The topic of this thesis is about experimental study of phenomena which are associated with light propagation in nonlinear dielectric media. In the first part of this work, we study experimentally the snake instability of the bright soliton stripe of the (2+1)-dimensional hyperbolic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The instability is observed, through spectral measurements, on spatially extended femtosecond pulses propagating in a normally dispersive self-defocusing semiconductor planar waveguide. The second part of this thesis is about light propagation in nonlinear periodic media. We experimentally observe a stationary spatial gap (or Bragg) soliton in a periodic semiconductor planar waveguide. Based on the interference pattern of the soliton beam, we measure the power parameter of the soliton which is related to the position of the spatial spectrum in the linear band gap. <p><p><p>Cette thèse de doctorat a pour sujet l’étude expérimentale de phénomènes associés à la propagation de la lumière dans les milieux diélectriques non linéaires. La première partie porte sur la démonstration expérimentale de l’instabilité serpentine d’une bande solitonique dans un système décrit par une équation de Schrödinger non linéaire à (2+1)-dimensions. L’instabilité est observée sur base de mesures du spectre spatial ainsi que du profil spatio-fréquentiel d’une impulsion femtoseconde après propagation dans un guide plan semi-conducteur qui présente une dispersion normale et une non-linéarité défocalisante. Le second thème abordé concerne la propagation de la lumière dans les milieux non linéaires périodiques. Les expériences réalisées ont montré l’existence du soliton de Bragg spatial stationnaire sous forme de faisceaux se propageant dans des guides plans semi-conducteurs périodiquement gravés. Sur base du profil de la distribution modale en intensité du faisceau soliton, il a été possible de mesurer le paramètre de puissance du soliton de Bragg qui détermine la position du spectre spatial dans la bande interdite linéaire. <p> / Doctorat en sciences appliquées / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Interfacial instabilities and wetting phenomena of phase separated colloid-polymer mixtures are addressed in this study. Colloidal particles offer certain advantages over molecular systems, due to their larger lengthscales and slower timescales. Moreover, the phenomena can be directly visualised using laser scanning confocal microscopy, and a perfect match with soft-lithography fabrication techniques can be exploited. In particular, we study the viscous fingering instability in three dimensions, focusing on the role of wetting conditions and of thermal fluctuations. Combined with results obtained by lattice Boltzmann simulations, we reveal that the cross-over of the meniscus in the direction across the channel thickness is controlled by the capillary and Peclet numbers, and viscosity contrast of the system. The curvature of the meniscus has a pronounced effect on the onset of the Saffman-Taylor instability, in which the formation of the viscous fingers is suppressed up to a certain threshold. Furthermore, we investigate a related contact line instability, which leads to entrainment and subsequent droplet pinch-off. A theoretical prediction for the onset of the instability is developed, which shows a good agreement with the experimental observations and yields a method to directly measure the slip length of the interface. The large thermal fluctuations of our interface play an important role in pinch-off events, leading to periodic emission of droplets of similar sizes. Finally, we study wetting phenomena at geometrically sculpted walls. We focus on the shape, the thickness and the radius of curvature of the adsorbed liquid film, and find good agreement with theory. Changing the curvature of the wedge from a flat surface to a capil- lary slit furthermore smoothly connects wetting behaviour and capillary condensation, again in qualitative agreement with theory. Non-equilibrium effects may interfere with the data and are difficult to rule out. We end with recommendations for future work.

