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At least 199 records · Page 11

The Dynamics of Ultrasonically Levitated Drops in an Electric Field

Ultrasonic and electrostatic leviation techniques have allowed the experimental investigation of the nonlinear oscillatory dynamics of free droplets with diameter between 0.1 and 0.4 cm. The measurement of the resonance frequencies of the first three normal modes of large amplitude shape oscillations in an electric field of varying magnitude has been carried out with and without surface charges for weakly conducting liquids in air. These oscillations of nonspherical levitated drops have been driven by either modulating the ultrasonic field or by using a time-varying electric field, and the free decay from the oscillatory state has been recorded. A decrease in the resonance frequency of the driven fundamental quadrupole mode has been measured for increasing oblate deformation in the absence of an electric field. Similarly, a decrease in this frequency has also been found for increasing DC electric field magnitude. A soft nonlinearity exists in the amplitude dependence of the resonant mode frequencies for freely decaying as well as ultrasonically and electrically driven uncharged drops. This decrease in resonance frequency is accentuated by the presence of free surface charge on the drop. Subharmonic resonance excitation has been observed for drops in a time-varying electric field, and hysteresis exists for resonant modes driven to large amplitude. Mode coupling from lower-order resonances to higher-order modes has been found to be very weak, even for fairly large amplitude shape oscillations. Most of these results are in general agreement with predictions from recent analytical and numerical investigations.

Ultrasonically↗

Surface-Controlled Drop Oscillations in Space

Large liquid drops were deformed by an acoustic standing wave in a resonant air chanber called the Drop Physics Module, which was carried on Space Shuttle Columbia as part of the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission. When this deforming force was suddenly reduced, the drops executed free oscillations about a perfect sherical equilibrium. Results are presented for pure water and aqueous solutions of soluble surfactants. [PACS: 43.25.U, 47.55Dz, 68.10.Cr, 83.10.-y].

microgravity drop oscillations drop physics module↗

Lifetime extension drop-test of real-world corroded 5 Quart Hagan nuclear material storage container

A 5Qt Hagan container with a 20-year history of nuclear material storage was challenged with three successive drop tests at a height of 3.7 meters. The total mass of the test package was 12.1 kg. The 1st and 2nd drop tests (center of gravity over the container bottom corner but 180 degrees apart on the container bottom face) passed the pre- and post- impact helium leak criterion at less than 1.00E-6 atm-cc/sec (ambient cubic centimeters per second). The 3rd and final test (center of gravity over top corner) failed with a post-impact gross leak of 1.1E-1 atmcc/sec. The RRFMC (Respirable Release Fraction Measurement Chamber) is a drop tower test system that is critical for the sustainability of the SAVY-4000™ series and Hagan-type (NFT Inc. Golden CO) nuclear material storage containers. These are the primary in-use nuclear material storage container types at the Los Alamos National Laboratory TA-55 facility. Results are presented to expand the technical knowledge basis for container lifetime, regarding actual exposure to corrosive gas species on the container inner surfaces. The primary source of general corrosion throughout the container is gaseous hydrogen chloride (HCl). This gas is generated by the degradation of the polyvinylchloride (PVC) bag-out bag. Additionally, in most cases, the nuclear material itself also releases HCl gas (due to residual chemical components associated with the material formation). The RRFMC drop tower gives the end-user the ability record and analyze high-speed video and photography and if needed aerosol mass release measurements. In this report the principal issue is the physical deformation of the 5Qt Hagan container. There were no mass release experiments of test aerosol mass in the present study.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Ignition of partially shattered liquid fuel drops in a reflected shock wave environment

An experimental investigation of the ignition of individual fuel drops after their interaction with an incident and a reflected shock wave near the end wall of a shock tube has been carried out. The influence of the aerodynamic shattering of the fuel drop by the convective flow on the ignition characteristics has been examined by varying the drop-end wall separation distance. Data are presented which show the ignition delay times to be a function of the various experimental conditions encountered in this study. A comparison is made with previous investigations concerning the ignition of a liquid fuel drop due only to the interaction with an incident shock wave.

Wierzba, A. S.↗

The lift force on a drop in unbounded plane Poiseuille flow

The lift force on a deformable liquid sphere moving in steady, plane Poiseuille-Stokes flow and subjected to an external body force is calculated. The results are obtained by seeking a solution to Stokes' equations for the motion of the liquids inside and outside the slightly perturbed sphere surface, as expansions valid for small values of the ratio of the Weber number to the Reynolds number. When the ratio of the drop and external fluid viscosities is small, the lift exerted on a neutrally buoyant drop is found to be approximately one-tenth of the magnitude of the force reported by Wohl and Rubinow acting on the same drop in unbounded Poiseuille flow in a tube. The resultant trajectory of the drop is calculated and displayed as a function of the external body force.

