Support of IUTAM Symposium "Recent Advances in Multiphase Flows: Numerical & Experimental"

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Andreas Acrivos CTS - 0613149 CUNY City College The flow of multiphase materials, such as suspensions of solid particles, drops & bubbles in liquids, is encountered frequently in a variety of industrial processes as well as in nature, hence the subject has received a considerable degree of attention from both the fundamental & practical points of view. Yet, compared to the more traditional area of single-phase fluid mechanics, the research activity in multiphase fluid dynamics has not been on a scale commensurate with the importance and complexity of the field. For example, although it is well known that the dynamics of single -phase materials can be accurately described by means of the Navier-Stokes equations, which at present can be solved using a variety of analytical or numerical techniques, a corresponding set of fundamental equations for multiphase materials is currently unavailable except for special cases. Similarly, there is a dearth of experimental methods able to capture the detailed structure of multiphase flows compared to those currently available for their single-phase counterparts. It the purpose of this Symposium to try and remedy this situation by bringing together some of the key researchers in a subset of this broad field and, through active discussions & interchange of ideas, lay the foundations for organizing a concerted effort to attack some of the major issues which need to be resolved. The Symposium is entitled "Recent Advances in Multiphase Flows: Numerical & Experimental" and will take place 11 14 June 2007, in Istanbul, Turkey. The meeting is under the auspices of the International Union on Theoretical & Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) and is co-sponsored by the Istanbul Technical University. IUTAM, in existence for the better part of a century, is a well-known international organization. It organizes the IUTAM Congresses every 4 years and sponsors about a dozen or so Symposia every year all dedicated to the advancement of mechanics. This particular Symposium is organized by the Principal Investigator, together with Professor Can Delale (Istanbul Technical University), plus a 6 member international scientific committee. This proposal seeks partial support from the National Science Foundation in order to facilitate the attendance of several American students and other researchers who would otherwise not be able to attend. The meeting will bring together a small but select group of researchers active in the fundamentals of multiphase fluid dynamics especially as concerns the development of: (a) fundamental basic equations for describing such systems; (b) general purpose numerical techniques for solving such equations; and (c) novel experimental methods for measuring the detailed structure of such flows and thereby testing the model predictions. Potential applications include micro- and nanosystems involving particulate and other multiphase flows, suspension flows, mixing, drop break-up & coalescence, combustion, electric and magnetic field driven phenomena, etc. The number of attendees will be capped at 70-75 to maintain a workshop atmosphere where future research directions in the subject field will be identified for the benefit of the community in general and the National Science Foundation in particular. There will be no parallel sessions, but there will be plenty of opportunities for fruitful discussions. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity lies in bringing together 3 communities in this field who seldom interact with one another, viz. those involved with: (a) developing rational fundamental equations for modeling multiphase flows; (b) those developing simulation techniques for solving these equations; and (c) those developing novel experimental tools for testing in detail the theoretical predictions.