Hydrodynamic Instability Analysis of the Axial Flow Pump in an Ethylene Polymerization Loop Reactor

The hydrodynamic instability of the axial flow pump in a loop reactor has long been a troubling issue to be solved in the polyethylene industry due to the lack of a better mechanismic understanding.Generally,the instability of an axial flow pump can be reflected by the fluctuation of the pump head.In this study,the transient computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation is adopted to study the hydrodynamic instability of the axial flow pump used in an ethylene polymerization loop reactor.The results show that the pump head under single liquid phase nearly remains constant while the pump head under slurry phase fluctuates due to the variation of solid volume fraction distribution in the pump.Besides,under the combined effect of the maximum solid volume fraction difference in the pump and the turbulence intensity of the liquid phase,the fluctuation of the pump head under slurry phase increases when the solid volume fraction in the loop reactor increases from 0.10 to 0.29,and the fluctuation decreases,when the solid volume fraction increases from 0.29 to 0.35.Furthermore,there is a negative correlation between the pump head and the solid volume fraction in the pump;with the increase of solid volume fraction in the loop reactor,and the correlation coefficient increases as well.Moreover,a‘spiral particulate band’phenomenon is formed in the ascending leg caused by three mechanisms,viz.:the segregation of particles in all bends,the dispersion of particles by the secondary flow in the ascending leg,and the rotational movement of particles in the pump.

Theoretical analysis of the elastic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in explosive weldings

By considering the joint effects of the Kelvin-Helmholtz(KH) and Rayleigh-Taylor(RT) instabilities, this paper presents an interpretation of the wavy patterns that occur in explosive welding. It is assumed that the elasticity of the material at the interface effectively determines the wavelength, because explosive welding is basically a solid-state welding process. To this end, an analytical model of elastic hydrodynamic instabilities is proposed, and the most unstable mode is selected in the solid phase. Similar approaches have been widely used to study the interfacial behavior of solid metals in high-energy-density physics. By comparing the experimental and theoretical results, it is concluded that thermal softening,which significantly reduces the shear modulus, is necessary and sufficient for successful welding. The thermal softening is verified by theoretical analysis of the increase in temperature due to the impacting and sliding of the flyer and base plates, and some experimental observations are qualitatively validated.In summary, the combined effect of the KH and RT instabilities in solids determines the wavy morphology, and our theoretical results are in good qualitative agreement with experimental and numerical observations.

Directly driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability of modulated CH targets

Directly driven ablative Rayleigh Taylor （R-T） instability of modulated CH targets was studied using the face- on X-ray radiography on the Shen-Guang II device. We obtained temporal evolution images of the R-T instability perturbation. The RT instability growth factor has been obtained by using the methods of fast Fourier transform and seeking the difference of light intensity between the peak and the valley of the targets. Through comparison with the the theoretical simulation, we found that the experimental data had a good agreement with the theoretical simulation results before 1.8 ns. and was lower than the theoretical simulation results after that.

Flow instability of nanofuilds in jet

The flow instability of nanofluids in a jet is studied numerically under various shape factors of the velocity profile, Reynolds numbers, nanoparticle mass loadings,Knudsen numbers, and Stokes numbers. The numerical results are compared with the available theoretical results for validation. The results show that the presence of nanoparticles enhances the flow stability, and there exists a critical particle mass loading beyond which the flow is stable. As the shape factor of the velocity profile and the Reynolds number increase, the flow becomes more unstable. However, the flow becomes more stable with the increase of the particle mass loading. The wavenumber corresponding to the maximum of wave amplification becomes large with the increase of the shape factor of the velocity profile, and with the decrease of the particle mass loading and the Reynolds number. The variations of wave amplification with the Stokes number and the Knudsen number are not monotonic increasing or decreasing, and there exists a critical Stokes number and a Knudsen number with which the flow is relatively stable and most unstable,respectively, when other parameters remain unchanged. The perturbation with the first azimuthal mode makes the flow unstable more easily than that with the axisymmetric azimuthal mode. The wavenumbers corresponding to the maximum of wave amplification are more concentrated for the perturbation with the axisymmetric azimuthal mode.

ON HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITIES,CHAOS AND PHASE TRANSITION

Ellipticity as the underlying mechanism for instabilities of physical systems is highlighted in the study of model nonlinear evolution equations with dissipation and the study of phase transition in Van der Waals fluid. Interesting results include spiky solutions, chaotic behavior in the context of partial differential equations, as well as the nucleation process due to ellipticity in phase transition.

ELEMENTAL MECHANISMS OF HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITIES

The elemental mechanisms for many hydrodynamic instabilities can be identified as negative damping,negative diffusion or ellipticity. Identifications of some well-known hydrodynamic instabilities are made.Model equations in connection with the instability associated with ellipticity should be studied more extensively.