Wohl, P. R.↗

Drop dynamics in space

Experiments to study the dynamics of liquid drops are being planned to be performed in the weightless environment of Spacelab. The liquids will range from superfluid helium through ordinary liquid to molten metals and glasses. The experiments will be conducted in a chamber now being developed which utilizes the forces and torques produced by acoustic waves excited within the chamber. None of the currently available facilities (drop towers, sounding rockets, or zero-g aircraft flights) can provide a sustained weightless environment, since the resulting zero-g periods are from 3 sec to 5 min. Spaceflight, however, will provide weightlessness for periods of one week, or more, allowing truly laboratory-like experiments to be conducted on free liquid drops and bubbles. In this paper we discuss both the drop dynamics experiments proposed for Spacelab and the acoustic chamber: its operation and current testing for these and other experiments.

Wang, T. G.↗

The role of drop velocity in statistical spray description

The justification for describing a spray by treating drop velocity as a random variable on an equal statistical basis with drop size was studied experimentally. A double-exposure technique using fluorescent drop photography was used to make size and velocity measurements at selected locations in a steady ethanol spray formed by a swirl atomizer. The size-velocity data were categorized to construct bivariate spray density functions to describe the spray immediately after formation and during downstream propagation. It was found that a statistical treatment of drop velocity was supported by the data. Spray density function shapes and modal characteristics depended strongly on position and the amount of droplet-gas interaction that had occurred. Bimodal density functions were formed by environmental interaction during downstream propagation. Large differences were also found between spatial mass density and mass flux size distributions at the same location.

Groeneweg, J. F.↗

Load and dynamic assessment of B-52B-008 carrier aircraft for finned configuration 1 space shuttle solid rocket booster decelerator subsystem drop test vehicle. Volume 1: Summary

The B-52B airplane was identified for use in solid rocket booster (RSB) parachute drop flight testing. The purpose of this study was to determine by theoretical analysis methods the compatability and structural capability of B-52B drop test vehicle configuration (with fins) to accomplish the drop test mission. This document consist of four volumes. This volume presents a summary of airplane flutter and load strength evaluation analysis results and a comparative study of the pylon loading resulting from drop test vehicle inertia and aerodynamic considerations.

Quade, D. A.↗

Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster decelerator subsystem drop test results

An air drop test program was conducted as part of the development of a decelerator subsystem for recovering the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster. This development test program consisted of six drops performed over the period from June 1977 to September 1978 at a parachute test center in California. The testing concerned a 48,000-lb drop test vehicle released from the B-52 mothership. The drop test program is described and pertinent test results are discussed. Data include snatch loads, inflation characteristics, peak inflation and disreef loads, and drag performance. Performance characteristics of the drogue parachute and the main parachute are established.

Moog, R. D.↗

Containerless undercooling and solidification in drop tubes

A containerless low-gravity environment, produced within a 32 m drop tube apparatus, has been used to undercool and solidify metals, alloys or glasses by eliminating crucible induced nucleation processes. Niobium droplets with diameters in the range of 2 to 5 mm have been undercooled by 525 K which corresponds to the maximum undercooling reported by Turnbull and others on fine dispersions of low melting point metals. Solidification at large undercooling resulted in single crystalline spheres with the formation of interdendritic shrinkage channels on the sample surface rather than interior shrinkage cavities. The grain refinement as observed for Ni samples undercooled and solidified in fused silica crucibles does not occur in free-falling drops of Nb. A calculated solidification speed of undercooled Nb is compared to Ni. A solidification speed of 320 m/s is found for the Nb drops. This solidification speed is greater than or comparable to the solidification speeds calculated in splat cooled samples. Thus, a drop tube apparatus can be useful in the preparation and study of high temperature metastable compounds or alloys in bulk form.

Lacy, L. L.↗

Resonances, radiation pressure and optical scattering phenomena of drops and bubbles

Acoustic levitation and the response of fluid spheres to spherical harmonic projections of the radiation pressure are described. Simplified discussions of the projections are given. A relationship between the tangential radiation stress and the Konstantinov effect is introduced and fundamental streaming patterns for drops are predicted. Experiments on the forced shape oscillation of drops are described and photographs of drop fission are displayed. Photographs of critical angle and glory scattering by bubbles and rainbow scattering by drops are displayed.

