Shock wave-liquid interface interactions

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Shock waves interacting with liquid interfaces are encountered in a variety of natural and technological processes ranging from underwater explosions, drop fragmentation and atomization to seismic survey, hydro-impact technology, and mobilization of oil in reservoirs. In modeling such processes there are many unanswered fundamental questions arising, in particular, due to the extreme multiscale nature of the phenomena both in space and time, which has not been taken into account in previous studies neglecting viscosity and surface tension of the liquid. The key objective of this research program is to achieve a firm and quantitative understanding of the physics of shock wave-liquid interface interactions with the particular focus on the effects of viscosity and surface tension. Given that the interplay of these effects with compressibility is largely unexplored, a synergy of physical and numerical experiments along with analytical models is required in order to make significant progress. With the equipment funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, this NSERC Discovery grant will enable both the experimental and theoretical parts of the proposed research. On the experimental side, an integrated study of the phenomena of shock wave-liquid interface interactions including hydrodynamic, acoustic, and thermodynamic fields will be performed using particle image velocimetry, laser Doppler vibrometry, and high-speed infra-red photography. Combined, these techniques provide powerful platforms for an innovative study of shock wave-interface interactions aimed at understanding their fundamental physical aspects in a wide range of experimental conditions. On the theoretical side, as a part of the longer-term objective, the goals are (a) to construct comprehensive analytical models through systematic multiple-scale analysis of the Navier-Stokes equations and (b) to develop reliable numerical schemes adequate for these complex phenomena. On the practical side, the present effort should also contribute to improving efficiency of various technologies and applications ranging from synthesis of new materials, production of plasma fields, and medical therapies (e.g. to treat kidney stones, tendons, and bones) to petroleum engineering and hypervelocity launchers, since they all rely upon the usage of shock waves in systems with liquid interfaces. This work draws on the PI's unique combined expertise in both theoretical and experimental interfacial fluid dynamics. The experiments will be performed in the PI's laboratory, the infrastructure for which is provided by the Physics Department at the University of Alberta.