U.S. - Japan Seminar on Two-Phase Flow Dynamics, June 6-12, 2012, Tokyo, Japan

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Masahiro Kawaji, City College of New York Proposal Number: CBET-1155673 Project Summary The proposed U.S.-Japan Seminar on Two-Phase Flow Dynamics will bring together young researchers and well established researchers from the two countries in the area of two-phase flow and heat transfer research. Multiphase flow and associated heat transfer occur in a wide variety of industrial processes and are of critical importance in energy generation and conversion systems, chemical reactors, oil recovery and refining systems, and nuclear reactor systems, among others. They are also important subjects to study in many engineering disciplines such as mechanical, chemical, petroleum, nuclear, aerospace, electrical, and environmental. Objective: The key objective of the seminars is to provide an opportunity for the participants to carry out in-depth discussions on the state of the art of the field, current challenges, and future directions for research on this important and pervasive phenomenon. The interactions amongst researchers from the two countries will lead to development of co-operative research programs beneficial to the advancement of the field and to pooling of intellectual resources of the two countries in charting the direction of future research. Topics to be considered at the seminars include multi-scale modeling and validation. A thorough discussion of these topics is essential as new tools are developed for simulation of multiphase flows. Intellectual Merit: The physics of multiphase flows is extremely complex and early investigations lead to formulation of empirical correlations. However, these correlations invariably did not fare well when applied to situations beyond the range of parameters over which the correlations had been developed. Subsequent efforts lead to mechanistic models which also relied on empirical constants to correlate the data. More recently advances have been made to numerically simulate the phenomena while solving conservation equations using appropriate boundary and interfacial conditions. These recent advances have increased confidence in extending the results validated with scaled systems to prototypes. Recent advances have also lead to formulation of models at nano, micro, and macroscale. However, scaling of the phenomena over several length scales is still not a resolved issue. In energy generation and conversion systems, the reduction of greenhouse gas emission is an urgent goal which can be achieved by developing alternative energy generation strategies that do not depend on fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is one such option and consequently is experiencing a renaissance, however, a recent accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Generating Station in Japan has highlighted a need to improve our understanding of coolant flow and heat transfer in complex flow channels inside a damaged reactor core and spent fuel bay. The uniqueness of the seminars is in the in-depth discussions that would take place among all the participants. Unlike other meetings and workshops where diverse topics are discussed, this seminar focuses on specific topics of current and future importance in multitudes of applications. The in-depth discussions amongst researchers of the two countries will lead to collaboration that will have lasting impact in advancing the field of two-phase flow and heat transfer. Junior researchers will be intellectually challenged and stimulated through interactions with nationally/internationally recognized senior and well respected members of the technical community.