretical predictions. Our study extends the applicability of the Lorentz reciprocal theorem to prey-predator system and quantitatively obtains interaction regime transition curves by distinguishing near-field and far-field interactions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2025

Role of settling inertial particles in modulating flow structures and drag in Taylor-Couette turbulence

The modulation of drag through dispersed phases in wall turbulence has been a longstanding focus. This study examines the effects of particle Stokes number ($St$) and Froude number ($Fr$) on drag modulation in turbulent Taylor-Couette (TC) flow, using a two-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach with Reynolds number $Re_i = r_i ω_i d/ν$ fixed at 3500. For light particles (small $St$), drag reduction is observed in the TC system, exhibiting a non-monotonic dependence on $Fr$. In specific, drag reduction initially increases and then decreases with stronger influence of gravitational settling (characterized by inverse of $Fr$), indicating the presence of an optimal $Fr$ for maximum drag reduction. For heavy particles, similar non-monotonic trend can also be observed, but significant drag enhancement is resulted at large $Fr^{-1}$. We further elucidate the role of settling particles in modulating the flow structure in TC by decomposing the advective flux into contributions from coherent Taylor vortices and background turbulent fluctuations. At moderate effects of particle inertia and gravitational settling, particles suppress the coherence of Taylor vortices which remarkably reduces angular velocity transport and thus leads to drag reduction. However, with increasing influence of particle inertia and gravitational settling, the flow undergoes abrupt change. Rapidly settling particles disrupt the Taylor vortices, shifting the bulk flow from a vortex-dominated regime to one characterized by particle-induced turbulence. With the dominance by particle-induced turbulence, velocity plumes -- initially transported by small-scale G{ö}rtler vortices near the cylinder wall and large-scale Taylor vortices in bulk region -- are instead carried into the bulk by turbulent fluctuations driven by the settling particles.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

High-order Finite-Volume Central Targeted ENO Family Scheme for Compressible Flows in Unstructured Meshes

The high-order Target ENO (TENO) scheme, known for its innovative weighting strategy, has demonstrated strong potential for complex flow predictions. This study extends the TENO weighting approach to develop non-oscillatory central TENO (CTENO and CTENOZ) family schemes for unstructured meshes. The CTENO schemes employ compact directional stencils, which increase the likelihood of finding stencils within smooth regions. The design is intentionally compact to simplify the implementation of directional stencils. An effective scale separation strategy is adopted using an ENO-like stencil selection method, which employs large central stencils in smooth regions to achieve high-order accuracy, and smaller directional stencils near discontinuities to improve shock-capturing capabilities. Extensive tests involving CWENO, TENO, CTENO, and CTENOZ schemes were conducted to assess their performance in terms of accuracy, robustness, parallel scalability, and computational efficiency. The findings indicate that the proposed CTENO and CTENOZ schemes deliver high-order precision, lower numerical dissipation, and excellent shock-capturing performance.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Spatial Distribution of Inertial Particles in Turbulent Taylor-Couette Flow

This study investigates the spatial distribution of inertial particles in turbulent Taylor-Couette flow. Direct numerical simulations are performed using a one-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, with a fixed inner wall Reynolds number of 2500 for the carrier flow, while the particle Stokes number varies from 0.034 to 1 for the dispersed phase. We first examine the issue of preferential concentration of particles near the outer wall region. Employing two-dimensional (2D) Voronoi analysis, we observe a pronounced particle clustering with increasing $St$, particularly evident in regions of low fluid velocity. Additionally, we investigate the concentration balance equation, inspired by the work of johnson et al.(2020), to examine particle radial distribution. We discern the predominant sources of influence, namely biased sampling, turbophoresis, and centrifugal effects. Across all cases, centrifugal force emerges as the primary driver, causing particle migration towards the outer wall. Biased sampling predominantly affects smaller inertial particles, driving them towards the inner wall due to sampling within Taylor rolls with inward radial velocity. Conversely, turbophoresis primarily impacts larger inertial particles, inducing migration towards both walls where turbulent intensity is weaker compared to the bulk. With the revealed physics, our work provides a basis for predicting and controlling particle movement and distribution in industrial applications.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Unifying constitutive law of vibroconvective turbulence in microgravity