A generic approach to the dynamical interpretation of ocean-atmosphere processes

This paper summarizes the recent development of a portable self-contained system to unravel the intricate multiscale dynamical processes from real oceanic flows, which are in nature highly nonlinear and intermittent in space and time. Of particular focus are the interactions among largescale, mesoscale, and submesoscale processes.We firsu introduce the concept of scale window, and an orthogonal subspace decomposition technigue called multiscale window transform (MWT). Established on MWT is a rigorous formalism of multiscale transport, perfect transfer, and multiscale conversion, which makes a new methodology, multiscale energy and vorticity analysis (MS-EVA). A direct application of the MS-EVA is the development of a novel localized instability analysis, generalizing the classical notion of hydrodynamic instability to finite amplitude processes on irregularly variable domains. The theory is consistent with the analytical solutions of Eady's model and Kuo's model, the benchmark models of baroclinic instability and barotropic instability; it is further validated with a vortex shedding control problem. We have put it to application with a variety of complicated real ocean problems, which would be otherwise very difficult, if not impossible, to tackle. Briefly shown in this paper include the dynamical studies of a highly variable open ocean front, and a complex coastal ocean circulation. In the former, it is found that underlying the frontal meandering is a convective instability followed by an absolute instability, and correspondingly a rapid spatially amplifying mode locked into a temporally growing mode; in the latter, we see a real ocean example of how upwelling can be driven by winds through nonlinear instability, and how winds may excite the ocean via an avenue which is distinctly different from the classical paradigms. This system is mathematically rigorous, physically robust, and practically straightforward.

Stability of Couette flow past a gel film

We study instability of a Newtonian Couette flow past a gel-like film in the limit of vanishing Reynolds number. Three models are explored including one hyperelastic（neo-Hookean） solid, and two viscoelastic（Kelvin–Voigt and Zener） solids. Instead of using the conventional Lagrangian description in the solid phase for solving the displacement field, we construct equivalent ‘‘differential＇＇ models in an Eulerian reference frame, and solve for the velocity, pressure, and stress in both fluid and solid phases simultaneously. We find the interfacial instability is driven by the first-normal stress difference in the basestate solution in both hyperelastic and viscoelastic models. For the neo-Hookean solid, when subjected to a shear flow, the interface exhibits a short-wave（finite-wavelength） instability when the film is thin（thick）. In the Kelvin–Voigt and Zener solids where viscous effects are incorporated, instability growth is enhanced at small wavenumber but suppressed at large wavenumber, leading to a dominant finitewavelength instability. In addition, adding surface tension effectively stabilizes the interface to sustain fluid shear.

Review on hydrodynamic instabilities of a shocked gas layer

Hydrodynamic instabilities induced by a shock wave can be observed in both natural phenomena and engineering applications,and are frequently employed to study gas dynamics, vortex dynamics, and turbulence. Controlling these instabilities is very desirable, but remains a challenge in applications such as inertial confinement fusion. The field of “shock-gas-layer interaction” has experienced rapid development, driven by advances in experimental and numerical techniques as well as theoretical understanding. This domain has uncovered a diverse array of wave patterns and hydrodynamic instabilities, such as reverberating waves, feedthrough, abnormal and freeze-out Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, among others. Studies have shown that it is possible to suppress these instabilities by appropriately configuring a gas layer. Here we review the recent progress in theories,experiments, and simulations of shock-gas-layer interactions, and the feedthrough mechanism, the reverberating waves and their induced additional instabilities, as well as the convergent geometry and reshock effects, are focused. The conditions for suppressing hydrodynamic instabilities are summarized. The review concludes by highlighting the challenges and prospects for future research in this area.

REVIEW OF TURBULENT MIXING MODELS

Fluid mixing is an important phenomenon in many physical applications from supernova explosions to genetic structure formations. In this paper, we overview some theoretical and empirical dynamic mix models, which have been developed over the recent decades, in particular, the ensemble-average micro physical mix model, the multifluid interpenetration mix model, the phenomenological and hybrid turbulent mix models, the buoyancy drag mix model, the single fluid turbulence mix model, and the large eddy simulation mix model. The similarities, distinctions, and connections between these models and their applications are discussed.

