This award will be used to acquire a high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) system for conducting state-of-the-art fluid imaging at San Jose State University. High-speed PIV is an advanced technique that uses a combination of laser light and cameras with high frame rate to map the flow field. The system includes stereoscopic PIV for measuring three-dimensional velocity components and two-color microscale PIV for imaging two-phase microfluidic systems. This advanced instrumentation will facilitate innovative research on wide-ranging critical applications, including biomedical devices, biochemical analysis, and sustainable heating, ventilation and air conditioning technologies. In addition, the PIV system will be integrated into educational activities and student projects at both undergraduate and graduate levels to enhance hands-on student learning in microfluidics and computational fluid dynamics courses. Sharing the PIV system with interested researchers on campus and other regional organizations will foster scientific collaboration.
The high-speed PIV system will enable high-impact experimental research in biofluid mechanics, turbulence and microfluidics. Examples of research projects enabled by the proposed instrument are as follows. (1) Investigation of the hemodynamic performance of novel trileaflet mechanical aortic valves for improving the design of next-generation prosthetic aortic valves. (2) Study on turbulence in natural ventilation and effects of naturally-occurring wind turbulence on the exchange rate of air in buildings. (3) Study on stent thrombosis to understand the relationship between wall shear stress near stent struts and thrombus formation. (4) Investigation of micro-droplet stability in constricted channels using two-color microscale PIV. (5) Study of particle mobility through porous media for the development of electrophoretic ink technology. The success of these research projects will rely on the acquisition of the proposed high-speed PIV system.
