CAREER: Microflow of highly viscous fluids: mixing and dissolution processes

1150389古巴高粘度流体是一类广泛的材料，对能源技术和生活的许多方面都至关重要。我们从日常观察中知道，粘性流体是粘稠的。它们倾向于附着在表面上，在操纵时形成丝状结构。它们的大粘度系数使它们缓慢且难以置换，并且与其他材料混合需要很长时间。今天，有限的化石能源资源的供应需要发展创新的方法来精细处理粘性材料和气态副产品在多个长度尺度。该项目结合了教育和研究活动，旨在为小规模高粘性流体的新型和改进操作扩大科学基础。利用高压微流体装置快速混合和富集厚料的新策略将被部署。提出了两个研究重点。第一种方法是在连续流动结构中混合低粘度和高粘度的混相流体。粘层的形成和润滑螺纹对扩散、惯性和粘屈曲现象的稳定性将在受限的微观几何中进行实验和数值模拟。第二项研究重点是二氧化碳在粘性流体中的微尺度溶解过程。将检查溶解气泡的分段微流，以浸渍粘性物质并解锁多孔状介质中碳固存的基本原理。这项工作将导致预测模型的发展，并提高我们对小尺度扩散界面下液/液和液/气多相流动的理解和实际应用。智力优势：该项目将提供一个全面和统一的粘性流体与混相润滑剂的流动行为的图片。一系列精心设计的实验、理论论证和数值模拟将产生关于高粘度微流和粘性屈曲不稳定性新特性的可靠和系统的知识。碳酸化多相流将在孔隙水平上具有广泛的流体性质和操作参数。这项工作将扩大对流体动力学的认识前沿，开辟流体处理能力的新时代。更广泛的影响：该项目将为各种各样的学生提供大量的教育机会，包括代表性不足的高中生、本科生和研究生。PI将致力于教育和培训学生进行流体科学的前沿研究。在这个项目中取得的成果将被纳入PI在各级的外联和教学活动。这项工作将有助于改进用于高粘度流体的连续流混合装置，并为石化产品和粘性生物材料的微流管理、废油的回收和碳基副产品的捕获提供新的专业知识。

1150389CubaudHigh-viscosity fluids represent a broad class of materials that are essential to many aspects of energy technologies and life. We know from everyday observation that viscous fluids are sticky and thick. They tend to attach to surfaces and they form filamentous structures when manipulated. Their large viscosity coefficient makes them slow and difficult to displace, and blending them with other materials requires a long time. Today, the limited supplies of fossil energy resources require the development of innovative methods for finely handling viscous materials and gaseous byproducts over multiple length scales. This project combines educational and research activities designed to expand the scientific foundations for new and improved manipulations of highly viscous fluids at the small scale. Novel strategies will be deployed to rapidly mix and enrich thick materials using high-pressure microfluidic devices. Two research thrusts are proposed. The first involves blending low- and high-viscosity miscible fluids in continuous flow configurations. The formation of viscous stratifications and the stability of lubricated threads against diffusion, inertia, and viscous buckling phenomena will be experimentally and numerically modeled in confined microgeometries. The second investigation focuses on microscale dissolution processes of carbon dioxide with viscous fluids. Segmented microflows of dissolving gas bubbles will be examined for impregnating viscous substances and unlocking the fundamentals of carbon sequestration in porous-like media. This work will lead to the development of predictive models and improve our understanding and practical use of liquid/liquid and liquid/gas multiphase flows in the presence of diffusive interfaces at the small scale.Intellectual merit: This project will provide a comprehensive and unifying picture of the flow behavior of viscous fluids with miscible lubricants. A series of carefully designed experiments, theoretical arguments, and numerical modeling will generate a reliable and systematic knowledge concerning the emerging properties of high-viscosity microflows and viscous buckling instabilities. Carbonated multiphase flows will be characterized at the pore level over a wide range of fluid properties and operating parameters. This work will expand the frontier of understanding in fluid dynamics and open up a new era of fluid processing capabilities.Broader impacts: This program will offer substantial educational opportunities for a diversity of students, including underrepresented, high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. The PI will dedicate his efforts to educate and train students to cutting edge research in fluid science. Results developed during this project will be incorporated into the PI's outreach and teaching activities at every level. This work will help improve continuous flow-based mixing apparatuses for high-viscosity fluids and offer new expertise for the microflow management of petrochemical products and viscous biomaterials, the recycling of used oils, and the capture of carbon-based byproducts.