Marston, P. L.↗

The stability of the axially symmetric pendent drop

The axially symmetric pendent drop as it occurs in three different physical settings is analyzed: Problem A with constant pressure and a fixed circular opening (the siphon); Problem B with constant volume and a fixed circular opening (the medicine dropper); and Problem C with prescribed volume and a constant angle of contact with a horizontal plate. As examples, the results are verified. For Problem B it is shown that if the opening is small enough to support a stable pendent drop with a bulge, then as the exposed volume is increased, stable pendent drops with both a neck and a bulge will be formed. For Problem C it is shown that with increasing volume the profile curves for the family of stable pendent drops will develop an inflection point before instability arises.

Wente, H. C.↗

The motion of a drop in a rigid surface

The assumptions of a region of slip near a moving contact line (to remove the force singularity) and a constant contact angle are used to obtain the equation for the shape of a thin drop of liquid resting on a rigid plane. Three asymptotic expansions are matched together to obtain an expression for the rate at which the drop spreads. Some cases of sliding motion are also examined. Although the technique is presented here for thin drops only, it can also be applied to drops of arbitrary size.

Hocking, L. M.↗

A satellite investigation of energy flux and inferred potential drop in auroral electron energy spectra

The relationship between auroral electron energy flux and the inferred accelerating potential drop for accelerated Maxwellian distributions is investigated on the basis of Atmospheric Explorer D spectral measurements. An analytical approximation for the total downward energy flux carried by an isotropic Maxwellian electron population accelerated by a field-aligned electrostatic potential drop is derived which is valid for values of the electron energy/characteristic accelerated Maxwellian distribution energy which are less than the difference between the ratio of the magnetic field strengths at the altitude of observation and the altitude of potential drop, and unity. Data from the Low Energy Electron Experiment on board AE D obtained on both the dayside and the nightside during periods of significant inverted-V type electron precipitation shows that the 455 energy spectra considered, 160 of them, obtained between 60 and 85 deg invariant latitude, could be fit to accelerated Maxwellian distributions. The 160 Maxwellian spectra are then shown to be in agreement with the predictions of the accelerated Maxwellian model. Finally, analysis of individual spectra suggests that the altitude of the inferred potential drop is at a maximum near the center of the inverted-V structures.

Menietti, J. D.↗

Flow in a differentially rotated cylindrical drop at low Reynolds number

A liquid drop held captive between parallel disks that are differentially rotated is a model for the swirling flows induced by crystal rotation in the floating-zone process for growing semiconductor materials. An asymptotic analysis for a cylindrical drop is presented that elucidates the structure of the axisymmetric cellular motions caused by disk rotation at low Reynolds number. Variations of meniscus shape induced by these flows are described in the limit of small capillary number. Most cellular flow fields break the bifurcation point that corresponds to the Plateau-Rayleigh limit for the length of a static drop into two disjoint shape families and lower the maximum stable drop length. This effect is studied by a singular bifurcation analysis.

Harriott, G. M.↗

Drop motion in a rotating immiscible liquid body

The interaction of liquids is an important part of many processes and is often used for such purposes as causing a separation of solution components by mass transfer between phases, allowing a chemical reaction between liquids or their components, providing direct contact heating or cooling, or creating emulsions. Containerless space processing may well involve the interaction of liquids in the form of drops. For example it may be desirable to form an alloy in space by merger of two or more drops. Encapsulation of a volatile liquid by a second less volatile and immiscible liquid might be a means for avoiding volatilization. Rotation of such systems would enhance mixing where desirable and/or provide means for drop management. In this study, single drop behavior in rotating liquid bodies is studied experimentally.

Annamalai, P.↗

Thermocapillary motion of bubbles inside drops

A quasi-static analysis is performed for the thermocapillary motion of a bubble located inside a drop in free fall, with arbitrary axisymmetric temperature fields prescribed on the drop surface. It is shown that in the case of an axially symmetric temperature field, the bubble moves along the axis of symmetry toward the nearest warm pole. The bubble velocity as well as the velocity and temperature fields in the drop can be predicted on the basis of the quasi-static assumptions. An approximation is presented which adequately describes bubble migration velocities in the case where the ratio of the bubble radius to the drop radius is relatively small.

Shankar, N.↗

Results of the technical exchange agreement between NASA and DuPont on the containerless drop tube solidification of NiAl3

The final results of the Drop Tube Solidification of NiAl3 are presented. Problems associated with the utilization of a dripper furnace in the drop tube are discussed and the modification of experimental procedures required to achieve results are described. Sample microstructures of drop tube samples are compared with other samples. The dendrite arm spacings of drop tube samples are correlated with the rapid cooling rates.

Ethridge, E. C.↗