2011 Virtual Pressroom

2011 Video Gallery 

The Division of Fluid Dynamics exists for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of the physics of fluids with special emphasis on the dynamical theories of the liquid, plastic and gaseous states of matter under all conditions of temperature and pressure.

Every year, the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics hosts a physical Gallery of Fluid Motion at its annual meeting—a room where stunning graphics and videos from computational or experimental studies showing flow phenomena are displayed. The most outstanding entries are selected by a panel of referees for artistic content and honored for their originality and ability to convey information. Past winners are published in the journal.

Physics of Fluids

In conjunction with the 64th APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting, held from November 20-22, 2011, in Baltimore, Maryland, a subset of these images and videos are available for viewing prior to the judging process.

Usage Permission

Reporters seeking permission to use these images or author contact information should email Charles Blue. Please leave "DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion" in the subject line.

Bursting Water Balloons

Hugh M. Lund, Stuart B. Dalziel
DAMPT
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom

The first part of this video shows the rupture of water-filled balloons being dropped onto a flat, rigid surface. In the second part, water balloons are held underwater, oscillated at a set frequency, and then burst with a pin. A high-speed camera captures the dynamics of the bouncing, rupturing, or bursting balloons.

Bursting Water Balloons Video

Freezing Singularities in Water Drops

Oscar R. Enríquez, Álvaro G. MarÍn, Koen G. Winkels, Jacco H. Snoeijer
University of Twente

This video shows how a drop of water freezes into a singular (pointed) shape when deposited on a cold surface. The sharp tip of the ice drop then acts as a preferential site for deposition of water vapor and a beautiful “tree” of ice crystals develops.

Freezing Singularities in Water Drops Video

Particle Jet Formation During Explosive Dispersal of Solid Particles

David L. Frost, Oren Petel, Samuel Goroshin
McGill University

Yann Grégoire
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Fan Zhang
Defense Research and Development Canada

The experiments shown in this fluid dynamics video were carried out in either spherical or cylindrical geometry and illustrate the formation of particle jets during the explosive dispersal process. The number of jet-like structures that are generated during the dispersal of a dry powder bed is compared with the number formed during the dispersal of the same volume of water or wet powder.

Particle Jet Formation Video

Holy Balls!

Michael Wright, Ken Langley, Jesse Belden, Tadd Truscott
Brigham Young University
Naval Undersea Warfare Center

This video demonstrates the behavior of three balls – each with a different coefficient of restitution – skipping off of the water’s surface. The more each ball flattens inside the cavity it creates, the more it behaves like a skipping stone.

Holy Balls! Video

Impinging Jets and Droplet Dynamics

Xiaodong Chen, Prashant Khare, Dongjun Ma, Vigor Yang
Georgia Institute of Technology

In this fluid dynamics video, results from high fidelity numerical simulations are presented, which have been carried out to study the flow and droplet dynamics of liquid sheets formed by two impinging jets. Oblique collision of two cylindrical, laminar jets causes the liquid to flow outward from the impact point, creating a thin sheet which lies in a plane perpendicular to the plane containing the two jets. This sheet eventually disintegrates into ligaments and/or droplets.

Impinging Jets and Droplet Dynamics Video

Superfast Thinning of a Nanoscale Thin Liquid Film

Michael Winkler, Guggi Kofod, Markus Abel
University of Potsdam
Germany

Markus Abel
LEMTA
Nancy Université
CNRS, France

Rumen Krastev
Natural and Medical Science Institute
Tübingen, Germany

This video shows how thermal convection “thins” a film of water. A very cold needle is inserted into the film (middle), causing the formation of two convection rolls (left and right). As the aqueous film becomes too thin to refract visible light, it loses its rainbow coloring and turns black. The convection increases the rate at which the film thins, from linear to exponentially fast.

Superfast Thinning Video

Optimal Chaotic Mixing by Two-Dimensional Stokes Flows

Qizheng Yan, David Saintillan
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This video illustrates a numerical calculation for predicting the optimal mixing strategy for a solution, in two dimensions. Higher values of “N” correspond to more efficient mixing.

Optimal Chaotic Mixing Video

Flying in Two Dimensions

Manu Prakash, Donald Kim
Stanford University

This video shows the unusual flight mode that adult Waterlilly Beetles (Galerucella) use to propel themselves across the surface of a pond. The researchers compare the fluid dynamics of this new 2-D flight mode across the surface of water to the more common 3-D free flight, and draw conclusions about how surface-skimming behavior relates to the origin of flight in insects.

Flying in Two Dimensions Video

An Instability in a Straightening Chain

J.A. Hanna, H. King
University of Massachusetts

This video shows the rapid straightening of a chain. An arch-like structure develops and grows.

An Instability in a Straightening Chain Video

Hairpins, et al. in Turbulent Boundary Layers

Philipp Schlatter, Miloš Ilak, Mattias Chevalier, Geert Brethouwer, Arne V. Johansson, Dan S. Henningson
Linné FLOW Centre and Swedish e-Science Research Centre

This video presented a new set of three-dimensional visualizations of large-scale, direct numerical simulations of a turbulent boundary layer. In addition to visualization using classical three-dimensional iso-surfaces, the video is also rendered using stereoscopic views using red-cyan anaglyphs.

Hairpins, et al. in Turbulent Boundary Layers Video

Vortex-Filament Interactions

Silas Alben
Georgia Institute of Technology

This video shows a point vortex interacting with a passive flexible filament. As the filament’s bending stiffness changes, from nearly rigid to floppily flexible, the dynamics of the interaction also change.

Vortex-Filament Interactions Video

Liquid Ring

Seungho Kim, Ho-Young Kim
Seoul National University

This video shows high-speed images of the motion of water drops on a superhydrophilic (extremely easy to wet) ring surrounded by a superhydrophobic (extremely hard to wet) area. If the water droplet has a low volume, a cap shape cannot be maintained, and water is ejected from the inner hydrophobic circle.

Liquid Ring Video