Venous Doppler flow patterns,venous congestion,heart disease and renal dysfunction:A complex liaison

The World Journal of Cardiology published an article written by Kuwahara et al that we take the pleasure to comment on.We focused our attention on venous congestion.In intensive care settings,it is now widely accepted that venous congestion is an important clinical feature worthy of investigation.Evaluating venous Doppler profile abnormalities at multiple sites could suggest adequate treatment and monitor its efficacy.Renal dysfunction could trigger or worsen fluid overload in heart disease,and cardio-renal syndrome is a well-characterized spectrum of disorders describing the complex interactions between heart and kidney diseases.Fluid overload and venous congestion,including renal venous hypertension,are major determinants of acute and chronic renal dysfunction arising in heart disease.Organ congestion from venous hypertension could be involved in the development of organ injury in several clinical situations,such as critical diseases,congestive heart failure,and chronic kidney disease.Ultrasonography and abnormal Doppler flow patterns diagnose clinically significant systemic venous congestion.Cardiologists and nephrologists might use this valuable,noninvasive,bedside diagnostic tool to establish fluid status and guide clinical choices.

Insight into evolution of invasive patterns on fingering phenomenon during immiscible two-phase flow through pore structure

Understanding fingering, as a challenge to stable displacement during the immiscible flow, has become a crucial phenomenon for geological carbon sequestration, enhanced oil recovery, and groundwater protection. Typically governed by gravity, viscous and capillary forces, these factors lead invasive fluids to occupy pore space irregularly and incompletely. Previous studies have demonstrated capillary numbers,describing the viscous and capillary forces, to quantificationally induce evolution of invasion patterns.While the evolution mechanisms of invasive patterns have not been deeply elucidated under the constant capillary number and three variable parameters including velocity, viscosity, and interfacial tension.Our research employs two horizontal visualization systems and a two-phase laminar flow simulation to investigate the tendency of invasive pattern transition by various parameters at the pore scale. We showed that increasing invasive viscosity or reducing interfacial tension in a homogeneous pore space significantly enhanced sweep efficiency, under constant capillary number. Additionally, in the fingering crossover pattern, the region near the inlet was prone to capillary fingering with multi-directional invasion, while the viscous fingering with unidirectional invasion was more susceptible occurred in the region near the outlet. Furthermore, increasing invasive viscosity or decreasing invasive velocity and interfacial tension promoted the extension of viscous fingering from the outlet to the inlet, presenting that the subsequent invasive fluid flows toward the outlet. In the case of invasive trunk along a unidirectional path, the invasive flow increased exponentially closer to the outlet, resulting in a significant decrease in the width of the invasive interface. Our work holds promising applications for optimizing invasive patterns in heterogeneous porous media.

Analysis of the flow pattern and periodicity of gas–liquid–liquid three-phase flow in a countercurrent mixer-settler

In contrast to the concurrent mixer-settler,the interaction between the mixing and settling chambers have to be taken into account in the simulation of the countercurrent mixer-settler,and no work has been reported for this equipment.In this work,a three-phase flow model based on the Eulerian multiphase model,coupled with a sliding mesh model is proposed for a countercurrent mixer-settler.Based on this,the dispersed phase distribution,flow pattern,and pressure distribution are investigated,which can help to fill the gap in the operation mechanism.In addition,the velocity vector distribution at the phase port shows an intriguing phenomenon that two types of vectors with opposite directions are distributed on the left and right sides of the same plane,which indicates that the material exchange in the mixing and settling chambers is simultaneous.Analysis of this variation at this location by a fast Fourier transform(FFT)method reveals that it is mainly influenced by the mixing chamber and is consistent with the main period of the outlet flow fluctuations.Therefore,by monitoring the fluctuation of the outlet flow and then analyzing it by the FFT method,the state of the whole tank can be determined,which makes it promising for the design of control systems for countercurrent mixer-settlers.

