Search

Energy-containing eddies (energy-eddies) are the elementary structures of wall turbulence that carry most of the kinetic energy and momentum. Despite the consensus that energy-eddies can self-sustain at each relevant length scale, their precise origin and spatial evolution are currently not well understood. In this study, we examine the spatial evolution of energy-eddies by quenching them at the inflow of a turbulent channel flow. Our study shows that the eddies involved in the energy cascade cannot be sustained without the energy-eddies. The streamwise velocity spectra of the evolving flow start to recover at a spanwise wavelength of $\lambda _z^+ \simeq 100$ , equal to the near-wall spacing of streaks in the buffer layer located at $y^+ \simeq 15$ , whereas there are no active vortical motions in the streamwise vorticity spectra until the energy at the streak location is re-established. Hence, the present study demonstrates that in a spatially evolving flow, the formation of near-wall streaks is the primary process necessary in the recovery of energy-eddies.

Purpose: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed to investigate the impact of adding a grid to a two-inlet dry powder inhaler (DPI). The purpose of the paper is to show the importance of the correct choice of closure model and modeling approach, as well as to perform validation against particle dispersion data obtained from in-vitro studies and flow velocity data obtained from particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiments. Methods: CFD simulations are performed using the Ansys Fluent 2020R1 software package. Two RANS turbulence models (realisable $k - \epsilon$ and $k - \omega$ SST) and the Stress Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) models are considered. Lagrangian particle tracking for both carrier and fine particles is also performed. Results: Excellent comparison with the PIV data is found for the SBES approach and the particle tracking data are consistent with the dispersion results, given the simplicity of the assumptions made. Conclusions: This work shows the importance of selecting the correct turbulence modelling approach and boundary conditions to obtain good agreement with PIV data for the flow-field exiting the device. With this validated, the model can be used with much higher confidence to explore the fluid and particle dynamics within the device., Comment: Accepted in Pharmaceutical Research (2021)

The present investigation shows that a triad of three vortices is behind the quasi-periodic self-sustained low-frequency flow oscillation phenomenon. Large-eddy simulations are carried out at Rec=5...

Dry Powder Inhalers (DPIs) continue to be developed to deliver an expanding range of drugs to treat an ever-increasing range of medical conditions; with each drug and device combination needing a specifically designed inhaler. Fast regulatory approval is essential to be first to market, ensuring commercial profitability.Experimental techniques and computational methods are improving rapidly, but each needs a skilled user to maximize results obtained from these techniques. Multidisciplinary teams are therefore key to making optimal use of these methods and such qualified teams can provide enormous benefits to pharmaceutical companies to improve device efficacy and thus time to market. There is already a move to integrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 into inhaler design and usage, a trend that will accelerate.

Sperm swim through the female reproductive tract by propagating a 3D flagellar wave that is self-regulatory in nature and driven by dynein motors. Traditional microscopy methods fail to capture the full dynamics of sperm flagellar activity as they only image and analyze sperm motility in 2D. Here, an automated platform to analyze sperm swimming behavior in 3D by using thin-lens approximation and high-speed dark field microscopy to reconstruct the flagellar waveform in 3D is presented. It is found that head-tethered mouse sperm exhibit a rolling beating behavior in 3D with the beating frequency of 6.2 Hz using spectral analysis. The flagellar waveform bends in 3D, particularly in the distal regions, but is only weakly nonplanar and ambidextrous in nature, with the local helicity along the flagellum fluctuating between clockwise and counterclockwise handedness. These findings suggest a nonpersistent flagellar helicity. This method provides new opportunities for the accurate measurement of the full motion of eukaryotic flagella and cilia which is essential for a biophysical understanding of their activation by dynein motors.

Three-dimensional density field measurement techniques can be used to understand the complex heat transfer and mixing processes that occur in turbulent flows. Tomographic background-oriented schlieren (BOS) is an optical technique that can be used to measure the instantaneous three-dimensional density field in turbulent flows. Light rays propagating through the flow are deflected from their ambient path due to variations in refractive index related to the spatial density gradients. In BOS, a camera is placed looking through the flow at a reference image, which captures path-integrated information on the refractive index gradients in the form of apparent image displacements Richard and Raffel (2001). The displacements recorded simultaneously from many cameras placed around the flow form the basis of a tomographic reconstruction of the three-dimensional refractive index gradients Goldhahn and Seume (2007), from which the density field is obtained through integration of the gradients and application of the Gladstone-Dale relation.

