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Category: engineering – Page 45

Tiny rotating particles create vorticity in viscous fluids, yielding fascinating new behaviors

Vorticity, a measure of the local rotation or swirling motion in a fluid, has long been studied by physicists and mathematicians. The dynamics of vorticity is governed by the famed Navier-Stokes equations, which tell us that vorticity is produced by the passage of fluid past walls. Moreover, due to their internal resistance to being sheared, viscous fluids will diffuse the vorticity within them and so any persistent swirling motions will require a constant resupply of vorticity.

Physicists at the University of Chicago and applied mathematicians at the Flatiron Institute recently carried out a study exploring the behavior of viscous fluids in which tiny rotating particles were suspended, acting as local, mobile sources of vorticity. Their paper, published in Nature Physics, outlines fluid behaviors that were never observed before, characterized by self-propulsion, flocking and the emergence of chiral active phases.

“This experiment was a confluence of three curiosities,” William T.M. Irvine, a corresponding author of the paper, told Phys.org. “We had been studying and engineering parity-breaking meta-fluids with fundamentally new properties in 2D and were interested to see how a three-dimensional analog would behave.

Smart Materials and Nanotechnology Engineering conf. kicks off

Dr Mehdi Ghommem said that the AUS was happy to host and organise the eighth edition of the International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology, and to host more than 100 participants from 15 different countries.

Ghommem added that the social programme of the conference included plenary lectures, keynote lectures, parallel technical sessions with more than 70 presentations.

Dr Mehdi Ghommem also explained that the social programme which came in parallel with the technical programme included dinner, a visit of iconic landmark in Sharjah. He stressed that it was a great opportunity for participants not only to interact and talk about scientific topics, but also to get to know about the local culture and also, to get good exposure to the main monuments of Sharjah.

Strange Engineering Hiding in Plain Sight

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This video explores fascinating engineering solutions hiding in plain sight — ingenious designs that solve complex problems through elegant simplicity. From shoes that expand when stretched to windshields with hidden patterns, discover how everyday objects incorporate remarkable engineering innovations.

AUXETICS
These metamaterials that defy conventional physics by getting thicker when stretched. Follow their evolution from theoretical designs in 1978 to modern applications in athletic footwear and medical devices, and discover how precise geometric patterns create extraordinary properties that could revolutionize everything from prosthetics to architecture, despite challenging manufacturing requirements.

WINDSHIELD DOTS
The black dots on car windshields serve a dual purpose that revolutionized the automotive industry in the 1950s. This pattern manages extreme thermal stress during glass tempering while protecting crucial adhesive bonds. The precise ceramic frit application process has evolved to support modern safety systems and sensor integration, making these simple dots essential to modern vehicle design.

CURIE POINT HEATERS
Curie point heaters achieve temperature control through magnetic properties alone, eliminating complex control systems. These heaters maintain precise temperatures by becoming “magnetically invisible” at specific points. Modern implementations use sophisticated alloy combinations and multi-layer designs for unprecedented temperature control in medical sterilization and semiconductor processing.

TRIBOELECTRIC GENERATORS

Continue reading “Strange Engineering Hiding in Plain Sight” | >

Nanopesticide delivery system made with neem seed extract improves pesticide effectiveness

Pesticides can be made more effective and environmentally friendly by improving how they stick to plant surfaces, thanks to new research led by Dr. Mustafa Akbulut, professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University.

Akbulut and his research group have developed an innovative pesticide delivery system called nanopesticides. These tiny technologies, developed through a collaboration between Texas A&M University’s engineering and agricultural colleges, Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallo, professor of Horticultural Science and Dr. Younjin Min, professor of Chemical Environ Engineering at University of California, Riverside, could change how we use pesticides.

“The U.S. is a world leader in , feeding not just our nation but much of the world. Yet we are using pesticides in a way that is simply not sustainable—with a substantial fraction not reaching its intended target,” said Akbulut. “Our research shows that by optimizing the surface chemistry of pesticide carriers, we can make these essential crop protection tools more efficient.”

Q&A — Information, Evolution, and intelligent Design — With Daniel Dennett

How long until humans are made redundant by the evolution of technology? Is there an inherent difference between men and women’s intelligence? Daniel Dennett answers questions from the audience following his talk. Watch the main event here: • Information, Evolution, and intellige…
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The concept of information is fundamental to all areas of science, and ubiquitous in daily life in the Internet Age. However, it is still not well understood despite being recognised for more than 40 years. In this talk, Daniel Dennett explored steps towards a unified theory of information, through common threads in evolution, learning, and engineering.

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How tiny droplets can deform ice: Findings show potential for cryopreservation and food engineering

When water freezes slowly, the location where water turns into ice—known as the freezing front—forms a straight line. Researchers from the University of Twente showed how droplets that interact with such a freezing front cause surprising deformations of this front. These new insights were published in Physical Review Letters and show potential for applications in cryopreservation and food engineering techniques.

When water freezes, it is often thought of as a predictable, solid block forming layer by layer. But what happens if the progressing freezing front encounters or ? Researchers from the University of Twente have explored this question, discovering that droplets can cause surprising deformations in the way ice forms.

How Wastewater and Gas Flares Could Supercharge Green Hydrogen Production

Oil and gas extraction in places like Texas’ Permian Basin leads to several waste products, including significant amounts of wastewater and flares firing into the sky. Texas Engineer Vaibhav Bahadur is researching how those byproducts, which are harmful to the environment, could be repurposed to serve as key elements in the creation of “green” hydrogen.

Bahadur, an associate professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, recently published a new paper in the journal Desalination about a new way to potentially produce green hydrogen. It involves using the energy wasted via gas flaring to power reverse osmosis, a common, low-energy technique used for municipal water treatment. Hydrogen production requires pristine water, and this process satisfies that need by removing salts and other elements from the equation.

Learn more about green hydrogen in the Q&A with Bahadur below, as well as his research, next steps and its broader implications.

Developing an organic transmembrane device to host and monitor 3D cell cultures

Researchers have used 3D cell culture models in the past decade to translate molecular targets during drug discovery processes to thereby transition from an existing predominantly 2D culture environment. In a new report now published in Science Advances, Charalampos Pitsalidis and a research team in physics and chemical engineering at the University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, UAE and the University of Cambridge describe a multi-well plate bioelectronic platform named the e-transmembrane to support and monitor complex 3D cell architectures.

The team microengineered the scaffolds using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene polystyrene sulfonate to function as separating membranes to isolate cell cultures and achieve real-time in situ recordings of cell growth and function. The to volume ratio allowed them to generate deep stratified tissues in a porous architecture. The platform is applicable as a universal resource for biologists to conduct next-generation high-throughput drug screening assays.

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