Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

<p>Experimental measurements are traditionally carried out in one or two spatial dimensions although the majority of physical mechanisms are inherently three-dimensional. Measurement techniques may also lack the required acquisition frequency to capture the temporal evolution of the phenomenon. The limited access to the spatio-temporal evolution of physical mechanisms has been gradually elevated in the last decade by the advances in image-based diagnostics and computing resources. This RTI application requests support for three new high-speed cameras to form state-of-the-art four-camera high-speed tomographic and three-dimensional imaging systems. The requested equipment will supplement the currently available resources including PI's high-repetition laser, a high-speed synchronization device, tomographic image processing software, and the fourth camera provided by one of the co-applicants. The equipment can be configured into different measurement systems including high-speed tomographic particle image velocimetry (tomo-PIV), three-dimensional particle tracking velocimetry (3D-PTV), and three-dimensional imaging. The proposed equipment will become the cornerstone of five research programs in both fluid and solid mechanics disciplines across the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Alberta. The research programs include (1) particle transport in slurry pipelines, (2) interaction of bitumen droplets in turbulent flows, (3) transport and mixing of gases in the airways of the human respiratory tract, (4) ultrafast dynamics of droplet impact on superhydrophobic surfaces, (5) in-situ visualization of the dynamic failure of materials. </p>