Search

The study of macro continuous flow has a long history. Simultaneously, the exploration of heat and mass transfer in small systems with a particle number of several hundred or less has gained significant interest in the fields of statistical physics and nonlinear science. However, due to absence of suitable methods, the understanding of mesoscale behavior situated between the aforementioned two scenarios, which challenges the physical function of traditional continuous fluid theory and exceeds the simulation capability of microscopic molecular dynamics method, remains considerably deficient. This greatly restricts the evaluation of effects of mesoscale behavior and impedes the development of corresponding regulation techniques. To access the mesoscale behaviors, there are two ways: from large to small and from small to large. Given the necessity to interface with the prevailing macroscopic continuous modeling currently used in the mechanical engineering community, our study of mesoscale behavior begins from the side closer to the macroscopic continuum, that is from large to small. Focusing on some fundamental challenges encountered in modeling and analysis of near-continuous flows, we review the research progress of discrete Boltzmann method (DBM). The ideas and schemes of DBM in coarse-grained modeling and complex physical field analysis are introduced. The relationships, particularly the differences, between DBM and traditional fluid modeling as well as other kinetic methods are discussed. After verification and validation of the method, some applied researches including the development of various physical functions associated with discrete and non-equilibrium effects are illustrated. Future directions of DBM related studies are indicated., Comment: Topic Review: 99 pages, 51 figures

A two-fluid discrete Boltzmann model with a flexible Prandtl number is formulated to study the shock-bubble interaction (SBI). This paper mainly focuses on the viscous effects on morphological and thermodynamic non-equilibrium (TNE) characterizations during the SBI process. Due to the rapid and brief nature of the SBI process, viscosity has a relatively limited influence on macroscopic parameters but significantly affects the TNE features of the fluid system. Morphologically, viscosity affects the configuration of the vortex pair, increases both the amplitudes of gradients of average density and average temperature of the fluid field, and reduces circulation of the bubble. As a higher viscosity fluid absorbs more energy from the shock wave, it leads to an increase in both the proportion of the high-density region and the corresponding boundary length for a fixed density threshold. The spatiotemporal features of TNE quantities are analyzed from multiple perspectives. The spatial configuration of these TNE quantities exhibits interesting symmetry, which aids in understanding the way and extent to which fluid unit deviates from the equilibrium state. Theoretically, viscosity influences these TNE quantities by affecting the transport coefficients and gradients of macroscopic quantity. Meanwhile, the viscosity increases the entropy production rate originating from the non-organized momentum flux mainly through amplifying the transport coefficient and enhances the entropy production rate contributed by the non-organized energy flux by raising the temperature gradient. These multi-perspective results collectively provide a relatively comprehensive depiction of the SBI.

Specific-heat ratio effects on the interaction between a planar shock wave and a two-dimensional heavy-cylindrical bubble are studied by the discrete Boltzmann method. Snapshots of schlieren images and evolutions of characteristic scales, being consistent with experiments, are obtained. The specific-heat ratio effects on some relevant dynamic behaviors such as the bubble shape, deformation process, average motion, vortex motion, mixing degree of the fluid system are carefully studied, as well as the related Thermodynamic Non-Equilibriums (TNE) behaviors including the TNE strength, entropy production rate of the system. Specifically, it is found that the influence of specific-heat ratio on the entropy production contributed by non-organized energy flux (NOEF) is more significant than that caused by non-organized momentum flux (NOMF). Effects of specific-heat ratio on entropy production caused by NOMF and NOEF are contrary. The effects of specific-heat ratio on various TNE quantities show interesting differences. These differences consistently show the complexity of TNE flows which is still far from clear understanding.

The non-equilibrium high-speed compressible flows present wealthy applications in engineering and science. With the deepening of Thermodynamic Non-Equilibrium (TNE), higher-order non-conserved kinetic moments of the distribution function are needed to capture the main feature of the flow state and evolution process. Based on the ellipsoidal statistical Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model, Discrete Boltzmann Models (DBMs) that consider various orders (from the first up to the sixth order) of TNE effects are developed to study flows in various depths of TNE. Specifically, at first, two types of one-dimensional Riemann problems and a Couette flow are used to show the model's capability to capture large flow structures with zero-order and first-order TNE effects, respectively. Then, a shock wave structure given by Direct simulation Monte Carlo is used to verify the model's capability to capture fine structures at the level of mean free path of molecules. Further, we focus on the TNE degree of two colliding fluids. A five-component vector $\mathbf{S}_{TNE} = (\tau, \Delta \mathbf{u}, \Delta T, \bm{\Delta_{2}^{*}},\bm{\Delta_{3,1}^{*}})$ is introduced to roughly characterize the TNE degree. It is found that the TNE strengths obtained from various perspectives are different. These findings demonstrate that the inadequacy of focusing only on the few kinetic moments appearing in Navier-Stokes increases with the degree of discreteness and deviation from thermodynamic equilibrium. Finally, a two-dimensional free jet is simulated to indicate that, to obtain satisfying hydrodynamic quantities, the DBM should include at least up to the third-order TNE effects., Comment: This manuscript has been published in POF, please cite it as: Phys. Fluids 34, 086104 (2022). The website of this article is https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0100873

Rayleigh-Taylor-instability(RTI) induced flow and mixing are of great importance in both nature and engineering scenarios. To capture the underpinning physics, tracers are introduced to make a supplement to discrete Boltzmann simulation of RTI in compressible flows. Via marking two types of tracers with different colors, the tracer distribution provides a clear boundary of two fluids during the RTI evolution. Fine structures of the flow and thermodynamic nonequilibrium behavior around the interface in a miscible two-fluid system are delineated. Distribution of tracers in its velocity phase space makes a charming pattern showing quite dense information on the flow behavior, which opens a new perspective for analyzing and accessing significantly deep insights into the flow system. RTI mixing is further investigated via tracer defined local mixedness. The appearance of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is quantitatively captured by mixedness averaged align the direction of the pressure gradient. The role of compressibility and viscosity on mixing are investigated separately, both of which show two-stage effect. The underlying mechanism of the two-stage effect is interpreted as the development of large structures at the initial stage and the generation of small structures at the late stage. At the late stage, for a fixed time, a saturation phenomenon of viscosity is found that further increase of viscosity cannot see an evident decline in mixedness. The mixing statues of heavy and light fluids are not synchronous and the mixing of a RTI system is heterogenous. The results are helpful for understanding the mechanism of flow and mixing induced by RTI.