Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Sometimes a physical process occurs so rapidly that our eye and conventional video cameras (even previous generation high-speed video cameras) cannot see it. Rapid advances over the past decade in ultrahigh-speed imaging now permit cameras to be sold commercially that can record image frames at speeds of 10,000 - 1,000,000 frames per second. These so-called ultrahigh-speed imaging cameras now permit scientists and engineers to investigate and better understand rapid phenomena. This NSERC RTI proposal aims to enhance the discovery, innovation and training capability of four world class laboratories at Queen's University by supporting the purchase of an ultrahigh-speed camera urgently needed by their graduate student researchers to investigate the mechanics of high-speed phenomena in their respective fields of research including, rapid landslides, tsunamis generated by an impact event, pre-failure fracture development and post yield energy release in rock, and the development of superhydrophobic surfaces. This camera will permit world-class training as the student researchers in these labs use the image frames and advanced image analysis techniques to: -unlock the mystery of why some landslides travel much faster and further than others to protect human life and infrastructure, -obtain the data needed to develop predictive models to estimate the maximum size and travel distance of the highly destructive waves generated by a landslide plunging into a lake or hydroelectric reservoir, -gain improved fundamental understanding of the process of fracture in brittle rocks to provide guidance on the zone of damaged rock to be expected in deep nuclear waste storage facilities during construction and to understand the energy release mechanisms during rockbursting in deep tunnels, and -develop new highly water repelling coatings for a vast number of applications such as windscreens and aeronautical components. These applications will push forward our fundamental understanding of these high-speed phenomena, and will have tangible benefits for the Canadian economy in terms of the knowledge and products produced, the development of world-class expertise in the student trainees making them highly sought after by the Canadian consulting services industry, and the management of geohazard risks in Canada.