Adnan Qamar

Bubble evolution in acoustic droplet vaporization at physiological temperature via ultra-high speed imaging

Acoustic droplet vaporization in a rigid tube at body temperature was investigated experimentally using an ultra-high speed camera. This study was motivated by gas embolotherapy, a developmental cancer treatment in which gas microbubbles that are selectively formed by acoustically vaporizing liquid droplets in vivo are used to occlude tumor blood flow. The evolution of microbubbles formed by acoustic droplet vaporization was analyzed and a four-stage empirical curve was fit to the growth. Viscous resistance from the tube was shown to dampen oscillations of the microbubbles even though the bubble diameter was smaller than the tube diameter. The results suggest that, for some parameter values, vaporization may still be occurring when the bubble expansion starts and indicate the importance of this in modeling the growth of bubbles formed by acoustic droplet vaporization.

Dynamics of acoustic droplet vaporization in gas embolotherapy

Acoustic droplet vaporization is investigated in a theoretical model. This work is motivated by gas embolotherapy, a developmental cancer treatment involving tumor infarction with gas microbubbles that are selectively formed from liquid droplets. The results indicate that there exists a threshold value for initial droplet size below which the bubble evolution is oscillatory and above which it is smooth and asymptotic, and show that the vaporization process affects the subsequent microbubble expansion. Dampening of the bubble expansion is observed for higher viscosity and surface tension, with effects more pronounced for droplet size less than 6 mum in radius.

Evolution of Acoustically Vaporized Microdroplets in Gas Embolotherapy

Acoustic vaporization dynamics of a superheated dodecafluoropentane (DDFP) microdroplet inside a microtube and the resulting bubble evolution is investigated in the present work. This work is motivated by a developmental gas embolotherapy technique that is intended to treat cancers by infarcting tumors using gas bubbles. A combined theoretical and computational approach is utilized and compared with the experiments to understand the evolution process and to estimate the resulting stress distribution associated with vaporization event. The transient bubble growth is first studied by ultra-high speed imaging and then theoretical and computational modeling is used to predict the entire bubble evolution process. The evolution process consists of three regimes: an initial linear rapid spherical growth followed by a linear compressed oval shaped growth and finally a slow asymptotic nonlinear spherical bubble growth. Although the droplets are small compared to the tube diameter, the bubble evolution is influenced by the tube wall. The final bubble radius is found to scale linearly with the initial droplet radius and is approximately five times the initial droplet radius. A short pressure pulse with amplitude almost twice as that of ambient conditions is observed. The width of this pressure pulse increases with increasing droplet size whereas the amplitude is weakly dependent. Although the rise in shear stress along the tube wall is found to be under peak physiological limits, the shear stress amplitude is found to be more prominently influenced by the initial droplet size. The role of viscous dissipation along the tube wall and ambient bulk fluid pressure is found to be significant in bubble evolution dynamics.

Pulsatile flow past an oscillating cylinder

A fundamental study to characterize the flow around an oscillating cylinder in a pulsatile flow environment is investigated. This work is motivated by a new proposed design of the total artificial lung (TAL), which is envisioned to provide better gas exchange. The Navier-Stokes computations in a moving frame of reference were performed to compute the dynamic flow field surrounding the cylinder. Cylinder oscillations and pulsatile free-stream velocity were represented by two sinusoidal waves with amplitudes A and B and frequencies ω(c) and ω, respectively. The Keulegan-Carpenter number (K(c)=U(o)∕Dω(c)) was used to describe the frequency of the oscillating cylinder while the pulsatile free-stream velocity was fixed by imposing ω∕K(c)=1 for all cases investigated. The parameters of interest and their values were amplitude (0.5D<A<D), the Keulegan-Carpenter number (0.33<K(c)<1), and the Reynolds number (5<Re<20) corresponding to operating conditions of the TAL. It was observed that an increase in amplitude and a decrease in K(c) are associated with an increase in vorticity (up to 246%) for every Re suggesting that mixing could be enhanced by the proposed TAL design. The drag coefficient was found to decrease for higher amplitudes and lower K(c) for all cases investigated. In some cases the drag coefficient values were found to be lower than the stationary cylinder values (A=0.5, K(c)=0.3, and Re=10 and 20). A lock-in phenomenon (cylinder oscillating frequency matched the vortex shedding frequency) was found when K(c)=1 for all cases. This lock-in condition was attributed to be the cause of the rise in drag observed in that operating regime. For optimal performance of the modified TAL design it is recommended to operate the device at higher fiber oscillation amplitudes and lower K(c) (avoiding the lock-in regime).

