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

The high-speed camera will be used to support diverse research projects in the department of mechanical engineering at Queen's University. This high tech piece of equipment is beyond the funding available to any single researcher in the department. Dr. G. Ciccarelli will use the camera to study hydrogen explosion safety related to the future use of hydrogen as the primary energy carrier. The main concern is the accidental release of hydrogen in a confined space like an underground parking garage or tunnel. Ignition of a hydrogen-air mixture in this environment can produce very high overpressures that can cause serious damage to surrounding structures, and most importantly can result in mass casualties. Dr. A. Pollard is studying cavitation of gas, or vapour bubble formation within a liquid, and the dynamics of the surface of bubble and its resulting collapse. Dr. M. Birk is investigating the evaporative water spray cooling in gas turbine exhaust systems for marine applications. The project involves experimentation and computational fluid dynamics of swirling hot gas flows in bent ducts and ejectors with water spray. Experiments will be conducted with large scale high temperature air flows to study the characteristics of the evaporating spray flows. This camera represents the state-of-the-art in digital visualization and will permit quantitative data to be extracted that are not overshadowed by errors. Students who will use the camera and post-process these data will have a significant advantage: the images obtained will be notable, and they will form the backbone to their theses and publications in leading journals in their field.