54 citations · 268 across the 36 of their papers we have counts for
24 papers · 1 filter
Extensible membranes in inviscid flow: aerodynamics and singular limits
Yu Jun Loo, Silas Alben
We develop a two-dimensional inviscid model for extensible membranes with continuous vortex shedding from both edges, coupled to a weak spectral Galerkin discretization of the memb…
Comparison of inviscid and viscous vortex shedding from translating and rotating plates
Yu Jun Loo, Silas Alben
We compare an inviscid vortex sheet model with continuous leading-edge shedding with direct Navier-Stokes simulations over a wide range of unsteady plate motions at moderate Reynol…
Enhancing wall-to-wall heat transport with unsteady flow perturbations
Silas Alben, Xiaojia Wang, Nicole Vuong
We determine unsteady flow perturbations that are optimal for enhancing the rate of heat transfer between hot and cold walls (i.e. the Nusselt number Nu), under the constraint of f…
Wavy optimal flows for heat transfer in channels
Shivani Prabala, Silas Alben
We compute incompressible two-dimensional fluid flows that maximize the rate of heat transfer from the walls of a straight channel given a specified flow input power , wher…
Falling plates with leading-edge vortex shedding
Yu Jun Loo, Silas Alben
We develop a new numerical method for thin plates falling in inviscid fluid that allows for leading-edge vortex shedding. The inclusion of leading-edge shedding restores physical d…
How vortices enhance heat transfer from an oscillating plate
Xiaojia Wang, Silas Alben
Oscillations of a heated solid surface in an oncoming fluid flow can increase heat transfer from the solid to the fluid. Previous studies have investigated the resulting heat trans…
Sail dynamics during tacking maneuvers
Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, Silas Alben
We study the dynamics of sail membranes during a tacking maneuver, when the sail angle of attack is reversed in order to sail upwind. In successful tacking the sail flips to the mi…
Enhancing heat transfer in a channel with unsteady flow perturbations
Silas Alben, Shivani Prabala, Mitchell Godek
We compute unsteady perturbations that optimally increase the heat transfer (Nu) of optimal steady unidirectional channel flows, for a given average rate of power consumption Pe$^2…
Spanwise variations in membrane flutter dynamics
Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, Silas Alben
We study the large-amplitude flutter of rectangular membranes in 3-D inviscid flows. The membranes' deformations vary significantly in both the chordwise and spanwise directions. M…
Optimal wall shapes and flows for steady planar convection
Silas Alben
We compute steady planar incompressible flows and wall shapes that maximize the rate of heat transfer (Nu) between and hot and cold walls, for a given rate of viscous dissipation b…
Transition to branching flows in optimal planar convection
Silas Alben
We study steady flows that are optimal for heat transfer in a two-dimensional periodic domain. The flows maximize heat transfer under the constraints of incompressibility and a giv…
Membrane flutter in three-dimensional inviscid flow
Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, Silas Alben
We develop a model and numerical method to study the large-amplitude flutter of rectangular membranes (of zero bending rigidity) that shed a trailing vortex-sheet wake in a three-d…
Dynamics of flags over wide ranges of mass and bending stiffness
Silas Alben
There have been many studies of the instability of a flexible plate or flag to flapping motions, and of large-amplitude flapping. Here we use inviscid simulations and a linearized…
Dynamics of tethered membranes in inviscid flow
Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, Silas Alben
We investigate the dynamics of membranes that are held by freely-rotating tethers in fluid flows. The tethered boundary condition allows periodic and chaotic oscillatory motions fo…
Eigenmode analysis of membrane stability in inviscid flow
Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, Silas Alben
We study the instability of a thin membrane (of zero bending rigidity) to out-of-plane deflections, when the membrane is immersed in an inviscid fluid flow and sheds a trailing vor…
Collective locomotion of two-dimensional lattices of flapping plates
Silas Alben
We study the propulsive properties of rectangular and rhombic lattices of flapping plates at O(10--100) Reynolds numbers in incompressible flow. We vary five parameters: flapping a…
Large-amplitude membrane flutter in inviscid flow
Christiana Mavroyiakoumou, Silas Alben
We study the large-amplitude flutter of membranes (of zero bending rigidity) with vortex-sheet wakes in 2D inviscid fluid flows. We apply small initial deflections and track their…
Improved convection cooling in steady channel flows
Silas Alben
We find steady channel flows that are locally optimal for transferring heat from fixed-temperature walls, under the constraint of a fixed rate of viscous dissipation (enstrophy = $…
Optimal convection cooling flows in general geometries
Silas Alben
We generalize a recent method for computing optimal 2D convection cooling flows in a horizontal layer to a wide range of geometries, including those relevant for technological appl…
Stability and scalability of piezoelectric flags
Xiaolin Wang, Silas Alben, Chenyang Li +1
We investigate the effect of piezoelectric (PZT) material on the flutter speed, vibration mode and frequency, and energy harvesting power and efficiency of a flexible flag in vario…
Flag flutter in inviscid channel flow
Silas Alben
Using nonlinear vortex-sheet simulations, we determine the region in parameter space in which a straight flag in a channel-bounded inviscid flow is unstable to flapping motions. We…
Vortex-filament interactions
Silas Alben
We present a fluid dynamics video showing how a point vortex interacts with a passive flexible filament, for various values of filament bending stiffness.
Falling Flexible Sheets
Silas Alben
We present a fluid dynamics video showing simulations of flexible bodies falling in an inviscid fluid. Vortex sheets are shed from the trailing edges of the bodies according to the…
Inviscid Simulations of Interacting Flags and Falling Sheets
Silas Alben
We present a fluid dynamics video showing simulations of flexible bodies flapping and falling in an inviscid fluid. Vortex sheets are shed from the trailing edges of the bodies acc…