This work represents the initial steps in a wider project that aims to map out the sensitive areas in fuel injectors and combustion chambers. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) using a Low-Mach-number formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations is used to calculate direct-linear and adjoint global modes for axisymmetric low-density jets and lifted jet diffusion flames. The adjoint global modes provide a map of the most sensitive locations to open-loop external forcing and heating. For the jet flows considered here, the most sensitive region is at the inlet of the domain. The sensitivity of the global-mode eigenvalues to force feedback and to heat and drag from a hot-wire is found using a general structural sensitivity framework. Force feedback can occur from a sensor-actuator in the flow or as a mechanism that drives global instability. For the lifted flames, the most sensitive areas lie between the inlet and flame base. In this region the jet is absolutely unstable, but the close proximity of the flame suppresses the global instability seen in the non-reacting case. The lifted flame is therefore particularly sensitive to outside disturbances in the non-reacting zone. The DNS results are compared to a local analysis. The most absolutely unstable region for all the flows considered is at the inlet, with the wavemaker slightly downstream of the inlet. For lifted flames, the region of largest sensitivity to force feedback is near to the location of the wavemaker, but for the non-reacting jet this region is downstream of the wavemaker and outside of the pocket of absolute instability near the inlet. Analysing the sensitivity of reacting and non-reacting variable-density shear flows using the low-Mach-number approximation has up until now not been done. By including reaction, a large forward step has been taken in applying these techniques to real fuel injectors.

In the literature, there are various material models proposed so as to model the constitutive behavior of hyperelastic materials for example, St. Venant-Kirchho_ model, Mooney-Rivlin model etc. The stability of such material models under various states of deformation is of important concern, and generally stability analysis is conducted in homogeneous states of deformation. Within hyperelasticity, instabilities can be broadly classified as geometrical and material types. Geometrical instabilities such as buckling, symmetric bifurcation etc. are of physical origin, and lead to multiple solutions at critical stretch. Material instability is a aw in the material model and leads to unphysical solutions at the onset. It is required that the constitutive model should be materially stable i.e., should not give unphysical results, and be able to predict correctly the onset of geometrical instabilities. Certain constitutive restrictions proposed in the literature are inadequate to characterize such instabilities. In the work, we propose stability criteria which will characterize geometrical as well as material instabilities. A new elasticity tensor is defined, which is found to characterize material instability adequately. In order to investigate the validity of proposed stability criteria, three important constitutive models of hyperelasticity viz., St. Venant-Kirchho_, compressible Mooney-Rivlin and compressible Ogden models are investigated for stability.

Acoustic instabilities in a combustion chamber arise due to the coupling of acoustic pressure with in-phase heat-release, and are characterized by large amplitude oscillations of one or more natural modes of combustor. Even though an array of studies, both theoretical and experimental, has been conducted by a number of authors in this field to extract the flame response, most of these are based on kinematic flame models. In this dissertation, an experimental study of a subsonic flame's intrinsic response to acoustic pressure perturbations is performed for the case of a tube closed at one end and the other end opened to the atmospheric conditions. Pressure fluctuations inside the tube are measured for hot and cold side flows, and their varying trend is explained. The frequencies obtained from Fourier transform analysis exhibit a strong dependence with the distance between the stabilized flame position and open end of the tube. For different values of flame position (xf ), the values of growth constant 's' are calculated from the pressure versus time data readings procured from acoustic pressure transducer and dominant frequencies are analyzed from windowed FFT of the same. The expression for obtaining response function from the measured pressure fluctuations has been derived from the 1-D linearized conservation equations. The undamped response function plot is obtained by adding the decay rates at different frequencies inside the tube to the corresponding growth rates. Finally, the effect of blockage of pre-mixed flow on the growth rates inside the tube and consequently, the flame response values, is studied by repeating the experiment with different types of flame holders. A large number of theoretical flame-response models have been developed in modern literature, and some of these models are compared with the experimentally obtained response. Suggestions are also cited in this study so as to account for the observed deviations in trends. This includes a revisit of the intrinsic flame model by incorporating the effect of flame-area perturbations, with the aid of analyzed steady flame images.

