Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Robert P Behringer

Publications and source records attributed to Robert P Behringer.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Hysteresis and competition between disorder and crystallization in sheared and vibrated granular flow.

Experiments on spherical particles in a 3D annular shear cell vibrated from below and sheared from above show a hysteretic freezing or melting transition. Under sufficient vibration a crystallized state is observed, which can be melted by sufficient shear. The critical line for this transition coincides with equal kinetic energies for vibration and shear. The force distribution is double peaked in the crystalline state and single peaked with an approximately exponential tail in the disordered state. Continuous relations between pressure and volume (with dP/dV>0) exist for a continuum of partially and/or intermittently melted states over a range of parameters.

Journal Article↗

Steady-profile fingering flows in Marangoni driven thin films.

We present experimental and computational results indicating the existence of finite-amplitude fingering solutions in a flow of a thin film of a viscous fluid driven by thermally induced Marangoni stresses. Using carefully controlled experiments, spatially periodic perturbations to the contact line of an initially uniform thin film flow are shown to lead to the development of steady-profile two-dimensional traveling wave fingers. Using an infrared laser and scanning mirror, we impose thermal perturbations with a known wavelength to an initially uniform advancing fluid front. As the front advances in the experiment, we observe convergence to fingers with the initially prescribed wavelength. Experiments and numerical computations show that this family of solutions arises from a subcritical bifurcation.

Journal Article↗

Reverse undercompressive shock structures in driven thin film flow.

We show experimental and computational evidence of a new structure: an undercompressive and reverse undercompressive shock for draining films driven by a surface tension gradient against gravity. The reverse undercompressive shock is unstable to transverse perturbations while the leading undercompressive shock is stable. Depending on the pinch-off film thickness, as controlled by the meniscus, either a trailing rarefaction wave or a compressive shock separates from the reverse undercompressive shock.

Journal Article↗