Soap films: fluid mechanics in two dimensions
Two-dimensional turbulence is important in many atmospheric and oceanic processes (including those in extraterrestrial atmospheres and oceans). Our approach to 2D turbulence involves experiments with soap films - a low-budget and fun way to look at this fundamental hydrodynamic problem.
Our Research in the Press
- Science News 154, No. 8, p. 117 (Aug. 22, 1998).
- Soap Opera, Scientific American (Aug. 31, 1998).
- AIP Physics News Update No. 386 (1998).
- AIP Physics News Graphics (1998).
- Science 281, No. 5382, p. 1411 (Sept. 4, 1998).
- Physics Today 51, No. 10, p. 9 (October 1998).
- Soap Films Reveal Whirling Worlds of Turbulence, Science 284, No. 5420, p. 1609 (June 4, 1999).
- School of Engineering in top 50 list, The Daily Lobo (Dec.13 2002, reproduced with permission).
Online Papers
- Experimental Evidence of 2D Turbulence: CNLS Research Newsletter No. 2 (1998).
- Turbulence in Flowing Soap Films: Velocity, Vorticity and Thickness Fields, Physical Review Letters 81, 1417 (1998).
- Soap-Film Flows: Statistics of 2D Turbulence, Physics of Fluids 11, 2167 (1999).
- 2D Cylinder Wakes in Soap Films, Physical Review E 60, 2953 (1999).
- The slowest soap-film tunnel in the Southwest, Review of Scientific Instruments 73, 1177 (2002).
- Onset of the second wake: Dependence on the Reynolds number, Physics of Fluids 14, L53 (2002).
- Decaying turbulence in soap films: energy and enstrophy evolution, Experiments in Fluids 43, 125 (2007).
Image Gallery
Click on the images. A large (950 by 600) version will open in a separate window.
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False-color image of grid turbulence. Flow direction is from top to bottom, the field of view is 36 by 24 mm. The comb is located immediately above the top edge of the image. Flow velocity is 1.05 m/s. |
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Another image of grid turbulence. This one uses a different false-color palette. The feature visualized in the images, unless specified otherwise, is local film thickness. |
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Vortex street shed by a circular cylinder. The Reynolds number based on cylinder diameter is about 140. |
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Computer fusion of instantaneous thickness, velocity and vorticity fields in grid turbulence. Surface elevation is proportional to thickness fluctuations (scale 400:1), surface color indicates vorticity (red - positive, blue - negative), lines on the surface depict instantaneous streamline patterns. The size of the field of view is 12 by 12 mm. |
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False-color image of the flow around a flat lifting surface. The angle-of-attack is 40 degrees. |