Unravelling the scale interactions of wall turbulence: experiment, physical modelling, next-generation numerical simulation. Turbulent fluid flows near solid surfaces are present in many areas of everyday life: from the drag experienced on air, sea and road vehicles, to governing the mixing processes in combustion chambers, and in the transport of pollutants and particulates in our cities and towns. Unfortunately our understanding of these complex flows is limited, and hence so to is our ability ....Unravelling the scale interactions of wall turbulence: experiment, physical modelling, next-generation numerical simulation. Turbulent fluid flows near solid surfaces are present in many areas of everyday life: from the drag experienced on air, sea and road vehicles, to governing the mixing processes in combustion chambers, and in the transport of pollutants and particulates in our cities and towns. Unfortunately our understanding of these complex flows is limited, and hence so to is our ability to model or control them. This project addresses this problem with the goal of providing new physical insights and models that can be used for efficient and accurate numerical simulations. The simulations will not only compute the average statistics but also the time-varying properties, which are crucial in many engineering and environmental processes.Read moreRead less
Practical wall-turbulence drag reduction through adaptive control. Long term increases in the price of aviation fuel disproportionately impacts on Australian carriers, given our geographic isolation and the resulting greater percentage of long-haul flights. The resulting higher fares will also have a direct impact on international tourism to Australia. One way to reduce the impact of rising fuel cost, and to reduce CO2 and other emissions at the same time, is to decrease drag on aircraft. This ....Practical wall-turbulence drag reduction through adaptive control. Long term increases in the price of aviation fuel disproportionately impacts on Australian carriers, given our geographic isolation and the resulting greater percentage of long-haul flights. The resulting higher fares will also have a direct impact on international tourism to Australia. One way to reduce the impact of rising fuel cost, and to reduce CO2 and other emissions at the same time, is to decrease drag on aircraft. This project will develop understanding in wall turbulence and adaptive control, and use this to experimentally demonstrate active reductions in skin friction drag. The results are equally applicable to a range of other applications including sea transport, pipe flows and combustor designs.Read moreRead less
Maximizing solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) with maximum entropy. Nuclear magnetic resonance is an essential technology for the characterisation of important industrial and biomedical molecules, molecular chains and complexes. This project aims to considerably expand the fundamental capability of experimental techniques for the study of materials in the solid state, in particular for a new class of biological nanoparticle. These advances will have important global implications for re ....Maximizing solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) with maximum entropy. Nuclear magnetic resonance is an essential technology for the characterisation of important industrial and biomedical molecules, molecular chains and complexes. This project aims to considerably expand the fundamental capability of experimental techniques for the study of materials in the solid state, in particular for a new class of biological nanoparticle. These advances will have important global implications for research into life-saving therapeutic strategies aimed at many pharmaceutical targets embedded in cell membranes, protein misfolding disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, as well as development of the next generation of "green" plastics and other advanced polymers.Read moreRead less
Opto-Microfluidics: A Rapid and Sensitive Platform for Biological Diagnostics. One in four people above 25 years suffer from diabetes-related diseases in Australia, with an associated economic cost exceeding $3 billion a year. A microdevice for continuous glucose monitoring would help patients to manage the disease, leading to huge individual, clinical and societal benefits. Life expectancy is expected to increase along with quality of life. Integration of the microdevice with insulin delivery w ....Opto-Microfluidics: A Rapid and Sensitive Platform for Biological Diagnostics. One in four people above 25 years suffer from diabetes-related diseases in Australia, with an associated economic cost exceeding $3 billion a year. A microdevice for continuous glucose monitoring would help patients to manage the disease, leading to huge individual, clinical and societal benefits. Life expectancy is expected to increase along with quality of life. Integration of the microdevice with insulin delivery would realise an 'artificial pancreas', revolutionising the management and treatment of the disease. The technology will also provide a platform for other point-of-care medical diagnostic devices, which will allow early participation in this emerging market and cement Australia's position in bionanotechnology.Read moreRead less
Electrohydrodynamically-Driven Microcentrifugation for Microfluidic Applications. Microfluidics has the potential to revolutionise the way we live. Imagine portable pocket sized devices for cheap and rapid medical diagnostics and drug delivery. Or miniaturised chemical/biological sensors as early warning detection systems against terrorist threats. The research is thus intended to not only commercially benefit various industries, but also to improve the quality of life as a whole by making medic ....Electrohydrodynamically-Driven Microcentrifugation for Microfluidic Applications. Microfluidics has the potential to revolutionise the way we live. Imagine portable pocket sized devices for cheap and rapid medical diagnostics and drug delivery. Or miniaturised chemical/biological sensors as early warning detection systems against terrorist threats. The research is thus intended to not only commercially benefit various industries, but also to improve the quality of life as a whole by making medical diagnosis or chemical/biological detection more readily accessible, portable and more efficient. Moreover, the fundamental studies, aimed at generating an understanding of the complex physics involved, has generic benefits to researchers in applied physics as well as providing practical protocols for microdevice development.Read moreRead less
