8th World Conference on Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics June 16-20, 2013, Lisbon, Portugal MAKING IT CLEAR: FLEXIBLE, TRANSPARENT LABORATORY FLOW MODELS FOR SOFT AND HARD PROBLEMS Mark C. Jermy Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand E-mail : [email protected] ABSTRACT For internal flows, optical measurements (e.g. flow visualization, LDA, and PIV) work well if a flat window can be let into the walls of the system. Curved walls, however, introduce refractive distortions. Correcting for these becomes increasingly difficult as the geometry of the surface becomes more complex, (for example, biological structures). If the working fluid and transparent model have the same refractive index, there is no distortion. For example, the model can be made from fused silica, and the working fluid mixed from silicone oils. Another popular combination is silicone resin and water-glycerol mixture. Silicones allow the casting of thin-walled, flexible models, which can be used to study the interaction of a fluid flow with a deforming structure. Other soft materials are possible. This paper reviews the essential considerations for refractive index matching and dynamic similarity. Known combinations of solids and working fluids are listed. Some results, and practical tips, from the author’s group will be presented. Finally, an example of a soft (though at best translucent) material which mimics the behaviour of human brain tissue under high strain rates, and which is used in studies of wounding, will be presented. Keywords : refractive index matching, fluid-structure interaction, PIV, flow visualization NOMENCLATURE A cross sectional area D diameter d distensibility E Young' s modulus h wall thickness p pressure Re Reynolds number St Strouhal number U m mean velocity α Womersley number ∆x change in parameter x ν kinematic viscosity ω angular frequency 1. INTRODUCTION Optical methods of measuring flow velocity (e.g. LDA, PIV) and streamline configuration (flow visualization) have the advantage that they can be set up so that they do not disturb the flow being studied. These methods have been widely applied to external and internal flows. Internal flows present a particular challenge, in that many systems of interest have walls or boundaries of complex shape. If the laser beam (or other probe light) and scattered signal light passes through a curved wall, it will be distorted. The consequences may range from minor distortion of an image (e.g. imaging through a mildly curved wall) to complete loss of signal (e.g. an LDA system unable to form interference fringes). For walls of simple configuration, for example cylindrical surfaces with a single radius of curvature which is similar in magnitude to the distances between the components, the distortion may be corrected during post-processing (1). In other simple systems, it may be possible to orient the probe light and detector so that what little distortion occurs can be ignored. An example is a imaging in an i.c. engine cylinder, replacing some section of the cylindrical bore with a transparent element, illuminating with a light sheet with a plane perpendicular to the cylinder axis (introducing minimal distortion into the light sheet), and viewing through a flat window in the piston. Where the system under study does not have a simple geometry which can be exploited in this way, refractive index matching is an attractive option. The principle of refractive index matching is to choose a flowing fluid (hereafter called the working fluid) and a wall material which have near-identical refractive indices (a mismatch of a few percent is permissible unless the very best image quality is required). Several factors must be considered: a. Material and fluid selection b. Construction of the model c. Dynamic similarity d. Temperature control e. Mixture control Figure 1 shows the clarity which can be achieved by adjusting the refractive index of the working fluid. Table 2: A selection of candidate working fluids Water Aqueous solutions Glycerine Zinc iodide Sodium iodide Figure 1: A checkerboard pattern viewed through a silicone model when filled with (left) air, (centre) 70% glycerol 30% water, and (right) 61% glycerol 39% water 2. MATERIAL AND FLUID SELECTION Several published studies have reviewed the literature on selection of refractive matching materials, and this paper does not set out to produce an exhaustive review. Of note is reference (2) which is the basis of Table 1 and Table 2, with some information on additional materials from (3) and (4). The table is not exhaustive, but covers the most popular materials. (5) and (6) offer some other combinations, and a discussion of issues relevant to index matching in