Overview

Overview

Fluid mechanics is the fundamental science for most of the power generation systems, oil and gas industries, cooling, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, aerodynamics, and thermal management systems. The working medium for gas turbines, steam turbines, solar concentrated, windmill power plants is fluid. In HVAC systems, refrigerant fluid is used as the working medium to carry the heat from the cold side to the hot side of the refrigeration cycle, and the air is the working medium that makes our living space comfortable. Also, fuels, oil, and lubricants can exist and produced as fluids. Fluid properties are fundamental in our engineering life; these properties will characterize the fluid to a specific application. Fabrication fluid with nanoparticles is known as nanofluid, which helped to enhance the fluid properties and therefore enhance the energy efficiency in the heat transfer system. Understanding the fluid mechanics and dynamics is mandatory for operating efficient energy systems and reduce the environmental damage, which are the areas of major strategic planning and investment for the globe and the Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision.

Specific research studies include nanofluid manufacturing and characterization for enhancing the heat transfer process in energy systems, the aerodynamic surface design for cars and aircraft to reduce the fuel consumption due to air resistance, sustainable water desalination, computational fluid mechanics and dynamics (CFD) and applied math fluid.

The faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering performs research that responds to these challenges building on their considerable expertise in a wide spectrum of areas of science and technology that include:

  • Liquid-gas and liquid-liquid separation in production oil fields
  • Multiphase flow in micro porous media
  • Environmental gas dispersion modeling
  • Polymeric Composite Heat Exchangers for Natural Gas Processing
  • Flow induced vibration
  • Detection and Transportation in Gas Transmission and Distribution Systems
  • High-efficiency Microreactor Gas Sweetening System
  • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of multiphase separation
  • CFD for process intensification of fluidized dry methane reforming
  • CFD modeling of CO2 removal using rotating packed bed technology
  • CFD modeling for 3D-printed TPMS Architected Metamaterials for Thermal Management
  • Industrial furnaces and aluminum smelters flue gas waste heat recovery
  • Variable refrigerant flow Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Cooling
  • Desalination and Water Treatment
  • Reverberatory furnace design with cold-air and regenerative burners
  • Aluminum reduction pot efficient cooling for power modulation

In particular, microfluidics is the discipline of manipulating, controlling and handling fluids at very small scale (picoliters to microliters). The research areas include:

  • Bio-applications of MEMS and microfluidic systems
  • Microfabrication techniques
  • Separation and manipulation of living cells and particles
  • Wettability and droplet manipulation
  • Dielectrophoresis, Magnetophoresis, and Acoustophoresis

The departmental faculty is in close collaboration with colleagues leading Fluid mechanics related research in other departments through the Fluid mechanics Research Thrust in Khalifa University. The key departmental research themes include:

  • Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT)
  • Advanced Digital & Additive Manufacturing center (ADAM)
  • Concentrated Solar Power and Heat Storage (Masdar Institute Solar Platform)
  • HVAC and Building/District Cooling (Masdar City)

Project sponsors:

  • Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
  • Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA)
  • National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC)
  • Masdar City
  • Khalifa University CIRA Projects
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