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Dilute suspensions of non-spherical particles in fluid flow

Academic lead
Dr David Harbottle, School of Chemical & Process Engineering
Industrial lead
Geoff Randall, Sellafield
Co-supervisor(s)
Prof Mike Fairweather, School of Chemical & Process Engineering, Prof Jeff Peakall, School of Earth & Environment
Project themes
Particulate flows, sediments & rheology

Non-spherical particles in fluid flows are encountered in both natural and industrial environments.

The relevance of non-spherical particles to the flow properties of complex fluids has often been overlooked with preference frequently given to the orientationally simpler spherical particles. The experimental programme will study the fluid dynamics of non-spherical particles (cubes, rods and needles) in pipe flow. Particle transport properties which include: i) concentration profile, ii) deposition velocity and iii) resuspension velocity will be measured using acoustic techniques developed within the schools (SCaPE and SoEE). In addition, particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) will be used to measure the turbulence characteristics of water flows containing non-spherical particles. Phase discrimination between the continuous and dispersed phases will be achieved through the use of laser-induced fluorescing dispersed-phase particles coupled with an appropriate camera filter. These particles will be synthesized in-house using already developed crystallisation protocols and designed to fluoresce at a different wavelength to the tracer particles used to measure the fluid phase.