Biophysics: water-repellent legs of water striders

Water striders (Gerris remigis) have remarkable non-wetting legs that enable them to stand effortlessly and move quickly on water, a feature believed to be due to a surface-tension effect caused by secreted wax. We show here, however, that it is the special hierarchical structure of the legs, which are covered by large numbers of oriented tiny hairs (microsetae) with fine nanogrooves, that is more important in inducing this water resistance.     

Meniscus-climbing insects

Water-walking insects and spiders rely on surface tension for static weight support and use a variety of means to propel themselves along the surface. To pass from the water surface to land, they must contend with the slippery slopes of the menisci that border the water's edge. The ability to climb menisci is a skill exploited by water-walking insects as they seek land in order to lay eggs or avoid predators; moreover, it was a necessary adaptation for their ancestors as they evolved from terrestrials to live exclusively on the water surface. Many millimetre-scale water-walking insects are unable to climb menisci using their traditional means of propulsion. Through a combined experimental and theoretical study, here we investigate the meniscus-climbing technique that such insects use. By assuming a fixed body posture, they deform the water surface in order to generate capillary forces: they thus propel themselves laterally without moving their appendages. We develop a theoretical model for this novel mode of propulsion and use it to rationalize the climbers' characteristic body postures and predict climbing trajectories consistent with those reported here and elsewhere.     

仿生叶轮机构水上推进特性仿真与试验

对一种水上仿生推进装置进行流体力学仿真,并根据处于多种工况下若干组仿真数据,对该推进装置的力学特性进行分析。着重研究并归纳在不同转速和出水高度条件下,推进装置的升力、推力和功率曲线的变化规律,总结有助于仿生推进装置设计与优化的结论。最后,借助叶轮机构试验系统进行相关试验,并用试验数据来印证分析结论的合理性。结果表明,随着转速的提高,推进装置所产生的升力和推力同时增加,机械总效率和推进效率增大,但托举效率减小;当推进装置的轴心距水面越高时,在一定范围内,其推进效率和托举效率越大。合理的结构设计能够大幅提升装置在各种工况下的推进效率和托举效率。     

水压爆破中群药包药量的计算

从水中爆炸的冲击波冲量和能量的角度出发,基于单个集中药包的药量公式,应用结构破坏的能量准则,提出了水压爆破解体的药量公式,这些公式经工程实例检验,符合较好。     

烧蚀模式激光推进的机理和应用探索

激光推进是一种全新的驱动概念,在未来航天领域具有重要的应用前景.介绍了我们采用凝聚态工质的"火箭烧蚀模式"激光推进方面的最新研究进展,包括烧蚀模式激光推进的机理、激光水推进、激光微推力器模型以及分离式全方位接收激光推力器概念,目的在于探索烧蚀模式激光推进的机理、规律和可能应用.     

无缆微型仿鱼泳动机器人的设计与运动分析

根据鱼类的游动推进原理,提出一种基于螺线管线圈结构的外磁场驱动微型仿鱼机器人的设计方案,构建了其实验控制系统,分析了机器人在液体中的推进力和动力学模型,以及尾鳍对其推进性能的影响。实验结果表明,不同的尾鳍摆动频率和尾鳍长度对推进速度有很大影响,其运动速度随驱动频率的增大而逐步增大,但当驱动频率大于7 Hz时运动速度减慢。实验结果与理论分析相一致。     

船-泵相互作用对喷水推进器推进性能的影响

为研究喷水推进船快速性预报中船体与喷水推进器相互作用机理,借助于计算流体力学(CFD)方法研究船-泵相互作用对喷水推进器推进性能的影响.通过计算由k-ε湍流模型封闭的RANS方程,分别得到敞水条件下和考虑船体斜升角、纵倾等因素影响的装船后喷水推进器的三维黏性流场,敞水条件下计算结果与试验数据的良好吻合验证了数值模型和方法的可信性.不同斜升角和纵倾模型计算结果表明:船体斜升角和横倾对喷水推进器推进性能影响很小;船体尾升角和纵倾角的变化改变了船体边界层,对喷水推进器推进性能和作用因子影响很大;纵倾角由正变负,喷水推进器对船体边界层的利用增强,使流量变小,功率、推力和扬程变大;进流动量系数、进流能量系数、动量作用效率和能量作用效率均减小.喷水推进器也反作用于船体,产生使船体纵倾角减小的力矩.     