The emergence of unified constitutive law is a hallmark of convective turbulence, i.e., $Nu \sim Ra^β$ with $β\approx 0.3$ in the classical and $β=1/2$ in the ultimate regime, where the Nusselt number $Nu$ measures the global heat transport and the Rayleigh number $Ra$ quantifies the strength of thermal forcing. In recent years, vibroconvective flows have been attractive due to its ability to drive flow instability and generate ``artificial gravity'', which have potential to effective heat and mass transport in microgravity. However, the existence of constitutive laws in vibroconvective turbulence remains unclear. To address this issue, we carry out direct numerical simulations in a wide range of frequencies and amplitudes, and report that the heat transport exhibits a universal scaling law $Nu \sim a^{-1} Re_\mathrm{os}^β$ where $a$ is the vibration amplitude, $Re_\mathrm{os}$ is the oscillational Reynolds number, and $β$ is the universal exponent. We find that the dynamics of boundary layers plays an essential role in vibroconvective heat transport, and the $Nu$-scaling exponent $β$ is determined by the competition between the thermal boundary layer (TBL) and vibration-induced oscillating boundary layer (OBL). Then a physical model is proposed to explain the change of scaling exponent from $β=2$ in the OBL-dominant regime to $β= 4/3$ in the TBL-dominant regime. We conclude that vibroconvective turbulence in microgravity defines a distinct universality class of convective turbulence. This work elucidates the emergence of universal constitutive laws in vibroconvective turbulence, and opens up a new avenue for generating a controllable effective heat transport under microgravity or even microfluidic environment in which gravity is nearly absent.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Numerical simulation of flow field and debris migration in extreme ultraviolet source vessel

Practical extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources yield the desired 13.5 nm radiation but also generate debris, significantly limiting the lifespan of the collector mirror in lithography. In this study, we explore the role of buffer gas in transporting debris particles within a EUV source vessel using direct numerical simulations (DNS). Our study involves a 2m $\times$ 1m $\times$ 1m rectangular cavity with an injecting jet flow subjected to sideward outlet. Debris particles are introduced into the cavity with specified initial velocities, simulating a spherical radiating pattern with particle diameters ranging from 0.1 $μ$m to 1 $μ$m. Varying the inflow velocity (from $1$m/s to $50$m/s) of the buffer gas reveals a morphological transition in the flow field. At low inflow velocities, the flow remains steady, whereas higher inflow velocities induce the formation of clustered corner rolls. Upon reaching sufficiently high inflow velocities, the jet flow can penetrate the entire cavity, impacting the endwall. Interestingly, the resulting recirculation flow leads to the spontaneous formation of spiraling outflow. The distinct flow structures at various inflow velocities lead to distinct patterns of particle transport. For low-speed gas, it is efficient in expelling all particles smaller than 0.4 $μ$m, while for high-speed gas, those fine particles accumulate near the endwall and are challenging to be extracted. Our findings highlight the significance of controlling flow conditions for effective debris particle transport and clearance in diverse applications especially in EUV source vessels.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Numerical study on the effects of fluid properties in electrohydrodynamic pulsating jet under constant voltage

Pulsating jet is one of the common working modes in electrohydrodynamic printing (EHDP) that process is highly affected by operating parameters and material properties. In this paper, the processes of pulsating jet for liquids with different physical properties were investigated using numerical simulation. An electrohydrodynamic solver was established, and a charge flux restricting step was adopted to ensure a realistic distribution of free charges. Three various ejection regimes were observed in our simulations: oscillating cone (OC), choked jet (CJ), and stable cone-jet (SJ). We found that three dimensionless numbers relating to liquid properties determined the ejection regime: the Ohnesorge number, Q0εr/Q, and Q0/(QRe). Based on those dimensionless numbers, the roles of liquid properties on pulsating jet (OC and CJ) were analyzed. In OC, the break of the jet is due to the significant oscillation of the Taylor cone, which is mainly affected by viscosity and conductivity. In CJ, the jet emission is terminated by the excessive resistant force in the cone-jet transition region. For liquids with low and medium viscosity, the dominant resistant force is the polarization force or viscous force when εrRe is larger or smaller than 1, respectively. For high viscosity liquids, the viscous force always becomes the major resistance. These results further reveal the physical mechanism of pulsating jet and can be used to guide its application.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Vortex Dynamics in Rotating Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

