Turbulence resulting from Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in layers of localized stratification and shear is studied by means of direct numerical simulation. Our objective is to present a comprehensive description of the turbulence evolution in terms of simple, conceptual pictures of shear–buoyancy interaction that have been developed previously based on assumptions of...
This study aimed to investigate students' models of probability in a modern physics context. The study was divided into three phases. The first phase explored student pre-knowledge about probability before modem physics instruction. The second phase investigated student understanding of concepts related to probability such as wave-particle behavior, the uncertainty...
Mathematical sophistication increases rapidly as students transition from lower- to upper-division physics courses. Complex algebra is one of the mathematical tools that is not introduced or used in lower-division physics courses but is pervasive throughout upper-division courses. In this dissertation, I study middle-division physics students' developing fluency with complex number...
The authors analyze electromagnetic modes in multilayered nanocomposites and demonstrate that the response of a majority of realistic layered structures is strongly affected by the nonlocal effects originating from strong field oscillations across the system, and is not described by conventional effective-medium theories. They develop the analytical description of the...
Power transient boiling has been studied for decades, however, the mechanistic understanding of phenomena which occur during such an event remains incomplete. Due to a dearth of systematic researches, the information of studied phenomenon, detailed physics and applicable hypothesis are very limited. Transient critical heat flux (CHF) is paramount in...
Three aspects of glow discharges have been studied: glow discharge oscillations,
sputtering, and coupling between cathode and anode regions the two most important
regions in a glow discharge. Cathode and anode processes are tightly coupled by electron
and ion coupling effects. Both electron and ion coupling effects were observed by...
We discuss Einstein’s field equations in the presence of signature change using variational methods, obtaining a generalization of the Lanczos equation relating the distributional term in the stress tensor to the discontinuity of the extrinsic curvature. In particular, there is no distributional term in the stress tensor, and hence no...
Direct numerical simulations of turbulence resulting from Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in stably
stratified shear flow are used to study sources of anisotropy in various spectral ranges. The set of
simulations includes various values of the initial Richardson and Reynolds numbers, as well as
Prandtl numbers ranging from 1 to 7. We...
The computation of Lagrangian coherent structures typically involves post-processing of experimentally or
numerically obtained fluid velocity fields to obtain the largest finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) field.
However, this procedure can be tedious for large-scale complex flows of general interest. In this work, an
alternative approach involving computation of the FTLE...
In this dissertation, the process of computational modeling of amorphous oxide materials is studied. Amorphous oxides have random atomic arrangements with no long-range structural order which makes it difficult to study structure-property relationships. Despite the difficulties, amorphous oxides have great uses as semiconductors and dielectrics in thin-film transistors. The ability...