Heterogenous Porous Media Simulations

I-Corps项目的广泛影响/商业潜力支持更快的工业过滤器设计周期，以满足日益增长的需求。这一需求源于世界工业的加速发展，通过使用过滤系统，导致对清洁空气和水的需求增加。工业排放导致大量污染物和颗粒物排放到大气中，这可能会给人类社会带来潜在的健康问题。此外，水资源正以惊人的速度变得稀缺，这就要求以更有效的方式提供非传统来源的清洁水，包括海水和循环水。这项即将商业化的技术使用了一种名为计算流体动力学(CFD)的数学技术，允许工程师在生产之前通过计算模型分析过滤器的效率。此外，使用这项技术允许在产品开发周期内进行更多的设计迭代，从而产生更好的最终产品。这项技术的成功商业化将导致过滤器设计的显著改进，生产成本的降低，以及更清洁的空气和水。这个i-Corps项目旨在探索针对过滤行业实施CFD软件包的潜在市场。大量的正式培训、对CFD概念的深入理解、繁琐的设置程序和漫长的计算运行时间都是在行业内实施CFD技术的负担。这些复杂性限制了该关键组件在产品开发周期中的使用。正在考虑商业化的技术是一种新的算法，它有助于实现CFD研究。所提出的技术将导致更短、更容易的计算模型的建立和更快的计算时间来获得结果。在收到初始设计数据后，软件会自动分析所需的性能标准。然后，工程团队使用输出数据来改进产品并实现更高的性能。这项技术是广泛的研发工作的结果，包括算法和初始软件开发，以及用于验证目的的广泛的实验室实验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project supports a faster design cycle of industrial filters to meet an ever-growing demand. This demand stems from an accelerated industrial development in the world, leading to an increased need for clean air and water through the use of filtration systems. Industrial emissions have led to the release of significant amounts of pollutants and particles into the atmosphere which can lead to potential health problems in human societies. Additionally, water resources are becoming scarce at an alarming rate which calls for more effective ways of providing clean water from non-traditional sources including sea water and recycled water. The technology to be commercialized uses a mathematical technique called computational fluid dynamics (CFD) that allows engineers to analyze the efficiency of filters with a computational model before production. Additionally, using this technology allows for more design iterations within the product development cycle leading to a better final product. Successful commercialization of this technology will lead to significant improvements in filter design, a reduction in production costs and cleaner air and water. This I-Corps project aims at exploring the potential market for implementing a CFD software package targeted at the filtration industry. Significant formal training, the need for having a deep understanding of the CFD concepts, cumbersome setup procedures, and lengthy computational runtime are among the burdens of implementing a CFD technique within the industry. These complexities limit the use of this critical component in the product development cycle. The technology being considered for commercialization is a novel algorithm which facilitates the implementation of a CFD study. The proposed technique will lead to shorter, easier setup of the computational model and faster computational runtime to obtain results. After receiving the initial design data, the software automatically analyzes the desired performance criteria. The output data are then used by the engineering team to improve the product and achieve higher performances. The technology is a result of extensive R&D work including algorithm and initial software development, and extensive laboratory experimentation for validation purposes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.