In this study, large-eddy simulations are utilised to unravel the influence of the nozzle's external geometry on upstream-travelling waves in under-expanded supersonic impinging jets. Three configurations, a thin-lipped, a thin-lipped with a sponge and an infinite-lipped nozzle are considered with the other non-dimensionalised geometrical and flow variables identical for the three cases. Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition is applied to the Mack norm, i.e. the energy norm based on the stagnation energy, to obtain the spatial modes at their corresponding frequency. The spectral decomposition of the spatial modes at optimal and suboptimal frequencies is used to isolate the wavepackets into upstream- and downstream-propagating waves based on their phase velocity. It is found that the external geometry of the nozzle has a significant influence on the first-order statistics even though the governing non-dimensional parameters are the same for all three cases. Multiple peaks emerge in the energy spectra at distinct frequencies corresponding to axisymmetric azimuthal modes for each case. The downstream-propagating wavepackets have a high amplitude at the shear layer of the three jets with the mode shapes resembling Kelvin–Helmholtz instability waves, while the upstream-travelling wavepackets exist in the three regions of the near field, shear layer and inside of the jet. The barrel shock at the nozzle exit appears as a flexible shield, which prevents upstream-travelling waves from reaching the internal region of the nozzle, where the upstream-travelling waves travel obliquely with one side of the wavefront is crawling on the reflected shock while the other side is guided by the shear layer. These latter waves can reach the nozzle lip via inside of the jet. The spectral decomposition of the spatial modes at optimal and suboptimal frequencies show that all three forms of the near field, shear layer and inside jet upstream-travelling wavepackets contribute to the receptivity process while their contributions and strength are altered by the change of the external geometry of the nozzle.

The calibration of two-component–two-dimensional (2C-2D) particle image velocimetry (PIV) and three-component–two-dimensional (3C-2D) stereoscopic PIV (SPIV) systems generally requires a calibration target to be placed within the laser sheet that is parallel to it, covering the field of view. In practice, this is very difficult to achieve. Any misalignment between the calibration target and the laser sheet results in a position or velocity error. In 3C-2D SPIV, a number of methods use the disparity between the two cameras to estimate this misalignment. These techniques adjust the calibration or the 3C displacement field to reduce the error due to misalignment, but in doing so, they can introduce an unintended bias error in the measured 3C displacements. This paper introduces a novel method to ensure accurate parallel alignment of the laser sheet with the calibration target so that the error due to misalignment is minimized, if not completely avoided. The proposed method has been validated using two approaches: (i) by imaging the laser sheet and measuring the sheet rotation angle and (ii) using 3C-2D SPIV measurements of microparticles inside a block, which are illuminated using an aligned parallel laser sheet, while the block is translated by known displacements. This experiment demonstrates that the uncertainty in the 3C displacement is less than $$5.9\,\mu$$ m (0.09 pixels), illustrating the usefulness of the new proposed alignment method for PIV calibration.

Several techniques including two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) calibration are used for the calibration of two-component two-dimensional (2C-2D) particle image velocimetry (PIV) and three-component two-dimensional (3C-2D) stereoscopic PIV (SPIV) systems. A major requirement of these techniques is to keep the calibration target exactly at the position of the laser sheet within the field of view (FOV), which is very difficult to achieve (Raffel et al., 2018). In 3C-2D SPIV, several methods offer different correction schemes based on the disparity between the FOV of two stereo cameras produced due to misalignment, to account for the misalignment error. These techniques adjust the calibration or the measured displacement field in different ways to reduce the error which may introduce an unintended error in the measurement position and/or velocity such as a bias in the measured three-component 3C displacements. This paper introduces a novel method to align the laser sheet with the calibration target so that the uncertainty in displacement measurements is minimal. Ideally, it should be of the order of the uncertainty associated with PIV measurement so that no ad hoc post-correction scheme is required.

