Our current research effort centers on the application of image processing and analysis to a number of important chemical engineering problems. These PhD and Post-Doc research efforts are described in detail in Current Research on Mixing.

Closely associated with the mixing research is the effect of turbulent mixing on complex chemical reactions. This work involves a study of the effect of turbulent motion and mixing on the selectivity of complex reactions. Such studies are important for new studies on improved dynamic chemical reactors for reduced emissions.

Additional topic can be considered, but are secondary to the above effort. These involve:

The imaging facility has been used for the mixing that can cause cell destruction in biochemical applications. It has also been applied to research on coherent structures in turbulent shear flows, and on mixing in both fluid and solid-liquid systems.

The coherent structure, turbulence research is directed toward establishing the basic mechanisms involved in flow transport. The concept of turbulence has changed drastically in the last few years. Instead of a random process, turbulence is known to involve a sequence of coherent events that follow in a logical order. There is still a random nature to the problem that needs further description for modeling purposes. The goal is to establish the actual flow so that realistic models of these complex processes can be made.

You can find more details about some of the current research projects by using the research section, that is a part of the Fluids Group Home Page (see link on the left).