The effects of surfactants on spilling breaking waves

Breaking waves markedly increase the rates of air-sea transfer of momentum, energy and mass. In light to moderate wind conditions, spilling breakers with short wavelengths are observed frequently. Theory and laboratory experiments have shown that, as these waves approach breaking in clean water, a ripple pattern that is dominated by surface tension forms at the crest. Under laboratory conditions and in theory, the transition to turbulent flow is triggered by flow separation under the ripples, typically without leading to overturning of the free surface. Water surfaces in nature, however, are typically contaminated by surfactant films that alter the surface tension and produce surface elasticity and viscosity. Here we present the results of laboratory experiments in which spilling breaking waves were generated mechanically in water with a range of surfactant concentrations. We find significant changes in the breaking process owing to surfactants. At the highest concentration of surfactants, a small plunging jet issues from the front face of the wave at a point below the wave crest and entraps a pocket of air on impact with the front face of the wave. The bubbles and turbulence created during this process are likely to increase air-sea transfer.     

Dynamical coupling of wind and ocean waves through wave-induced air flow

Understanding the physical mechanisms behind the generation of ocean waves by wind has been a longstanding challenge. Previous studies have assumed that ocean waves induce fluctuations in velocity and pressure of the overlying air that are synchronized with the waves, and numerical models have supported this assumption. In a complex feedback, these fluctuations provide the energy for wave generation. The spatial and temporal structure of the wave-induced airflow therefore holds the key to the physics of wind-wave coupling, but detailed observations have proved difficult. Here we present an analysis of wind velocities and ocean surface elevations observed over the open ocean. We use a linear filter to identify the wave-induced air flow from the measurements and find that its structure is in agreement with 'critical-layer' theory. Considering that the wave-induced momentum flux is then controlled by the wave spectrum and that it varies considerably in vertical direction, a simple parameterization of the total air-sea momentum flux is unlikely to exist.     

Asteroseismology: oscillations on the star Procyon

Stars are spheres of hot gas whose interiors transmit acoustic waves very efficiently. Geologists learn about the interior structure of Earth by monitoring how seismic waves propagate through it and, in a similar way, the interior of a star can be probed using the periodic motions on the surface that arise from such waves. Matthews et al. claim that the star Procyon does not have acoustic surface oscillations of the strength predicted. However, we show here, using ground-based spectroscopy, that Procyon is oscillating, albeit with an amplitude that is only slightly greater than the noise level observed by Matthews et al. using spaced-based photometry.     

讨论费曼园盘佯谬时疏忽的一个问题

有的文献在讨论费曼园盘佯谬时,得到园盘所获机械角动量是由电磁角动量转化而来的结论欠妥.本文通过定量计算,给出正确答案,并指出在讨论电磁体系角动量时,经常疏忽的一个问题.     

关于磨料磁流体射流可行性的分析

通过对前混合磨料射流和后混合磨料射流进行对比分析,发现了两种磨料射流技术均存在一些技术缺陷。为了解决这些问题,对磁流体推进技术展开研究。通过Fluent软件对磁流体中磨料运动进行分析;并且通过试验装置验证了直流式磁流体推进装置能够对磁流体产生增压效应,形成了直流式磨料磁流体射流。在直流式的基础上,分析了交流式磨料磁流体射流的优点,展望了交流式磁流体推进技术在磨料磁流体射流上的应用前景。通过电磁场方程以及流场方程建立数学模型,分析了其在磨料射流上应用的可能性。     

一种非静压的平面二维水动力学模型

将N—S方程中的压力分解为静压和动压并将水平动量方程沿水深积分,垂向动量方程则只考虑动压梯度项．求解过程分解为静压步和非静压步,采用有限差分法离散水平动量方程,基于Keller-box格式离散垂向动量方程,得到关于动压的泊松方程并采用稳定双共轭梯度法求解,最后根据动压更新流速和水位,建立了一种非静压的平面二维水动力学模型．利用孤波和规则波的算例验证了模型的有效性．     

