List of Potential REU Projects
1 – 4. Exploring Application of Microscale Acoustofluidics in Phase Change Thermal Management
Mentor: J. Mark Meacham
Background: The objective of this research is to explore the potential of ultrasound actuation to either (i) disrupt single-phase systems for more efficient phase change heat/mass transfer or (ii) stabilize inherently unstable phase-change heat transfer processes. We will apply knowledge of acoustic microfluidics to tune device geometry and ultrasound actuation parameters to stabilize phase change processes.
Projects: Student(s) will investigate aspects of droplet generation and applications involving evaporative cooling and additive manufacturing/nanomaterial synthesis. Students will use high-resolution stroboscopic imaging to study droplet breakup under various operating conditions (Project 1). Students will investigate how different working fluids affect droplet generation regimes, droplet impact, and deposited material characteristics (Project 2). For flow boiling and condensation studies, students will design, model, and fabricate microchannel assemblies, using COMSOL Multiphysics to predict system harmonic responses and the behaviors of simplified flows (Project 3) and assisting with fabrication, thermal measurement, flow visualization, and data analysis (Project 4).
5. Development of Alternate Electrocatalysts for PEFCs
Mentor: Vijay K. Ramani
Background: Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are environmentally friendly electrochemical energy conversion devices with applications in the transportation, stationary power, portable electronics, and military sectors. An important issue hindering PEFC commercialization is the poor durability of fuel cell components. Advances in inexpensive, more durable alternates are a prime focus of research in this field.
Project: As part of this REU, students will engage in materials synthesis and characterization, electrochemical methods, and data analysis. Supported electrocatalysts with embedded peroxide decomposition and/or free radical reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging moieties will be synthesized and investigated.
6 – 7. Thermal Management of Li-ion Batteries Using Composite Materials
Mentor: Xianglin Li
Background: The rapidly growing electric vehicle market needs efficient and cost-effective thermal management to prevent thermal runaway and catastrophic failures of battery packs, which jeopardize our ability to use Li-ion batteries in safety-critical systems.
Projects: The goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of phase-change composites made from
architected foams and phase change materials (PCMs). Architected foams with tailored thermal and physical properties will be designed using science-based algorithms. Students will (1) fabricate phase-change composites using additive manufacturing; and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of battery thermal management designs for different current rates and operating temperatures (Project 6). Students will conduct pore-scale simulations to (3) predict thermal conductivity and intrinsic permeability of architected metal foams; and (4) generate designs with tailored thermal physical properties (Project 7).
8. Management of Radiative Heat Transfer for Next-Generation Carbon Capture and Storage
Mentor: Richard Axelbaum
Background: Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is presently too costly, and the efficiency penalty is too high to have large-scale impact on global carbon management. A number of transformative technologies have been proposed, many requiring operation of the combustion process under pressure which changes the radiative heat transfer characteristics because the system transitions from optically thin to optically thick as the radiatively-active species (CO2, H2O, soot, ash, and char) increase.
Project: The purpose of this REU project is to develop an understanding of radiative heat transfer in optically thick systems relevant to producing low-carbon power from fossil fuels and biomass. Students will be involved in pressurized combustion experiments and will assist in analysis. By controlling radiative heat transfer, performance and cost can be improved such that broad deployment of CCUS can be enabled.
9. Water Condensation on Lubricant-Infused Surfaces
Mentor: Patricia Weisensee
Background: Dropwise condensation is important in increasing the efficiency of power plant condensers and water harvesting systems. The Weisensee lab studies the condensation of water on lubricant-infused surfaces: micro- or nanoporous surfaces that are infused with a thin layer of oil. Droplets on these surfaces are extremely mobile and even self-propel. We work to characterize the fluid dynamic behaviors of the droplet-oil interactions and the thermal aspects of the condensation process.
Project: As part of this summer research opportunity, students will conduct experiments using a high-speed infrared camera to quantify the temperature distribution and heat transfer during condensation.
10. Management of Thermal Loads Induced by a Pneumatic System Integrated on an Electric Aircraft
Mentor: Emily Boyd
Background: Active flow control (AFC) aims to obtain desirable flow behavior by inducing large-scale changes in a flow field via low-energy input. AFC has numerous applications, such as: separation control to reduce fuel burn or increase payloads, high-lift systems, noise reduction, thermal management, mixing enhancement, etc. Integrating these systems into aerospace vehicles introduces additional power requirements that create thermal management challenges.
Project: Students will use non-proprietary thermal management technology developed by Boeing and state of the art solutions from technical literature to mitigate the thermal load induced by adding a pneumatic system to an electric aircraft (e.g., a drone) and analyze the net system efficiency that results.
