Fluids, Materials and Microgravity:: Numerical Techniques and Insights into Physics

This monograph covers many different aspects of materials science and in particular: inorganic (semiconductors and metal alloys) and organic (protein crystals) materials as well as the case of living biological tissues. In particular, attention is mainly devoted to the most useful and/or promising aspects of the new illuminating knowledge provided by microgravity experimentation. When microgravity conditions are attained, materials and fluids do "incredible" things. This environment (provided by space platforms or properly simulated on the ground by microscale experimentation) is instrumental in unravelling processes that are otherwise interwoven or overshadowed in "normal" gravity. It becomes possible to test fundamental theories of three-dimensional laminar, oscillatory and turbulent flow generated by various other forces; all of which are of substantial theoretical as well as practical interest on Earth. Critical knowledge gained from these experiments is accelerating the current trend towards predictable and reproducible phenomena, and enabling the development of new manufacturing methods. Within this context, this book develops and refines working engineering models, that can be easily used within practical applications, while providing a rigorous mathematical and numerical framework for deeper understanding and effective treatment of a number of macrophysical and microphysical phenomena still poorly known or ignored by most of specialists in the field of materials science. Furthermore, some unexpected theoretical kinships existing among the different subjects explored within the text (inorganic, organic, biological, etc.) are elucidated and emphasized (for instance, those dealing with the presence of moving and/or interacting interfaces). Along these lines, many problems are treated within the common framework of Volume of Fluid and Level-Set numerical methods and other similar multiphase Eulerian or Lagrangian techniques. Large amount of information is transmitted from one field to another in terms of models and numerical strategies. Such a philosophy succeeds in building a common source for the scientific community, with the intention to establish an ongoing, mutually beneficial dialogue among a variety of fields.Marcello Lappa is the author of 'Fluids, Materials and Microgravity:: Numerical Techniques and Insights into Physics', published 2005 under ISBN 9780080445083 and ISBN 008044508X.