4D digital holographic PIV/PTV (4D-DHPIV/PTV) methods have demonstrated theoretical viability due to their relative ease of setup and high spatial resolution (Soria (2018)). This study investigates how velocity gradients related to different flow regimes and their magnitudes affect 3-component–3-dimensional (3C-3D) digital holographic PIV measurement uncertainty. The error introduced by velocity gradients within the interrogation volume is studied by simulating particles in a velocity field, with a given constant velocity gradient superimposed on a uniform flow from which a time-series of hologram pairs are generated and the 3C-3D velocity fields and their errors are determined using 4D-DHPIV/PTV Sun et al. (2020). Hologram pairs are simulated by modelling the propagation and particlediffraction of coherent laser light using the angular spectrum method (Goodman (1996)). The hologram reconstruction then involves direct reconstruction, followed by deconvolution, a particle position refinement and a hologram subtraction step (Sun et al. (2020)). The particle positions obtained from 4D-DHPIV/PTV are then used to resolve particle displacement measurements using 3D cross-correlation digital analysis with a 3D Gaussian fit to sub-pixel resolution (Soria (2006)). The effects of velocity gradients on the displacement uncertainty and bias error have been investigated by undertaking Monte Carlo simulations under a range of velocity gradient environments. Specifically, 5 common velocity gradients have been studied, which included pure strain, pure vorticity and x, y and z-directional shear. The results indicate that the novel 4D-DHPIV/PTV has poorer accuracy and precision in the z-propagation axis, resulting in larger minimum uncertainties and bias errors. The errors in the z axis are also significantly less affected by velocity gradients in the z direction when compared to the effects of x and y directional velocity gradients on x and y errors respectively. Furthermore, the rate of cross-correlation maximum and SNR decrease are approximately 1.36 times slower due to velocity gradients in the z axis than other axes.

Fertilization requires sperm to travel long distances through the complex environment of the female reproductive tract. Despite the strong association between poor motility and infertility, the kinetics of sperm tail movement and the role individual proteins play in this process is poorly understood. Here, we use a high spatiotemporal sperm imaging system and an analysis protocol to define the role of CRISPs in the mechanobiology of sperm function. Each of CRISP1, CRISP2, and CRISP4 is required to optimize sperm flagellum waveform. Each plays an autonomous role in defining beat frequency, flexibility, and power dissipation. We thus posit that the expansion of the CRISP family from one member in basal vertebrates, to three in most mammals, and four in numerous rodents, represents an example of neofunctionalization wherein proteins with a common core function, boosting power output, have evolved to optimize different aspects of sperm tail performance.

Coherent flow structures in turbulent boundary layers have been an active field of research for many decades, as they might be the key to reveal the mechanics of turbulence production and transport in turbulent shear flows. Renard and Deck (2016) proposed a theoretical decomposition for the mean skin-friction coefficient based on the mean kinetic energy budget in the streamwise direction. This decomposition, referred to as the Renard-Deck (RD) decomposition, decomposes the mean skin friction generation into three physical mechanisms in an absolute reference frame, namely, direct viscous dissipation, turbulent kinetic energy production, and spatial growth. In this study, the large scale motions (LSMs) are extracted using a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the velocity field based on high-spatial-resolution two-dimensional – two-component particle image velocimetry (HSR 2C-2D PIV) of a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer (ZPG-TBL), and their effect on the skin friction via RD decomposition.

Wake flows are prevalent in a wide range of engineering applications and their behaviour can significantly impact engineering design and performance. A considerable body of work exists on smooth body wake structures and flows over rough bodies, however, there is a lack of fundamental physical understanding of the amalgamation of the two fields. Two-component two-dimension particle image velocimetry (2C-2D PIV) is used to investigate the effect of surface roughness on the formation of large scale structures in the near wake of a thin flat plate. Both high-speed and low-speed, high-resolution PIV setups have been used to investigate the effect of surface roughness on the boundary layer and the near wake of the plate to gain insight into the underlying physical connection between these regions.