We investigate the spatial distribution and dynamics of the vortices in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a reduced Rayleigh-number range $1.3{\le}Ra/Ra_{c}{\le}166$. Under slow rotations ($Ra{\gtrsim}10Ra_{c}$), the vortices are randomly distributed. The size-distribution of the Voronoi cells of the vortex centers is well described by the standard $Γ$ distribution. In this flow regime the vortices exhibit Brownian-type horizontal motion. The probability density functions of the vortex displacements are, however, non-Gaussian at short time scales. At modest rotating rates ($4Ra_{c}{\le}Ra{\lesssim}10Ra_{c}$) the centrifugal force leads to radial vortex motions, i.e., warm cyclones (cold anticyclones) moving towards (outward from) the rotation axis. The mean-square-displacements of the vortices increase faster than linearly at large time. This super-diffusive behavior can be satisfactorily explained by a Langevin model incorporating the centrifugal force. In the rapidly rotating regime ($1.6Ra_{c}{\le}Ra{\le}4Ra_{c}$) the vortices are densely distributed, with the size-distribution of their Voronoi cells differing significantly from the standard $Γ$ distribution. The hydrodynamic interaction of neighboring vortices results in formation of vortex clusters. Inside clusters the correlation of the vortex velocity fluctuations is scale free, with the correlation length being approximately $30\%$ of the cluster length. We examine the influence of cluster forming on the dynamics of individual vortex. Within clusters, cyclones exhibit inverse-centrifugal motion as they submit to the motion of strong anticyclones, while the velocity for outward motion of the anticyclones is increased. Our analysis show that the mobility of isolated vortices, scaled by their vorticity strength, is a simple power function of the Froude number.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Flow structure transition in thermal vibrational convection

This study investigates the effect of vibration on the flow structure transitions in thermal vibrational convection (TVC) systems, which occur when a fluid layer with a temperature gradient is excited by vibration. Direct numerical simulations of TVC in a two-dimensional enclosed square box were performed over a range of dimensionless vibration amplitudes $0.001 \le a \le 0.3$ and angular frequencies $10^{2} \le ω\le 10^{7}$, with a fixed Prandtl number of 4.38. The flow visualisation shows the transition behaviour of flow structure upon the varying frequency, characterising three distinct regimes, which are the periodic-circulation regime, columnar regime and columnar-broken regime. Different statistical properties are distinguished from the temperature and velocity fluctuations at the boundary layer and mid-height. Upon transition into the columnar regime, columnar thermal coherent structures are formed, in contrast to the periodic oscillating circulation. These columns are contributed by merging of thermal plumes near the boundary layer, and the resultant thermal updrafts remain at almost fixed lateral position, leading to a decrease in fluctuations. We further find that the critical point of this transition can be described nicely by the vibrational Rayleigh number $Ra_\mathrm{vib}$. As the frequency continues to increase, entering the so-called columnar-broken regime, the columnar structures are broken, and eventually the flow state becomes a large-scale circulation, characterised by a sudden increase in fluctuations. Finally, a phase diagram is constructed to summarise the flow structure transition over a wide range of vibration amplitude and frequency parameters.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Human body heat shapes the pattern of indoor disease transmission

Exhaled droplet and aerosol-mediated transmission of respiratory diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, is exacerbated in poorly ventilated environments where body heat-driven airflow prevails. Employing large-scale simulations, we reveal how the human body heat can potentially spread pathogenic species between occupants in a room. Morphological phase transition in airflow takes place as the distance between human heat sources is varied which shapes novel patterns of disease transmission: For sufficiently large distance, individual buoyant plume creates a natural barrier, forming a ``thermal armour'' that blocks suspension spread between occupants. However, for small distances, collective effect emerges and thermal plumes condense into super-structure, facilitating long-distance suspension transport via crossing between convection rolls. Our quantitative analysis demonstrates that infection risk increases significantly at critical distances due to collective behavior and phase transition. This highlights the importance of maintaining reasonable social distancing indoors to minimize viral particle transmission and offers new insights into the critical behavior of pathogen spread.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Buoyancy-driven attraction of active droplets

