Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics

We present direct numerical simulations for the pathophysiology of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy of the left ventricle of the human heart. This cardiovascular disorder manifests itself through systolic anterior motion (SAM), a drift of the mitral leaflets towards the aortic subvalvular region, sometimes causing ventricular obstruction during systole. This pathology is induced by a combination of factors, including a thickening of the interventricular septum and an elongation of the mitral valve leaflets: we perform a full parametric study to assess their effect on the disease. From our results we observe that SAM occurs when elongated leaflets, hypertrophic ventricles and strong ejection fraction are present at the same time. In contrast, a physiological ventricle with elongated leaflets, an hypertrophic ventricle with physiological leaflets or diseased ventricle and leaflets with a weak ejection fraction do not produce SAM. After verifying that the numerical results are consistent and in agreement with the clinical data from the literature, we virtually test the two standard surgical procedures, leaflet plication and septal myectomy, adopted for the surgical treatment of SAM. For all the considered cases we obtain quantitative confirmation for the reliability of the intraventricular subvalvular pressure drop (or subvalvular pressure gradient for the medical community) as diagnostic indicator of the systolic anterior motion: when this quantity attains the value of 30 mmHg, SAM of the mitral leaflets is observed, while when this threshold is exceeded the SAM becomes obstructive. On the other hand, in all cases for which SAM is not observed the above pressure drop is always below the threshold.

The need to numerically represent a free vortex system arises frequently in fundamental and applied research. Many possible techniques for realizing this vortex system exist but most tend to prioritize accuracy either inside or outside of the vortex core, which therefore makes them unsuitable for a stability analysis considering the entire flow field. In this article, a simple method is presented that is shown to yield an accurate representation of the flow inside and outside of the vortex core. The method is readily implemented in any incompressible Navier–Stokes solver using primitive variables and Cartesian coordinates. It can potentially be used to model a wide range of vortices but is here applied to the case of two helices, which is of renewed interest due to its relevance for wind turbines and helicopters. Three-dimensional stability analysis is performed in both a rotating and a translating frame of reference, which yield eigenvalue spectra that feature both mutual inductance and elliptic instabilities. Comparison of these spectra with available theoretical predictions is used to validate the proposed baseflow model, and new insights into the elliptic instability of curved Batchelor vortices are presented. Furthermore, it is shown that the instabilities in the rotating and the translating reference frames have the same structure and growth rate, but different frequency. A relation between these frequencies is provided.

Boundary film shear elastic modulus effect is analyzed in a hydrodynamic contact. The contact is one-dimensional composed of two parallel plane surfaces, which are, respectively, rough rigid with rectangular micro projections in profile periodically distributed on the surface and ideally smooth rigid. The whole contact is consisted of cavitated area and hydrodynamic area. The hydrodynamic area consists of many micro Raleigh bearings which are discontinuously and periodically distributed in the contact. Analysis is thus carried out for a micro Raleigh bearing in this contact. The hydrodynamic contact in this micro Raleigh bearing consists of boundary film area and fluid film area which, respectively, occur in the outlet and inlet zones. In boundary film area, the film slips at the upper contact surface due to the limited shear stress capacity of the film–contact interface, while the film does not slip at the lower contact surface due to the shear stress capacity large enough at the film–contact interface. In boundary film area, the viscosity, density and shear elastic modulus of the film are varied across the film thickness due to the film–contact interactions, and their effective values are used in modeling, which depend on the film thickness. The analytical approach proposed by Zhang (J Mol Liq 128:60–64, 2006) and Zhang et al. (Int J Fluid Mech Res 30:542–557, 2003) is used for boundary film area. In fluid film area, the film does not slip at either of the contact surfaces, and the shear elastic modulus of the film is neglected. Conventional hydrodynamic analysis is used for fluid film area. The present paper presents the theoretical analysis and a typical solution. It is found that for the simulated case the boundary film shear elastic modulus effects on the mass flow through the contact, the overall film thickness of the contact and the carried load of the contact are negligible but the boundary film shear elastic modulus effect on the local film thickness of the contact may be significant when the boundary film thickness is on the 1 nm scale and the contact surfaces are elastic. In Part II will be presented detailed results showing boundary film shear elastic modulus effects in different operating conditions.

