Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Funds are requested for purchasing a high speed camera to permit the visualization of reactive hydrodynamics in combustion experiments of reactive gases. The high speed camera will be used to monitor explosion waves, shock propagation, deflagrations, jets and detonation waves with a sufficient time resolution to clarify the complex dynamics involved. The improved understanding of explosion phenomena may permit certain types of explosions to be mitigated or eliminated altogether. The outcomes of the present research will thus have a direct bearing on the current knowledge of explosion safety. The high speed camera will also be used to characterize the reactivity of newly developed nano-engineered energetic materials by permitting to directly measure the deflagration wave propagation in the material. The manufacture of these energetic materials via pulsed gasdynamic powder sprays and steady supersonic jets will also be investigated using this high speed camera for control and improvement of the spray consolidation process. The high speed camera will be the essential component in experiments aimed to monitor material deformation dynamics under strong tensile loadings by obtaining two-dimensional strain maps. This is particularly important for materials deforming heterogeneously such as some aluminum alloys, and to understand the dynamics leading to material fracture. The high speed camera will also be used in particle-laden micro-fluidic applications, where, owing to the small scales involved, rapid visualization is required to capture the dynamics. The camera will be an essential component in research on the rheological nature of blood and its behaviour in complex geometries. The research will investigate how the blood flow depends on the architecture of the network under normal or pathological conditions. For example, the research will track air bubbles and artificial capsules carrying medication through the microcirculation network.