BRIGE: Experimental Analysis of Vortex Flow in Porous Media

PI：Hassanipour Proposal Number：1227930A大量的天然和人造材料都是含有气孔(空洞)的固体，例如岩石、土壤、生物组织、水泥、陶瓷等。这些多孔介质被用于许多应用科学和工程领域，包括过滤、土力学、石油工程、生物工程等。几十年来，人们一直在深入研究多孔介质的静态特性，但对流体与多孔介质动态相互作用的了解仍然是一个重要的研究领域，可以为医疗保健、环境和其他工程领域的应用带来关键和亟需的改进。这一领域的挑战来自于多孔介质的复杂内部结构，以及流体的高度非线性动力学行为。拟议的活动包括建造一个精心构思的实验装置，以促进涉及(动态)涡流和多孔介质的精确和可重复的实验。关键的困难被解决了，首先是由PI的实验室设计的高精度涡流发生器，该发生器由计算机控制，其软件也是内部开发的。这将允许为流体生成各种速度分布，其精度达到前所未有的水平。其次，将构建一个与流体的光学折射率相匹配的合成多孔介质，从而使其变得透明，并允许通过平面激光诱导荧光来观察和测量流动。所提出的活动的智能优点涉及关于多孔介质中涡流的基本科学问题的研究，即揭示(A)孔隙率、(B)渗透性、(C)流体密度和粘度、(D)注入速度、压力、脉冲持续时间和频率对涡流在多孔介质中的流型分离、聚集和传输现象的影响。这项研究受到初步结果的良好推动，并将利用一种新的独特的实验装置来测量和可视化多孔介质中的涡流。涡流与多孔介质的相互作用及其在多孔介质中的传输是一个可能具有变革潜力的新方向。广泛的影响：这项提议通过促进许多工艺和设备的进步而使社会受益，这些工艺和设备对我们的福祉至关重要，因为它们对医疗保健(生物医学设备)、环境(地下流动)和农业(侵蚀、谷物干燥和调理)等产生了影响。这项研究的结果将通过网络、会议和研讨会广泛传播。这项研究将通过新课程与教育活动相结合，为本科生在其所需的(顶峰)设计项目中提供研究机会，并通过与科林县高科技教育联盟(HI-TECCC)的合作，开展从K-12到12岁的推广活动。拟议的活动包括一项精心制定的扩大参与计划，该计划有两个主要组成部分：一个是针对残疾个人，另一个是针对代表性不足的少数群体和妇女。国际和平协会创造了一个无障碍的实验室环境，并与UTD无障碍办公室合作，为残疾学生提供研究职位。国际学生联合会在招收、留住和毕业女性和少数民族学生方面也有着积极、一致和成功的记录。

PI: HassanipourProposal Number: 1227930A vast number of natural and man-made materials are solids that contain pores (voids), for example rocks, soil, biological tissues, cements, ceramics, etc. These porous media are used in many areas of applied science and engineering including filtration, soil mechanics, petroleum engineering, bioengineering, etc. The static properties of porous media have been studied intensively for many decades, but the understanding of dynamic interactions of fluids with porous media remains an important area of investigation that can yield critical and much-needed improvements to applications in health care, environment, and various other areas of engineering. The challenges in this area arise from the complex internal structure of a porous medium, together with the highly nonlinear dynamic behavior of fluids. The proposed activity involves the construction of a carefully conceived experimental apparatus that facilitates precise and repeatable experiments involving (dynamic) vortex flows and porous media. Key difficulties are addressed, firstly by a high-precision vortex generator devised in the PI's lab that is controlled by a computer, whose software is also developed in-house. This will allow the generation of a variety of velocity profiles for the fluid to an unprecedented level of precision. Secondly, a synthetic porous medium will be constructed whose optical refractive index is matched to the fluid, thus making it transparent and allowing observation and measurement of the flow by planar laser-induced fluorescence.Intellectual Merits of the proposed activity involves the investigation of fundamental scientific questions regarding vortex flows in porous media, namely uncovering the effect of (a) porosity, (b) permeability, (c) fluid density and viscosity, (d) injection velocity, pressure, pulse duration, and frequency on the behavior of fluid pattern separation, accumulation, and transport phenomena of vortex flow within the porous medium. This research is well motivated by preliminary results and will be conducted with a new and unique experimental setup for measurements and visualization of vortex flows in porous media. The interaction of vortex flows with porous media and their transport through porous media is a new direction that can potentially be transformative.Broader Impacts: This proposal benefits the society by contributions to the advancement of many processes and devices that are critically important to our well being due to their effect on healthcare (biomedical devices), the environment (underground flows), and agriculture (erosion, grain drying and conditioning), among others. The results of this research will be widely disseminated through the web, via conferences,as well as seminars. This research will be integrated with educational activities via new courses, by providing research opportunities for undergraduates in their required (capstone) design projects, as well as K-12 outreach via collaboration with HI-TECCC (High-Technology Education Coalition of Collin County). The proposed activity includes a carefully crafted broadening participation plan that has two main components: one targeting individuals with disability, and the other targeting under-represented minorities and women. The PI has created an accessible lab environment and has collaboration with UTD Office of Accessibility to make research positions available to disabled students. The PI also has an active, consistent, and successful track record in recruiting, retaining, and graduating female and minority students.