Career: Understanding Radiative Transport in Flowing and Reactive Participating Media with Integrated Models and Measurements

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).From sunrise and sunset hues in the sky, to solar cells, to night vision cameras, energy transported as radiation is pervasive around us. Predicting and controlling thermal radiation interactions with matter is crucial for the success of thermal and solar reactor technologies. However, evaluation of radiative transport in dynamic systems with flowing and reactive particles is a fundamental challenge in the thermal sciences community. Challenges in model development stem from the necessity to track interactions of radiation with ensembles of particles that are continually evolving. Flow can affect spatial distributions of particles, and chemical reactions can influence size, shape, and particle concentration, and material properties. Experimentally, isolating underlying dependencies of measured outcomes due to compounded physical effects also poses complexities. The overarching vision of this project is to establish a more holistic understanding of this flow-radiation-reaction coupling using computational modeling with complementary measurements. An integrated education and outreach plan has been developed, in partnership with the University of Michigan Museum, aimed at increasing literacy and excitement for solar energy technologies, especially amongst women and underrepresented middle- and high-school students in Michigan. This will be accomplished through training in scientific communication for graduate students, community outreach with interactive demonstrations, and curriculum development for middle schoolers. The main research goal is to advance the fundamental and mechanistic understanding of radiative transport in flowing and reactive particles with applications to high-temperature thermal systems, and thermochemical and photocatalytic reactors for fuels production. The approach is to perform direct numerical simulations of radiation using probabilistic and deterministic techniques for selected materials, flow configurations and reacting systems. These rigorous, yet computationally intensive models will be connected to more tractable data-driven models and experimental measurements to deduce generalized radiative- and heat-transfer correlations. New experimental techniques are developed to measure particle temperatures, while in motion, using high-speed thermal imaging and fiber-optic pyrometry. Measurements will be used to establish new knowledge on how ensembles of particles can be functionalized to achieve improved radiative and overall energy transport. In addition to developing powerful computational analyses and experimental diagnostic tools, a deep level of understanding will be cultivated by mapping the influence of several key dimensionless parameters on a system’s heat-transfer performance, energy conversion efficiencies and the rates of fuel production. By establishing this currently missing link, the project will help fast-track materials development and inform design and operation for a host of energy systems to boost their overall performance.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.