Escoamentos sobre superfícies côncovas estão sujeitos à instabilidade centrífuga, dando origem a vórtices longitudinais, conhecidos como vórtices de Görtler. Esses vórtices são responsáveis por gerar distorções fortes nos perfis de velocidade. Como os vórtices são contra-rotativos, duas regiões surgem entre os mesmos: uma região de upwash e uma região de downwash. Na região de upwash o fluido próximo à parede é jogado para longe da mesma. Na região de downwash acontece o contrário, o fluido que se desloca a uma velocidade maior é jogado em direção à parede. Os vórtices se amplificam inicialmente de forma linear. À jusante na região não linear de desenvolvimento dos vórtices, a amplitude dos mesmos já é elevada, e há a formação de uma estrutura do tipo cogumelo com a distribuição da componente de velocidade na direção principal do escoamento . Essa nova distribuição de velocidade é tridimensional e difere em muito da camada limite obtida com a solução das equações de Blasius. Levando-se em consideração a camada limite térmica, já foi observado que, na média, há um aumento de transferência de calor na direção da parede. No presente trabalho, é verificado numericamente a transferência de calor na presença de vórtices de Görtler. Para tal, foi desenvolvido e implementado um código de simulação numérica direta espacial (DNS - do inglês Direct Numerical Simulation). Os resultados deste trabalho mostram a intensificação da transferência de calor através dos vórtices de Görtler, tanto no regime não-linear como na instabilidade secundária / Flows over concave surfaces are subject to centrifugal instability. It gives rise to stramwise vortices known as Görtler vortices. These vortices are responsible for generating strong distortions in the velocity profiles. As the vortices are counterrotating, two regions arise between them: a region of uowash and a region of downwash. In the upwash region, the fluid near the wall is convected away from it. In the downwash region the opposite happens, the fluid moving at a faster speed is moved towards the wall. The vortices initially amplify linearly in the downstream. When their amplitude is already high, in the non-linear development region, a mushroom-type structure, with the velocity distribution in the main flow direction, is formed. This new three-dimensional velocity distribution is different from the boundary layer obtained with the solution of Blasius equations. Taking into account a thermal boundary layer, on average, an increase in the heat transfer in the wall direction has been observed. In the present work, it is verified numerically the heat transfer in the presence of Görtler vortices. A simulation code was developed and implemanted usin Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS). The results of this work show the intensification of heat transfer through the Görtler vortices both in the non-linear regime and in the secondary instability

Transition from laminar to turbulent flow has beentraditionally studied in terms of exponentially growingeigensolutions to the linearized disturbance equations.However, experimental findings show that transition may occuralso for parameters combinations such that these eigensolutionsare damped. An alternative non-modal growth mechanism has beenrecently identified, also based on the linear approximation.This consists of the transient growth of streamwise elongateddisturbances, mainly in the streamwise velocity component,called streaks. If the streak amplitude reaches a thresholdvalue, secondary instabilities can take place and provoketransition. This scenario is most likely to occur in boundarylayer flows subject to high levels of free-stream turbulenceand is the object of this thesis. Different stages of theprocess are isolated and studied with different approaches,considering the boundary layer flow over a flat plate. Thereceptivity to free-stream disturbances has been studiedthrough a weakly non-linear model which allows to disentanglethe features involved in the generation of streaks. It is shownthat the non-linear interaction of oblique waves in thefree-stream is able to induce strong streamwise vortices insidethe boundary layer, which, in turn, generate streaks by thelift-up effect. The growth of steady streaks is followed bymeans of Direct Numerical Simulation. After the streaks havereached a finite amplitude, they saturate and a new laminarflow, characterized by a strong spanwise modulation isestablished. Using Floquet theory, the instability of thesestreaks is studied to determine the features of theirbreakdown. The streak critical amplitude, beyond which unstablewaves are excited, is 26% of the free-stream velocity. Theinstability appears as spanwise (sinuous-type) oscillations ofthe streak. The late stages of the transition, originating fromthis type of secondary instability, are also studied. We foundthat the main structures observed during the transition processconsist of elongated quasi-streamwise vortices located on theflanks of the low speed streak. Vortices of alternating signare overlapping in the streamwise direction in a staggeredpattern. Descriptors:Fluid mechanics, laminar-turbulenttransition, boundary layer flow, transient growth, streamwisestreaks, lift-up effect, receptivity, free-stream turbulence,nonlinear mechanism, streak instability, secondary instability,Direct Numerical Simulation. / QC 20100518

