MRI: Acquisition of Advanced Instrumentation for Fluid Flow and Particle Motion Research and Teaching at Micro to Macro Scales

本项目主要目的是利用三种仪器研究流体力学和喷雾形成和演化的基本过程：1)测量液滴大小和速度的相位多普勒分析仪，2)测量液滴和流场速度的粒子图像测速仪，以及3)绘制液滴和粒子空间分布的光学模式仪。这些仪器将用于提高对喷雾液滴群演化和燃烧的基本过程的理解（应用包括航空和工业燃气涡轮发动机，以及用于制造钢铁的工业炉），浮力驱动的纳米流体中的传输现象（应用包括计算机冷却中的高通量传热，目前正在通过现有的NSF MRPG进行研究），非牛顿液滴的二次分解和运动（应用包括食品加工、制药制造、凝胶燃料、油漆和涂料，第一个正在现有的NSF目标下进行研究）。该仪器将用于为不同学生群体提供服务的非博士学位授予城市机构（中西部四级）和一级赠地研究机构之间的合作研究和教学工作。它将大大加强研究基础设施，并通过使用一级学校已经开发的教学材料，显著改善非博士学位授予机构的教育设施。它还将支持一线学校的教育使命。该项目还将允许学生从大学水平进行研究，通过高科技小型企业，大规模制造，以及企业研发环境。最后，该项目将通过提供可用于SBIR项目的仪器，吸引当地专业工程师到大学实验室工作。

The main objective of this project is to study basic processes in fluid mechanics and spray formation and evolution using three instruments: 1) a Phase-Doppler Analyzer to measure droplet sizes and velocities, 2) a Particle-Image Velocimeter to measure droplet and flow field velocities, and 3) an Optical Patternator to map spatial distributions for droplets and particles. The instruments will be used to improve the understanding of basic processes in spray droplet group evolution and combustion (applications include aero- and industrial-gas turbine engines, as well as industrial furnaces such as those used to manufacture steel), transport phenomena in buoyancy driven nano-fluids (applications include high-flux heat transfer in computer cooling, currently being studied through an existing NSF MRPG), and secondary breakup and motion of non-Newtonian liquid drops (applications include food processing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, gelled fuels, and paints and coatings, with the first being studied under an existing NSF GOALI). The instrumentation will be used for a collaborative research and teaching effort between a non-PhD granting urban institution (Midwest Tier-4) that serves a diverse student body and a Tier-1 land-grant research institute. It will significantly enhance both research infrastructures, as well as markedly improving the educational facilities at the non-PhD granting institution by making use of instructional materials already developed at the Tier-1 school. It will also support the educational mission at the Tier-1 school. This project will also allow students to perform research from the university level through high-tech small business, large-scale manufacturing, and on to corporate research and development environments. Finally, this project will attract local professional engineers to the university laboratories by providing instrumentation that can be used for SBIR projects.