The structural response of a cantilevered cylinder under free-stream conditions both with low and high turbulence intensity generated by turbulence-generating grids is analysed with concurrent measurements of the velocity field and the distributed strain. The thin-walled cylinder, with a diameter (D) of 50 mm, is mounted in a water flume as a cantilevered beam supported at one end, with 95% of its body submerged and exposed to cross flow yielding a Reynolds number of Re = 25000. We employ a novel combination of simultaneous particle image velocimetry and distributed strain measurements using Rayleigh backscattering fibre optic sensors. These sensors are embedded onto the surface of the cylinder to measure the experienced strain (ε\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\varepsilon $$\\end{document}) of the structure along its spanwise direction, covering both the windward and leeward faces of the cylinder. The sensors fine spatial resolution allows us to discern the influence of the flow on the structural response of the cylinder in two distinct regions of the structure: upstream and downstream of the mean separation location. This differentiation allows us to isolate the local effects introduced by the free-stream conditions on the loading events over the body from the global force generated by the vortex shedding and other coherent motions present within the flow. Distinguishing between these direct and indirect effects helps determine which is more relevant for fatigue-life cycle analysis. The cross power spectral density between the fluctuating velocity field and the strain reveals that the load is dominated by the vortex shedding, and this relationship is intensified with the introduction of free-stream turbulence. It also helps to discern the different dynamics imposed by the two free-stream turbulence conditions.

This work shows new insights on the application of two-color laser-induced-fluorescence (2c-LIF) thermometry in a droplet chain. A two-dye mixture is used in ethanol, water and ethanol/water mixtures in order to reach a high-temperature sensitivity and avoid the detection of lasing effects in the droplets. Various droplet sizes are recorded in regard to the limitation of the detection system for very small micrometric droplets. The breakup of a droplet chain is measured to assess the spectral detection system in applications with liquid structures of different sizes. Additionally, a proposal to expand the 2c-LIF application for studying ethanol/water droplets regarding mixture composition with a third color channel is presented. Forming two intensity ratios, the spectra can be used to obtain information on the mixture composition of the solvent. Measurements in different ethanol/water mixtures containing 0–100 vol% water are evaluated to show this possibility.

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) systems offer a particularly interesting option for chemical hydrogen storage. In order to characterize and understand the endothermal hydrogen release from the carrier liquid and to evaluate suitable catalyst materials, knowledge of the temperature fields in the dehydrogenation reactor is important. One suitable technique for planar temperature sensing in reacting systems is phosphor thermometry. It is based on the excitation of a luminescent material by a laser pulse and detection of the subsequent phosphorescence signal. We investigated the luminescence of the thermographic phosphor (Sr,Ca)SiAIN3:Eu2+ (“SCASN:Eu2+”) dispersed in the H0-DBT / H18-DBT LOHC system in a temperature range from 400 to 600 K. A measurement cell enables repeatable and homogeneous measurement conditions of the hydrogen release reaction. A catalytic plate was put inside the heated LOHC. Temperature fields during the hydrogen release reaction were measured for the first time using the phosphorescence decay time (PDT) and the phosphorescence intensity ratio method (PIR). As expected, a strong cooling at the catalyst surface during the endothermal hydrogen release reaction could be observed, which was quantified to be in the range of 40 K.Graphical abstract

This paper explores integrating artificial intelligence (AI) segmentation models, particularly the Segment Anything Model (SAM), into fluid mechanics experiments. SAM’s architecture, comprising an image encoder, prompt encoder, and mask decoder, is investigated for its application in detecting and segmenting objects and flow structures. Additionally, we explore the integration of natural language prompts, such as BERT, to enhance SAM’s performance in segmenting specific objects. Through case studies, we found that SAM is robust in object detection in fluid experiments. However, segmentations related to flow properties, such as scalar turbulence and bubbly flows, require fine-tuning. To facilitate the application, we have established a repository (https://github.com/AliRKhojasteh/Flow_segmentation) where models and usage examples can be accessed.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) poses a major public health challenge. No proven therapies for the condition exist so protective equipment that prevents or mitigates these injuries plays a critical role in minimizing the societal burden of this condition. Our ability to optimize protective equipment depends on our capacity to relate the mechanics of head impact events to morbidity and mortality. This capacity, in turn, depends on correctly identifying the mechanisms of injury. For several decades, a controversial theory of TBI biomechanics has attributed important classes of injury to cavitation inside the cranial vault during blunt impact. This theory explains counter-intuitive clinical observations, including the coup–contre-coup pattern of injury. However, it is also difficult to validate experimentally in living subjects. Also, blunt impact TBI is a broad term that covers a range of different head impact events, some of which may be better described by cavitation theory than others. This review surveys what has been learned about cavitation through mathematical modeling, physical modeling, and experimentation with living tissues and places it in context with competing theories of blunt injury biomechanics and recent research activity in the field in an attempt to understand what the theory has to offer the next generation of innovators in TBI biomechanics.