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

1150389Cubad高粘度流体代表着广泛的材料类别，对于能源技术和生活的许多方面都是必不可少的。我们从日常观察中知道，粘性液体又粘又稠。它们倾向于附着在表面上，当被操纵时，它们形成丝状结构。其较大的粘度系数使其速度变慢，难以置换，与其他材料混合需要较长时间。今天，有限的化石能源供应要求开发创新的方法来精细处理多个长度尺度上的粘性材料和气体副产品。该项目结合了教育和研究活动，旨在扩大科学基础，以便在小规模上改进和改进高粘度流体的操纵。将部署新的战略，利用高压微流控设备快速混合和浓缩厚材料。提出了两个研究方向。第一种是在连续流动结构中混合低粘度和高粘度的可混相流体。粘性分层的形成和润滑螺纹的稳定性将在受限微几何中进行实验和数值模拟，以防止扩散、惯性和粘性屈曲现象。第二个研究集中在二氧化碳在粘性流体中的微尺度溶解过程。将研究溶解气泡的分段微流以浸渍粘性物质，并解锁类多孔介质中碳固定的基本原理。这项工作将导致预测模型的发展，并提高我们对小规模存在扩散界面的液/液和液/气多相流的理解和实际应用。智力优势：该项目将提供具有混相润滑剂的粘性流体流动行为的全面和统一的图景。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出现的特性的可靠和系统的知识。碳化多相流将在广泛的流体性质和操作参数范围内在孔隙水平上进行表征。这项工作将扩大流体动力学的理解前沿，并开辟流体处理能力的新时代。广泛的影响：该项目将为不同的学生提供大量的教育机会，包括代表不足的学生、高中学生、本科生和研究生。PI将致力于教育和培训学生从事流体科学的尖端研究。在该项目期间形成的成果将纳入各级的宣传和教学活动。这项工作将有助于改进高粘度流体的连续流动混合设备，并为石化产品和粘性生物材料的微流管理、废油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.