Edward Coltman's research stay in the USA

April 1, 2020 /

Evaporation experiments at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Texas at Arlington.

In August and September of 2019, I traveled to the USA to perform experimental work with colleagues at the University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of Texas at Arlington. The aim of our work was to investigate evaporation processes across an irregularly formed partially saturated porous media beneath a controlled airflow. Our hypothesis was that the form of the interface would disrupt the airflow, creating flow structures near the interface, and that these structures would alter the evaporation rate across the interface. After doing preliminary numerical investigations and designing experimental elements, I flew to Texas where I joined Bo Gao and Kathleen Smits. We packed up the porous media tank that we had designed and all of the instrumentation that she had developed and tested. Together Bo and I drove to Colorado where we installed the tank we had designed into the matching boundary layer plate and wind tunnel we had planned with the colleagues in Colorado (Matt Knickerbocker and John Farnsworth).

With the experimental elements in place, we ran a series of evaporation tests under different conditions in the free-flow, at the interface, and in the subsurface. For each of these cases, we collected subsurface, surface and freeflow data in the form of water content and temperature readings. In addition, using a scale we measured the evaporational flux, and using Particle Imaging Velocimitry (PIV), we measured detailed velocity fields and collected turbulence statistics in the free flow.

In addition to the experimental work, we learned a great deal from the researchers there about experimental aerodynamics, turbulence, and flow structures. On one afternoon, I had the opportunity to give an hour long seminar about our work within the context of SFB 1313.

Outside of the lab, Boulder was a beautiful place to visit, surrounded by beautiful mountains and lovely weather. It was an excellent learning and working experience, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this field.

The Particle Imaging Velocimitry (PIV) system using a Laser and a camera to collect data
Installing sensors in the soil tank within the wind tunnel
Calibrating the wind tunnel and imaging controls with the assembled test set up

Contact

This image shows Edward Coltman

Edward Coltman

M.Sc.

Doctoral Researcher, Associated Research Project AX3, Management, Project MGK

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