Laura Villafane Roca
Assistant Professor
Aerospace Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Heavier-than-fluid particles are often found in environmental and engineering applications. Particles may alter the underlying flow dynamics, disperse non-homogeneously, trigger coalescence or chemical reactions, and lead to multi-physics phenomena that can impact the overall flow or system behavior. Whether the presence of particles is intentional or unavoidable, we need a better understanding of particle-laden flows that supports improved predictive capabilities across a range of regimes. We will discuss two distinct problems involving particle-flow interactions.

Preferential concentration arises due to the interaction of small inertial particles with turbulence. If the flow is exposed to thermal radiation that is partially absorbed by the particles, preferential concentration leads to fluctuations of transmitted radiation and fluid temperature. Particle-turbulence-radiation interactions are important to solar energy harvesting, combustion systems and fires. We will show experimental and numerical results from a fully developed turbulent flow laden with micron-size particles and highlight the impact of including real effects in the numerical framework.

The impingement of supersonic plumes onto a granular surface combines the challenges of time-varying flow characteristics as the surface morphology evolves, and those of fluid-particle interaction. Erosion of the granular surface, fluidization, and entrainment lead to a coupled fluid-surface-particle dynamics problem where the dominant physical mechanisms vary in space and time. The successful landing of a payload and the safety of surrounding assets critically relies on the understanding and prediction of those complex interactions. We will present ongoing efforts to experimentally study plume-granular surface interactions in conditions representative of Moon and Mars landings.

About the speaker...

Laura Villafañe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on turbulence, multiphase flows, flow-surface interactions and on the development of experimental diagnostics and data analysis tools to study these complex flows.

Laura received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, and a Research Master in Fluid Mechanics followed by Ph.D. from the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium. Prior to joining UIUC she was Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford University.