Surface crack evolution patterns in freeze-thaw damage of fissured rock bodies

To explore the effects of freeze‒thaw cycles on the mechanical properties and crack evolution of fissured sandstone,biaxial compression experiments were carried out on sandstone subjected to freeze‒thaw cycles to characterize the changes in the physical and mechanical properties of fissured sandstone caused by freeze‒thaw cycles.The crack evolution and crack change process on the surface of the fissured sandstone were recorded and analysed in detail via digital image technology(DIC).Numerical simulation was used to reveal the expansion process and damage mode of fine-scale cracks under the action of freeze‒thaw cycles,and the simulation results were compared and analysed with the experimental data to verify the reliability of the numerical model.The results show that the mass loss,porosity,peak stress and elastic modulus all increase with increasing number of freeze‒thaw cycles.With an increase in the number of freeze‒thaw cycles,a substantial change in displacement occurs around the prefabricated cracks,and a stress concentration appears at the crack tip.As new cracks continue to sprout at the tips of the prefabricated cracks until the microcracks gradually penetrate into the main cracks,the displacement cloud becomes obviously discontinuous,and the contours of the displacement field in the crack fracture damage area simply intersect with the prefabricated cracks to form an obvious fracture.The damage patterns of the fractured sandstone after freeze‒thaw cycles clearly differ,forming a symmetrical"L"-shaped damage pattern at zero freeze‒thaw cycles,a symmetrical"V"-shaped damage pattern at 10 freeze‒thaw cycles,and a"V"-shaped damage pattern at 20 freeze‒thaw cycles.After 20 freeze‒thaw cycles,a"V"-shaped destruction pattern and"L"-shaped destruction pattern are formed;after 30 freeze‒thaw cycles,an"N"-shaped destruction pattern is formed.This shows that the failure mode of fractured sandstone gradually becomes more complicated with an increasing number of freeze‒thaw cycles.The effects of freeze‒thaw cycles on the direction and rate of crack propagation are revealed through a temperature‒load coupled model,which provides an important reference for an in-depth understanding of the freeze‒thaw failure mechanisms of fractured rock masses.

Analysis of deformation and internal flow patterns for rising single bubbles in different liquids

Gas–liquid multiphase flow is a significant phenomenon in chemical processes. The rising behaviors of single bubbles in the quiescent liquids have been investigated but the internal flow patterns and deformation rules of bubbles, which influence the mass transfer efficiency to a large extent, have received much less attention. In this paper, the volume of fluid method was used to calculate the bubble shapes, pressure, velocity distributions,and the flow patterns inside the bubbles. The rising behavior of the bubbles with four different initial diameters,i.e., 3 mm, 5 mm, 7 mm and 9 mm was investigated in four various liquids including water, 61.23% glycerol,86.73% glycerol and 100% glycerol. The results show that the liquid properties and bubble initial diameters have great impacts on bubble shapes. Moreover, flow patterns inside the bubbles with different initial diameters were analyzed and classified into three types under the condition of different bubble shapes. Three correlations for predicting the maximum internal circulation inside the bubbles in 86.73% glycerol were presented and the R-square values were all bigger than 0.98. Through analyzing the pressure and velocity distributions around the bubbles, four rules of bubble deformation were also obtained to explain and predict the shapes.

Three-phase flow of submarine gas hydrate pipe transport

In the hydraulic transporting process of cutter-suction mining natural gas hydrate, when the temperature-pressure equilibrium of gas hydrate is broken, gas hydrates dissociate into gas. As a result, solid-liquid two-phase flow(hydrate and water) transforms into gas-solid-liquid three-phase flow(methane, hydrate and water) inside the pipeline. The Euler model and CFD-PBM model were used to simulate gas-solid-liquid three-phase flow. Numerical simulation results show that the gas and solid phase gradually accumulate to the center of the pipe. Flow velocity decreases from center to boundary of the pipe along the radial direction. Comparison of numerical simulation results of two models reveals that the flow state simulated by CFD-PBM model is more uniform than that simulated by Euler model, and the main behavior of the bubble is small bubbles coalescence to large one. Comparison of numerical simulation and experimental investigation shows that the values of flow velocity and gas fraction in CFD-PBM model agree with experimental data better than those in Euler model. The proposed PBM model provides a more accurate and effective way to estimate three-phase flow state of transporting gas hydrate within the submarine pipeline.

Flow patterns and boundary conditions for inlet and outlet conduits of large pump system with low head

The flow patterns in the inlet and outlet conduits have a decisive effect on the safe, stable, and highly efficient operation of the pump in a large pumping station with low head. The numerical simulation of three-dimensional （3D） turbulence flow in conduits is an important method to study the hydraulic performance and conduct an optimum hydraulic design for the conduits. With the analyses of the flow patterns in the inlet and outlet conduits, the boundary conditions of the numerical simulation for them can be determined. The main obtained conclusions are as follows： （i） Under normal operation conditions, there is essentially no pre-swirl flow at the impeller chamber inlet of an axial-flow pump system, based on which the boundary condition at the inlet conduit may be defined. （ii） The circulation at the guide vane outlet of an axial-flow pump system has a great effect on the hydraulic performance of the outlet conduit, and there is optimum circulation for the performance. Therefore, it is strongly suggested to design the guide vane according to the optimum circulation. （iii） The residual circulation at the guide vane outlet needs to be considered for the inlet boundary condition of the outlet conduit, and the value of the circulation may be measured in a specially designed test model.

Modeling and Analysis of Airlift System Operating in Three-Phase Flow

Based on the momentum theorem, the fluid governing equation in a lifting pipe is proposed by use of the method combining theoretical analysis with empirical correlations related to the previous research, and the performance of an airlift pump can be clearly characterized by the triangular relationship among the volumetric flux of air, water and solid particles, which are obtained respectively by using numerical calculation. The meso-scale river sand is used as tested particles to examine the theoretical model. Results of the model are compared with the data in three-phase flow obtained prior to the development of the present model, by an independent experimental team that used the physical conditions of the present approach. The analytical error can be controlled within 12% for predicting the volumetric flux of water and is smaller than that （±16%） of transporting solid particles in three-phase flow. The experimental results and computations are in good agreement for air-water two-phase flow within a margin of ±8%. Reasonable agreement justifies the use of the present model for engineering design purposes.

TWO-PHASE FLOW PATTERNS IN A 90° BEND AT MICROGRAVITY

Bends are widely used in pipelines carrying single-and two-phase fluids in both ground and space applications.In particular,they play more important role in space applications due to the extreme spatial constraints.In the present study,a set of experimental data of two-phase flow patterns and their transitions in a 90°bend with inner diameter of 12.7 mm and curvature radius of 76.5 mm at microgravity conditions are reported.Gas and liquid superficial velocities are found to range from (1.0～23.6)m/s for gas and(0.09～0.5)m/s for liquid,respectively.Three major flow patterns, namely slug,slug-annular transitional,and annular flows,are observed in this study.Focusing on the differences between flow patterns in bends and their counterparts in straight pipes,detailed analyses of their characteristics are made.The transitions between adjoining flow patterns are found to be more or less the same as those in straight pipes,and can be predicted using Weber number models satisfactorily. The reasons for such agreement are carefully examined.

Pedestrian flow through exit:Study focused on evacuation pattern

Experiments are conducted on the evacuation rate of pedestrians through exits with queued evacuation pattern and random evacuation pattern. The experimental results show that the flow rate of pedestrians is larger with the random evacuation pattern than with the queued evacuation pattern. Therefore, the exit width calculated based on the minimum evacuation clear width for every 100 persons, which is on the assumption that the pedestrians pass through the exit in one queue or several queues, is conservative. The number of people crossing the exit simultaneously is greater in the random evacuation experiments than in the queued evacuation experiments, and the time interval between the front row and rear row of people is shortened in large-exit conditions when pedestrians evacuate randomly. The difference between the flow rate with a queued evacuation pattern and the flow rate with a random evacuation pattern is related to the surplus width of the exit, which is greater than the total width of all accommodated people streams. Two dimensionless quantities are defined to explore this relationship. It is found that the difference in flow rate between the two evacuation patterns is stable at a low level when the surplus width of the exit is no more than 45% of the width of a single pedestrian stream. There is a great difference between the flow rate with the queued evacuation pattern and the flow rate with the random evacuation pattern in a scenario with a larger surplus width of the exit. Meanwhile, the pedestrians crowd extraordinarily at the exit in these conditions as well, since the number of pedestrians who want to evacuate through exit simultaneously greatly exceeds the accommodated level. Therefore, the surplus width of exit should be limited especially in the narrow exit condition, and the relationship between the two dimensionless quantities mentioned above could provide the basis to some extent.

Flux vector splitting solutions for coupling hydraulic transient of gas-liquid-solid three-phase flow in pipelines

The gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixed flow is the most general in multiphase mixed transportation. It is significant to exactly solve the coupling hydraulic transient problems of this type of multiphase mixed flow in pipelines. Presently, the method of characteristics is widely used to solve classical hydraulic transient problems. However, when it is used to solve coupling hydraulic transient problems, excessive interpolation errors may be introduced into the results due to unavoidable multiwave interpolated calculations. To deal with the problem, a finite difference scheme based on the Steger- Warming flux vector splitting is proposed. A flux vector splitting scheme is established for the coupling hydraulic transient model of gas-liquid-solid three-phase mixed flow in the pipelines. The flux subvectors are then discretized by the Lax-Wendroff central difference scheme and the Warming-Beam upwind difference scheme with second-order precision in both time and space. Under the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions and the corresponding boundary conditions, an effective solution to those points located at the boundaries is developed, which can avoid the problem beyond the calculation region directly induced by the second-order discrete technique. Numerical and experimental verifications indicate that the proposed scheme has several desirable advantages including high calculation precision, excellent shock wave capture capability without false numerical oscillation, low sensitivity to the Courant number, and good stability.

PARTICLE FLOW PATTERNS IN THE RISER AND DOWNER OF CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED

This paper presents an experimental study on the flow patterns of FCC particles in a 140 mm ID Circulating Fluidized Bed with concurrent upflow and downflow gas-solid suspension. Based on the distribution of local particle velocity and particle concentration measured by a Fiber-Optical Probe Laser Doppler Velocimeter and a Fiber Optical Probe System respectively, the different flow patterns of local particls concentration, local particle velocity, local particle fluctuating velocity and sectionally average particle velocity in concurrent upflow and downflow gas-solid system have been investigated. It is found that the particle flow in the concurrent downflow is much more uniform radially than that in the concurrent upflow riser. The investigation of flow patterns in different flow systems is of significance to the development of a new gas-solid reactor.

The Effect of Sudden Change in Pipe Diameter on Flow Patterns of Air-Water Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Pipe (II) Sudden-Expansion Cross-Section

In this companion paper, flow patterns in the upstream and downstream tubes of a sudden-expansion cross-section (SECS) in a vertical straight pipe were presented. The effect of SECS on flow patterns upstream and downstream was analyzed by comparing with flow patterns in uniform cross-section vertical tubes. It is found the effect is great. There exist great instabilities of two-phase flow in the neighboring areas of the SECS both downstream and upstream.

Attractor comparison analysis for characterizing vertical upward oil gas water three-phase flow

We investigate the dynamic characteristics of oil-gas-water three-phase flow in terms of chaotic attractor comparison. In particular, we extract a statistic to characterize the dynamical difference in attractor probability distribution. We first take time series from Logistic chaotic system with different parameters as examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Then we use this method to investigate the experimental signals from oil-gas-water three-phase flow. The results indicate that the extracted statistic is very sensitive to the change of flow parameters and can gain a quantitatively insight into the dynamic characteristics of different flow patterns.

The Effect of Sudden Change in Pipe Diameter on Flow Patterns of Air-Water Two-Phase Flow in Vertical Pipe (I) Sudden-Contraction Cross-Section

Flow patterns upstream and downstream of a sudden-contraction cross-section in a vertical straight pipe were presented. By comparing with flow patterns in uniform cross-section vertical tubes, the effect of the sudden change in pipe diameter on flow patterns was analyzed. Flow pattern transition mechanisms were discussed and transition criteria for flow pattern transitions were deduced accordingly using the dimensional analysis.

Testing for Nonlinearity in Dynamic Characteristics of Vertical Upward Oil-Gas-Water Three-phase Bubble and Slug Flows

Based on the conductance fluctuation signals measured from vertical upward oil-gas-water three-phase flow experiment, time frequency representation and surrogate data method were used to investigate dynamical characteristics of oil-in-water type bubble and slug flows. The results indicate that oil-in-water type bubble flow will turn to deterministic motion with the increase of oil phase fraction f o and superficial gas velocity U sg under fixed flowrate of oil-water mixture Q mix . The dynamics of oil-in-water type slug flow becomes more complex with the increase of U sg under fixed flowrate of oil-water mixture. The change of f o leads to irregular influence on the dynamics of slug flow. These interesting findings suggest that the surrogate data method can be a faithful tool for characterizing dynamic characteristics of oil-in-water type bubble and slug flows.

Modeling study on the flow patterns of gas–liquid flow for fast decarburization during the RH process

A water model and a high-speed video camera were utilized in the 300-t RH equipment to study the effect of steel flow patterns in a vacuum chamber on fast decarburization and a superior flow-pattern map was obtained during the practical RH process. There are three flow patterns with different bubbling characteristics and steel surface states in the vacuum chamber： boiling pattern（BP）, transition pattern（TP）, and wave pattern（WP）. The effect of the liquid-steel level and the residence time of the steel in the chamber on flow patterns and decarburization reaction were investigated, respectively. The liquid-steel level significantly affected the flow-pattern transition from BP to WP, and the residence time and reaction area were crucial to evaluate the whole decarburization process rather than the circulation flow rate and mixing time. A superior flow-pattern map during the practical RH process showed that the steel flow pattern changed from BP to TP quickly, and then remained as TP until the end of decarburization.

Experimental Analyses of Flow Pattern and Heat Transfer in a Horizontally Oriented Polymer Pulsating Heat Pipe withMerged Liquid Slugs

Extended experiments were conducted on the oscillation characteristics of merged liquid slugs in a horizontally oriented polymer pulsating heat pipe(PHP).The PHP’s serpentine channel comprised 14 parallel channels with a width of 1.3 mm and a height of 1.1 mm.The evaporator and condenser sections were 25 and 50 mm long,respectively,and the adiabatic section in between was 75mmlong.Using a plastic 3D printer and semi-transparent filament made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene,the serpentine channel was printed directly onto a thin polycarbonate sheet to form the PHP.The PHP was charged with hydrofluoroether-7100.In the experiments,the evaporator section was heated,and the condenser section was cooled using high-temperature and low-temperature thermostatic baths,respectively.Flow patterns of the working fluid were obtained with temperature distributions of the PHP.A mathematical model was developed to analyze the flow patterns.Themerged liquid slugs were observed in every two channels,and their oscillation characteristics were found to be approximately the same in time and space.It was also found that the oscillations of the merged liquid slugs became slower,but the heat transfer rate of the PHP increased with a decrease in the filling ratio of the working fluid.This is because vapor condensation was enhanced in vapor plugs as the filling ratio decreased.However,the filling ratio had a lower limit,and the heat transfer rate was maximum when the filling ratio was 40.6%in the present experimental range.

Blood flow patterns of solitary pulmonary nodules with enhancement

Objective： To evaluate the efficacy of dynamic multi-slice spiral computed tomography （MSCT） for providing quantitative information about blood flow patterns of solitary pulmonary nodules （SPNs）. Methods： Seventy-eight patients with SPNs （diameter 〈 4 cm; 68 malignant; 10 active inflammatory） were underwent multi-location dynamic contrast material-enhanced serial CT （nonionic contrast material was administrated via the antecubital vein at a rate of 4 mLJs by using an autoinjector, 4 × 5 mm or 4 × 2.5 mm transverse scanning mode with stable table were performed）. Sixteen series CT scans （16 scans each for the first and second series and one scan each for the rest series） were obtained during 9 min scanning period. Precontrast and postcontrast attenuation on every scan was recorded. Perfusion, peak height and ratio of peak height of the SPN to that of the aorta were calculated. Perfusion was calculated from the maximum gradient of the time-attenuation curve and the peak height of the aorta. Results： No statistically significant difference in the peak height was found between malignant （35.79 ± 10.76 Hu） and active inflammatory （39.76 ± 4.59 Hu） （t = 1.148, P = 0.255 〉 0.05）. SPN-to-aorta ratio （14.27% ± 4.37） and perfusion value （30.18 mL/min/100 g ± 9.58） in malignant SPNs were significantly lower than those of active inflammatory （18.51% ± 2.71, 63.44 mL/min/100 g ± 43.87） （t = 2.978, P = 0.004 〈 0.05; t = 5.590, P 〈 0.0001）. Conclusion： The quantitative information about blood flow patterns of malignant and active inflammatory SPNs is different. SPN-to-aorta ratio and perfusion value are helpful in differentiating malignant nodules from active inflammatory.

Field synergy analysis of different flow patterns in falling-film dehumidification system with horizontal pipes

Effects of the flow pattern of intertubular liquid film on mass and heat transfer synergies in a falling-film dehumidification system with horizontal pipes are studied.A flow model of the dehumidifying solution between horizontal pipes is established using Fluent software,the rule of transitions of the flow pattern between pipes is studied,critical Reynolds numbers of flow pattern transitions are obtained,and the accuracy of the model is verified by experiments.The mass transfer synergy angle and heat transfer synergy angle are respectively used as evaluation criteria for the mass transfer synergy and heat transfer synergy,and distribution laws of the synergy angles for droplet,droplet columnar and curtain flow patterns are obtained.Simulation results show that the mass transfer synergy angles corresponding to droplet,droplet columnar and curtain flow patterns all rise to a plateau with time.The mean mass-transfer synergy angle is 98°for the droplet flow pattern,higher than 96.5°for the droplet columnar flow pattern and 95°for the curtain flow pattern.The results show that the mass transfer synergy of the droplet flow pattern is better than that of the droplet columnar flow pattern and that of the curtain flow pattern.