Capacities of Clay Fraction of a Latosol to Retain Cations and Anions as Inferred from the Wien Effect in Soil Suspensions

Suspensions of a latosol with a clay concentration of 30 g kg^(-1) wereprepared from electrodialyzed clay fractions, less than 2 μm in diameter, five nitrate solutionswith a concentration of 1 X 10^(04)/z mol L^(-1), where z is the valence, and five sodium saltsolutions with a concentration of 3.3 X 10^(-5)/2 mol L^(-1). The direct current (DC) electricalconductivities (ECs) of the colloidal suspensions were measured at a constant temperature of 25 ℃,using a newly established method of measuring the Wien effect in soil suspensions at field strengthsranging from 13.5 to 150 kV cm^(-1), to determine their electrical conductivity-field strengthrelationships and to infer the order of the bonding strength (retaining force) between soilparticles and various ions. The measurements with the latosol suspensions in NaNO_3, KNO_3,Ca(NO_3)_2, Mg(NO_3)_2 and Zn(NO_3)_2 solutions resulted in increments of the suspension ECs, ΔECs,of 7.9, 5.0, 7.1, 7.0 and 5.8 μS cm^(-1), respectively, when the applied field strength increasedfrom 14.5 to 142 kV cm^(-1). As for the suspensions in NaNO_3, NaCl, Na_2SO_4, Na_3PO_4 andNa_3AsO_4 solutions, the ΔECs were 6.2, 5.3, 4.1, 4.0 and 3.7μS cm^(-1), respectively, when theapplied field strength increased from 13.5 to 90 kV cm^(-1). Thus, it can be deduced that theretaining forces of the clay fraction of the latosol for the cations were in the descending orderK^+ > Zn^(2+) > Mg^(2+) ≥ Ca^(2+) > Na^+, and for the anions in the descending order H_2AsO_4^- >H_2PO_4^-≥ SO_4^(2-) > Cl^- > NO_3~ -.

CAPTURE EFFECT OF ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL SUSPENSIONS IN FLOW FIELD

According to the results of experiments and theoretical analysis, a phenomenon called ＂capture effect＂ is put forward, which could be used to describe the particles dynamic behavior of electrorheological （ER） suspensions. Then a ＂structure-force＂ mathematical model is established to explain this effect based on electrostatic energy density equation. The analysis results show that the dynamic coupling process of ER suspensions under an external electric filed is the function not only of the electric intensity, but also of the dielectric properties and the structure form.

Transition and self-sustained turbulence in dilute suspensions of finite-size particles

We study the transition to turbulence of channel flow of finite-size particle suspensions at low volume fraction, i.e., φ ≈0.001. The critical Reynolds number above which turbulence is sustained reduces to Re ≈ 1675, in the presence of few particles, independently of the initial condition, a value lower than that of the corresponding single-phase flow, i.e., Re ≈1775. In the dilute suspension, the initial arrangement of the particles is important to trigger the transition at a fixed Reynolds number and particle volume fraction. As in single phase flows, streamwise elongated disturbances are initially induced in the flow. If particles can induce oblique disturbances with high enough energy within a certain time, the streaks breakdown, flow experiences the transition to turbulence and the particle trajectories become chaotic, Otherwise, the streaks decay in time and the particles immigrate towards the channel core in a laminar flow.