Motivated by applications in the propulsion industry, the fundamental study of phase-locked shear-layer instabilities in supersonic impinging jets has been of research interest for long time. While such flows have been experimentally investigated in various research studies using time-unresolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques, the understanding of the shear-layer dynamics is limited, due to the absence of temporal information. Time-resolved PIV measurements for high-speed flows require a large bandwidth, which is challenging to achieve with the current state of technology. An alternate approach using time-unresolved double-PIV measurements is presented in the current study, which provides multiple samples of dual-time data, depicted in figure 1. Such data can be obtained using two co-visual PIV systems, triggered at a user-selectable time-offset, ∆t. As shown by Sikroria et al. (2020), the application of techniques like dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) on time-unresolved dual-time data provides valuable information about the flow structures governing the shear-layer instabilities. The experimental setup for such measurements in supersonic impinging jets, followed by the determination of the relevant dynamical flow structures from the data, will be presented in the conference.

Inhalation therapy for respiratory disorders is being increasingly delivered via dry powder inhalers (DPIs), which are breath-actuated devices that deliver pharmaceutical drug particles to the lungs. The motion of inhalation air, produced when a patient inhales through this device, supplies all energy for the entrainment, de-agglomeration, and dispersion of powder drug agglomerates into a fine drug particle aerosol. The aerosol performance is directly related to the fluid-mechanics of a given DPI device. These flow mechanisms are complex as they depend on the device design, inhalation flow rate, and the properties of the dry powder formulation used. Among these, the role of device design is crucial as it significantly affects not only the generation and properties of delivered aerosol, but also the capability of targeted regional drug deposition.

In the past decade, advances in electronics technology have made larger imaging sensors available to the experimental fluid mechanics community. These advancements have enabled the measurement of 2-component 2-dimensional (2C–2D) velocity fields using particle image velocimetry (PIV) with much higher spatial resolution than previously possible. However, due to the large size of the sensor, lens distortion needs to be accounted for and corrected to ensure accurate high-fidelity 2C–2D velocity field measurements, since it will now have a more significant effect on the measurement quality. In this paper, two dewarping models, a second-order rational function (R2) and a bicubic polynomial (P3) are investigated with regards to their performance, uncertainty and sensitivity and applied to correct 2C–2D PIV measurements of a high Reynolds number zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer using a large imaging sensor. Furthermore, two approaches are considered and compared, namely: (i) dewarping the images prior to 2C–2D cross-correlation digital PIV analysis and (ii) undertaking 2C–2D cross-correlation digital PIV analysis using the raw single-exposed PIV images followed by correcting the velocity vector positions to their correct locations determined using the dewarping function. The results demonstrate that the use of the P3 dewarping model to correct lens distortion yields better results than the R2 dewarping model and that, both approaches of applying the P3 dewarping model yield results that are statistically indistinguishable.

Digital inline holographic microscopy PIV/PTV (DIHM-PIV/PTV) has the ability to provide 4-dimensional (4D), i.e. time-resolved, 3-component 3-dimensional (3C-3D) flow measurement with high spatial and temporal resolution, compact optical setup and minimal calibration Sun et al. (2020) compared to most other volumetric techniques such as tomo-PIV, defocusing PIV, etc. Despite all these advantages DIHMPIV/PTV has not yet developed into a standard laboratory tool due to some major limitations such as the extended depth-of-focus (DOF) problem and the virtual image effect which cause artefacts in the standard reconstruction volume limiting the seeding concentration and thus the achievable velocity spatial resolution. In order to mitigate the above-mentioned limitations we present a novel particle localization and extraction methodology which allows the minimization of these artefacts from the standard reconstruction and perform PIV/PTV analysis on the particle volume fields only. The proposed algorithm is based on the differential phase, which is the axial phase shift of the object wave compared to the reference plane wave propagation.

