Restricted Research - Award List, Note/Discussion Page
Fiscal Year: 2023
296 The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (142184)
Principal Investigator: Choutapalli,Isaac Manohar
Total Amount of Contract, Award, or Gift (Annual before 2011): $ 581,327
Exceeds $250,000 (Is it flagged?): Yes
Start and End Dates: 10/15/22 - 10/14/23
Restricted Research: YES
Academic Discipline: Mechanical Engineering
Department, Center, School, or Institute: Mechanical Engineering
Title of Contract, Award, or Gift: Time-Resolved Unsteady Flow Field Measurements from Dense Lagrangian Particle Tracking
Name of Granting or Contracting Agency/Entity:
U.S. Department of Defense
CFDA Link: DOD
12.800
Program Title:
Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program
CFDA Linked: Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program
Note:
SAMs 1.1.1--Research into time-resolved flow field measurements in unsteady turbulent flows is of interest, for example, for the estimation of pressure fields, for the determination of unsteady aerodynamic loads on structures and sources of aeroacoustic noise. Such measurements are also needed to increase the prediction capability of advanced numerical methods for turbulent flows by providing accurate experimental validation data sets. A newly developed 4D Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) technique based on the work on Schanz et al. (2016) is capable of highly accurate and dense velocity field measurements in a flow volume via reconstructing a large amount of Lagrangian particle tracks from a time-series of particle images. The biggest advantage of the 4D PTV technique is its ability to provide relevant measures for local and global velocity statistics at high spatial and temporal resolution. The 4D-PTV, a new state- of-the-art optical system for flow visualization and measurement, measures instantaneous, time-resolved, three-dimensional flow field. In addition, the 4D-PTV system will be able to generate acceleration data with accuracy suitable for the extraction of 3D pressure distributions on surfaces as well as in the outer flow field. The instrumentation will enable new cross disciplinary collaborations not only among researchers at UTRGV but also with other academic institutions. The instrumentation will provide extraordinary level of access to the details of the physics of turbulent flows, facilitating fundamental and applied research with pronounced impact in the field of unsteady aerodynamics.The acquisition of the proposed instrumentation will significantly help UTRGV transition towards being a research intensive institution and foster our collaborations with other tier-1 academic institutions in the field of unsteady aerodynamics. The use of the instrumentation will be integrated into both undergraduate and graduate courses. The students will gain proficiency in carrying out experimental design, experimental setup, data acquisition, and data analysis using the state-of-the-art 4D-PTV system. The faculty involved in research projects will provide tools in the form of educational hands-on activities for K-12 education in the Rio Grande Valley, TX. The faculty will also engage middle and high school students through university-based outreach activities thereby increasing public awareness of engineering and science and inspire young students to pursue advanced degrees and careers in STEM disciplines. Since UTRGV is primarily a Hispanic serving minority institution with a large undergraduate population, the undergraduate students will have intense involvement in the activities of the projects undertaken through the acquisition of the proposed equipment. The instrumentation will also help the PI, co-PI and collaborators attract graduate students to conduct state-of-the-art research in the areas of fluid mechanics and unsteady aerodynamics.
Discussion: No discussion notes