PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Falling water forms beautiful fluted films

2025-08-20
(Press-News.org) When water drains from the bottom of a vertical tube, it is followed by a thin film of liquid that can adopt complex and beautiful shapes. KAUST researchers have now studied exactly how these “fluted films” form and break up, developing a mathematical model of their behavior that could help improve the performance, safety, and efficiency of industrial processes[1]

“At first glance, water draining from a tube seems like an everyday process driven by gravity,” says Abhijit Kushwaha, a member of the team behind the work. “It is only with high-speed imaging that we can slow down time enough to capture the hidden choreography of this process.”

For the study, the team used hollow tubes of varying diameters, filled with water to different heights. As the researchers allowed the water to flow out, a high-speed camera captured the shapes formed over a period of about a hundred milliseconds.

This revealed a curious effect for certain combinations of tube diameter and water height. As the liquid fell, a thin film of water dragged against the tube walls and descended more slowly. Once the main water column exited the tube, this film emerged and formed a fleeting, tulip-shaped bubble. In some cases, the fluted film quickly retracted into the tube; in others, it stretched until the water column broke away from it.

The formation of fluted films depends on a delicate balance of gravity, surface tension, inertia, and viscosity, explains Kushwaha. If the water column is too short or the tube is too narrow, the film does not form. Conversely, the widest tubes produce a cylindrical film that breaks away from the tube to create a crown shape.

The researchers created a mathematical model to predict the behavior of these films based on a few simple parameters, such as tube radius and water height. “This can inform better design and control strategies in any system where thin liquid films play a vital role — from industrial reactors to microelectronics to biological systems, such as the lungs,” explains Tadd Truscott, who leads the research.

For example, devices called falling-film evaporators are widely used in industries like food processing, pharmaceuticals, and power generation to concentrate liquids or remove solvents. These systems feature thin films of liquid that evaporate as they flow down the walls of heated tubes. If these films break or become uneven, heat transfer efficiency can be reduced, or equipment can be damaged.

“Our research helps improve understanding of when and how such films might rupture or behave unexpectedly, offering insights that could be used to design more reliable systems,” Truscott says. “This could also be relevant to cooling rocket engines or applying protective coatings to surfaces.”

The team plans to study how other fluids behave in a broader range of tubes. “Ultimately, our goal is to develop a predictive framework that helps scientists and engineers understand, design, and optimize systems where thin films play a hidden but crucial role,” Kushwaha adds.

Reference

Kushwaha, A. K., Jones, M. B., Belden, J., Speirs, N. & Truscott, T. T. Transient fluted films behind falling water columns. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 224001 (2025). | article END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Breaking physical hardware limits: AI-enabled ultra-high-speed structured-light 3D imaging

2025-08-20
To overcome this limitation, Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) a classical information multiplexing technique in communication systems offers a promising solution. As early as 1997, Professor Takeda has introduced FDM into FPP, enabling two fringe patterns of different frequencies to be superimposed onto a single image, thus allowing simultaneous phase demodulation and unwrapping. Similarly, in off-axis digital holography, researchers overlapped holograms captured at different time points within a single exposure, enabling multi-temporal holographic reconstruction from just one multiplexed ...

Insect conservation stalled by absence of risk assessments

2025-08-20
With just 1.2% of the world’s one million described insect species assessed for extinction risk, biodiversity assessment and conservation measures remain severely constrained. Sufficiently extensive datasets and new statistical methods could enhance the reach of extinction risk classification. Invertebrates, including insects, are poorly represented on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. The Red List, the world’s most comprehensive information source on global conservation status, is dominated by better-known vertebrates, such as mammals ...

Reading for pleasure in freefall: New study finds 40% drop over two decades

2025-08-20
A sweeping new study from the University of Florida and University College London has found that daily reading for pleasure in the United States has declined by more than 40% over the last 20 years — raising urgent questions about the cultural, educational and health consequences of a nation reading less. Published today in the journal iScience, the study analyzed data from over 236,000 Americans who participated in the American Time Use Survey between 2003 and 2023. The findings suggest a fundamental cultural shift: fewer people are carving out time in their day to read for enjoyment. “This is not just a small dip — it’s ...

Epigenetic noise: Unappreciated process helps cells change identity

2025-08-20
All cells in the body contain the same DNA, but different cell types express different genes; skin cells express genes for the skin, liver cells express liver genes, and so on. This coordination is crucial to help cells differentiate into their assigned roles, but a new study from researchers at the University of Chicago shows how cells can randomly “shake up” regions of the genome to express genes normally reserved for other cell types. The study, published this week in Nature, suggests that randomness or variability in the way DNA is packaged can create a kind of “epigenetic noise,” enabling cells to take on the identify of different ...

Abrupt Antarctic changes could have ‘catastrophic consequences for generations to come’, experts warn

2025-08-20
Antarctica is at risk of abrupt and potentially irreversible changes to the continent’s ice, ocean and ecosystems that could have profound implications for Australia and beyond, unless urgent action is taken to curb global carbon emissions.  That’s according to new research published today in the journal Nature, from researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in collaboration with scientists from each of Australia’s major Antarctic research centres.   The ...