concentrated suspensions of granular materials. Table 1: A selection of candidate transparent solids. Glass Borosilicate or aluminosilicate (Pyrex and other low thermal expansion glasses) Fused quartz Optical glasses Polymers FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) Acrylic (PMMA) Polycarbonate Casting resins Epoxy based Urethane based Acrylic based PMMA Silicone elastomer 1.47-1.49 1.4584 1.45-1.96 1.33 Low stiffness 1.47-1.49 1.58 1.56 1.49 1.49-1.53 1.49 1.415-1.47 Can be made by stereolithography Dow-Corning Sylgard 184 notable for its low ref. index Potassium thiocyanate Ammonium thiocyanate Sodium thiocyanate CaCl2 Sucrose ρ/ρ0 1 µ/µ0 1 1.33-1.47 1.33-1.62 1.33-1.5 (higher values around 60wt% NaI) 1.33-1.49 1-1.26 1-1490 1-1.39 1-2.4 1.33-1.50 1-1.15 1-2.1 1.33-1.48 1.34-1.46 1.33-1.45 (up to 60% sucrose) 1-1.34 1-7.5 1.33 1-1.3 (up to 60% sucrose) Organic liquids Kerosene 1.45 0.82 Silicone oil 1.47-1.4905 1.03 190 mixtures* Mineral oil 1.48 0.85 (paraffin oil) Turpentine 1.47 0.87 1.49 Solvent naptha 1.50 0.67 Soybean oil 1.47 0.93 69 Olive oil 1.47 0.92 84 Castor oil 1.48 0.96 986 Tung oil 1.52 0.93 Cassia oil 1.60 Dibutyl phtalate 1.49 1.043 20 Diethyl Phtalate 1.50 1.118 12 Mixture of oil of ~1 ~1 turpentine and Tetraline Ethanol 1.362 0.79 Benzyl Alcohol 1.54 P-Cymene 1.49 0.857 0.87 Tetraethylene 1.458-1.459 glycol, tetrahydropyran-2methanol Mixture of 1.4585 cyclooctane and cyclooctene ρ0=density and µ0=absolute viscosity of pure water at 20.0oC * e.g. Dow-Corning 550, Union Carbide L42, and similar fluids When choosing a combination of materials, several factors must be borne in mind: 1) 2) 3) Compatibility: the working fluid must not corrode or dissolve the model material or components. This is of particular importance when using salt solutions, which tend to corrode metal fasteners. Pipe fittings and pumps must also be compatible. Safety: Some of the working fluids are toxic, and safe handling may require time consuming precautions. Disposal of the used fluid may be costly. Some of the organic fluids are flammable. Temperature and mixture sensitivity. Temperature changes during the experiment must not change the refractive indices or the viscosity enough to upset the index match or dynamic similarity. Likewise with mixture changes due to evaporation. sacrificial negative mould is used. Sand casting is such a method commonly used in foundries. A positive, or ‘pattern’ is formed of some easy to work material, such as wood or polymer, and the sand is pressed around this in two halves to form a cavity with the same shape as the pattern (Figure 3). Molten iron or steel is poured into this cavity and allowed to set. Another type is lost-wax casting. A positive or ‘model’ is made of some easily meltable or soluble material. The negative is cast around this, and when set, the model is removed by melting or washing out, leaving a cavity into which the final material is poured. Any seeding particles must also be chemically compatible, but this is rarely a problem, as microbubbles, hollow glass spheres and refractory powders rarely present problems and usually perform well as tracer particles in liquids. Abrasion of the model walls by particles is rarely serious enough to change the hydraulic roughness significantly, and scratches will be rendered invisible by the refractive index match. 2.1 Index-matching two different fluids Where the problem under study is the mixing of two fluids of different density, it is advantageous to have two fluids of the same refractive index. (7) describes a method for achieving this with glycerol and a potassium phosphate solution, and (8) describes a method with ethanol and a solution of sodium chloride. Figure 2: A bronze sword cast in a two-piece mould. Photo courtesy Jeroen Zuiderwijk. www.bronze-age-craft.com/Bronze-Sword-Festival.htm 3. CONSTRUCTION OF THE MODEL The solid model may be machined or cast, depending on the type of material. Casting has particular advantages for complex shapes such as those found in biological flow problems, as the mould can be prepared by rapid prototyping. A casting process used successfully in the author’s laboratory is described in (9). There are several methods of casting, many of which date back to the Bronze Age. In all types a negative mould is made, and the cast material poured into the cavities in this negative. Casting methods can be categorised according to whether the negative mould is permanent or temporary. A permanent mould can be used if it can be made in two or more parts, so that it can be opened later (e.g. pouring molten bronze into a two-piece mould cut from stone, Figure 2, or slipcasting by pouring a clay suspension into a hollow two-piece mould). Two-piece moulds often