Berkeley Fluids Seminar
University of California, Berkeley
Bring your lunch and enjoy learning about fluids!
September 17, 2014
Prof. Mir Abbas Jalali (Astronomy, UC Berkeley)
Kinetic Boltzmann model of multiphase flows
I discuss the motion of interacting particles in the context of kinetic theory and derive the collisional Boltzmann equation when individual particles interact through (i) attractive (ii) attractive--repulsive and (iii) elastic hard sphere collisions. I then present some applications of the Boltzmann equation in the modeling and stability analysis of the flock of animals, and the motion of dust and solid particles in circumstellar disks. I show how an integral equation of the Fredholm-type gives singular and discrete modes of a one dimensional flock, and introduce a new Finite Element Method that I have developed to study the perturbations of circumstellar disks. Examples that I solve include the excitation of density waves in debris disks by close encounters of stars, and the drag-induced pattern formation in the dust component of protoplanetary disks. I also explain how the method can be used to investigate interfacial instabilities in suspension and particle-laden flows.
Acknowledgments
Prof. Graham Fleming (Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley)
Prof. Eliot Quataert on behalf of The Theoretical Astrophysics Center and the Astronomy Department (UC Berkeley)
Prof. Philip S. Marcus on behalf of the Mechanical Engineering Department (UC Berkeley)
Prof. Michael Manga (Earth and Planetary Science, UC Berkeley)
Prof. Evan Variano (Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley)