ME8111

This course provides an introduction to the physical behavior of multiphase systems, including aerosols, granular systems, colloids, sprays, foams, dusty plasmas, and emulsions. The course emphasis is on developing fundamental relationships that describe how the behavior of one phase is influenced by its interaction with the other phase.

The course will be divided into four sections. In the first, transport of dilute systems of rigid particles in a gaseous or liquid medium is examined at the single particle level. Students will be taught how to construct and numerically solve Lagrangian particle tracking models with one-way coupling and will be provided with codes to compute the free molecular drag force on particles of arbitrary shape (IMoS). In the second section, the course will discuss dense dispersed media, including effective medium approximations to describe thermal and electrical transport in complex systems, an introduction to foams and unit cells, flow in porous media, and granular systems (four-way coupled systems). In the third section, the course will return to dilute systems, but wherein the dispersed phase is deformable (droplets). Topics will include droplet behavior on a surface (wetting and line tension), an introduction to emulsions, droplet-droplet coalescence, and atomization processes. The fourth and final section of the course, phase change and multiphase system formation will be introduced, including the kinetics of nucleation of condensed phase material in a gas, as well as solid (ice) formation in a liquid. The overarching goal of the course is to prepare PhD and MS students to be able to address research level questions experimentally, numerically, and theoretically in their studies beyond the course.