Fluid Physics of Ocean Cleanup
Plastic pollution is a major threat to our planet with severe effects on marine and freshwater ecosystems. In 2020, around 30 million tons of plastic entered aquatic ecosystems and it is expected that this number rises to over 50 million tons per year by 2030. In collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup (TM) and Maritime Research Institute Netherlands | MARIN, we are studying the fundamental fluid physics of ocean plastics with odd shapes to improve the current experimental and theoretical tools available for capturing plastics in the ocean and rivers.
Your Research
Helping with the fabrication of a new experimental setup at UvA’s science park to study the motion of a 3D printed particle and flow around it. The project sits at the boundary of advanced optical imaging, fluid mechanics, and environmental physics. For the experiments, you will develop a particle image velocimetry setup and also a 3D particle tracking system. For the theory, you will work with an open-source code to solve the Navier Stokes Equations around a sedimenting particle with complex geometry.
Research Question:
Where do plastics go when they enter the river and ocean?
How does the shape of a particle change its transportation in water.
Methods involved
Experiments: High-speed Imaging, Particle Image Velocimetry, 3D Particle Tracking, Image Processing, 3D Printing, (a bit of) Machine learning
Theory: Finite Volume Methods for Multiphase Flows
Literature
Will et al. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 2021 912: A16.
See Ocean Cleanup’s Publication lists Here