Modelling of particulate dispersion

The primary objective of this project is to develop improved mathematical models of the motion and dispersion of particles that are released into fluids. Such flows are widespread within industrial processes, where it is important to understand how well particles and fluid are mixed. They also occur at large scales in the atmosphere, ocean or watercourses, when particulate matter is released into the environment, and in this context may pose hazards to health or infrastructure.

The density (and often temperature) of the particles differs from that of the surrounding fluid, which results in the rise or fall of the particles due to gravity. This difference in properties also drives more complex buoyancy-driven flows known as gravity currents and intrusions, which can rapidly disperse particles horizontally. However, many existing models of particle dispersion in fluids neglect this effect.

This project will develop models of such buoyancy-driven flows and incorporate them into existing frameworks for particle dispersion modelling, to provide an accurate and practical tool for predicting dispersion. A key novel scientific advance will be to understand how buoyancy-driven flows interact with turbulence in the surrounding fluid, and to describe this within a mathematical model. This will be accomplished with a hierarchy of modelling, ranging from simple and practical 'depth-integrated' models to more complex numerical computations of the fluid flow.

This project lies within the Continuum Mechanics research area of EPSRC.