Sutton to be Principal Investigator of Two New NSF Sponsored Projects
Assistant Professor Jeffrey Sutton will be the principal investigator on two new projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). One project totaling $305,000 in funded resarch, and entitled “Multi-scale Fluid Turbulence-Scalar Mixing Dynamics in Gas-Phase Turbulent Jets”, is sponsored by the NSF's Fluid Dynamics program for three years. The objective of the project is to quantify the dynamics governing the mixing of a passive scalar quantity by turbulent fluid motion, with a specific interest in detailing the time- and scale-dependent coupling between the turbulent flowfield and the scalar field. The project will involve the use of simultaneous high-speed (> 10 kHz) 3D velocity and 2D conserved scalar measurements, which are facilitated by the unique kHz-rate imaging capabilities within Sutton’s research group.
The second project, entitled “Acquisition of a High-Pulse-Energy, Narrow-Linewidth, UV Laser Source: Improved Quantitative Gas-Phase Mixing Measurements in Turbulent Spray Flows”, was funded by the NSF's Combustion, Fire, and Plasma Systems program. The $100,000 instrumentation award will be used to procure components to develop and assemble an ultra-high-pulse-energy, ultraviolet to infrared wavelength tunable, narrow linewidth laser system. This new laser design is based on a novel approach which involves combining an Nd:YAG-pumped titanium:sapphire laser with an alexandrite amplifier stage into one “hybrid” system. Once completed, the new laser system will be the primary component used within a UV filtered Rayleigh scattering imaging system to investigate vaporization and gas-phase mixing processes within turbulent spray flows.
About Sutton's Research
Sutton is the director of the Turbulence and Combustion Research Laboratory at Ohio State University, which seeks to study complex combustion and fluid mechanic processes with an emphasis on using advanced laser diagnostics to elucidate the governing physical and chemical mechanisms underlying many aerospace, automotive, and power-generating systems.