Nonlinear density fluctuation field theory for large scale structure

We develop an effective field theory of density fluctuations for a Newtonian self-gravitating N-body system in quasi-equilibrium and apply it to a homogeneous universe with small density fluctuations. Keeping the density fluctuations up to second or- der, we obtain the nonlinear field equation of 2-pt correlation ξ（r）, which contains 3-pt correlation and formal ultra-violet divergences. By the Groth-Peebles hierarchical ansatz and mass renormalization, the equation becomes closed with two new terms beyond the Gaussian approximation, and their coefficients are taken as parameters. The analytic solution is obtained in terms of the hypergeometric functions, which is checked numerically. With one single set of two fixed parameters, the correlation ξ（r） and the corresponding power spectrum P（k） simultaneously match the results from all the major surveys, such as APM, SDSS, 2dfGRS, and REFLEX. The model gives a unifying understanding of several seemingly unrelated features of large scale structure from a field-theoretical perspective. The theory is worth extending to study the evolution effects in an expanding universe.

Triad resonant wave interactions in electrically charged jets

Nonlinear instability in electrically charged jets is studied using the governing electro-hydrodynamic equations describing stretching and thinning of a liquid jet. A jet flow system subject to both space and time evolving disturbances is considered. At the linear stage, the Rayleigh and conducting jet flow instability modes are uncovered.Nonlinear instability in the flow is explored via triad resonant waves which uncover favorable operating modes not previously detected in the linear study of the problem. In particular, the jet radius is significantly reduced, and the electric field of the jet is properly oriented under the nonlinear study. It is found that taking into account the resonance triad modes provides a better mathematical description of a jet that stretches and thins due to tangential electric field effects. Both linear and nonlinear instability results in the jet flow system are presented and discussed.

Effects of the initial perturbations on the Rayleigh–Taylor–Kelvin–Helmholtz instability system

The effects of initial perturbations on the Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI), Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI), and the coupled Rayleigh–Taylor–Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (RTKHI) systems are investigated using a multiple-relaxation-time discrete Boltzmann model. Six different perturbation interfaces are designed to study the effects of the initial perturbations on the instability systems. It is found that the initial perturbation has a significant influence on the evolution of RTI. The sharper the interface, the faster the growth of bubble or spike. While the influence of initial interface shape on KHI evolution can be ignored. Based on the mean heat flux strength D3,1, the effects of initial interfaces on the coupled RTKHI are examined in detail. The research is focused on two aspects: (i) the main mechanism in the early stage of the RTKHI, (ii) the transition point from KHI-like to RTI-like for the case where the KHI dominates at earlier time and the RTI dominates at later time. It is found that the early main mechanism is related to the shape of the initial interface, which is represented by both the bilateral contact angle θ_(1) and the middle contact angle θ_(2). The increase of θ_(1) and the decrease of θ_(2) have opposite effects on the critical velocity. When θ_(2) remains roughly unchanged at 90 degrees, if θ_(1) is greater than 90 degrees (such as the parabolic interface), the critical shear velocity increases with the increase of θ_(1), and the ellipse perturbation is its limiting case;If θ_(1) is less than 90 degrees (such as the inverted parabolic and the inverted ellipse disturbances), the critical shear velocities are basically the same, which is less than that of the sinusoidal and sawtooth disturbances. The influence of inverted parabolic and inverted ellipse perturbations on the transition point of the RTKHI system is greater than that of other interfaces: (i) For the same amplitude, the smaller the contact angle θ_(1), the later the transition point appears;(ii) For the same interface morphology, the disturbance amplitude increases, resulting in a shorter duration of the linear growth stage, so the transition point is greatly advanced.

Laser pulse shape designer for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions

Pulse shaping is a powerful tool for mitigating implosion instabilities in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion(ICF).However,the high-dimensional and nonlinear nature of implosions makes the pulse optimization quite challenging.In this research,we develop a machine-learning pulse shape designer to achieve high compression density and stable implosion.The facility-specific laser imprint pattern is considered in the optimization,which makes the pulse design more relevant.The designer is applied to the novel double-cone ignition scheme,and simulation shows that the optimized pulse increases the areal density expectation by 16%in one dimension,and the clean-fuel thickness by a factor of four in two dimensions.This pulse shape designer could be a useful tool for direct-drive ICF instability control.

Lattice Boltzmann modeling and simulation of compressible flows

In this mini-review we summarize the progress of Lattice Boltzmann （LB） modeling and simulating compressible flows in our group in recent years. Main contents include （i） Single-Relaxation-Time （SRT） LB model supplemented by additional viscosity, （ii） Multiple-Relaxation-Time （MRT） LB model, and （iii） LB study on hydrodynamic instabilities. The former two belong to improvements of physical modeling and the third belongs to simulation or application. The SRT-LB model sup- plemented by additional viscosity keeps the original framework of Lattice Bhatnagar-Gross Krook （LBGK）. So, it is easier and more convenient for previous SRT-LB users. The MRT-LB is a com- pletely new framework for physical modeling. It significantly extends the range of LB applications. The cost is longer computational time. The developed SRT-LB and MRT-LB are complementary from the sides of convenience and applicability.