Hydrodynamics of viscous inhalant flows

Aaron C. True and John P. Crimaldi
Phys. Rev. E 95, 053107 – Published 17 May 2017

Abstract

Inhalant flows draw fluid into an orifice from a reservoir and are ubiquitous in engineering and biology. Surprisingly, there is a lack of quantitative information on viscous inhalant flows. We consider here laminar flows (Reynolds number Re100) developing after impulsive inhalation begins. We implement finite element simulations of flows with varying Re and extraction height h (orifice height above a bottom bed). Numerical results are experimentally validated using particle image velocimetry measurements in a physical model for a representative flow case in the middle of the Re-h parameter space. We use two metrics to characterize the flow in space and time: regions of influence (ROIs), which describe the spatial extent of the flow field, and inhalation volumes, which describe the initial distribution of inhaled fluid. The transient response for all Re features an inviscid sinklike component at early times followed by a viscous diffusive component. At lower Re, diffusion entrains an increasing volume of fluid over time, enlarging the ROI indefinitely. In some geometries, these flows spatially bifurcate, with some fluid being inhaled through the orifice and some bypassing into recirculation. At higher Re, inward advection dominates outward viscous diffusion and the flow remains trapped in a sinklike state. Both ROIs and inhalation volumes are strongly dependent on Re and extraction height, suggesting that organisms or engineers could tune these parameters to achieve specific inhalation criteria.

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  • Received 1 February 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053107

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
  1. Techniques
Fluid Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Aaron C. True* and John P. Crimaldi

  • Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0428, USA

  • *aaron.true@colorado.edu
  • john.crimaldi@colorado.edu

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 5 — May 2017

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