New Scheme for the Computation of Compressible Flows

A new approach for the computation of unsteady compressible flows has been developed. The new scheme employs upwinding of the convective flux based on particle velocity and has been termed the particle velocity upwinding (PVU) scheme. The PVU scheme is an explicit two-step predictor-corrector scheme, in which the convective fluxes are evaluated on cell faces using a first-order upwinding method. The scheme is accurate and stable, giving solutions free from oscillations near the discontinuities without any explicit addition of artificial viscosity. The PVU scheme has an edge over state-of-the-art high-resolution schemes in terms of simplicity of implementation in multidimensional flows and problems involving complex domains. The numerical scheme is validated for both Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Furthermore, the PVU scheme is used to investigate laminar supersonic viscous flow over a forward-facing step. The results are obtained for M ∞ = 1.5-3.5 in steps of 0.5 and for Re ∞ = 10 4 . Step heights H s of 10 and 20% of the characteristic length of the problem are considered. The effect of step height and the incoming freestream Mach number on the spatial flow structure and on the important design parameters such as wall pressure, skin friction, heat transfer, and length of separated region are investigated.

A New Spatial Discretization Strategy of the Convective Flux Term for the Hyperbolic Conservation Laws

Abstract: In this work, a new spatial discretization scheme for flows governed by the hyperbolic conservation laws is proposed. The spatial discretization involves the concept of classical particle velocity upwinding (PVU) for the convective flux term in the hyperbolic conservation laws. The novelty of the approach lies in the use of the fluid particle velocity or the entropy wave speed at the cell interface to ascertain the upwind direction. The cell face convective fluxes are obtained from a first order or a second order upwind biased interpolation, depending on whether the cell under consideration lies in the vicinity of a discontinuity or in a region of steep gradients in the solution. The discontinuities or regions of steep gradients are detected by employing a smoothness indicator function as employed in some of the earlier studies. The proposed spatial discretization strategy has been combined with a two step, second order explicit time integration strategy for the application to the solution of the unsteady Euler/Navier-Stokes equations in the strong conservation form. Test cases involving two 1-D Riemann problems, three 2-D inviscid supersonic flow problems and a 2-D viscous supersonic flow problem, have been employed to establish the validity of the procedure and to assess the performance of the proposed strategy. The proposed PVU scheme performs quite favorably in comparison to conventional schemes. From the point of view of implementation, particularly in multidimensional scenarios, this strategy offers a good balance of accuracy and simplicity.

Dynamics of micro-bubble sonication inside a phantom vessel

A model for sonicated micro-bubble oscillations inside a phantom vessel is proposed. The model is not a variant of conventional Rayleigh-Plesset equation and is obtained from reduced Navier-Stokes equations. The model relates the micro-bubble oscillation dynamics with geometric and acoustic parameters in a consistent manner. It predicts micro-bubble oscillation dynamics as well as micro-bubble fragmentation when compared to the experimental data. For large micro-bubble radius to vessel diameter ratios, predictions are damped, suggesting breakdown of inherent modeling assumptions for these cases. Micro-bubble response with acoustic parameters is consistent with experiments and provides physical insight to the micro-bubble oscillation dynamics.