High-spatial-resolution (HSR) two-component, two-dimensional particle-image-velocimetry (2C-2D PIV) measurements of a zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL) and an adverse-pressure-gradient (APG)-TBL were taken in the Laboratoire de MA©canique des Fluides de Lille (LMFL) High Reynolds number Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel. The ZPG-TBL has a momentum-thickness based Reynolds number R e I´ 2 = I´ 2 U e ∕ I½ = 7 , 750 (where I´ 2 is the momentum thickness and U e is the edge velocity), while the APG-TBL has a R e I´ 2 = 16 , 240 and a Clauser’s pressure gradient parameter I² = I´ 1 P x ∕ I„ w = 2 . 27 (where I´ 1 is the displacement thickness, P x is the pressure gradient in streamwise direction and I„ w is the wall shear stress). The 2C fluctuating flow field of each TBL was decomposed using proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to investigate the large-scale motions (LSMs). The LSMs are found to be energized in the outer-layer, becoming stronger in the presence of the adverse-pressure-gradient. Profiles of the conditionally averaged Reynolds stresses show that high-momentum LSMs contribute more to the Reynolds stresses than low-momentum LSMs from the wall to the end of the log-layer while the opposite is found in the wake region. The cross-over point between the profiles of the conditionally averaged Reynolds stresses from the high- and low-momentum LSMs always has a higher value than the corresponding Reynolds stress from the unconditional ensemble average at the same wall-normal location. This difference is up to 80% in the Reynolds streamwise and shear stresses and up to 15% in the Reynolds wall-normal stresses. Furthermore, the cross-over point in the APG-TBL is found to be further from the wall than in the ZPG-TBL. The conditional Reynolds streamwise and shear stresses without the LSMs are reduced by up to 42% in the ZPG-TBL and by up to 50% in the APG-TBL, while having a minimal effect on the conditional Reynolds wall-normal stress without the LSMs in both the ZPG- and APG-TBL.

The role of the external boundary conditions of the nozzle surface on the azimuthal mode selection of impinging supersonic jets is demonstrated for the first time. Jets emanating from thin- and infinite-lipped nozzles at a nozzle pressure ratio of $3.4$ and plate spacing of $5.0D$, where $D$ is the nozzle exit diameter, are investigated using high resolution particle image velocimetry (PIV) and acoustic measurements. Proper orthogonal decomposition is applied to the PIV fields and a difference in dominant instability mode is found. To investigate possible explanations for the change in instability mode, additional nozzle external boundary conditions are investigated, including the addition of acoustic dampening foam. A difference in acoustic feedback path is suggested to be the cause for the change in dominant azimuthal modes between the flows. This is due to the thin-lip case containing a feedback path that is concluded to be closed exclusively by a reflection from the nozzle base surface, rather than directly to the nozzle lip. The ability of the flow to form a feedback path that maximises the impingement tone gain is discussed with consideration of the numerous acoustic feedback paths possible for the given nozzle external boundary conditions.

Thrombosis is a potentially life-threatening complication in veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circuits, which may originate from the drainage cannula due to unfavorable blood flow dynamics. This study aims to numerically investigate the effect of cannula design parameters on local fluid dynamics, and thus thrombosis potential, within ECMO drainage cannulas. A control cannula based on the geometry of a 17 Fr Medtronic drainage cannula concentrically placed in an idealized, rigid-walled geometry of the right atrium and superior and inferior vena cava was numerically modeled. Simulated flow dynamics in the control cannula were systematically compared with 10 unique cannula designs which incorporated changes to side hole diameter, the spacing between side holes, and side hole angles. Local blood velocities, maximum wall shear stress (WSS), and blood residence time were used to predict the risk of thrombosis. Numerical results were experimentally validated using particle image velocimetry. The control cannula exhibited low blood velocities (59 mm/s) at the cannula tip, which may promote thrombosis. Through a reduction in the side hole diameter (2 mm), the spacing between the side holes (3 mm) and alteration in the side hole angle (30° relative to the flow direction), WSS was reduced by 52%, and cannula tip blood velocity was increased by 560% compared to the control cannula. This study suggests that simple geometrical changes can significantly alter the risk of thrombosis in ECMO drainage cannulas.

