Research
Rheology & multiphase / slurry systems
The rheology of dense colloidal suspensions, pipeline flow of slurries, particle-packing models, physio-chemical hydrodynamics, and the atomization of slurry feedstocks.
Scope
A dense suspension of irregular solid particles is not well described by the constitutive models that work for dilute ones. Its viscosity depends on solids loading, particle size distribution and packing geometry in ways that become strongly non-linear as loading approaches the packing limit, and its behavior under the shear rates of a pump, a pipeline or an atomizing nozzle can differ substantially from what a bench viscometer measures. This research area is concerned with predicting that behavior from the physical and chemical properties of the suspension rather than fitting it after the fact.
The applied motivation throughout has been the preparation, transport and atomization of slurry fuels, which links this area directly to gasification and combustion.
Selected research history
Atomization of coal slurries, 2003–2005
A technical report for the Department of Energy and the National Energy Technology
Laboratory, Development of a phenomenological model for coal slurry atomization, dated
1 August 2003, was followed by the peer-reviewed paper Fundamental considerations for coal
slurry atomization in Atomization and Sprays in 2005.
doi:10.2172/882521 ·
doi:10.1615/AtomizSpr.v15.i5.60
Later work applied the phenomenological model to slurry feedstocks in entrained-flow gasifiers at elevated pressure, presented at the Clearwater conference in 2011. That presentation is listed on the Adelphi faculty record but has no proceedings record, and is catalogued accordingly.
Lattice-gas modeling of non-Newtonian flow, 1992
Application of lattice-gas automata to converging flow and non-Newtonian fluids, published in Physical Review A with Henry F. Ahner and Allan E. Moose, applied a discrete lattice-gas method to converging flow — the geometry of a nozzle or a contraction — in a non-Newtonian fluid. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.45.7632
Physio-chemical modeling of coal and coal/biomass slurries
A paper hosted by Adelphi University under the byline “Adelphi University/Dooher Institute of Physics and Energy” sets out a physio-chemical model for coal and coal/biomass slurries for gasification and direct combustion, and states that the model rests on a research and development program conducted in conjunction with the Electric Power Research Institute. The document carries no date, venue or page numbers, so it is catalogued without a year and marked as not independently indexed; the statement about the EPRI program is the author’s own and is reported here as such.
Rheology of liquid CO2 / low-rank-coal slurries, 2011–2013
Laboratory measurement of the rheological properties of liquid carbon dioxide and low-rank coal slurry was one of the three tasks NETL set out for the EPRI-led project on which the Institute was a team member, and the Adelphi faculty record describes John P. Dooher’s contribution to that project as rheology testing and technical input. Project record
Continuing research interests
- Constitutive behavior of dense suspensions of irregular, porous particles near the packing limit.
- Particle-packing models as predictors of maximum achievable solids loading.
- Rheology under the shear conditions of pumping, pipeline transport and atomization, as distinct from bench measurement.
- Physio-chemical hydrodynamics of slurries in which the carrier fluid is not water.
- Atomization of high-solids-loading slurries at elevated pressure.
Related publications
Filter the publications index by rheology and multiphase systems.