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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Capillarity-Driven Droplet Ejection, Andrew Paul Wollman Jun 2012

Capillarity-Driven Droplet Ejection, Andrew Paul Wollman

Dissertations and Theses

Drop Towers provide brief terrestrial access to microgravity environments. When used for capillary fluidics research, a drop tower allows for unique control over an experiment's initial conditions, which enables, enhances, or otherwise improves the study of capillary phenomena at significantly larger length scales than can normally be achieved on the ground. This thesis provides a historical context for the introduction of a new, highly accessible, 2.1s tower design used for capillary research and presents a variety of demonstrative experimental results for purely capillarity-driven flows leading to bubble ingestion, sinking flows, multiphase flows, and droplet ejections. The focus of this thesis …


Formulation & Thermophysical Analysis Of A Beeswax Microemulsion & The Experimental Calculation Of Its Heat Transfer Coefficient, Ravi Ramnanan-Singh Jan 2012

Formulation & Thermophysical Analysis Of A Beeswax Microemulsion & The Experimental Calculation Of Its Heat Transfer Coefficient, Ravi Ramnanan-Singh

Dissertations and Theses

Experimentation and implementation of Phase Change Materials (PCM) as suitable Thermal Energy Storage (TES) mediums has garnered greater attention in recent decades. PCMs have the ability to not only store Sensible Heat (SH) within a given temperature range, but also store large amounts of Latent Heat (LH) as they undergo a phase change, whether it is from solid to liquid or liquid to gas. This investigation examines the preparation of a beeswax microemulsion, the analysis of its thermophysical properties, and the experimental method to calculate its heat transfer coefficient under laminar flow conditions. First, the beeswax microemulsion was formulated to …


Exploration Of The Endothermic And Exothermic Reactions Of Calcium Oxide And Magnesium Oxide And Design Of A Vessel For A Thermochemical Heat Storage System, Jorge Pulido Jan 2012

Exploration Of The Endothermic And Exothermic Reactions Of Calcium Oxide And Magnesium Oxide And Design Of A Vessel For A Thermochemical Heat Storage System, Jorge Pulido

Dissertations and Theses

A high temperature Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system has been investigated for use in solar thermal power plants or in vehicles to preheat the engine and/or the cabin in cold weather. The idea is to store surplus thermal energy and then release it on demand to heat a working fluid. The stored heat can be used to generate electricity after sunset or to meet the peak loads. These would lead to an improvement in energy efficiency, reductions in energy imports from foreign sources and total energy-related emissions. The basic operating principle involved in the TES system is a thermochemical reaction …


Feasibility Analysis Of Estrification Systems With Entrainers, Kang Wook Lee Jan 2012

Feasibility Analysis Of Estrification Systems With Entrainers, Kang Wook Lee

Dissertations and Theses

(Ethyl Acetate) and IPA (Isopropyl Acetate) production systems are studied in terms of the feasibility analysis. It is not feasible to retrieve pure products by a simple reactive distillation for IPA production system because CCR (Critical Composition Region) covers the entire desired binary edge for IPA system. On the other hand, even though CCR does not cover the entire desired binary edge of the EA system completely, internal reflux ratio (IRR) analysis does not allow the production of the pure product via reactive distillation for EA production system. To overcome the restraints, external entrainers are utilized to take advantage of …


Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Of Binary Drop Coalescence At Low Weber Number, Lina Baroudi Jan 2012

Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Of Binary Drop Coalescence At Low Weber Number, Lina Baroudi

Dissertations and Theses

"A numerical study has been performed using a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for an incompressible binary fluid based on the Cahn-Hilliard diffuse interface approach to investigate the early-time coalescence dynamics of two liquid drops. The two drops approach each other at a very low Weber number (We) and the coalescence process is driven by surface tension. When the two drops come into contact, the curvature diverges and causes infinitely large surface tension forces, leading to the formation of a rapidly growing liquid bridge. Depending on the forces that govern the widening of the liquid bridge, the coalescence dynamics can be …


Silk Cryogels For Microfluidics, Christopher David Hinojosa Jan 2012

Silk Cryogels For Microfluidics, Christopher David Hinojosa

Dissertations and Theses

Silk fibroin from silkworm cocoons is found in numerous applications ranging from textiles to medical implants. Its recent adoption as a biomaterial is due to the material's strength, biocompatibility, self-assembling behavior, programmable degradability, optical clarity, and its ability to be functionalized with antibodies and proteins. In the field of bioengineering it has been utilized as a tissue scaffolding, drug delivery system, biosensor, and implantable electrode. This work suggests a new application for porous silk in a microscale chromatography column. We demonstrate in situ cryotropic polymerization of highly porous structures in microscale geometries by freezing aqueous silk with a solvent. The …