High-spatial-resolution (HSR) two-component, two-dimensional particle-image-velocimetry (2C-2D PIV) measurements of a zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL) and an adverse-pressure-gradient (APG)-TBL were taken in the LMFL High Reynolds number Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel. The ZPG-TBL has a momentum-thickness based Reynolds number $Re_{\delta_2} = \delta_2 U_e/\nu = 7,750$ while the APG-TBL has a $Re_{\delta_2} = 16,240$ and a Clauser's pressure gradient parameter $\beta = \delta_1 P_x/\tau_w = 2.27$ After analysing the single-exposed PIV image data using a multigrid/multipass digital PIV (Soria, 1996) with in-house software, proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) was performed on the data to separate flow-fields into large- and small-scale motions (LSMs and SSMs), with the LSMs further categorized into high- and low-momentum events. Profiles of the conditionally averaged Reynolds stresses show that the high-momentum events contribute more to the Reynolds stresses than the low-momentum between wall to the end of the log-layer and the opposite is the case in the wake region. The cross-over point of the profiles of the Reynolds stresses from the high- and low-momentum LSMs always has a higher value than the corresponding Reynolds stress from the original ensemble at the same wall-normal location. Furthermore, the cross-over point in the APG-TBL moves further from the wall than in the ZPG-TBL. By removing the velocity fields with LSMs, the estimate of the Reynolds streamwise stress and Reynolds shear stress from the remaining velocity fields is reduced by up to $42 \%$ in the ZPG-TBL. The reduction effect is observed to be even larger (up to $50\%$) in the APG-TBL. However, the removal of these LSMs has a minimal effect on the Reynolds wall-normal stress in both the ZPG- and APG-TBL., Comment: This paper is under consideration for publication in Experimental Thermal and Fluid Sciences

Airfoils operating at low Reynolds number have a proclivity to induce a laminar separation bubble (LSB) on their upper surface. We investigate the effects of angle of attack on the characteristics of the LSB and the flow field around a NACA0012 airfoil. Large-eddy simulations show that there are three distinct angle-of-attack regimes: a pre-stall attached flow, a near stall separating-attaching flow, and a full stall separated flow without reattachment.

In this article the erratic coupling that can occur in screeching supersonic twin jets is characterised. Non-stationary acoustic analysis is used to investigate the temporal behaviour of the coupling phenomena. The results show that where the phase between the jets is time varying, the screech tone experiences interruptions. The interruptions are either correlated and experienced by both jets or are anti-correlated and only by one. During the anti-correlated interruption, the uninterrupted jet screeches as an isolated jet. The instantaneous velocity field shows that for the majority of snapshots during an acoustic interruption, the jets do not exhibit a coupled oscillation. When the jets are uninterrupted, they are oscillating in either a coupled symmetric or anti-symmetric mode. This behaviour manifests at a condition between two operating points characterised by different coupling modes. It suggests the interruptions arise due to a competition between two global modes of the flow. Despite the existence of multiple acoustic tones in the region where these modes are competing, analysis of the individual jets reveals energetic structures with only a single wavelength. It is found that jets whose own oscillation is characterised by a single wavelength can, through coupling either symmetrically or anti-symmetrically about their symmetry plane, produce different acoustic tones. These findings are consistent across three experimental facilities. The observed modes are a function of the jet spacing and nozzle pressure, therefore future studies investigating other spacings must recharacterise the encountered coupled modes. This article provides the signatures to characterise the behaviour for future studies.

The mechanism underpinning the generation of screech tones has remained an open question for many years. In this paper, direct experimental observations of the shock-leakage mechanism first proposed by Manning & Lele (AIAA Paper 1998, p. 282) are presented. Ultra-high-speed schlieren images are filtered to preserve only upstream-propagating components, with the upstream motion of the shock tip and subsequent emission of an acoustic wave visible for a number of operating conditions. The flow visualizations are supported by the ray-tracing model for shock leakage of Shariff & Manning (Phys. Fluids., vol. 25, issue 7, 2013, 076103), applied to velocity fields corresponding to a reconstructed screech cycle. The predictions of the model, when applied to real data, are in close agreement with the phenomena observed in the flow visualizations. It is demonstrated that shock leakage does not necessarily occur either at the point of maximum wave amplitude or maximum vorticity fluctuation. While the first point of shock leakage is shown to vary between cases, sound emission from multiple sources is observed for most cases considered. Finally, it is shown that variations in vortex strength captured in the velocity data are sufficient to explain variation in shock-leakage location observed in the flow visualization data.