Active oil droplets in a liquid are believed to repel due to the Marangoni effect, while buoyancy effects caused by the density difference between the droplets, diffusing product, and ambient fluid are usually overlooked. Recent experiments have observed active droplet clustering phenomena due to buoyancy-driven convection (Kruger et al. Eur. Phys. J. E, vol. 39, 2016, pp.1-9). In this study, we numerically analyze the buoyancy effect in addition to Marangoni flow, characterized by Peclet number $Pe$. The buoyancy effects originate from (i) the density difference between the droplet and the ambient liquid, which is characterized by Galileo number $Ga$, and (ii) the density difference between the diffusing product (i.e. filled micelles) and the ambient liquid, characterized by a solutal Rayleigh number $Ra$. We analyze how the attracting and repulsing behavior depends on the control parameters $Pe$, $Ga$, and $Ra$. We find that while Marangoni flow causes repulsion, the buoyancy effect leads to attraction, and even collisions can take place at high Ra. We also observe a delayed collision as $Ga$ increases. Moreover, we derive that the attracting velocity, characterized by a Reynolds number $Re_d$, is proportional to $Ra^{1/4}/(l/R)$, where $l/R$ is the normalized distance by radius between neighboring droplets. Finally, we obtain repulsive velocity, characterized by $Re_{rep}$, as proportional to $PeRa^{-0.38}$. The balance of attractive and repulsive effects results in $Pe \sim Ra^{0.63}$, which agrees with the transition curve between regimes with and without collision.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Towards realistic simulations of human cough: effect of droplet emission duration and spread angle

Human respiratory events, such as coughing and sneezing, play an important role in the host-to-host airborne transmission of diseases. Thus, there has been a substantial effort in understanding these processes: various analytical or numerical models have been developed to describe them, but their validity has not been fully assessed due to the difficulty of a direct comparison with real human exhalations. In this study, we report a unique comparison between datasets that have both detailed measurements of a real human cough using spirometer and particle tracking velocimetry, and direct numerical simulation at similar conditions. By examining the experimental data, we find that the injection velocity at the mouth is not uni-directional. Instead, the droplets are injected into various directions, with their trajectories forming a cone shape in space. Furthermore, we find that the period of droplet emissions is much shorter than that of the cough: experimental results indicate that the droplets with an initial diameter $\gtrsim 10μ$m are emitted within the first 0.05 s, whereas the cough duration is closer to 1 s. These two features (the spread in the direction of injection velocity and the short duration of droplet emission) are incorporated into our direct numerical simulation, leading to an improved agreement with the experimental measurements. Thus, to have accurate representations of human expulsions in respiratory models, it is imperative to include parametrisation of these two features.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Enhancing Heat Transport in Multiphase Rayleigh-Bénard Turbulence by Changing the Plate-Liquid Contact Angles

This numerical study presents a simple but extremely effective way to considerably enhance heat transport in turbulent multiphase flows, namely by using oleophilic walls. As a model system, we pick the Rayleigh-Bénard setup, filled with an oil-water mixture. For oleophilic walls, e.g. using only $10\%$ volume fraction of oil in water, we observe a remarkable heat transport enhancement of more than $100\%$ as compared to the pure water case. In contrast, for oleophobic walls, the enhancement is then only about $20\%$ as compared to pure water. The physical explanation of the highly-efficient heat transport for oleophilic walls is that thermal plumes detach from the oil-rich boundary layer and are transported together with the oil phase. In the bulk, the oil-water interface prevents the plumes to mix with the turbulent water bulk. To confirm this physical picture, we show that the minimum amount of oil to achieve the maximum heat transport is set by the volume fraction of the thermal plumes. Our findings provide guidelines of how to optimize heat transport in thermal turbulence. Moreover, the physical insight of how coherent structures are coupled with one phase of a two-phase system has very general applicability for controlling transport properties in other turbulent multiphase flows.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection with bubbles attached to the plate