11. Insulation Design for Liquid Cryogenic Hydrogen Fuel Tanks for Hydrogen Powered Aircraft
Mentor: Ramesh Agarwal
Background: The use of liquid hydrogen as a fuel for zero carbon emission aircraft requires its containment within cryogenic fuel tanks. Proper insulation is critical to decrease boil-off of liquid hydrogen due to heat transfer into the tank. MLI, EPS, Glass Bubbles or combinations of these are normally used for insulation to minimize the weight of the tank and the boil-off rate.
Project: Students will develop a one-dimensional steady-state heat transfer approach with an electric circuit analogy to calculate insulation thickness and weight based on the boil-off rate for spherical and hemisphere capped cylindrical tanks located in the fuselage of Boeing 737 and 767 aircraft. For complex 3D geometries, students will perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using ANSYS Fluent.
12. Numerical Simulation of Induction-Heated Hot Pressing of Ceramic Materials in Graphite Dies
Mentor: Peng Bai
Background: Li-ion conducting ceramic electrolytes are critical to enable safe lithium metal anodes for next-generation batteries. Performance of ceramic electrolytes is sensitive to composition, grain size distribution, and relative density of the sintered pellets. Traditional cold isostatic pressing and sintering only achieve a relative density around 95%, leaving pores that are prone to inducing lithium dendrites. Induction-heated graphite die hot pressing can preserve the original size distribution of the grains, increasing density and minimizing pores.
Project: Students will model an induction-heated hot press setup using SolidWorks to generate 3D models to import, assemble, and mesh in COMSOL. Appropriate thermal models and boundary conditions will be applied based on the experimental process. Students will then change insulation materials and shapes, and heating protocols to investigate the heat distribution inside the graphite die and ceramic powder that will be pressed into a dense pellet.
13. Airborne Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2
Mentor: Rajan Chakrabarty
Background: The SARS-CoV-2 virus can transmit via aerosols and droplets that remain suspended in air long enough to be inhaled. When aerosols or droplets containing respiratory fluid and microorganisms are expelled into unsaturated air (relative humidity (RH) under 100%), they can evaporate to equilibrate with ambient conditions. This process decreases the particle size, increasing its airborne lifetime.
Project: Using a synergistic combination of modeling and experiments, students will help determine how environmental parameters, such as RH and temperature, affect virus transmission and subsequent detection in expelled aerosols. Working collaboratively on a team of engineers, medical professionals, graduate students, and postdocs, students will contribute to the ongoing design and development of a real-time, portable device that detects viral particles in a range of environments and conditions.
14. Investigating the Role of Powder-Melt Pool Thermal Interactions on Microstructure Development During Laser Additive Manufacturing
Mentor: Katherine Flores
Background: Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the unique advantage of being able to vary and locally optimize the material microstructure or composition according to expected service conditions, for instance creating gradient structures to increase ductility near stress concentrations while maintaining high strength elsewhere. This requires improved understanding of the interplay of powder impact dynamics and thermal interactions in the melt pool.
Project: Students will apply electron microscopy techniques to characterize the microstructure of metallic materials produced by direct laser deposition AM under a range of processing conditions (e.g., powder feed rates, laser power). They will correlate these observations with in-situ thermal measurements of the melt pool during powder deposition. This will contribute to the development of a structure-processing model in an effort to controllably vary and produce desirable microstructures in AM parts.
15. Synthesis and Characterization of Combustion-Generated Particles for Nanostructured Materials
Mentor: Ben Kumfer
Background: Open combustion/incineration systems feature high temperature zones that are conducive to the formation of harmful carbonaceous nanoparticles (soot or smoke) which can be emitted to the atmosphere if incomplete combustion occurs. Conversely, a similar flame can be used to create useful carbonaceous or metal oxide nanoparticles like high surface area adsorbents for gas purification. Final size, surface area, composition, and reactivity are highly dependent on the temperature and gas composition during particle inception and growth.
Project: Students will synthesize various powders in a laboratory flame system using gas-phase and liquid spray techniques, seeking to understand particle formation and how to design and control the flame structure to achieve the desired properties. Activities will support ongoing collaborative research projects on 1) adsorption-based biogas and hydrogen purification and 2) health effects of exposure to particulate emissions.
16. Interspecies Heat Transfer Rates in Multiple Temperature Systems
Mentor: Elijah Thimsen
Background: Nonequilibrium plasmas are partially ionized gases wherein different species have different temperatures at the same macroscopic location in space. Atoms, molecules, and ions have a temperature near ambient, while the free electrons in the plasma have an extremely high temperature on the order 10,000 K. The heat transfer rate from the hot electrons to the cool background gas is believed to be a determining factor in the outcomes of chemical reactions.
Project: This project focuses on developing molecular gas dynamics collisional models to describe the heat transfer rate from hot electrons in the nonequilibrium plasma to the cool background gas, and then perform experiments to assess those models. Experiments will involve double Langmuir probe measurements to estimate electron temperature and density, as well as fluorescence decay thermometry and infrared imaging to characterize heavy species and wall temperature distributions.