In this study large-eddy simulations of under-expanded supersonic impinging jets are performed to develop a better understanding of the characteristics of the acoustic and hydrodynamic waves. Time history, dispersion relation and autocorrelation of the velocity and pressure fluctuations are used to investigate the propagation velocity, time and length scales of the dominant flow structures in the shear layer and near field. The mechanism by which the initial high-frequency instabilities change to low-frequency coherent structures within a short distance is investigated utilising Mach energy norm and linear spatial instability analysis with streamwise varying mean flow profiles. It is shown that the hydrodynamic and acoustic wavepackets have different propagation velocities and length scales while having a similar dominant frequency. It is also observed that the hydrodynamic wavepackets form approximately one jet diameter downstream of the nozzle lip. No evidence has been found to support the ‘collective interactive’ mechanism proposed by Ho & Nosseir (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 105, 1981, pp. 119–142). The ‘vortex pairing’ proposed by Winant & Browand (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 63, 1974, pp. 237–255) is observed near the nozzle; however, it has an insignificant role in the sharp reduction of the most unstable frequency of disturbances. Nonetheless, both Mach energy norm and linear spatial instability analyses show that the most unstable frequency of disturbances decreases rapidly in a very short distance from the nozzle lip in the near-nozzle region through the spatial growth of instabilities where the linear instability analysis overpredicts the frequency of the most unstable instabilities downstream of the nozzle.

While much is known about the microstructure of sperm flagella, the mechanisms behind the generation of flagellar beating patterns by the axoneme are still not fully understood. We demonstrate a technique for investigating the energetics of flagella or cilia. We record the planar beating of tethered wildtype andCrisp2-knockout mouse sperm at high-speed and high-resolution and extract centerlines using digital image processing techniques. We accurately reconstruct beating waveforms using a Chebyshev-polynomial based Proper Orthogonal Decomposition of the centerline tangent-angle profiles. External hydrodynamic forces and the internal resistance from the passive flagellar material are calculated from the observed kinematics of the beating patterns using a Soft, Internally-Driven Kirchhoff-Rod (SIDKR) model. Energy conservation is employed to further compute the flagellar energetics. We thus obtain the distribution of mechanical power exerted by the dynein motors without any further assumptions about mechanisms regulating axonemal function. We find that, in both the mouse genotypes studied, a large proportion of the mechanical power exerted by the dynein motors is dissipated internally, within the passive structures of the flagellum and by the motors themselves. This internal dissipation is considerably greater than the hydrodynamic dissipation in the aqueous medium outside. The net power input from the dynein motors in sperm fromCrisp2-knockout mice is significantly smaller than in corresponding wildtype samples. The reduced power is correlated with slower beating and smaller amplitudes. These measurements of flagellar energetics indicate that the ion-channel regulating cysteine-rich secretory proteins (CRISPs) may also be involved in regulating mammalian sperm motility.

Caenorhabditis elegansis a microscopic nematode used extensively as a model organism in studies of neuromuscular function and neurodegenerative disorders. A mutation inmir-1affects signalling at the neuromuscular junction. We investigate the effect of this mutation on the propulsive power exerted by nematodes as they grow in size with age. We compare the motility of wild-type andmir-1(gk276)mutant nematodes in a Newtonian fluid using a two-component, two dimensional (2C-2D) Digital Microscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (µ-PIV) technique. Beating amplitudes of the head and tail, the wavelength of undulatory waves and the swimming speed scale linearly with size in both the wild-type and mutant strains. The beating frequency is independent of size or position along the body. Differences in the magnitudes of these kinematic parameters between the two strains, however, grow systematically with age. The swimming speed scales linearly with the wave speed of the neuromuscular undulation in both nematode strains with a conserved ratio. The magnitude of mean power and mean local fluid circulation in the mutant is significantly lower compared to those of the wild-type animals of the same age. This indicates that a mutation inmir-1adversely affects motility inC. elegans.

The flow unsteadiness in supersonic impinging jets due to the aero-acoustic feedback loop phenomenon can lead to practical problems like ground erosion in short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircrafts, high noise levels and high unsteady structural loading. The shear-layer instabilities of the jet play an important role in the flow dynamics and their investigation is carried out in the present work using dual-time data. The study of the instabilities is usually conducted with the time derivatives of the velocity field. However, time resolved experimental data acquisition using particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques has its challenges for high-speed flows due to the requirements of high spatial and temporal resolution. An alternate approach using dual-time PIV measurements is presented in the current study which involves the data acquisition using two parallel PIV systems, offset by a very small time scale. Samples of velocity field pairs are obtained by such measurements which contain additional information of the instantaneous time derivatives. Using analysis techniques like dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), valuable information about the dominant structures along with their frequency can be obtained. Numerical data generated using large eddy simulations (LES) and sampled like a double PIV data was used for the analysis. The quantifiable information regarding the flow dynamics that can be obtained using dual-time data along with a rigorous validation is shown in the current work.

