Biomedical subjects

XL Wu

Publications and source records attributed to XL Wu.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

External dissipation in driven two-dimensional turbulence

Turbulence in a freely suspended soap film is created by electromagnetic forcing and measured by particle tracking. The velocity fluctuations are shown to be adequately described by the forced Navier-Stokes equation for an incompressible two-dimensional fluid with a linear drag term to model the frictional coupling to the surrounding air. Using this equation, the energy dissipation rates due to air friction and the film's internal viscosity are measured, as is the rate of energy injection from the electromagnetic forcing. Comparison of these rates demonstrates that the air friction is a significant energy dissipation mechanism in the system.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Probability density functions of the enstrophy flux in two dimensional grid turbulence

Probability density functions of the enstrophy flux in two dimensional grid turbulence are found to be strongly non-Gaussian and can be mimicked by stretched exponential functions. Evidence of this behavior is found in experiments using turbulent soap films and numerical simulations. The enstrophy flux itself is found to be constant for a range of scales corresponding to the enstrophy cascade.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Hysteresis at low Reynolds number: onset of two-dimensional vortex shedding

Hysteresis has been observed in a study of the transition between laminar flow and vortex shedding in a quasi-two-dimensional system. The system is a vertical, rapidly flowing soap film which is penetrated by a rod oriented perpendicular to the film plane. Our experiments show that the transition from laminar flow to a periodic von Karman vortex street can be hysteretic, i.e., vortices can survive at velocities lower than the velocity needed to generate them.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1991