Evaluating the potential of superhydrophobic nanoporous alumina membranes for direct contact membrane distillation

HYPOTHESIS Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) processes exploit water-repellant membranes to desalt warm seawaters by allowing only water vapor to transport across. While perfluorinated membranes/coatings are routinely used for DCMD, their vulnerability to abrasion, heat, and harsh chemicals necessitates alternatives, such as ceramics. Herein, we systematically assess the potential of ceramic membranes consisting of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) for DCMD. EXPERIMENTS We rendered AAO membranes superhydrophobic to accomplish the separation of hot salty water (343 K, 0.7 M NaCl) and cold deionized water (292 K) and quantified vapor transport. We also developed a multiscale model based on computational fluid dynamics, conjugate heat transfer, and the kinetic theory of gases to gain insights into our experiments. FINDINGS The average vapor fluxes, J, across three sets of AAO membranes with average nanochannel diameters (and porosities) centered at 80 nm (32%), 100 nm (37%), and 160 nm (57%) varied by < 25%, while we had expected them to scale with the porosities. Our multiscale simulations unveiled how the high thermal conductivity of the AAO membranes reduced the effective temperature drive for the mass transfer. Our results highlight the limitations of AAO membranes for DCMD and might advance the rational development of desalination membranes.

Transport and flow characteristics of an oscillating cylindrical fiber for total artificial lung application

Abstract Mass transport and fluid dynamics characteristics in the vicinity of an oscillating cylindrical fiber with an imposed pulsatile inflow condition are computationally investigated in the present study. The work is motivated by a recently proposed design modification to the Total Artificial Lung (TAL) device, which is expected to provide better gas exchange. Navier–Stokes computations, coupled with convection–diffusion equation are performed to assess flow dynamics and mass transport behavior around the oscillating fiber. The oscillations and the pulsatile free stream velocity are represented by two sinusoidal functions. The resulting non-dimensional parameters are Keulegan–Carpenter number (KC), Schmidt number (Sc), Reynolds number (Re), pulsatile inflow amplitude (), and amplitude of cylinder oscillation (). Results are computed for , Sc = 1000, Re = 5 and 10, and 0.7 and 0.25 5.25. The pulsatile inflow parameters correspond to the flow velocities found in human pulmonary artery while matching the operating TAL Reynolds number. Mass transport from the surface of the cylinder to the bulk fluid is found to be primarily dependent on the size of surface vortices created by the movement of the cylinder. Time-averaged surface Sherwood number (Sh) is dependent on the amplitude and KC of cylinder oscillation. Compared to the fixed cylinder case, a significant gain up to 380% in Sh is achieved by oscillating the cylinder even at the small displacement amplitude (AD = 0.75D). Moreover, with decrease in KC the oscillating cylinder exhibits a lower drag amplitude compared with the fixed cylinder case. Inflow pulsation amplitude has minor effects on the mass transport characteristics. However, an increase in results in an increase in the amplitude of the periodic drag force on the cylinder. This rise in the drag amplitude is similar to that measured for the fixed cylinder case. Quantifications of shear stress distribution in the bulk fluid suggest that the physiological concerns of platelet activation and injury to red blood cells due to cylinder oscillation are negligible.

Pulsatility role in cylinder flow dynamics at low Reynolds number

We present dynamics of pulsatile flow past a stationary cylinder characterized by three non-dimensional parameters: the Reynolds number (Re), non-dimensional amplitude (A) of the pulsatile flow velocity, and Keulegan-Carpenter number (KC = Uo/Dωc). This work is motivated by the development of total artificial lungs (TAL) device, which is envisioned to provide ambulatory support to patients. Results are presented for 0.2 ≤ A ≤ 0.6 and 0.57 ≤ KC ≤ 2 at Re = 5 and 10, which correspond to the operating range of TAL. Two distinct fluid regimes are identified. In both regimes, the size of the separated zone is much greater than the uniform flow case, the onset of separation is function of KC, and the separation vortex collapses rapidly during the last fraction of the pulsatile cycle. The vortex size is independent of KC, but with an exponential dependency on A. In regime I, the separation point remains attached to the cylinder surface. In regime II, the separation point migrates upstream of the cylinder. Two di...