Saving bees with ‘superfoods’ – engineered supplement boosts colony reproduction

2025-08-20
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 16:00 BST / 11:00 ET WEDNESDAY 20 AUGUST 2025 More images available to download via the link in the notes section A new study led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, University of Greenwich, and the Technical University of Denmark could provide a cost-effective and sustainable solution to help tackle the devastating decline in honeybees. An engineered food supplement, designed to provide essential compounds found in plant pollen, was found to significantly enhance colony reproduction. The results have been published today (20 August) in the journal Nature. The challenge: addressing ...

Threats of weather disasters for drug manufacturing facilities in the US

2025-08-20
About The Study: In this nationwide assessment of the frequency with which climate-related disaster events affected counties with U.S. drug production facilities, researchers determined that nearly two-thirds of all facilities were located in counties that experienced at least one disaster declaration. These disaster events posed risks of disruptions to facilities active in all aspects of the supply chain, from active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacture to packaging, disruptions that could be further magnified by the time needed for Food and Drug Administration reinspection of damaged facilities. Corresponding Author: To ...

New Cleveland Clinic research identifies link between gut microbes and an elevated risk for abdominal aortic aneurysms

2025-08-20
Cleveland:  Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered a connection between elevated blood levels of TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) — a byproduct of gut bacteria digestion of nutrients found in red meat and other animal products — and a higher risk of abdominal aortic aneurysms.   The findings, published today in JAMA Cardiology, suggest that TMAO may play a role in the development, progression, and severity of this life-threatening condition, including faster rates of aneurysm expansion and greater risk for needing surgery.  “These results suggest targeting TMAO levels may help prevent and treat aneurysmal disease ...

First-of-its-kind supernova reveals innerworkings of a dying star

2025-08-20
An international team of scientists, led by Northwestern University astrophysicists, has detected a never-before-seen type of exploding star, or supernova, that is rich with silicon, sulfur and argon. When massive stars explode, astrophysicists typically find strong signatures of light elements, such as hydrogen and helium. But the newly discovered supernova, dubbed SN2021yfj, displayed a startling different chemical signature. Astronomers long have theorized that massive stars have a layered structure, similar to an onion. The outermost layers predominantly comprise the lightest elements. As the layers move inward, the elements become heavier and heavier until reaching ...

Drought, extreme heat, and intimate partner violence in low- and middle-income countries

2025-08-20
About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of 42 low- and middle-income countries, drought conditions with various durations were associated with increased intimate partner violence risk. Given the increasing extreme events under climate change, there is a pressing need for enhanced initiatives to prevent domestic violence. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Pin Wang, PhD, email pinwang@umd.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.27818) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

FIU cybersecurity researchers develop midflight defense against drone hijacking

Kennesaw State researcher aims to discover how ideas spread in the digital age

Next-generation perovskite solar cells are closer to commercial use

Sleep patterns linked to variation in health, cognition, lifestyle, and brain organization

University of Oklahoma researcher awarded funding to bridge gap between molecular data and tissue architecture

Nationally-recognized pathologist Paul N. Staats, MD, named Chair of Pathology at University of Maryland School of Medicine

The world’s snow leopards are very similar genetically. That doesn’t bode well for their future

Researchers find key to stopping deadly infection

Leafcutter ants have blind spots, just like truck drivers

Tayac receives funding for community engagement project

Parker receives funding for Elementary Education Program Professional Development School (PDS)

Physicists uncork a message in a bottle from another star

Sanders receives funding for project aimed at enabling prostheses for children with lower extremity amputation

Engineers develop solid lubricant to replace toxic materials in farming

Repurposing gemstone polishing waste to create smart cement

Patient-physician messaging by race, ethnicity, insurance type, and preferred language

Unrecognized motor difficulties and developmental coordination disorder in preschool children

Background genetic variants influence clinical features in complex disorders

Smarter battery tech knows whether your EV will make it home

Overactive microRNAs block fat cell development in progeria

Crosswalk confusion: MA drivers flummoxed by pedestrian hybrid beacons, find UMass Amherst researchers

Study shows heart disease mortality disproportionately burdens low-income communities in California

Intracardiac echocardiography recognized as ‘transformative’ imaging modality in new SCAI position statement

Study finds ‘man’s best friend’ slows cellular aging in female veterans

To get representative health data, researchers hand out fitbits

Hiring in high-growth firms: new study explores the timing of organizational changes

Boosting work engagement through a simple smartphone diary

Climate change may create ‘ecological trap’ for species who can’t adapt

Scientists create ChatGPT-like AI model for neuroscience to build one of the most detailed mouse brain maps to date

AI and omics unlock personalized drugs and RNA therapies for heart disease

[Press-News.org] Falling water forms beautiful fluted films