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

Funds are requested to purchase components needed to set up a high speed imaging facility with stereoscopic (3D) capability. This system will be used by diverse research groups within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Existing facilities for high speed imaging at this university and its vicinity do not meet the frame capturing speeds required by the applicants for their research. The 3D system is necessary as the applicants all study rapid, out-of-plane events. Dr. Bindiganavile's group will use this system to study crack growth and arrest under impact loading. This will help in developing protective technologies that requires an accurate prediction of shock absorbing mechanisms in lightweight cement-based composites. In addition, this system will be used by the group to study fiber kinematics to understand rebound mechanisms and optimize fiber geometries for sprayed concrete and fiber reinforced polymers. This will improve techniques for strengthening and repair of existing infrastructure. Dr. Loewen's group will use this equipment to study the rapidly evolving three-dimensional flows generated beneath breaking waves.  The high speed stereoscopic images will provide velocity field measurements at a rate of 500 Hz, over 30 times faster than the current system.  This fast rate will produce valuable new insights into the dynamics of this complex flow. It will thus improve the accuracy of global climate models. Dr. Tannant's group will use this equipment to study rock fracture under blast conditions in mines. This equipment will support the research proposed in three ongoing NSERC Discovery Grants and therefore full-time utilization of this stereoscopic high speed imaging facility is assured in the foreseeable future. In the next five years, a minimum of 10 graduate students will use this equipment to conduct research at the forefront of a variety of important problems.