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S R Chakravarthy

Publications and source records attributed to S R Chakravarthy.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Experimental investigation of fluid drop spreading on heterogeneous and anisotropic porous media.

Study of spreading phenomena on porous substrates is important from theoretical as well as applications point of view. An example of such applications is composite processing, where operations involve displacement of air/volatiles by polymeric fluids through porous media composed of fibers. In this work, dynamics of drop spreading was investigated on fibrous porous substrates used in composite processing. These porous media are heterogeneous and anisotropic. Spreading front of silicon oil drops was tracked on borosilicate glass, quartz, and two different kinds of glass fiber mats: woven fabric and unidirectional. For the woven fabric, spreading front was observed to progress in steps of increasing and decreasing rate. For the unidirectional mat, the spreading front progressed with decreasing rate. The dynamics of spreading were fitted to power law in order to compare results with other porous substrates.

Journal Article↗

Jet forking driven by pipe tone.

The present work deals with an experimental investigation of flow of air through a square-edged circular orifice at the downstream end of a circular duct. Self-excited acoustic oscillations at the natural duct modes are observed for certain flow velocities when the orifice is sufficiently thick. For a specific Reynolds number based on the orifice diameter and the mean jet velocity (9150 < Re < 9850), the jet forks into two trains, with the alternating vortices falling into the same branch of the forked train. Whereas this phenomenon has been reported earlier to have occurred when the density ratio of the jet is less than 0.72, the present results show that it is possible for a jet having the same density as the ambient atmosphere. The jet forking is coincident with jump in the acoustic frequency from one natural acoustic mode to another with comparable amplitudes of both the modes.

Journal Article↗

Shear stress-facilitated calcium ion transport across lipid bilayers.

Small unilamellar liposomes were used in this study of shear stress effects on the trans-bilayer flux of calcium ions (Ca2+). Liposome suspensions were prepared from 99% egg phosphatidylcholine by a microporous filter extrusion technique. The inner aqueous phase of the unilamellar liposomes contained indo-1(5-), a fluorescent indicator of free Ca2+. The external aqueous phase was composed of Hepes-buffered saline containing normal physiological levels of common ionic species. Calcium ion levels were set at 100 nM and 1 mM in the inner and outer aqueous phases, respectively. Liposome suspensions were exposed to graded levels of uniform shear stress in an optically modified rotational viscometer. Intraliposome Ca2+ concentration was estimated from continuous measurement of indo-1(5-) fluorescence. Electronically measured particle size distribution was used to determine liposome surface area for estimation of trans-bilayer Ca2+ flux. Trans-bilayer Ca2+ flux increased linearly with applied shear rate from 27 s-1 to 2700 s-1. Diffusional resistance of the lipid bilayer, not the convective resistance of the surrounding fluid, was the limiting step in the transport of Ca2+. Liposome permeability to Ca2+ increased by nearly two orders of magnitude over the physiologically relevant shear rate range studied. Solute transport in injectable liposome preparations may be dramatically influenced by cardiovascular fluid stress. Solute delivery rates determined in liposomes exposed to static conditions may not accurately predict in vivo, cardiovascular solute transport.

Biological Transport↗