leave a mould line at the join which needs to be tidied up later (in the case of a bronze sword, by sharpening). Alternatively a permanent one-piece mould can be used if the mould is of a flexible material, which can be pulled off the finished piece once set (e.g. latex rubber moulds used to cast solid clay ornaments). Where the mould cannot be made in two pieces, a temporary or Figure 3: A sandcasting mould and pattern. Wikimedia commons, photo courtesy of Glenn McKechnie For optical studies, optically flat outer surfaces are needed. The author’s group has produced a number of models of biological structures in silicone resin (Dow Corning Sylgard-184). The internal hollow is a complex shape, and a combination of methods were required to accurately form both inner and outer surfaces. The outer negative mould, which formed the flat viewing surfaces, was cuboid, and made of plates of PMMA fastened with machine screws, and which could be b disassembled and peeled off when the model was set (Figure Figure 4). when we came to study patient-specific specific problems, as the model could be printed directly from segmented CT or MR scans of the body part under investigation. Onee problem remained to be solved: grains of plaster became embedded in the silicone resin, making the inner surface partially opaque. This was solved by coating the 3D printed model with PVA glue before pouring the resin. The PVA glues sold for school use are easily dissolved in warm water (woodworking glues usually contain conta waterproofing agents, which are undesirable for this application). Examples of such negative moulds can be seen in Figure 4 and Figure 5. Figure 4:: Mould for a silicone model of the human oral cavity and upper airway (trachea to teeth). PMMA outer mould and 3D printed plaster inner mould shown. The negative of the internal hollow was formed by an adaptation of the lost-wax method. Several materialss for this inner negative were trialled. It had to be a material which could be removed remo after the silicone resin had set. Initially we tried several low melting point materials. Wax is routinely used in the jewellery industry, but shrinks by up to 5% % on cooling, which introduces errors in the finished product. Also, the wax diffused into the resin, leaving a semi opaque que layer at the inner surface. su Woods’ metal (Lipowitz’s alloy) is an alloy of bismuth, lead, tin and cadmium which melts at 70oC, so, like wax, can be melted out with hot water. It is toxic, but safer alternatives such as Cerrolow can be used. Trialling these, wee had some difficulty with shrinkage, although with careful temperature control and settling such alloys can be used to make dimensionally-accurate dimensionally castings, and are regularly used by gunsmiths to measure the internal dimensions of chambers, so the problems we encountered can probably be overcome. Still seeking an alternative material, my graduate students had noticed that chocolate can be cast with precise, sharply incised detail, seen for example on Easter eggs. Being true empiricists, they checked this observation bservation by carefully testing many different types of chocolate. Alas, the chocolate was found to shrink by a similar amount to wax:: although the experimenter’s experimenter waistline is liable to expand. The solution we settledd on was to 3D print the inner negative using a ZCorp ZPrinter 310 Plus machine. This prints the model in a plaster powder reinforced with an organic binder. By using a low concentration of binder, binder the model could be washed out with a jet of water and careful abrasion with a soft tool. This method had ad several advantages: the model is dimensionally stable (no shrinkage) and can be transported and stored for some time before use; accidental breakages can c be repaired with cyanoacrylate glue; and the model can c be prepared directly from a CAD model. This his was particularly important Figure 5: 3D printed plaster negative in two parts (left: negative or human nasal cavity and upper airway; right: negative of face Figure 6:: Finished silicone model (of the human upper airway) with moulds removed. An example of a finished silicone model is shown in Figure 6. A CT scan of a finished model showed that it reproduced the geometry of the original CAD models used to print the negative to a mean error of 280µm, some of which is systematic error (as the PVA coating makes the model larger everywhere) which can be corrected for. hydrogel used by (10) which are refractive-index matched to water, allowing high Reynolds numbers to be reached. 