Dynamics of plosive consonants via imaging, computations, and soft electronics.

A quantitative understanding of the coupled dynamics of flow and particles in aerosol and droplet transmission associated with speech remains elusive. Here, we summarize an effort that integrates insights into flow-particle dynamics induced by the production plosive sounds during speech with skin-integrated electronic systems for monitoring the production of these sounds. In particular, we uncover diffusive and ballistic regimes separated by a threshold particle size and characterize the Lagrangian acceleration and pair dispersion. Lagrangian dynamics of the particles in the diffusive regime exhibit features of isotropic turbulence. These fundamental findings highlight the value in skin-interfaced wireless sensors for continuously measuring critical speech patterns in clinical settings, work environments, and the home, based on unique neck biomechanics associated with the generation of plosive sounds. We introduce a wireless, soft device that captures these motions to enable detection of plosive sounds in multiple languages through a convolutional neural network approach. This work spans fundamental flow-particle physics to soft electronic technology, with implications in monitoring and studying critical speech patterns associated with aerosol and droplet transmissions relevant to the spread of infectious diseases.

Dynamic slip wall model for large-eddy simulation.

Wall modelling in large-eddy simulation (LES) is necessary to overcome the prohibitive near-wall resolution requirements in high-Reynolds-number turbulent flows. Most existing wall models rely on assumptions about the state of the boundary layer and require a priori prescription of tunable coefficients. They also impose the predicted wall stress by replacing the no-slip boundary condition at the wall with a Neumann boundary condition in the wall-parallel directions while maintaining the no-transpiration condition in the wall-normal direction. In the present study, we first motivate and analyse the Robin (slip) boundary condition with transpiration (non-zero wall-normal velocity) in the context of wall-modelled LES. The effect of the slip boundary condition on the one-point statistics of the flow is investigated in LES of turbulent channel flow and a flat-plate turbulent boundary layer. It is shown that the slip condition provides a framework to compensate for the deficit or excess of mean momentum at the wall. Moreover, the resulting non-zero stress at the wall alleviates the well-known problem of the wall-stress under-estimation by current subgrid-scale (SGS) models (Jiménez & Moser, AIAA J., vol. 38 (4), 2000, pp. 605-612). Second, we discuss the requirements for the slip condition to be used in conjunction with wall models and derive the equation that connects the slip boundary condition with the stress at the wall. Finally, a dynamic procedure for the slip coefficients is formulated, providing a dynamic slip wall model free of a priori specified coefficients. The performance of the proposed dynamic wall model is tested in a series of LES of turbulent channel flow at varying Reynolds numbers, non-equilibrium three-dimensional transient channel flow and a zero-pressure-gradient flat-plate turbulent boundary layer. The results show that the dynamic wall model is able to accurately predict one-point turbulence statistics for various flow configurations, Reynolds numbers and grid resolutions.

Wall-Modeled Large-Eddy Simulation for Complex Turbulent Flows.

Large-eddy simulation (LES) has proven to be a computationally tractable approach to simulate unsteady turbulent flows. However, prohibitive resolution requirements induced by near-wall eddies in high-Reynolds number boundary layers necessitate the use of wall models or approximate wall boundary conditions. We review recent investigations in wall-modeled LES, including the development of novel approximate boundary conditions and the application of wall models to complex flows (e.g., boundary-layer separation, shock/boundary-layer interactions, transition). We also assess the validity of underlying assumptions in wall-model derivations to elucidate the accuracy of these investigations, and offer suggestions for future studies.

Large eddy simulations for blood dynamics in realistic stenotic carotids.

In this paper, we consider large eddy simulations (LES) for human stenotic carotids in presence of atheromasic plaque, a pathological condition where transitional effects to turbulence may occur, with relevant clinical implications such as plaque rupture. We provide a reference numerical solution obtained at high resolution without any subgrid scale model, to be used to assess the accuracy of LES simulations. In the context we are considering, ie, hemodynamics, we cannot refer to a statistically homogeneous, isotropic, and stationary turbulent regime; hence, the classical Kolmogorov theory cannot be used. For this reason, a mesh size and a time step are deemed fine enough if they allow to capture all the features of the velocity field in the shear layers developed after the bifurcation. To assess these requirements, we consider a simplified model of the evolution of a 2D shear layer, a relevant process in the formation of transitional effects in our case. Then, we compare the results of LES σ model (both static and dynamic) and mixed LES models (where also a similarity contribution is considered). In particular, we consider a realistic scenario of a human carotid, and we use the reference solution as gold standard. The results highlight the accuracy of the LES σ models, especially for the static model.

An algorithm to estimate unsteady and quasi-steady pressure fields from velocity field measurements.

We describe and characterize a method for estimating the pressure field corresponding to velocity field measurements such as those obtained by using particle image velocimetry. The pressure gradient is estimated from a time series of velocity fields for unsteady calculations or from a single velocity field for quasi-steady calculations. The corresponding pressure field is determined based on median polling of several integration paths through the pressure gradient field in order to reduce the effect of measurement errors that accumulate along individual integration paths. Integration paths are restricted to the nodes of the measured velocity field, thereby eliminating the need for measurement interpolation during this step and significantly reducing the computational cost of the algorithm relative to previous approaches. The method is validated by using numerically simulated flow past a stationary, two-dimensional bluff body and a computational model of a three-dimensional, self-propelled anguilliform swimmer to study the effects of spatial and temporal resolution, domain size, signal-to-noise ratio and out-of-plane effects. Particle image velocimetry measurements of a freely swimming jellyfish medusa and a freely swimming lamprey are analyzed using the method to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach when applied to empirical data.