Unique Dynamics of Physicochemical Flows When Exposed to Near Limit Conditions

Today’s energy technologies have been moving toward operating at near-limit conditions to achieve higher efficiency, lower emission and fuel variability. Under these near limit conditions chemical kinetics and the thermo-fluid dynamics couple more distinctively in a reacting flow system. This talk discusses two such ‘near limit’ systems – “Liquid Phase” non-thermal plasma discharge and “Cool Flame” in multiphase configuration. The first part of the talk focuses on non-thermal plasma development in liquid phase. Non-thermal plasmas are non-equilibrium class of gas discharges where the electron temperature is very high, but the neutrals maintain room temperature condition. I will discuss the kinetic processes that drives the non-thermal plasma formation mechanism at nano-second time scales without any possible phase change taking place. The second part of the talk will introduce “Cool Flame,” a phenomenon generally elusive in multiphase due to its very unique time scale. I will discuss the interplaying physicochemical processes that trigger “Cool Flame” behavior, and that can be controlled to purposely attain a “Cool Flame” burn in multiphase. At the end of the talk, an overview on some of the ongoing research work will be provided. 

Tanvir Farouk is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of South Carolina, Columbia. He received his MASc (2004) and PhD (2009) from University of Toronto and Drexel University respectively. His doctoral work on non-thermal plasma discharge earned him the prestigious National Science and Engineering Research council of Canada (NSERC) post-doctoral fellowship award. He was awarded the Irvin Glassman Young Investigator award by the Combustion Institute in 2013 for his work on “Cool Flames” and was invited to be a member of NASA’s Science and Definition for Microgravity Experiments from 2014–2016 and also serves in the panel on “Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space 2023-2032.” He was awarded the Young Investigator Award (2018) and Breakthrough Star Award (2016) from the University of South Carolina. In 2019 he was awarded the Ralph Teetor Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers. For his contribution to plasma treated surface functionalization of composites he received the NASA Group Achievement Award in 2020. He is an invited committee member of “NASA’s Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Science Research.” His research has been supported by DARPA, DOE, DOD, NASA, NSF, Boeing, ClearSign Corporation, and Holtec. Dr. Farouk has authored/ co-authored 50 plus journal articles, 90 plus conference articles, 1 book chapter and 5 patents/disclosures.