Computational Nanofluidics. This project will generate an increased level of skill and expertise in Australia in the emerging science of nanotechnology. To realise the promise of nanotechnology, a means of controlled propulsion on the nano scale is vital. A deeper understanding of nanofluidics that allows greater predictive capacities can greatly aid this realisation. It is highly likely that computational nanofluidics will play as important a role in nanotechnology based industries as computat ....Computational Nanofluidics. This project will generate an increased level of skill and expertise in Australia in the emerging science of nanotechnology. To realise the promise of nanotechnology, a means of controlled propulsion on the nano scale is vital. A deeper understanding of nanofluidics that allows greater predictive capacities can greatly aid this realisation. It is highly likely that computational nanofluidics will play as important a role in nanotechnology based industries as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) currently plays in today's manufacturing, automotive and aerospace industries. The skills and knowledge gained from this project will enhance our international competitiveness in this area. Read moreRead less
Characterisation and Stability of Thin Electrowetting Films. Electrowetting is of importance to numerous industrial, biomedical and daily life settings such as microfluidic biopharmaceutical applications, coating technology, electronic displays, optical focusing devices, miniaturised chemical analysis systems for homeland security, etc. The work, aimed at generating an understanding of the complex hydrodynamic and physicochemical processes involved, is fundamental research having generic benefit ....Characterisation and Stability of Thin Electrowetting Films. Electrowetting is of importance to numerous industrial, biomedical and daily life settings such as microfluidic biopharmaceutical applications, coating technology, electronic displays, optical focusing devices, miniaturised chemical analysis systems for homeland security, etc. The work, aimed at generating an understanding of the complex hydrodynamic and physicochemical processes involved, is fundamental research having generic benefits to researchers in interfacial science, electrokinetics and microfluidics. The results will also be beneficial to industrial workers in providing engineering protocols for the development of these devices by identifying optimal conditions for fluid manipulation without prone-to-wear mechanical components. Read moreRead less
Fluidised bed nanoparticle reactors for gas-solid catalytic reactions. This is a "frontier technologies" (nanotechnology) project and promises to open up new opportunities for exciting development in molecular engineering. Catalytic gas-solid reactions are among the most important reactions in chemical industry and energy industry. The novel fluidised bed nanoparticle catalytic reactor is expected to have many important advantages over the conventional porous supported catalyst system. These rea ....Fluidised bed nanoparticle reactors for gas-solid catalytic reactions. This is a "frontier technologies" (nanotechnology) project and promises to open up new opportunities for exciting development in molecular engineering. Catalytic gas-solid reactions are among the most important reactions in chemical industry and energy industry. The novel fluidised bed nanoparticle catalytic reactor is expected to have many important advantages over the conventional porous supported catalyst system. These reactors promise to minimise the waste product generation from chemical and energy industries and so offer great benefit for the environment. Young researchers involved in the project will be equipped with knowledge at the forefront of nanotechnology, enabling them to contribute to Australia's new, high technology future.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989726
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$250,000.00
Summary
Nanophotonic and Microfluidic Integration Facility: a Platform for Optofluidics. Emerging 'lab on a chip' technology promises to provide low-cost, mass produced platforms for monitoring and processing of environmental and biological samples (eg. water quality and early cancer detection). These essentially fluidic platforms will require integrated photonic components to provide the vast array of optical interrogation options that are used in all modern laboratories. The proposed facility will e ....Nanophotonic and Microfluidic Integration Facility: a Platform for Optofluidics. Emerging 'lab on a chip' technology promises to provide low-cost, mass produced platforms for monitoring and processing of environmental and biological samples (eg. water quality and early cancer detection). These essentially fluidic platforms will require integrated photonic components to provide the vast array of optical interrogation options that are used in all modern laboratories. The proposed facility will enable Australian researchers to effectively integrate nano-photonic structures with engineered micro-fluidics into a single optofluidic chip. This will bring researchers in photonics and microfluidics together and will provide platforms supporting support biomedical and environmental and even fundamental physics projects.Read moreRead less