Projects - Research Centres IMT Nord Europe

The FLUIDINE project (FLUIDs with INnovative formulation and high Energy efficiency performance for thermo-fluidic components) studies new non-colloidal suspensions with the aim of enhancing the performance of heat exchangers.

This project is unique in its use of non-colloidal suspensions in a simple matrix composed of micrometric particles with specific properties which enable them to optimise thermal performance via various complex physical phenomena: particle migration, secondary flows, hydrodynamic instabilities of the complex suspension, and high performance particles. The highly technical materials (high conductivity polymers, viscoelastic polymers) will be supplied by specialized companies in coordination with the project team.

The FLUIDINE project is organised around three work-packages with lines of action which are illustrated in the following figure:

The consortium consists of two research teams:

The Centre for Teaching, Research and Innovation in Energy and Environment (CERI EE) of IMT Nord-Europe handles the scientific coordination for the project.
Institute of Thermics, Mechanics and Materials (ITheMM, EA 7548) of University of Reims Champagne-Ardennes URCA.

This project follows up on previous work by the CERI EE team on the dynamics of complex suspensions and their instabilities in a Taylor-Couette flow (thesis by Masoud Moazzen, 2022). The figure below illustrates the results on hydrodynamic behaviour in Taylor-Couette flow for specific non-colloidal suspensions.

Hydrodynamic transitions in Taylor-Couette flow in non-colloidal suspensions. The flow visualisation (circles and central figure) shows a set of steady (CCF, TVF) or unsteady (SVF, WVF) regimes. The graph at the bottom shows the non-dimensionalised torque (friction) measurement for each of the regimes – doctoral thesis by Masoud Moazzen (2019-2022), published in J. Fluid Mech. 937 (2022)

List of partners and coordinators:

The project brings together two research teams specialised in the fields of complex fluid mechanics and thermal engineering.

The IMTNE team has extensive experience in the analysis of transfer phenomena in complex fluid flows (WP. 1) using advanced experimental techniques such as PLIF, PIV (WP.2).
The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (ITheMM) team has considerable experience in the field of heat transfer and heat exchangers, combined with experimental and digital expertise (WP. 3).

The FLUIDINE project will be coordinated by a consortium:

D. Bougeard (scientific coordinator), A. Bahrani (WP.1 coordinator), T. Lacassagne (WP.2 coordinator), S. Fohanno (WP.3 coordinator) and P. Catalin (modelling and digital simulation-WP.3)