Although the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique is a method of flow characterization of wide spread use in research and industry, the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez (UPRM) lacks availability of this technology for research and education. This proposal requests funds to acquire a 3D stereoscopic PIV system with added capabilities to perform shadow-sizing, micro-PIV and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) to support research and education efforts in aerospace, wind engineering, hydraulics, biomedical, environmental and earth sciences, microfluidics and nuclear safety at UPRM. The equipment uses a dual head laser to illuminate a slice of a flow field, and 2 CCD cameras coupled to specialized software for image acquisition with post-processing capabilities to determine 3D velocity fields in fluids. The characteristics of this equipment will further ongoing UPRM research initiatives related to bubble and Janus particles dynamics, nearshore hydrodynamics, pollution dispersion within urban areas, wind interaction with civil structures, behavior of bacteria populations and whole-cell manipulation in microfluidic devices. The versatile PIV system requested in this proposal will strengthen research efforts conducted by the PI, Co-PIs and Senior Personnel, all faculties from underrepresented groups serving in an Institution with a proven track record of producing high-quality bilingual Hispanic professionals.
The acquisition of a 3D stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (PIV) system has provided UPRM with cutting-edge instrumentation that has already impacted the research of 8 graduate students pursuing a Master’s in Science at UPRM and 5 undergraduate students conducting research. By the end of July 2011 the equipment was installed in a new laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department Building and since then it has been operational. The acquisition of this equipment has been critical to the completion of the MS thesis of three students: Cruz-Díaz, Alvin O. 2012. Design and Characterization of a Pressure Differential Trapping Mechanism for Suspended Micro-Particles in a Micro-Fluidic Device. (Master’s Thesis). University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. López-Martínez, Manuel A. 2011. Characterization of a Microfluidic Device for Autonomous Biological Cell Entrapment and Electrical Interrogation. (Master’s Thesis). University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. Valentin Fracisco, 2012. An Acoustic method for real time air bubble detection in simulated blood vessels. (Master’s Thesis). University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez. Additionally, the results of the research conducted with the equipment were presented in four conferences and two poster sessions. Moreover, three papers were published in conference proceedings. List of conference proceedings: Cruz-Díaz A.O., Díaz-Rivera, R.E., Hydrodynamically Induced Whole-Cell Manipulation in Micro-fluidic Devices. Proceedings of the ASME 2011 Summer Bioengineering Conference, June 22-25, poster forum, Pennsylvania, USA. F. Valentin, S. Cancelos (2012). Detecting presence of bubbles within simulated blood vessels using a piezoelectric ring set to oscillate at matching resonant conditions. Proceedings of the ASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering Conference, June, poster forum, Fajardo, PR, USA. SBC2012-80822. F. Valentin, S. Cancelos (2012). Predicting bubble migration due to Bjerknes force in a complex 3D geometry: numerical and experimental results. Proceeding of the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Summer meeting, FEDSM2012-72322. Conference Presentations: C. Colon, S. Cancelos (2012). Experimental Study of Bubble-Wall Interaction at the Sub-millimeter scale. Technical Presentation. ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Summer Meeting, FEDSM2012-72323. Díaz-Rivera, R.E., CFD Modeling and mPIV Characterization of a Microfluidic Device for Hydrodynamic Particle Isolation. 2012 Conference of Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), Engineering Research Symposium, Dallas, TX, November 14-18, 2012. Sanchez, I.P., Cruz-Díaz A.O., Díaz-Rivera, R.E., Finite Element Modeling of Micro-fluidic Channels for Single-Cell Hydrodynamic Control . 2012 Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting (PRISM), March 10, podium presentation, Carolina, PR. Lopez-Martinez M., Díaz-Rivera, R.E., Characterization of Microfluidic Devices for High-Density Cell Entrapment and Electrical Interrogation. 2011 AGMUS Research Symposium, September 16-17, podium presentation, San Juan, PR. Posters: Cruz-Díaz A.O., Díaz-Rivera, R.E., Pressure Differential Trapping Mechanism for Suspended Micro-particles in Micro-fluidic Devices. 2011 Biomedical Engineering Society 2011 Annual Meeting, October 12-15, poster forum, Connecticut, USA. Valentín F. Cancelos S. Novel Technique for Real Time Micro-bubble Detection in Blood Vessels. Conference of Society of Hispanic Profession Engineers (SPHE), Anaheim, CA, October 26-30, 2011.