Leading-edge modifications based on designs inspired by the protrusions on the pectoral flippers of the humpback whale (tubercles) have been the subject of research for the past decade primarily due to their flow control potential in ameliorating stall characteristics. Previous studies have demonstrated that, in the transitional flow regime, full-span wings with tubercled leading edges outperform unmodified wings at high attack angles. The flow mechanism associated with such enhanced loading traits is, however, still being investigated. Also, the performance of full-span tubercled wings in the turbulent regime is largely unexplored. The present study aims to investigate Reynolds number effects on the flow mechanism induced by a full-span tubercled wing with the NACA-0021 cross-sectional profile in the transitional and near-turbulent regimes using computational fluid dynamics. The analysis of the flow field suggests that, with the exception of a few different flow features, the same underlying flow mechanism, involving the presence of transverse and streamwise vorticity, is at play in both cases. With regard to lift-generation characteristics, the numerical simulation results indicate that in contrast to the transitional flow regime, where the unmodified NACA-0021 undergoes a sudden loss of lift, in the turbulent regime, the baseline foil experiences gradual stall and produces more lift than the tubercled foil. This observation highlights the importance of considerations regarding the Reynolds number effects and the stall characteristics of the baseline foil, in the industrial applications of tubercled lifting bodies.

Results from computational fluid dynamics experiments of internal wave reflection from sloping boundaries are presented. In these experiments the incident wave lies in a plane normal to the slope. When the angle of wave energy propagation is close to the bottom slope the reflection causes wave breakdown into a quasi-periodic, turbulent boundary layer. Boundary layer energetics and vorticity dynamics are examined and indicate the importance of the three-dimensional turbulence. The boundary layer exhibits intermittent turbulence: approximately every 1.2 wave periods the boundary layer mixes energetically for a duration of about one-third of a wave period, and then it restratifies until the next mixing event. Throughout the wave cycle a strong thermal front is observed to move upslope at the phase speed of the incident waves. Simulations demonstrate that the net effects of turbulent mixing are not confined to the boundary layer, but are communicated to the interior stratified fluid by motions induced by buoyancy effects and by the wave field, resulting in progressive weakening of the background density gradient. Transition to turbulence is determined to occur at Reynolds numbers of approximately 1500, based upon the wavelength and maximum current velocity of the oncoming wave train. The boundary layer thickness depends on the Reynolds number for low Richardson numbers, with a characteristic depth of approximately one-half of the vertical wavelength of the oncoming wave.

We investigate the stability and control of a plane, laminar jet impinging on a flat plate in a channel, a geometry used to cool down a hot wall with a cold air jet in many industrial configurations. The global stability analysis indicates that, even for a strong confinement, the two-dimensional (2-D) steady flow is unstable to three-dimensional (3-D), steady perturbations. In the simplest limit case where dilatation effects are neglected, we show that the development of the instability induces a significant spanwise modulation of the heat flux at the impacted wall. To control the leading global mode, we propose adjoint-based 3-D harmonic and 2-D steady forcing in the bulk or at the wall. We show for instance that the unstable mode is controllable using a spanwise uniform blowing at the upper wall, in a specific domain corresponding to the footprint of the upper recirculating bubble. These techniques are applied to a novel open-loop control, in which we introduce into the flow a small airfoil, modelled by the lift force it exerts on the flow.

Direct and large-eddy simulations (DNS/LES) of accelerating round jets are used to analyze the effects of acceleration on the kinematics of vortex rings in the near field of the jet (x/D < 12). The acceleration is obtained by increasing the nozzle jet velocity with time, in a previously established (steady) jet, and ends once the inlet jet velocity is equal to twice its initial value. Several acceleration rates (α = 0.02–0.6) and Reynolds numbers (Re D = 500–20000) were simulated. Acceleration maps were used to make a detailed study of the kinematics of vortex rings in accelerating jets. One of the effects of the acceleration is to cause a number of new primary and secondary vortex merging events that are absent from steady jets. As the acceleration rate α increases, both the number of primary merging events between rings and the axial position where these take place decreases. The statistics for the speed of the starting ring that forms at the start of the acceleration phase for each simulation, agree well with the statistics for the “front” speed observed by Zhang and Johari (Phys Fluids 8:2185–2195, 1996). Acceleration maps and flow visualizations show that during the acceleration phase the near field coherent vortices become smaller and are formed at an higher frequency than in the steady jet, and their (mean) shedding frequency increases linearly with the acceleration rate. Finally, it was observed that the acceleration decreases the spreading rate of the jet, in agreement with previous experimental works.

This paper studies the inverted stochastic lattice Boltzmann-Lagrangian approach for identifying indoor particulate pollutant sources. The dynamics of the fluid (indoor air) as well as the transport of the particles in the Eulerian description are solved using the lattice Boltzmann method. The particles regard as rigid bodies, and the data interactions between lattice fluid and particle movement are implemented by calculating for interaction force and void fraction. Particle-wall collision process is based on the softball model which describes the dynamic characteristics of particles in microscopic state. The results are shown that the particle forward and inverted drifting paths and its mechanisms are investigated clearly than previous methods. Indoor particulate pollutant sources can exactly identify with this approach. This research can offer theoretical relevance to the modeling of multi-phase particle fluid.