The receptivity of an under-expanded supersonic impinging jet flow at a sharp nozzle lip to acoustic impulse disturbances is investigated as a function of geometric and flow parameters. The under-expanded supersonic jets emanate from an infinite-lipped nozzle, i.e. the nozzle exit is a circular hole in a flat plate. Two specific cases have been investigated corresponding to nozzle-to-wall distances of h = 2d and 5d, where d is the jet diameter, at a nozzle pressure ratio of 3.4 and a Reynolds number of 50 000. Receptivity in this study is defined as originally coined by Morkovin (Tech. Rep. AFFDL TR, 1969, pp. 68-149; see also Reshotko, AGARD Special Course on Stability and Transition of Laminar Flow, N84-33757 23-34) as the internalisation of an external disturbance into the initial condition that either initiates or sustains a vortical fluid dynamic instability. Notionally, receptivity can be considered as a transfer function between the external disturbance and the initial conditions of the vortical instability. In the case of under-expanded supersonic impinging jet flow subjected to an acoustic disturbance, this transfer function is located at the nozzle lip and, thus, is amenable to an impulse response analysis using the linearised compressible three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. In this study, the transfer function at the nozzle lip is defined as the ratio of the output flow energy to the input acoustic energy of the acoustic disturbance. The sensitivity of this transfer function to the angular acoustic disturbance location, its azimuthal mode number and Strouhal number has been investigated for the two under-expanded supersonic impinging jet flow cases. It is found that for both the h = 2d and 5d cases, acoustic disturbances located at angles greater than 80° from the jet centreline, with Strouhal numbers in the range between 0.7 and 6.5, have the highest receptivity for all azimuthal mode numbers investigated, except the azimuthal mode number 2 in the case of h = 5d. The case with h = 5d is found to also have high receptivity to acoustic disturbances located at angles between 15° and 50° from the jet centreline for acoustic disturbances of all azimuthal mode numbers.

Time-resolved velocity fields from direct numerical simulations (DNS) are used to investigate the spanwise extent and the time persistence of uniform momentum zones (UMZs) in a zero pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer (ZPG-TBL) and a self-similar adverse pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer (APG-TBL) at the verge of separation. The instantaneous detection methodology introduced by Adrian et al. [1] is used to detect the UMZs and is extended to take into account the spanwise domain length and the temporal evolution of the UMZs. The Reynolds number based on friction velocity (Reτ) ranges from 1176 to 1277 for the ZPG-TBL and from 1652 to 1745 for the self-similar APG-TBL within the domain of interest. For both the TBL cases, probability density functions (PDFs) of the number of UMZs are computed as a function of the streamwise extent, spanwise extent and time extent. For the ZPG-TBL, when the streamwise length of the domain is greater than or equal to 3 boundary layer thickness, the probability of finding 4 UMZs becomes almost negligible. For the APG-TBL, even when the streamwise domain length is taken as large as 1.3 boundary layer thickness, the probability of finding 4 UMZs is still significant. The spanwise extent of the UMZs is found to be shorter than their streamwise extent regardless of the pressure gradient in the flow. In the ZPG-TBL flow, the majority of the UMZs have a spanwise extent of the order of one-tenth of a boundary layer thickness while for the APG-TBL, it is found to be on the order of one-hundredth of a boundary layer thickness. In the ZPG-TBL, the probability of finding 2 UMZs that persist over a time period of 2 integral time scale is around 50%. Similarly, for the APG-TBL, the probability of finding 2 UMZs with a time persistence of 0.4 integral time scale is over 50%. In the case of the ZPG-TBL, it is observed that some of the UMZs with higher persistence in time have higher streamwise momentum and are found to be closer to the free-stream in general. This result is consistent with the previous observations by Laskari et al. [2]. In contrast, for the APG-TBL, UMZs with longer time persistence are found closer to the wall with lower streamwise momentum.

An experimental investigation into the coupling behavior of screeching axisymmetric twin supersonic jets is presented. Acoustic measurements and schlieren photography are used to identify four dist...