Turbulent combustion and microfluidics

拟议的研究旨在两个领域取得进展：池火和微流体。 与易燃液体意外点燃相关的潜在安全问题（例如，例如汽油的燃料、例如丙酮的溶剂和所有类型的食用油）使池火工作感兴趣。 这些液体是高度浓缩的化学能形式，燃烧时会造成相当大的危险。 拟议的研究探讨了空气流过游泳池表面的影响（例如，风）。 以前的大多数研究都是在完全平静的环境空气中进行的，而初步的工作表明，即使是很小的空气速度也会深刻影响燃烧速率。 其目标是更好地了解这些类型的池火灾在很大范围内的大小，并为工程师提供模型来预测池火灾行为。 微流体工作是感兴趣的，因为它与多孔膜过滤和小规模系统的开发有关，特别是允许将能量从流动液体直接转换为电力的设备。 该研究特别考虑了有限长度的通道，因此重点关注通道入口和出口处的流动以及从系统中提取功率的电极。 这项工作将融合我们的目标，进一步了解这些有限的系统和最大限度地提高能源转换效率的实用性。

The proposed research is directed at making advancements in two fields: pool fires and microfluidics.   Potential safety concerns associated with the accidental ignition of flammable liquid (e.g., fuels such as gasoline, solvents such as acetone, and cooking oils of all types) that surround us make the pool fire work of interest.  These liquids are highly concentrated forms of chemical energy and pose considerable hazard when burning.  The proposed research explores the effects of an air flow across the pool surface (e.g., wind).  Most previous research was done on the pathological case of perfectly calm ambient air, while preliminary work shows that even small air speeds can profoundly affect the burning rate.  The goal is to better understand these kinds of pool fires over a wide range of sizes, and to provide engineers with models to predict pool fire behavior.   The microfluidics work is of interest due to its relation to porous membrane filtration and the development of small scale systems, in particular, devices that allow the direct conversion of the energy from a flowing liquid to electricity.  The research specifically considers channels of finite length, and so focus is on the flows at the inlets and outlets of the channels and the electrodes that extract the power from the system.  The work will blend the goals of furthering our basic understanding of these finite systems and the practicalities of maximizing energy conversion efficiencies.