When a liquid droplet impacts a superhydrophobic surface with anisotropic surface patterning in the form of alternating ribs and cavities, the rebounding droplet may exhibit a unique two-pronged jet emission. Droplet impact experiments with 11 different fluids of viscosity that varied by more than three orders of magnitude were conducted, and this paper quantifies the Capillary number, Ca, and Ohnesorge number, Oh, ranges over which the two-pronged phenomenon occurs. For Oh > 0.0154, the behavior was never observed, while at lower values of Oh, the behavior occurs for an intermediate range of Ca that depends on Oh.

This paper develops a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (O.D.E.) of motion for a disk parallel to a flat plate and levitated by incompressible laminar flow of fluid supplied from a central orifice. The fluid’s inertia, reflected in high mass flow rates, is accounted for. The transient flow velocity and pressure field are found by iterative integration of the Navier-Stokes equation to determine the O.D.E. for the time-dependent height of the disk (or fluid film thickness). The film thickness is found by not only numerically integrating the O.D.E., but also by linearizing the equation to obtain a closed-form solution. The results of this combined squeeze-film, source-flow case compare favorably with experimental data presented which span cases from negligible inertia (viscous dominance) to cases of inertia dominance. Fortunately, the closed-form solution differs only slightly from the numerical solution; this provides relatively accurate expressions for the frequencies and damping coefficients in terms of the geometry, load (or weight of disk), mass flow rate, and the fluid properties.

Current literature on solar air collectors emphasizes satisfactory heat transfer between the absorber and the flowing air as a major factor in overall performance. Heat transfer in the airflow passages, usually in or near the transitional flow range, is also influenced by entrance effects. The present study experimentally examines a back-corrugated absorber-convector composed of a rectangularly corrugated plate attached to the back side of a flat absorber plate with a high-temperature, high-strength adhesive. The upper surface is subjected to a heat flux from a blanket-type electric heater which simulates solar irradiation. The corrugated-plate configuration creates two parallel airflow channel types. The two channels have different geometries and, therefore, may have different heat transfer characteristics. An apparatus was designed to determine the local convective heat transfer coefficients along each of the channels. The results show that the back-corrugated absorber-convector has much better thermal performance than the simple flat-plate absorber-convector, primarily because of the increased convective heat transfer area.

An order-of-magnitude analysis is applied to the Navier-Stokes equations and the continuity equation for isothermal, radial fluid flow between oscillating and rotating disks. This analysis investigates the four basic cases of 1) steady, radial flow, 2) unsteady, radial flow, 3) steady, spiral flow, and 4) unsteady, spiral flow. It is shown that certain values of particular dimensionless parameters for general cases will reduce the Navier-Stokes equations to simplified forms and thus render them amenable to closed-form solutions for, say, the pressure distribution between oscillating, rotating disks. The analysis holds for laminar and turbulent flows and compressible and incompressible flows. The conditions that must be satisfied for one to reasonably neglect 1) rotation, 2) unsteady terms, and 3) convective terms are set forth. One result shown is that only rarely could one reasonably neglect the radial convective acceleration while retaining the radial local acceleration.

Equilibrium and dynamic data are presented along with specifications of uncertainties for the dynamic vertical motion of a solid disk supported above a flat plate by a thin layer of gas which flows from a central orifice. The equilibrium data are compared with an equilibrium theory while the dynamic data are compared with both nonlinear and linear dynamic theories. These data extend beyond the expected region of validity of the theories first to identify the limits of present theories and also to provide data for comparison with future theories.