3.1 Flexible, deformable models Some interesting fluid mechanic problems feature the deformation of a soft or flexible solid in response to fluid dynamic forces. Deformable, refractive index-matched models can be constructed. Reference (9) describes the casting of models with a wall thickness of order 1 mm. The wall thickness can be controlled and used to determine the stiffness of the model. Particular care is required when casting thin-walled models. Bubbles can easily become trapped on the walls of the mould. Bubbles cannot be tolerated in a thin walled model, as they drastically reduce the stiffness. A method was developed to fill the mould slowly from the bottom (Figure 7). This produced good models. Figure 8: Finished thin-walled model of a stenosed artery. 4. DYNAMIC SIMILARITY, MIXTURE CONTROL Figure 8 is an image of a model of a stenosed (narrowed) human artery produced in this way. The wall thickness is 1.5mm and the material is Dow-Corning Sylgard 184. The striations running along the length of the model are a result of the casting process. The striations are small (the surface feels smooth to the fingertip) and cannot be seen when the model is immersed and filled with a refractive index matching fluid. A promising material for soft models is the polyacrylamide AND For a successful experiment, several conditions must be matched. The refractive index must be matched, of course. Where the fluid is a mixture, this depends on the mixture fractions (e.g. salt or glycerol concentration) which must be maintained against any evaporation which may occur over the course of several days work. Frequent checking of the refractive index match with a checkerboard pattern such as that shown in Figure 1 is wise. The refractive index also depends on the temperature, and this must be controlled. It may be convenient to operate the working fluid at a temperature slightly above or slightly below room temperature, so it can be thermostatically controlled with a heater or chiller loop. Another reason to carefully control temperature is that it affects the viscosity of the working fluid, and hence the Reynolds number. As most index-matching experiments replace the working fluid natural to the problem (e.g. air, blood, water, fuel-air mixtures) it is important to retain dynamic similarity of the flow. Liquids being virtually incompressible, the method is not appropriate for compressible flow problems, so the Mach number is low and need not be considered further. The Reynolds number, Eq. (1), must be matched Re = Figure 7: Casting a thin walled model: (on right) plunger to drive the liquid resin upwards through the mould (on left) machined aluminium outer mould, 3D printer plaster inner mould. TEMPERATURE UmD v (1) To achieve this may require the model to be larger, or smaller, than life size. For biological flow problems using water/glycerol and silicone resin, it has proved convenient to make models two to three times larger than life size. Besides achieving a Reynolds number match at reasonable flow rates, the larger models are easier to make accurately. Where the flow is time, varying, there is an additional parameter to be matched, which may be either the Strouhal number, Eq. (2) St = ωD Um Or the Womersley number, Eq. (3): (2) α=D ω (3) v The Womersley number is commonly used for biological flows, and is related to both the Reynolds and Strouhal number by Eq. (4): α = Re⋅ St (4) With flexible models, the degree of stiffness or flexibility is an additional parameter which must be matched. One approach is to define the distensibility d , Eq. (5): d= 1 ∆A A ∆p (5) Distensibility relates the change in cross-sectional area ∆A to the original (neutral or unstressed) area A and the change in pressure ∆p . For a vessel of circular cross section, Eq. (5) can be shown to be equivalent to Eq. (6): d= 1 E (h D ) (6) Note that there are two parameters which are under the experimenter’s control: the Young’s modulus E , and the thickness of the model wall h . 4. BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS Biological materials have special properties, due to their microstructure, and to fully mimic their properties in refractive index-matched materials is ambitious. Some progress has been made, and some examples (by no means an exhaustive list) are discussed below. 4.1 Skin Optical clearing agents have been used to alter the refractive index of the intercellular fluid in human skin, to match its refractive index to the cells. This reduces the scattering of light and increases the depth to which non-invasive optical methods can measure chemical or structural properties, such as oxygen concentration or skin and muscle layer thicknesses. Optical clearing is reviewed in (11). 