ABSTRACT CTS-9414460 Rutgers University P.I.: Fernando Muzzio Improved design and control of industrial mixing operations could lead to the prevention of large amounts of waste. Progress in the past has been hindered by the lack of quantitative descriptions of mixing processes. The work conducted under this grant will consist of closely integrated experiments and direct numerical simulations. The goal is to obtain a full description of the fluid mechanics in mixing processes, generating explicit information that can subsequently be used to optimize the performance of a reactive system. Chaotic flows will be used as the starting point. Initially work will be focused on the partitioned pipe mixer, which consists of a static set of planes located inside a pipe. Reactive mixing experiments and computations will be conducted to investigate the effects of different mixing regimes on product distribution and waste production in industrially relevant reactions. Over the course of this work, studies will be conducted both for low and high Reynolds number cases.
