Energy dissipation scaling in uniformly sheared turbulence.

The rate of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in spatially developing, uniformly sheared turbulence is examined experimentally. In the far-downstream fully developed region of the flow, we confirm that the dissipation parameter C(ɛ) is constant. More importantly, however, we find two upstream regions where this parameter could be scaled with the local turbulent Reynolds number as C(ɛ)=ARe(λ)(α); the exponents in these two regions are, respectively, α=-0.

Relative dispersion of a passive scalar plume in turbulent shear flow.

Relative dispersion of a passive scalar plume was investigated in uniformly sheared, nearly homogeneous, turbulent flow with Reλ≈150 using planar laser-induced fluorescence. Mean concentration maps were determined both in the laboratory frame and in a frame attached to the instantaneous center of mass of the plume cross section. The distance-neighbor function had a shape that was compatible with Richardson's expression.

Adaptation of a rabbit myocardium material model for use in a canine left ventricle simulation study.

The myocardium of the left ventricle (LV) of the heart comprises layers of muscle fibers whose orientation varies through the heart wall. Because of these fibers, accurate modeling of the myocardium stress-strain behavior requires models that are nonlinear, anisotropic, and time-varying. This article describes the development and testing of a material model of the canine LV myocardium, which will be used in ongoing simulations of the mechanics of the LV with fluid-structure interaction.

Numerical simulations of blood flow in artificial and natural hearts with fluid-structure interaction.

This article describes two ongoing numerical studies of fluid-structure interaction in the cardiovascular system: an idealized pulsatile ventricular assist device (VAD), consisting of two fluid chambers separated by a flexible diaphragm; and blood flow and heart wall motion during passive filling of a canine heart. Simulations have been performed for the VAD and compared with the results of a previous study and to our own preliminary experimental results. Detailed measurements of the flow field in the VAD model and additional simulations are in progress.

Kinematics of the ankle joint complex in snowboarding.

Because snowboarders are known to injure their ankles more often than Alpine skiers, it has been postulated that stiffer snowboard boots would provide better protection to the ankle than current soft boots do. Snowboarders are also known to injure their front ankle more often than their back ankle, presumably because of the asymmetrical rotations of the ankles due to asymmetrical binding adjustement. To test these hypotheses, we measured the kinematics of the feet and legs of 5 snowboarders wearing soft boots and stiffer step-in boots during snowboarding maneuvers using an electromagnetic motion tracking system.