4.2 Blood Blood is a suspension of colloidal particles (principally red blood cells, but also platelets and white cells) in an aqueous solution of proteins and inorganic salts. It has some fascinating properties. It clots when stagnant, as part of the healing process. It is a non-Newtonian shear-thinning fluid, i.e. its viscosity reduces as the shear rate increases. Refractive index matching is often used to study the fluid dynamics of arterial diseases. The viscosity of blood approaches a constant value when a critical shear rate is reached, and several authors have explorited this property, with some experimental justification, to allow the use of a simple Newtonian blood mimicking fluid: for example, (12) used a water-glycerol-sodium iodide mixture to match a Sylgard 184 model. The paper gives valuable data on the dependence of refractive index and viscosity on temperature and concentration. Reference (9) gives corresponding data for a mixture containing water and glycerol only, with no salt (although about 1 mg of sodium chloride was added per litre of mixture to improve the conductivity, so as to obtain a reliable signal from the electromagnetic flowmeter, though this does not change the viscosity or refractive index significantly). Reference (13) gives further useful data on a wider range of candidate materials, and a mathematical method for determining the optimal match. The non-Newtonian properties of blood cannot always be ignored, particularly in problems where low shear stresses (and correspondingly high local viscosities) are encountered. (14) and (15) made PIV measurements in transparent fluids with non-Newtonian viscosity behaviour very close to those of blood, by mixing water, glycerol and xanthan gum. An interesting possibility is the use of suspended particles to achieve non-Newtonian properties, as used in test fluids for ultrasound (16). For ultrasound, it is not necessary to match refractive indices, but such fluids might be rendered valuable for optical experiments by index matching using the techniques described in (5) and (6). 4.3 Brain tissue Bloodstain patterns are an important type of evidence at crime scenes, and can yield important information on the position of the victim and assailant, the weapons used and the number of blows struck. It is not uncommon for forensic analysts to be called to the scene of a death by gunshot wound to the head, and to be asked to determine whether the cause is suicide or murder. The bloodstain pattern is one useful piece of evidence. Cranial gunshot wounds form blood stains by at least three distinct mechanisms: an interaction of the muzzle gases with the skin layers, tail splash as the bullet penetrates, and collapse of the temporary cavity formed by the bullet passing through the brain tissue. These mechanisms are not well understood, and better understanding may lead to more, or more reliable, information being extracted from them. The mechanics of the high deformation, high strain rate interaction of a bullet with tissue are complex. Experiments on animal tissue are illustrative, but rarely repeatable, as the tissue properties vary from sample to sample. Recent work in the author’s group has focussed on developing a safe, repeatable simulant material for brain tissue, and studying the interaction of this simulant with various projectiles, using high-speed imaging. Brain tissue has complex visco-elastic properties, but promising early results have been obtained with mixtures of water, glycerol, and polymer fibres (Figure 9 and Figure 10). By varying the fibre content, the property of the simulant can be tuned. literature, e, which goes beyond the sources cited here, contains many more examples, and much useful data on physical properties of materials. There is scope for innovation in flexible models, and liquids and solids which replicate the complex mechanical response of biological materials. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS None of the results produced by my group would have be possible without the talent and hard work of the excellent graduate students I have been fortunate to work with: on models for PIV, Dr Callum Spence, Dr Patrick Geoghegan, and Dr Nicolas Buchmann made enormous contributions. On blood and biological materials, I am indebted to Milad Soltanipour Lazarjan, Natalia Kabaliuk and Theresa Stotesbury, and to the guidance of forensic scientist Dr Michael Taylor of the Institute of Environmental and Scientific Research, NZ. NZ Figure 9:: A simulant with a fibrous web in a viscoelastic matrix (bottom) fragments in a similar manner to sheep brain tissue (top) when penetrated with a 1.9g projectile at 275ms-1. The simulant also absorbs the same s quantity of kinetic energy. REFERENCES 1. Lowe M.L., Kutt P.H. Refraction through cylindrical tubes. Experiments in Fluids. 1993, Vol. 13, pp. 315-320. 315 2. Budwig, R. 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