George M. Homsy - US grants

This Academic Research Facilities Modernization Program (ARFMP) award from the Research Facilities Office provides funds to Stanford University for the renovation and repair of the Stauffer building complex which houses a portion of the research and research training activities in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. This building was constructed in 1961 and last renovated in 1989. The ARFMP grant of $1,500,000 and $4,375,000 provided by the grantee as cost sharing will be used to modernize these research and research training facilities so as to meet the significant new demands placed on them by research in these fields and the requirements for the safe practice of that research. This project will address the need to improve the current research infrastructure by systematically upgrading major building systems and by selectively renovating individual laboratories to conform to recent building and fire codes. Top priority will be given to the renovation of the intake/exhaust systems including the replacement of all existing fume hoods for safety, economic, and research quality considerations. This award contributes to the infrastructure of science and engineering by providing an improved environment for the conduct of research and for the training of quality undergraduate and graduate students. This project will enable two leading research and research training departments to continue to provide not only an outstanding environment but one with an increased capacity for training the excellent students it attracts. Students trained in these laboratories are in demand in both basic and applied research fields.

The IUTAM symposium on The Mechanics of Fluidized Beds will be organized by Drs. G. M. Homsy and G. K. Batchelor at Stanford University in July 1-5, 1991. The topics of the meeting will be the mechanics of suspensions, fluidized beds, granular media, and fluid-particle systems in general. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for engineers, applied mathematician, and applied scientists to meet and discuss the advances in understanding two-phase fluid-particle systems, as well as to identify unsolved problems and future trends. About 50 participants are expected to attend. There will be six invited lectures. The proposed symposium will provide a forum to evaluate the present research on fluidizing fluid-particle systems and discuss future trends. The meeting will bring together several of the best researches in the field from USA, Canada and Europe.

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. George Homsy, Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University and Dr. Elisabeth Guazelli, Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles, Paris, France. The objective of the project is to investigate the hydrodynamics of fluid particle systems. The investigators will study hydrodynamic effects in suspensions and fluidized beds. The behavior of such dispersed multiphase systems is important in a number of fields of science and technology. These include applications in handling and processing materials such as: 1) composites and emulsions, 2) chemical processing of fluids, as in fluidized bed reactors, 3) environmental fluid mechanics, such as sediment and nutrient transport in natural flows and 4) separation technologies, such as flotation, sedimentation and clarification. Despite intensive study of these fields over the last several decades, there are many fundamental aspects of the mechanical behavior of such systems that remain poorly understood, in particular, the interactions between the particles making up the dispersed phase. In this project, the investigators propose to carry out: 1) theoretical and numerical studies of hydrodynamic interactions between particles in suspension, and 2) experimental studies of the behavior of sedimenting suspen- sions, fluidized beds, and so-called "ferro fluids", i.e. suspensions of magnetic Brownian particles. The primary focus of the French group will be the experimental studies, while that of the US will be theoretical and numerical modeling. The project will benefit from the availability of special NMR facilities for flow visualization in the French laboratory.

We propose the conception, development, production, evaluation and dissemination of a series of interactive modules for the teaching and learning of fluid mechanics for undergraduates in science and engineering. The modules focus on fundamentals and will have impact across the curricula of Chemical, Mechanical, Petroleum, Aeronautical, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oceanography, Meteorology, Geophysics, Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics. The primary objectives are to enhance student learning in the areas of (i) problem solving, (ii) intuition about complex flow phenomena, and (iii) retention of knowledge. These objectives will be met by providing experimental visualizations and computational simulations of fluid flow phenomena in an interactive medium, including student exercises and problems to be solved based on the material in the module. Three modules will be produced, with emphasis on Basic Concepts I & II, and Boundary Layer Phenomena. The modules will be developed, tested, evaluated and refined over a one year period, resulting in a final CD-ROM version. The final version will be disseminated through a commercial publishing house such as John Wiley and Sons. The project represents a national effort centered at MIT, Stanford University, and the University of Illinois, and involving researchers and educators drawn from the community at large. The organization consists of a working group of seven investigatorts, including undergraduate teachers of fluid mechanics, writers of successful textbooks, and researchers with specific expertise. The evaluation will involve both formative and summative components, and be conducted using graduate students from the Stanford School of Education.

Engineering - Other (59)


In this project we are developing, producing, evaluating and disseminating a series of interactive modules for the teaching and learning of fluid mechanics for undergraduates in science and engineering. The modules focus on fundamentals and have impact across the curricula of Chemical, Mechanical, Petroleum, Aeronautical, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oceanography, Meteorology, Geophysics, Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics. The primary objectives are to enhance student learning in the areas of (i) problem solving, (ii) intuition about complex flow phenomena, and (iii) retention of knowledge. These objectives are met by providing experimental visualizations and computational simulations of fluid flow phenomena in an interactive medium. An extensive set of experimental and computational facilities has been used to produce videos, simulations, and applications programs to demonstrate fluid phenomena.

The format, navigation, and multimedia environment closely resembles that used in our previous NSF/DUE-sponsored project, Multi-Media Fluid Mechanics (MMFM I), recently published by Cambridge University Press, but takes advantage of new technologies in programming environments, data compression, digitization, and applications software. In the current project (MMFM II) we are producing modules on the topics of Control Volume Balances, Similarity and Scaling, Interfacial Flows and Phenomena, and Turbulence.