A focus has been put on the stability characteristics of different flow types existing on air vehicles. Flow passing over wings and different junctions on an aircraft face numerous local features, ranging from different pressure gradients, to interacting boundary layers. Primarily, stability characteristics of flow over a wing subject to negative pressure gradient is studied. The current numerical study conforms to an experimental study conducted by Saric and coworkers, in their Arizona State University wind tunnel experiments. Within that framework, a passive control mechanism has been tested to delay transition of flow from laminar to turbulence. The same control approach has been studied here, in addition to underling mechanisms playing major roles in flow transition, such as nonlinear effects and secondary instabilities. Another common three-dimensional flow feature arises as a result of streamlines passing through a junction, the so called corner-flow. For instance, this flow can be formed in the junction between the wing and fuselage on a plane. A series of direct numerical simulations using linear Navier-Stokes equations have been performed to determine the optimal initial perturbation. Optimal refers to a perturbation which can gain the maximum energy from the flow over a period of time. Power iterations between direct and adjoint Navier- Stokes equations determine the optimal initial perturbation. In other words this method seeks to determine the worst case scenario in terms of perturbation growth. Determining the optimal initial condition can help improve the design of such surfaces in addition to possible control mechanisms. / <p>QC 20130604</p> / RECEPT

The political instability of the Middle East is often perceived to be derived primarily from the interaction of Middle Eastern nations with external forces; with significant emphasis placed upon the disruptive effects of modern colonialism and Westernization. While this study does not seek to directly contest the catalytic primacy of exogenous factors, it does seek to establish the necessary causality of pre-existing internal factors. Rather than approaching the situation from a linear causal perspective, this assessment is oriented around an interdisciplinary examination of confluent factors. By examining the political history, ethno sociology, and economy of the region, the analysis investigates the underlying variables which have contributed to the instability of the Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. The primary conclusion of this analysis is that the interactions of multiple endogenous variables provide a basis of necessary causality which may be of equal causal import to that of modern colonialism and Westernization.

Pressure swirl atomizers are commonly used in IC, aero-engines, and liquid propellant rocket combustion. Understanding the atomization process is important in order to enhance vaporization, mitigate soot formation, design of combustion chambers, and improve overall combustion efficiency. This work utilizes non-invasive techniques such as ultra -speed imaging, and Phase Doppler Particle Anemometry (PDPA) in order to investigate the cascade atomization process of pressure-swirl atomizers by examining swirling liquid film dynamics and the localized droplet characteristics of the resulting hollow cone spray. Specifically, experiments were conducted to examine these effects for three different nozzles with orifice diameters .3mm, .5mm, and .97mm. The ultra-speed imaging allowed for both visualization and interface tracking of the swirling conical film which emanated from each nozzle. Moreover, this allowed for the measurement of the radial fluctuations, film length, cone angle and maximum wavelength. Radial fluctuations are found to be maximum near the breakup or rupture of a swirling film. Film length decreases as Reynolds number increases. Cone angle increases until a critical Reynolds number is reached, beyond which it remains constant. A new approach to analyze the temporally unstable waves was developed and compared with the measured maximum wavelengths. The new approach incorporates the attenuation of a film thickness, as the radius of a conical film expands, with the classical dispersion relationship for an inviscid moving liquid film. This approach produces a new long wave solution which accurately matches the measured maximum wavelength swirling conical films generated from nozzles with the smallest orifice diameter. For the nozzle with the largest orifice diameter, the new long wave solution provides the upper bound limit, while the long wave solution for a constant film thickness provides the lower bound limit. These results indicate that temporal instability is the dominating mechanism which generates long Kelvin Helmholtz waves on the surface of a swirling liquid film. The PDPA was used to measure droplet size and velocity in both the near field and far field of the spray. For a constant Reynolds number, an increase in orifice diameter is shown to increase the overall diameter distribution of the spray. In addition, it was found that the probability of breakup, near the axis, decreases for the largest orifice diameter. This is in agreement with the cascading nature of atomization.