Pipe flow

About: Pipe flow is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 13826 publications have been published within this topic receiving 351605 citations.

Intrinsic particle-induced lateral transport in microchannels

Abstract: In microfluidic systems at low Reynolds number, the flow field around a particle is assumed to maintain fore-aft symmetry, with fluid diverted by the presence of a particle, returning to its original streamline downstream. This current model considers particles as passive components of the system. However, we demonstrate that at finite Reynolds number, when inertia is taken into consideration, particles are not passive elements in the flow but significantly disturb and modify it. In response to the flow field, particles translate downstream while rotating. The combined effect of the flow of fluid around particles, particle rotation, channel confinement (i.e., particle dimensions approaching those of the channel), and finite fluid inertia creates a net recirculating flow perpendicular to the primary flow direction within straight channels that resembles the well-known Dean flow in curved channels. Significantly, the particle generating this flow remains laterally fixed as it translates downstream and only the fluid is laterally transferred. Therefore, as the particles remain inertially focused, operations can be performed around the particles in a way that is compatible with downstream assays such as flow cytometry. We apply this particle-induced transfer to perform fluid switching and mixing around rigid microparticles as well as deformable cells. This transport phenomenon, requiring only a simple channel geometry with no external forces to operate, offers a practical approach for fluid transfer at high flow rates with a wide range of applications, including sample preparation, flow reaction, and heat transfer.

A note on the stability of slip channel flows

Abstract: We consider the influence of slip boundary conditions on the modal and nonmodal stability of pressure-driven channel flows. In accordance with previous results by Gersting [“Hydrodynamic stability of plane porous slip flow,” Phys. Fluids 17, 2126 (1974)] but in contradiction with the recent investigation of Chu [“Instability of Navier slip flow of liquids,” C. R. Mec. 332, 895 (2004)], we show that the slip increases significantly the value of the critical Reynolds number for linear instability. The nonmodal stability analysis, however, reveals that slip has a very weak influence on the maximum transient energy growth of perturbations at subcritical Reynolds numbers. Slip boundary conditions are therefore not likely to have a significant effect on the transition to turbulence in channel flows.

Structural organization of large and very large scales in turbulent pipe flow simulation

Abstract: The physical structures of velocity are examined from a recent direct numerical simulation of fully developed incompressible turbulent pipe flow (Wu, Baltzer & Adrian, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 698, 2012, pp. 235–281) at a Reynolds number of (based on bulk velocity) and a Karman number of . In that work, the periodic domain length of pipe radii was found to be sufficient to examine long motions of negative streamwise velocity fluctuation that are commonly observed in wall-bounded turbulent flows and correspond to the large fractions of energy present at very long streamwise wavelengths ( ). In this paper we study how long motions are composed of smaller motions. We characterize the spatial arrangements of very large-scale motions (VLSMs) extending through the logarithmic layer and above, and we find that they possess dominant helix angles (azimuthal inclinations relative to streamwise) that are revealed by two- and three-dimensional two-point spatial correlations of velocity. The correlations also reveal that the shorter, large-scale motions (LSMs) that concatenate to comprise the VLSMs are themselves more streamwise aligned. We show that the largest VLSMs possess a form similar to roll cells centred above the logarithmic layer and that they appear to play an important role in organizing the flow, while themselves contributing only a minor fraction of the flow turbulent kinetic energy. The roll cell motions play an important role with the smaller scales of motion that are necessary to create the strong streamwise streaks of low-velocity fluctuation that characterize the flow.