Abstract
CTS-0112117
E. Meiburg, Et. Al, University of California Santa Barbara


The PI together with his two colleagues at Santa Barbara request funding to purchase a mid-range parallel computer dedicated for the large scale simulations of fluid dynamics of complex liquids. The specific research areas are (1) the fluid dynamics of highly nonideal mixtures of chemical species, (2) the flow of complex fluids with microstructures, including polymer liquid crystals and suspensions, and (3) high Reynolds number flows of dilute polymers.

This IGERT program is structured to provide a unique Ph.D. program in interdisciplinary research and education in Computational Science and Engineering (CSE). The vision is to educate students for whom working in interdisciplinary teams is the norm, and who have the ability to acquire knowledge, ways of thinking, and perspectives from other disciplines. The proposed IGERT PhD experience is different from one in a traditional discipline, and possibly unique among CSE programs in the USA. The IGERT PhD theses will be jointly supervised, and those students with a particular disciplinary orientation will share resources, knowledge, and approaches with IGERT students with other orientations. While a typical IGERT PhD thesis will still have a strong focus in a discipline, it will contain major elements of independent creative work in other disciplines relevant to the general problem area under study. IGERT students and faculty will work together in three Focus Groups: Microscale Engineering, Complex Fluids, and Computational Materials Science, to solve a wide range of important and timely problems that depend deeply on integration of information from the smaller scales to the larger scales. These multiscale problems require a strong foundation in both engineering and the mathematical and computational sciences. The curriculum ensures depth in one area and a significant exposure to high level courses in one or more ancillary areas. It includes new courses in atomic-scale computer simulation, and computing for high performance, to specifically address the multiscale nature of the Focus Group problems and their computational requirements. An internship is required to broaden and reinforce the interdisciplinary research experience, and a required series of workshops and seminars will give IGERT students a significant exposure to important aspects of career development and ethics.

IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF.

ABSTRACT


PROPOSAL NO.: CTS-0245396, CTS-0244676
PROPOSAL TYPE: INVESTIGATOR INITIATED (COLLABORATIVE)
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: GEORGE M. HOMSY, VLADIMIR S. AJAEV
INSTITUTION: U.C. SANTA BARBARA, SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FUNDAMENTAL STUDIES OF VAPOR-LIQUID INTERFACES WITH PHASE CHANGE IN MICRODEVICES
The proposal addresses fundamental issues of fluid mechanics and heat transport in evaporation and condensation at vapor-liquid interfaces in constrained geometries. Combined theoretical/computational and experimental studies of a range of phenomena are proposed which will allow insight into the underlying mechanisms common to many different applications such as micro heat pipes, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and optical switches. This is a collaboration between engineering scientists at UCSB and applied mathematicians at SMU. Two closely related sets of problems are addressed. The first involves studies of three-dimensional steady interfacial configurations in complex geometries in which evaporation is balanced by condensation in the colder regions. Challenges here include solving nonlinear free-boundary problems where fluid flow and heat transfer are coupled together. Experiments in which simultaneous measurements of heat flux, temperature distributions, and vapor bubble configurations will be conducted. The second set of problems to be addressed involves unsteady motion of constrained interfaces. The proposed research has broad technological impact. This includes improvements in the design of heat pipes for effective cooling of electronic components, and underpinnings for the development of a new type of an optical switching device, which can lead to a dramatic increase in the speed of communication networks. The project will promote learning through research and interdisciplinary scientific collaborations. Graduate students will gain valuable research experience and expand their knowledge beyond their field of study by interacting with both PIs and with students of different backgrounds and perspectives. Outreach is provided to high school students during the summer months as part of the organized UCSB program for prospective engineering and science majors. To further increase the educational value of the project, the results will be incorporated into an educational module as part of Volume 2 of Multimedia Fluid Mechanics, educational software.

This project is being funded by the Fluid Dynamics and Hydraulics, Interfacial Transport and Thermodynamics and Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Programs in the Division of Chemical and Transport Systems.

Travel Support for IUTAM Symposium on Interactions for Dispersed Systems in Newtonian and Viscoelastic Flows

This grant will facilitate the participation of US scientists in the International Union for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) Symposium on "Interactions for Dispersed Systems in Newtonian and Viscoelastic Fluids" to be held in Guanajuato, Mexico March 26-30, 2006. The main aims of the Symposium are to survey the state of the art in focused areas of dispersed systems and to provide an opportunity for significant interchange between the growing Mexican fluid mechanics community and international researchers. The Symposium will bring together leading experts in the areas of rheology, complex fluids, and finite concentration effects. The general theme of the Symposium is built around the basic mechanics of dispersed phases systems, including drops, bubbles and particles. Such systems are of importance in a variety of technologies, ranging from very large scale processing, such as crude oil conveying and emulsion technology for waste disposal, to the relatively new areas of MEMS and microfluidics important in sophisticated high-technologies such as processing of biological materials, coatings for high-fidelity information storage applications, and the engineering of new, complex fluids with prescribed and desirable properties. The symposium has strong international representation. NSF funds will be used to facilitate participation in the Symposium by researchers from the US in the form of partial travel support. Junior researchers will have the highest priority. The results will be broadly disseminated in the form of a special issue of the Physics of Fluids. This issue will contain both an authoritative report on the entire meeting and selected papers from the meeting.