We numerically investigate turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection with gas bubbles attached to the hot plate, mimicking a core feature in electrolysis, catalysis, or boiling. The existence of bubbles on the plate reduces the global heat transfer due to the much lower thermal conductivity of gases as compared to liquids and changes the structure of the boundary layers. The numerical simulations are performed in 3D at Prandtl number Pr=4.38 (water) and Rayleigh number $10^7\le Ra \le10^8$. For simplicity, we assume the bubbles to be equally-sized and having pinned contact lines. We vary the total gas-covered area fraction $0.18 \le S_0 \le 0.62$, the relative bubble height $0.02\le h/H \le0.05$ (where $H$ is the height of the Rayleigh-Bénard cell), the bubble number $40 \le n \le 144$, and their spatial distribution. In all cases, asymmetric temperature profiles are observed, which we quantitatively explain based on the heat flux conservation at each horizontal section. We further propose the idea of using an equivalent single-phase setup to mimic the system with attached bubbles. Based on this equivalence, we can calculate the heat transfer. Without introducing any free parameter, the predictions for the Nusselt number, the upper and lower thermal boundary layer thicknesses, and the mean centre temperature well agree with the numerical results. Finally, our predictions also work for the cases with much larger Pr (e.g. $400$), which indicates that our results can also be applied to predict the mass transfer in water electrolysis with bubbles attached to the electrode surface or in catalysis.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

The effect of buoyancy driven convection on the growth and dissolution of bubbles on electrodes

Enhancing the efficiency of water electrolysis, which can be severely impacted by the nucleation and growth of bubbles, is key in the energy transition. In this combined experimental and numerical study, in-situ bubble evolution and dissolution processes are imaged and compared to numerical simulations employing the immersed boundary method. We find that it is crucial to include solutal driven natural convection in order to represent the experimentally observed bubble behaviour even though such effects have commonly been neglected in modelling efforts so far. We reveal how the convective patterns depend on current densities and bubble spacings, leading to distinctively different bubble growth and shrinkage dynamics. Bubbles are seen to promote the convective instability if their spacing is large ($\geq4$mm for the present conditions), whereas the onset of convection is delayed if the inter-bubble distance is smaller. Our approach and our results can help devise efficient mass transfer solutions for gas evolving electrodes.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Droplet plume emission during plasmonic bubble growth in ternary liquids

Plasmonic bubbles are of great relevance in numerous applications, including catalytic reactions, micro/nanomanipulation of molecules or particles dispersed in liquids, and cancer therapeutics. So far, studies have been focused on bubble nucleation in pure liquids. Here we investigate plasmonic bubble nucleation in ternary liquids consisting of ethanol, water, and trans-anethole oil which can show the so-called ouzo-effect. We find that oil (trans-anethole) droplet plumes are produced around the growing plasmonic bubbles. The nucleation of the microdroplets and their organization in droplet plumes is due to the symmetry breaking of the ethanol concentration field during the selective evaporation of ethanol from the surrounding ternary liquids into the growing plasmonic bubbles. Numerical simulations show the existence of a critical Marangoni number Ma (the ratio between solutal advection rate and the diffusion rate), above which the symmetry breaking of the ethanol concentration field occurs, leading to the emission of the droplet plumes. The numerical results agree with the experimental observation that more plumes are emitted with increasing ethanol-water relative weight ratios and hence Ma. Our findings on the droplet plume formation reveal the rich phenomena of plasmonic bubble nucleation in multicomponent liquids and help to pave the way to achieve enhanced mixing in multicomponent liquids in chemical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Heat transfer in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection within two immiscible fluid layers

We numerically investigate turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection within two immiscible fluid layers, aiming to understand how the layer thickness and fluid properties affect the heat transfer (characterized by the Nusselt number $Nu$) in two-layer systems. Both two- and three-dimensional simulations are performed at fixed global Rayleigh number $Ra=10^8$, Prandtl number $Pr=4.38$, and Weber number $We=5$. We vary the relative thickness of the upper layer between $0.01 \le α\le 0.99$ and the thermal conductivity coefficient ratio of the two liquids between $0.1 \le λ_k \le 10$. Two flow regimes are observed: In the first regime at $0.04\leα\le0.96$, convective flows appear in both layers and $Nu$ is not sensitive to $α$. In the second regime at $α\le0.02$ or $α\ge0.98$, convective flow only exists in the thicker layer, while the thinner one is dominated by pure conduction. In this regime, $Nu$ is sensitive to $α$. To predict $Nu$ in the system in which the two layers are separated by a unique interface, we apply the Grossmann-Lohse theory for both individual layers and impose heat flux conservation at the interface. Without introducing any free parameter, the predictions for $Nu$ and for the temperature at the interface well agree with our numerical results and previous experimental data.

physics.flu-dyn↗