Theoretical and Experimental Study of a Continuous Hydrodynamically-Enhanced Separation System Paradigm
The Stationary Helical Vortex (SHV) mode in the Taylor-Couette-Poiseuille system is used as a base flow to investigate how parametric excitation can lead to chaotic segregation. The first part of this project focuses on how the three-dimensional velocity field in SHV is reconstructed for the first time from coarse Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. A novel reconstruction approach is introduced to process the point-wise MRI velocity measurements such that fluid mechanical constraints are strictly enforced, rather than performing simple interpolation. In addition to the fact that extra accuracy is achieved, this approach ushers in a new class of efficient MRI velocimetry techniques. The second part focuses on two methods of perturbing the SHV mode (using time-periodic Hamiltonian and steady non-Hamiltonian perturbations), and the description of the associated dynamical systems in phase space. The kinematically admissible SHV velocity field is used in the numerical simulation of the transport of passive solid particles introduced in the perturbed SHV flow. The study of the parametrically excited dynamical system and of the particle buoyancy effects combined with the dissipation due to viscous drag allows the elucidation of chaotic segregation patterns in this physically realizable three-dimensional system.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign