Numerical and physical modelling and characterization of nanofluids and fibrous medium flow

拟议的研究计划涉及三个不同的领域，这三个领域在涉及要应用的基本原则和方法方面彼此密切相关。每个领域的目标是：i)进一步开发和实验验证一种改进的数值工具，以研究液态复合材料的成型工艺，以制造聚合物基复合材料的网状零件，这是一种新的空间时代材料。在这项研究结束时，预计将更好地了解介入现象，这将导致改进部件，为设计者提供有关性能的增强信息，如渗透性和曲折性，从而消除不确定性和随之而来的“反复试验”；ii)从实验和数值上研究控制和操纵纳米流体的可能性；ii)控制和操纵纳米流体--具有分散纳米颗粒的“基础”流体。将要使用的纳米颗粒是“掺杂”的多壁碳管。如果这项研究成功，将在包括微制造、动态控制和增强材料性能在内的广泛工艺中带来独特的机会。在宏观上，可以设想在液体复合过程中使用纳米流体，使用聚合物作为“基础”流体，使用碳纳米管作为纳米颗粒；以及iii)研究微观流动，包括纳米颗粒在模拟患病动脉粥样硬化的生物芯片周围的沉积。生物芯片的设计将考虑到细胞培养、生物纳米技术、医学信息学和微观可视化技术的最新发现，其主要重点将是血细胞在动脉粥样硬化病变的发病机制中所起的作用。流体动力学结果有望阐明健康动脉壁和病变动脉壁之间的流动模式差异，从而有助于加强目前可用的诊断策略和工具。除上述好处外，拟议方案的主要优势是在国家和国际一级提供高水平的跨学科科学合作，并提供良好的成果传播渠道，同时促进高素质人员的培训。

The proposed research program addresses three different areas, which are closely related to each other in what concerns the fundamental principles and methodologies to be applied. The objectives for each area are: i) to further develop and experimentally verify a refined numerical tool to investigate liquid composite molding processes to manufacture net-shape parts of polymer matrix composites, which are new space-age materials. At the end of this research, better understanding of the intervening phenomena is expected, which will lead to improved parts by contributing enhanced information concerning properties, such as permeability and tortuosity, to designers removing uncertainty and consequent "trial-and-error"; ii) to investigate experimentally and numerically the possibility of controlling and steering a nanofluid - a "base" fluid with dispersed nanoparticles. The nanoparticles to be used are "doped" multi-walled carbon tubes. This research, if successful, will lead to unique opportunities in a wide range of processes including microfabrication, dynamic control and enhanced material properties. At a macroscale, it can be envisioned the use of nanofluids using polymers as the "base" fluid and carbon nanotubes as the nanoparticles in the liquid composite processes; and iii) to study the microflows including the deposition of nanoparticles around a biochip that emulates the atherosclerosis of a diseased artery. The biochip will be designed to take into account the most recent findings in cell culture, bio-nanotechnology, medical informatics and micro-visualization technology, and its primary focus will be on the role played by blood cells in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic lesions. The fluid dynamics results are expected to elucidate about the difference in flow patterns between healthy and diseased artery wall, helping in this way the enhancement of currently available diagnostic strategies and tools. The proposed program, in addition to the benefits just described, has the major advantage of providing for high caliber inter-disciplinary scientific collaboration at national and international levels, and excellent channels of dissemination of results, while facilitating the training of highly qualified personnel.