Dimensionless numbers are often used to characterize the various modes of droplet breakup processes. However, the current methods of calculating these dimensionless numbers are not uniform—consequently, the calculation results are different, resulting in different phase diagrams of droplet separation. This paper first summarizes the methods of calculating the Weber number. The maximum transient velocity at the center of a nozzle is then used as the characteristic velocity for calculating the Weber number, and this formulation is used to solve certain scenarios in which the traditional Weber number cannot be applied, such as the strange phenomenon of the upward flight of separated droplets. A mathematical model is established to simulate the various separation forms of droplets, and the experimental study is also carried out. This upward flight of droplets is found to be the result of competition between the liquid inertial force, surface tension force, and suction effect of the nozzle mouth. The final velocity of the droplets depends on the existence of a stagnation surface and the corresponding sweep effect. Finally, the phase diagram of different droplet separation modes is drawn in the Ohnesorge–Weber number space.

In recent years, inkjet technology has played an important role in industrial materials printing and various sensors fabrication, but the mechanisms of the inkjet print head should be researched more elaborately. The steady state deformation analysis of a tubular piezoelectric print head, which can be classified as a plane strain problem because the radii of the tubes are considerably smaller than the lengths, is discussed in this paper. The geometric structure and the boundary conditions are all axisymmetric, so a one-dimensional mathematical model is constructed. By solving the model, the deformation field and stress field, as well as the electric potential distribution of the piezoelectric tube and glass tube, are obtained. The results show that the deformations are on the nanometer scale, the hoop stress is larger than the radial stress on the whole, and the potential is not linearly distributed along the radial direction. An experiment is designed to validate these computations. A discussion of the effect of the tubes’ thicknesses on the system deformation status is provided.

As the frozen soil in the South Pole region of the Moon is an important water resource, the operation of drilling and retrieving samples of the frozen soil in this region will be a crucial task for us to accomplish in future deep-space exploration. Thus, this paper investigated the effects of the increasing temperature and heat transfer between the drilling tools and the simulated lunar soil to minimize the degradation of the frozen soil samples during drilling due to the increased temperature. Specifically, the discrete element method was adopted and the heat transfer parameters of the discrete element particles were calibrated based on the equivalent heat transfer of the particle system. Moreover, a lunar soil particle system was developed for the simulations. Under the current working conditions with reasonable parameters, the maximum increase in the drill bit temperature was about 60 °C. Overall, the simulation results were consistent with the experimental results, and further analysis revealed that the flow of lunar soil can effectively take away thermal, which is also one of the reasons why the simulated lunar soil particles are in a high-temperature state at the front of the drilling tool.

Various inks with different properties are widely used in the printed electronic industry. In order to obtain high quality inkjet printing, it is necessary to study the droplet formation process and its influencing factors comprehensively. Only in this way, the incentive conditions and liquid physical parameters of droplet ejection can be obtained and optimized. Firstly, the calculation model of the droplet ejection process is established for a tubular print head and the boundary conditions are set according to the driving characteristics. Secondly, the free surface flow is calculated in the simulation software and sequential pictures of the droplet formation processes are captured to validate the availability of the numerical algorithm. Finally, the droplet formation processes of the tubular piezoelectric print head are simulated under different incentive conditions, different viscosities and different surface tensions. Too small a driving energy is insufficient to cause the head to eject droplets. Excessive excitation energy will result in larger or multiple satellite droplets. Additionally, the thinning process of the liquid neck is examined carefully in this paper. Results show that surface tension and viscosity have a significant effect on the thinning speed of the liquid neck, but the effect is not as significant as previous studies.

Oil–water annular flow is an efficient method of heavy oil transportation for energy-saving. To deeply study the influencing factors of the energy savings of oil–water annular flow, this paper compares the interface fluctuation and energy-saving situation of oil–water annular flow under different pipe structures (such as straight pipe, sudden-contraction pipe, and elbow pipe), flow parameters, and fluid properties. In the straight pipe, the flow parameters can impact the oil–water annular flow pattern and the energy savings, and the interface fluctuation is consistent with the energy savings. The stable oil–water core annular flow has slight interface fluctuation and significant energy savings. At the same time, the influences of pipe structure and fluid properties on energy saving are also analyzed. In the sudden-contraction pipe, the oil–water interface fluctuates, largely due to the sharp changes in flow cross-section, which leads to reduced energy savings. In the elbow, the oil–water interface fluctuates greatly due to the influence of centrifugal force caused by flow direction variation, and also leads to a decline in energy savings. The effects of oil property or annulus liquid property on the interface fluctuates, and the energy savings are analyzed; reducing surface tension is an effective measure to provide an energy-saving effect. These results can provide a reference for the design of heavy-oil-transportation pipelines, the analysis of interface fluctuation, and the energy-saving evaluation of oil–water annular flow.