Tomographic: PIV System for Advanced Flow Diagnostics
Abstract
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, under authority of 10 U.S.C. ยค 2362 and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OASD(R&E)), allocated $28 million to assist Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) with equipment and instrumentation enhancements to improve their research and education capabilities in scientific disciplines important to the defense mission. The program aims enhance the capacity of HBCU/MI to participate broadly in defense research programs and activities and to increase the number of graduates, including underrepresented minorities, in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Funds are requested for the acquisition of a Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry (Tomo-PIV) system which will be a shared resource among UTRGV departments of mechanical engineering, civil engineering, physics & geology, and the school of medicine. The requested instrumentation will enable robust volumetric flow measurements of turbulent flows which are inherently three-dimensional in nature thus adding new research capabilities in advanced flow field diagnostics for UTRGV. Unsteady turbulent flows over surfaces where the mean flow is time-dependent occur in various engineering applications such as surfaces of turbine blades, reciprocating engine cylinder flow, pulsed detonation engines, flow over flapping wings, flow over airfoil surfaces under gusty conditions, flow in underwater propulsors, and most biological flows such as airflow in the human lungs and blood flows in large arteries. Although much work on understanding turbulent flows has been carried out in the last few decades, there still remain numerous outstanding issues and many open questions regarding even the most basic physical mechanisms, especially in unsteady turbulent flows where the mean flow is time-dependent. Flows with three-dimensional boundary layers and unsteady vortex shedding, flows in which turbulence does not have time to reach equilibrium with the time-averaged flow haven t been understood completely. In an effort to understand such complicated fluid dynamical systems, the PI proposes the acquisition of the Tomo-PIV system to experimentally study various flow fields dominated by unsteady wall bounded turbulent flows, and develop low-dimensional dynamical models representative of these intricate fluid dynamical systems. The experimental data and its interpretation thereof enabled by the acquisition of the proposed Tomo-PIV system will provide a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of turbulence generation in unsteady wall bounded turbulent flows, the mechanisms of interaction between dominant flow structures, and provide deeper insight into the engineering implications in devices that encounter such flows. The research enabled through the acquisition of the proposed Tomo-PIV system will help the PI to encourage middle and high school students in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, a predominantly Hispanic community, to pursue careers in STEM fields by engaging them in various hands-on projects, and increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students in UTRGV to pursue graduate careers and PhD s in tier-1 institutions. The undergraduate students will have intense involvement in the activities of the projects undertaken through the acquisition of the proposed instrumentation. Undergraduate students from the various UTRGV departments will be engaged in coursework taught by the PI and projects related to the Tomo-PIV system. The PIV system will serve as a tool for active learning and training for the students especially in the measurements & instrumentation course (normal enrollment of about 110 students per year) as it will enable them to learn the state-of-the-art non-intrusive fluid flow measurement techniques. A laboratory experiment related to PIV measurements will be added to the course laborat
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1610488
Entities
People
- Isaac Choutapalli
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of Texas Rio Grande Valley