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Resonance Acoustic MixingⓇ(RAM) technology applies an external low-frequency vertical harmonic vibration to mix ultrafine granular materials and subsequently non-Newtonian fluids. Although this system is used for various applications, its mechanism is yet not well understood, especially in the mixing of non-Newtonian fluids. To address this gap in knowledge, a phase model of the shear-thinning and shear-thickening non-Newtonian power-law fluid in a low-frequency vertical harmonic vibration container is established in this study, and the different power-law index is also considered. During the initial mixing process, there is Faraday instability at the gas–liquid interface, and Faraday waves are related to the power-law index. With the continuous input of external energy, the flow field is further destabilized, so that the uniform mixing is finally completed. In addition, the rheology of non-Newtonian fluids is consistent with the constitutive relation of power-law fluids. The dynamic viscosity of shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluid decreases rapidly with the increase of mixing time, while the shear-thickening non-Newtonian fluid decreases rapidly with the increase of mixing time. The variation of shear rate for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids is identical. Finally, a proper vibration parameter for the high mixing efficiency of RAM is proposed.

Pattern formation occurs spontaneously in endothelial cell cultures, leading to the formation of capillary networks, which eventually grow to form blood vessels. This phenomenon occurs on a time scale of a few days.

We show here that patterns can also be induced on a much shorter time scale, by using the Faraday hydrodynamic instability, resulting from an oscillatory motion of the container. Close to the threshold of instability, the patterns observed are very sharp concentric rings or stripes. The patterns can be induced only inside a very narrow time window, ~ 5 min. Cells attachment then develops, and pattern formation can no longer be induced. The time window for pattern formation was diminished by favoring cell attachment, for instance by treating culture dishes with cationic macromolecules, such as poly-L-Lysine. It was increased by cooling the cells to 18°C, or by a prolonged exposure of the cells to trypsin, which is known to digest adhesion molecules.

The Faraday instability leads to a method to characterize cell attachment. It also permits the production of heterogeneous cultures with several cell types, with a well controlled heterogeneity. This can be used to study heterotypic cell interactions in vitro.

We present an experimental study of the generation of strongly localized structures that propagate on the surface of a dissipative fluid. We excited a layer of fluid with a vertical periodic acceleration field, and a parametric instability occurs when a certain threshold value is achieved. This process is known as Faraday Instability and the temporal evolution of the system obeys a period-doubling route. For a highly dissipative fluid we observed two new interesting phenomena: the generation of high spatially localized structures which propagate on top of the stripes of stationary pattern, and a periodic window which occurs after the system reached spatiotemporal chaos.

A systematic experimental study of the Faraday instability in viscoelastic fluid is presented. We have used a shear thinning polymer solution in which the elastic effects are predominant within our work range. We have analyzed the dependence of the threshold instability as a function of the depth in layer. Depending on the fluid layer depth and the driving frequency, harmonic or subharmonic regimes are developed. We have focused our work on the subharmonic region and temporal and spatial behaviors were analyzed. In addition, we have used the onset acceleration to estimate the rheological properties of the fluid. These predictions are supported by experimental measurements.

Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) was used as a suitable tool to characterize the evolution of fingers regime in Faraday instability. The transition from harmonic to subharmonic resonant finger behavior was thus studied. A cluster algorithm and Voronoi neighbor statistics were used to characterize the surface peak distribution for the principal spatial pattern. The structural transition was analyzed for varying acceleration amplitude used as system control parameter.