Acceleration of the rotation of asteroid 1862 Apollo by radiation torques

The anisotropic reflection and thermal re-emission of sunlight from an asteroid's surface acts as a propulsion engine. The net propulsion force (Yarkovsky effect) changes the orbital dynamics of the body at a rate that depends on its physical properties; for irregularly shaped bodies, the propulsion causes a net torque (the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack or YORP effect) that can change the object's rotation period and the direction of its rotation axis. The Yarkovsky effect has been observed directly, and there is also indirect evidence of its role in the orbital evolution of asteroids over long time intervals. So far, however, only indirect evidence exists for the YORP effect through the clustering of the directions of rotation axes in asteroid families. Here we report a change in the rotation rate of the asteroid 1862 Apollo, which is best explained by the YORP mechanism. The change is fairly large and clearly visible in photometric lightcurves, amounting to one extra rotation cycle in just 40 years even though Apollo's size is well over one kilometre. This confirms the prediction that the YORP effect plays a significant part in the dynamical evolution of asteroids.     

圆梁山隧道毛坝向斜段深部承压岩溶水系统浅析

通过地表调研、深孔勘探与抽水试验以及氢氧同位素测试 ,揭示向斜核部存在深部岩溶承压水系统 ,局部地带以绕轴与断层带局部承压径流的形式沟通向斜东西翼的水力联系 ,深部承压岩溶水系统在整个向斜水循环中所起的作用是很有限的。隧道施工时 ,应做好防水措施。     

The Earth's 'hum' is driven by ocean waves over the continental shelves

Observations show that the seismic normal modes of the Earth at frequencies near 10 mHz are excited at a nearly constant level in the absence of large earthquakes. This background level of excitation has been called the 'hum' of the Earth, and is equivalent to the maximum excitation from a magnitude 5.75 earthquake. Its origin is debated, with most studies attributing the forcing to atmospheric turbulence, analogous to the forcing of solar oscillations by solar turbulence. Some reports also predicted that turbulence might excite the planetary modes of Mars to detectable levels. Recent observations on Earth, however, suggest that the predominant excitation source lies under the oceans. Here I show that turbulence is a very weak source, and instead it is interacting ocean waves over the shallow continental shelves that drive the hum of the Earth. Ocean waves couple into seismic waves through the quadratic nonlinearity of the surface boundary condition, which couples pairs of slowly propagating ocean waves of similar frequency to a high phase velocity component at approximately double the frequency. This is the process by which ocean waves generate the well known 'microseism peak' that dominates the seismic spectrum near 140 mHz (refs 11, 12), but at hum frequencies, the mechanism differs significantly in frequency and depth dependence. A calculation of the coupling between ocean waves and seismic modes reproduces the seismic spectrum observed. Measurements of the temporal correlation between ocean wave data and seismic data have confirmed that ocean waves, rather than atmospheric turbulence, are driving the modes of the Earth.     

Reduced drag coefficient for high wind speeds in tropical cyclones

The transfer of momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean is described in terms of the variation of wind speed with height and a drag coefficient that increases with sea surface roughness and wind speed. But direct measurements have only been available for weak winds; momentum transfer under extreme wind conditions has therefore been extrapolated from these field measurements. Global Positioning System sondes have been used since 1997 to measure the profiles of the strong winds in the marine boundary layer associated with tropical cyclones. Here we present an analysis of these data, which show a logarithmic increase in mean wind speed with height in the lowest 200 m, maximum wind speed at 500 m and a gradual weakening up to a height of 3 km. By determining surface stress, roughness length and neutral stability drag coefficient, we find that surface momentum flux levels off as the wind speeds increase above hurricane force. This behaviour is contrary to surface flux parameterizations that are currently used in a variety of modelling applications, including hurricane risk assessment and prediction of storm motion, intensity, waves and storm surges.     

半绝缘GaAs光电导天线辐射THz电磁波展宽特性分析

介绍了自洽式多粒子蒙特卡罗方法模拟半绝缘GaAs光电导天线辐射THz电磁时域波形。模型中采用光能、脉宽可调飞秒激光器作为触发光源,模拟的THz电磁波形与实验基本吻合。通过载流子在光电导体内的动态输运特性,分析了辐射THz电磁波场比触发光脉冲展宽的物理机制在于:光生载流子在外电场作用下,从初始状态到速度达到稳态要经历一个动量和能量弛豫过程,而正是由于载流子动量和能量的弛豫过程导致光电导天线辐射的太赫兹波展宽。高光能、低偏置电场下,空间电荷电场是造成光电导天线辐射的THz波呈现双极性的主要原因。