Flow in a ring-sheared drop : drop deformation

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Authors
Riley, Frank
Issue Date
2020-05
Type
Electronic thesis
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Language
ENG
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Aeronautical engineering
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Abstract
The ring-sheared drop is a flow device used as a method of studying amyloid fibrils in space aboard the International Space Station. Amyloid fibrils are found in patients of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. These proteins fibrilize under hydrodynamic shear and this device isolates these effects with its essentially containerless system. The device consists of a liquid mass constrained between two rings by surface tension. While stationary, the liquid mass is a spherical drop, but upon rotating one ring and holding the other ring still, the liquid mass evolves into deformed shapes. For small deformations, the present research attempts to utilize a linear theory to describe the initial stages of departure from a spherical equilibrium. The study spans a small range of rotating speeds where a noticeable deformation is experimentally observed. A parametric sweep of various finite rings and angular speeds is presented. The comparison of experimental results to theoretical predictions show an expected disparity due to the ideal assumptions made for the problem’s tractability. However, theoretical amplitudes of deformation, on the order of 2% of the spherical radius, qualitatively agree with experimentation.
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May 2020
School of Engineering
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
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