Skip to main content

Emergent Behavior of Micro-structured Surfaces


EMSL Project ID
48633

Abstract

Surfaces with microscale topological features are ubiquitous in nature and they constitute the physical boundaries that regulate and control energy and mass fluxes between adjacent systems. The examples range from the surfaces of fractures and pores in geological formations to the surfaces of flowers, leaves and roots.
Micro- and nano-structured surfaces exhibit novel dynamical responses (emergent behaviors) to environmental stimuli that can significantly deviate from the behavior of their smooth counterparts. For example, micro-patterns can lead to increased friction and/or enhanced mixing in both laminar and turbulent flows; they can alter the surface wettability, etc. The relationship between topological structure of the surface and its response function to flow and (reactive) transport is still unknown.

In this proposal, we suggest a set of microfluidic experiments involving single and multiphase flow to study the effect of topology on wetting properties of the fluids, mixing and mass and momentum transfer (i.e., on solute fluxes and skin friction control).

Additionally, we will investigate the impact of surface structural anisotropy on macroscopic effective properties and system's response.
Finally, we will use experimental data i) to test and validate effective medium (macroscopic) models and boundary conditions formulated in a series of previous works and ii) to investigate the conditions under which such modeling assumptions are valid/invalid.

Our study will help understanding i) how solute (e.g. nutrients and carbon) and energy fluxes are controlled and regulated by complex topologies common to many biological, environmental and energy systems, and ii) the macroscopic behavior of flow and reactive transport processes in presence of microstructured surfaces. This scope aligns with the DOE and EMSL mission of "gaining a predictive understanding of the molecular-to-mesoscale processes in climate, biological, environmental and energy systems" while incorporating process understanding into a scalable hierarchy of predictive capabilities.

Project Details

Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2014-11-11
End Date
2015-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Ilenia Battiato
Institution
San Diego State University

Team Members

Bowen Ling
Institution
San Diego State University

Alexandre Tartakovsky
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory