Lecture

Shadowgraphy: Visualizing Density Variations

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In course

ME-343: Compressible-fluid dynamics

Fluides compressibles, vitesse sonique, ondes de choc, détente. ...

Description

This lecture introduces shadowgraphy, a simple method to visualize density variations in fluid flows using a light source and parallel rays. By analyzing the deviation of light rays passing through regions of varying density, the lecture explains how shadowgraphy can reveal coherent structures in turbulent flows.

Instructor

Flavio Noca

Expertise Fluid MechanicsAerodynamicsDrone Wind & Weather FacilitiesHydrodynamicsCarbon NanotubesExperimental TechniquesBio-Inspired PropulsionSports Aerodynamics & Hydrodynamics Expertise Fluid MechanicsAerodynamicsDrone Wind & Weather FacilitiesHydrodynamicsCarbon NanotubesExperimental TechniquesBio-Inspired PropulsionSports Aerodynamics & Hydrodynamics Current work

Wind & Weather Facilities for Drones - Unsteady Aerodynamics - Advanced Flow Diagnostics Techniques Education PhD | Unsteady Aerodynam

Official source

Related concepts (14)

Fluid dynamics

In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including aerodynamics (the study of air and other gases in motion) and hydrodynamics (the study of liquids in motion). Fluid dynamics has a wide range of applications, including calculating forces and moments on aircraft, determining the mass flow rate of petroleum through pipelines, predicting weather patterns, understanding nebulae in interstellar space and modelling fission weapon detonation.

Turbulence

In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between those layers. Turbulence is commonly observed in everyday phenomena such as surf, fast flowing rivers, billowing storm clouds, or smoke from a chimney, and most fluid flows occurring in nature or created in engineering applications are turbulent.

Fluid mechanics

Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical, and biomedical engineering, as well as geophysics, oceanography, meteorology, astrophysics, and biology. It can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces on fluid motion.

Laminar flow

In fluid dynamics, laminar flow (ˈlæmənər) is characterized by fluid particles following smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral mixing, and adjacent layers slide past one another like playing cards. There are no cross-currents perpendicular to the direction of flow, nor eddies or swirls of fluids. In laminar flow, the motion of the particles of the fluid is very orderly with particles close to a solid surface moving in straight lines parallel to that surface.

Eddy (fluid dynamics)

In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid is in a turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object. Fluid behind the obstacle flows into the void creating a swirl of fluid on each edge of the obstacle, followed by a short reverse flow of fluid behind the obstacle flowing upstream, toward the back of the obstacle. This phenomenon is naturally observed behind large emergent rocks in swift-flowing rivers.

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