Innovating Multiphase Flows for Engineering Applications

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The proposed program follows two streams of research effort in applied fluid mechanics in multiphase flow: one in gas (bubbly) jets in a liquid crossflow, and one liquid jets in a gaseous environment (spray). This work has been part of an evolution of bringing my expertise in fundamental fluid dynamics of jets to applications of commercial and industrial importance in the engineering industry. The two projects are natural progress of my previous work and follow the current scientific need for developments in these areas.  ******The first project will employ a 12.7mm square channel with clear side walls and a multiplicity of gas injection ports on the side walls to perform visualization and velocity measurements of liquid crossflows with gas injection. The variable injection ports will provide an opportunity to understand this rich fundamental flow, which has significant applications to industry applications involving mixing of two phase flows outside the realm of equilibrium understanding traditionally predicted with well known flow regime maps. The work will be devoted to the development of detailed scaling laws for these flows to allow for the application of findings to large geometries with different fluids.*******The second project will carry my success in flashing atomization research in continuous feed nozzles to use in Diesel fuel injectors. The first step will be to perform droplet size and velocity measurements using boiling water, then switch to a system with boiling propane. After this, real Diesel fuel and propane will be mixed and atomized to prepare for the testing in IC (internal combustion) engines.  The purpose of this work is to find novel atomization strategies which can reliably generate small fuel droplets for a wide range of fuel mixtures. This could lead to the development of new multi-fuel engine applications and lower pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions.******The work will be experimental in nature, will rely heavily on fluid dynamics experimental apparatus already in my possession at the University of Alberta and will employ measurement systems primarily reliant on high speed photography and laser diagnostic tools. The majority of the budget will be toward the continuous funding of two graduate students, with at all times one student working on each of the research thrusts.